The December earthquake and tsunami that killed approximately 300,000 people in the Indian Ocean region was so powerful that no point on Earth went undisturbed, pointing to the need for more active warnings about the consequences of future events, according to University of Colorado at Boulder seismologist Roger Bilham.
Bilham offers his perspective in “A Flying Start, Then a Slow Slip,” an overview of findings on the Sumatra-Andaman earthquake published in the May 20 issue of Scie
The mammoth B-15A iceberg appears poised to strike another floating Antarctic ice feature, a month on from a passing blow that broke off the end of the Drygalski ice tongue. As this Envisat image reveals, this time its target is the ice tongue of the Aviator Glacier.
First discovered in 1955, and named to mark the work done by airmen to open up the Antarctic continent, the Aviator Glacier is a major valley glacier descending from the plateau of Victoria Land along the west side
A new global wind power map has quantified global wind power and may help planners place turbines in locations that can maximize power from the winds and provide widely available low-cost energy. After analyzing more than 8,000 wind speed measurements in an effort to identify the world’s wind power potential for the first time, Cristina Archer and Mark Jacobson of Stanford University suggest that wind captured at specific locations, if even partially harnessed, can generate more than eno
The world’s oldest volcano observatory has added satellites to its repertoire of instruments to monitor volcanic features flanking Naples. The result has been the most detailed view ever of ground motion in this vicinity.
When it was founded back in 1841, the Vesuvius Observatory of Italy’s National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology was the world’s first scientific institution devoted to volcanoes. Now its remit is more than simply scientific: the Observator
Summer in Europe means time for the beach. Testing the waters is a traditional holiday ritual: a swift hand or foot in the surf to check sea temperature. Or there is the modern approach – a flotilla of satellites identifying the warmest parts of all 2 965 500 square kilometres of the Mediterranean on a daily basis.
An updated map of the sea surface temperature (SST) of the world’s largest inland sea is generated every day as part of ESA’s Medspiration project, with an
It is not necessary to fly to the Moon to get lunar soil even if the sample is required from the other side of this planet. A meteorite originating from the other side of the Moon has recently got into the hands of scientists. The meteorite investigation required precision instruments and grants from the Russian Foundation for Basic Research and the Büro Für Wissenschaftlich-Technische Zusammenarbeit Des Österreichischer Austauschdienst (Bureau for Scientific and Technical Collabration of Austr
New research explores just how regular San Andreas fault ruptures may be
The San Andreas fault is one of the most dangerous seismically active faults in the world, due to its proximity to densely populated regions of California. But how often does this fault rupture and cause a large earthquake? About every 200 years, which is coming up soon, according to an article to be published in the May 13 issue of the journal, Science.
Glenn Biasi, research assistant professor wit
New summit station planned for greenland summit camp offers space applications
Scientists are preparing to step up research in the Polar Regions, and University of Houston architecture students and staff are designing the facility at the Greenland Summit that sits atop more than 10,000 feet of ice.
The UH group was the only organization approached to submit a design proposal for the first stage of a new summit station at the peak of the Greenland ice cap. The project wa
A research team from Purdue University and the University of California, San Diego has found that the Earth’s atmosphere may be more effective at cleansing itself of smog and other damaging hydrocarbons than was once thought.
Scientists, including Joseph S. Francisco, have learned that some naturally occurring atmospheric chemicals react with sunlight more effectively than previously thought to produce substances that “scrub” the air of smog. This group of chemicals, after abso
World Health Organisation personnel combating an Angolan outbreak of the lethal Marburg virus used high-resolution satellite-based urban maps provided through a pair of ESA-led activities.
The Marburg virus causes Ebola-like internal bleeding in humans, with an incubation period of between five and nine days. A Marburg outbreak was detected in Angola’s Luanda city at the start of April. It has since taken the lives of more than 255 victims, many of them children under five.
Scientists at the University of Liverpool are embarking on a research cruise to help them understand recent major changes in the temperature of the Atlantic.
Researchers at the University’s Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences have been examining why ocean temperatures are rising within the tropics and mid-latitudes of the North Atlantic, but at the same time are decreasing at the ocean’s high latitudes.
The research team, which also includes scientists from the N
Finding the ’peculiar’ ancestor
A geologist from Washington University in St. Louis is developing new techniques to render a more coherent story of how primitive life arose and diverged on Earth — with implications for Mars.
Carrine Blank, Ph.D., Washington University assistant professor of earth and planetary sciences in Arts & Sciences, has some insight concerning terrestrial microbes that could lead to provocative conclusions about the nature of life on
The ancient sea was more like a giant salty lake than a rolling ocean, report scientists from Imperial College London in the May edition of the Journal of the Geological Society. A new computer model that simulates how tides in North West Europe would have behaved 300 million years ago shows a sea with so little movement that it was unlike any on Earth today.
Using information on the ancient land masses and the tidal pull of the Moon, the new computer modelling system reveals a pi
MIT and Dartmouth scientists have identified a previously unrecognized, active fault in the Nepalese Himalayas. The discovery, published in the April 21 issue of Nature, provides new insights into how the mountains evolved and helps explain why the transition between the high Himalayan Ranges and their gently sloping foothills is so abrupt.
“This project started with the simple observation that the landscape of the central Nepalese Himalaya seems to be telling us something about
A Purdue University climatologist has found that vegetation can significantly affect extreme weather, a discovery that could add a new piece to the global warming puzzle.
Noah S. Diffenbaugh has found that extreme weather events, such as storms and heat waves, can vary substantially in frequency and severity in a region depending on how vegetation responds to global warming. This is believed to be the first study to indicate that as vegetation responds to climate change, tho
A microbial community thriving under bizarre natural conditions in California could be a gold mine to researchers in their quest to understand the complex biological relationships and how these inner workings might apply on a grander scale.
In a paper to appear today on Science Online, researchers from the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the University of California Berkeley describe a bacterial community that flourishes in the iron sulfide-rich runof
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