Nuclear war would cause many immediate fatalities, but smoke from the resulting fires would also cause climate change lasting up to 15 years that threatens worldwide food production and human health, according to a study ...
Earth Sciences
Oct 19, 2021
4
164
Crack! Lightning strikes are bright and loud—violent enough to shake your bones and light up the sky. Now, a new study led by the University of Colorado Boulder suggests that these powerful events may also alter the chemistry ...
Earth Sciences
Oct 11, 2021
0
35
Clouds are one of the biggest wildcards in predictions of how much and how fast the Arctic will continue to warm in the future. Depending on the time of the year and the changing environment in which they form and exist, ...
Earth Sciences
Sep 23, 2021
84
676
There's a stubborn, heat-absorbing particle that floats along in Earth's atmosphere: It initially doesn't like water, it absorbs light, and it takes its time moving on. Black carbon in the atmosphere tends to linger until ...
Earth Sciences
Sep 13, 2021
2
1005
Aerosols are small, solid particles that drift aloft in Earth's atmosphere. These minuscule motes may be any of a number of diverse substances, such as dust, pollution, and wildfire smoke. By absorbing or scattering sunlight, ...
Earth Sciences
Aug 18, 2021
0
1140
Measuring ethane in the atmosphere shows that the amounts of methane going into the atmosphere from oil and gas wells and contributing to greenhouse warming is higher than suggested by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, ...
Environment
Jun 24, 2021
0
8
In the chaos of a thunderstorm, upward moving lightning occasionally springs from the tops of tall structures. Scientists don't fully understand how upward lightning is triggered; it is likely a combination of multiple environmental ...
Earth Sciences
Apr 12, 2021
0
28
From space, large decks of closely spaced stratocumulus clouds appear like bright cotton balls hovering over the ocean. They cover vast areas—literally thousands of miles of the subtropical oceans—and linger for weeks ...
Earth Sciences
Mar 25, 2021
1
846
Clouds form when water vapor in moist packets of air condenses onto atmospheric aerosols, such as particles of dust. The transition from dry particle to liquid water droplet is known as activation. The threshold for activation ...
Earth Sciences
Mar 18, 2021
0
26
For anyone who has ever witnessed a raging wildfire, ice is probably the last thing that comes to mind when recalling the experience. Yet nature works in mysterious ways, and researchers are beginning to reveal a link between ...
Earth Sciences
Mar 1, 2021
0
41
