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Earth Sciences - Environment - 31.05.2023
Astronomy / Space Science - Earth Sciences - 16.05.2023 
NASA’s Spitzer, TESS Find Potentially Volcano-Covered Earth-Size World
The gravitational tug of a neighboring planet may heat the world's interior, creating the right conditions for volcanic activity on the surface. Astronomers have discovered an Earth-size exoplanet, or world beyond our solar system, that may be carpeted with volcanoes. Called LP 791-18 d, the planet could undergo volcanic outbursts as often as Jupiter's moon Io, the most volcanically active body in our solar system.
Astronomy / Space Science - Earth Sciences - 15.05.2023 
NASA’s Juno Mission Getting Closer to Jupiter’s Moon Io
Credit: Image data: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/.
Astronomy / Space Science - Earth Sciences - 12.05.2023
Earth Sciences - Astronomy / Space Science - 01.05.2023 
On the Edge: NASA’s Last S-MODE Mission Studies the Ocean’s Surface
The mission is gathering observations with airborne sensors, a research ship, and autonomous instruments like gliders that skim the upper layers of the Pacific Ocean. NASA has taken to the seas and skies to study the unique environment at the ocean's surface, where marine ecosystems intersect with our planet's complex atmosphere.
Astronomy / Space Science - Earth Sciences - 25.04.2023 
NASA Retires Mineral Mapping Instrument on Mars Orbiter
One of six instruments aboard the agency's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, CRISM produced global maps of minerals on the Red Planet's surface. NASA switched off one of its oldest instruments studying Mars on April 3, a step that's been planned since last year. Riding aboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, CRISM , or the Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars, revealed minerals such as clays, hematite (otherwise known as iron oxide), and sulfates across the Red Planet's surface for 17 years.
Astronomy / Space Science - Earth Sciences - 18.04.2023
Earth Sciences - 30.03.2023
Environment - Earth Sciences - 28.03.2023
Astronomy / Space Science - Earth Sciences - 16.03.2023 
Prototype telescope designed by Lawrence Livermore researchers launched to the International Space Station
A prototype telescope designed and built by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) researchers has been launched from Cape Canaveral, Fla., to the International Space Station (ISS). Known as the Stellar Occultation Hypertemporal Imaging Payload (SOHIP), the telescope uses LLNL patented-monolithic optics technology on a gimbal to observe and measure atmospheric gravity waves and turbulence.
Environment - Earth Sciences - 16.03.2023
Earth Sciences - Environment - 15.03.2023
Life Sciences - Earth Sciences - 08.03.2023 
The miniature melo ’Micromelo undatus’, finalist in the Mollusc of the Year competition
Recerca Micromelo undatus , a small snail that inhabits shallow waters, is one of the five finalists in the Mollusc of the Yea r contest, an international competition in which scientific teams from all over the world compete with different proposals to sequence the genome of these invertebrates.
Earth Sciences - Environment - 03.03.2023
Environment - Earth Sciences - 02.03.2023 
Wisconsin cave holds tantalizing clues to ancient climate changes, future shifts
Even in their dark isolation from the atmosphere above, caves can hold a rich archive of local climate conditions and how they've shifted over the eons. Formed over tens of thousands of years, speleothems - rock formations unique to caves better known as stalagmites and stalactites - hold secrets to the ancient environments from which they formed.
Environment - Earth Sciences - 02.03.2023
Astronomy / Space Science - Earth Sciences - 23.02.2023 
Dynamic NASA-Built Weather Sensors Enlisted to Track Tropical Cyclones
Known as COWVR and TEMPEST, the duo is demonstrating that smaller, less expensive science instruments can play an important role in weather forecasting. NASA recently built two weather instruments to test the potential of small, low-cost sensors to do some of the work of bulkier, pricier satellites.
