Earth Sciences news

Oceanic crust formation is dynamic after all

Nov 25, 2009 | 4.8 / 5 (9) | 0

Imagine the Earth's crust as the planet's skin: Some areas are old and wrinkled while others have a fresher, more youthful sheen, as if they had been regularly lathered with lotion.

Ships warned about icebergs headed for New Zealand

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

Nov 25, 2009 | not rated yet | 0

(AP) -- Ships are on alert and maritime authorities are monitoring the movements of hundreds of menacing icebergs drifting toward New Zealand in the southern Pacific Ocean, officials said.

Small faults in Southeast Spain reduce earthquake risk of larger ones

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

Nov 25, 2009 | not rated yet | 0

A team of Spanish scientists, studying recent, active deformations in the Baetic mountain range, have shown that the activity of smaller tectonic structures close to larger faults in the south east of the ...

Icebergs head from Antarctica for New Zealand

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

Nov 24, 2009 | 3 / 5 (5) | 1

(AP) -- Ships in the south Pacific Ocean have been alerted that hundreds of icebergs believed to have split off Antarctic ice shelves are drifting north toward New Zealand, officials said Tuesday.

LSU gets to the bottom of things -- in Antarctica

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

Nov 24, 2009 | 4.3 / 5 (3) | 1

Antarctica has long held secrets of the earth's history locked in its icy depths, and until recently, there has been very little information on the environments that have been sealed beneath miles of ice for millions of years. ...

Oceans absorbing carbon dioxide more slowly, scientist finds

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

Nov 24, 2009 | 3 / 5 (6) | 9

The world's oceans are absorbing less carbon dioxide (CO2), a Yale geophysicist has found after pooling data taken over the past 50 years. With the oceans currently absorbing over 40 percent of the CO2 emitted by human activity, ...

Researchers Establish Common Seasonal Patterns Among Bacterial Communities in Arctic Rivers

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

Nov 24, 2009 | 5 / 5 (1) | 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- New research on bacterial communities throughout six large Arctic river ecosystems reveals predictable temporal patterns, suggesting that scientists could use these communities as markers ...

From Greenhouse to Icehouse

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

Nov 24, 2009 | 4.8 / 5 (12) | 9

A new study that reconstructed ocean temperatures from millions of years ago could provide new insight into how the Earth responds to climate change.

Supervolcano eruption -- in Sumatra -- deforested India 73,000 years ago

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

Nov 23, 2009 | 4.5 / 5 (17) | 3

A new study provides "incontrovertible evidence" that the volcanic super-eruption of Toba on the island of Sumatra about 73,000 years ago deforested much of central India, some 3,000 miles from the epicenter, ...

Using new technique, scientists find 11 times more aftershocks for 2004 quake

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

Nov 23, 2009 | 4.5 / 5 (2) | 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Using a technique normally used for detecting weak tremor, scientists at the Georgia Institute of Technology discovered that the 2004 magnitude 6 earthquake along the Parkfield section of the San Andreas ...

Intensive land management leaves Europe without carbon sinks

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

Nov 23, 2009 | 3.5 / 5 (8) | 0

A new calculation of Europe's greenhouse gas balance shows that emissions of methane and nitrous oxide tip the balance and eliminate Europe's terrestrial sink of greenhouse gases.

The shore of Deception Island in Antarctica, in 2008

Antarctic ice loss vaster, faster than thought: study

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

Nov 22, 2009 | 3.8 / 5 (51) | 46

The East Antarctic icesheet, once seen as largely unaffected by global warming, has lost billions of tonnes of ice since 2006 and could boost sea levels in the future, according to a new study.

New Method to Measure Snow, Soil Moisture With GPS May Benefit Meteorologists, Farmers

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

Nov 20, 2009 | not rated yet | 1

(PhysOrg.com) -- A research team led by the University of Colorado at Boulder has found a clever way to use traditional GPS satellite signals to measure snow depth as well as soil and vegetation moisture, a technique expected ...

International expedition investigates climate change, alternative fuels in Arctic

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

Nov 20, 2009 | 3 / 5 (1) | 1

Scientists from the Marine Biogeochemistry and Geology and Geophysics sections of the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) organized and led a team of university and government scientists on an Arctic expedition ...