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Astronomy / Space Science - Earth Sciences - 25.09.2023
Environment - Earth Sciences - 12.09.2023 
New rivers in the North? Scientists identify how the dissection of Arctic landscapes is changing with accelerating climate change
New research co-led by Simon Fraser University and the University of British Columbia shows that amplified global warming in the Canadian High Arctic drove a profound shift in the structure of a river network carved into a permafrost landscape in only 60 years. Documenting a powerful interplay among climate change, the freeze-thaw dynamics of polygonal ground and the delivery of surface water by floods as well as snow and ice melting, the team developed a new view of the physical controls governing the speed and pattern of river channel development in these fragile landscapes.
Environment - Earth Sciences - 30.08.2023 
Lake water quality at risk
Forest fires make the water in lakes whose catchment areas have been burnt murkier and also richer in nutrients, a Canada-U.S. research team has found. More than two million hectares of Quebec forest reduced to ashes. Yellowknife evacuated. New York City under a thick blanket of orange smoke. Greek islands ravaged.
Earth Sciences - 26.07.2023
Earth Sciences - Environment - 20.07.2023 
Earthquake risk minimal when storing carbon under the deep ocean
Injecting carbon dioxide (CO2) into ocean basalt has almost no risk of triggering any seismic activity such as earthquakes or fault slip according to new research from Solid Carbon , a promising climate change mitigation project for reducing the amount of carbon in the Earth's atmosphere. Advanced computer modelling by scientists with the Solid Carbon team shows injecting CO2 under the Cascadia Basin has less than 1 percent chance of causing fault slip.
Earth Sciences - Environment - 28.06.2023
Life Sciences - Earth Sciences - 25.05.2023 
Mapping the genetic history of French Canadians through space and time
First study to incorporate genealogical records to provide an accurate map of genetic relatedness Though we all share common ancestors ranging from a few generations to hundreds of thousands of years, genealogies that relate all of us are often forgotten over time. A new McGill University-led study is now providing insight into the complex relationship between human migration and genetic variation, using a unique genealogical dataset of over five million records spanning 400 years to unravel the genetic structure of French Canadian populations.
Astronomy / Space Science - Earth Sciences - 17.05.2023 
Found: a likely volcano-covered terrestrial world outside the Solar System
Astronomers from Université de Montréal have discovered an Earth-sized exoplanet around a nearby small red dwarf star that appears to be carpeted with volcanoes. Björn Benneke, a Professor at the Université de Montréal and member of the Trottier Institute for Research on Exoplanets, whose team led this discovery.
Earth Sciences - 04.05.2023 
How seaweed has been misleading scientists about reef health
Science, Health & Technology Erik Rolfsen For decades, scientists have looked to seaweed as an indicator of the health of coral reefs lying underneath. But what if the seaweed was misleading them? New UBC research reveals it was, and scientists need new ways to determine whether human activity is harming a particular reef.
Environment - Earth Sciences - 08.02.2023 
A second chance to protect wetlands
Wetlands are among the most threatened ecosystems in the world. A new study, published in Nature , has found that the loss of wetland areas around the globe since 1700 has likely been overestimated. This is good news overall, however, the global picture hides significant variations, with several regions and distinct wetland types under significant levels of pressure.
Environment - Earth Sciences - 06.02.2023 
Sea urchins are on the move, and the ’Blob’ is partly to blame
New research has uncovered a change in behaviour of deep-sea fragile pink sea urchins off the south coast of Vancouver Island that is linked to climate change impacts including the " Blob ," a marine heatwave that persisted in the Pacific Ocean off North America between 2013 to 2016. Researchers from the Memorial University, Ocean Networks Canada (ONC) and the University of Victoria (UVic) found pink sea urchins ( Strongylocentrotus fragilis ) have been moving up into shallower waters as food sources and oxygen levels at lower depths decline due to a warming ocean.
Earth Sciences - 25.01.2023 
Shark and ray populations rebounding in Northwestern Atlantic: SFU study
Better fisheries management and conservation is effective at turning the tide on the shark and ray declines, according to a study from Simon Fraser researchers. The fact sharks and rays are increasingly threatened by overfishing has made global headlines in recent years. Oceanic populations have plummeted by as much as 71 per cent in the last 50 years and one third of all sharks and rays are threatened with extinction.
Earth Sciences - Environment - 19.01.2023 
A trail of dust from Africa to Antarctica
An international research team including UdeM professor James King has shown that dust from southern Africa made its way to Antarctica within the last few thousand years. CONTENU - Until recently, the southern part of South America was believed to be the main source of the dust that lands in Antarctica.
Environment - Earth Sciences - 17.01.2023 
Science of sediment transport key to river conservation & protection: Researchers
New research from SFU-s Jeremy Venditti dives into the science of going with the flow predicting the evolution of the Earth's surface. Researchers at Simon Fraser University (SFU) and The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have devised a better way to measure how fast sediment flows in rivers.
