The study of Earth’s systems, including its physical structure, natural processes, and interactions between the lithosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere, and biosphere. Earth sciences investigate phenomena such as weather, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions to understand our planet’s past, present, and future.
Satellite radar observations revealed 12 aseismic slow-slip events triggered during hydraulic fracturing of the Montney Formation in northeast British Columbia between 2017 and 2023. The events extended along more than 100 km (62 miles) of the Northern Rocky Mountain Fold and Thrust Belt; nine resolved events had equivalent moment magnitudes of Mw 4.71–5.06, but produced no felt shaking.
A 31-year satellite altimetry record shows that the Gulf Stream east of about 75°W underwent rapid surface intensification beginning around 2014, shifted northward and became less meandering after a prolonged weaker period. The strengthened state persisted through December 2023, while the study linked the transition to changes in subtropical North Atlantic wind forcing and a spin-up of the subtropical gyre.
A Nature Communications study published on August 5, 2026, identifies three state-dependent relationships between Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) strength and North Atlantic sea surface temperature (SST): a typical dipole fingerprint under strong AMOC, amplified subpolar SST anomalies at intermediate strength, and muted North Atlantic signals in a weak-AMOC regime. The year of peak AMOC–SST sensitivity emerged as a predictor of the modeled transition into the weak-AMOC regime and the associated decay of the North Atlantic warming hole.
The Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt reached its 2026 annual peak in June, making 2026 the second-highest Sargassum year in the continuous satellite record, behind 2025. The Caribbean Sea and Gulf of America (Gulf of Mexico) set June records. Mexico’s Instituto Oceanográfico del Golfo y Mar Caribe maintained a high Sargassum classification on August 26, with 29 920 metric tons (32 981 short tons) estimated in the Mexican Caribbean and substantial concentrations remaining farther east across the Caribbean and western central Atlantic.
Researchers have developed a new framework that tracks how the Northern Hemisphere stratospheric polar vortex splits, shifts and evolves through winter. The framework uses persistent homology and ERA5 reanalysis data to assign daily split and displacement scores, providing a continuous view of vortex geometry before, during and after sudden stratospheric warming events.
Atmospheric rivers coincided with about 30–35% of observed large midlatitude floods in a global analysis published in Scientific Reports on August 18, 2026. The best-performing LightGBM model reached ROC AUC 0.94 and 85% accuracy, while modeled flood risk rose sharply when high antecedent soil moisture occurred with persistent atmospheric-river activity.
High-precision neodymium isotope measurements from recently erupted lavas at the submarine Fani Maoré volcano in the Comoros archipelago identified a mantle component formed within the first 100 million years of Earth’s history, according to a study published in Nature on July 1, 2026. Israel et al. (2026) interpret the positive ^142Nd anomaly as evidence for preserved Hadean material and favor bridgmanite crystallized from an early deep magma ocean as its main component.
A NASA-supported research partnership is examining how wildfire, smoke and extreme heat affect Pacific Northwest communities when the hazards occur together, including situations in which protection from one exposure can complicate protection from another. The project was announced by Michigan News on August 11, 2026, and involves researchers and public-health partners in Michigan, Oregon and Wyoming working toward tools for communities preparing for combined hazards.
Researchers using Swarm satellite and ground-based magnetic measurements found that the fastest decline in total magnetic-field intensity near the South Atlantic Anomaly’s second minimum occurs at 4.55°E, 32.61°S, separate from the minimum at 0.55°W, 40.60°S. Their regional model tracked the minimum from 2014.5 to 2024.5 and recorded non-uniform motion after 2021.0.
A new drone-based laser system developed by researchers at the Technical University of Munich (TUM), announced on July 10, 2026, could make it safer and more accurate to monitor volcanic gases, one of the most important indicators of impending eruptions. By remotely measuring carbon dioxide without flying sensitive instruments directly through hazardous gas plumes, the approach aims to improve estimates of the carbon dioxide-to-sulfur dioxide (CO₂/SO₂) ratio, a key parameter volcanologists use to assess changes occurring beneath active volcanoes.
