Iran’s biodiverse Anzali wetland is at risk of becoming a seasonal waterbody or drying up entirely as a result of decreased rainfall, higher water demand, and more sediment choking waterways, according to new research published in Earth’s Future. Credit: keyvan/Adobe Stock

AGU News

Ocean Sciences Meeting starts next week! Press registration remains open through 23 February
Browse nearly 5,000 abstracts for #OSM24, held 18-23 February in New Orleans. [OSM24 scientific program][OSM24 press registration][press release]

Register to attend the Triennial Earth-Sun Summit during the eclipse!
The Triennial Earth-Sun Summit (TESS) will be held 7-12 April in Dallas, Texas, in the path of totality. Scientific programming begins on 9 April, the day after the eclipse. To register, simply email us at [email protected]. Scientific sessions are on-site only. AGU’s housing is full. [TESS website][scientific program]

Featured Research

Iran’s “ecological gem,” the Anzali wetland, could dry up by 2060
The Anzali wetland sits in northern Iran, where nine major rivers meet the Caspian. Facing mounting environmental pressures, this hotspot of biodiversity, tourism and fishing could become a seasonal waterbody by 2100 or, in the worst-case scenario, dry up entirely as soon as 2060. [JGR Atmospheres research]

Cryptomare hiding on Moon’s backside suggest more volcanic past
Cryptomare, or cooled lava deposits covered by other material, hold important information about how much volcanic activity the Moon once had. New mapping of cryptomare and their “dark halos” suggests more extensive volcanism than previously thought, with about half the mare on the dark side of the Moon. [JGR Planets research]

Geomagnetic storms were a drag for Starlink
In February 2022, a pair of geomagnetic storms struck the upper atmosphere, causing the density in the atmosphere to suddenly and significantly increase. Higher atmospheric density dragged Starlink satellites as they whizzed by, causing them to fall out of the sky within several days. [Space Weather research]

Foreshock or swarm? Scientists need a big quake to decide
Clusters of seismic activity called foreshocks can occur before a larger earthquake, but similar clusters can also happen without a big quake. Scientists can only tell them apart after a big quake has happened, limiting foreshocks’ predictive capabilities, a new study finds. [JGR Solid Earth research]

Prescribed burns could expose more Californians to smoke
Prescribed burns can lower the risk of intense, uncontrolled wildfires, instead producing more days of less-dense smoke. For some densely populated areas in CA, adding prescribed burns could end up exposing more people to smoke, pointing to a need for good public awareness of burn days to minimize public health risks. [Earth’s Future research]

The escalating impact of global warming on atmospheric rivers
Climate change is set to intensify atmospheric rivers and exacerbate extreme rainfall worldwide. [Eos research spotlight][JGR Atmospheres research]

Intense rainstorms sculpt desert cliffs
New mathematical models show that the persistence of near-vertical cliffs in arid landscapes is maintained by infrequent but intense rainstorms. [Eos editors’ highlight][JGR Earth Surface research]

AGU (www.agu.org) is a global community supporting more than half a million advocates and professionals in Earth and space sciences. Through broad and inclusive partnerships, AGU aims to advance discovery and solution science that accelerate knowledge and create solutions that are ethical, unbiased and respectful of communities and their values. Our programs include serving as a scholarly publisher, convening virtual and in-person events and providing career support. We live our values in everything we do, such as our net zero energy renovated building in Washington, D.C. and our Ethics and Equity Center, which fosters a diverse and inclusive geoscience community to ensure responsible conduct.

Road damage following flooding. Credit: USFWS

AGU News

Press registration open for Ocean Sciences Meeting
Browse nearly 5,000 abstracts for #OSM24, held 18-23 February in New Orleans. [OSM24 scientific program][OSM24 press registration][press release]

Register to attend the Triennial Earth-Sun Summit during the eclipse!
The Triennial Earth-Sun Summit (TESS) will be held 7-12 April in Dallas, Texas, in the path of totality. Scientific programming begins on 9 April, the day after the eclipse. To register, simply email us at [email protected]. Scientific sessions are on-site only. AGU’s housing is full. [TESS website][scientific program]

