• Sydney chokes in smoke as Australia bushfires intensify, current period of poor air quality the ‘longest’ and ‘most widespread’ in the state’s history

    The air quality in Sydney, Australia continued to worsen on Tuesday, December 10, 2019, as roughly 100 bushfires burned in New South Wales (NSW) and strong north winds brought further smoke into the city. The haze was so thick in some areas that it was 11 times more…

  • Planetary wave supercharging noctilucent clouds over Antarctica

    An atmospheric wave about half as wide as the Earth is supercharging noctilucent clouds (NLCs) in the southern hemisphere, with NASA's Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere (AIM) spacecraft detecting the phenomenon in this series of south polar images from November…

  • Potential major stratospheric warming event

    Forecast models suggest a major stratospheric warming event might develop in December 2019, possibly initiating a collapse sequence of the polar vortex. Main cooling effects are expected across Eurasia and the United States. "This might have important…

  • Purple Colorado sky caused by Raikoke volcano eruption in Russia

    Researchers from the University of Colorado Boulder revealed that the purple sky seen in the state was due to the eruption that occurred on Raikoke volcano in Russia, located 7 535 km (4 682 miles) away, on June 22, 2019. The team, composed of atmospheric scientists…