Climate change Archives

On its own, Earth would shift toward another ice age in about 10,000 years, scientists say. But humanity’s greenhouse gas emissions may have radically shifted the climates trajectory. CreditMatt Perko, UC Santa Barbara

Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Icy Worlds, Press Release, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Matching Earth’s Ice Age Cycles With Orbital Shifts

by Keith CowingMarch 1, 2025March 1, 2025

Beginning around 2.5 million years ago, Earth entered an era marked by successive ice ages and interglacial periods, emerging from the last glaciation around 11,700 years ago. A new analysis […]

Stability landscape of the ES in terms of ψ and H. -- astro-ph.EP

Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Gaia - Planetary Perspectives, Status Report, Terraforming & Geoengineering

Chaotic Behaviour of the Earth System in the Anthropocene

by Keith CowingJanuary 18, 2025January 18, 2025

It is shown that the Earth System (ES) can, due to the impact of human activities, exhibit chaotic behaviour.

A Simplified geological surface map of the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico (modified from Rebolledo-Vieyra and Urrutia Fucugauchi 2004120, Kring 2005121, and Kaskes et al. 202145; used with permission of The Geological Society of America) with the subsurface features of the Chicxulub impact structure marked. On the map, drill core locations are highlighted using stars of different colors: Y6 (Yucatán 6) from PEMEX (Petróleos Mexicanos); U5 (UNAM-5), U6 (UNAM-6), and U7 (UNAM-7) from UNAM (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México); Yax-1 (Yaxcopoil-1) from ICDP (International Continental Scientific Drilling Program); and M0077A from IODP-ICDP (International Ocean Discovery Program- International Continental Scientific Drilling Program) Expedition 364. Next to each star, the corresponding measured bulk δ34S range is presented. -- Nature

Comets and Asteroids, Extinction events, Impact events, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Meteorites & Asteroids, Press Release

Chicxulub Asteroid Impact Sulfur Release Was Less Lethal In Dinosaur Extinction

by Keith CowingJanuary 17, 2025January 17, 2025

Approximately 66 million years ago, the Chicxulub asteroid, estimated to be 10-15 kilometer in diameter, struck the Yucatán Peninsula (in current-day Mexico), creating a 200-kilometer-wide impact crater. This impact triggered […]

EPICA Base Camp - British Antarctic Survey

Analog Studies, Arctic / Antarctic / Alpine, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Away Teams & Field Reports, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Exploration Gear & Tech, Icy Worlds, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Missions & Hardware, Press Release, Sample Return

Ice World Exploration: Historic Drilling Project Finds Ice Over 1.2 Million Years Old

by Keith CowingJanuary 10, 2025

The fourth Antarctic campaign of the Beyond EPICA-Oldest Ice project has achieved a historic milestone this week, by successfully drilling a 2800-metre-long ice core, consisting of ice from the Antarctic […]

No words, no numbers—just a powerful visual capturing our planet’s warming. The latest update adds a new dark red stripe for 2024—a color first introduced last year when 2023 shattered all previous records. -- World Meteorological Organization

Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Gaia - Planetary Perspectives, Habitable Zones, Press Release, Terraforming & Geoengineering, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Heating Our Home World: NASA Confirms 2024 Was The Warmest Year on Record

by Keith CowingJanuary 10, 2025January 10, 2025

Earth’s average surface temperature in 2024 was the warmest on record, according to an analysis led by NASA scientists.

Volcanic Eruption - Grok via Astrobiology.com

Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Extinction events, Fossils & Paleontology, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Impact events, Lava / magma ocean / Volcanic Worlds, Meteorites & Asteroids, Press Release

Massive Volcanic Eruptions Did Not Cause The Extinction Of Dinosaurs

by Keith CowingDecember 19, 2024December 19, 2024

Massive volcanic eruptions on the Indian peninsula have long been proposed as an alternative cause for the demise of the dinosaurs. This phase of active volcanism took place in a […]

Composite age model constructed from the NKT section and comparison to other estimates for the age and duration of OAE1a. Two youngest dated tuffs SAB-046 and SAB-054 correlated from the nearby SAB section. Shaded distributions in color denote the summed probability distribution of 206Pb/238U dates for each tuff, as likelihood inputs into Bayesian modeling. Posterior distributions are superimposed in black on original likelihoods. The black solid line indicates the median, and the 95% HDI indicated by light gray shading represents the model uncertainty for all interpolated points between tuffs. The right panel illustrates estimates for the age of onset and termination of OAE1a at other sites compared to our results from Hokkaido. Note that, as described in the text, OAE1a is not consistently defined. Hk, Hokkaido; Cs, Cismon; Pb, Piobbico; Pg, Poggio le Guaine; Sb, Svalbard; Sd, Shandong. Only symbols with an error bar represent dates with an uncertainty value; otherwise, no uncertainty is provided. -- Science Advances

Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Fossils & Paleontology, Gaia - Planetary Perspectives, Habitable Zones, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Press Release, Terraforming & Geoengineering, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Prehistoric Rock In Japan Reveals Clues To A Major Ocean Anoxic Event

by Keith CowingDecember 18, 2024December 19, 2024

By studying prehistoric rocks and fossils emerging from the side of Mount Ashibetsu in Japan, researchers have precisely refined the timing and duration of Ocean Anoxic Event 1a (OAE 1a), […]

Considering the globe as a whole, high clouds and cloud-free scenes result in warming of the Earth's atmosphere, as less energy escapes into space than arrives from the sun. For low clouds, it's the opposite, so their decline leads to warming. CREDIT Alfred-Wegener-Institut / Yves Nowak

Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Gaia - Planetary Perspectives, Press Release

Rapid Surge In Global Warming Mainly Due To Reduced Planetary Albedo

by Keith CowingDecember 6, 2024December 6, 2024

Rising sea levels, melting glaciers, heatwaves at sea – 2023 set a number of alarming new records. The global mean temperature also rose to nearly 1.5 degrees above the preindustrial […]

Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Habitable Zones, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Missions & Hardware, Plant Biology, Press Release, Space Stations, Tricorders & Sensors, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Orbital Recon: EMIT Collects Data On Terrestrial Plant Communities

by Keith CowingDecember 2, 2024November 30, 2024

Editor’s note: when we begin to survey new worlds up close with reconnaissance spacecraft – from orbit – we will need an array of sensors capable of gleaning as much […]

Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Gaia - Planetary Perspectives, Habitable Zones, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Missions & Hardware, Press Release, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Orbital Recon: EMIT Scans The Amazon River in Northern Brazil

by Keith CowingDecember 1, 2024November 30, 2024

Editor’s note: when we begin to survey new worlds up close with reconnaissance spacecraft – from orbit – we will need an array of sensors capable of gleaning as much […]