ESA’s Swarm mission is continually yielding more insight into how our protective shield is generated, how it behaves and how it is changing. Adding yet another string to its bow, Swarm is now tracking changes in the magnetic field produced in the oceans in...
April 11, 2018
According to a team of European scientists, solar tornadoes are not rotating after all. Their new analysis of these gigantic structures, each one several times the size of the Earth, indicates that they may have been misnamed because scientists have so far only been...
April 06, 2018
Smithsonian scientists have recently defined a new ocean-life zone, comprising of reef fishes, including numerous new species, that live well below shallow coral reefs. The new zone was named Rariphotic. The new zone was defined based on the unique fish fauna...
April 04, 2018
A team of seismologists has developed a new measurement of seismic energy release that can be applied to large earthquakes. Called the Radiated Energy Enhancement Factor (REEF), it provides a measure of earthquake rupture complexity that better captures variations...
April 04, 2018
Scientists from the University of Aberdeen have created the world's first 3D thermal image of an active volcano. The spectacular 3D image of Stromboli in Italy was made using high-precision cameras which are mounted to an aerial drone. The team of geoscientists...
April 02, 2018
The University of New Hampshire scientists found that high tide floods, or so-called 'nuisance flooding,' that happen along shore roadways during seasonal high tides or minor wind events along the US East Coast are occurring far more frequently than ever...
March 29, 2018
With a 10-year average rainfall of almost 1 990 mm (78.3 inches) per year, the decade from 2006 to 2015 was Ireland’s wettest on record. This compares with a long-term 300-year decadal average of 1 080 mm (42.5 inches) per year, and 940 mm (37 inches), the...
March 27, 2018
Geophysicists from the Southern Methodist University in Dallas found that decades of oil production activity in Texas have destabilized localities of an area about 10 000 km2 (4 000 mi2) populated by small towns, roadways and a vast network of oil and gas pipelines...
March 23, 2018
University of Newcastle's (UON) fresh research found further evidence to support the notion that severe flooding events occur cyclically, challenging the widely approved assumption that floods occur randomly. The study is now raising questions about the...
March 23, 2018
An international team of scientists has uncovered evidence of one of the largest floods in Earth's history in the central Mediterranean seafloor. The flood, known as the Zanclean flood, is thought to have ended the Messinian Salinity Crisis (MSC), a period...
March 21, 2018
Scientists from the University of Rochester used new data from sites in southern Africa to help explain recent and ongoing changes in Earth's magnetic field, best expressed by a deepening area of low field called the South Atlantic Anomaly. Their research...
March 08, 2018
A new study published in Nature Communications this week reveals how atmospheric ions, produced by the energetic cosmic rays raining down through the atmosphere, helps the growth and formation of cloud condensation nuclei - the seeds necessary for forming clouds in...
December 21, 2017
In December 2014 and early 2015, Hunga Tonga-Hunga Haʻapai undersea volcano near Tonga's capital Nuku'alofa erupted, sending a violent stream of steam, ash and rock into the air. When the ash finally settled in January 2015, a newborn island with a 120 m...
December 12, 2017
A team of researchers has joined forces to investigate and find solutions to tackle one of the most devastating forms of seismic phenomena - liquefaction. Liquefaction occurs in loosely-compacted sandy soils which are fully saturated with water. Seismic vibrations...
December 08, 2017
Scientists have long known earthquakes can cause the Earth to vibrate for extended periods of time. However, in 1998 a research team found the Earth also constantly generates a low-frequency vibrational signal in the absence of earthquakes. Since then, seismologists...
December 08, 2017
Japanese researchers find predictive potential in underground changes associated with 2016 Kumamoto earthquake and subsequent volcanic eruptions. Most of what we know about earthquakes and volcanoes is based on what we can observe at the Earth's surface....
December 08, 2017
New research using data collected by the European Southern Observatory (ESO) has revealed that a little-known exoplanet called K2-18b could well be a scaled-up version of Earth. Just as exciting, the same researchers also discovered for the first time that the...
December 06, 2017