2/5/2025: A new way to take lightning’s temperature

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Nominate work for AGU’s 2025 Journalism Awards
The deadline for our News and Features awards is 31 March 2025 at 11:59 p.m. Email us at [email protected] with questions about submissions and eligibility. [media advisory][information for News and Features awards][SUBMIT HERE]

Featured Research

A new way to take lightning’s temperature
Lightning contributes nitrogen oxide to the atmosphere and causes many wildfires, and knowing how hot strikes are improves our understanding of both of these impacts. But taking lightning’s temperature is very difficult. A new method of measuring strikes’ temperatures is easier, cheaper, and more effective than previous tools. [JGR Atmospheres study]

Mapping global trade’s contributions to air pollution
Global production and supply chains contribute particulate air pollution (PM2.5) to the atmosphere, but the pollution often stays where products are made with little, if any, impact on regions to which products are exported. A new study examines ties between health burdens, consumption, and income in a trade context. Western Europe’s contributions to trade-induced PM2.5 may be underestimated. [Earth’s Future study]

Europe’s 2022 heatwave and power shortage combo, explained
During the extreme heatwaves that struck southern Europe in May-July 2022, energy demand soared while the energy supply shrank. The same weather patterns that caused the heatwaves slowed wind speeds, creating a shortage of wind power, a new study reports. [JGR Atmospheres study] [AGU24 roundtable: “Extreme weather and the grid”]

El Nino and warm oceans led to record-hot 2023
In 2023, the world experienced its hottest global average surface temperature (until 2024, that is). The first half of the year saw gradual ocean warming as a result of El Nino patterns, followed by rapid warming over land masses later in the year, a new study finds. [Geophysical Research Letters study]

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1/29/2025: High-elevation sites get high-energy lightning strikes

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Credit: Tim Trad/unsplash

AGU News

AGU’s 2025 Journalism Awards are open!
Nominate news and feature stories about the Earth and space sciences, published in 2024, for our science journalism awards. The deadline is 31 March 2025 at 11:59 p.m. Email us at [email protected] with questions about submissions and eligibility. [media advisory][information for News and Features awards][SUBMIT HERE]

Featured Research

High-elevation sites get high-energy lightning strikes
Areas with higher elevations tend to receive more high-energy lightning strikes than sites at lower elevations, a new study finds. The Andes are one of the most likely spots for these high-energy strikes to hit. [Geophysical Research Letters study][see also: research on superbolts]

Dwarf planet Ceres got its organics from afar
Organic material found on the exoplanet Ceres is most likely from asteroids that hit its surface, rather than being from salty brines and cryovolcanism, a new study finds. The findings help scientists understand where and how habitable conditions arose in the solar system. [AGU Advances study][Max Planck press release]

An atmospheric pattern over the pacific influences western US wildfire risk
The West Pacific pattern correlates with high pressure, increased temperature, decreased precipitation, and higher burned area during autumn in the western United States. [Eos research spotlight][Earth’s Future study]

Thawing permafrost helped trigger ancient Icelandic landslides
Warming beginning about 13,000 years ago contributed to a proliferation of landslides in Iceland, a new study finds. As modern warming continues and permafrost thaws, landslide risk could increase. [JGR Earth Surface study][Eos research spotlight]

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1/22/2025: Soaring past goal temperatures could seriously impact water resources

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Hoover Dam. Credit: Tyler Rutherford/unsplash

AGU News

AGU’s 2025 Journalism Awards are open!
Nominate a news or feature story about the Earth and space sciences, published in 2024, for our science journalism awards. The deadline is 31 March 2025 at 11:59 p.m. Email us at [email protected] with questions about submissions and eligibility. [media advisory][information for News and Features awards][SUBMIT HERE]

AGU announces search firm for new executive director/chief executive officer
AGU has partnered with the executive search company Vetted Solutions to lead the Executive Director/CEO search, open to applications now. [press release]

Featured Research

Exceeding temperature goals will impact water resources
Warming temperatures threaten to destabilize the planet’s water cycles, but temperature overshoot — warming beyond goal temperatures and then cooling back down — poses unique risks to water resources, a new study reports. Overshoot could particularly impact glacial melt and groundwater, and policymakers will need to consider this, the authors say. [Water Resources Research study]

Forested parks are effective urban cool spots
Urban parks with high tree densities can cool the surface up to 4 degrees Celsius, according to a new study of temperatures in 2,000 urban parks around the world. Trees are more effective at cooling than other kinds of vegetation, and they make parks more drought-resilient, too. [Geophysical Research Letters study]

