News by Subject Earth Science

New research focused on interactions among microbes in water suggests fungal microparasites play a bigger than expected role in aquatic food webs and the global carbon cycle.

Coral insights into 1,000 years of seasonal changes in the Arabian Sea warn of significant impacts caused by global warming.

New research finds that increases in monsoon rainfall over the past million years were linked with increases in atmospheric CO2 and the import of moisture from the southern hemisphere, which suggests stronger rains in the future as CO2 levels rise.

Sea ice thickness is inferred by measuring the height of the ice above the water, and this measurement is distorted by snow weighing the ice floe down. Scientists adjust for this using a map of snow depth in the Arctic that is decades out of date. In the new study, researchers swapped this map for the results of a new computer model designed to estimate snow depth as it varies year to year.

How mangrove roots interact with water flow is believed to be a key element in mitigating coastal erosion. Researchers are the first to quantify the optimal mangrove root hydrodynamic with a predictive model, which provides insight into the sediment transport and erosion processes that govern the evolution of the shapes of shorelines. Results can provide useful guidance for coastal managers restoring estuarine mangrove forests or planting mangroves as part of living shoreline stabilization.

Launching the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, a new UN report says that to address climate change, loss of nature and pollution, the world must deliver on existing commitments to restore at least 1 billion degraded hectares of land -- an area comparable to China - in the next decade and add similar commitments for oceans. The report documents the urgent need for restoration, the financial investment required, and the potential returns for people and nature.