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!
Jason-3, a US – European oceanography satellite launched just over a month ago, has produced its first complete science map of global sea surface height, capturing the current signal of the 2015/16 El Niño. The map was generated from the first 10 days of data…
A new research by Stanford scientists, based on California's deadly 1812 earthquake, demonstrates how the rupturing of multiple faults in California can trigger even more powerful quakes. It was assumed previously that infamous San Andreas Fault was the sole…
A team of scientists led by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) has developed a new method to measure how smaller volcanic eruptions are affecting the atmosphere and found that satellite observations are often missing more than half of the particles…
The 2015–16 El Niño continues its slow and steady decline, the Australian Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) reports in their latest ENSO Wrap-Up. The tropical Pacific Ocean has cooled further over the past fortnight, and trade winds are near normal….
After days of unseasonably hot temperatures, Cairo and other Egyptian governorates were hit by a sudden sandstorm and heavy rain on the evening of March 13, 2016. Egypt's meteorological authority (EMA) said Monday's temperature will witness a drop…
A very rare atmospheric optical phenomenon called 'light pillars' was observed in the night sky above south Wales about 21:50 UTC on Friday, March 11, 2016, the same day a CME impact sparked surprising G2 – Moderate geomagnetic storm with auroras seen as far…
In a joint space exploration effort, ESA and Roscosmos have successfully launched their ExoMars 2016 mission to planet Mars. The spacecraft was launched aboard Russian Proton-M rocket from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 09:31 UTC on March 14, 2016. It will…
A large unidentified creature has washed ashore on Bonfil Beach, in the city of Acapulco, south-west Mexican state of Guerrero on March 10, 2016. The animal is 4 meters (13 feet) long and was brought to the shore by strong currents that have been affecting this…
According to a study published today in the journal Science Advances, it is possible to determine the damage caused by a natural disaster in just a few hours, by using data from social networks. Scientists from NICTA (National Information Communications Technology…
NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) arrived at Mars on March 10, 2006. During the next six months, MRO used hundreds of dips into the top of the Martian atmosphere to gradually adjust the size of the orbit and stabilize at nearly circular orbit at 250 to…
