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Time of India
15-05-2025
- Science
- Time of India
South Africa's ground is rising, but it's not volcanic; here's what's really happening
In a dramatic geological change, researchers have discovered that areas of South Africa are rising by as much as 2 millimeters annually. Although this movement was originally thought to be caused by deep mantle processes below the Earth's surface, recent studies indicate a more proximate, surface-based cause: the removal of groundwater. Extended drought has caused extensive groundwater loss, lessening the load on the Earth's crust and allowing it to gradually rise. This finding demonstrates the larger geophysical effect of climate change and drought , revealing that even changes in the water table can quietly remake the Earth's surface. New study reveals how droughts cause Earth's crust to 'spring back' in South Africa A revolutionary study conducted by researchers at the University of Bonn revealed that the apparent "bulging" of the Earth's crust in South Africa is not the result of volcanic or tectonic activity. Instead, it's the crust reacting to a massive loss of groundwater. When droughts become more severe, the weight of water stored in soil and aquifers vanishes, leading the Earth's crust to rise—a process previously misunderstood by geologists. To comprehend this phenomenon, consider compressing a foam ball. Under pressure, the ball compacts; upon pressure release, it returns to its original form. In the same way, the Earth's crust is elastic. When groundwater is drained, the weight bearing down upon the crust lessens and the crust "springs back" partially. This is called elastic rebound—a recognized geophysical response but infrequently ascribed to drought to this degree prior to the present research. GPS and satellite data link drought to ground rise in South Africa Between 2012 and 2020, a GPS array of South African stations had measured vertical land movements up to 6 millimeters. At first mystifying scientists, the observation later led to the development of a new paradigm regarding what was happening below the ground. The GPS data provided precise and reliable observations of vertical displacement, in conflict with the usual expectations regarding deep Earth processes in the area. Findings by NASA's GRACE (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment) satellite mission also corroborated the findings. GRACE tracks changes in Earth's gravity field, which can be converted into changes in mass—such as water. Satellite observations independently confirmed a loss of mass where drought was most extreme, namely in soil moisture and groundwater storage. These areas corresponded to the same places where ground uplift had been recorded by GPS, ensuring there to be a close cause-and-effect connection. New findings show drought causes land uplift, not volcanic activity Geophysicists long speculated that rising landmasses in south Africa were being induced by mantle plumes—pipes of hot rock forced upward from below the ground. But the new evidence indicates massive uplift can take place with not even the slightest deep volcanic or tectonic ructions. This is a paradigm shift at the very root of surface deformation science, especially in regions previously considered geologically dormant. The 2015–2019 Cape Town drought had the city hanging in the balance on the eve of "Day Zero"—when municipal water taps would be shut. During that period, researchers noted the most extreme land uplifts ever in the Western Cape. This spatial-time coincidence bears witness to how close the severity of drought and ground deformation are. One of the most significant potential applications of this research is its use in groundwater monitoring. Since land uplift is linearly proportional to water loss, scientists can now use ground vertical motion as a non-destructive and inexpensive alternative for water level measurement. No drilling into the earth is required using this approach, allowing real-time analysis through satellite and GPS. New study shows how climate-driven droughts impact With climate change fueling increased and intensified droughts around the world—from California to the Horn of Africa—the results from South Africa may have far-reaching consequences. This work offers a fresh paradigm for viewing how water poverty impacts the crust of the Earth and presents an important tool for monitoring hydrologic change in risk-prone areas. Also Read | This 400-year-old Catholic saint's body has amazed scientists with its preservation; discover the science behind
New York Post
06-05-2025
- Science
- New York Post
Surprise! Ice is rebounding at BOTH poles — climate is more complex than we know
When it comes to climate change, to invoke one of Al Gore's favorite sayings, the biggest challenge is not what we don't know, but what we know for sure but just isn't so. Two new studies show that the Earth's climate is far more complex than often acknowledged, reminding us of the importance of pragmatic energy and climate policies. One of them, led by researchers at China's Tongji University, finds that after years of ice sheet decline, Antarctica has seen a 'surprising shift': a record-breaking accumulation of ice. Advertisement The paper takes advantage of very precise measurements of Antarctic ice mass from a series of NASA satellites called GRACE (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment). Since the first GRACE satellite was launched in 2002, Antarctica has seen a steady decline in the total mass of its glaciers. Yet the new study found the decline reversed from 2021 to 2023. Advertisement Melting Antarctic ice contributes to global sea-level rise, so a reversal of melting will slow that down. Understanding the dynamics of ice mass on Antarctica is thus essential. The recent Antarctica shift makes only a small dent in the overall ice loss from 2022, but comes as a surprise