Research roundup: Atmospheric rivers
As California is hit with yet another atmospheric river, check out the latest research on this increasingly important phenomenon. [intensity scale for atmospheric rivers][ARs in the western US tend to come in clusters][600 years of atmospheric rivers in western US][atmospheric river “super-sequences” challenge California’s infrastructure][wetter than your average storm, yet not great for groundwater recharge][climate model predicts more frequent, intense, long-lasting atmospheric rivers]

Featured Research

Climate extremes stress world’s roads and rails
Heavy rains, extreme temperatures, and more freeze-thaw events can lead to damaging wear-and-tear on road and rail infrastructure. Risks are highest in places like south and east Asia, west and central Europe, and eastern North America because of the density of roads and railways there. [Earth’s Future research]

Europe’s rainiest days are getting worse
Climate change is causing precipitation extremes, leading to deadly flooding and other hazards. In Europe, just 22 to 34 rainy days are responsible for half of the year’s precipitation, a significant increase from the mid-1900s. [Geophysical Research Letters research]

Drought-to-flood whiplash events increasing in China
Sudden switches from drought conditions to heavy precipitation and flooding are hazardous and becoming more common in many parts of the world, including China. Since 1961, there have been nearly three more drought-to-flood events per decade in the country, with northern China being hardest-hit. [JGR Atmospheres research]

Seasonal water scarcity tied to conflict in northwest Africa
Climate change is expected to increase the occurrence of violent conflicts related to water scarcity, but regional outlooks depend on localized water predictions. A new study of the Sahel and Lake Chad Basin finds water conflicts have been driven by soil moisture deficits and use rates in different seasons. The clearer picture of water scarcity may help improve water management, decreasing the likelihood of conflict. [Earth’s Future research]

High water levels cause problems for Mississippi shipping, too
High water levels can make barges difficult to maneuver and overwhelm locks. Those conditions have become more common in recent decades. [Eos research spotlight][Geophysical Research Letters research]

AGU (www.agu.org) is a global community supporting more than half a million advocates and professionals in Earth and space sciences. Through broad and inclusive partnerships, AGU aims to advance discovery and solution science that accelerate knowledge and create solutions that are ethical, unbiased and respectful of communities and their values. Our programs include serving as a scholarly publisher, convening virtual and in-person events and providing career support. We live our values in everything we do, such as our net zero energy renovated building in Washington, D.C. and our Ethics and Equity Center, which fosters a diverse and inclusive geoscience community to ensure responsible conduct.

Lightning off the coast of Cancun, Mexico. The largest thunderstorms, flaunting the biggest lightning megaflashes, frequent the Great Plains in North America and the eastern La Plata basin in South America, but the storms with the highest density of flashes occur over the ocean, mostly through the Gulf of Mexico and east of South Africa, a new study finds.
Credit: Keith Pomakis, CC BY-SA 2.5

AGU News

Press registration open for Ocean Sciences Meeting
Browse nearly 5,000 abstracts for #OSM24, held 18-23 February in New Orleans. [OSM24 scientific program][OSM24 press registration][press release]

Register to attend the Triennial Earth-Sun Summit during the eclipse!
The Triennial Earth-Sun Summit (TESS) will be held 7-12 April in Dallas, Texas, in the path of totality. Scientific programming begins on 9 April, the day after the eclipse. To register, simply email us at [email protected]. Scientific sessions are on-site only. AGU’s housing is full. [TESS website][scientific program]

Featured Research

Small farm irrigation ponds have big evaporative losses in Europe’s water-stressed regions
In Italy, Spain and Portugal, the number of reservoirs smaller than 100 square meters have doubled in the last two decades. Hotter temperatures are driving both rising demand for stored irrigation water and increasing losses to evaporation, according to a study that finds nearly 40% of the water capacity in the ponds evaporates. [Earth’s Future research]

Densest lightning on Earth occurs over sea, not land
A new class of extreme thunderstorm claims the title for most frequent lightning concentrated in a small area — some flashing so fast they would appear continuously lit to the human eye. These compact “lightning-dense” storms were previously underappreciated because their lightning flashes in a tempo too quick for accurate measurement by automated detection systems. Strong updrafts rivaling the most powerful thunderstorms on Earth drive the high flash rate, but unlike the largest thunderstorms, they occur over the ocean. [Earth and Space Science research]

