Alpine summit vegetation will become increasingly homogenized as a result of climate change, say biologists who assessed data on the composition and species numbers of plants on the summits of seven mountains. (Hemholtz Association of German Research Centres press release)

As the world warms, the interaction between the Atlantic Ocean and the atmosphere may be the recipe for stronger, more frequent hurricanes. (University of Wisconsin-Madison press release)

Counting tropical storms that occurred before the advent of aircraft and satellites relies on ships logs and hurricane landfalls, making many believe that the numbers of historic tropical storms in the Atlantic are seriously undercounted, but a new study finds that not to be the case. (Penn State press release)

New research challenges the theory that the portion of the ancient supercontinent of Pangea that is now the Colorado Plateau in southern Utah shifted more than 1,300 miles north during a 100-million year span that ended when Pangea began to break up. (University of Nebraska-Lincoln press release)

New research has found evidence of tremors along non-subduction zone faults in seven California locations immediately following the magnitude 7.8 Denali earthquake in Alaska on Nov. 3, 2002. (University Of Washington press release)

Researchers find evidence that slow-slip events, essentially ultra-slow-motion earthquakes, are affected by the rise and fall of ocean tides. (University Of Washington press release)

Nearly 24 hours before Cyclone Sidr hit Bangladesh, university researchers gave Bangladesh emergency officials storm surge maps so detailed that area agencies were able to take action, saving countless lives. (Louisiana State University press release)

An enormous submarine landslide that disintegrated 60,000 years ago produced the longest flow of sand and mud yet documented on Earth. (University of Bristol press release)

Researchers demonstrate that some brown lakes and streams are indicative of a return to a more natural, pre-industrial state following a decline in the level of acid rain. (University College London press release)

Scientists have completed the first-of-its-kind satellite image mosaic for part of the Amazon that provides "snapshots" of deforestation, giving leverage to monitoring programs. (Woods Hole Research Center press release)

Scientists have developed a new tool for quantitatively measuring elusive atmospheric chemicals that play a key role in the formation of photochemical smog. (DOE/Brookhaven National Laboratory press release)

In order to extend alert times and avoid false alarms, a new seafloor pressure recording system has been designed to detect tsunamis shortly after their development in the open ocean. (Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research press release)

A striking composite of Earth by night shows the illuminated crescent over Antarctica and cities of the northern hemisphere. (European Space Agency press release)

Research announced this week may help explain why part of the seafloor near the southwest coast of Japan is particularly good at generating devastating tsunamis. (University of Texas at Austin press release)

The first "State of the Carbon Cycle Report" for North America finds the continent's carbon budget increasingly overwhelmed by human-caused emissions. (Carnegie Institution press release)

A satellite is expected to help scientists resolve wide-ranging predictions about the coming solar cycle peak in 2012 and its influence on Earth's warming climate. (University of Colorado at Boulder press release)

A new report from the National Research Council looks at scientific and technological achievements made in the first five decades of Earth observations from space, and also examines the potential for future satellite missions to address scientific and societal challenges through new discoveries. (National Research Council report brief)

Researchers have invented a technology, inspired by nature, to reduce the accumulation of atmospheric carbon dioxide caused by human emissions. (Harvard University press release)

The Yellowstone 'supervolcano' rose at a record rate since mid-2004, likely because a Los Angeles-sized, pancake-shaped blob of molten rock was injected 6 miles beneath the slumbering giant, scientists report. (University of Utah press release)

A study reveals new discoveries about how ozone moves through our skies and how so-called 'ozone intrusions' can be monitored using a relatively simple radar instrument. (University of Western Ontario press release)

As sea levels rise, coastal communities could lose up to 50 percent more of their fresh water supplies than previously thought, according to a new study from Ohio State University. (Ohio State University press release)