Snow and Avalanches News

June 26, 2025

Top Headlines

123,000-Year-Old Coral Fossils Warn of Sudden, Catastrophic Sea-Level Rise

June 23, 2025 — Ancient coral fossils from the remote Seychelles islands have unveiled a dramatic warning for our future—sea levels can rise in sudden, sharp bursts even when global temperatures stay ...

Hidden Carbon Giants: Satellite Data Reveals a 40-Year Arctic Peatland Surge

June 20, 2025 — Arctic peatlands are expanding with rising temperatures, storing more carbon at least for now. But future warming could reverse this benefit, releasing massive ...

How Life Endured the Snowball Earth: Evidence from Antarctic Meltwater Ponds

June 19, 2025 — During Earth's ancient Snowball periods, when the entire planet was wrapped in ice, life may have endured in tiny meltwater ponds on the surface of equatorial glaciers. MIT researchers discovered ...

Winter Sea Ice Supercharges Southern Ocean’s CO2 Uptake

June 18, 2025 — A breakthrough study has uncovered that the Southern Ocean's power to pull carbon dioxide from the atmosphere fluctuates dramatically depending on winter sea ice. When sea ice lingers longer into winter, the ocean absorbs up to 20% more CO2, thanks ...

Toxic Tides: Centuries-Old Mercury Is Flooding the Arctic Food Chain

June 13, 2025 — Despite falling global mercury emissions, mercury levels in Arctic wildlife continue to rise. A new study reveals that ocean currents are delivering legacy mercury pollution from distant regions like China to the Arctic, where it accumulates in ...

Atmospheric Chemistry Keeps Pollutants in the Air

June 3, 2025 — A new study details processes that keep pollutants aloft despite a drop in ...

Scientists Say Next Few Years Vital to Securing the Future of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet

June 3, 2025 — Collapse of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet could be triggered with very little ocean warming above present-day, leading to a devastating four meters of global sea level rise to play out over hundreds ...

Human-Caused Dust Events Are Linked to Fallow Farmland

June 2, 2025 — California Central Valley, which is known for the agriculture that produces much of the nation's fruits, vegetables and nuts, is a major contributor to a growing dust problem that has profound implications for people's health, safety and ...

Anthropologists Spotlight Human Toll of Glacier Loss

May 29, 2025 — Anthropologists have examined the societal consequences of global glacier loss. This article appears alongside new research that estimates that more than three-quarters of the world's glacier mass could disappear by the end of the century under ...

Birds Nested in Arctic Alongside Dinosaurs

May 29, 2025 — Spring in the Arctic brings forth a plethora of peeps and downy hatchlings as millions of birds gather to raise their young. The same was true 73 million years ago, according to a new article. The paper documents the earliest-known example of birds ...

Save Twice the Ice by Limiting Global Warming

May 29, 2025 — A new study finds that if global warming exceeds the Paris Climate Agreement targets, the non-polar glacier mass will diminish significantly. However, if warming is limited to 1.5 degrees Celsius, at least 54 per cent could be preserved -- more than ...

Climate Change Poses Severe Threat to Bowhead Whale Habitat

May 22, 2025 — New research examining 11,700 years of bowhead whale persistence throughout the Arctic projects that sea ice loss due to climate change will cause their habitat to severely contract by up to 75 per ...

Latest Headlines

updated 2:32pm EDT

Clouding the Forecast: Study Reveals Why So Many Climate Models Are Wrong About the Rate of Arctic Warming

May 20, 2025 — The Arctic is one of the coldest places on Earth, but in recent decades, the region has been rapidly warming, at a rate three to four times faster ...

Glaciers Will Take Centuries to Recover Even If Global Warming Is Reversed, Scientists Warn

May 19, 2025 — New research reveals mountain glaciers across the globe will not recover for centuries -- even if human intervention cools the planet back to the 1.5 ...

A Vicious Cycle: How Methane Emissions from Warming Wetlands Could Exacerbate Climate Change

May 16, 2025 — The latest study finds that emissions of the potent greenhouse gas might be higher than previously ...

Sharp Depletion in Soil Moisture Drives Land Water to Flow Into Oceans, Contributing to Sea Level Rise

May 14, 2025 — The increasing frequency of once-in-a-decade agricultural and ecological drought has underscored the urgency of studying hydrological changes. A ...

Submarine Robot Catches an Underwater Wave

May 12, 2025 — Engineers have taught a simple submarine robot to take advantage of turbulent forces to propel itself through ...

Internal Clocks Determine the Ups and Downs of Antarctic Krill

May 9, 2025 — Antarctic krill do not only react to external environmental influences such as light or food. They also use their internal clock to adapt to the extreme conditions of the polar ...

Satellites Observe Glacier Committing 'Ice Piracy'

May 8, 2025 — A glacier in Antarctica is committing 'ice piracy' -- stealing ice from a neighbor -- in a phenomenon that has never been observed in such a short time frame, say ...

Waxing and Waning Prairie: New Study Unravels Causes of Ancient Climate Changes

May 8, 2025 — A long period of drought in North America has been recognized by scientists for decades. A new study links the severe climate to a change in Earth's ...

Loss of Sea Ice Alters the Colors of Light in the Ocean

May 6, 2025 — The disappearance of sea ice in polar regions due to global warming not only increases the amount of light entering the ocean, but also changes its color. These changes have far-reaching consequences ...

