Flood risks in delta cities are increasing, study finds
Peer-Reviewed Publication
Updates every hour. Last Updated: 2-Dec-2025 23:11 ET (3-Dec-2025 04:11 GMT/UTC)
New research finds that a combination of extreme climate events, sea-level rise and land subsidence could create larger and deeper floods in coastal cities in future.
The study focused on Shanghai in China, which is threatened with flooding by large and strong typhoons, or tropical storms, producing storm surges and waves. To avoid disaster a major adaptation effort is required - which will almost certainly include raising defences and constructing mobile flood barriers, like those seen at the Thames Barrier in London. However, the team warn there is also the risk of “catastrophic failure” of defences due to rising water levels, especially due to the combination of subsidence, sea-level rise and higher surges during typhoons, as occurred in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
A new FAU survey finds that 36% of Floridians have moved or are considering moving due to hazards such as hurricanes, flooding and extreme heat. Nearly a quarter of North Floridians say weather hazards have influenced their past moves and about 20% of respondents in the rest of the Peninsula south say they are considering a move at least in part due to weather hazards. More than 60% are concerned about stronger storms and flooding, and nearly half are concerned about homeowner’s insurance costs.
A new study shows that during drought, it’s not how hot or how dry it is that determines gas emissions from plants – but how quickly conditions change. This discovery reshapes our understanding of the relationship between drought, vegetation, and air pollution.
In a paper published in SCIENCE CHINA Earth Sciences, a team of researchers conducted a comprehensive review of direct measurement techniques for optical and chemical properties of atmospheric aerosols, as well as the impacts of aerosols on climate and environment, and health risks associated with exposure to high concentrations of ultrafine particles. It serves as a valuable reference for advancing future research and instrumentation development in the field of aerosol science.
Leipzig. There are fewer ice nuclei in the air above the large ice surfaces of Antarctica than anywhere else in the world. This is the conclusion reached by an international research team led by the Leibniz Institute for Tropospheric Research (TROPOS) based on filter measurements of cloud particles at three locations in Antarctica. These are the first of their kind on the continent. The data now published fills a knowledge gap and could explain the large proportion of supercooled liquid water in the clouds of the southern polar region. Clouds containing liquid water droplets reflect sunlight more strongly than clouds containing ice. Fewer ice nuclei and less ice in the clouds could contribute to the southern hemisphere not warming as much as the northern hemisphere, the researchers write in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.
It has long been known that the clouds over the Southern Ocean around Antarctica contain more water and less ice than comparable clouds in the Northern Hemisphere. However, without details on the causes and measurement series, climate models based on data from the Northern Hemisphere cannot be adjusted. The measurements of ice nuclei now provide an important detail for this. Further data will be provided by flights of the German research aircraft HALO, whose HALO-South mission ended in New Zealand in mid-October, as well as a series of Antarctic expeditions planned for 2026-2030 as part of the major international research project "Antarctica InSync".
An international team of scientists, led by University of Groninge professor Olaf Scholten, has observed radio wave-emissions originating from a commercial airliner, most likely caused by the discharge of static electricity.