Dataset: Water, carbon footprints of US electricity generation
A new study offers a dataset of hourly electricity use mix, water use, and carbon footprint for U.S. electricity users. [Water Resources Research study]

How could solar climate intervention strategies affect agriculture?
Geoengineering approaches such as stratospheric aerosol injection hold the promise of limiting warming, but among the many potential risks and concerns, their impacts on agriculture remain largely unexplored. [Earth’s Future study][Eos research spotlight]

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1/15/2025: Drought has degraded half of once-prime farmlands in Europe, and a Californian wildfire research roundup

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Palisades Fire, January 2025. Credit: Cal Fire/flickr

AGU News

AGU’s 2025 Journalism Awards are open!
Nominate a news or feature story about the Earth and space sciences, published in 2024, for our science journalism awards. The deadline is 31 March 2025 at 11:59 p.m. Email us at [email protected] with questions about submissions and eligibility. [media advisory][information for News and Features awards][SUBMIT HERE]

Research roundup: California wildfires 

These studies may be useful to those reporting on the California wildfires. 

  • California’s burned area increased fivefold from 1972 to 2018; in fall, wind and delayed rains are often to blame (Earth’s Future, 2019) 
  • Wind-driven fires’ annual burned area increased 140% between 1992-2020 (Earth’s Future, 2023) 
  • What weather conditions lead to wildfire in California? (JGR Atmospheres, 2022) 
  • Particulate exposure from wildfire smoke decreases health in California (GeoHealth, 2022)

Featured Research

Once-prime farmlands in Europe degraded by drought
More than half of historically highly productive agricultural land in central Europe has lost its prime status because of increasing drought conditions, a new study finds. Three previous periods with similarly poor agricultural conditions were associated with major societal downturns — and climate projections suggest poor conditions are on track to worsen. [Geophysical Research Letters study][see also: What will European climate look like in the future?] 

Living soil crusts could help trap dust-borne pathogens
Biological soil crusts are communities of lichens, fungi, bacteria, and other microorganisms that coat the soil’s surface in arid environments. These delicate “biocrusts” reduce dust kicked up from soil, which could lower the volume of disease-causing fungi and bacteria in the air, a new study finds. Biocrust conservation and restoration could help improve human health in arid environments. [GeoHealth study] 

Seasonal swings in sea level are getting wilder
Along the U.S. mid-Atlantic coast, sea level varies seasonally, with a maximum in September and a minimum in January. The September maximum nearly doubled between 1980 and 2020, and the amplitude of sea level changes increased by 65% over that period, a new study finds. The changes could exacerbate flooding. [Geophysical Research Letters study] 

Pluto’s dearth of craters suggests recent geologic activity
Planetary bodies with fewer craters generally have younger surfaces. A new analysis of Pluto’s surface, observed in detail by New Horizons, reveals that large swaths of Pluto’s surface is devoid of craters. These surfaces may be very young, therefore implying that there has been recent geologic activity on Pluto. [JGR Planets study] 

1/8/2024: People, power lines ignite more wildfires in US West

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Satellite image of wildfire burning in a forest and smoke plume.

Aging power utility lines ignited the Camp Fire near Paradise, California on 8 November 2018, captured by the Operational Land Imager on Landsat 8. Credit: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.

 

People and power lines are starting more wildfires in tinder-dry West
Large wildfires have increased in the western U.S. in the last 50 years. Identification of the causes of ignition has not kept pace. More than 50% of wildfires now have unknown sources — a problem for prevention. A new study used machine learning to retroactively assign causes to 150,247 wildfires that ignited from 1992 to 2020, finding increasing trends for firearms, fireworks and power infrastructure. [Earth’s Future study]

Where the chickens are: High density farms cluster in socially vulnerable areas of North Carolina and Southeast US
Waste from Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) accumulates in heaps and lagoons and is sprayed over nearby farmland, creating nasty health hazards for local people. Poultry farms are mostly unregulated in poultry powerhouse North Carolina, making environmental impacts difficult to assess. A new study maps these operations from space to identify who has to live with the chicken poo: primarily regions with low socioeconomic status. [GeoHealth study]

Vulcan-like exoplanets could be habitable
Some terrestrial planets with extreme internal heating, like Jupiter’s volcanic moon Io, can have solid surfaces and surface temperatures suitable for life. [Journal of Geophysical Research Planets study]

What lurks beneath the Antarctic ice
A new model of the plumbing underlying the full Antarctic Ice Sheet aims to improve predictions of global sea level rise. [Geophysical Research Letters study]

