News by Subject Earth Science

According to a new study published today in the scientific journal Nature Communications, the oxygen content in the oceans will continue to decrease for centuries even if all CO2 emissions would be stopped immediately. According to the author, Prof. Dr. Andreas Oschlies, from GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, the slowdown of ocean circulation and the progressive warming of deeper water layers are responsible for this process.

Researchers conducted the first large-scale survey of the microbiota present in the seamount's ferromanganese crusts, describing bacteria and archaea involved in the nutrient cycle and formation of metals. Brazil has mineral exploration rights to the Rise, but mining there will have a major environmental impact.

Scientists at the University of Southampton have conducted a study that highlights the importance of studying a full range of organisms when measuring the impact of environmental change - from tiny bacteria, to mighty whales.

Researchers from the Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research at the University of Bern, Switzerland, reconstructed for the first mean ocean temperatures over the last 700,000 years using ice core data. The new knowledge serves to improve our understanding of the climate system.

As the Rhode Island legislature considers designating the Northern Star Coral an official state emblem, researchers are finding that studying this local creature's recovery from a laboratory-induced stressor could help better understand how to protect endangered tropical corals.

Is it possible to simultaneously address the increase of the concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere and the resulting acidification of the oceans? The research of the project DESARC-MARESANUS, a collaboration between the Politecnico di Milano and the CMCC Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change Foundation, explores the feasibility of this process, its chemical and environmental balance, and the benefits for the marine sector, focusing on the Mediterranean basin.

Past Global Changes Horizons highlights science of the past, written in an easy to understand, visual format, for those interested in, and wanting to learn more about, environmental issues and global climate change. The objective is to make readers aware that looking to the past, through the science of the past, can help us better understand the current environmental crisis, and what can be done to help Earth's future.