• NASA to launch weather-climate satellite Oct 27

    A satellite that aims to help weather forecasters predict extreme storms and offer scientists a better view of climate change is being readied for launch this month.  The 1.5 billion dollar National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System Preparatory

  • Feeding the world: Solutions for a Cultivated Planet

    One billion people on Earth don’t have enough food right now. It’s estimated that by 2050 there will be more than nine billion people living on the planet. Meanwhile, current agricultural practices are amongst the biggest threats to the global environment. This means

  • Burning straw creates heavy fog in China

    The fog, which occurred about three days ago, covered large areas of the fertile and densely populated North China Plain. On Sunday in the provincial capital of Zhengzhou, a heavy mist caused 52 flights to be cancelled and 42 to be delayed. A major highway running

  • Tropical depression forms east of southern Philippines

    Tropical Depression 23 (T.D. 23W) has formed east of southern Philippines as of Monday, and the tropical weather system is set to track across the island nation with heavy rain and gusty winds during the next few days.Torrential rainfall, flooding and landslides will

  • Hurricane Jova could become Category 4 hurricane

    On October 6, 2011, a tropical depression over the eastern Pacific Ocean strengthened into Tropical Storm Jova. On October 8, Jova became a hurricane. By 11:00 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time (PDT) on October 10, 2011, the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) reported, Jova

  • Fires in Russia and China

    Smoke clouds the skies across northeastern China and southeastern Russia. The dry, windy weather of autumn created hazardous fire conditions in northeast China.Since wildfires have occurred frequently recently, the national forest fire prevention authorities issued

  • Fires along the Rio Xingu, Brazil

    The rainforest of South America, also known as Amazonia, has been undergoing a continual and accelerated conversion process into farmlands (including pasture for livestock) since the early 1960s. This process has typically been achieved by clearing the forest using

  • A heavy veil of dust continued to veil central Asia

    Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard NASA’s Terra satellite passed over the central Asia on October 6, 2011 and captured this true-color image bellow. Dust is especially heavy in the valleys and low lying areas, while the skies over the

  • Indian Ocean tsunami alert system to be tested on Oct 12

    Nearly two dozen countries next Wednesday will take part in a full-scale test of the Indian Ocean’s tsunami alert system, using the 2004 Sumatra quake as the basis for the exercise. Exercise IOWAVE 11 will re-enact the seismic events of December 26, 2004, simulating a