Earth Sciences - Environment - 17.02.2023
Environment - Earth Sciences - 17.02.2023
Earth Sciences - Physics - 15.02.2023
Earth Sciences - 14.02.2023
Earth Sciences - 31.01.2023
Earth Sciences - 31.01.2023
Astronomy / Space Science - Earth Sciences - 28.01.2023 
NASA’s Perseverance Rover Completes Mars Sample Depot
Ten sample tubes, capturing an amazing variety of Martian geology, have been deposited on Mars' surface so they could be studied on Earth in the future. Less than six weeks after it began , construction of the first sample depot on another world is complete. Confirmation that NASA's Perseverance Mars rover successfully dropped the 10th and final tube planned for the depot was received around 5 p.m. PST (8 p.m. EST) Sunday, Jan.
Environment - Earth Sciences - 17.01.2023
Earth Sciences - Astronomy / Space Science - 11.01.2023 
NASA Scientists and Satellites Make Sense of Earth’s Subtle Motions
What can hidden motions underground tell us about earthquakes, eruptions, and even climate change? NASA scientists are using data gathered 400 miles above Earth to find out. Creeping, rising, falling, slipping - some parts of Earth are in perpetual motion. The movements are usually too tiny for human senses to notice, but they offer clues about more significant changes happening inside volcanoes, along fault lines, and where tectonic plates meet and clash.
Environment - Earth Sciences - 11.01.2023
Earth Sciences - Environment - 13.12.2022
Earth Sciences - Computer Science - 08.12.2022
Earth Sciences - Astronomy / Space Science - 05.12.2022
Environment - Earth Sciences - 29.11.2022
Environment - Earth Sciences - 29.11.2022
Earth Sciences - Environment - 23.11.2022
Environment - Earth Sciences - 22.11.2022
Astronomy / Space Science - Earth Sciences - 22.11.2022 
NASA Program Predicted Impact of Small Asteroid Over Ontario, Canada
2022 WJ1 was a tiny asteroid on a collision course with Earth. But astronomers saw it coming, and NASA's Scout impact hazard assessment system calculated where it would hit. In the early hours of Saturday, Nov. 19, the skies over southern Ontario, Canada, lit up as a tiny asteroid harmlessly streaked across the sky high in Earth's atmosphere, broke up, and likely scattered small meteorites over the southern coastline of Lake Ontario.
Environment - Earth Sciences - 21.11.2022 
New analysis helps reconcile differences between satellites and climate models
Satellite observations and computer simulations are important tools for understanding past changes in Earth's climate and for projecting future changes. However, satellite observations consistently show less warming than climate model simulations from 1979 to the present, especially in the tropical troposphere (the lowest ~15km of Earth's atmosphere).
Environment - Earth Sciences - 16.11.2022
Earth Sciences - Politics - 11.11.2022
Environment - Earth Sciences - 07.11.2022 
Microplastic pollution threats the world’s coastal lagoons
Globally, the coastal lagoons of Lagos (Nigeria), Sakumo (Ghana) and Bizerte (Tunisia) —close to large urban centres and without waste and sewage treatment systems— are among the most affected water ecosystems of this nature by microplastic pollution. However, the highest concentrations of microplastics have been detected in Barnes Sound and other small lagoons in a protected area in the north of Florida Bay (USA), a particular case that can be explained by the transport of microplastics carried by hurricanes from polluted areas.
Earth Sciences - Environment - 04.11.2022
Astronomy / Space Science - Earth Sciences - 01.11.2022 
NASA Prepares to Say ’Farewell’ to InSight Spacecraft
A closer look at what goes into wrapping up the mission as the spacecraft's power supply continues to dwindle.
Earth Sciences - Physics - 30.10.2022
Environment - Earth Sciences - 26.10.2022
Earth Sciences - Paleontology - 20.10.2022
Earth Sciences - Environment - 11.10.2022 
Discovery of unknown habitats in the carboniferous flora in the Pyrenees
A study reveals how the Sigillaria brardii species —a fossil plant typical of peatlands and abundant in the flora of Europe and North America during the Upper Carboniferous— colonised new areas in the riverbeds of the great European mountain range known as the Variscan mountains, far from their natural habitat.
Earth Sciences - Astronomy / Space Science - 11.10.2022 
NASA’s S-MODE Field Campaign Deploys to the Pacific Ocean
Editor's note: A composite image of a Twin Otter International plane carrying the Modular Aerial Sensing System was added on Oct.
