Rising sea levels, melting glaciers, heatwaves at sea – 2023 set a number of alarming new records. The global mean temperature also rose to nearly 1.5 degrees above the preindustrial level, another record. Seeking to identify the causes of this sudden rise has proven a challenge for researchers. After all, factoring in the effects of anthropogenic influences like the accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, of the weather phenomenon El Niño, and of natural events like volcanic eruptions, can account for a major portion of the warming. But doing so still leaves a gap of roughly 0.2 degrees Celsius, which has never been satisfactorily explained. A team led by the Alfred Wegener Institute puts forward a possible explanation for the rise in global mean temperature: our planet has become less reflective because certain types of clouds have declined.

The overlapping effects of sea level rise, permafrost thaw subsidence, and erosion may lead to land loss in Arctic coastal regions that dwarfs the loss of land from any single one of these climate hazards, scientists say.

An international team of scientists -- including faculty at Binghamton University, State University of New York -- is undergoing an ambitious mission to obtain critical geological records from the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. The vast ice sheet holds enough ice to raise sea levels by 13 to 16.4 feet if it melts completely. Research has found a collapse might be inevitable for some parts of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet.

A new study from Tel Aviv University has found that the smartphones we all carry in our pockets could help collect weather data from the public to provide early warnings for extreme weather, such as wildfires.

The rainforest in the Amazon basin transpires vast amounts of gaseous isoprene. Until now, it was assumed that this molecule is not transported far up into the atmosphere, as it rapidly declines when exposed to light conditions. The CAFE-Brazil measurement campaign provided data for two studies – now published as the Nature cover story – which demonstrate, however, that nocturnal thunderstorms transport the isoprene to an altitude of up to 15 kilometers. There, it reacts to form chemical compounds capable of forming vast numbers of new aerosol particles. These grow further and contribute to cloud formation as condensation nuclei. This mechanism is likely to affect the climate, too.

What was the cause of the great Tōhoku earthquake of 2011, and how can we better understand geological processes in order to protect coastal infrastructure in the long term – for example, from a tsunami like the one 13 years ago? These questions are currently the focus of a scientific expedition as part of the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP), in which researchers from the MARUM – Center for Marine Environmental Sciences at the University of Bremen are participating.