ScienceDaily: Earth & Climate News

Nearly everyone can identify a pond, but what, exactly, distinguishes it from a lake or a wetland? A new study offers the first data-driven, functional definition of a pond and evidence of ponds' distinct ecological function, which could have broad implications for science and policy.

The deepwater sculpin is not an attractive fish by any conventional standard. You won't find it hanging on a plaque or landing a feature role in a Disney movie. What you might say about the bottom-dweller is that it's a survivor, having managed to eke out an existence at the bottom of Canada's deepest and coldest lakes since the last ice age. Researchers are now sequencing its entire genome to see how this seemingly unremarkable fish has been able to adapt to such extreme environments.

Camelina, an oilseed plant grown in modern-day Ukraine, may have been a more important and widespread crop than previously thought. New findings could inform breeding programs to improve this crop for biofuels applications.

In a new finding that goes against current conservation paradigms, re-introducing wolves and other predators to our landscapes does not miraculously reduce deer populations, restore degraded ecosystems or significantly threaten livestock, according to a new study.

A white mineral ring as tall as the Statue of Liberty creeps up the steep shoreline of Lake Mead, a Colorado River reservoir just east of Las Vegas on the Nevada-Arizona border. It is the country's largest reservoir, and it's draining rapidly.

A global research effort has assessed two promising technologies to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. While still in the early stages of development, direct air carbon capture and sequestration (DAC) -- together with other carbon dioxide removal strategies -- are considered critical to achieving a net-zero greenhouse gas emissions economy by 2050 and limiting global warming to less than 1.5 degrees Celsius by 2100.

Scientist reveal a large, all-season ozone hole in the lower stratosphere over the tropics comparable in depth to that of the well-known springtime Antarctic hole, but roughly seven times greater in area. The observed data agree well with the cosmic-ray-driven electron reaction (CRE) model and strongly indicate the identical physical mechanism working for both Antarctic and tropical ozone holes.

If carbon emissions are limited to slow temperature rise, up to an estimated 6,000 child deaths could be prevented in Africa each year, according to new research. New work estimated the impact of climate change on annual heat-related deaths of children under five years old in sub-Saharan Africa, from 1995 -- 2050. It shows that thousands of heat-related child deaths could be prevented if temperature increases are limited to the Paris Agreement's 1.5ºC target through to 2050. However, heat-related child deaths could double in sub-Saharan Africa by mid-century if high emissions continue.

Projected changes in wintertime precipitation make agriculture in the Iberian region some of the most vulnerable in Europe, according to a new study that links the changes to increased anthropogenic greenhouse gases.

The expansion of natural gas infrastructure jeopardizes energy transition, as natural gas is not a bridge technology towards a 100 per cent renewable energy system as defined by the Paris Climate Agreement. The researchers have examined the natural gas issue from five perspectives and given gas a fairly poor climate balance, comparable to that of coal or oil. They recommend that politicians and scientists revise the current assumptions about natural gas.

Earth's oceans are crisscrossed with roughly 1.2 million km of fiber optic telecommunication cables. Researchers have now succeeded in using a fiber in a submarine cable as a passive listening system, enabling them to listen to and monitor whales.

The imbalance of energy on Earth is the most important metric in order to gauge the size and effects of climate change, according to a new study.

Satellite-tracking of the largest fish in the ocean offered insight into their migratory and feeding behavior, but their breeding grounds are still a mystery.

The recent Fagradalsfjall eruption in the southwest of Iceland has enthralled the whole world, including nature lovers and scientists alike. The eruption was especially important as it provided geologists with a unique opportunity to study magmas that were accumulated in a deep crustal magma reservoir but ultimately derived from the Earth's mantle (below 20 km).