Earth Sciences

 

Convection of salty water creates hexagonal patterns more

Earth’s past warm periods witnessed the shrinkage of the open ocean’s oxygen-deficient zones. more

Many publications by Max Planck scientists in 2021 were of great social relevance or met with a great media response. We have selected 12 articles to present you with an overview of some noteworthy research of the year more

The Director at the Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry is being awarded the Prize in the field of Earth System Dynamics more

Deep-sea microbes can break down and form ethane more

The EUREC⁴A field study is aimed at solving one of the great mysteries in relation to climate change more

The discovery of a forgotten metabolic pathway adds a new dimension to the global carbon cycle more

Ancestors of today's sponges formed 560 million years ago more

Ageing and slipstream effects restrict the actual yield – 20 percent of the difference remains unclear more

After global glaciation, predatory plankton apparently enabled the development of today's ecosystems more

The statistical model with which global warming can be attributed to increasing concentrations of CO₂ in the atmosphere was developed by former Director of the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology, Klaus Hasselmann, who will be receiving the Nobel Prize in Physics 2021 for his work. more

Ulrike Niemeier from the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology, on measures that should keep climate change in check, such as geoengineering more

Mathias Göckede, a scientist at the Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry in Jena, talks about the consequences of global warming for permafrost soils more

A single sand grain harbours up to 100,000 microorganisms from thousands of species. more

The star that sustains life on Earth has no influence on the current global temperature increase more

Indigenous inhabitants shaped the rainforest by domesticating tree species in pre-Columbian times more

Measurements reveal the relationship between individual CO₂ emissions and the Arctic's shrinking summer sea ice more

Anthropogenic climate change contributes to fanning of the West African monsoon by moisture from the Mediterranean more

The first single-celled organisms with a nucleus originated more than a billion years later than biogeochemical evidence had previously indicated. more

The electric charge of mineral surfaces changes in flowing water – a finding that is also important for understanding geological processes more

Researchers understand Earth’s climate system very accurately by now. For a long time, however, an important piece of the puzzle remained very elusive - the role played by vegetation and soils. Markus Reichstein has now finally succeeded in clarifying this important question. more