13,000 barriers fragment Mekong Rivers’ rich habitat
The Mekong River basin in Southeast Asia is one of the most biodiverse regions on the planet, but dams and other waterway barriers can cause ecologically damaging habitat fragmentation. A new study finds more than 10,000 previously undocumented such barriers, suggesting a greater degree of habitat fragmentation than known. [Water Resources Research research]

Measuring methane stemming from tree stems
Wetland tree stem emissions have emerged as a significant contributor to the global methane budget. A new study tracks how they vary by season, location, and hydrological conditions. [Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences research] [Eos research spotlight]

Deep learning tackles deep uncertainty about future sea levels
A new method based on artificial intelligence could help accelerate projections of polar ice melt and future sea level rise. [Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems research] [Eos editors’ highlight]

A dust-up over dust underestimations
Dust has significant impacts on the environment, climate, air quality, and human health, yet dust events are underestimated and therefore do not receive the level of attention necessary. [GeoHealth research][Eos editors’ highlight]

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AGU (www.agu.org) is a global community supporting more than half a million advocates and professionals in Earth and space sciences. Through broad and inclusive partnerships, AGU aims to advance discovery and solution science that accelerate knowledge and create solutions that are ethical, unbiased and respectful of communities and their values. Our programs include serving as a scholarly publisher, convening virtual and in-person events and providing career support. We live our values in everything we do, such as our net zero energy renovated building in Washington, D.C. and our Ethics and Equity Center, which fosters a diverse and inclusive geoscience community to ensure responsible conduct.

The Black Sea. Dmitry Ant/unsplash

AGU News

Register to attend the Triennial Earth-Sun Summit during the eclipse!
The Triennial Earth-Sun Summit (TESS) will be held 7-12 April in Dallas, Texas, in the path of totality. Scientific programming begins on 9 April, the day after the eclipse. To register, simply email us at [email protected]. Scientific sessions are on-site only. AGU’s housing is full. [TESS website][scientific program]

Nominate yourself or a colleague for AGU’s 2024 Journalism Awards
Awards for news and feature writing honor outstanding reporting in the Earth and space sciences published in the previous year (2023). Self-nominations are encouraged. The deadline is 27 March 2024 at 11:59 p.m. ET. [press release]

Housing deadline for Ocean Sciences Meeting 1/24
Browse nearly 5,000 abstracts for #OSM24, held 18-23 February in New Orleans, and register with housing before the housing deadline on 24 January. [OSM24 scientific program][OSM24 press registration][press release]

Featured Research

Black Sea could be best spot for some carbon sequestration
One proposed method of carbon sequestration involves storing large volumes of organic carbon, or biomass, on the seafloor, but doing so risks upending the seafloor’s ecological balance and chemistry. A new study of those impacts pinpoints the low-oxygen Black Sea as a potential pot for biomass storage with fewer knock-on effects. The study cautions extensive further evaluation would be needed to implement the plan. [AGU Advances research][AGU-led ethics of geoengineering research]

Marine ecosystem changes are getting more abrupt
Ocean changes, such as acidification, warming, and oxygen loss, stress marine ecosystems, and the more abrupt those changes are, the harder it is for ecosystems to respond. Abrupt changes are occurring more frequently and will continue to increase, factors which have been left out of some climate analyses, according to a new study. The timeline of effective climate mitigation may “close sooner than expected.” [Geophysical Research Letters research]

Soaring temps evaporate away California’s water
Droughts can be caused by high temperatures, a drop in precipitation, or a combination of both. New modeling shows that in California, soaring temperatures alone may be enough to drive severe droughts in the future. [Earth’s Future research]

Volcanism may have breathed life into the “boring billion”
Some geologists call the period from about 1.8 billion years ago to 800 million years ago the “boring billion” because generally, it had low nutrient availability and low oxygen levels. But around 1.4 billion years ago, there’s some evidence of a global puff of oxygen. New mercury measurements, which can indicate volcanic activity, support large-scale volcanism as a potential cause of this brief oxygenation event. [Geophysical Research Letters research]

Mars has equatorial belt of thick, buried ice
New radar results reveal the mystery buried material in Mars’ Medusae Fossae formation are 3.7 kilometers deep, thicker than previously thought, and likely water ice. If the ice melted, it would cover the planet in up to nearly 3 meters of water. [ESA press release][Geophysical Research Letters research]

