We know that lightning in storm clouds forms when ice particles collide with each other and become electrified, but the process of how lightning forms in volcanic plumes is less clear. Now, two new studies are unraveling some of the mysteries involved. Understanding…
A large sinkhole formed in Madera, Central California on the evening of April 11, 2016 (local time) and was captured on video by the City of Madera Police Department. The sinkhole opened up as a part of the local roadway collapsed into a sewage line. An exact cause…
Two massive icebergs broke off the Antarctic coastline over the weekend, threatening valuable scientific equipment deployed by New Zealand's National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA). NIWA scientists have been monitoring satellite images of the…
Sufian Farrah, a meteorologist and cloud seeding expert at the United Arab Emirates (UAE) National Centre for Meteorology and Seismology (NCMS), said that cloud seeding operations over UAE played a part in last month's record rainfall. Farrah said UAE made 77…
For the first time ever, an image has been captured of an elusive electrical phenomenon above the Earth. An astronaut aboard the International Space Station imaged a kind of electrical discharge in the upper atmosphere known as a blue jet. In this Space News,…
After four years of extreme drought, the largest water reservoir in California – Shasta Lake – has recovered and now holds 109% of its long-term average supply for this time of year. Shasta Lake has stood as a potent symbol of the water shortage during those four…
Jono Matla, a photographer from Wellington, New Zealand, captured a bright green meteor flashing across the night sky around 21:00 local time on April 5, 2016. The event started as a ball of orange and turned into a neon green as it streaked the sky over Waikanae,…
A slow-moving area of active thunderstorms brought torrential rainfall to Fiji over the last few days, causing widespread flooding and claiming the life of at least one person. The system is expected to remain over the island nation over the next few days while…
According to Thanhnien News, an 8-minute hail storm damaged around 1 000 houses and 100 hectares of vegetable fields in Vietnam's Tuyen Quang province on Sunday, April 3, 2016. Witnesses say many hailstones were 10 to 15 cm (3.9 to 5.9 inches) in diameter. The…
Beginning April 1, 2016, all Earth imagery from a prolific Japanese remote sensing instrument – ASTER – operating aboard NASA's Terra spacecraft since late 1999 is now available to users everywhere at no cost. The public will have unlimited access to the…
