https://phys.org/earth-news/environment en-us The latest news on the environment, environmental issues, earth science and space exploration. Rising waters are slowly but surely swallowing Carnie Reimers's backyard in the Marshall Islands, pushing her toward an agonizing choice: stay in the only home she's ever known or leave and face the prospect of becoming a climate refugee. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-stay-pacific-islanders-climate-grim.html Environment Fri, 27 Sep 2024 04:40:01 EDT news646630143 Across the northern Florida coast, most small towns were deserted on Thursday, with stores closed and windows boarded up to protect against the high winds and potentially devastating storm surge of Hurricane Helene. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-floridians-hurricane-helene.html Environment Fri, 27 Sep 2024 04:32:20 EDT news646630334 Amid the scorching heat at the Albanian port of Durres, 102 containers set sail for Thailand in early July, sparking a high-seas drama that highlighted the perils of the global waste trade. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-sender-stranded-sea-toxic-dispute.html Environment Fri, 27 Sep 2024 04:30:01 EDT news646630099 Mysterious craters that first appeared in the Siberian permafrost a decade ago were caused by climate change-driven pressure changes that explosively released methane frozen underground, a new study reports. The research offers a fresh take on the origins of the craters first sighted on Russia's Yamal Peninsula in 2014. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-explanation-siberia-permafrost-craters.html Environment Thu, 26 Sep 2024 17:03:58 EDT news646589030 Most Americans can expect wetter winters in the future due to global warming, according to a new study led by a University of Illinois Chicago scientist. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-climate-wetter-winters.html Earth Sciences Environment Thu, 26 Sep 2024 17:03:49 EDT news646589025 As global warming continues, convective weather events are becoming more frequent. The early stage of these storms, known as convective initiation (CI), can be monitored using geostationary satellites. However, detecting CI accurately remains a challenge. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-satellite-fusion-early-convective-clouds.html Environment Thu, 26 Sep 2024 16:38:30 EDT news646587506 The Delaware River Basin, a coastal watershed in the Mid-Atlantic region, has a long history of severe flooding with significant socioeconomic impacts. Recent research uses a process-based modeling approach to analyze hydrometeorological (like rainfall, snowmelt, and soil moisture) conditions during flood events over the past 40 years, revealing the spatial variability of flood mechanisms across the region. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-future-climate-shift-generating-mechanisms.html Environment Thu, 26 Sep 2024 16:37:06 EDT news646587423 A new study conducted by a team of researchers from Arizona State University, University of Washington and the University of Texas at Austin reveals that extreme heat significantly alters how people go about their daily lives, influencing everything from time spent at home to transportation choices. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-extreme-impacts-daily-routines-patterns.html Environment Thu, 26 Sep 2024 16:31:17 EDT news646587069 What do Venice, Jakarta, Manilla and Bangkok have in common? They are or were sinking cities. Wageningen researcher Philip Minderhoud studies the causes of subsidence in these cities. Groundwater extraction plays an important part in all cases. The good news is that this can be avoided. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-city.html Earth Sciences Environment Thu, 26 Sep 2024 16:26:04 EDT news646586761 Firefighters in Ecuador's capital were battling the remnants of major forest fires on Thursday that had sent massive plumes of smoke above Quito earlier this week, amid a record drought. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-quito-capital.html Environment Thu, 26 Sep 2024 13:20:01 EDT news646574210 In the past months, the planet has experienced the hottest months of June and August, boreal summer and day on record, with a global average temperature of 17.16°C on 22 July. While many have been getting on with their lives as best as they can, there are many more who are feeling the heat, as levels of climate anxiety continue to rise. At risk are people experiencing climate impacts in the Global South, but also professionals in the Earth sciences documenting and modeling them. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-eco-anxiety-qa-ipcc-vice.html Environment Thu, 26 Sep 2024 13:10:01 EDT news646572753 With typhoon Yagi battering Asia, storm Boris drenching parts of Europe, extreme flooding in the Sahel and hurricane Helene racing towards Florida, September so far has been a very wet month. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-hurricanes-storms-typhoons-september-wetter.html Environment Thu, 26 Sep 2024 12:56:02 EDT news646574157 Humanity may be no better prepared for the impacts of climate change today than in the 1970s. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-nature-climate.html Environment Thu, 26 Sep 2024 12:50:01 EDT news646572706 Parts of Florida face "unsurvivable" conditions when Hurricane Helene hits later Thursday, the US weather service said, warning that howling wind will drive destructive waves and storm surge as high as 20 feet (six meters) onto the low-lying coast. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-unsurvivable-hurricane-helene-florida.html Environment Thu, 26 Sep 2024 12:13:54 EDT news646571629 The number of days per year that are simultaneously extremely hot, dry, and have a high fire risk have as much as tripled since 1970 in some parts of South America. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-drought-south-america.html Earth Sciences Environment Thu, 26 Sep 2024 11:00:01 EDT news646567141 More than 600 cellphone towers were inoperable. Close to 900,000 Florida Power and Light customers were left without electricity. Flooding in portions of Coconut Grove and Matheson Hammock Park reached 6 feet. And agricultural damages totaled $245 million. