A research team has corroborated evidence that oxygen production began in Earth's oceans at least 100 million years before the Great Oxidation Event. (University of California – Riverside press release)

For the first time, a group of scientists working in the Kuril Islands off the east coast of Russia has documented the scope of tsunami-caused erosion and found that a wave can carry away far more sand and dirt than it deposits. (University of Washington press release)

Researchers here have discovered the pivotal role that volcanoes played in a deadly ice age 450 million years ago. (Ohio State University press release)

Those pristine-looking Alpine glaciers now melting as global warming sets in may explain the mysterious increase in persistent organic pollutants in sediment from certain lakes since the 1990s, despite decreased use of those compounds in pesticides, electric equipment, paints and other products. (American Chemical Society press release)

Seismologists have found a new way to piece together the history of hurricanes in the North Atlantic -- by looking back through records of the planet's seismic noise. (Geological Society of America press release)

Discovery of a rare sediment core in a remote Arctic lake provides compelling evidence of unprecedented environmental changes occurring over the past few decades. (Queen's University press release)

Global warming in the next century could cause a significant increase in the productivity of high-elevation forests of the Pacific Northwest -- though forests at lower elevations could face an actual decline in growth. (Oregon State University press release)

The possibility that climate change might simply be a natural variation like others that have occurred throughout geologic time is dimming, according to new research. (University at Buffalo press release)

CSIRO scientists have produced the first preliminary predictions of the potential impact of climate change on the Australian seabed. (CSIRO Australia press release)

In a new study, ecologists estimate that Arctic lands and oceans are responsible for up to 25 percent of the global net sink of atmospheric carbon dioxide. (Ecological Society of America press release)

A new map plots the most accurate predictions yet for land uplift and subsidence and shows that southern Ireland and Wales, and southern and eastern England are continuing to sink, while Scotland is rising, at rates less than previously predicted. (Durham University press release)

Starting this month, a giant NASA DC-8 aircraft loaded with geophysical instruments and scientists will buzz at low level over the coasts of West Antarctica, where ice sheets are collapsing at a pace far beyond what scientists expected a few years ago. (The Earth Institute at Columbia University press release)

Meteorologists urge new research on the influence of aerosols. (Max-Planck-Gesellschaft University press release)

Despite a slight recovery in summer Arctic sea ice in 2009 from record-setting low years in 2007 and 2008, the sea ice extent remains significantly below previous years and remains on a trend leading toward ice-free Arctic summers. (University of Colorado at Boulder press release)

The windswept deserts of northern China might seem an odd destination for studying the heavy monsoon rains that routinely drench the more tropical regions of Southeast Asia. (University of Wisconsin-Madison press release)

A new study explores how increasing concentrations of atmospheric carbon dioxide may be affecting trees and, ultimately, affecting water and carbon cycles. (American Journal of Botany press release)

A 16-year study of tropical butterfly migration links a global climate pattern, El Niño, to local increases in plant production and peak migrations. (Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute press release)

A new analysis of climate risk shows that even moderate carbon-reduction policies now can substantially lower the risk of future climate change. (Massachusetts Institute of Technology press release)

Acidic clouds are feeding bioavailable iron to the oceans -- a discovery which sheds light on the natural processes that remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. (University of Leeds press release)