Natural Disasters News

June 13, 2025

Top Headlines

Scientists Uncover Why "stealth" Volcanoes Stay Silent Until Eruption

June 10, 2025 — Some volcanoes erupt with little to no warning, posing serious risks to nearby communities and air traffic. A study of Alaska's Veniaminof volcano reveals how specific internal conditions like slow magma flow and warm chamber walls can create these ...

Earth's Core Mystery Solved: How Solid Rock Flows 3,000 Kilometers Beneath Us

June 8, 2025 — Beneath Earth s surface, nearly 3,000 kilometers down, lies a mysterious layer where seismic waves speed up inexplicably. For decades, scientists puzzled over this D' layer. Now, groundbreaking ...

Lighting Up Earthquakes: How Scientists Watched Ruptures Evolve in Milliseconds

June 7, 2025 — Scientists have built a lab model that visually tracks how microscopic contact points between fault surfaces evolve during earthquake cycles, revealing the hidden mechanics behind both the slow ...

First Direct Observation of the Trapped Waves That Shook the World in 2023

June 3, 2025 — A new study has finally confirmed the theory that the cause of extraordinary global tremors in September -- October 2023 was indeed two mega tsunamis in Greenland that became trapped standing waves. Using a brand-new type of satellite altimetry, the ...

Researchers Use Deep Learning to Predict Flooding This Hurricane Season

June 2, 2025 — Researchers have developed a deep learning model called LSTM-SAM that predicts extreme water levels from tropical cyclones more efficiently and accurately, especially in data-scarce coastal regions, to offer a faster, low-cost tool for flood ...

2021's Hurricane Ida Could Have Been Even Worse for NYC

May 29, 2025 — Hurricane Ida wreaked an estimated $75 billion in total damages and was responsible for 112 fatalities -- including 32 in New Jersey and 16 in New York state. Yet the hurricane could have been even worse in the Big Apple, find ...

Thousands of Sensors Reveal 3D Structure of Earthquake-Triggered Sound Waves

May 29, 2025 — Earthquakes create ripple effects in Earth's upper atmosphere that can disrupt satellite communications and navigation systems we rely on. Scientists have now used Japan's extensive network of Global ...

When Climate Disasters Hit, They Often Leave Long-Term Health Care Access Shortages

May 29, 2025 — Immediate recovery efforts receive the most attention after severe natural disasters, yet new data from researchers at Drexel University and the University of Maryland suggests these climate events ...

Mathematical Prediction of Seismic Wave Propagation in Magma Containing Crystals and Bubbles

May 22, 2025 — Researchers have mathematically elucidated how the presence of crystals and gas bubbles in magma affects the propagation of seismic P-waves. A novel equation was derived to describe the travel of ...

Breakthrough AI Model Could Transform How We Prepare for Natural Disasters

May 22, 2025 — From deadly floods in Europe to intensifying tropical cyclones around the world, the climate crisis has made timely and precise forecasting more essential than ever. Yet traditional forecasting methods rely on highly complex numerical models ...

Enormous Boulder Washed Inland a Sign of Pacific Tsunami History

May 21, 2025 — Analysis has shown a boulder weighing almost 1,200 tons in Tonga is one of the largest known wave-transported rocks in the world, providing new insights into the Pacific region's history and risk of ...

World's Rivers Remapped to Improve Flood Modeling

May 15, 2025 — A team has created the most complete map of the world's rivers ever made offering a major leap forward for flood prediction, climate risk planning, and water resource management in a warming world. The new study introduces GRIT -- a mapping system ...

Latest Headlines

updated 1:25pm EDT

Satellite Data from Ship Captures Landslide-Generated Tsunami

May 14, 2025 — New research demonstrates shipborne navigation systems have potential to improve tsunami detection and ...

Tech Meets Tornado Recovery

May 14, 2025 — Traditional methods of assessing damage after a disaster can take weeks or even months, delaying emergency response, insurance claims and long-term rebuilding efforts. New research might change that. ...

Tiny Gas Bubbles Reveal Secrets of Hawaiian Volcanoes

May 14, 2025 — Using advanced technology that analyzes tiny gas bubbles trapped in crystal, a team of scientists has precisely mapped how magma storage evolves as Hawaiian volcanoes ...

The Ripple Effect of Small Earthquakes Near Major Faults

May 14, 2025 — When we think of earthquakes, we imagine sudden, violent shaking. But deep beneath the Earth's surface, some faults move in near silence. These slow, shuffling slips and their accompanying hum -- ...

Study of Türkiye Gold Mine Landslide Highlights Need for Future Monitoring

May 8, 2025 — A new analysis of a fatal landslide that occurred on 13 February 2024 at the pler Gold Mine in Turkiye reveals that the site of the landslide had been slowly moving for at least four years prior to ...

Slickrock: Geologists Explore Why Utah's Wasatch Fault Is Vulnerable to Earthquakes

May 6, 2025 — Using rock samples collected from the Wasatch Fault, geoscientists combined experiments and analysis with examinations of fault rock textures. The ...

Flood Risk Increasing in Pacific Northwest

Apr. 28, 2025 — A powerful earthquake, combined with rising sea levels, could significantly increase flood risks in the Pacific Northwest, impacting thousands of residents and properties in northern California, ...

Scientists Discover Key to Taming Unrest at Italy's Campi Flegrei

May 2, 2025 — New research shows that elevation changes and earthquakes in Italy's Campi Flegrei volcanic area are caused by rising pressure in a geothermal reservoir -- not magma or its gases, as commonly ...

