Geology, ecosystems, land systems, and the forces shaping our planet.
Researchers at Penn State are recreating Arctic permafrost inside a Pennsylvania lab to learn how frozen soil responds to microwave signals. Their work could help scientists read satellite and drone data more accurately, giving climate models a clearer view of thawing ground in some of the most remote regions on Earth. The project begins with…
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NOAA’s National Ocean Service explains that Earth’s highest point depends on the ruler being used. Mount Everest remains the world’s highest peak above global mean sea level, while Ecuador’s Chimborazo reaches farther from Earth’s center because the planet bulges near the equator. The finding turns a familiar classroom fact into a sharper lesson about measurement.…
A study in Communications Earth & Environment found that the buried hot-water system beneath the dinosaur-killing Chicxulub crater lasted for at least 8 million years. The result pushes the crater’s hidden afterlife far beyond earlier estimates and gives scientists a rare, measurable window into how impact craters can remain warm, wet and potentially habitable long…
A study in Communications Earth & Environment has found that China’s most severe water erosion clusters along the Hu Line, a famous 1935 boundary that still captures one of the country’s deepest geographic divides. The study used national soil-loss modeling from 2000 to 2020 to show where land is washing away fastest and why the…
