A new analysis of surf breaks within World Surfing Reserves found more than three-quarters face high risk from rising sea levels, hardened shorelines and shifting sand patterns. Breaks cited as most threatened include Croyde Beach in the UK, Noosa in Australia, Oriente Salvaje in El Salvador, and California's Sewer Peak and Wind and Sea. Researchers from California State University Channel Islands and Save the Waves Coalition conducted the study.
wired.com
· 2026-10-18
A study published in Science Advances by researchers led by Nick Graham of Lancaster University examined 28 atoll islands in the Pacific and Indian oceans, finding that intact ecosystems of seabirds, native vegetation and reef organisms help the islands grow and adapt to rising seas. Seabird guano fertilizes plants and coral, parrotfish convert dead coral into sand, and plant roots stabilize sediment, together reinforcing island growth. The researchers say eradicating invasive rats and replacing coconut plantations with native forest could give islands a better chance of keeping pace with sea-level rise expected by century's end under roughly 2°C of warming.
arstechnica.com
· 2026-10-15
Researchers have developed a detection tool called IdeaLens that analyzes the underlying structure of ideas in a document, rather than its writing style, to judge whether the content was conceived by artificial intelligence. The system strips text down to an outline and searches for argument and flow patterns typical of AI or human reasoning. In testing described in a preprint, the tool correctly identified AI-derived ideas 91% of the time.
nature.com
· 2026-10-13
California coastal communities are preparing for a Kelvin wave, a subsurface band of warm water driven by El Nino conditions, expected to reach the San Francisco Bay Area by early October. Scientists say it could raise sea levels along the coast by up to a foot, potentially doubling the 8-12 inch rise already caused by climate change over the past century. Researchers note the wave itself isn't inherently hazardous but could amplify flooding if it coincides with storms or high tides.
news.slashdot.org
· 2026-10-02
Oceanographers tell the Guardian that a massive Kelvin wave of unusually warm Pacific water, already raising sea levels off Ecuador, Colombia and Panama by more than a foot, is moving toward California. Scientists say it could push coastal sea levels there up by as much as a foot and keep them elevated for months as part of a strong El Niño pattern.
futurism.com
· 2026-09-29
A new report published in Scientific Data finds that glaciers in Greenland and Antarctica have shed roughly 12.5 trillion tons of ice since 1979, enough to cover the continental United States in five feet of water. Researchers found that most of this loss—about five-sixths—comes not from warmer air but from ocean water eroding ice sheets from below and along their edges. Scientists cite examples like Greenland's Jakobshavn glacier, which is now retreating up to 164 feet daily.
fastcompany.com
· 2026-09-16
NOAA announced on September 14 that El Niño has officially crossed the threshold to become a 'very strong event' for the Northern Hemisphere fall and winter of 2026-27, a designation known as a Super El Niño. Forecasters say this could become the strongest El Niño on record, with effects lingering into 2027 and potentially raising sea levels along California's coast by up to a foot.
fastcompany.com
· 2026-09-16
A new scientific analysis finds that the polar ice sheets of Antarctica and Greenland have shed more than 11 trillion tons of ice since the 1970s. Researchers say the primary cause of this loss is not surface melting from warmer air, but glaciers accelerating and discharging ice into the ocean more quickly.
gizmodo.com
· 2026-09-16
A new Nature Climate Change study by Van Tricht, Zekollari, Huss and colleagues models the fate of individual glaciers worldwide using three global glacier models and multiple climate scenarios ranging from 1.5°C to 4.0°C of warming. Researchers define a glacier as extinct once its area falls below 0.01 km² or its volume drops under 1% of its original size, and their projections show extinction rates peaking around the middle of this century.
glacierextinction.com
· 2026-09-11
Forecasters say the current El Niño event, already projected to be one of the strongest on record, may drive extreme weather patterns lasting into 2027. New analysis suggests it could also raise sea levels along the California coast by roughly a foot, a previously underreported consequence of the phenomenon.
fastcompany.com
· 2026-09-09
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