It comes as quite a shock when the ground beneath your feet, your house or your field suddenly disappears leaving a hole. This hole may be tens of meters or more deep, and it will eventually lead into a cavity which may extend downwards for hundreds of meters below the ground.
Massive solar and wind farms could bring vegetation back to the Sahara
Switching from fossil fuels to renewable energy is an important and necessary step towards averting climate change. However, in our efforts to go green, we also need to be mindful of other consequences, both intended and unintended – and that includes how a mass deployment of renewable technology might affect its surrounding climate.
Just Another Day on Aerosol Earth
Take a deep breath. Even if the air looks clear, it is nearly certain that you will inhale millions of solid particles and liquid droplets. These ubiquitous specks of matter are known as aerosols, and they can be found in the air over oceans, deserts, mountains, forests, ice and every ecosystem in between.
Hothouse Earth: our planet has been here before – here’s what it looked like
Even if carbon emissions are reduced to hold temperature rises at the 2°C guardrail of the Paris Agreement, changes already afoot in the environment such as melting permafrost and forest die-back could accelerate warming well into the future, potentially pushing our planet into what is being called a “Hothouse Earth” state.
Curious Kids: How was the ocean formed? Where did all the water come from?
On Earth there is more ocean than land. Of course, there is also a lot of water locked up as ice at the North and South Poles. Where all that water came from is a very good question. Scientists have been wondering about it for a long time. We are still not exactly sure but it is probably a combination of two places.
What is the summer solstice? An astronomer explains
The summer solstice marks the official start of summer. It brings the longest day and shortest night of the year for the 88 percent of Earth’s people who live in the Northern Hemisphere. People around the world observe the change of seasons with bonfires and festivals and Fête de la Musique celebrations.
20 Years of Earth Data Now at Your Fingertips
Powerful Earth-observing instruments aboard NASA’s Terra and Aqua satellites, launched in 1999 and 2002, respectively, have observed nearly two decades of planetary change. Now, for the first time, all that imagery — from the first operational image to imagery acquired today — is available for exploration in Worldview.
As more solar and wind come onto the grid, prices go down but new questions come up
Wind and solar energy are growing rapidly in the U.S. As these energy sources become a bigger part of the electricity mix, their growth raises new questions: How do solar and wind influence energy prices? And since power plants last for decades, what should policymakers and investors think about to ensure that investments in power infrastructure pay off in the future?
Lava in Hawaii is reaching the ocean, creating new land but also corrosive acid mist
Forests are growing again where human well-being is increasing, finds new study
The carbon footprint of tourism revealed (it’s bigger than we thought)
NASA Satellite Images Show Fissures from Hawaii Volcano
Explainer: how do we make hydrogen from coal, and is it really a clean fuel?
Does cloud seeding work? Scientists watch ice crystals grow inside clouds to find out
How plastics made from plants could be the answer to the world’s waste problem
Want faster data and a cleaner planet? Start mining asteroids
Mining asteroids might seem like the stuff of science fiction, but there are companies and a few governments already working hard to make it real. This should not be surprising: compared with the breathtaking bridges that engineers build on Earth, asteroid-mining is a simple, small-scale operation requiring only modest technological advances. If anything is lacking, it is the imagination to see how plausible it has become. I am afraid only that it might not arrive soon enough to address the urgent resource challenges that the world is facing right now.
Each volcano has unique warning signs that eruption is imminent
Mount Agung in Bali has been thrusting ash thousands of feet into the sky for almost two weeks. Lava is burbling at the volcano’s peak. Indonesian authorities have ordered evacuations around Agung, while tourists are stranded at the closed airport. The volcano’s flanks are bulging from magma trying to push its way out, and earthquake frequency has been increasing.