Life Sciences - Earth Sciences - 07.12.2022 
The three dimensions of a flower
Montreal biologists publish a study demonstrating that photogrammetry allows rapid and precise three-dimensional reconstruction of flowers from two-dimensional images. CONTENU - To better understand the evolution of flowers, a research team in biology from Université de Montréal, the Montreal Botanical Garden and McGill University have succeeded in using photogrammetry to quickly and precisely build, in three dimensions, a model of a flower from two-dimensional images.
Environment - Earth Sciences - 17.11.2022 
Millions at risk as drylands degrade, finds study
Drylands are experiencing increasingly levels of degradation and desertification, changes that could put already vulnerable populations at greater risk. A research team, including Natasha MacBean , conducted an examination of dryland productivity and its important role in global carbon and water cycling, to understand the impact of climate change and human activity on future dryland ecosystem functioning.
Earth Sciences - Astronomy / Space Science - 16.11.2022 
New observation method helps unlock secrets of U.K. meteorite
The Winchcombe meteorite, a rare carbonaceous meteorite which crashed onto a driveway in Gloucestershire in 2021, has been found to contain extra-terrestrial water and organic compounds that reveal insights into the origin of Earth's oceans. A new study, published today by Science Advances , led by experts from the Natural History Museum and the University of Glasgow reports the orbital history and first laboratory analyses of the Winchcombe meteorite, which was recovered only hours after its spectacular fireball lit up the skies over the U.K. in February 2021.
Environment - Earth Sciences - 10.11.2022 
A river runs beneath it: new study discovers a 460-km river under the Antarctica ice sheet
The discovery of a 460 km river under the Antarctica ice sheet could be the missing link to climate models. A team of researchers led by Dr. Christine Dow, a professor in the department of Geography and Environmental Management and cross-appointed to the Department of Applied Mathematics, discovered the river from a series of airborne radar surveys and modelling.
Earth Sciences - Chemistry - 28.09.2022 
Predicting the next volcanic eruption, plus other stories
Predicting the next volcanic eruption Volcanic eruptions can be tricky to predict. Magma stored below volcanoes contains dissolved gases, including carbon dioxide, which escape to the surface and can be sampled at different times (before, after or during) an eruption to provide clues about the next one.
Environment - Earth Sciences - 16.08.2022 
Earth sciences researchers locate billion-year-old groundwater in South Africa
An international team of researchers has discovered groundwater that is more than a billion years old deep below Earth's surface - only the second time such a discovery has been made. The water, which is 1.2 billion years old, was recovered from a goldand uranium-producing mine in Moab Khotsong, South Africa, confirming that groundwater of such a vintage is more abundant than previously thought.
Earth Sciences
Results 1 - 20 of 32.
Study of Exoplanet TRAPPIST-1 b reveals new insights into its atmosphere and star
Complex interplay between stellar activity and exoplanet characteristics revealed in study co-authored by McGill Professor Nicolas Cowan A team of astronomers has made a leap forward in our understanding of the intriguing TRAPPIST-1 exoplanetary system. Not only has their research shed light on the nature of TRAPPIST-1 b, the exoplanet orbiting closest to the system's star, but it has also shown the importance of parent stars when studying exoplanets.
Complex interplay between stellar activity and exoplanet characteristics revealed in study co-authored by McGill Professor Nicolas Cowan A team of astronomers has made a leap forward in our understanding of the intriguing TRAPPIST-1 exoplanetary system. Not only has their research shed light on the nature of TRAPPIST-1 b, the exoplanet orbiting closest to the system's star, but it has also shown the importance of parent stars when studying exoplanets.
New research co-led by Simon Fraser University and the University of British Columbia shows that amplified global warming in the Canadian High Arctic drove a profound shift in the structure of a river network carved into a permafrost landscape in only 60 years. Documenting a powerful interplay among climate change, the freeze-thaw dynamics of polygonal ground and the delivery of surface water by floods as well as snow and ice melting, the team developed a new view of the physical controls governing the speed and pattern of river channel development in these fragile landscapes.
Forest fires make the water in lakes whose catchment areas have been burnt murkier and also richer in nutrients, a Canada-U.S. research team has found. More than two million hectares of Quebec forest reduced to ashes. Yellowknife evacuated. New York City under a thick blanket of orange smoke. Greek islands ravaged.
Scientists crack the code of what causes diamonds to erupt: New research could spark future diamond discoveries
News Release - Scientists crack the code of what causes diamonds to erupt: New research could spark future diamond discoveries A recent discovery by a team of international researchers has identified the breakup of tectonic plates as the main driving force behind the generation and eruption of diamond-rich magmas from deep inside the Earth.
News Release - Scientists crack the code of what causes diamonds to erupt: New research could spark future diamond discoveries A recent discovery by a team of international researchers has identified the breakup of tectonic plates as the main driving force behind the generation and eruption of diamond-rich magmas from deep inside the Earth.
Injecting carbon dioxide (CO2) into ocean basalt has almost no risk of triggering any seismic activity such as earthquakes or fault slip according to new research from Solid Carbon , a promising climate change mitigation project for reducing the amount of carbon in the Earth's atmosphere. Advanced computer modelling by scientists with the Solid Carbon team shows injecting CO2 under the Cascadia Basin has less than 1 percent chance of causing fault slip.
