General Meteorology and Earth Science Thread

NASA launches satellite to measure soil moisture: "NASA on Saturday launched a new Earth-observing satellite that aims to give scientists high-resolution maps showing how much moisture lies in soil in order to improve climate forecasts."

Smoke from fires linked to tornado intensity: "Researchers have found that smoke from fires can intensify tornadoes. They examined the effects of smoke — resulting from spring agricultural land-clearing fires in Central America — transported across the Gulf of Mexico and encountering tornado conditions already in process in the United States."

Rivers might constitute just 20 percent of continental water flowing into oceans: "The Amazon, Nile and Mississippi are mighty rivers, but they and all their worldwide brethren might be a relative trickle compared with an unseen torrent below the surface. New research shows that rivers might constitute as little as 20 percent of the water that flows yearly into the Atlantic and Indo-Pacific Oceans from the continents. The rest flows through what is termed the 'subterranean estuary,' which some researchers think supply the lion's share of terrestrial nutrients to the oceans."

North american plate shattered speed records a billion years ago: "North America traveled in fast company back in its youth.

A new study led by Michigan Technological University geophysicist Aleksey Smirnov reveals that 1.1 billion years ago, the North American tectonic plate scooted along at a blistering 24.6 centimeters—about 10 inches—per year.

While it may not seem to be shattering any speed records, that's twice as fast as continental plates typically traveled in their wanderings over the earth's surface back in Precambrian times. Oceanic plates moved that quickly, but they are also much thinner, only 10 to 15 kilometers deep. Continental plates are up to 70 kilometers (43 miles) thick."

Seafloor volcano pulses may alter climate: Strikingly regular patterns, from weeks to eons: "A new study shows that undersea volcanoes flare up on strikingly regular cycles, ranging from two weeks to 100,000 years — and, that they erupt almost exclusively during the first six months of each year. The pulses — apparently tied to short- and long-term changes in earth's orbit, and to sea levels — may help trigger natural climate swings."

'Record grooves' on ocean floor document Earth’s ice ages: "With a little training, it's easy to see how ice age glaciers sculpted the land, scouring valleys and heaping up debris. This week, researchers revealed that the ancient cycles of ice also left their mark on the sea floor, thousands of meters below the ocean surface.

The evidence comes from seafloor spreading centers: sites throughout the ocean where plates of ocean crust move apart and magma erupts in between, building new crust onto the plates' trailing edges. Parallel to these spreading centers are 'abyssal hills': long, 100-meter-high ridges on the diverging plates, separated by valleys. On bathymetric maps of seafloor topography, they look like grooves on a record. These grooves, it now turns out, play the tune of Earth's ice ages."

Earth's surprise inside: Geologists unlock mysteries of the planet's inner core: "Seismic waves are helping scientists to plumb the world's deepest mystery: the planet's inner core.

Thanks to a novel application of earthquake-reading technology, a research team at the University of Illinois and colleagues at Nanjing University in China have found that the Earth's inner core has an inner core of its own, which has surprising properties that could reveal information about our planet."

Carbon release from ocean helped end the Ice Age: "A release of carbon dioxide from the deep ocean helped bring an end to the last Ice Age, according to new research led by the University of Southampton.

Published today in Nature, the study shows that carbon stored in an isolated reservoir deep in the Southern Ocean re-connected with the atmosphere, driving a rise in atmospheric CO2 and an increase in global temperatures. The finding gives scientists an insight into how the ocean affects the carbon cycle and climate change."

First-ever evidence of drastic climate change of Northern China region 4,200 years ago: "Using a relatively new scientific dating technique, geologists were able to document — for the first time — a drastic climate change 4,200 years ago in northern China that affected vegetation and led to mass migration from the area."

Cities can spawn more thunderstorms, study says: "Here's a potential jolt to urbanites: Some big cities, particularly those located in hot and humid environments, actually birth more thunderstorms than surrounding rural areas.

The conclusion is one of several fascinating findings from the first long-term, systematic assessment of the influence of urban land use on thunderstorm development.

The researchers used an automated technique and radar data to pinpoint the locations of thunderstorm initiations, or births, over 17 years (1997–2013) in a southeast U.S. region that included Atlanta."

Large Deposit of Metal Balls Discovered In Atlantic Ocean: "Though they were originally searching for deep sea organisms in January, a group of researchers made a very different discovery. While trawling and taking pictures of the seafloor in tropical Atlantic waters about 5,000-5,500 meters (16,400-18,000 feet) below the surface, the crew discovered their gear was getting caught up on unknown objects. When the equipment returned to the surface, they were stunned to find that it was actually manganese nodules from a deposit much larger than any previously discovered in that ocean. The joint announcement comes from the University of Hamburg and GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research in Kiel, Germany"

Coping with earthquakes induced by fluid injection: "A paper published today in Science provides a case for increasing transparency and data collection to enable strategies for mitigating the effects of human-induced earthquakes caused by wastewater injection associated with oil and gas production in the United States. The paper is the result of a series of workshops led by scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey in collaboration with the University of Colorado, Oklahoma Geological Survey and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, suggests that it is possible to reduce the hazard of induced seismicity through management of injection activities."