Environment - Earth Sciences - 11.10.2022 
3Q: Why Europe is so vulnerable to heat waves
Climate modeling shows that this summer's devastating European heat wave may indeed be a harbinger of the future for that region.
Astronomy / Space Science - Earth Sciences - 05.10.2022
Earth Sciences - Environment - 04.10.2022
Environment - Earth Sciences - 28.09.2022
Earth Sciences
Results 1 - 50 of 1974.
This year’s Atlantic hurricane season could prove unpredictable
One of the first signs that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration would predict a quiet Atlantic hurricane season emerged in early March, when the agency announced that the La Niña
One of the first signs that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration would predict a quiet Atlantic hurricane season emerged in early March, when the agency announced that the La Niña
The gravitational tug of a neighboring planet may heat the world's interior, creating the right conditions for volcanic activity on the surface. Astronomers have discovered an Earth-size exoplanet, or world beyond our solar system, that may be carpeted with volcanoes. Called LP 791-18 d, the planet could undergo volcanic outbursts as often as Jupiter's moon Io, the most volcanically active body in our solar system.
Credit: Image data: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/.
International Sea Level Satellite Spots Early Signs of El Niño
Kelvin waves, a potential precursor of El Niño conditions in the ocean, are rolling across the equatorial Pacific toward the coast of South America.
Kelvin waves, a potential precursor of El Niño conditions in the ocean, are rolling across the equatorial Pacific toward the coast of South America.
The mission is gathering observations with airborne sensors, a research ship, and autonomous instruments like gliders that skim the upper layers of the Pacific Ocean. NASA has taken to the seas and skies to study the unique environment at the ocean's surface, where marine ecosystems intersect with our planet's complex atmosphere.
One of six instruments aboard the agency's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, CRISM produced global maps of minerals on the Red Planet's surface. NASA switched off one of its oldest instruments studying Mars on April 3, a step that's been planned since last year. Riding aboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, CRISM , or the Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars, revealed minerals such as clays, hematite (otherwise known as iron oxide), and sulfates across the Red Planet's surface for 17 years.
Ved Chirayath is on a mission to map the world’s oceans
One misstep and Ved Chirayath would have been a goner. Cut off from civilization and his cell phone useless, he knew that medical aid would never reach him in time if he were bitten by one of the countless sea snakes that surrounded him.
One misstep and Ved Chirayath would have been a goner. Cut off from civilization and his cell phone useless, he knew that medical aid would never reach him in time if he were bitten by one of the countless sea snakes that surrounded him.
Fieldwork class examines signs of climate change in Hawaii
MIT students research effects of climate change on forests and sulfur dioxide emissions as a model for planet-wide events. Close When Joy Domingo-Kameenui spent two weeks in her native Hawaii as part of MIT class 1.091 (Traveling Research Environmental eXperiences), she was surprised to learn about the number of invasive and endangered species.
MIT students research effects of climate change on forests and sulfur dioxide emissions as a model for planet-wide events. Close When Joy Domingo-Kameenui spent two weeks in her native Hawaii as part of MIT class 1.091 (Traveling Research Environmental eXperiences), she was surprised to learn about the number of invasive and endangered species.
A prototype telescope designed and built by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) researchers has been launched from Cape Canaveral, Fla., to the International Space Station (ISS). Known as the Stellar Occultation Hypertemporal Imaging Payload (SOHIP), the telescope uses LLNL patented-monolithic optics technology on a gimbal to observe and measure atmospheric gravity waves and turbulence.
Harnessing Earth’s natural cycles to reverse climate change
On average, fossil fuel emissions do not alter the planet's temperature for a full decade after being emitted.Atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) and the resulting repercussions will continue to increase, even if we stopemissions entirely today.
On average, fossil fuel emissions do not alter the planet's temperature for a full decade after being emitted.Atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) and the resulting repercussions will continue to increase, even if we stopemissions entirely today.
Recerca Micromelo undatus , a small snail that inhabits shallow waters, is one of the five finalists in the Mollusc of the Yea r contest, an international competition in which scientific teams from all over the world compete with different proposals to sequence the genome of these invertebrates.
