A research team led by Associate Professor Tomoya Kataoka at Ehime University, in collaboration with Yachiyo Engineering Co., Ltd., Nippon Koei Co., Ltd., and Wageningen University’s Associate Professor Tim van Emmerik, has developed AI software using deep learning to detect, classify, and track plastics flowing in rivers. The system automatically estimates transport volumes from video data, supporting continuous monitoring and advancing understanding of land-to-sea plastic transport. The findings appear in Water Research.

Cyanobacterial blooms, those green mats that spread across summer lake surfaces—do more than just spoil the scenery. New research from Anhui University reveals how the rise and fall of these blooms can trigger a hidden recycling system that keeps polluted lakes trapped in poor condition long after the visible bloom has vanished.

A team of researchers has developed a powerful new method to measure how much carbon mango orchards can store, using artificial intelligence and satellite imagery. Their approach could help farmers and policymakers better understand the role of fruit trees in tackling climate change.

Climate models suggest that climate change could reduce the Southern Ocean’s ability to absorb carbon dioxide (CO₂). However, observational data actually shows that this ability has seen no significant decline in recent decades. In a recent study, researchers from the Alfred Wegener Institute have discovered what may be causing this. Low-salinity water in the upper ocean has typically helped to trap carbon in the deep ocean, which in turn has slowed its release into the atmosphere – until now, that is, because climate change is increasingly altering the Southern Ocean and its function as a carbon sink. The study is published in the journal Nature Climate Change.

Rocks store information from long ago. For instance, their composition can reveal the environmental conditions during their formation. This makes them extremely important in climate research. This led a research team at the University of Göttingen and the GFZ Helmholtz Centre for Geosciences to investigate the following: do “cherts” – sedimentary rocks that form when silica-rich sediment mud is buried hundreds of meters deep – reveal anything about the climate of the past? The study found that oxygen isotopes in cherts do not show clear indicators about the early climate. However, they do record how much heat was released from the hot interior of the Earth to their location on the seafloor. This is crucial for understanding the early Earth: the findings allow researchers to understand the conditions on the Earth's surface up to 3.5 billion years ago. The research was published in the journal Geology.

Restoring degraded peatlands could play a vital role in tackling climate change, according to a new study led by researchers from Bangor University and the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology. The study shows that combining rewetting with biochar and iron sulphate additions can significantly slow down carbon loss and reduce greenhouse gas emissions from drained agricultural peat soils.

A new species of bacteria has been discovered off the coast of Oʻahu, shedding light on how unseen microbial life connects Hawaiʻi’s land and sea ecosystems.