Science

Dubai, United Arab Emirates—”The North Star of the COP28 Presidency is to keep 1.5°C within reach,” has been the frequent refrain of Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, the COP28 president overseeing the current U.N. climate change negotiations in Dubai. Al Jaber is reflecting the oft-chanted activist slogan “Keep 1.5 Alive!” The idea is that humanity must reduce its emissions of globe-warming greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels sufficiently to keep the planet from warming more than 1.5 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial baseline (1850-1900). It is worth tracing the history of where the 1.5 C “North Star” originated and what the consequences of breaching it would likely be. The 1.5 C threshold was officially enshrined as a goal under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change with the adoption of the Paris Climate Change Agreement in 2015. Article 2 in the Paris Agreement commits s...

Startling new insights into the catastrophic impact of one of the most devastating events in Earth’s history have been revealed by a team led by researchers with the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences. More than deepening our understanding of the end-Triassic mass extinction, their findings offer critical lessons for today’s environmental challenges. About 200 million years ago, Earth experienced its fourth major mass extinction event. Triggered by a dramatic rise in greenhouse gases due to volcanic activity, the event led to rapid global warming and a significant shift in the planet’s biosphere, ending the Triassic period and launching the Jurassic. Many scientists now believe Earth is in the midst of another mass extinction, driven in large part by similar climate changes. Earth scientists at USC Dornsife took a unique approach to analyzing the impact of this extinction event on both ocean and land ecosystems, using a novel...

Several decades ago, when the concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere was well below 400 parts per million, climate scientists began warning of the negative consequences for Earth’s climate of burning fossil fuels. From those early warnings, a consensus emerged that carbon emissions would need to be lowered (and eventually zeroed out) to avoid dangerous consequences of global warming such as extreme heat, stronger storms, and more intense floods and droughts. Today the atmospheric CO2 concentration is well over 400 parts per million and still rising, and a plethora of research and recent severe weather events point to the fact that these dangerous consequences are already happening. Governments have set ambitious goals to curb emissions, and some progress is being made, but serious questions and concerns about the slow pace of this progress abound.  For each approach to carbon dioxide removal, questions rema...

About 400,000 years ago, large parts of Greenland were ice-free. Scrubby tundra basked in the Sun’s rays on the island’s northwest highlands. Evidence suggests that a forest of spruce trees, buzzing with insects, covered the southern part of Greenland. Global sea level was much higher then, between 20 and 40 feet above today’s levels. Around the world, land that today is home to hundreds of millions of people was under water. Scientists have known for awhile that the Greenland ice sheet had mostly disappeared at some point in the past million years, but not precisely when. In a new study in the journal Science, we determined the date, using frozen soil extracted during the Cold War from beneath a nearly mile-thick section of the Greenland ice sheet. A brief look at the evidence beneath Greenland’s ice sheet and the lessons its holds. The timing – about 416,000 years ago, with largely ice-free conditions last...

In November of 2020, a freak wave came out of the blue, lifting a lonesome buoy off the coast of British Columbia 17.6 meters high (58 feet). The four-story wall of water was finally confirmed in February 2022 as the most extreme rogue wave ever recorded at the time. Such an exceptional event is thought to occur only once every 1,300 years. And unless the buoy had been taken for a ride, we might never have known it even happened. For centuries, rogue waves were considered nothing but nautical folklore. It wasn’t until 1995 that myth became fact. On the first day of the new year, a nearly 26-meter-high wave (85 feet) suddenly struck an oil-drilling platform roughly 160 kilometers (100 miles) off the coast of Norway. At the time, the so-called Draupner wave defied all previous models scientists had put together. Since then, dozens more rogue waves have been recorded (some even in lakes), and while the one that surfaced near Ucluele...

Open Access Government takes a closer look at the hydrology and surficial geology in Alaska to illustrate the broader picture of geology in the region, primarily focusing on Permafrost and Periglacial Studies From reporting on oil and mineral finds to helping in the aftermath of deadly mudslides, the Division of Geological & Geophysical Surveys (DGGS) in Alaska staff tirelessly put effort into growing the economy and safeguarding their communities. Investing in geology is essential for commercializing and discovering Alaska’s untapped gas, oil, coal, and mineral resources and preventing geologic risks to Alaskans. Under the banner of the Director’s Office, the DGGS consists of five sections: the Geologic Materials Center and the Alaska Geospatial Office. The Director’s Office oversees strategic planning for the Division’s programs to ensure DGGS serves the community’s needs, oversees the Division’s financi...

FARGO — Students say a pledge from North Dakota State University to allow them to complete their studies in a discontinued program is falling far short of expectations. In addition, they and faculty question cuts to the science program to begin with, saying the move is shortsighted and goes against the standards of a land grant institution. Shelby Tooz, 20, of Moorhead, declared geology her major just days before talk emerged of the program being in danger, and she spent the following weeks and months in limbo. “I felt very kind of betrayed by a university that I grew up liking. Now when I think of NDSU I just think… They’ll take what you like and rub it in the dirt,” Tooz said. She’s since transferred to a geology program at the University of Minnesota Duluth. NDSU President David Cook and then-interim Provost David Bertolini warned of likely budget cuts last fall, and in January of this year outlined st...