AGU (www.agu.org) is a global community supporting more than half a million advocates and professionals in Earth and space sciences. Through broad and inclusive partnerships, AGU aims to advance discovery and solution science that accelerate knowledge and create solutions that are ethical, unbiased and respectful of communities and their values. Our programs include serving as a scholarly publisher, convening virtual and in-person events and providing career support. We live our values in everything we do, such as our net zero energy renovated building in Washington, D.C. and our Ethics and Equity Center, which fosters a diverse and inclusive geoscience community to ensure responsible conduct.

These spiked ice formations, called pentitentes, only form in specific environmental conditions. Europa, one of Jupiter’s moons, may be able to grow penitentes near its equator, according to new JGR Planets research. Credit: flickr

AGU NEWS
AGU23 is approaching! Press registration remains open for the duration of the conference. The press event schedule, recommended sessions and tipsheets will be available beginning on 4 December. No need to worry that you’ll miss a media advisory about the conference — just head over to the AGU Newsroom and search for posts tagged AGU23. We’ll be posting everything there. [AGU23 press center][AGU23 announcements in the Newsroom] 

FEATURED RESEARCH
Lethal, sulfide-filled waters drove mass extinction 500 million years ago
Around 500 million years ago, Earth lost up to 45% of known genera in the first major mass extinction of the Phanerozoic Eon. Scientists long thought the extinction event was due to marine anoxia, a lack of oxygen in the oceans. But expanding, deadly sulfidic conditions likely played a role too, according to new molybdenum isotope data. [Geophysical Research Letters research] 

Smaller volcanoes helped cool the climate in the early 1800s, too
In the early 19th century, two large volcanoes erupted and cooled Earth’s surface. However, these two volcanoes alone cannot fully account for the long-term cooling effect following their eruptions. New research finds that clusters of small to medium-sized eruptions, which are often excluded from climate models of the 19th century, amplified the cooling caused by the two larger eruptions. [Geophysical Research Letters research] 

Penitentes could exist near Europa’s equator
Penitentes are pointed snow structures found in cold, dry and sunny environments such as the Andes mountains. New modeling of the environment on Europa, one of Jupiter’s moons, found that penitentes would be most likely to grow near the equator, posing a potential risk for future spacecraft landings. [JGR Planets research] 

Seismometers pick up fireballs when witnesses and photographs miss them
Every year, thousands of meteoroids enter Earth’s atmosphere, form fireballs and go unnoticed by people and cameras. Last summer, a fireball broke up over the Northern Atlantic Ocean. A network of seismometers detected acoustic shockwaves from the explosion, joining the first few cases of fireball documentation without human observers or photographic evidence and increasing our atmospheric observational coverage. [Geophysical Research Letters research] 

Environmental river restoration helps reduce greenhouse gas emissions
Severely polluted urban rivers can be hotspots of greenhouse gas emissions, including carbon dioxide. A study of nine heavily polluted rivers in China reveals that environmental restoration efforts reduce rivers’ gas emissions, especially when projects focused on removing nutrients and sewage from waterways. [JGR Biogeosciences research] 

To meet climate goals, protect Alaska’s Tongass and Chugach forests
Forests can act as massive carbon sinks, counteracting greenhouse gas emissions and protecting biodiversity. However, many forests have been ravaged by wildfires and deforestation, flipping from carbon sinks to carbon sources. The two largest U.S. national forests, both in Alaska, have low wildfire risk and provide crucial forest carbon stocks and biodiversity benefits. [AGU Advances research] [Eos Research Spotlight] 

AGU (www.agu.org) is a global community supporting more than half a million advocates and professionals in Earth and space sciences. Through broad and inclusive partnerships, AGU aims to advance discovery and solution science that accelerate knowledge and create solutions that are ethical, unbiased and respectful of communities and their values. Our programs include serving as a scholarly publisher, convening virtual and in-person events and providing career support. We live our values in everything we do, such as our net zero energy renovated building in Washington, D.C. and our Ethics and Equity Center, which fosters a diverse and inclusive geoscience community to ensure responsible conduct.