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Last year, we looked at some fascinating data from the DEMETER spacecraft showing a significant increase in ultra-low frequency radio signals before the magnitude 7 Haiti earthquake in January 2010 Today, Dimitar Ouzounov at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Centre in Maryland and a few buddies present the data from the Great Tohoku earthquake which devastated Japan on 11 March. Their results, although preliminary, are eye-opening. ...They say that before the M9 earthquake, the total electron content of the ionosphere increased dramatically over the epicentre, reaching a maximum three days before the quake struck. At the same time, satellite observations...

WASHINGTON (AFP) – An international team of researchers has found that the atmosphere's ability to cleanse itself of pollutants and other greenhouse gases, except carbon dioxide, is generally stable. The study, published in Friday's edition of the journal Science, comes amid a fierce debate over whether, as some experts believe, the atmosphere's self-cleaning ability was fragile and sensitive to environmental changes. The research team, which was led by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), measured levels in the atmosphere of hydroxyl radicals, which play a key role in atmospheric chemistry. Levels of the agent only fluctuated a few percentage...

WASHINGTON (AFP) – The upper reaches of Earth's atmosphere are unexpectedly shrinking and cooling due to lower ultraviolet radiation from the sun, US scientists said Thursday. The sun's energy output dropped to unusually low levels from 2007 to 2009, a significantly long spell with virtually no sunspots or solar storms, according to scientists from the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado. During that period, the thermosphere, whose altitude ranges from about 55 to 300 miles (90 to 500 kilometers), shrank and contracted from the sharp drop in ultraviolet radiation, said the study published in the American Geophysical Union's...

The International Space Station (ISS) was over the North Pacific Ocean (latitude 4.9, longitude -117.0) on January 3, 2010 at 12:27:52 GMT when this spectacular photo was taken by an astronaut aboard the ISS. Via http://ChamorroBible.org/gpw/gpw-20061021.htm (medium, large, huge)

Enlarge Image Light show. Auroral displays reveal the interaction between the solar wind particles and nitrogen molecules in Earth's upper atmosphere. Credit: NASA Scientists trying to confirm a long-standing model of atmospheric physics have inadvertently shaken one of the foundations of the field. New tests show that the model, used to interpret energy emissions in Earth's upper atmosphere, is seriously flawed. The findings should help researchers build a better picture of how our planet interacts with solar radiation and the particle stream called the solar wind, and they may give a similar boost to studies of the atmosphere on...

The first trials of controversial sunshielding technology are being planned after the United Nations failed to secure agreement on cutting greenhouse gases. Bill Gates, the Microsoft billionaire, is funding research into machines to suck up ten tonnes of seawater every second and spray it upwards. This would seed vast banks of white clouds to reflect the Sun’s rays away from Earth.The British and American scientists involved do not intend to wait for international rules on technology that deliberately alters the climate. They believe that the weak outcome of December’s climate summit in Copenhagen means that emissions will continue to rise...

ScienceDaily (Dec. 31, 2009) — Most of the carbon dioxide emitted by human activity does not remain in the atmosphere, but is instead absorbed by the oceans and terrestrial ecosystems. In fact, only about 45 percent of emitted carbon dioxide stays in the atmosphere.

SAN FRANCISCO — When the sun is relatively inactive — as it has been in recent years — the outermost layer of Earth's atmosphere cools dramatically, new observations find.

COPENHAGEN – The atmosphere at the U.N. climate conference grew more tense and divisive after talks were suspended for most of Monday's session — a sign of the developing nations' deep distrust of the promises by industrial countries to cut greenhouse gas emissions. ... The wrangle over emission reductions froze a timetable for government ministers to negotiate a host of complex issues. Though procedural in nature, the Africa-led suspension went to the core of suspicions by poor countries that wealthier ones were trying to soften their commitments and evade penalties for missing their targets. ... The negotiations were meant to...

"A team of researchers from the US, Denmark and New Zealand have discovered a process through which a prevalent biogenic nonmethane hydrocarbon compound emitted by trees—isoprene—forms atmospheric particulate matter (i.e., secondary organic aerosol). The results are published in the 7 August issue of the journal Science. Aerosols impact human health, due to their ability to penetrate deep into lungs, and impact Earth’s climate through the scattering and absorption of solar radiation and through serving as the nuclei on which clouds form, noted co-author Prof. John Seinfeld from Caltech. “So it is important to know where particles come from.” Emissions of...

