The National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colo., is unveiling a powerful new version of a supercomputer-based system to model Earth’s climate and to project global temperature rise in coming decades. Scientists will contribute results to the next assessment by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), an international research body that advises policymakers on the likely impacts of climate change. The system, known as the Community Climate System Model, version

New findings suggest that surface geometry determines volcanic activity

What causes the peaks and valleys of the world’s great mountains? For continental ranges like the Appalachians or the Northwest’s Cascades, the geological picture is clearer. Continents crash or volcanoes erupt, then glaciers erode away. Yet scientists are still puzzling out what makes the highs high and the lows low for the planet’s largest mountain chain, the 55,000-mile-long Mid-Ocean Ridge.

This we

When the Nisqually earthquake struck western Washington in 2001, brick chimneys in parts of West Seattle and Bremerton were left looking like so much straw after the Big Bad Wolf had gone huffing and puffing through. Hundreds of brick chimneys at the north end of West Seattle and north of Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton were seriously damaged or toppled by the magnitude 6.7 temblor.

New research suggests the main culprit might have been the Seattle fault, even though the earthquake

There are elaborate hieroglyphs, burial objects and other clues.

But the recent application of a geological technique to an archaeological problem may offer a unique tool for gleaning seemingly unknowable facts about the ancient Maya – based only on excavated bones and teeth.

University of Florida geology Professor David Hodell and Associate Professor Mark Brenner did an elaborate review of the technique, which combines elements of geology, anthropology and forensic science,

Rapid urbanization in southeastern China in the past 25 years is responsible for an estimated warming rate much larger than previous estimates for other periods and locations, according to a new study funded by NASA.

Researchers led by the Georgia Institute of Technology report that the mean surface temperature in the region has risen 0.09 degrees Fahrenheit (0.05 degrees Celsius) per decade since 1979. Also, nighttime low temperatures have risen much faster than the daytime high temperatur

European-funded research projects to reduce aircraft noise and fuel consumption are now running at full speed. Included is one of Europe’s largest-ever noise-reduction research ventures, known as SILENCE(R). A consortium of 51 companies is testing new technologies to reduce aircraft noise by up to 6 decibels (dB) by 2008, with the EU contributing half the funding for SILENCE(R), with a total budget over €110 million. Other significant initiatives include FRIENDCOPTER, to reduce helicopter engine and

The University of Colorado at Boulder’s Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics has been selected by NASA to build two of the three instruments for a satellite that will launch in 2006 to study noctilucent clouds, the shiny, silvery-blue polar mesospheric clouds that form about 50 miles over Earth’s polar regions each summer.

The Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere mission, or AIM, will receive $100 million in NASA funding for development and flight of the satellite. CU’s LASP will recei

On 2 May 2004, the High-Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) on board the ESA Mars Express spacecraft obtained images from the central area of the Mars canyon called Valles Marineris.

The images were taken at a resolution of approximately 16 metres per pixel. The displayed region is located at the southern rim of the Melas Chasma at Mars latitude 12°S and Mars longitude 285°E. The images were taken on orbit 360 of Mars Express.

This region shows several clues to the morphological and

Just after 3 a.m. on July 10, University of Colorado at Boulder researcher John Gille expects to watch a new NASA satellite blast into orbit from the dark California coastline on a mission to study Earth’s protective ozone layer, climate and air quality changes with unprecedented detail.

Gille, principal investigator on the satellite’s High Resolution Dynamics Limb Sounder (HIRDLS) instrument, said he and his sleep-deprived colleagues will probably only get to watch the rocket for

Peaches and nectarines sprayed with a calcium, magnesium and titanium-containing formulation increases fruit firmness and lifespan, according to new research published in Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture.

Spanish researchers found that applying these natural compounds to peach and nectarine trees pre-harvest gives dramatic improvements in quality; but “the safety is assured totally, and no residues are expected which could be harmful for consumers or environment”, says Dr. Dan

Scientists have discovered a striking similarity between certain ocean currents on Earth and the bands that characterize the surface of large, gaseous planets like Jupiter. Boris Galperin of the University of South Florida’s College of Marine Science in Saint Petersburg and colleagues in the United States, Israel, and Japan report their findings later this month in Geophysical Research Letters, published by the American Geophysical Union. “The banded structure of Jupiter has long been a

The JRC is leading the indicator work-package (WP2) of the project EON2000+ (Earth Observation for Natura-2000 plus (2001-2004) ) . This project was funded under the 5th Framework Programme of the EC and targets spatial information needs related to nature protection of organizations acting to investigate their reporting and managing needs on protected areas, particularly on Natura 2000 sites. A template was then defined to collect the indicator related information. This portfolio summarises areas w

Today the European Commission presented the latest results of the EU-funded EPICA (European Ice Core Project in Antarctica) initiative. Scientists from 10 European countries including Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, and the UK have dug 3 kilometres-deep into the Antarctic ice crust and brought to the surface a 740, 000-year old ice core. It is the oldest ever analysed and records climate history. It shows changes in temperature and concentrat

Two swarms of microscopic cometary dust blasted NASA’s Stardust spacecraft in short but intense bursts as it approached within 150 miles of Comet Wild 2 last January, data from a University of Chicago instrument flying aboard the spacecraft has revealed.

“These things were like a thunderbolt,” said Anthony Tuzzolino, a Senior Scientist at the University of Chicago’s Enrico Fermi Institute. “I didn’t anticipate running into this kind of show.” Tuzzolino and Thanasis Economou, also a Senior S

Optimising and standardising trials on the resistance of orchard fruit to the harvesting and picking processes, increasingly used to determine quality, was the aim of the PhD presented by Martín Sanmartín Goñi at the en Public University of Navarre.

Handling and conservation

The harvesting, transport and conservation of fruit and garden produce is currently carried out mechanically. In these processes of product handling, they can be subject to bangs, vibrations and crushi

Developing a bioinsecticide that is more effective than pesticides for controlling pests in greenhouses is the aim of the project undertaken by a research team from the Public University of Navarre and commissioned by the Almería Fruit & Vegetable Exporters Association (COEXPHAL).

Biological efficiaciousness

The COEXPHAL Association of the province of Almería manages a surface area of about 18,000 hectares, primarily given over to greenhouse vegetables. Many of these crops (