In the face of the climate emergency, techniques for removing CO₂ dissolved in seawater have raised some hopes and much concern. How to proceed? What rules should be established? Who should be in charge? The CNRS biogeochemist Olivier Sulpis, who is tasked with assessing these methods, provides an insight.
In 2015, the historic Paris Agreement, signed by 195 countries, sought to limit global warming to 2 °C. Ten years later, the results have yet to materialize, raising questions regarding the effectiveness of COP meetings, major climate gatherings whose thirtieth edition kicks off Monday in Brazil.
In 2015, the historic Paris Agreement, signed by 195 countries, sought to limit global warming to 2 °C. Ten years later, the results have yet to materialize, raising questions regarding the effectiveness of COP meetings, major climate gatherings whose thirtieth edition kicks off Monday in Brazil.
The huge fires that burn down millions of hectares of forest in North America every year have an impact on the other side of the Atlantic. Plumes of smoke and various other pollutants have been detected in the skies over France and beyond, explains the atmospheric scientist Stéphane Sauvage.
A name frequently associated with plate tectonics is that of the German meteorologist Alfred Wegener. However, another one would deserve recognition: that of the American cartographer Marie Tharp, who made a major contribution to the development of the theory that revolutionised the Earth sciences.
Sand patches dot beaches and deserts, but their origin remains an enigma. Using measurements taken in the desert, physicists have created a model that explains how they form, with a few surprises into the bargain.
Half a billion years ago, plants, until then exclusively aquatic, set out to colonise the land. This transition transformed the Earth and its atmosphere, paving the way for terrestrial vertebrates. Researchers have been hard at work piecing together the scenario of this revolution.
