An expansive plume of dust from the Sahara continues to move over the Atlantic Ocean and is forecast to spread to the Caribbean by the weekend. It may also reach the Gulf of Mexico and parts of the U.S. by next week. The Saharan Air Layer (SAL) usually forms from…
Giant red sprites resembling jellyfish were captured over the skies in the Czech Republic on June 13, 2020. According to SpaceWeather.com, sprite season is underway in Europe and more atmospheric bullseyes are in the offing. Czech photographer Daniel…
It's commonly believed that oxygen first accumulated in the atmosphere about 2.4 billion years ago, when the Great Oxidation Event happened. Geologic clues indicate that early bacteria were pumping out oxygen hundreds of millions of years before then, but…
Temperatures at the mesosphere have been breaking 14-year records over the past few days, according to Lynn Harvey of the University of Colorado Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics. This causes noctilucent clouds to spill across the Arctic and descend to…
The Northern Hemisphere noctilucent cloud (NLC) season has officially begun. The first cloud was detected by NASA's AIM spacecraft inside the Arctic Circle on May 17. The detection marks one of the earliest starts in the 14-year history of the spacecraft. …
A large column of red sprites and airglow put on a fantastic display over West Texas on May 13, 2020. The phenomenon was captured by Stephen Hummel of the McDonald Observatory. A line of storms more than 161 km (100 miles) away generated the astonishing display in…
A huge load of Saharan dust is moving across the Mediterranean Sea into SE Europe on May 14, 2020, with additional deposits expected in the coming days. According to Severe Weather Europe (SWE) meteorologists, the dust may also reach the UK and Ireland over the…
Sunny morning skies went dark by noon as massive dust storm enveloped Delhi, India, in a sudden change of weather on Sunday, May 10, 2020. The storm came after the city recorded the season's second hottest temperature — 40.9 °C (105.6 °F). "This…
Public interest for noctilucent clouds rose sharply in 2019 after record-setting outbreak across the northern hemisphere. The 2020 season is expected to start mid- to late-May or early June, but at the moment, it doesn't seem like 2020 will be a repeat of 2019….
A new study shows that natural hazards on Earth, specifically earthquakes and tsunamis, can create much more disturbances in the ionosphere than previously assumed. The researchers studied the catastrophic 2011 M9.0 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami in Japan, and found…
