The largest mass extinction in the history could have been triggered off by giant salt lakes, whose emissions of halogenated gases changed the atmospheric composition so dramatically that vegetation was irretrievably damaged, a new study suggests. (Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres press release)

Putting a new spin on an old technique, a researcher has revolutionized scientists' understanding of heat transport in the Earth's crust, the outermost solid shell of our planet. (Washington University in St. Louis press release)

Researchers have found that dust blown south to Antarctica from the windy plains of Patagonia -- and deposited in the ice periodically over 80,000 years -- provides vital information about glacier activity. (University of Edinburgh press release)

The recent warming trend in the Atlantic Ocean is largely due to reductions in airborne dust and volcanic emissions during the past 30 years, according to a new study. (University of Wisconsin-Madison press release)

A 200-year-old report by a sea captain and a stunning photograph of the 2008 eruption of Mount Chaiten are helping scientists at the University of Illinois better understand strong volcanic plumes. (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign press release)

Red jasper cored from layers 3.46 billion years old suggests that not only did the oceans contain abundant oxygen then, but that the atmosphere was as oxygen rich as it is today, according to geologists. (Penn State press release)

Rising atmospheric carbon dioxide is largely responsible for recent global warming and the rise in sea levels, however, a team of scientists has found that this same increase in CO2 may ironically counterbalance some of its negative effects on one of the planet's most valuable ecosystems -- wetlands. (Smithsonian press release)

Two new greenhouse gases are accumulating in the atmosphere, according to an international research team. (CSIRO Australia press release)

The Internet could be used as an early warning system for potential ecological disasters, according to researchers from Stockholm Resilience Center at Stockholm University and the University of East Anglia. (University of East Anglia press release)

Climatologists have modeled the past 5 million years of the West Antarctic ice sheet and found the ice expanse changes rapidly and is most influenced by ocean temperatures near the continent. (Penn State press release)

A five-nation scientific team has published new evidence that even a slight rise in atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide, one of the gases that drives global warming, affects the stability of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. (National Science Foundation press release)

Tiny creatures at the bottom of the food chain called diatoms suck up nearly a quarter of the atmosphere's carbon dioxide, yet research suggests they could become less able to "sequester" that greenhouse gas as the climate warms. (Michigan State University press release)

The Earth explorer satellite GOCE was successfully launched, and begins mapping Earth's gravity field in unprecedented detail. (Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres press release)

Global warming is expected to cause the sea level along the northeastern U.S. coast to rise almost twice as fast as global sea levels during this century, putting New York City at greater risk for damage from hurricanes and winter storm surges, according to a new study. (Florida State University press release)

Nyiragongo, an active African volcano, possesses lava unlike any other in the world, which may point toward its source being a new mantle plume, researchers say. (University of Rochester press release)

The New Madrid fault system does not behave as earthquake hazard models assume and may be in the process of shutting down, a new study shows. (Purdue University press release)

Natural releases of carbon dioxide from the Southern Ocean due to shifting wind patterns could have amplified global warming at the end of the last ice age -- and could be repeated as man-made warming proceeds, new research suggests. (Columbia University press release)

As the cold, dry climate of the western Antarctic Peninsula becomes warmer and more humid, phytoplankton -- the bottom of the Antarctic food chain -- is decreasing off the northern part of the peninsula and increasing further south, scientists have discovered. (Rutgers University press release)

Researchers have compiled the first decades-long database of aerosol measurements over land, making possible new research into how air pollution changes affect climate change. (University of Maryland press release)

Research presented at the International Scientific Congress on Climate Change in Copenhagen shows that the upper range of sea level rise by 2100 could be in the range of about one meter, or possibly more. (University of Copenhagen press release)

Dust blown off the continents and deposited in the open ocean is an important source of nutrients for marine phytoplankton, the tiny algae that are the foundation of the ocean food web, but new findings show that some sources of dust also carry toxic elements that can kill marine phytoplankton. (University of California - Santa Cruz press release)

Although ecologists expect many species will be harmed by climate change, some species could be buffered by their potential to evolve or by changes in their surrounding ecosystems. (University of Wisconsin-Madison press release)

The Amazon is surprisingly sensitive to drought, according to new research conducted throughout the world's largest tropical forest. (University of Leeds press release)

A Monash geoscientist and a team of international researchers have discovered the existence of an ocean floor that was destroyed 50 to 20 million years ago, proving that New Caledonia and New Zealand are geographically connected. (Monash University press release)

Mudslides that followed the May 12, 2008, Wenchuan, China earthquake may cause a carbon-dioxide release in upcoming decades equivalent to two percent of current annual global carbon emissions from fossil fuel combustion, a new study in Geophysical Research Letters shows. (American Geophysical Union press release)

A new study reports the successful test of new airborne remote-sensing technology that monitors the impact of management decisions on Africa's savanna ecosystem. (Carnegie Institution press release)