Forest management not so hot at fighting warming
Science News, February 2016Environmentalists hoping that micromanaging Europe’s forests will help curb climate change may be barking up the wrong tree.
Ancient tectonic plate blocks magma plume at Yellowstone, simulation shows
Science News, February 2016The supervolcano lurking under Yellowstone National Park may not have resulted from a rising plume of hot rock from the planet’s depths as previously suggested.
Phytoplankton rapidly disappearing from the Indian Ocean
Science News, February 2016A rapid loss of phytoplankton threatens to turn the western Indian Ocean into an “ecological desert,” a new study warns. The research reveals that phytoplankton populations in the region fell an alarming 30 percent over the last 16 years.
Earth’s inner secrets divulged in ‘Into the Heart of Our World’
Science News, January 2016More than 150 years ago, Jules Verne imagined a fantastic voyage into Earth’s depths. In reality, the planet’s innards are no less remarkable than the Jurassic–period monsters and subterranean labyrinths that Verne envisioned: Iron crystals stretch 20 kilometers long, colossal plumes of liquefied rock surge toward the surface and fragments of ancient seafloors lie entombed in the mantle.
2015 smashed heat records
Science News, January 2016Things are definitely heating up. Spurred by global warming and a “super El Niño,” 2015 smashed records, becoming by far Earth’s hottest year since record-keeping began in 1880.
Adapted for Science News for Students.
Atmospheric tides alter rainfall rate
Science News, January 2016When you see a bad moon rising, expect an ever-so-slightly wetter day. The lunar gravitational pull imperceptibly boosts rainfall when the moon is on the horizon and somewhat reduces rainfall when the moon is overhead or on the opposite side of the Earth, a new analysis of global rainfall concludes.
Ocean heating doubles
Science News, January 2016The ocean is taking heat. That’s the conclusion of a new study that finds that Earth’s oceans now absorb heat at twice the rate they did 18 years ago. Around half of ocean heat uptake since 1865 has taken place since 1997, researchers also report online January 18 in Nature Climate Change.
Ground shakes expose faraway earthquake hot spots
Science News, January 2016Rumbling earthquakes could reveal faraway weak spots in Earth’s crust.
Five things science can (and can’t) tell us about North Korea’s nuclear test
Science News, January 2016North Korea sent political shock waves around the world on January 6 when it claimed to have carried out a successful test of a hydrogen bomb, which, if true, would be a substantially more powerful and sophisticated class of weaponry than the country’s previous efforts. The underground test generated a magnitude 5.1 earthquake, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
Report card shows which states are best prepared for climate change
Science News, December 2015The report cards are out and some U.S. states are better prepared for climate change threats than others. Eighteen states got an overall D or worse.