Peatlands in the Alps are mostly small, scattered and difficult to access. As a result, up-to-date information on their extent and condition is often lacking. An international research team, including researchers from the University of Göttingen, has now developed a cross-border approach to identifying these particular areas. A comparison with official maps shows that the model identifies many peatlands as smaller than previously mapped – particularly in areas where aerial photographs reveal visible signs of disturbance. The findings were published in the journal Communications Earth & Environment.

Using satellite technology, Virginia Tech geoscientists estimated groundwater depletion across the Colorado River Basin, finding recent losses greater in the historically resilient Upper Basin.

Reaching net zero sooner would limit long-lasting changes to El Niño and the tropical Pacific, new climate modelling suggests, although heat stored deep in the ocean means changes to the tropical Pacific could persist for centuries. 

A new study examining how tropical cyclone activity near Hawai‘i could change in a warmer future finds a shift toward stronger storms, even though substantial uncertainty remains about whether the total number of storms near the islands will increase.

The University of Oklahoma will receive up to $220 million over five years from the U.S. Department of Commerce and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to continue the life-saving weather research led by the OU-NOAA Cooperative Institute for Severe and High-Impact Weather Research and Operations (CIWRO).

A new study  by Professor CAI Chenyang's team from the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Professor ZHOU Changfa's team from Nanjing Normal University combining genomic analyses and fossil evidence sheds light on the century-old "Palaeoptera Problem," a longstanding debate over the evolutionary relationships among major groups of winged insects.

A thin layer of the Earth, ranging from just a few tens of meters to perhaps a few hundred meters, supports a global population of 8 billion people, and all of the wildlife, many marine organisms, and their encompassing ecosystems on the planet. This layer, known as the “critical zone,” extends from the base of active groundwater to the top of the vegetative canopy—and it is degrading. Paul Doss will discuss the critical zone further in his Michel T. Halbouty Distinguished Lecture, “Geologists in the Critical Zone…in a Critical Time,” at GSA Connects 2026 on Wednesday, 14 October from 12:15–1:15 p.m. in the Colorado Convention Center, room Bluebird 1AB, in Denver, Colorado, USA.