ScienceDaily: Earth & Climate News

Impact of Deepwater Horizon Oil on beach microbial communities Posted: 17 Feb 2015 12:40 PM PST Using advanced genomic identification techniques, researchers studying the impact of the Deepwater Horizon spill on communities of beach microbes saw a succession of organisms and identified population changes in specific organisms that marked the progress of the oil's breakdown.

New desalination technology could answer state drought woes Posted: 17 Feb 2015 11:42 AM PST Could desalination be the answer to California’s drought? As parts of the state become drier, scientists are looking at ways to turn seawater into drinkable water.

Humans altering Adriatic ecosystems more than nature, study shows Posted: 17 Feb 2015 10:12 AM PST The ecosystems of the Adriatic Sea have weathered natural climate shifts for 125,000 years, but humans could be rapidly altering this historically stable biodiversity hot spot, a new study shows.

Recent research provides new data on chemical gardens, whose formation is a mystery for science Posted: 17 Feb 2015 09:27 AM PST Recent research has yielded new data on chemical gardens, mysterious formations produced when certain solid salts -- copper sulfate, cobalt chloride -- are added to an aqueous solution of sodium silicate.

Mapping seascapes in the deep ocean Posted: 17 Feb 2015 08:43 AM PST A new, automated method for classifying hundreds of kilometres of the deep sea floor in a way that is more cost efficient, quicker and more objective than previously possible has been developed by researchers.

Plants survive better through mass extinctions than animals Posted: 17 Feb 2015 05:39 AM PST At least five mass extinction events have profoundly changed the history of life on Earth. But a new study shows that plants have been very resilient to those events.

Sending a rocket through the northern lights Posted: 17 Feb 2015 05:37 AM PST The combination of American electron clouds and Norwegian northern lights spells trouble for navigation and communication in the Northern regions. The ICI4 rocket will provide knowledge that can help us predict the weather in space.

Aranda's Baltic Sea monitoring cruise observations Posted: 17 Feb 2015 05:37 AM PST A special focus of Aranda’s monitoring cruise this year was monitoring the major Baltic inflow that occurred in the Baltic Sea around the turn of the year. So far, the inflow has traveled approximately 200 km in the southern part of the Baltic Sea. “The inflow is not yet affecting the condition of the deepest parts of the main basin or the Gulf of Finland”, the leader of the cruise explains.