A recently published study showed findings that in the past million years, the high-altitude winds of the southern westerly wind belt – which spans nearly half the Earth – did not behave as uniformly over the Southern Pacific, as initially assumed. The researchers…
Researchers reporting in Nature Communications suggest they've unlocked the secret of explosive volcanism. The team studied samples at Indonesia's Mount Merapi, concluding that explosivity of stratovolcanoes rises when mineral-rich gases seal the pores and…
A new study concludes that the season in which earthquake happens can affect the impact of ground failure and potential destruction. The paper, published in Seismological Research Letters journal, said the 1887 Magnitude 7.3 Verny earthquake and the nearby 1911…
A team of researchers including members from GNS Science, led by marine geophysicist Jenny Anne Barretto, have identified an ancient mega-volcano with what could be the largest known caldera on Earth. The feature is on the crest of Benham Rise, an oceanic plateau…
Researchers were able to get a better idea of what kind of megathrust seismic activity was behind the 1700 Cascadia earthquake by combining models of Magnitude 9 to 9.2 earthquakes on the Cascadia Subduction Zone with geological evidence of past coastal changes….
A new type of storm was discovered on Saturn's surface. The researchers analyzed hundreds of snapshots taken by amateur astronomers and developed simulations to understand the strange weather events. Telescope imagery revealed long patches of bright clouds near…
Hygiea, previously classified as an asteroid, may actually be the smallest dwarf planet in the solar system, according to a study published on October 28, 2019. New images by the ESO's SPHERE instrument at the Very Large Telescope (VLT) revealed that the space…
A recently published study suggests that strong winter dust storms may have caused the Akkadian empire to collapse. The research said fossil coral records from Oman provided new evidence that frequent dust storms and prolonged winter season contributed to the…
An international team of scientists reporting in Doklady Earth Sciences discovered that with an impending earthquake, the parameters of internal gravity waves (IGWs) can change several days before the seismic event. IGW is the fluctuation of air masses, which, in…
New research by NASA scientists revealed that flooding rice fields – a previously unknown risk factor – triggered a disastrous effect following the fatal 2018 Palu earthquake in Indonesia. Shortly after the extreme shaking, the solid ground turned into a landslide…
