What Would Earth’s Temperature Be Like Without an Atmosphere?
OK, a couple of quick points. This is just the surface temperature of the Earth. Since the light from the sun just hits the surface and the Earth radiates…
Browsing Tag
earth science
The Tonga Eruption Is Still Revealing New Volcanic Dangers
It’s clear that Hunga involved an unusually explosive recipe that may not be easily replicated. For about a month, the eruption had progressed as…
When Did the Anthropocene Actually Begin?
Invasive species introduced by humans to new regions can also be markers, the scientists said. The inadvertent import of alien species in the ballast water…
El Niño Is Coming—and the World Isn’t Prepared
In 2023, the relentless increase in global heating will continue, bringing ever more disruptive weather that is the signature calling card of accelerating…
A New NASA Satellite Will Map Earth’s Rising Seas
SWOT could turn out to be a major improvement over measurements by previous satellites. “Instead of a ‘pencil beam’ moving along the Earth’s surface from a…
These Algorithms Are Hunting for an EV Battery Mother Lode
“These things are hard to tip over,” geologist Wilson Bonner assures me as the four-wheeled all-terrain vehicle he’s piloting tilts suddenly sideways,…
Pink Snow Is Not a Cute Phenomenon—Here’s Why
The scientists used the device to record the snow’s albedo, a measure of what fraction of the sunlight beaming down is reflected back up. Red snow means…
Pliocene-Like Monsoons Are Returning to the American Southwest
Leaf waxes also predate climate records from Antarctic ice cores, which go back only about a million years and require a climate that can support ice. One…
A New Tool for Eruption Forecasting: Carbon-Catching Drones
She and her team flew these drones while they were standing inside the crater to compare faraway atmospheric measurements with those closer to the source.…
If Humans Went Extinct, Would a Similar Species Evolve?
The rise of powerful new technology means that humanity must confront the risk of its own demise. The invention of nuclear weaponry, for example, has already…