Rivers meandering faster on the Tibetan Plateau
Warmer temperatures are releasing the sinuous rivers of the “third pole” from their existing channels, speeding the migration rates of permafrost rivers by 34.6% from 1987 to 2022 through the combined effects of higher water discharge, ground ice melt and an additional 35 thawing days each year. [Geophysical Research Letters study]

Antarctic ice melt may fuel eruptions of hidden volcanoes
More than 100 volcanoes lurk beneath the surface in Antarctica. Ice sheet melt could set them off.[Eos research spotlight] [Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems study]

Will the volcanoes of Germany’s Eifel Mountains erupt again?
New processing strategies applied to old seismic data reveal potential pockets of magmatic fluids or melts from the upper mantle. [Eos research spotlight] [Geophysical Research Letters study]

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12/18/2024: Winter air turbulence on the rise over Europe

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Climate change has increased air turbulence over Europe, particularly in the UK and northern Europe, a new GRL study finds. Hazardous clear-air turbulence contributed a significant portion of the increase. Credit: Randy Fath/unsplash

AGU News

AGU24 was a huge success! 

Thank you to everyone who joined the press corps at AGU24 in D.C. With nearly 400 journalists and press officers registered, the press rooms were bustling. The meeting had more than 30,000 attendees from 121 countries — making it the largest ever AGU Annual Meeting!  

If you want to catch up, you can watch our press events on YouTube. 

We hope to see many of you next year in New Orleans for #AGU25! I 

Featured Research 

Climate change has increased air turbulence over Europe, especially in winter
Changes to atmospheric circulation have increased turbulence over Europe since 1979, a new study finds. Hazardous clear air turbulence increased the most. Turbulence grew the most over the UK and Northern Europe, with winter being the most turbulent season. [Geophysical Research Letters study] 

Forecasting Singapore Airlines’ bumpy ride in May would have been tricky
In May 2024, a Singapore Airlines flight encountered severe turbulence; one passenger died, and dozens were injured. A European forecast predicted turbulence in that general region 24 hours in advance, but pinpointing where turbulence will strike in time and space remains difficult, a new study finds. [Geophysical Research Letters study] 

Lake Superior ice cover sees wild swings
Ice cover on Lake Superior varies more year to year than previously thought, a new study finds. Record-high ice years can be followed by nearly ice-free winters, and understanding why is crucial for predicting future changes to this important freshwater body. [Earth and Space Science study] 

Cities in Asian megadeltas face massive flooding risks
Megadeltas in Asia, such as the Mekong and Ganges deltas, are home to half the world’s delta-dwelling populations. But they face massive flooding risks thanks to sea level rise and rapid development. This new review offers in-depth looks at what drives flooding in these densely populated regions and what humans can do about it. [Reviews of Geophysics study] 

China’s pilot programs for greener industrial regions reduce emissions
China emits the most greenhouse gases of any country. Industrial regions there are the country’s primary source of emissions. To reduce those emissions, several pilot programs for making industrial zones greener have been established, and early results suggest the programs successfully reduce emissions, a new study finds. [Earth’s Future study] 

What’s the future of cooperation in the Eastern Nile Basin?
Countries in the Eastern Nile Basin, including Egypt, Sudan, South Sudan, and Ethiopia, face challenges in managing water, energy and food due to rapid population growth, limited resources, and a changing climate. Any upstream decisions affect downstream populations. A new study explores the degree to which these countries’ food, water, and energy needs are connected, and how those might change in the future. [Earth’s Future study] 

12/4/24: Damming one Andean river could cause another to vanish

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A river flowing through a gorge.

A series of proposed hydroelectric dams along the Marañón River in Peru could cause the destruction of one of its tributaries, a new Water Resources Research study finds. Credit: Wikimedia Commons/waterloo1883

AGU News

AGU24 Annual Meeting press event schedule posted 
AGU24 will be held next week in Washington, D.C. from 9-13 December. Press events this year feature AI in science, NOAA’s Arctic Report Card, Parker Solar Probe’s closest approach to the Sun, first science results from the 2024 total solar eclipse, what to do about space trash, Io’s space volcanos, and approaches to climate adaptation.  

