EurekAlert! Climate Change - Latest News Releases

Latest News Releases

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 27-Jul-2025 05:11 ET (27-Jul-2025 09:11 GMT/UTC)

Stormy rains in the Sahara offer clues to past and future climate changes

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Peer-Reviewed Publication

New research reveals that heavy precipitation sourced from the Atlantic Ocean, are the primary drivers of present-day lake filling in the northwestern Sahara. The study finds that only the most intense and prolonged precipitation events trigger lake-filling episodes, challenging long-standing assumptions about past climate conditions in the region. These findings suggest that projections of enhanced rainfall intensity and frequency in the Sahara could potentially reshape water availability in the desert.

Journal: Hydrology and Earth System Sciences

Tracing the geological history of spring rains: Why diminished in North America while emerged in East Asia

Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A recent study unravels why North America, despite its comparable geographical setting to East Asia, lacks a distinct rainy season like that of East Asia. Led by scientists from the Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, the research reveals how shifts in paleogeography and climate change have shaped the spring rainfall pattern we see today.

Journal: Communications Earth & Environment

After the fury, hurricanes can leave a lasting mark on deep ocean

Marine Biological Laboratory
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A team from the Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, studied the sediments that Hurricanes Fabian (2003) and Igor (2010) transported from the Bermuda carbonate platform -- a shallow-water reef refuge for marine life – and deposited to the deep ocean. They found significant effects on the deep ocean environment that lasted for weeks. Hurricane Fabian delivered as much sediment to the deep ocean in just two weeks as would normally take a full year to accumulate. These sediments -- carbonate-rich material that forms in the thriving ecosystem on reef platforms -- have major effects on the ocean environment. If they get buried in deep sediments, they can sequester carbon for millennia or more. They can also provide a buffering effect to help offset ocean acidification, a consequence of rising atmospheric CO₂ concentrations. The scientists, from the MBL's Oceanic Flux Program, published their data in Journal of Geophysical Research - Oceans.

Journal: Journal of Geophysical Research Oceans
Funder: National Science Foundation

Without oxygen: How primordial microbes breathed

Goethe University Frankfurt
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A team of scientists from Goethe University Frankfurt, University of Marburg and Stockholm University have elucidated an ancient mechanism of cellular respiration. To that end, they studied bacteria that feed on the gases carbon dioxide and hydrogen, and turn them into acetic acid – a metabolic pathway that emerged very early in evolution. The international team has now been able to resolve the mystery of how the microbes use this process to generate energy. Their findings are also interesting for another reason: Since the microorganisms remove CO₂ from their environment, they are seen as a beacon of hope in the fight against climate change.

Journal: Nature Communications

Global warming can lead to inflammation in human airways, new research shows

Johns Hopkins Medicine
Peer-Reviewed Publication

In a recent, cross-institutional study partially funded by the National Institutes of Health, researchers report that healthy human airways are at higher risk for dehydration and inflammation when exposed to dry air, an occurrence expected to increase due to global warming. Inflammation in human airways is associated with such conditions as asthma, allergic rhinitis and chronic cough.

Journal: Communications Earth & Environment

Addressing the needs of vulnerable populations unable to move away from climate risk areas

International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis
Peer-Reviewed Publication

People in informal settlements, urban deprived areas, refugee camps, prisons, and war zones can be particularly vulnerable to climate threats and natural hazards. A new study, led by IIASA researchers, explores how policymakers can ease their burden.

Journal: Nature Communications

Burden of cardiovascular disease caused by extreme heat in Australia to more than double by 2050

European Society of Cardiology
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Hot weather is responsible for an average of almost 50,000 years of healthy life lost to cardiovascular disease every year among people in Australia, according to research published in the European Heart Journal. This equates to around 7.3% of the total burden due to illness and death from cardiovascular disease. The study also suggests that this figure could double, or even triple, by the middle of the century, if we continue with the current trend of greenhouse gas emissions.

Journal: European Heart Journal

Airborne campaign analyzing climate change in the Arctic

Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (KIT)
Business Announcement

The Arctic is one of the regions most strongly affected by climate change. In recent decades, the temperature there has risen four times as fast as the global average. The ASCCI measurement campaign coordinated by the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and Goethe University Frankfurt is investigating why the Arctic is warming so much faster than the rest of Earth’s surface and what effects that will have. With measurement flights taking place in the region through early April, the researchers are working to gain a better understanding of the causes and effects of Arctic climate change.

International survey finds that support for climate interventions is tied to being hopeful and worried about climate change

Society for Risk Analysis
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A global survey of more than 30,000 people in 30 countries has revealed how people around the world feel about climate change, and how those emotions relate to perceptions of and support for climate interventions that could address the crisis. The new study is published in the journal Risk Analysis.

Journal: Risk Analysis

Dramatic increase in research funding needed to counter productivity slowdown in farming

Cornell University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Climate change and flagging investment in research and development has U.S. agriculture facing its first productivity slowdown in decades. A new study estimates the public sector investment needed to reverse course.

Journal: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Funder: U.S. Department of Agriculture

52
53
54
55
56