Scientists have uncovered new evidence from one of Earth’s most extreme ancient warming events, revealing how the climate may recover long after human-driven CO₂ emissions cease.
Climate change
Posted inAtmospheres, Climate, Weather, Gaia - Planetary Perspectives, Habitable Zones, Press Release, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
A Warmer World May Redraw Earth’s Sunlight Map
Sunlight follows a rhythm set by Earth’s orbit and tilt: long summer days, dark winters, and a familiar seasonal cycle from low to high latitudes.
![Maps of GEOCLIM simulation (two time slices). “0” maps (left column) are the initial condition, “1” maps (right column) are at the perturbation peak (3 Myr of run time, cf Fig. 4a). (a0–1) Topography and oceanic O2 concentration at bottom of water column, (b0–1) physical erosion rate, showing enhanced physical erosion around the Variscan orogeny, and (c0– 1) regolith depletion quantified by the proportion of unweathered mineral at top of regolith. The uplifted area is contoured in magenta on each map. The boundaries of oceanic boxes, and their corresponding continental drainage basins are drawn on each map (white solid and blue dotted lines). GEOCLIM computes one mean O2 concentration for each of the 21 boxes. The maps panels (a0–1) show the mean concentrations of GEOCLIM bottom boxes drawn on the full geographic extent of these boxes at the oceanic resolution of the FOAM ocean-atmosphere general circulation model [90] simulations, which were used as GEOCLIM forcing. -- Science China Press](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/What-triggered-Earths.png?resize=1200%2C720&ssl=1)
Posted inAtmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Habitable Zones, Icy Worlds, Press Release
What Triggered Earth’s Shift From A Greenhouse To An Icehouse Climate And The Onset Of The Late Paleozoic Ice Age?
Scientists have debated for decades what caused the Late Paleozoic climate transition from a greenhouse to an icehouse state ~350 million years ago. Some invoke a pronounced increase in continental […]
Posted inAtmospheres, Climate, Weather, Intelligence & Language, Status Report
The New Geological Age That Never Was Or The Multiple Layers Of The Transientocene
Since its humble origins, humans have left imprints on the face of the planet. From the profound transformation unleashed by the Neolithic Revolution, about 12000 years ago, till the present, […]
Posted inAtmospheres, Climate, Weather, Beta Pictoris, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Desert Worlds, Gaia - Planetary Perspectives, Mars, Status Report, Terraforming & Geoengineering, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
A Research Roadmap For Assessing The Feasibility Of Warming Mars
This roadmap outlines research pathways to determine whether Mars could be warmed with non-biological methods. It does not presuppose that warming Mars is desirable; its purpose is to identify what […]
Posted inAtmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Fossils & Paleontology, Gaia - Planetary Perspectives, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Origin & Evolution of Life, Press Release
Refining The Clock Of Earth’s Early Complex Animal Life
How can we measure time more than 500 million years into the past? A study recently published in Nature Communications by researchers at the University of Lausanne presents a new […]
Posted inAnalog Studies, Arctic / Antarctic / Alpine, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Cryobiology, Extinction events, Habitable Zones, Icy Worlds, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Polar / Alpine Expeditions, Press Release, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
Understanding Snowball Earth Extreme Climates
In the whole history of Earth’s climate, few events are as extreme as those that geologists call “Snowball Earth.”
Posted inArctic / Antarctic / Alpine, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Gaia - Planetary Perspectives, Habitable Zones, Press Release
Course Correction Needed Quickly To Avoid Pathway To ‘Hothouse Earth’ Scenario
Scientists say multiple Earth system components appear closer to destabilization than previously believed, putting the planet in increased danger of following a “hothouse” path driven by feedback loops that can […]
Posted inAstrogeology, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Extinction events, Gaia - Planetary Perspectives, Habitable Zones, Icy Worlds, Press Release, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
Ancient Rocks Reveal Annual Climate Cycles During Snowball Earth
Scientists at the University of Southampton have uncovered evidence from ancient rocks that the Earth’s climate continued to fluctuate during its most extreme ice age – known as Snowball Earth.
Posted inAtmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Fossils & Paleontology, Gaia - Planetary Perspectives, Press Release
How Earth’s Greenhouse Age Ended 66 Million Years Ago
A 66 million-year-old mystery behind how our planet transformed from a tropical greenhouse to the ice-capped world of today has been unravelled by scientists.