News tagged with geophysics
Enceladus plume is a new kind of plasma laboratory
(Phys.org) -- Recent findings from NASA's Cassini mission reveal that Saturn's geyser moon Enceladus provides a special laboratory for watching unusual behavior of plasma, or hot ionized gas. In these recent ...
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
4 hours ago |
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Geoengineering: A whiter sky
One idea for fighting global warming is to increase the amount of aerosols in the atmosphere, scattering incoming solar energy away from the Earth's surface. But scientists theorize that this solar geoengineering could have ...
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
9 hours ago |
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'Creeping quakes' rumble New Zealand: researchers
Researchers have discovered New Zealand's earthquake-prone landscape is even more unstable than previously thought, recording deep tremors lasting up to 30 minutes on its biggest fault line.
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
May 23, 2012 |
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Pollution teams with thunderclouds to warm atmosphere
Pollution is warming the atmosphere through summer thunderstorm clouds, according to a computational study published May 10 in Geophysical Research Letters. How much the warming effect of these clouds offsets the cooling that o ...
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
May 18, 2012 |
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Scientists find evidence for 'great lake' on Jupiter's moon Europa, potential new habitat for life
In a significant finding in the search for life beyond Earth, scientists from The University of Texas at Austin and elsewhere have discovered what appears to be a body of liquid water the volume of the North ...
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Nov 16, 2011 |
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Geology student drills into Tohoku quake source
(Phys.org) -- For the past eight weeks, geoscience graduate student Tamara Jeppson has traded her usual commute, from her Madison apartment to Weeks Hall on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus, for ...
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
May 23, 2012 |
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Cassini finds Enceladus is a powerhouse
(PhysOrg.com) -- Heat output from the south polar region of Saturn's moon Enceladus is much greater than was previously thought possible, according to a new analysis of data collected by NASA's Cassini spacecraft. ...
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Mar 08, 2011 |
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Opportunity rover finds mineral vein deposited by water
(PhysOrg.com) -- NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity has found bright veins of a mineral, apparently gypsum, deposited by water. Analysis of the vein will help improve understanding of the history of ...
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Dec 08, 2011 |
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Lightning sprites are out-of-this-world
Only a few decades ago, scientists discovered the existence of "sprites" 30 to 55 miles above the surface of the Earth. They're offshoots of electric discharges caused by lightning storms, and a valuable window ...
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Nov 21, 2011 |
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Research shows how life might have survived 'snowball Earth'
Global glaciation likely put a chill on life on Earth hundreds of millions of years ago, but new research indicates that simple life in the form of photosynthetic algae could have survived in a narrow body ...
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Oct 11, 2011 |
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Cassini sees seasonal methane rains transform Titan's surface (w/ video)
(PhysOrg.com) -- As spring continues to unfold at Saturn, April showers on the planet's largest moon, Titan, have brought methane rain to its equatorial deserts, as revealed in images captured by NASA's Cassini ...
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Mar 17, 2011 |
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A Puzzling Collapse of Earth's Upper Atmosphere
NASA-funded researchers are monitoring a big event in our planet's atmosphere. High above Earth's surface where the atmosphere meets space, a rarefied layer of gas called "the thermosphere" recently collapsed ...
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Jul 15, 2010 |
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Cold case: Siberian hot springs reveal ancient ecology (w/ video)
(PhysOrg.com) -- Exotic bacteria that do not rely on oxygen may have played an important role in determining the composition of Earth's early atmosphere, according to a theory that UChicago researcher Albert ...
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Apr 26, 2011 |
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Avoid swimming in interplanetary lakes: Research confirms oily 'water' on Saturn's moon
Titan, one of Saturn's moons, is the only moon in the solar system with an atmosphere -- ten times denser than the atmosphere of Earth. Five years ago, the Cassini-Huygens mission to Saturn, a collaboration ...
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Sep 21, 2010 |
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Knot in the ribbon at the edge of the solar system 'unties' (Update)
(PhysOrg.com) -- The unusual "knot" in the bright, narrow ribbon of neutral atoms emanating in from the boundary between our solar system and interstellar space appears to have "untied," according to a paper ...
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Sep 30, 2010 |
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Geophysics
Geophysics ( /dʒiːoʊfɪzɪks/) is the physics of the Earth and its environment in space; also the study of the Earth using quantitative physical methods. The term geophysics sometimes refers only to the geological applications: Earth's shape; its gravitational and magnetic fields; its internal structure and composition; its dynamics and their surface expression in plate tectonics, the generation of magmas, volcanism and rock formation. However, modern geophysics organizations use a broader definition that includes the hydrological cycle including snow and ice; fluid dynamics of the oceans and the atmosphere; electricity and magnetism in the ionosphere and magnetosphere and solar-terrestrial relations; and analogous problems associated with the Moon and other planets.
Although geophysics was only recognized as a separate discipline in the 19th century, its origins go back to ancient history. The first magnetic compasses date back to the fourth century BC and the first seismoscope was built in 132 BC. Geophysical methods were developed for navigation; Isaac Newton applied his theory of mechanics to the tides and the precession of the equinox; and instruments were developed to measure the Earth's shape, density and gravity field, as well as the components of the water cycle. In the 20th century, geophysical methods were developed for remote exploration of the solid Earth and the ocean, and geophysics played an essential role in the development of the theory of plate tectonics.
Geophysics is applied to societal needs, such as mineral resources, mitigation of natural hazards and environmental protection. Geophysical survey data are used to analyze potential petroleum reservoirs and mineral deposits, locate groundwater, find archaeological relics, determine the thickness of glaciers and soils, and assess sites for environmental remediation.
For more information about Geophysics, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
