news 2023

For the first time ever, research led by one of Utrecht University's earth scientists - Dr  Dan Palcu - has earned a place in the Guinness Book of World Records. His fascinating research shows the immense proportions of the largest lake the Earth has ever seen: the Paratethys. Guinness World Records published a whole page about the 'Largest lake ever' on their website, as well as a highlight in the print edition.

A major, international research report is released today at the COP28 climate conference in Dubai: the Global Tipping Points Report. The report shows that crucial tipping points in the Earth's climate system are getting closer. These tipping points occur when a small change triggers an irreversible transformation.

How does Saharan dust remove the powerful greenhouse gas methane from the atmosphere above the Atlantic Ocean? Recently, Utrecht University and other institutes started a research project in collaboration with the shipping industry to answer this question. Once every month, boxes of flasks arrive on the sixth floor of the Buys Ballot building at Utrecht University.

The oil industry in Romania has an enormous potential for reducing methane emissions. This has been demonstrated by a team of scientists led by Professor Thomas Röckmann from Utrecht University. In 2019, the amount of methane emitted by the Romanian oil industry was equal to the amount of methane emitted by all other European oil industries combined.

'Wet gets wetter, dry gets drier'. That mantra has been used for decennia to predict how global warming will affect the hydrological cycle in different world regions. But if climate models predict that much of tropical Africa will enjoy a future with wetter weather, then why does it keep getting drier in certain parts of the African tropics, like the Horn of Africa? An international team of researchers have found a pre-historic climate tipping point that helps explain the disparity between these model predictions and the intensifying drought conditions in the Horn of Africa.

Significantly less plastic is estimated to be present in the global ocean than scientists previously thought. This new insight results from calculations with a computer model that includes a record number of measurements and observations of plastic in the ocean. Also, a relatively large proportion of the plastic in the ocean consists of large pieces that are easier to clean up.

Four Utrecht researchers, each with slightly different areas of expertise and at different stages in their careers. But with one urgent shared concern: climate is changing, ice sheets are melting and sea levels are rising. This concern is crystal clear. But the complex research behind it is far from simple for most people.

Can a rapid warming of Earth trigger tipping points in our climate? For decades scientists have debated if today's warming can strongly amplify itself by triggering a catastrophic release of greenhouse gases. New research, published in Science Advances , now presents evidence that such tipping points did occur in Earth's history.

Nearly 2.5 billion years ago, seas on our planet alternately contained more or less oxygen, due to the slow "wobble" of the rotating Earth. So writes an international team of scientists, some affiliated with Utrecht University and the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ). "The fact that the Earth eventually became an oxygen-rich planet with a pleasant climate may be partly due to the right astronomical influence at the right time," says Utrecht PhD candidate Margriet Lantink, first author of the article.

Geologists from Utrecht, London and Granada have found the first direct proof of the largest known mega-flood that ever occurred on earth. This mega-flood ended what is known as the ' Messinian Salinity Crisis' , a period around six million years ago when the water level in the Mediterranean Sea sank by around 1.5 km, causing an extreme environmental crisis in the region.

A scorching hot city: not pleasant at all, but an experience we've encountered for several summers. As the planet continues to warm up and climate zones shift further, tropical temperatures, heat waves and drought will put their mark on daily life in the Netherlands on a more regular basis. How can the built environment, where effects of heat are often amplified, be adapted? In field lab the Heat Square on TU Delft Campus, four researchers are working together to find solutions.

Last week, Utrecht University hosted an online lecture on the 6 February 2023 earthquakes in Turkey and Syria.

Around the world, retreating glaciers leave vast areas of unstable sediments behind. Researchers from Utrecht University, University of Bayreuth and University of Wuerzburg found that across mountain regions, plants actively aid the stabilisation of these sediments in a similar way, regardless of climate and plant species.