Climate

After warming the bench since the Pleistocene, a key player in the Arctic carbon cycle is getting back in the game thanks to thawing permafrost. In a new study, researchers report that rising temperatures are freeing sulfide minerals previously bound within Arctic permafrost. These minerals are contributing to stream acidification and accelerated weathering of carbonates — and thus to the release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere — at least in one part of northern Canada.

The Mississippi River is notorious for flooding its muddy banks, with many critical areas actively managed by the Army Corps of Engineers to control flooding. But despite all the controls, major floods still occur. 

The landscape and culture of Iceland, more so than any other country, have been shaped by volcanism. In a new study, researchers have refined the dates for the massive 10th-century Eldgjá eruption, which occurred just a few decades after the island was first settled. The findings may support a connection between the violent volcanism depicted in Iceland’s most celebrated medieval poem and the island’s conversion from paganism to Christianity.

In January 2017, skiers at Wolf Creek Ski Area in southern Colorado were enjoying a base snow depth of more than 350 centimeters — enough snow to cover most rocks and other obstacles. But this year, as of mid-January, the runs were much sparser, with the base barely clearing 100 centimeters. Powderhorn Resort in western Colorado was so bereft of snow that it had yet to open in mid-January — a month behind their usual December opening. Statewide the snowpack is slim enough to worry not only skiers, but also the state’s climatologists and water resource managers, who held a Water Availability Task Force (WATF) meeting on Jan. 18 to discuss the state’s snowpack and water outlook.