Earth Sciences news

Tropical zone expanding due to climate change: study

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

1hour ago | 5 / 5 (2) | 0

Climate change is rapidly expanding the size of the world's tropical zone, threatening to bring disease and drought to heavily populated areas, an Australian study has found.

Global warming tactic cools climate but won’t help corals, say researchers

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

Jul 03, 2009 | 3 / 5 (6) | 6

(PhysOrg.com) -- “Geoengineering” experiments proposed to reduce global warming by blocking sunlight with atmosphere-injected particles may cool the world but still leave carbon dioxide levels dangerously high, Stanford scientists ...

New type of El Nino could mean more hurricanes make landfall

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

Jul 02, 2009 | 3.2 / 5 (18) | 10

El Niño years typically result in fewer hurricanes forming in the Atlantic Ocean. But a new study suggests that the form of El Niño may be changing potentially causing not only a greater number of hurricanes ...

Super-size deposits of frozen carbon threat to climate change

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

Jun 30, 2009 | 4.7 / 5 (57) | 7

The vast amount of carbon stored in the arctic and boreal regions of the world is more than double that previously estimated, according to a study published this week.

NASA, Japan Release Most Complete Topographic Map of Earth

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

Jun 30, 2009 | 4.6 / 5 (7) | 1

(PhysOrg.com) -- NASA and Japan released a new digital topographic map of Earth Monday that covers more of our planet than ever before. The map was produced with detailed measurements from NASA's Terra spacecraft.

Researchers Survey Mid-Atlantic Ridge Looking For New Forms of Marine Life, Clues to Deep-Sea Communities

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

Jun 30, 2009 | 5 / 5 (1) | 1

(PhysOrg.com) -- An international team of researchers is surveying the Mid-Atlantic Ridge halfway between Iceland and the Azores to determine its biodiversity and perhaps discover new species and clues to ...

Scientists' Drill Hits Magma: Only Third Time on Record

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

Jun 29, 2009 | 4.7 / 5 (22) | 21

(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists drilling a borehole deep into Iceland’s rocky crust to explore new methods of using geothermal energy hit a major roadblock on Thursday: Their drill ran into molten rock at a depth ...

Sulfate lens enhances climate warming properties of atmospheric soot

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

Jun 29, 2009 | 3.3 / 5 (8) | 2

Particulate pollution thought to be holding climate change in check by reflecting sunlight instead enhances warming when combined with airborne soot, a new study has found.

Desert Dust Alters Ecology of Colorado Alpine Meadows

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

Jun 29, 2009 | 4.9 / 5 (50) | 1

(PhysOrg.com) -- Accelerated snowmelt--precipitated by desert dust blowing into the mountains--changes how alpine plants respond to seasonal climate cues that regulate their life cycles, according to results ...

Hand-held Aerosol Sensors Help Fill Crucial Data Gap Over Oceans

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

Jun 29, 2009 | 3 / 5 (1) | 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Since NASA researchers began assembling the Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) in the 1990s, the worldwide network of ground-based aerosol sensors has grown to 400 sites across seven continents.

First riser-drilling research operations undertaken in Nankai Trough Seismogenic Zone

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

Jun 29, 2009 | not rated yet | 0

Deepsea Drilling Vessel CHIKYU has resumed IODP drilling operations in the Nankai Trough Seismogenic Zone off the Kii Peninsula of Japan. The scientific drilling expedition's first target is located in water depths of 2,054 ...

Sophisticated weather satellite rockets into orbit

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

Jun 28, 2009 | 5 / 5 (1) | 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- The latest Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite, GOES-O, soared into space today after a successful launch from Space Launch Complex 37 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station ...

QuikScat Finds Tempests Brewing In 'Ordinary' Storms

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

Jun 26, 2009 | 5 / 5 (2) | 0

"June is busting out all over," as the song says, and with it, U.S. residents along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts begin to gaze warily toward the ocean, aware that the hurricane season is revving up. In the ...

Satellites Guide Relief to Earthquake Victims

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

Jun 26, 2009 | not rated yet | 0

On May 28 at 2:24 a.m. local time, a deadly earthquake rocked Honduras, killing seven people and injuring several others, demolishing homes, damaging scores of other buildings, and sending terrified residents ...

Climate phenomenon influences England's chances in the Australian leg of the Ashes

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

Jun 26, 2009 | 2.3 / 5 (3) | 0

The El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phenomenon has been shown to have a significant effect on the results of the Ashes cricket series. When the series is held in Australia, the Australian Cricket team is more likely to ...

Iowa State researchers contribute climate model to study that finds some winds decreasing

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

Jun 25, 2009 | 5 / 5 (2) | 3

Declining wind speeds in parts of the United States could impact more than the wind power industry, say Iowa State University climate researchers.

Space shuttle science shows how 1908 Tunguska explosion was caused by a comet

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

Jun 24, 2009 | 3.4 / 5 (19) | 15

The mysterious 1908 Tunguska explosion that leveled 830 square miles of Siberian forest was almost certainly caused by a comet entering the Earth's atmosphere, says new Cornell University research. The conclusion ...

Dry autumns and winters may lead to fewer tornadoes in the spring

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

Jun 24, 2009 | 2.8 / 5 (6) | 0

Global warming will likely mean more unpredictable weather, scientists say, and a new study by researchers at the University of Georgia pins down, possibly for the first time, how drought conditions in an ...