Cloudy days are rare in the thin, dry atmosphere of Mars. Clouds are typically found at the planet's equator in the coldest time of year, when Mars is the farthest from the Sun in its oval-shaped orbit. But one full Martian ...
Planetary Sciences
May 28, 2021
8
1633
The lowest level of the atmosphere, the troposphere, contains almost all of Earth's weather. In the stratosphere above, moisture drops to almost zero. The boundary that separates these two layers—the tropopause—is defined ...
Earth Sciences
May 11, 2021
0
4
Where does snow come from? This may seem like a simple question to ponder as half the planet emerges from a season of watching whimsical flakes fall from the sky—and shoveling them from driveways. But a new study on how ...
Earth Sciences
Mar 22, 2021
3
4769
Recently, a team of researchers led by WANG Zhenzhu from the Anhui Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics (AIOFM) of the Hefei Institutes of Physical Science (HFIPS), together with their international collaborator from the ...
Earth Sciences
Feb 8, 2021
0
6
Permafrost—frozen soil in the far north – is thawing, releasing greenhouse gases and long-lost microbes. But one thing that scientists have not studied extensively is whether permafrost contains certain kinds of particles ...
Environment
Jan 28, 2021
1
7
Bonfire Night celebrations contaminate our air with hugely elevated amounts of soot, scientists have found.
Environment
Nov 5, 2020
0
133
As the ice in the clouds melts into droplets, they reflect more sunlight. But in the end there is no more ice left to melt.
Earth Sciences
Oct 27, 2020
2
104
When fossil fuel or biomass burns, soot—also known as black carbon—fills the air. Black carbon is an important short-term climate driver because it absorbs solar energy and can affect the formation and composition of ...
Earth Sciences
Aug 26, 2020
0
15
The Southern Ocean is a vast band of open water that encircles the entire planet between Antarctica and the Southern Hemisphere landmasses. It is the cloudiest place on Earth, and the amount of sunlight that reflects off ...
Earth Sciences
Jun 19, 2020
3
52
The prevailing view has been that more leads are associated with more low-level clouds during winter. But University of Utah atmospheric scientists noticed something strange in their study of these leads: when lead occurrence ...
Earth Sciences
Jan 10, 2020
4
206
