Articles by Hannah Bird
Phys.org / Lakes aren't just storing water—they're changing the carbon cycle
Lakes may look like picturesque stopping points along a river or stream, but they can have a big influence on what happens to carbon as it moves through a landscape. New research suggests that the more lake-rich a network ...
Phys.org / Salt may have helped turn Earth into a frozen world 700 million years ago
Earth may have been pushed deeper into a global deep freeze by something surprisingly ordinary: salt. Around 700 million years ago, Earth entered periods of extreme glaciation known as Snowball Earth, when ice is thought ...
Phys.org / UK and Ireland face greatest risk from rare tropical cyclones reaching Europe
Europe is no stranger to powerful windstorms, but some storms capable of causing serious damage have an unusual origin. Tropical cyclones can occasionally travel north from lower latitudes and reach Europe, where they can ...
Phys.org / Ancient Rome's food shortages were shaped more by logistics than climate
Ancient Rome's greatest threat to food security wasn't the weather but the challenge of getting grain to the capital, according to a new study. By comparing hundreds of years of historical records with reconstructions of ...
Phys.org / Small tropical islands face dangerous humid heat by end of the century
Millions of people living on tropical islands could face a future of increasingly dangerous heat as climate change drives longer and more intense periods of humid conditions. While rising temperatures are often discussed ...
Phys.org / Africa's wildfire season is actually getting shorter, scientists think they know why
Africa is home to around 70% of the world's burned area—the total area of land scorched by wildfires each year—making it the planet's biggest wildfire hotspot. Yet despite this, satellite observations have revealed an unexpected ...
Phys.org / Why natural forests survive heat waves better than planted forests
When a record-breaking drought and heat wave swept across China's Yangtze River Basin in 2022, forests across the region faced an extreme test. The event provided a rare opportunity for researchers to test how different forests ...
Phys.org / Antarctic ozone loss drove unexpected Southern Ocean cooling, climate model shows
The Southern Ocean has long stood out as an oddity in the global climate system. While most of the planet's surface oceans have warmed in response to rising greenhouse gases, waters circling Antarctica showed an unexpected ...
Phys.org / Coastal and estuarine carbon removal technique may backfire when pushed too far
Scientists investigating a proposed way to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere using seawater have found that adding too much alkalinity to neutralize acids can trigger chemical reactions that undermine the process.
Phys.org / Coal pollution reaches one of Earth's most remote mountain regions
The Himalayas are often seen as one of Earth's great natural barriers, separating the heavily populated and industrialized regions of South Asia from the remote Tibetan Plateau. But new research, published in Geophysical ...
Phys.org / Climate change reshapes Spain's rockfall risk as frost weathering moves uphill
Climate change is altering where and when rocks are most likely to fracture across Spain, according to new research that suggests warming temperatures are redistributing a key process responsible for breaking down mountain ...
Science X / Hot European summers may be predictable years in advance from North Atlantic warming
A buildup of warmth in the North Atlantic Ocean could provide an early warning that Europe is more likely to experience unusually hot summers years later, according to a new study published in Geophysical Research Letters.
Phys.org / Volcanic eruptions linked to rising famine risk across China's history
Large volcanic eruptions may have played a bigger role in triggering historical famines across China than previously understood, according to a new study that traced links between eruptions, climate disruption, and food shortages ...
Phys.org / Hidden meltwater found deep in Antarctic coastal waters reveals stronger climate impacts
Freshwater from melting Antarctic glaciers may be influencing the Southern Ocean in ways scientists have largely overlooked. New research, published in Frontiers in Marine Science, has found that glacial meltwater is not ...
Phys.org / Intensifying droughts may be pushing tropical forests toward a dangerous threshold
Tropical forests, often described as the lungs of the planet, may be edging closer to a dangerous threshold as droughts become more frequent and widespread across the world's humid tropics. New research suggests these ecosystems ...