Even in their dark isolation from the atmosphere above, caves can hold a rich archive of local climate conditions and how they've shifted over the eons. Formed over tens of thousands of years, speleothems - rock formations unique to caves better known as stalagmites and stalactites - hold secrets to the ancient environments from which they formed.
Unique hybrid reefs deployed off Miami Beach
The first piece of a series of concrete structures was lowered into the water off the coast of Miami Beach on Wednesday morning, a massive crane on the deck of a floating barge hoisting the unit into the air and sinking it to the seabed. During the next six hours, crewmembers aboard the barge would repeat that process until the structures, some stacked on top of each other, were settled on the seafloor, 14 feet below the surface.
The first piece of a series of concrete structures was lowered into the water off the coast of Miami Beach on Wednesday morning, a massive crane on the deck of a floating barge hoisting the unit into the air and sinking it to the seabed. During the next six hours, crewmembers aboard the barge would repeat that process until the structures, some stacked on top of each other, were settled on the seafloor, 14 feet below the surface.
Known as COWVR and TEMPEST, the duo is demonstrating that smaller, less expensive science instruments can play an important role in weather forecasting. NASA recently built two weather instruments to test the potential of small, low-cost sensors to do some of the work of bulkier, pricier satellites.
Lake Superior researcher helps communities better understand harmful algal blooms
Do blooms also like it cold? Lake Superior researcher and international team of scientists help communities better understand harmful algal blooms. Research published in the scientific journal Limnology and Oceanography Letters and led by scientist Dr. Kait Reinl, Research Coordinator at the Lake Superior National Estuarine Research Reserve in Superior, WI, challenges current understandings of harmful algae blooms and may help communities better prepare for them.
Do blooms also like it cold? Lake Superior researcher and international team of scientists help communities better understand harmful algal blooms. Research published in the scientific journal Limnology and Oceanography Letters and led by scientist Dr. Kait Reinl, Research Coordinator at the Lake Superior National Estuarine Research Reserve in Superior, WI, challenges current understandings of harmful algae blooms and may help communities better prepare for them.
Record-low Great Lakes ice coverage: U-M experts can discuss
EXPERTS ADVISORY The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration confirmed on Friday that Great Lakes ice coverage reached a record low for this time of year.
EXPERTS ADVISORY The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration confirmed on Friday that Great Lakes ice coverage reached a record low for this time of year.
Civil engineer Jonathan Stewart on the earthquake in Turkey and Syria
Science + Technology UCLA Engineering The devastating earthquake in Turkey on Feb. 6 has claimed the lives of more than 36,000 people and flattened thousands of buildings across southern Turkey and northern Syria.
Science + Technology UCLA Engineering The devastating earthquake in Turkey on Feb. 6 has claimed the lives of more than 36,000 people and flattened thousands of buildings across southern Turkey and northern Syria.
Buoys play pivotal role to improve coastal weather forecasting
From the deck of the research vessel Neil Armstrong, oceanographic researchers deployed the massive air-sea interaction spar (ASIS) buoys off the coast of Santa Rosa Beach in late January, watching as the instrument-laden devices began to float upright in Florida's northern Gulf of Mexico waters.
From the deck of the research vessel Neil Armstrong, oceanographic researchers deployed the massive air-sea interaction spar (ASIS) buoys off the coast of Santa Rosa Beach in late January, watching as the instrument-laden devices began to float upright in Florida's northern Gulf of Mexico waters.
Students a primary part of $6.74 million experiment
They were treated as equals, not underlings.
They were treated as equals, not underlings.
Ten sample tubes, capturing an amazing variety of Martian geology, have been deposited on Mars' surface so they could be studied on Earth in the future. Less than six weeks after it began , construction of the first sample depot on another world is complete. Confirmation that NASA's Perseverance Mars rover successfully dropped the 10th and final tube planned for the depot was received around 5 p.m. PST (8 p.m. EST) Sunday, Jan.
What can hidden motions underground tell us about earthquakes, eruptions, and even climate change? NASA scientists are using data gathered 400 miles above Earth to find out. Creeping, rising, falling, slipping - some parts of Earth are in perpetual motion. The movements are usually too tiny for human senses to notice, but they offer clues about more significant changes happening inside volcanoes, along fault lines, and where tectonic plates meet and clash.
