Articles by Hannah Bird
Phys.org / Geysers on Saturn's icy moon Enceladus may form from a 'mushy zone'
Searching for life on other celestial bodies, or at the very least the necessary components to support it, has been fascinating scientists and enthusiasts for centuries. While planets are the obvious choice, their moons can ...
Phys.org / Greenland ice sheet could fully melt after reaching specific tipping point, study finds
Greenland's ice sheet currently spans over 1.7 million square kilometers and is the largest freshwater reservoir in the northern hemisphere. The ice sheet has already lost over a trillion tonnes of its total mass since the ...
Phys.org / Heavy metal toxicity found in Chinese port poses risk to seafood safety
Heavy metals naturally occur in the Earth's crust, but human activities can increase their concentration in the environment, including domestic sewage and waste disposal, fumes from vehicle exhausts, fertilizer runoff, mining ...
Phys.org / Sahara rainfall historically driven by tropical plumes not monsoons, study finds
Africa is often synonymous with its drylands that cover two-thirds of the continent. Relief is brought through rainfall during the monsoon season, which is vital to help replenish water reserves for communities and wildlife ...
Phys.org / Climate-driven changes have already threatened more than half of Central Europe's productive agricultural landscape
Droughts are a serious consequence of climate change, devastating ecosystems, along with the organisms and communities who inhabit them. Understanding the impact of this upon agricultural productivity is vital to ensure sustainable ...
Phys.org / Azraq Basin fossils reveal mammals shrank during Pleistocene-Holocene climate shift
Earth's climate changed dramatically during the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene 130,000 to 7,000 years ago, when cold glacial cycles transitioned into the current warmer interglacial. Such a climatic evolution had considerable ...
Phys.org / Mars's two distinct hemispheres caused by mantle convection not giant impacts, study claims
Mars has northern and southern hemispheres like Earth, but their defining characteristics are markedly different, a phenomenon known as Martian dichotomy. The Southern Highlands are older, higher in elevation and more cratered ...
Phys.org / Mars's rare disappearing solar wind event explained
Mars's atmosphere and climate are impacted by interactions with solar wind, a stream of plasma comprised of protons and electrons that flows from the sun's outermost atmosphere (corona), traveling at speeds of 400–1,000 kilometers ...
Phys.org / Rockfall frequency from French mountains has doubled since Little Ice Age
The Little Ice Age was a period of significant cooling from the early 14th to mid-19th centuries, which saw mean temperatures across the northern hemisphere drop by up to 2°C and the advancement of glaciers.
Phys.org / Melting Antarctic ice sheets may be causing larger volcanic eruptions
Melting ice sheets are often considered synonymous with climate change in the media, with evocative images of lone polar bears floating on ever-shrinking rafts of ice. While impacts such as sea level rise and salinity changes ...
Phys.org / Patagonian droughts linked to harmful algal blooms
Patagonia's fjords are home to spectacular biodiversity, with many endemic and endangered aquatic species. They are also an environment suitable for thriving fisheries that support food security and local economies, being ...
Phys.org / North Carolina's coastal tourism could decline due to salty tap water
Sea level rise is an ever-pressing concern as climate change melts ice sheets. Coastal flooding is an unfortunate consequence, which can have a devastating impact on the local environment, including an unexpected toll on ...
Phys.org / Arctic Siberia summers were up to 10°C warmer than today during the Last Interglacial, study finds
Interglacials are, as the name suggests, warm periods between planetary glaciations when the expanse of ice on Earth shrinks. Currently, we are in an 11,000 year-long interglacial period known as the Holocene. Prior to this, ...
Phys.org / Primitive meteorites formed in less turbulent solar nebula, researchers suggest
Chondritic meteorites (chondrites) are some of the oldest rocks in our solar system, forming 4.5 billion years ago. Therefore, their primitive composition means that they offer a window into the origins of planet formation, ...
Phys.org / Longer Snowball Earth deglaciation could have driven multiple phases of sea level rise and fall
Snowball Earth defines periods of our planet's history when ice spanned the globe, even reaching the equator. The planetary-scale freeze is thought to have been driven by ice sheet expansion triggering a climatic tipping ...
