Articles by Hannah Bird
Phys.org / Study finds Arctic warming three-fold compared to global patterns
Global warming is an omnipresent issue, with widespread initiatives to draw down emissions and mitigate against the International Panel on Climate Change's worse-case scenario predictions of 3.2°C of warming by 2100 (relative ...
Phys.org / Siberia's 'mammoth graveyard' reveals 800-year human interactions with woolly beasts
Woolly mammoths are evocative of a bygone era, when Earth was gripped within an Ice Age. Current knowledge places early mammoth ancestors in the Pliocene (2.58–5.33 million years ago, Ma) before their populations expanded ...
Phys.org / Lunar landforms indicate geologically recent seismic activity on the moon
The moon's steadfast illumination of our night sky has been a source of wonder and inspiration for millennia. Since the first satellite images of its surface were taken in the 1960s, our understanding of Earth's companion ...
Phys.org / Mangrove blue carbon at higher risk of microplastic pollution
Earth's oceans and coastal ecosystems are a major sink for carbon storage, known as blue carbon. Sequestration of carbon is vitally important in the fight against climate change as it 'locks away' this molecule, alleviating ...
Phys.org / Earthquakes may not be primary driver of glacial lake outburst floods
Glacial lakes form when meltwater is trapped behind a dam, usually glacial ice, bedrock or a type of moraine (terminal types being an unconsolidated pile of debris at the maximum extent of the glacier). When a dam fails, ...
Phys.org / Arctic precipitation rates to double as temperatures rise, finds new study
The Arctic is often cited for a plethora of impacts resulting from anthropogenic climate change, including glacier retreat and reductions in floating sea ice, meltwater incursions changing ocean salinity, as well as sea level ...
Phys.org / Carbon trading solutions for declining coral reef management tested with game theory
Climate change in the media is often represented through evocative images of polar bears on small floating ice rafts and bleached corals—stark white skeletons in the wasteland of a once-thriving marine community. Besides ...
Phys.org / Spain's giant hail event worsened by marine heat waves, study finds
Hail is a semi-frequent visitor to winter, and occasionally summer, seasons across the globe and tends to pass by in a short but sharp downpour that can often be overlooked. However, sometimes these meteorological phenomena ...
Phys.org / Tropical cyclones may be an unlikely ally in the battle against ocean hypoxia
Tropical cyclones, also known as hurricanes and typhoons, are meteorological phenomena that occur over tropical and subtropical oceans experiencing low atmospheric pressure, where water vapor from the warm oceans condenses ...
Phys.org / Fukushima fallout transport longevity revealed by North Pacific ocean circulation patterns
Fukushima is now notorious for the nuclear disaster that took place in March 2011, the second worst of its kind after the Chernobyl catastrophe of 1986. An earthquake-triggered tsunami off the Japanese coast damaged backup ...
Phys.org / Mighty microbes: Soil microorganisms are combating desertification
Desertification is a significant problem for arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid regions of Earth, whereby grasslands and shrublands become a comparatively barren desert as vegetation disappears over time. This poses an extreme ...
Phys.org / Rainforest response to deglaciation impacted by Australian Indigenous populations, study finds
Australia's Indigenous populations have played an important role in modifying the continent's landscape over millennia, particularly by using fire to create open spaces for daily activities. This continued until they left ...
Phys.org / Pour points: A novel method for woodland water resource management
Vegetation plays a vital role in regulating the percentage of precipitation reaching the ground to nourish the root systems of plants both in the canopy and undergrowth, which consequently supports the survival of the entire ...
Phys.org / Greenland Ice Sheet motion minimally impacted by late-season melting, study finds
Ice melting has become an ever-pressing concern in recent decades as climate change has brought evocative images of lone polar bears floating on unsustainable small blocks of sea ice. Yet, the consequences are far-reaching ...
Phys.org / Polar plastic: 97% of sampled Antarctic seabirds found to have ingested microplastics
Anthropogenic plastic pollution is often experienced through evocative images of marine animals caught in floating debris, yet its reach is far more expansive. The polar regions of the Arctic and Antarctica are increasingly ...
