The Watchers team and our contributors bring the latest on extreme weather, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, space weather, and all things science. We're all about making sense of the natural world and keeping you informed on what’s happening. Got a tip or a question? Hit us up using the form at newstips!
An international team of astronomers, led by the University of Cambridge, used data from NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope and obtained the most detailed ‘fingerprint’ of a rocky planet outside our solar system to date. They found a planet of two…
According to research published by a faculty member of the University of Arkansas Department of Mathematical Sciences, Daniel Whitmire, periodic mass extinctions on Earth, as indicated in the global fossil record, could be linked to a suspected ninth planet. …
According to a new study led by a scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Reseach (NCAR), a distinct pattern of sea surface temperatures in the middle of the North Pacific Ocean can predict an increased chance of summertime heat waves in the eastern half of…
The decline of the 2015-16 El Niño continues in the tropical Pacific, the Australian Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) reported today. For southern hemisphere winter and spring, climate models suggest neutral and La Niña conditions are equally likely….
According to scientists at the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSICD) and NASA, the 2016 Arctic sea ice appears to have reached a record low wintertime maximum extent for the second year in a row. On March 24, Arctic sea ice extent peaked at 14.52 million square…
According to research released this week by risk analysis and research company Verisk Maplecroft, 1.4 billion people in South Asia, 81% of the region’s population, are acutely exposed to at least one type of natural hazard and live in areas considered to have…
The Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) sensor is one of five sensors on board NASA's Terra satellite. ASTER data and imagery are crucial tools for monitoring volcanoes for any clues of imminent eruptions, for studying…
Astronomers were watching comet Pan-STARRS (P/2016 BA14) on March 22 as it made the third closest-ever comet flyby of Earth in recorded history. At the time of its closest approach, the comet was about 3.6 million km (2.2 million miles) away from the surface of our…
An international team of researchers led by the University of Leicester have identified a number of giant super-eruptions around the Snake River Plain in the United States between 8 and 12 million years ago. The 12 recorded giant eruptions were likely…
Planetary scientist Matt Siegler at Southern Methodist University, Dallas, and colleagues discovered that Earth's moon slowly moved from its original axis roughly 3 billion years ago. The move would be as if Earth's axis relocated from Antarctica to…