Visit the Annual Meeting Press Center to browse the press event schedule, tips and press releases. Registration will remain open throughout the meeting, and registered press will have access to recordings through February. [register here][eligibility][AGU24 press center][meeting app] 

Featured Research 

Damming one Andean river could cause another to vanish 
The Marañón River runs from the Andes Mountains to the Amazon lowlands in Peru. New research finds plans for new hydroelectric dams along the river could cause one of the river’s tributaries, the Santiago River, to clog with sediment and disappear. The proposed dam could also dramatically change fish diversity upstream and downstream of the dams. [Water Resources Research study] 

Canada’s 2023 wildfires caused record Midwestern ozone 
Smoke from Canada’s 2023 fire season blanketed large regions of the United States. New research finds the fires rocketed surface-level ozone in the upper Midwest to the highest levels recorded since measurements began in 1995. [Geophysical Research Letters study] [CIRES press release] 

China’s forests have dramatically recovered since 2000 
China has gained 86 million hectares (approximately 213 million acres) of forest since the early 2000s, according to new research. The rate of recovery, however, has slowed by 50% since 2015. [Geophysical Research Letters study] 

South Sandwich subduction zone tsunami threat could be understudied  
In August 2021, an underwater magnitude 8.1 earthquake caused a tsunami to ripple out from the South Sandwich Islands in the southern Atlantic Ocean. New research suggests that the subduction zone where the earthquake occurred should be studied more, as the tsunami reached coastlines worldwide. [JGR Oceans study] 

Reexamining the Mother’s Day geomagnetic storm 
A new study describes what happened during the biggest solar storm in decades, including the “drastic reconfiguration” of Earth’s protective magnetosphere. [Space Weather study] 

Seemingly simple climate adaptation strategy could backfire 
Reflecting sunlight can protect a neighborhood from scorching temperatures, but surrounding neighborhoods could suffer as a result. [Eos research spotlight] [Geophysical Research Letters study] 

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11/27/24: Albedo geoengineering could make neighbors hotter

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The Sun shining in a blue sky dotted with clouds.

Albedo geoengineering could reduce precipitation both inside and outside of the geoengineered zone, a new Geophysical Research Letters study finds. Credit: Unsplash/Chuttersnap

AGU News

AGU24 press registration 
Press registration for AGU’s Annual Meeting is open! AGU24 will be held in Washington, D.C. from 9-13 December. Complimentary registration is available for journalists, journalism students, press officers, and institutional writers covering the meeting. Registration will remain open throughout the meeting, and registered press will have access to recordings through February. [register here][eligibility][AGU24 press center] 

Featured Research 

Heatwave-drought combination events are on the rise 
Combined hot-dry events can create more extreme weather than droughts or heatwaves alone. New research finds that the frequency of heatwave-drought events in China has doubled since 1980, and that land use change and urbanization may drive up to 30% of that increase. [Earth’s Future study] 

Albedo geoengineering could make neighbors hotter 
Land radiative management is a geoengineering strategy to increase surface albedo and cool the land by reflecting sunlight. New research finds that increasing land albedo not only decreases precipitation inside of the geoengineered region, but also decreases precipitation and increases temperatures outside of the region. That could result in heat inequities should wealthier areas adopt the geoengineering technique in the future. [Geophysical Research Letters study][learn about AGU’s ethical framework for geoengineering research] 

Light, not temperature, limited ancient coral reef range 
Coral reefs thrive in warm, sunny environments. But fossil samples reveal that corals did not spread beyond 50 degrees north and south of the Equator, even when ocean temperatures were much warmer. New research finds that low winter light levels are likely what caused coral drop-offs at higher latitudes in the ancient ocean. [Geophysical Research Letters study] 

Hektoria glacier rapid retreat caused by ice shelf collapse 
Antarctica’s Hektoria Glacier retreated 23 kilometers (14 miles) between March 2022 and August 2023. New research finds that the glacier also retreated between 2002 and 2011, and advanced between 2011 and 2022. That slow advance and retreat were both caused by changes in ocean temperatures, while the rapid 2022 retreat was caused by the collapse of underlying ice shelves. [Geophysical Research Letters study] 

Saltwater intrusion to spread globally 
Saltwater intrusion happens when seawater makes its way into fresh surface and groundwater. New research finds that almost 77% of coastal areas below 60 degrees north will experience saltwater intrusion by the end of the century. Sea level rise will be responsible for saltwater intrusion’s global spread, while groundwater recharge declines will account for more severe intrusion cases. [Geophysical Research Letters study] 

Climate change acceleration expected in vulnerable urban areas 
The world is warming overall, but high aerosol emissions have kept some cities cool by reducing solar radiation. Future pollution control could mean that those aerosols, which are harmful to human health, will be reduced. The resulting rapid temperature acceleration would most burden cities with low literacy, life expectancy and standards of living, new research finds. [Geophysical Research Letters study] 

Lake cold spells to decrease, shorten 
Climate change is warming lakes in the summer, but it’s also changing how cold they get in the winter. New research finds that lake cold spells shortened and decreased from 1979 to 2022, and are expected to shorten by 19 days and weaken by 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) by the end of the 21st century.  [Geophysical Research Letters study] 

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11/20/24: Proximity to oil and gas wells tied to COVID-19 risk

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Three oil pumps in a dry landscape, under a blue sky.

