USGS scientists have a clearer picture of global shifts in water availability after examining a century of streamflow measurements from 165 locations around the world. Simulations from an ensemble of 12 global climate models compared favorably with the historical streamflow data. The scientists discovered that climate models have significant relevance in simulating historical long-term trends in streamflow around the world. That finding lends credibility to the same models’ streamflow forec
Satellite images show that, after decades of stability, a major glacier draining the Greenland ice sheet has dramatically increased its speed and retreated nearly five miles in recent years. These changes could contribute to rapid melting of the Greenland ice sheet and cause the global sea level to rise faster than expected, according to researchers studying the glacier.
A paper describing these findings will be published this month in Geophysical Research Letters. The study focused
High-tech in Earth System Science at the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology, Hamburg, Germany
Record-breaking high-tech has been successfully employed in Earth System Science at the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology (MPI-M) in Hamburg, Germany.
– The largest database in the world under the free Linux operating system has been installed in Hamburg by the Wold Data Centre for Climate (WDCC) and the German Climate Computing Centre (DKRZ) . This is confirmed in the inter
Record database at the German Climate Computing Centre’s World Data Centre for Climate
The World Data Centre for Climate (WDCC) and the German Climate Computing Centre (DKRZ) in Hamburg run the largest database in the world under the free Linux operating system. This is confirmed in the international ranking list of the world’s largest databases published by the Winter Corporation in September. The WDCC database at the DKRZ has an inconceivable volume of almost 220 te
Arizona State University geochemist Lynda Williams and her colleagues have discovered that certain clay minerals under conditions at the bottom of the ocean may have acted as incubators for the first organic molecules on Earth.
Williams’ research suggests how some of the fundamental materials necessary for life might have come into existence deep in the sea. The results of Williams’ experiments were published in the article, “Organic Molecules Formed in a Primordial
Today sees the publication of an authoritative, multidisciplinary report which aims to provide the UK Government with a coherent, feasible solution to the acknowledged problem of the UK’s looming Energy Gap. The report, written by John Loughhead, (Executive Director, UK Energy Research Centre) is the result of a multidisciplinary consensus meeting between 150 scientific, technical, economic and sociological experts at Burlington House on October 12 and 13, under the auspices of The Geologic
A new report indicates that the vast majority of the rapid temperature increase recently observed in Europe is likely due to an unexpected greenhouse gas: water vapor. Elevated surface temperatures due to other greenhouse gases have enhanced water evaporation and contributed to a cycle that stimulates further surface temperature increases, according to a report in Geophysical Research Letters. The research could help to answer a long-debated Earth science question about whether the water cycle c
System can provide tens of seconds of warning about impending ground motion
A University of California, Berkeley, seismologist has discovered a way to provide seconds to tens of seconds of advance warning about impending ground shaking from an earthquake.
While a few seconds may not sound like much, it is enough time for school children to dive under their desks, gas and electric companies to shut down or isolate their systems, phone companies to reroute traffic, airport
The European spacecraft Venus Express has been successfully placed into a trajectory that will take it on its journey from the Earth towards its destination of the planet Venus, which it will reach next April. A virtual twin sister of the Mars Express spacecraft which has been orbiting the Red Planet since December 2003, Venus Express is the second planet-bound probe to be launched by the European Space Agency.
Venus Express will eventually manoeuvre itself into orbit around Ven
As the spectacular New England fall foliage gives way to another of the region’s infamous winters, many wonder what this year will bring. Long-time residents think winter just isn’t what it used to be in New England. And mounting evidence from a series of studies suggests they’re right. The total number of days of ice on the region’s rivers has declined significantly in recent decades and particularly in the spring, according to the latest U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) resea
New research which could help salvage huge amounts of the world’s oil that currently goes to waste is being carried out as a collaborative venture between Aston University in Birmingham, UK and Nottingham Trent University. Experts are looking at using Magnetic Resonance Image (MRI) scanners and special micro-bubbles to find a way of increasing the oil quantity being extracted from porous rock, which is often less than 30%.
All of the world’s oil is found in porous rock beneath t
After five years of being the world’s largest free-floating object, the B-15A iceberg has finally broken up off Antarctica’s Cape Adare.
ESA’s Envisat satellite’s Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar (ASAR) is sensitive to ice, and has been tracking the movement of the drifting ice object since the beginning of this year. Its latest imagery reveals the bottle-shaped iceberg split into nine knife-shaped icebergs and a myriad of smaller pieces on 27-28 October,
A University of Alberta physicist who helped solve the age-old mystery of what keeps afloat the highest plateau on earth has added more pieces to the Tibetan puzzle. Dr. Martyn Unsworth has uncovered new research about the Tibetan Plateau–an immense region that for years has plagued scientists studying how the area became so elevated.
Several years ago, Unsworth and a team of scientists from China and the United States used low-frequency radio waves to detect that the mid-crust of the plate
Below the plains of the Big Sky states, where the Columbia and Snake rivers wind their way to the Pacific, might lie a geologic answer to one of our most pressing environmental problems: too much carbon dioxide in the air. The greenhouse gas traps heat to contribute to a slow warming of the atmosphere. For humans, who have been pumping carbon out of the earth for the last 200 years, part of the solution might be to finally learn how to do the reverse.
Along with researchers from
Researchers have utilised more than a decade’s worth of data from radar altimeters on ESA’s ERS satellites to produce the most detailed picture yet of thickness changes in the Greenland Ice Sheet.
A Norwegian-led team used the ERS data to measure elevation changes in the Greenland Ice Sheet from 1992 to 2003, finding recent growth in the interior sections estimated at around six centimetres per year during the study period. The research is due to be published by Sci
Researchers have utilised more than a decade’s worth of data from radar altimeters on ESA’s ERS satellites to produce the most detailed picture yet of thickness changes in the Greenland Ice Sheet.
A Norwegian-led team used the ERS data to measure elevation changes in the Greenland Ice Sheet from 1992 to 2003, finding recent growth in the interior sections estimated at around six centimetres per year during the study period. The research is due to be published by Scienc
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