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!
Scientists are on the verge of providing daily, high-definition views of Earth at night. The announcement was made today during official release of the new, global composite map of night lights as observed in 2016, the clearest yet composite view of the patterns of…
In Part One of this presentation, Dr. Michael Clarage began his analysis of a recent landmark discovery which shows a "surprising" relationship between sunspots and solar flares. As Dr. Clarage explained, the discovery that solar flares seem to have a…
Florida Governor Rick Scott declared a state of emergency today, April 11, 2017, following the recent wildfires across the state and the high potential for increased wildfires to continue this year. 2017 is already the most active season since 2011. In a statement…
During April 18 – 21, experts from around the world will meet at ESA’s European Space Operations Centre, Darmstadt, Germany for the 7th European Conference on Space Debris discussing the extent of the space debris problem and what can be done to ensure that…
A team of volcanologists and engineers from the Universities of Bristol and Cambridge have collected measurements from directly within volcanic clouds, together with visual and thermal images of inaccessible volcano peaks. During a ten-day research trip, the team…
Since 1600, 278 880 people have been killed by volcanic activity, with many of these deaths attributed to secondary hazards associated with the main eruption. Starvation killed 92 000 following the 1815 Tambora eruption in Indonesia, for example, and a volcanic…
In a collaborative effort between the arts and sciences, researchers at Kyoto University and Japan's National Institute of Polar Research (NIPR) and National Institute of Japanese Literature (NIJL) have used historical documents to garner better insight into the…
Heavy rain accompanied with violent hailstorm hit the city of Guiyang in southwest China's Guizhou Province, flooding the town and bringing traffic to a standstill on Wednesday night, April 5, 2017. According to CCTV, the downtown was seriously flooded after 23…
Stellar explosions are most often associated with supernovae, the spectacular deaths of stars. But new ALMA observations provide insights into explosions at the other end of the stellar life cycle, star birth. Astronomers captured these dramatic images as they…
An unusually strong spring storm will move into California and spread across the rest of the western states through the weekend as the region enters a period of unsettled weather with a couple of strong cyclones. Heavy rains are expected and localized flash flooding…
