What’s the Largest Current on Earth? It Moves More Water Than Every River Combined—Many Times Over
Antarctic Circumpolar Current. Credit: Wikimedia Commons Earth’s mightiest current has no banks. The Antarctic Circumpolar Current, or ACC,…
New Species of Fossil Koala Found in Museum Drawer
Long-overlooked fossils in the Western Australian Museum collection have been identified as a new species of koala. Named…
New tool tracks lost continents and moving plates over the last 320 million years
Latitude shapes climate in a basic but powerful way. It controls the angle of sunlight, which helps decide…
Earth’s 40 000-year axial tilt cycle influenced subtropical marine productivity during early Antarctic ice sheet expansion
The cycle, known as obliquity, reflects changes in the angle of Earth’s axis and affects how solar radiation…
Three million years of climate history, captured in Antarctic ice
Frozen air from Antarctica is giving scientists a longer look at a climate mystery that has lingered for…
Earth’s distance from the Sun found to dramatically alter seasons
A strip of cool water stretches west from South America along the equator, helping set the pace for…
228-meter sediment core may predict future Antarctic ice sheet loss
A tube of mud can look like nothing special at first. Pull it from half a kilometer under…
Seasonal and Multi-Decadal Climate Cycles Persisted during Snowball Earth, Scientists Say
A new analysis of exquisitely preserved laminated rocks (varves) from the Port Askaig Formation on the Garvellach Islands,…
Fossil Shorebirds Tell New Story about Climate Change in Australia
Shorebirds are widespread birds whose dependence on coastal and wetland environments makes them effective paleoenvironmental indicators. Wading shorebirds…
Tectonic Plate Movements, Not Volcanoes, Drove Major Climate Shifts Over 540 Million Years
New research challenges conventional wisdom by demonstrating that mid-ocean ridges and continental rifts, not volcanic eruptions, played the…
Earth’s largest ocean current may be shifting north again
The Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) encircles Antarctica between roughly 45°S and 70°S, flowing endlessly from west to east.…