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-south-florida-mosquito-populations-hurricane.html Environment Thu, 26 Sep 2024 10:33:11 EDT news646565579 Chesapeake Bay cleanup is behind schedule but "going in the right direction," largely because Pennsylvania has stepped up efforts to curb the flow of fertilizer and other runoff into bay tributaries, an Environmental Protection Agency official told Maryland lawmakers. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-chesapeake-bay-cleanup-pennsylvania.html Environment Thu, 26 Sep 2024 08:50:01 EDT news646555267 Metro Denver and the northern Front Range just experienced one of the worst ozone pollution seasons in 10 years, with 40 days when air quality measurements exceeded federal standards. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-air-colorado-front-range-polluted.html Environment Thu, 26 Sep 2024 07:38:47 EDT news646555121 The white, feathery lines behind airplanes that look like bits of harmless cloud are anything but, warn experts, who say they could have a greater environmental impact than the aviation sector's CO2 emissions. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-plane-contrails-white-fluffy-contributors.html Environment Thu, 26 Sep 2024 04:00:01 EDT news646540862 Norway inaugurated Thursday the gateway to a massive undersea vault for carbon dioxide, a crucial step before opening what its operator calls the first commercial service offering CO2 transport and storage. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-world-co8322-storage-ready-norway.html Environment Thu, 26 Sep 2024 03:50:01 EDT news646540834 An increasingly powerful hurricane threatening "catastrophic," dangerous storm surges and flooding was forecast to smash into Florida's Gulf coast on Thursday, as thousands of residents evacuated towns along the US state's shoreline. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-florida-girds-catastrophic-hurricane-helene.html Environment Thu, 26 Sep 2024 03:42:07 EDT news646540922 In the single week that world leaders convened for high-level UN talks in New York, nearly 100,000 water bottles' worth of microplastics swirled through the city's air, posing known and still unknown risks to human health. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-key-norway-positive-plastic.html Environment Thu, 26 Sep 2024 03:41:29 EDT news646540883 Firefighters battled five blazes on the outskirts of Ecuador's capital Quito on Wednesday, as wildfires continue to rip through South American nations turned into tinderboxes by droughts linked to climate change. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-ecuador-capital-wildfires.html Environment Thu, 26 Sep 2024 03:38:11 EDT news646540681 A month's worth of rain has poured down in just a few hours in parts of central and southern England. More than 300 flood-related emergency calls were made, major roads were submerged, trains were delayed, and an enormous sinkhole opened up on a football pitch in south London. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-opinion-torrential-opportunity-society.html Environment Wed, 25 Sep 2024 16:57:04 EDT news646502222 Livestock production is an important component of U.S. agriculture, with global demand for meat and dairy expected to double in the coming decades. This increase will lead to intensified grazing on U.S. grasslands, potentially exacerbating water quality degradation from livestock waste runoff into waterways. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-climate-smart-grazing-weather-mitigates.html Environment Wed, 25 Sep 2024 16:50:01 EDT news646501384 Accurate snow cover information is crucial for studying global climate and hydrology. However, deep learning approaches for retrieving snow cover fraction (SCF) often suffer from limitations in training data dependence and interpretability. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-deep-framework-fraction.html Earth Sciences Environment Wed, 25 Sep 2024 16:10:14 EDT news646499402 A new study examined how extreme temperatures in the United States significantly affect mortality among different racial groups and found that both cold and hot days increase mortality rates, with the latter disproportionately affecting underrepresented populations. In particular, Non-Hispanic Blacks experienced higher excess mortality on hot days compared to Whites. The findings highlight the importance of adaptation measures, especially for racial minorities, and call for urgent action and targeted policies to mitigate the health risks of extreme temperatures caused by climate change. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-extreme-temperatures-mortality-disproportionately-affecting.html Environment Wed, 25 Sep 2024 16:02:43 EDT news646498959 Recent projections show that Tropical Storm Helene, the latest storm brewing in the Gulf of Mexico, is heading for Florida and tracking toward the state's panhandle. An interactive map developed by Rice University's Center for Coastal Futures and Adaptive Resilience (CFAR) identifies the top hazardous polluters in the storm's projected path. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-hazardous-polluters-path-tropical-storm.html Earth Sciences Environment Wed, 25 Sep 2024 15:51:36 EDT news646498291 An international study led by the University of Glasgow is the first to define a safe operating space (SOS) for major rivers in the Ganges Delta, which will enhance resilience in one of the world's most vulnerable deltas to global climate change. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-safe-space-major-rivers-ganges.html Environment Wed, 25 Sep 2024 15:50:58 EDT news646498252 As it prepares to host the 30th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC COP 30, the first COP to be held in the Amazon) in November 2025, Brazil is at a crucial moment. Its greenhouse gas emission reduction targets are still within reach, but socioenvironmental actions and policies focusing on conserving or restoring forests and biomes must be strengthened. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-brazil-forests-climate-mitigation-goals.html Environment Wed, 25 Sep 2024 15:44:52 EDT news646497883