WASHINGTON —EcoAmerica's summary of the group’s latest findings and recommendations was accidentally sent by e-mail to a number of news organizations. They say "Global Warming" turns people off, fostering images of shaggy-haired liberals, economic sacrifice and complex scientific disputes. Instead, talk about “our deteriorating atmosphere.” Drop discussions of carbon dioxide and bring up “moving away from the dirty fuels of the past.” Don’t say cap and trade; use “cap and cash back” or “pollution reduction refund.” Another key finding: remember to speak in TALKING POINTS: shared American ideals, freedom, prosperity, independence and self-sufficiency while avoiding jargon and details about policy,...

1st paragraph (with link to abstract): "Our recent paper “Climate response to regional radiative forcing during the twentieth century”, has generated some interesting discussion (some of it very 'interesting' indeed). So this post is an attempt to give a better context to the methods and implications of the study." Yet more aerosols: Comment on Shindell and Faluvegi Most intriguing paragraph: "In the absence of increasing greenhouse gases, our large historical emissions of sulfate precursors would have led to substantial cooling from sulfate, and the subsequent reduction in emissions would have brought temperatures back towards their previous level. So reduced sulfate...

Ron Ace's idea to cool the planet by evaporating water could provoke controversy because it collides head-on with a concern of environmental scientists: that water vapor is a potent greenhouse gas. A recent Texas A&M University study, based on satellite data from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, warned that if water vapor levels in the atmosphere continue to rise, it "could guarantee" an increase of several degrees Celsius in the Earth's temperatures over the next century. These scientists warned of potential "positive feedback," in which water vapor traps heat near the surface, the warmer temperatures cause increasing ocean surface...

Enlarge ImageOut of the frying pan.Studies show that pumping sulfur into the atmosphere could seriously damage the ozone layer.Credit: Ross J. Salawitch [via Science] The ozone layer protects all life on Earth, but it's frustrating scientists' attempts to curb global warming. Take geoengineering: Researchers have proposed that injecting sulfur particles into the stratosphere might counter the effects of greenhouse gas buildup, but a new study suggests that the approach could thin the planet's already fragile ozone layer. Leaving the ozone layer alone comes with its own risks, however. A second study warns that the gradual recovery of the Antarctic...

WASHINGTON - Just days after the Nobel prize was awarded for global warming work, an alarming new study finds that carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is increasing faster than expected. Carbon dioxide emissions were 35 percent higher in 2006 than in 1990, a much faster growth rate than anticipated, researchers led by Josep G. Canadell, of Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, report in Tuesday's edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Increased industrial use of fossil fuels coupled with a decline in the gas absorbed by the oceans and land were listed as causes of the...

If you're wondering who's largely to blame for the alleged heating up of the climate you need look no further than Jane Fonda. That's what "Freakanomics" columnists Stephen J. Dubner and Steven D. Levitt suggest in Sunday's New York Times Magazine. "If you were asked to name the biggest global warming villains of the past 30 years, here's one name that probably wouldn't spring to mind: Jane Fonda. But should it?" the authors ask. According to Editor & Publisher, the two cite Fonda's anti-nuclear thriller "The China Syndrome," which opened just 12 days before the Three Mile Island accident in...

Astronomers have recorded heavenly music bellowed out by the Sun's atmosphere. Snagging orchestra seats for this solar symphony would be fruitless, however, as the frequency of the sound waves is below the human hearing threshold. While humans can make out sounds between 20 and 20,000 hertz, the solar sound waves are on the order of milli-hertz--a thousandth of a hertz. The study, presented this week at the Royal Astronomical Society's National Astronomy Meeting in Lancashire, England, reveals that the looping magnetic fields along the Sun's outer regions, called the corona, carry magnetic sound waves in a similar manner to musical...