Looking to the past to prepare for an uncertain future
Using sand and rock, MIT senior Aviva Intveld tells stories of ancient climates. Aviva Intveld, an MIT senior majoring in Earth, atmospheric, and planetary sciences, is accustomed to city life.
Using sand and rock, MIT senior Aviva Intveld tells stories of ancient climates. Aviva Intveld, an MIT senior majoring in Earth, atmospheric, and planetary sciences, is accustomed to city life.
Making waves: Oceanographer braves danger to unlock secrets of the sea
The powerful swells can break a container ship in half. Lisa Beal had heard mariners talk about the force of such waves, but she never really believed them, dismissing their accounts as tall sea tales.
The powerful swells can break a container ship in half. Lisa Beal had heard mariners talk about the force of such waves, but she never really believed them, dismissing their accounts as tall sea tales.
School of Science appoints 10 faculty to named professorships
Those selected for these positions receive additional support to pursue their research and develop their careers.
Those selected for these positions receive additional support to pursue their research and develop their careers.
Strongest Arctic cyclone on record led to surprising loss of sea ice
A warming climate is causing a decline in sea ice in the Arctic Ocean, where loss of sea ice has important ecological, economic and climate impacts. On top of this long-term shift due to climate change are weather events that affect the sea ice from week to week. The strongest Arctic cyclone ever observed poleward of 70 degrees north latitude struck in January 2022 northeast of Greenland.
A warming climate is causing a decline in sea ice in the Arctic Ocean, where loss of sea ice has important ecological, economic and climate impacts. On top of this long-term shift due to climate change are weather events that affect the sea ice from week to week. The strongest Arctic cyclone ever observed poleward of 70 degrees north latitude struck in January 2022 northeast of Greenland.
Connection between oceans, atmosphere drive climate scientist’s work
The ocean has always had a special appeal to atmospheric sciences professor Amy Clement. Growing up in coastal Massachusetts, and on Long Island, New York, she often spent free time exploring the beach, or swimming in the Atlantic Ocean.
The ocean has always had a special appeal to atmospheric sciences professor Amy Clement. Growing up in coastal Massachusetts, and on Long Island, New York, she often spent free time exploring the beach, or swimming in the Atlantic Ocean.
Limiting Global Warming Now Can Preserve Valuable Freshwater Resource
Snowcapped mountains not only look majestic - They're vital to a delicate ecosystem that has existed for tens of thousands of years. Mountain water runoff and snowmelt flows down to streams, rivers, lakes, and oceans - and today, around a quarter of the world depends on these natural "water towers" to replenish downstream reservoirs and groundwater aquifers for urban water supplies, agricultural irrigation, and ecosystem support.
Snowcapped mountains not only look majestic - They're vital to a delicate ecosystem that has existed for tens of thousands of years. Mountain water runoff and snowmelt flows down to streams, rivers, lakes, and oceans - and today, around a quarter of the world depends on these natural "water towers" to replenish downstream reservoirs and groundwater aquifers for urban water supplies, agricultural irrigation, and ecosystem support.
2022 WJ1 was a tiny asteroid on a collision course with Earth. But astronomers saw it coming, and NASA's Scout impact hazard assessment system calculated where it would hit. In the early hours of Saturday, Nov. 19, the skies over southern Ontario, Canada, lit up as a tiny asteroid harmlessly streaked across the sky high in Earth's atmosphere, broke up, and likely scattered small meteorites over the southern coastline of Lake Ontario.
Satellite observations and computer simulations are important tools for understanding past changes in Earth's climate and for projecting future changes. However, satellite observations consistently show less warming than climate model simulations from 1979 to the present, especially in the tropical troposphere (the lowest ~15km of Earth's atmosphere).
Chesapeake Bay sees smaller-than-average ’dead zone’ in 2022
This year's Chesapeake Bay "dead zone” was the 10th-smallest observed since 1985, according to findings released today by the Chesapeake Bay Program and its partners, including the University of Michigan.
