Atmospheric

Super-Typhoon Haiyan Hits The Philippines

Super-Typhoon Haiyan is bringing the maximum sustained winds of a Category 5 hurricane- 195 MPH, making it among the strongest storms ever recorded. Warnings are in effect for the Philippines and Micronesia as Haiyan moves west. Brian McNoldy, a Senior Re ...

Article - News Staff - Nov 7 2013 - 5:43pm

Why Didn't The Great Red Spot On Jupiter Disappear Centuries Ago?

Jupiter's Great Red Spot, a massive storm big enough to engulf the Earth two times over, is one of the solar system's most enigmatic landmarks and a mystery of fluid dynamics  – because it  should have disappeared centuries ago.  Some new work w ...

Article - News Staff - Nov 14 2013 - 7:35pm

Even If Emissions Are Halted, Carbon Dioxide Could Warm Earth For Centuries

Global warming was set in motion around 1600 AD, it seems.  Because carbon dioxide emissions persist for a long time, even a sudden halt today means the carbon dioxide already in Earth's atmosphere could continue to warm our planet for hundreds of ye ...

Article - News Staff - Nov 25 2013 - 8:29am

Lemon Juice And Ancient Mass Extinction

Rain as acidic as undiluted lemon juice may have played a part in killing off plants and organisms around the world about 252 million years ago during the most severe mass extinction in Earth's history, known as the Great Dying. The cause of such a m ...

Article - News Staff - Nov 28 2013 - 4:00pm

Convection: Pollution And The Lingering Clouds

More pollution causes thunderstorms to leave behind larger, deeper, longer lasting clouds, according to a new paper which can help provide a gauge for the accuracy of weather and climate models. Researchers had thought that pollution causes larger and lon ...

Article - News Staff - Dec 1 2013 - 11:03am

Is Fracking Worse For Pollution Than Coal?

Extraction using hydraulic fracturing- fracking- has made North America the world's largest producer of oil and gas, while US CO2 emissions from energy have dropped back to early 1990s levels and the most offensive producer, coal, has been pushed bac ...

Article - News Staff - Dec 3 2013 - 12:45pm

Will Permanent CO2 Sequestration Work? An Abandoned Mine May Hold The Key

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Article - News Staff - Dec 9 2013 - 11:57am

Deeper Updrafts: New Cloud Simulation Leads To Estimate Of 4°C Rise In Global Temperatures By 2100

A new paper in Nature estimates that global average temperatures will rise at least 4°C by 2100 and potentially more than 8°C by 2200 if carbon dioxide emissions worldwide are not reduced-  due to a reestimate of the great unknowns of climate sensitivity, ...

Article - News Staff - Dec 31 2013 - 11:12am

Carbon Storage: How Does Soil Store CO2?

We hear a lot about carbon storage and the impact on the atmosphere if CO2 is release during warming, but how does that work? Carbon is not evenly distributed in soil, instead the kinds of carbon hot spots that matter are found on about 20 percent of mine ...

Article - News Staff - Jan 8 2014 - 10:55am

Highly Reactive Molecular Chlorine Found In Arctic Atmosphere

CO2 gets most of the attention these days but it is not the only pollution the Arctic faces. The environment is complex and the daisy chain of effects is unclear. That's why researchers who measured molecular chlorine levels in the Arctic in the spri ...

Article - News Staff - Jan 13 2014 - 12:40pm