All Articles Tagged As: atmosphere

Electronic heat trap grips deep Earth (11/16/2008)

The key to understanding Earth's evolution, including our atmosphere and how volcanoes and earthquakes form, is to look into the lower mantle, a region some 400 to 1,800 miles below the surface. Researchers at the Carnegie Institution's Geophysical Laboratory simulated conditions at these depths and discovered that the concentration of highly oxidized iron in the two major mantle minerals is key to moving heat in that region and affects material movement throughout the planet. ...> Full Article

U of Minnesota researchers uncover surprising effects of climate patterns in ancient China (11/9/2008)

Did weakening of Asian monsoons cause fall of Chinese dynasties? ...> Full Article

Methane gas levels begin to increase again (10/31/2008)

New surge ends a decade of stability ...> Full Article

Researcher Uncovering Secrets of Ancient Eruptions and the Atmosphere (8/27/2008)

Researcher is uncovering ancient secrets about global climate by studying the chemical composition of volcanic ash in the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. ...> Full Article

Drier, Warmer Springs in U.S. Southwest Stem From Human-Caused Changes in Winds (8/26/2008)

Human-driven changes in the westerly winds are bringing hotter and drier springs to the American Southwest ...> Full Article

Scientists Reveal Soot's Role in Climate Change (8/19/2008)

New research may cause scientists to rethink soot's role in shaping the Earth's climate. ...> Full Article

Up, Up and Away: Studying Volcanoes With Balloons (8/15/2008)

Geologists using meteorological balloons to make the first on-location measurements of volcanic gases as they actually spew from the mouth of the volcano ...> Full Article

Mediterranean climate during the last ice age (8/7/2008)

New study reveals the circulation of the atmosphere over the Mediterranean during the last ice age, 23,000 to 19,000 years ago, and how this affected the local climate. ...> Full Article

Ice cores map dynamics of sudden climate changes (6/22/2008)

New, extremely detailed data from investigations of ice cores from Greenland show that the climate shifted very suddenly and changed fundamentally during quite few years when the ice age ended. ...> Full Article

Scientists Detail the Effects of Climate Change on Extreme Weather in North America (6/22/2008)

Droughts, heavy downpours, excessive heat, and intense hurricanes are likely to become more commonplace ...> Full Article

Methane sources over the last 30,000 years (4/18/2008)

New insights into natural changes in atmospheric methane concentrations ...> Full Article

Absence of clouds caused pre-human supergreenhouse periods (4/14/2008)

In a world without human-produced pollution, biological productivity controls cloud formation and may be the lever that caused supergreenhouse episodes during the Cetaceous and Eocene ...> Full Article

Continents loss to oceans boosts staying power (4/2/2008)

Study measures effects of chemical weathering on the composition of continents ...> Full Article

Low Oxygen and Molybdenum Levels in Ancient Oceans Delayed Evolution of Life by Two Billion Years (3/31/2008)

Study tracked biogeochemical signatures preserved in ancient sedimentary rocks to establish nature and timing of oxygenation of Earth's atmosphere ...> Full Article

Two Oxygenation Events In Ancient Oceans Sparked Spread Of Complex Life (3/7/2008)

The rise of oxygen and the oxidation of deep oceans between 635 and 551 million years ago may have had an impact on the increase and spread of the earliest complex life, including animals, according to a new study. ...> Full Article

Large Source of Nitrate, a Nutrient and Potential Water Contaminant, Found in Near-Surface Desert Soils (3/3/2008)

Disruption of desert soil surface could result in wind erosion of nitrate-rich soil ...> Full Article

Studying Rivers for Clues to Carbon Cycle (2/28/2008)

In the science world, in the media, and recently, in our daily lives, the debate continues over how carbon in the atmosphere is affecting global climate change. Studying just how carbon cycles throughout the Earth is an enormous challenge, but one Northwestern University professor is doing his part by studying one important segment -- rivers. ...> Full Article

Cold conspirators: Ice crystals implicated in Arctic pollution (2/22/2008)

Frost flowers. Diamond dust. Hoarfrost. These poetically named ice crystal forms are part of the stark beauty of the Arctic. But they also play a role in its pollution, a new study by scientists at the University of Michigan, the Cold Regions Research & Engineering Laboratory and the University of Alaska has found. ...> Full Article

Past greenhouse warming events provide clues to what the future may hold (2/18/2008)

If carbon dioxide emissions from the burning of fossil fuels continue on a "business-as-usual" trajectory, humans will have added about 5 trillion metric tons of carbon to the atmosphere by the year 2400. A similarly massive release of carbon accompanied an extreme period of global warming 55 million years ago known as the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM). ...> Full Article

Researchers find origin of 'breathable' atmosphere half a billion years ago (11/1/2007)

Oxygen may have triggered burst of biodiversity ...> Full Article

Extinction Theory Falls From Favor (10/28/2007)

The greatest mass extinction in Earth’s history also may have been one of the slowest, according to a study that casts further doubt on the extinction-by-meteor theory. ...> Full Article

Methane Bubbling From Arctic Lakes, Now And At End Of Last Ice Age (10/27/2007)

A team of scientists have identified a new likely source of a spike in atmospheric methane coming out of the North during the end of the last ice age. ...> Full Article

Oxygen on Earth: 50 to 100 Million Years Earlier Than Scientists Thought (9/28/2007)

Scientists have found that traces of oxygen appeared in Earth's atmosphere 50 to 100 million years earlier than previously thought--before what geologists call the "Great Oxidation Event." ...> Full Article

Researchers Reassess Theories on Formation of Earth's Atmosphere (9/20/2007)

Geochemists at are challenging commonly held ideas about how gases are expelled from the Earth. Their theory could change the way scientists view the formation of Earth's atmosphere and those of our distant neighbors, Mars and Venus. Their data throw into doubt the timing and mechanism of atmospheric formation on terrestrial plants. ...> Full Article