Western US Spring Runoff Is Older Than You Think

May 6, 2025 — Hydrologists show most streamflow out of the West's mountains is old snowmelt on a multi-year underground journey. New study finds that spring runoff is on average 5 years ...

'Cryosphere Meltdown' Will Impact Arctic Marine Carbon Cycles and Ecosystems, New Study Warns

Apr. 25, 2025 — A new study has found worrying signs that climate change may be undermining the capacity of Arctic fjords to serve as effective carbon sinks. The findings suggest that the capacity of polar oceans to ...

Why Are Patagonian Glaciers Rapidly Losing Mass?

Apr. 23, 2025 — Over the past two decades, satellite-based planetary observations have recorded rapid mass loss of Patagonian glaciers, contributing approximately 0.07 mm per year to global sea-level rise. A study ...

Melting Glaciers at the End of the Ice Age May Have Sped Up Continental Drift, Fueled Volcanic Eruptions

Apr. 23, 2025 — Scientists believe that the motion of Earth's continents through plate tectonics has been largely steady over millions of years. New research, however, suggests this drift can speed up or slow ...

Major Dust-Up for Water in the Colorado River

Apr. 22, 2025 — Dust-on-snow is a major threat to water in the Colorado River, yet no snowmelt forecasts integrate dust-accelerated melt. Using pioneering remote sensing techniques, new research is the first to ...

First Confirmed Footage of a Colossal Squid -- And It's a Baby!

Apr. 16, 2025 — An international team of scientists and crew on board Schmidt Ocean Institute's research vessel Falkor (too) was the first to film the colossal squid (Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni) in its natural ...

Pioneering Research Reveals Arctic Matter Pathways Poised for Major Shifts Amidst Climate Change

Apr. 14, 2025 — A new study has shed unprecedented light on the highly variable and climate-sensitive routes that substances from Siberian rivers use to travel across the Arctic Ocean. The findings raise fresh ...

Sophisticated Pyrotechnology in the Ice Age: This Is How Humans Made Fire Tens of Thousands of Years Ago

Apr. 14, 2025 — Whether for cooking, heating, as a light source or for making tools -- it is assumed that fire was essential for the survival of people in the Ice Age. However, it is puzzling that hardly any ...

Mapping Mercury Contamination in Penguins of the Southern Ocean

Apr. 9, 2025 — In 1962, when environmentalist and author Rachel Carson penned 'Silent Spring,' alerting the world to the dangers of the pesticide DDT, it was the reproductive threat to birds -- the bald ...

Rocky Mountain Snow Is Contaminated, Study Shows

Apr. 1, 2025 — Mountain snowpacks accumulate snow throughout the winter, building up stores of water that will supply communities across the American West throughout the long dry season. Now, a new study shows that ...

Thinner Arctic Sea Ice May Affect Global Ocean Circulation

Mar. 31, 2025 — One of the ocean currents in the Arctic Ocean is at risk of disappearing this century because of climate change, according to a new study. As a result, the North Atlantic could be flooded with ...

Drone Experiment Reveals How Greenland Ice Sheet Is Changing

Mar. 28, 2025 — A new study measured water vapor in Greenland's air, collecting data crucial for improving climate models and forecasting Arctic ...

Melting Ice, More Rain Drive Southern Ocean Cooling

Mar. 27, 2025 — Researchers found increased meltwater and rain explain 60% of a decades-long mismatch between predicted and observed temperatures in the ocean around ...

Damaging Cluster of UK Winter Storms Driven by Swirling Polar Vortex Miles Above Earth

Mar. 27, 2025 — Powerful winter storms which led to deaths and power outages in the UK and Ireland were made more likely by an intense swirling vortex of winds miles above the Arctic, say ...

Blurring the Line Between Rain and Snow: Limits of Meteorological Classification

Mar. 26, 2025 — A new study uncovers a critical challenge in accurately classifying precipitation as rain or snow using surface weather data. Accurately identifying precipitation phase is critical for weather ...

Shrinking Andean Glaciers Threaten Water Supply of 90 Million People, Global Policy Makers Warn

Mar. 20, 2025 — Scientists will warn policymakers that the shrinking glaciers of the Andes threaten the water supply of 90 million people on the South American continent at the first-ever World Day for Glaciers ...

Aotearoa Once Home to Elephant Seals

Mar. 20, 2025 — Southern elephant seals are the 'canary in the coal mine' for the Southern Ocean, offering insight into how the ecosystem may react to future climate change and human impact, new research ...

Arctic Sea Ice Loss Drives Drier Weather Over California and Wetter Over Spain and Portugal

Mar. 11, 2025 — On decadal timescales, the loss of Arctic ice favors the climate of the south-west of the United States -- and California in particular -- becoming drier on average, especially in winter. This ...

The Unforseen Effects of Melting Glaciers on Arctic Coastal Ecosystems

Mar. 7, 2025 — Researchers found that climate change induced glacial melt increases the heavy metal content and changes the microbiome of habitat-forming brown algae in Arctic fjords. As algae are at the basis of ...

Tracking Polar Bears During Their Most Secretive Stage of Life

Mar. 6, 2025 — Researchers have combined satellite collar data with specialized cameras to shed light on one of the most mysterious and important stages in polar bears' lives -- maternal denning, when bears ...

Researchers Quantify the Way Rivers Bend, Opening Up the Possibility for Identifying Origins of Channels on Other Planets

Mar. 5, 2025 — Whether it's rivers cutting through earth, lava melting through rock, or water slicing through ice, channels all twist and bend in a seemingly similar back-and-forth manner. But a new study has ...