This is how much a cloud weighs: " They may look all light and fluffy, but the reality is that clouds are actually pretty heavy. Researchers have calculated that the average cumulus cloud - which is that nice, white fluffy kind you see on a sunny day - weighs an incredible 500,000 kg (or 1.1 million pounds!).

How do you work that out? First of all, you need to realise that clouds are made up of a lot of tiny water droplets, which means that they must have some mass. The next step is to then work out how dense your cloud is."

Yellowstone: Geysers erupt periodically because they have loops in their plumbing: "Volcanologists threaded sensors and cameras into the superheated water of geysers in Chile and Yellowstone, and have come up with an explanation for why geysers erupt periodically. They've even built a laboratory geyser that erupts every 20 minutes to demonstrate that loops and bends in the underground plumbing trap steam bubbles that slowly leak out, heating the water above until it suddenly boils from the top down."

How rivers creep, flow to shape landscapes over time: "Most models predict that rivers only transport sediment during conditions of high flow and, moreover, that only particles on the surface of the river bed move due to the force of the flowing water above. But using a custom laboratory apparatus, a new study shows that, even when a river is calm, sediment on and beneath the river bed slowly creeps forward."

El Niño has finally arrived. Here's what that means for you

Basically, it means that 2015 may beat 2014's record of hottest year.

Predicting which African storms will intensify into hurricanes: "Most hurricanes over the Atlantic that eventually make landfall in North America actually start as intense thunderstorms in Western Africa one or two weeks earlier, research indicates. This research may help cities and towns better prepare for these hurricanes with far more warning."

First photographs emerge of new Pacific island off Tonga

I was wondering if someone could answer one question or direct me where I could recieve answer.

Many fictional works have scenario where our planet is pierced with something like giant laser but it leaves no consequences. How great would be destruction around point where beam enters planet? If beam's diameter is few inches, if it's few meters, if it's around 100 meters and more?

To be honest, the amount of energy you'd have to pump into a laser to cause anything beyond setting off forrest or brush fires is rather prohibitive. As in, you'd likely have to hook the laser up to a brown dwarf, or something more massive, as a fuel source.

Layers of atmosphere aren't a joke to burn through.

edited 16th Mar '15 1:45:08 PM by Euodiachloris

Laser was used jast as an example. It could as well be God's angry stare piercing our planet. I'm only interested in geological effect.

Earth's tectonic plates skitter about: "Back when dinosaurs were just starting to skulk, Earth had just one giant land mass, a supercontinent that scientists call Pangea. It broke up about 200 million years ago, and since then its fragments—riding on chunks of crust called tectonic plates—have been gliding, merging, and splitting their way into their present—temporary—positions. Now, geoscientists have unveiled a computer model that maps the details of that tectonic dance in 1-million-year increments—practically a frame-by-frame recap of geologic time. It shows that the plates speed up, slow down, and move around in unexpectedly short bursts of activity. It also suggests that researchers may have to rethink what drives much of that incessant motion."

How long would it take you to fall through Earth?: "Suppose you dug a tunnel through the center of Earth, jumped in, and let gravity pull you through. How long would it take you to reach the other side of the planet? For decades, physics students have been asked to calculate that time and have been taught that the correct answer is 42 minutes. Now, a more realistic analysis has lopped 4 minutes off that estimate."

Earth might have a super-strong layer of rock we didn’t know existed: "Geologists in the US say Earth might have a previously undiscovered layer of ultra-strong rock hiding in its mantle, some 1,500 km (930 miles) beneath our feet.

The new layer is up to three times stronger than rocks in the less viscous upper mantle, and could explain why portions of sinking tectonic plates sometimes stall and thicken at this depth - a phenomenon that has for years puzzled geologists.

The finding challenges the existing understanding of Earth's internal structure, and researchers say, if it's true, it might also help explain the occurrence of earthquakes in the deep mantle."

California quake risk: Newly discovered link between Calaveras, Hayward faults means potentially larger earthquakes: "Seismologists have proven that the Hayward and Calaveras faults are essentially the same system, meaning that a rupture on one could trigger a rupture on the other, producing considerably larger quakes than once thought. Researchers have mapped the land at the southern end of the Hayward Fault and found that the creep continued 15 km beyond to merge with the Calaveras Fault, which was thought to be independent."

'Warm blob' in Pacific Ocean linked to weird weather across the US: "An unusually warm patch of surface water, nicknamed 'the blob' when it emerged in early 2014, is part of a Pacific Ocean pattern that may be affecting everything from West Coast fisheries and water supplies to East Coast snowstorms. The blob is just one element of a broader pattern in the Pacific Ocean whose influence reaches much further — possibly to include two bone-chilling winters in the Eastern U.S."

So a question, why is Antarctica so much bigger than the Arctic? Both bigger in size and so much colder and less hospitable.

Because it's underpinned by a continent, which provides a bright (low heating) surface which is colder and also allows ice accumulation.

That, and it's surrounded with a ring sea current that isolates it from warmer seas.

edited 14th Apr '15 3:00:32 PM by SeptimusHeap