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Dr Martin Vollmer and his colleagues detected a rapid accumulation of anesthetic gases isoflurane, desflurane, and sevoflurane, in the global atmosphere. Image credit: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.

Anesthetic Gases Contribute to Climate Change, Say Atmospheric Chemists

Apr 9, 2015 by News Staff

Desflurane, isoflurane, sevoflurane and halothane – clinically used inhalation anesthetic agents – are accumulating in the atmosphere of our...

Earth. Image credit: Kelvin Song / CC BY-SA 3.0.

Planetary Scientists Shed New Light on Earth’s Core Formation

Mar 3, 2015 by News Staff

Violent collisions between the infant Earth and other objects in our Solar System generated significant amounts of iron vapor, says a group of researchers...

Fly Geyser, a man-made small geothermal geyser located in Washoe County, Nevada. Image credit: Jeremy C. Munns.

Study Provides New Understanding of Geyser Mechanics

Feb 26, 2015 by News Staff

Geysers erupt periodically because of loops or side-chambers in their underground plumbing, says a team of volcanologists from the United States and Japan. Fly...

These graphs show carbon dioxide’s increasing greenhouse effect at two locations on the Earth’s surface, in Oklahoma and on the North Slope of Alaska; as the atmospheric concentration of CO2 (blue) increased from 2000 to the end of 2010, so did surface radiative forcing due to CO2 (orange), and both quantities have upward trends; this means the Earth absorbed more energy from solar radiation than it emitted as heat back to space. Image credit: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

Researchers Observe CO2’s Increasing Greenhouse Effect

Feb 26, 2015 by News Staff

Using spectroscopic instruments operated by the U.S. DoE’s Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Climate Research Facility, scientists have directly observed...

NASA’s CALIPSO satellite has quantified in three dimensions how much dust makes the trans-Atlantic journey from the Sahara desert to the Amazon rain forest; among this dust is phosphorus, an essential nutrient that acts like a fertilizer, which the Amazon depends on in order to flourish. Image credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

Phosphorus-Rich Dust from Sahara Desert Keeps Amazon Soils Fertile

Feb 24, 2015 by News Staff

Every year, millions of tons of dust from the Sahara desert cross the Atlantic Ocean, bringing vital phosphorus and other fertilizers to depleted Amazon...

Temperature and salinity measurements (averaged between 2010 and 2014) from several satellites, including ESA’s SMOS mission, have been used to map ocean alkalinity, the ability of a solution to neutralize acids and thus resist to changes in pH. Image credit: Ifremer / ESA / CNES.

New Satellite Maps Reveal Global Ocean Alkalinity

Feb 18, 2015 by News Staff

Innovative techniques that use satellites to monitor ocean acidification are set to revolutionize the way that scientists study the Earth’s oceans....

Eruption of a deep-sea volcano. Image credit: University of Washington.

Underwater Volcanoes Play Role in Long-Term Climate

Feb 7, 2015 by News Staff

Cyclical variations in Earth’s tilt and orbit – occurring at 23,000-, 41,000- and 100,000-year intervals – are known to strongly influence...

Scientists have discovered a crater, shown here, which had once been the site of a sub-glacial lake. Image credit: Ian Howat / DigitalGlobe Inc / Sci-News.com.

Two Sub-Glacial Lakes in Greenland Surprise Scientists

Jan 22, 2015 by News Staff

Scientists have found direct evidence of concentrated, long-term storage and sudden release of meltwater within sub-glacial lakes in Greenland. Scientists...

This image shows the change in the surface elevation of the Greenland ice sheet between 2003 and 2012; thinning near coastal regions is shown in green, blue and purple; blue/white flows indicate the direction and speed of the ice movement. Image credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.

Greenland Ice Sheet Yielding its Secrets

Dec 16, 2014 by News Staff

Since the late 1970’s, NASA has been monitoring changes in the Greenland Ice Sheet. An analysis of seven years of surface elevation readings from...

An iceberg is seen out the window of a research aircraft as it flies above the Amundsen Sea in West Antarctica on October 21, 2009. Image credit: NASA / Jane Peterson.

West Antarctica Losing Mt. Everest of Ice Every Two Years – Study

Dec 3, 2014 by News Staff

According to a new NASA-led study published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, the melt rate of glaciers in the Amundsen Sea Embayment, West...

The ocean currents and their speeds, in cm/s, derived from GOCE data. Image credit: ESA / CNES / CLS.

Scientists Produce New Map of Ocean Currents

Nov 27, 2014 by News Staff

An international group of scientists using data from ESA’s Gravity field and steady-state Ocean Circulation Explorer (GOCE) has created the most accurate...

Intensification of agriculture is a driver of changes in the seasonal characteristics of the global carbon cycle.

Agricultural Production Affects Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide Cycle

Nov 21, 2014 by News Staff

Crop production may generate up to a quarter of the increase in the seasonal cycle of atmospheric carbon dioxide, with corn playing a leading role, according...

Thunderstorms can produce an exotic kind of electrical breakdown that involves high-energy electrons and their anti-matter equivalent called positrons (University of Minnesota)

Sun’s Magnetic Field Triggers Lightning Strikes on Earth

Nov 20, 2014 by News Staff

The Sun plays a significant role in the generation of lightning strikes on Earth, according to a new study that found that over a 5-year period the United...

GEOS-5 has given researchers a stunning new look at how CO2 in the atmosphere travels around the globe. Image credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center / K. Sharghi.

GEOS-5 Computer Model Provides High-Resolution Look at Key Greenhouse Gas

Nov 19, 2014 by News Staff

A new computer model called GEOS-5 has provided a high-resolution look at how carbon dioxide (CO2) – the key driver of global warming – moves...

A ‘black blizzard’ dust storm in South Dakota, 1934. Image credit: National Archives FDR Library Public Domain Photographs.

1934 Drought was Driest, Most Widespread in Past Millennium, Scientists Find

Oct 17, 2014 by News Staff

Using a reconstruction of North American drought history over the past millennium, a team of researchers from NASA and the Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty...

Schematic illustration of Earth's magnetic field. Image credit: Peter Reid / University of Edinburgh.

Researchers Shed New Light on Earth’s Magnetic Field Reversal 786,000 Years Ago

Oct 16, 2014 by News Staff

A team of scientists led by Dr Leonardo Sagnotti of National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology in Rome, Italy, has found evidence that the most recent...

North Atlantic; red dots are earthquakes. Image credit: David Sandwell / SIO.

New Map of World’s Seafloor Exposes Thousands of Previously Unseen Undersea Mountains

Oct 3, 2014 by News Staff

Using data from NASA’s and European Space Agency’s satellites that measure variations in gravitational field, a multinational team of researchers...

Example wave model hindcast during the September 2012 storm in Arctic Ocean; the map is centered on the North Pole; the color scale indicates significant wave height from 0 to 5 m. Image credit: Jim Thomson / W. Erick Rogers.

Extreme Waves Recorded in Arctic Ocean

Jul 30, 2014 by News Staff

Five-meter-high waves have been detected in the middle of the Arctic Ocean by Dr Jim Thomson of the University of Washington and Dr Erick Rogers of the...

Aerial photograph of Mount Rainier taken on September 14, 2011. Image credit: Michael Arthur Hill / CC BY-SA 3.0.

Geophysicists Crack Secrets of Mount Rainier

Jul 19, 2014 by News Staff

A team of geophysicists led by Dr Stephane Rondenay from the University of Bergen has made a detailed picture of Mount Rainier’s deep volcanic plumbing. Aerial...