• Rare geomagnetic storms expose regional weaknesses in the U.S. power grid

    ByReet Kaur

    A coupled physics-engineering-economic model estimates that a severe geomagnetic storm with a 250-year return period could interrupt electricity for about 5.1 million people and 135 000 businesses across the contiguous United States, producing total economic losses near USD 1.81 billion per day. The significance goes beyond the loss estimate – the framework connects a disturbance in Earth’s magnetic environment to electric fields in the ground, stress on high-voltage transformers, localized power disruption, and wider economic losses in one calculation.

  • 2025 Antarctic ozone hole recorded fourth-smallest ozone mass deficit since 1992

    ByTeo Blašković

    The 2025 Antarctic ozone hole recorded the fourth-smallest average ozone mass deficit since 1992, according to the 2026 Antarctic assessment. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) reported a maximum ozone mass deficit of 36.7 million tons on September 29, more than 25% below the 1990–2010 mean of 50.1 million tons. The weak season fits the long-term ozone recovery trend, while year-to-year atmospheric variability remains large.

  • Seismic imaging reveals fault-controlled volcanic plumbing beneath Lipari, Italy

    ByReet Kaur

    New seismic images have resolved a previously poorly imaged system of structures extending to about 10 km (6.2 miles) beneath Lipari in Italy’s Aeolian Islands. The deepest reflectors align with the Tindari–Letojanni fault system, while another strong boundary lies beneath the San Calogero hydrothermal field, giving researchers a new view of how the island’s deeper volcanic and hydrothermal architecture may be organized.

  • GNSS measurements reveal a subtle change in Earth’s global figure

    ByReet Kaur

    Global GNSS measurements show that Earth’s solid surface changed systematically between 1997 and 2015, with vertical motion at high and low latitudes producing a measurable shift in its global geometry. Polar uplift increased from about 0.5 mm/yr (0.02 inches/yr) in the late 1990s to nearly 1 mm/yr (0.04 inches/yr) in 2011–2015, according to research published on September 9, 2026.

  • Deep structures beneath Central America match patterns of major earthquakes and volcanism

    ByReet Kaur

    A new 3-D seismic image of the Central American subduction zone shows that changes in the crust and upper mantle closely match the segmented distribution of major megathrust earthquakes and active volcanoes. The finding offers a common structural framework for examining why earthquake rupture and volcanism vary so sharply along the same plate boundary, according to research published in Geophysical Research Letters on September 11, 2026.

  • Deadly Langtang rock-ice avalanche in Nepal followed decades of glacier retreat and exceptional high-altitude heat

    ByReet Kaur

    Glaciers in Nepal’s Langtang Catchment lost about 41.5% of their area from the Little Ice Age to 2023, while warming above 4 000 m (13 120 feet) reached about 0.3°C (0.54°F) per decade from 1964–2023, according to peer-reviewed research (Silwal et al., 2026). Those long-term changes are relevant to high-mountain hazards because glacier retreat, thinning, and fragmentation alter the mechanical and hydrological conditions of steep ice-rock slopes — processes now under examination after the August 26, 2026 Langtang Lirung rock-ice avalanche and flood.

  • Study links lower solar activity to higher radiation proxy at flight altitudes

    ByReet Kaur

    High-altitude balloon measurements over southern Israel found an inverse association between solar activity and a gamma-equivalent dose-rate proxy at aviation altitudes. The peer-reviewed study, first published online on August 29, 2026, analyzed six balloon launches from October 2014 to August 2016.

  • New study explains extreme runout of the Blatten rock-ice avalanche, Switzerland

    ByReet Kaur

    A reconstruction of the May 28, 2025 Blatten rock-ice avalanche in Switzerland found that numerical models could reproduce both its seismic force history and deposit distribution only when effective friction dropped to exceptionally low values during critical stages of motion. The avalanche mobilized about 9.3 million m³ of material, including approximately 3.0 million m³ of glacier ice, while the best-fitting models required lower-bound effective friction angles of about 2° and 1°.

  • Extreme fire-smoke exposure days rise from 16 to 66 per year globally since the 1990s

    ByReet Kaur

    Extreme fire-PM2.5 exposure events have tripled globally since the 1990s, while wildfire and other fire activity contributed to above-average particulate pollution across several regions in 2025, according to the World Meteorological Organization’s latest Air Quality and Climate Bulletin. The September 7, 2026 assessment places that trend alongside declines in other sources of PM2.5 in parts of Europe and North America.

  • Deep learning identifies six structurally complex regions at Earth’s core-mantle boundary

    ByReet Kaur

    Researchers analyzing more than 2 million seismic waveforms identified six previously undersampled regions of strong structural heterogeneity near Earth’s core-mantle boundary, improving the global picture of one of the planet’s least accessible internal regions. The findings may help researchers investigate how ancient subducted material, partial melting and other deep-mantle processes influence the structure and evolution of the lowermost mantle.