A new study by scientists from Potsdam University links severe regional weather extremes observed in recent years to persistent disturbances in patterns of atmospheric flows in the northern hemisphere associated with climate change. For more information, see http://www.pik-potsdam.de/news/press-releases/weather-extremes-provoked-by-trapping-of-giant-waves-in-the-atmosphere.
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Would you or your students like to help name the moons of Pluto? Go to http://www.plutorocks.com/ to take part in a vote - through Monday, February 25!
About 9:20 am local time on February 15, 2013, the sounds of explosions in Chelyabinsk, Russia, announced the arrival of a meteorite in the skies above the city (1500 km east of Moscow). The meteorite exploded, generating fragments that peppered the city, injuring over 500 people mainly from broken glass. For more on the story, see http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/15/us-russia-meteorite-idUSBRE91E05Z20130215.
An 8.0 M earthquake occurred on February 6, 2013 at 01:12:27 UTC off the Santa Cruz Islands, approximately 700 km ESE of the Solomon Islands. The quake was a result of shallow thrust faulting on or near the plate boundary interface between the Australia and Pacific plates. The quake generated a tsunami that hit in several locations, with waves up to 3 ft.
Research from Dr. Darryn W. Waugh of Johns Hopkins University and his colleagues, published recently in Science magazine, shows a link between ozone depletion, surface winds, and ocean circulation. Their results, based in part on measurements of chloroflurocarbon-12 abundance in the Southern Oceans from the early 1990s to late 2000s, show that subtropical intermediate waters are "younger" while upwelling, circumpolar waters are "older".
On Feb. 15th an asteroid about half the size of a football field will fly past Earth only 17,200 miles above our planet's surface. There's no danger of a collision, but the space rock, designated 2012 DA14, has NASA's attention.
"This is a record-setting close approach," says Don Yeomans of NASA's Near Earth Object Program at JPL. "Since regular sky surveys began in the 1990s, we've never seen an object this big get so close to Earth."
Since just after midnight Jan. 3, 1983, lava has poured almost continuously from a cluster of vents on the eastern flank of Kilauea Volcano. Through 2012, fresh lava had covered more than 124.6 square kilometers (48.1 square miles) of the Big Island of Hawai’i. Activity has occurred during 60 distinct events, separated by shifts in the location or behavior of erupting lava. Most of these events have been centered at Pu’u ’O’o, a volcanic cone built from successive lava fountains and flows. The 60th eruptive episode began in March 2011 and was ongoing through January 4, 2013.
What we know - and don't know - about solar storms and their hazards. Sometime in the next few months - summer or fall of 2013 - the sun will reach the solar maximum, the peak of sunspot counts during its roughly 11-year cycle.
To get all the details, check out the Earth Magazine article http://www.earthmagazine.com/article/here-comes-solar-maximum-what-we-know-and-dont-know-about-solar-storms-and-their-hazards
A geochemist at the University of Minnesota is a pioneer in the use of cave formations to document ancient climate. Stalagmites are being looked at as a collection of climate sensors (like tree rings), extending often hundreds of thousands of years back in time. This work is providing the scientific community with an increasingly precise time scale.
In a recent study of rocks in the Grand Canyon, researchers found evidence that the canyon is much older than previously thought. Most geologist have set the development of the Grand Canyon at 5 to 6 million years ago, as the Colorado River cut into layer after layer of the Colorado Plateau. The most recent results come from geochemical studies of the retention of helium in apatite in the rocks of the canyon. The results led the scientists to conclude that an ancient river must have carved through the rocks there about 70 million years ago.
