NASA Scientists Observe Electric Blue Clouds in the Mesosphere
On the cusp of our atmosphere live a thin group of seasonal electric blue clouds. Forming 50 miles (80 kilometers) above the poles in summer,…
On the cusp of our atmosphere live a thin group of seasonal electric blue clouds. Forming 50 miles (80 kilometers) above the poles in summer,…
In the face of climate change, deforestation and biodiversity loss, creating a sustainable version of civilization is one of humanity’s most urgent tasks. But when…
Powerful Earth-observing instruments aboard NASA’s Terra and Aqua satellites, launched in 1999 and 2002, respectively, have observed nearly two decades of planetary change. Now, for…
Looking at Earth from the International Space Station, astronauts see big, white clouds spreading across the planet. They cannot distinguish a gray rain cloud from…
You don’t get to swim in the sun’s atmosphere unless you can prove you belong there. And the Parker Solar Probe’s Faraday cup, a key…
Thunderstorms in Earth’s upper atmosphere remain something of a mystery. Scientists cannot reach them directly with instruments; they are too high for balloons and too…
NASA has produced the first three-dimensional numerical model of melting snowflakes in the atmosphere. Developed by scientist Jussi Leinonen of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in…
Notanee Bourassa knew that what he was seeing in the night sky was not normal. Bourassa, an IT technician in Regina, Canada, trekked outside of…
A new experiment by Elizabeth Swanner evaluating the reduction of iron in prehistoric oceans may reinterpret the conditions under which iron-rich sedimentary rock is formed….
Princeton University researchers have found that the climate models scientists use to project future conditions on our planet underestimate the cooling effect that clouds have…
Like Earth, space has weather. Except instead of swirling winds and downpours of precipitation, space weather is defined by shifting electric and magnetic fields and…
Using measurements from NASA’s Aura satellite, scientists studied chlorine within the Antarctic ozone hole over the last several years, watching as the amount slowly decreased….
A new NASA-led study has solved a puzzle involving the recent rise in atmospheric methane, a potent greenhouse gas, with a new calculation of emissions…
The air we breathe contains particulate matter from a range of natural and human-related sources. Particulate matter is responsible for thousands of premature deaths in…
A breakthrough in the understanding of how cosmic rays from supernovae can influence Earth’s cloud cover and thereby climate is published today in the journal…
Each year, ozone-depleting compounds in the upper atmosphere destroy the protective ozone layer, and in particular above Antarctica. The ozone layer acts as Earth’s sunscreen…
A team of scientists using a state-of-the-art UCLA instrument reports the discovery of a planetary-scale “tug-of-war” of life, deep Earth, and the upper atmosphere that…
A UCLA-led team was the first to measure Greenland’s melting glaciers from the top of the ice sheet. Their discoveries could help scientists better predict…