nonetheless. A second new paper, a preprint now going through peer review, finds a similar change at the opposite end of the planet. Advertisement 'The loss of Arctic sea ice cover has undergone a pronounced slowdown over the past two decades, across all months of the year,' the paper's US and UK authors write. They suggest that the 'pause' in Arctic sea ice decline could persist for several more decades. Together, the two studies remind us that the global climate system remains unpredictable, defying simplistic expectations that change moves only in one direction. In 2009, then-Sen. John Kerry warned that the Arctic Ocean would be ice-free by 2013: 'Scientists tell us we have a 10-year window — if even that — before catastrophic climate change becomes inevitable and irreversible,' he said. Advertisement Today, six years after that 10-year window closed, catastrophic climate change has not occurred, even as the planet has indeed continued to warm due primarily to the combustion of fossil fuels. Partisans in the climate debate should learn from Kerry's crying wolf. On one side, catastrophizing climate change based on the most extreme claims leads to skepticism when the promised apocalypse fails to occur on schedule. On the other side, studies like the two surprising polar-ice papers reveal climate complexities, but don't prove climate change isn't real and serious. Policy-makers today appear to be embracing energy realism over a myopic rush to net zero at all costs. But their newfound pragmatism should still embrace decarbonizing the economy, as well as reducing the costs of energy, expanding global energy access and ensuring secure and reliable energy supplies. These multiple objectives are not always in concert, which is why energy policy is so challenging. We know that humans affect the climate system in many ways — greenhouse gas emissions in part, but also through land management, air pollution and vegetation dynamics. Advertisement At a planetary scale the net effect of these changes is a warming of the planetary system. Yet anticipating regional and local consequences is far more difficult, and irreducible uncertainties mean that adapting to climate variability and change comes down to risk management as we balance competing objectives. Fortunately, pragmatic energy policy has plenty of low-hanging fruit — expanding nuclear power and accelerating the retirement of coal are good places to start. Advertisement The surprises revealed by the two new papers about polar ice also remind us that we need to be prepared for unexpected behavior of the climate system, regardless of the underlying causes of change. History tells us that climate can shift abruptly, with profound consequences for society. For instance, the 1870s saw a wide range of climate extremes across the planet, by some estimates contributing to the deaths of 4% of global population. More recently, the climate extremes of the 1970s led to many new US government programs focused on monitoring and researching climate, such as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Advertisement Such efforts are crucially important because we can't always anticipate the results of research. If we could, we wouldn't need data and science. Perhaps the most important lesson to take from the new polar-ice findings is that ongoing efforts in Washington, DC to gut climate data and research are deeply misguided. The global climate system has more surprises in store for us — and we ignore them at our peril. Roger Pielke Jr. is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute who writes at The Honest Broker on Substack.
New York Post
05-05-2025
- Science
- New York Post
Antarctic ice has made a surprising rebound in mass, scientists say
The Antarctic Ice Sheet (AIS) has shown signs of record-breaking growth after decades of contributing to global sea-level rise — but experts warn this doesn't mean the climate-change crisis is over. A study published in Science China Earth Sciences revealed that between 2021 and 2023, the AIS gained mass at a rate of 108 gigatons per year — a remarkable reversal from the rapid loss seen in previous years. This graph shows the shift in ice mass between 2021 and 2023. Science China Press The researchers analyzed data from the GRACE (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment) and GRACE-FO (GRACE Follow-On) missions, which measure changes in Earth's gravity field to track ice mass fluctuations. They found that the AIS had been losing ice at a rate of 142 gigatons per year from 2011 to 2020. That accelerated mass loss was mainly driven by the destabilization of glaciers in West Antarctica and the Wilkes Land–Queen Mary Land (WL-QML) region of East Antarctica. However, the recent period from 2021 to 2023 saw a dramatic shift, with ice mass in East Antarctica particularly showing signs of recovery. Notably, four major glacier basins in the WL-QML region — Totten, Moscow University, Denman and Vincennes Bay — had been losing the most mass, with ice discharge and surface melting responsible for much of the loss. But between 2021 and 2023, those glaciers experienced significant mass gain, reversing the accelerated loss they had undergone. Icebergs are shown at the Larsen B Ice Shelf, located in the Weddell Sea, Antarctica. VWPics via AP Images The researchers attribute this rebound to unusual increases in precipitation, which led to an accumulation of snow and ice. This unexpected mass gain temporarily offset global sea level rise by about 0.3 millimeters per year — a small but notable increase. While this development is a glimmer of hope, scientists caution that it may not signal a long-term trend. The Antarctic Ice Sheet, which holds more than half of the world's freshwater, plays a crucial role in global sea-level rise. Its rapid melting has been one of the largest contributors to rising oceans, alongside Greenland's ice loss and thermal expansion of warming seas.
