Antarctica’s ice sheet and The Landscape Below

Aerial view of rugged mountainous terrain with glacial water in between the peaks.

A groundbreaking new map offers an unprecedented glimpse beneath Antarctica’s ice sheet, revealing the continent’s hidden topography with remarkable precision. This high-resolution terrain map, known as the Reference Elevation Model of Antarctica (REMA), was released by researchers at the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency in September 2018. The REMA provides detailed imagery down to the size of a car in some areas, […]

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Antarctica’s Balmy Past

When the atmosphere had much higher levels of carbon dioxide, Antarctica was as warm as California. New research has revealed that 430 million to 50 million years ago, temperatures on the frozen continent averaged 57 degrees Fahrenheit, with part of the surrounding Pacific Ocean reaching up to 72 degrees. In this ancient era, known as the Eocene epoch, carbon dioxide […]

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Ice in a planetary cauldron

With temperatures in excess of 800 F, Mercury is one of the last places in the solar system you’d expect to find ice. But when NASA’s Messenger spacecraft transmitted its first optical images of the closest planets to the sun, that’s exactly what scientists discovered. Mercury sits about 36 million miles from the sun, which is roughly 57 million miles […]

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When the oceans became acidic

When the oceans became acidic

Colossal volcanic eruptions some 250 million years ago have long been linked to the widespread global extinction known as the “Great Dying“, a 60,000-year period that saw 90 percent of all sea creatures and more than two-thirds of all plants and animals on land die off. But new research has for the first time identified the specific cause of the […]

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Vines strangle carbon storage in tropical forests

Tropical forests account for a third of the total carbon fixed by photosynthesis. Lianas’ increasing abundance may be driven by changing climate, increased disturbance or by more severe seasonal drought. By reducing the ability of tropical forests to accumulate and store carbon released through burning fossil fuels, lianas could cause a positive feedback loop, accelerating climate change. “This study has […]

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