Two new studies into the “plumbing systems” that lie under volcanoes could bring scientists closer to predicting large eruptions. International teams of researchers studied the location and behavior of magma chambers on Earth’s mid-ocean ridge system — a vast chain of volcanoes along which Earth forms new crust.

Glaciers play a vital role in Earth’s climate system, and it’s critical to understand what contributes to their fluctuation. Increased global temperatures are frequently viewed as the cause of glacial melt, but a new study of Patagonia’s Gualas Glacier highlights the role of precipitation in the glacier’s fluctuation.

In a study of PCBs in polar bear cubs in Svalbard, researchers have found that blood levels of PCBs and related contaminants in polar bear cubs appear to have dropped by as much as 59 per cent between 1998 and 2008.

The San Jacinto Fault Zone is a seismically active, major component of the overall southern San Andreas Fault system. Researchers have mapped evidence of past ruptures consistent with very large earthquakes along the Clark Fault, an individual strand associated with the SJF.