Yahoo
29-04-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Space photo of the day for April 28, 2025
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. On April 22, 2025, a fire began in a wildlife management area near the town of Waretown in New Jersey. Within two days, the blaze had spread into one of the largest fires the state has seen in decades. Images captured by NASA's Landsat 9 satellite have help reveal the scope of the devastation left behind. The Operational Land Imager-2 (OLI-2) instrument on the Landsat 9 satellite sent back these images of the Jones Road fire on April 23, 2025. In this natural-color scene, thick smoke obscures the fire's mark on the land below. The burned area is revealed when viewed in shortwave infrared, near infrared and visible light. In the false-color image of the same area, unburned vegetated areas (green) and the recently burned landscape (brown) are more easily identified. The Pine Barrens, also known as the Pinelands, is located in southeastern New Jersey. It's a sprawling ecosystem covering about 1.1 million to 1.4 million acres (445,000 to 567,000 hectares). The fire has led to evacuations of people from Lacey and Ocean townships and sent smoke wafting toward New York City. Conditions have resulted in the closure of the Garden State Parkway at times. NASA is generally associated with looking outward into space, but by pointing its satellites back at our planet, the agency has been able to help reveal warning signs for large wildfires like this one in New Jersey. Earlier observations from NASA's GRACE (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment) and GRACE-FO (GRACE Follow On) satellites showed anomalously dry conditions in the area, pointing to the Pine Barrens being particularly susceptible to a fire in the spring of 2025. At the time of the fire, the U.S. Drought Monitor had classified drought in the region as "severe." You can read more about Landsat 9, NASA's most powerful Landsat satellite ever, and see more of its imagery. You can also read more about the role of satellites monitoring wildfires.
Newsweek
25-04-2025
- Climate
- Newsweek
NASA Images Reveal Extent of Major New Jersey Fire
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. NASA has released striking satellite images that capture the devastating scale of the damage caused by the Jones Road fire, one of the largest wildfires to hit the state of New Jersey in the last two decades. The images, taken by the Operational Land Imager-2 on Landsat 9, show thick clouds of smoke and burnt landscapes across the Pine Barrens, a coastal forest known for being prone to wildfires. The fire, which started in the Greenwood Wildlife Management Area near Waretown on April 22, rapidly escalated into an emergency, affecting air quality as far as New York City. At the time, officials closed off some major roads, including the Garden State Parkway and Route 532 and ordered the evacuation of over 5,000 people in the area. They also cut power for over 25,000 as a precaution. As of April 24, more than 15,000 acres of land had been burned. Drag slider compare photos Wildland fires have long been integral to New Jersey's Pinelands, says the Pinelands Preservation Alliance, helping to rejuvenate its ecosystem by adding nutrients to the soil and creating a habitat that is essential for many species. However, combined with the recent drought and critically low levels of soil moisture and groundwater in the federally protected reserve, the fire quickly spiraled. Using NASA observations from the GRACE (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment) and GRACE-FO (GRACE Follow On) satellites, the National Drought Mitigation Center detected anomalously dry conditions in the Pinelands, classifying the drought in the region as "severe." Abnormally warm temperatures across New Jersey contributed to the drought, exacerbating the wildfire threat. Thankfully, rain is forecast for Friday and into Saturday, which could assist firefighting efforts. In the meantime, residents have been advised to monitor real-time updates from the New Jersey Forest Fire Service in case any new evacuation orders are put into place. Those with respiratory conditions have also been advised to stay indoors due to the current air pollution levels. An air quality official for the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection previously told Newsweek in a statement: "Due to this being an active fire, we are monitoring the conditions and will update if necessary. The next chance of rain is this weekend, which may help improve air quality." No injuries have been reported so far, although at least one commercial building and several other smaller structures were lost in the fire. As of Thursday, about 50 percent of the fire was contained, and all evacuation orders were lifted. Authorities have arrested 19-year-old Joseph Kling of Waretown in connection with starting the Jones Road wildfire. He is currently being held in Ocean County Jail, charged with aggravated arson and arson, pending a detention hearing. Do you have a tip on a science story that Newsweek should be covering? Do you have a question about wildfires? Let us know via science@