Eruption Loading: New Approaches to Earthquake Monitoring at Ontake Volcano, Japan

May 1, 2025 — A new study has investigated the use of a new monitoring technique for early warning of a volcanic eruption. The research team compared the ...

Lava Flow Jigsaw Puzzle Reveals the Secrets of Shifting Continents

May 1, 2025 — Analysing lava flows that solidified and then broke apart over a massive crack in the Earth's crust in Turkey has brought new insights into how continents move over time, improving our understanding ...

One of Earth's Ancient Volcanic Mysteries Solved

Apr. 30, 2025 — A new study traces a 120-million-year-old 'super-eruption' to its source, offering new insights into Earth's complex geological ...

Climate Change Increases the Risk of Simultaneous Wildfires

Apr. 28, 2025 — Climate change is increasing the risk of wildfires in many regions of the world. This is due partly to specific weather conditions -- known as fire weather -- that facilitate the spread of wildfires. ...

Anatomy of a 'Zombie' Volcano: Investigating the Cause of Unrest Inside Uturuncu

Apr. 28, 2025 — Scientists have collaborated to analyze the inner workings of Bolivia's 'zombie' volcano, Uturuncu. By combining seismology, physics models and analysis of rock composition, ...

Noto Quake 3D Model Adds Dimension to Understand Earthquake Dynamics

Apr. 28, 2025 — On Jan. 1, 2024, a 7.5-magnitude earthquake struck the Noto Peninsula in Japan, resulting in extensive damage in the region caused by uplift, when the land rises due to shifting tectonic plates. The ...

Could Seismic Signals from Earthquakes Mask the Signals of an Underground Explosion?

Apr. 24, 2025 — Could the seismic signal of an underground nuclear test explosion be 'hidden' by the signal generated by a natural ...

Lake Deposits Reveal Directional Shaking During Devastating 1976 Guatemala Earthquake

Apr. 18, 2025 — Sediment cores drawn from four lakes in Guatemala record the distinct direction that ground shaking traveled during a 1976 magnitude 7.5 earthquake that devastated the country, according to ...

Seismology: How Wide Are Faults?

Apr. 18, 2025 — Researchers posed a seemingly simple question: how wide are ...

Apr. 16, 2025 — A new study suggests that climate trauma -- such as experiencing a devastating wildfire -- can have lasting effects on cognitive ...

Inside Yellowstone's Fiery Heart: Researchers Map Volatile-Rich Cap, Offering Clues to Future Volcanic Activity

Apr. 16, 2025 — Beneath the steaming geysers and bubbling mud pots of Yellowstone National Park lies one of the world's most closely watched volcanic systems. Now a team of geoscientists has uncovered new ...

Strong Shaking at Fault Stepover Has Rocks--Briefly--Defying Gravity

Apr. 23, 2025 — When a seismologist visited the site of the 2019 Ridgecrest earthquakes two days after the event, he noticed something strange. Pebble- to boulder-sized rocks clearly had been moved by the ...

Seismologists Share Early Analyses of Myanmar Earthquake

Apr. 15, 2025 — The 28 March magnitude 7.7 Mandalay, Burma (Myanmar) earthquake caused widespread and severe damage in Myanmar and neighboring countries such as Thailand, with more than 5,000 casualties now ...

Emotions and Levels of Threat Affect Communities' Resilience During Extreme Events

Apr. 14, 2025 — Researchers use mathematical modeling to probe whether cohesive communities are more resilient to extreme events, finding that emotional intensity and levels of stress play a big ...

Hundred-Year Storm Tides Will Occur Every Few Decades in Bangladesh, Scientists Report

Apr. 11, 2025 — For the highly populated coastal country of Bangladesh, once-in-a-century storm tides could strike every 10 years -- or more often -- by the end of the century, scientists ...

Crustal Brines at an Oceanic Transform Fault

Apr. 11, 2025 — A team presents new details of an oceanic transform fault at the Gofar fault in the eastern Pacific Ocean. The work reveals unexpected brine deposits beneath the seafloor near the fault, which could ...

Sink or Swim: The Fate of Sinking Tectonic Plates Depends on Their Ancient Tectonic Histories

Apr. 9, 2025 — New findings provide a greater understanding of plate subduction, or how tectonic plates slide beneath one another. This recycling of surface materials and volatile elements deep into the ...

Wildfire Recovery: What Victims Say They Need Most

Apr. 9, 2025 — Wildfire victims have a range of needs, including mental health support and information about wildfire smoke, according to a new ...

Building a Safer Future: Strengthen Haiti's Earthquake Resilience

Mar. 18, 2025 — Over the past two decades, Haiti has endured the devastation of two catastrophic earthquakes -- first in 2010 and again in 2021. Each disaster left behind widespread destruction: buildings reduced to ...

Smoke from Wildland-Urban Interface Fires More Deadly Than Remote Wildfires

Mar. 14, 2025 — New research quantifies the health risks of wildland-urban interface fires, showing fire emissions in populated areas are three times more likely to lead to annual premature deaths than emissions ...

As Next Hurricane Season Nears, Study Explores Impacts of 2024's Storms

Mar. 13, 2025 — When major storms hit Houston last spring and summer, losing power was a nightmare for residents, but for many, the financial fallout was just as devastating. A new report finds that more than half ...

Researchers Forecast Shaking Damage from Crustal Earthquake Scenarios in Mexico City

Mar. 12, 2025 — Seismologists describe potential damage forecasts from ground shaking scenarios for moderate earthquakes in three regions of the Mexico City ...