Help NASA Solve a Fundamental Martian Mystery
Find Clouds on Mars to Help NASA Scientists By spotting clouds in data collected by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, the public can increase scientists’ understanding…
Atmospheric Science
Long-Term Liquid Water – Required for Life – Could Exist on Planets That Are Very Different From Earth
Liquid water is an important prerequisite for life to develop on a planet. As researchers report in a new study, liquid water could also exist…
New Class of Unusual Reactive Substances Detected in Atmospheric Chemistry
An international team of researchers has now succeeded in detecting hydrotrioxides (ROOOH) under atmospheric conditions for the first time. Until now, the existence of these…
New Discovery Reveals Why Uranus and Neptune Are Different Colors
Observations from Gemini Observatory and other telescopes reveal that excess haze on Uranus makes it paler than Neptune. Astronomers may now understand why the similar…
As Big as It Gets: Massive Hunga Volcano Eruption Comparable to Krakatoa
The January 2022 eruption of the Hunga volcano in Tonga was the largest volcanic eruption in the 21st century, and the largest recorded since the…
New Type of Extremely Reactive Substance Discovered in the Atmosphere
For the first time, an entirely new class of super-reactive chemical compounds has been found under atmospheric conditions. Scientists from the University of Copenhagen, in…
Physicists Explain Mysterious “Discrete Aurora” on Mars
Scientists have learned how discrete aurora is formed on Mars. In a new study, the physicists report that the upstream solar wind properties interacting with…
Massive Hunga Volcano Eruption Created an Atmospheric Pulse That Caused an Unusual Tsunami-Like Disturbance
Hunga Volcano Eruption Provides an Explosion of Data The gigantic January 15, 2022, eruption of the Hunga submarine volcano in the South Pacific Ocean devastated…
Latest CMIP6 Climate Models Overestimate Future Afro-Asian Monsoon Rainfall and Runoff
Climate projections are critical for adaptation and mitigation planning. The output of the latest round of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project, phase 6 (CMIP6) has…
Science Made Simple: What are Atmospheric Rivers?
Atmospheric rivers are large, narrow sections of the Earth’s atmosphere that transport moisture from the Earth’s tropics near the equator to the poles. On average,…
Filling the Climate Change Data Gap: Amazon Rainforest Gases Affect the Earth’s Atmosphere
Findings may fill gap for climate change, atmospheric research beyond tropical regions. According to a new study by scientists at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL),…
Hubble Space Telescope Observations Used To Answer Key Exoplanet Questions
A worldwide team of astronomers studied archival Hubble Space Telescope observations of 25 hot Jupiters, allowing them to answer five unresolved questions important to our…
Lesser-Known Ozone Layer Discovered To Play Outsized Role in Planet Warming
Air pollution heating up the Southern Ocean. According to new research, a lesser-known form of ozone is playing a significant role in heating the Southern…
Why Venus Rotates, Slowly, Despite Sun’s Powerful Gravitational Pull
The planet’s atmosphere explains the gravity of the situation. Venus, Earth’s sister planet, would likely not rotate, if not for its soupy, fast-moving atmosphere. Instead,…
Pacific Northwest Wildfires Alter Air Pollution Patterns Across North America – Posing Potential Health Risks to Millions of People
Increase in August pollution could have far-reaching health implications. New research finds that increasingly large and intense wildfires in the Pacific Northwest are altering the…
Ozone May Be Weakening One of the Earth’s Most Important Cooling Mechanisms – Heating the Planet More Than We Realize
Ozone in the atmosphere found to have weakened one of Earth’s main cooling mechanisms. According to new research, ozone may be weakening one of the…
Changing Vegetation a Key Driver of Global Temperatures Over Last 10,000 Years
Follow the pollen. Records from past plant life tell the real story of global temperatures, according to research from a climate scientist at Washington University…
Earth Has Too Much Nitrogen – and Too Little Nitrogen – at the Same Time
Multi-institutional research team finds declining nitrogen availability in a nitrogen-rich world. Since the mid-20th century, research and discussion have focused on the negative effects of…