What controls the pathways of the Labrador Current?
Stronger winds shift water from the Labrador Current eastward, with dire consequences for marine ecosystems Changes to the flow of the Labrador Current along the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador to Nova Scotia are leading to sudden warmings or drops in the oxygen levels of the waters in several regions including the St. Lawrence Gulf and Estuary.
Stronger winds shift water from the Labrador Current eastward, with dire consequences for marine ecosystems Changes to the flow of the Labrador Current along the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador to Nova Scotia are leading to sudden warmings or drops in the oxygen levels of the waters in several regions including the St. Lawrence Gulf and Estuary.
First study to incorporate genealogical records to provide an accurate map of genetic relatedness Though we all share common ancestors ranging from a few generations to hundreds of thousands of years, genealogies that relate all of us are often forgotten over time. A new McGill University-led study is now providing insight into the complex relationship between human migration and genetic variation, using a unique genealogical dataset of over five million records spanning 400 years to unravel the genetic structure of French Canadian populations.
Astronomers from Université de Montréal have discovered an Earth-sized exoplanet around a nearby small red dwarf star that appears to be carpeted with volcanoes. Björn Benneke, a Professor at the Université de Montréal and member of the Trottier Institute for Research on Exoplanets, whose team led this discovery.
Science, Health & Technology Erik Rolfsen For decades, scientists have looked to seaweed as an indicator of the health of coral reefs lying underneath. But what if the seaweed was misleading them? New UBC research reveals it was, and scientists need new ways to determine whether human activity is harming a particular reef.
Wetlands are among the most threatened ecosystems in the world. A new study, published in Nature , has found that the loss of wetland areas around the globe since 1700 has likely been overestimated. This is good news overall, however, the global picture hides significant variations, with several regions and distinct wetland types under significant levels of pressure.
New research has uncovered a change in behaviour of deep-sea fragile pink sea urchins off the south coast of Vancouver Island that is linked to climate change impacts including the " Blob ," a marine heatwave that persisted in the Pacific Ocean off North America between 2013 to 2016. Researchers from the Memorial University, Ocean Networks Canada (ONC) and the University of Victoria (UVic) found pink sea urchins ( Strongylocentrotus fragilis ) have been moving up into shallower waters as food sources and oxygen levels at lower depths decline due to a warming ocean.
Better fisheries management and conservation is effective at turning the tide on the shark and ray declines, according to a study from Simon Fraser researchers. The fact sharks and rays are increasingly threatened by overfishing has made global headlines in recent years. Oceanic populations have plummeted by as much as 71 per cent in the last 50 years and one third of all sharks and rays are threatened with extinction.
An international research team including UdeM professor James King has shown that dust from southern Africa made its way to Antarctica within the last few thousand years. CONTENU - Until recently, the southern part of South America was believed to be the main source of the dust that lands in Antarctica.
New research from SFU-s Jeremy Venditti dives into the science of going with the flow predicting the evolution of the Earth's surface. Researchers at Simon Fraser University (SFU) and The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have devised a better way to measure how fast sediment flows in rivers.
Montreal biologists publish a study demonstrating that photogrammetry allows rapid and precise three-dimensional reconstruction of flowers from two-dimensional images. CONTENU - To better understand the evolution of flowers, a research team in biology from Université de Montréal, the Montreal Botanical Garden and McGill University have succeeded in using photogrammetry to quickly and precisely build, in three dimensions, a model of a flower from two-dimensional images.
Drylands are experiencing increasingly levels of degradation and desertification, changes that could put already vulnerable populations at greater risk. A research team, including Natasha MacBean , conducted an examination of dryland productivity and its important role in global carbon and water cycling, to understand the impact of climate change and human activity on future dryland ecosystem functioning.
The Winchcombe meteorite, a rare carbonaceous meteorite which crashed onto a driveway in Gloucestershire in 2021, has been found to contain extra-terrestrial water and organic compounds that reveal insights into the origin of Earth's oceans. A new study, published today by Science Advances , led by experts from the Natural History Museum and the University of Glasgow reports the orbital history and first laboratory analyses of the Winchcombe meteorite, which was recovered only hours after its spectacular fireball lit up the skies over the U.K. in February 2021.
The discovery of a 460 km river under the Antarctica ice sheet could be the missing link to climate models. A team of researchers led by Dr. Christine Dow, a professor in the department of Geography and Environmental Management and cross-appointed to the Department of Applied Mathematics, discovered the river from a series of airborne radar surveys and modelling.
Predicting the next volcanic eruption Volcanic eruptions can be tricky to predict. Magma stored below volcanoes contains dissolved gases, including carbon dioxide, which escape to the surface and can be sampled at different times (before, after or during) an eruption to provide clues about the next one.
An international team of researchers has discovered groundwater that is more than a billion years old deep below Earth's surface - only the second time such a discovery has been made. The water, which is 1.2 billion years old, was recovered from a goldand uranium-producing mine in Moab Khotsong, South Africa, confirming that groundwater of such a vintage is more abundant than previously thought.