Communities close to oil and gas wells had more cases of and higher mortality rates due to COVID-19 in the first half of 2020, a new GeoHealth study finds. Credit: Wikimedia Commons/Antandrus

AGU News

AGU24 press registration 
Press registration for AGU’s Annual Meeting is open! AGU24 will be held in Washington, D.C. from 9-13 December. Complimentary registration is available for journalists, journalism students, press officers, and institutional writers covering the meeting. [register here][eligibility][AGU24 press center] 

Featured Research 

Proximity to oil and gas wells tied to COVID-19 risk 
Living near oil and gas drilling may affect immune system functioning, cardiovascular health and respiratory health. New research finds that communities close to oil and gas wells in California had higher case numbers and mortality rates during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. [GeoHealth study][Eos research spotlight][UC Berkeley press release] 

Atmospheric pattern linked to autumnal western wildfires 
Autumn wildfires have become more common in the western United States since 2000. New research finds that an atmospheric pattern called the West Pacific teleconnection has shifted eastward since the 1980s and could account for approximately one-third of the variation in autumn wildfires each year. [Earth’s Future study] 

Tree rings record sparse snowpack  
Groundwater records typically only go back to around 1960. A new study uses tree ring widths to identify periods of drought from 1850 to 2002 in the North American Cordillera, a series of mountain ranges that runs up the western half of the continent. The study found that groundwater droughts were mostly related to snowpack shortages. [Geophysical Research Letters study] 

May 2024 geomagnetic storm was a successful test for Mexico’s space weather programs 
Over the past 10 years, the Mexican Space Weather Service and National Space Weather Laboratory have been expanding and improving their instrumentation. The strong May 2024 geomagnetic storm was their first major test, and their instruments successfully collected a range of valuable low-latitude space weather data, as a new study outlines. [Space Weather study] 

Most satellite observations of Africa are done by non-African organizations 
African countries face high rates of food insecurity, and satellites are critical for collecting data on agriculture, water, and populations. However, 90% of such observation projects are led by non-African organizations, a new study finds. That creates inequity in data collection and use, the authors argue. [Perspectives of Earth and Space Scientists study] 

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11/13/24: All greenery, not only trees, helps cool urban streets

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A highway in Chicago, Illinois, bordered by trees.

Chicago’s streets aren’t only cooled by trees. Any greenery helps beat the heat, a new Geophysical Research Letters study finds. Credit: Wikimedia Commons/Bert Kaufmann

AGU News

AGU24 press registration 
Press registration for AGU’s Annual Meeting is open! AGU24 will be held in Washington, D.C. from 9-13 December. Complimentary registration is available for journalists, journalism students, press officers, and institutional writers covering the meeting. [register here][eligibility][AGU24 press center] 

Featured Research 

All greenery, not only trees, helps reduce heat in Chicago 
Tree cover is a well-established cooling mechanism for urban areas. New analysis of on-the-ground temperature measurements finds that while trees do significantly cool Chicago streets, other kinds of vegetation help bring down the heat, too. [Geophysical Research Letters study] 

Both indoor and outdoor air quality affected by Indonesian peat fires 
Peatland fires are common in some parts of Indonesia due to peat swamp drainage. Measurements from a network of air quality sensors reveal similar outdoor and indoor PM2.5 levels during the dry fire season, suggesting that retreating indoors may not help those suffering under poor air quality. [GeoHealth study] 

The Sun’s magnetic field helped shape distant corners of the early solar system 
Did the Sun’s magnetic field reach the far edges of the solar system three million years ago? New evidence from the asteroid 162173 Ryugu, coupled with samples from three meteorites, says that the Sun’s magnetic field could have changed how mass accreted more than 650 million miles out from the center of the solar system. [AGU Advances study] 

Air pollution tied to arthritis prevalence in China 
Air pollution is associated with a variety of poor health outcomes. A new study finds that air pollution in China is correlated with the development of arthritis and rheumatoid arthritis, and that the effect is amplified in areas without nearby greenspace. [GeoHealth study] 

Smartphone map app accurately predicts cholera risk 
Cholera is a water-borne illness that is endemic in some countries. A new smartphone app used population, epidemiological and environmental data to inform people in a remote region of Bangladesh of their local cholera risk, accurately estimating the risk of the disease over two years. [GeoHealth study] 

How an ocean-sized lake may have formed on ancient Mars 
The catastrophic collapse of Mars’s atmosphere may have melted its polar ice cap, creating an ice-covered southern sea. [Eos research spotlight] [JGR Planets study] 

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