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Category: climatology – Page 2

Using a sediment core taken from the Great Blue Hole off the coast of the Central American state of Belize, researchers from the universities of Frankfurt, Cologne, Göttingen, Hamburg and Bern have analyzed the local climate history of the last 5,700 years.

Investigations of the sediment layers from the 30-meter-long core revealed that storms have increased over the long term and that tropical cyclones have become much more frequent in recent decades. The results were published under the title “An annually resolved 5700-year storm archive reveals drivers of Caribbean cyclone frequency” in the journal Science Advances.

The Great Blue Hole is up to 125 meters deep and approximately 300 meters wide, situated in the very shallow Lighthouse Reef, an atoll off the coast of Belize. The hole was formed from a stalactite cave that collapsed at the end of the last ice age and then became flooded by the as a result of the melting of the continental ice masses.

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NTU Singapore’s solar-powered process converts sewage sludge into clean energy and animal feed, reducing waste and carbon emissions while improving resource recovery.

Scientists at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore), have developed a groundbreaking solar-powered process to convert sewage sludge—a by-product of wastewater treatment—into green hydrogen for clean energy and single-cell protein for animal feed.

Published in Nature Water, this innovative sludge-to-food-and-fuel method addresses two critical global challenges: waste management and sustainable resource generation. It also aligns with NTU’s commitment to tackling major issues like climate change and environmental sustainability.

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The agricultural sector in South Africa is undergoing a transformation with the introduction of AI-powered harvesting robots. These advanced machines are set to revolutionize farming by increasing efficiency, reducing labor costs, and ensuring better crop yields. With the growing challenges of climate change, labor shortages, and the need for sustainable farming, AI-driven technology is emerging as a critical solution for modern agriculture.

Artificial intelligence has become a vital tool in various industries, and agriculture is no exception. AI-powered robots are designed to perform labor-intensive tasks such as planting, watering, monitoring crop health, and harvesting. These machines utilize machine learning, computer vision, and sensor technology to identify ripe crops, pick them with precision, and minimize waste.

In South Africa, where agricultural labor shortages and rising costs have posed challenges to farmers, AI-driven automation is proving to be a game-changer. With an estimated 8.5% of the country’s workforce employed in agriculture, technological advancements can significantly improve productivity while alleviating labor constraints.

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Mars, the next frontier in space exploration, still poses many questions for scientists. The planet was once more hospitable, characterized by a warm and wet climate with liquid oceans. But today Mars is cold and dry, with most water now located below the surface. Understanding how much water is stored offers critical information for energy exploration, as well as life sustainability on the planet.

A research group from Tohoku University has helped shed light on this by improving an existing Mars climate model. The enhanced model accommodates the various properties of Martian regolith, or the loose deposits of solid rock that comprise Martian soil. The study is published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets.

Mirai Kobayashi says current models fail to account for the fact that laboratory experiments have demonstrated that the water-holding capacity of the regolith is strongly influenced by its adsorption coefficient.

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The mass extinction that ended the Permian geological epoch, 252 million years ago, wiped out most animals living on Earth. Huge volcanoes erupted, releasing 100,000 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. This destabilized the climate and the carbon cycle, leading to dramatic global warming, deoxygenated oceans, and mass extinction.

However, many plants survived, leaving behind fossils which scientists have used to model a dramatic 10° rise in .

“While fossilized spores and pollen of plants from the Early Triassic do not provide strong evidence for a sudden and catastrophic biodiversity loss, both marine and terrestrial animals experienced the most severe mass extinction in Earth’s history,” explained Dr. Maura Brunetti of the University of Geneva, lead author of the article in Frontiers in Earth Science.

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A team of researchers from the University of Ottawa has made significant strides in understanding the ionization of atoms and molecules, a fundamental process in physics that has implications for various fields including X-ray generation and plasma physics.

The research, titled “Orbital angular momentum control of strong-field in atoms and molecules,” is published in Nature Communications.

Think about atoms—the building blocks of everything around us. Sometimes, they lose their electrons and become charged particles (that’s ionization). It happens in lightning, in plasma TVs, and even in the . Until now, scientists thought they could only control this process in limited ways.

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Could this VR experience change how you see the planet?

For many, constant bad news numbs our reaction to climate disasters. But research suggests that a new type of immersive storytelling about nature told through virtual reality (VR) can both build empathy and inspire us to act.

I’m crying into a VR headset. I’ve just watched a VR experience that tells the story of a young pangolin called Chestnut, as she struggles to survive in the Kalahari Desert. A vast, dusty landscape extends around me in all directions, and her armoured body seems vulnerable as she curls up, alone, to sleep. Her story is based on the life of a real pangolin that was tracked by scientists.

Chestnut hasn’t found enough to ants to eat, since insect numbers have dwindled due to climate change. Her sunny voice remains optimistic even as exhaustion takes over. In the final scenes, she dies, and I must clumsily lift my headset to dab my eyes.

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🌍 New research suggests more than half of global cropland areas could lose suitable crops under a warming scenario of 2C.

📚 The study mapped how climate change could reshape areas suited for 30 major crops across four warming scenarios — from 1.5C to 4C.

🔎 Even at 1.5C, over half of the crops studied could see a decline in suitable cropland, with tropical regions hit hardest. In contrast, areas far from the equator could gain crop diversity — opening doors for climate adaptation.

S impact on agriculture. + s findings here ⬇️ +.

More than half of global cropland areas could see a decline in the number of suitable crops under a warming scenario of 2C, new research finds.

The study, published in Nature Food, projects how climate change will modify the areas suited for growing 30 major crops under four scenarios, ranging from 1.5 to 4C of global warming.

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