This year's Chesapeake Bay "dead zone” was the 10th-smallest observed since 1985, according to findings released today by the Chesapeake Bay Program and its partners, including the University of Michigan.
Globally, the coastal lagoons of Lagos (Nigeria), Sakumo (Ghana) and Bizerte (Tunisia) —close to large urban centres and without waste and sewage treatment systems— are among the most affected water ecosystems of this nature by microplastic pollution. However, the highest concentrations of microplastics have been detected in Barnes Sound and other small lagoons in a protected area in the north of Florida Bay (USA), a particular case that can be explained by the transport of microplastics carried by hurricanes from polluted areas.
A closer look at what goes into wrapping up the mission as the spacecraft's power supply continues to dwindle.
Geophysicist Leigh Royden looks at Earth from the top down
The MIT combines geophysics and geology to understand what's happening beneath the crust. The German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina has counted some of the greatest scientists in history among its ranks.
The MIT combines geophysics and geology to understand what's happening beneath the crust. The German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina has counted some of the greatest scientists in history among its ranks.
Rosenstiel oceanographer featured in Netflix docuseries
The damage was visible all the way from space-254 miles above the Earth. That's where NASA astronaut Robert Hines, onboard the International Space Station, snapped then tweeted a photo of the shoreline erosion Hurricane Ian had inflicted on Florida's southwest coast.
The damage was visible all the way from space-254 miles above the Earth. That's where NASA astronaut Robert Hines, onboard the International Space Station, snapped then tweeted a photo of the shoreline erosion Hurricane Ian had inflicted on Florida's southwest coast.
How old is Yosemite Valley?
Tenaya Canyon (center) and part of Yosemite Valley (foreground) as seen from Glacier Point in Yosemite National Park.
Tenaya Canyon (center) and part of Yosemite Valley (foreground) as seen from Glacier Point in Yosemite National Park.
A study reveals how the Sigillaria brardii species —a fossil plant typical of peatlands and abundant in the flora of Europe and North America during the Upper Carboniferous— colonised new areas in the riverbeds of the great European mountain range known as the Variscan mountains, far from their natural habitat.
Editor's note: A composite image of a Twin Otter International plane carrying the Modular Aerial Sensing System was added on Oct.
Climate modeling shows that this summer's devastating European heat wave may indeed be a harbinger of the future for that region.
Documentary featuring Professor Sara Seager wins Emmy Award
"The Hunt for Planet B" follows Seager and others on their search for extraterrestrial life; three other nominated films feature MIT affiliates.
"The Hunt for Planet B" follows Seager and others on their search for extraterrestrial life; three other nominated films feature MIT affiliates.
Dinosaur-killing asteroid triggered global tsunami that scoured seafloor thousands of miles from impact site
The miles-wide asteroid that struck Earth 66 million years ago wiped out nearly all the dinosaurs and roughly three-quarters of the planet's plant and animal species. It also triggered a monstrous tsunami with mile-high waves that scoured the ocean floor thousands of miles from the impact site on Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, according to a new University of Michigan-led study.
The miles-wide asteroid that struck Earth 66 million years ago wiped out nearly all the dinosaurs and roughly three-quarters of the planet's plant and animal species. It also triggered a monstrous tsunami with mile-high waves that scoured the ocean floor thousands of miles from the impact site on Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula, according to a new University of Michigan-led study.
UW expert on tropical storms discusses Hurricane Ian
Shuyi Chen , a UW professor of atmospheric sciences, was traveling to a conference in Boston as Hurricane Ian approached the Gulf of Mexico. During breaks at the conference, she provided her thoughts on the closely watched catastrophic storm system that made landfall in Florida on Sept. Q: What are your thoughts on Hurricane Ian? How does it compare to other storms? SSC: Each hurricane is unique in many ways.
Shuyi Chen , a UW professor of atmospheric sciences, was traveling to a conference in Boston as Hurricane Ian approached the Gulf of Mexico. During breaks at the conference, she provided her thoughts on the closely watched catastrophic storm system that made landfall in Florida on Sept. Q: What are your thoughts on Hurricane Ian? How does it compare to other storms? SSC: Each hurricane is unique in many ways.
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