Monster Saharan Dust Plume Heading for Europe
A substantial dust plume drifted over the Atlantic Ocean, with some of the airborne grains steering toward the northeast. Each year more than 180 million…
Earth News
Unexpected Decrease in Ammonia Emissions in China Due to COVID-19 Lockdowns
Most Chinese working in the cities return to work today after a 7-day national holiday of Spring Festival. The annual Spring Festival, which is also…
Earth’s Magnetic Field Reversal 42,000 Years Ago Triggered a Global Environmental Crisis
Nearly 42,000 years ago, when Earth’s magnetic fields reversed, this triggered major environmental changes, extinction events, and long-term changes in human behavior, a new study…
Is the Brunt Ice Shelf in Antarctica on the Brink?
In early 2019, all eyes were fixed on the Brunt Ice Shelf in Antarctica, where a massive iceberg, around the size of Greater London, appeared…
Italy’s Mount Etna Erupts, Spewing a Fountain of Lava and Ash Into the Sky
Italy’s Mount Etna, one of the world’s most active volcanoes, has erupted twice in less than 48 hours, spewing a fountain of lava and ash…
The Red Comb: Namib Desert Bears Scar From Meteor Impact
In the vastness of one of the world’s oldest deserts lies a relatively recent geologic feature: the Roter Kamm crater (“Red Comb” in German). An…
Satellite View: Extreme Winter Weather Causes U.S. Blackouts
A potent arctic weather system chilled much of the United States with frigid weather in mid-February 2021, shattering low-temperature records in the middle of the…
Unexpected Life Lurking in Subglacial Lakes Isolated Deep Beneath Antarctic Ice
Lakes underneath the Antarctic ice sheet could be more hospitable than previously thought, allowing them to host more microbial life. This is the finding of…
New Theory About the State of Earth Billions of Years Ago: Clearer Insight Into Earth’s Hidden Crystals
Geologists have developed a new theory about the state of Earth billions of years ago after examining the very old rocks formed in the Earth’s…
Alphabet Soup: Antarctic Icebergs Galore
The waters off of South Georgia—a remote island in the southern Atlantic Ocean—have become an alphabet soup. Pieces from the once-mighty iceberg A68-A continue to…
Climate Change – Not Overhunting by Humans – Likely Drove the Extinction of North America’s Largest Animals
New research suggests that overhunting by humans was not responsible for the extinction of mammoths, ground sloths, and other North American megafauna. A new study…
Formal “Protected Area” Designation Reduces the Rate of Deforestation but Does Not Prevent It
A survey of more than 18,000 land parcels spanning 2 million square miles across 63 countries shows that a “protected area” designation reduces the rate…
Climate Shift May Have Helped Dinosaurs Make 6,500-Mile Trek From South America to Greenland
CO2 Dip May Have Aided Herbivores on a 6,500-Mile Trek A new paper refines estimates of when herbivorous dinosaurs must have traversed North America on…
Remarkably Well-Preserved Fossils Helping to Solve Baffling Puzzle That Vexed Darwin
Remarkably well-preserved fossils are helping scientists unravel a mystery about the origins of early animals that puzzled Charles Darwin. Analysis of the 547 million-year-old remains…
Rapidly Accelerating Crack: Brunt Ice Shelf Breaking Up With Antarctica This Year?
Two years after the Brunt Ice Shelf seemed poised to produce a berg twice the size of New York City, the ice is still hanging…
Antarctica: Southern Ocean Cools at the Surface but Warms Up at Depth
Scientists from the CNRS, CNES, IRD, Sorbonne Université, l’Université Toulouse III – Paul Sabatier and their Australian colleagues*, with the support of the IPEV, have…
Exploring Earth From Space: Valentine Island, Australia
For Valentine’s Day, the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission takes us over Valentine Island in northern Western Australia. The tiny Valentine Island, visible in the top-left of…
A Geologist’s Dream: A Short Journey to the Center of the Earth
A geologist’s dream, Gros Morne National Park is one of the few places where you can set foot on the Earth’s mantle without digging an…