Astronomers have detected water in the atmosphere of a planet outside our solar system for the first time. The finding, to be detailed in an upcoming issue of Astrophysical Journal, confirms previous theories that say water vapor should be present in the atmospheres of nearly all the known extrasolar planets. Even hot Jupiters, gaseous planets that orbit closer to their stars than Mercury to our Sun, are thought to have water. The discovery, announced today, means one of the most crucial elements for life as we know it can exist around planets orbiting other stars. 'We know that water vapor...

It is already painfully clear that models of anthropogenic global warming are ridiculously inadequate, and do not meet the basic tests of experimental science, no matter how many "scientists" yell "consensus." Now comes a serious question from a serious scientist that threatens to undermine the fundamental premise of the alarmists. Danish physicist Bjarne Andresen has raised the interesting point that there may be no global warming, because there is no such thing as global temperature! That is because the earth atmosphere is not a homogeneous system. It's not a glass lab jar in your high school physics lab. Says Andresen,...

When politicians and journalists declare that the science of global warming is settled, they show a regrettable ignorance about how science works. We were treated to another dose of it recently when the experts of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change issued the Summary for Policymakers that puts the political spin on an unfinished scientific dossier on climate change due for publication in a few months’ time. They declared that most of the rise in temperatures since the mid-20th century is very likely due to man-made greenhouse gases. The small print explains “very likely� as meaning that the experts who...

EUREKA, Nunavut Territory -- Scientists are peering into the clouds near the top of the world, trying to solve a mystery and learn something new about global warming. The mystery is the droplets of water in the clouds. With the North Pole just 685 miles away, they should be frozen, yet more of them are liquid than anyone expected. So the scientists working out of a converted blue cargo container are trying to determine whether the clouds are one of the causes - or effects - of Earth's warming atmosphere. "Much to our surprise, we found that Arctic clouds have...

TODAY "An Inconvenient Truth," Al Gore's movie about the greenhouse effect, opens in New York and California. Many who already believe global warming is a menace will flock to the film; many who scoff at the notion will opt for Tom Cruise or Tom Hanks. But has anything happened in recent years that should cause a reasonable person to switch sides in the global-warming debate? Yes: the science has changed from ambiguous to near-unanimous. As an environmental commentator, I have a long record of opposing alarmism. But based on the data I'm now switching sides regarding global warming, from skeptic...

Winter air temperatures over Antarctica have risen by more than 2C in the last 30 years, a new study shows.Research published in the US journal Science says the warming is seen across the whole of the continent and much of the Southern Ocean. The study questions the reliability of current climate models that fail to simulate the temperature rise. In addition, the scientists from the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) say the cause of the warming is not clear. It could be linked to increases in greenhouse gases in the atmosphere or natural variations in Antarctica's climate system. Scientists are keen...

A new analysis of weather balloon observations from the last 30 years reveals that the Antarctic has the same 'global warming' signature as that seen across the whole Earth, but is three times larger than that observed globally. The results by scientists from British Antarctic Survey are reported this week in Science. Although the rapid surface warming in the Antarctic Peninsula region has been known for some time, this study has produced the first indications of broad-scale climate change across the whole Antarctic continent. Lead author Dr John Turner of the British Antarctic Survey says, "The rapid surface warming of...

MIAMI — Scientists analyzing 20 years of satellite data have confirmed an atmospheric spike in a prime fuel behind global warming, according to a study in the current issue of the journal Science. The finding is important because it used real-world readings to verify what computer simulations have predicted is happening in a key zone of Earth's atmosphere, said Brian Soden, a University of Miami scientist and lead author of the study. It's getting wetter up there, which means it's getting hotter down here. "This is one of the first studies to show it is increasing at the same rate...

In one of a trio of new global warming papers in Science, Mears & Wentz (2005) address what they consider to be a large source of uncertainty in our (University of Alabama in Huntsville, "UAH") satellite estimate for global lower tropospheric ("LT") temperature trends since 1979. The satellite measurements come from the Microwave Sounding Units (MSUs) and Advanced Microwave Sounding Units (AMSUs) flying on NOAA's polar orbiting weather satellites. The UAH estimate of the globally averaged trend since 1979 to the present has been +0.09 deg. C/decade, considerably below the surface thermometer estimate that has been hovering around +0.20 deg....

For years, skeptics of global warming have used satellite and weather balloon data to argue that climate models were wrong and that global warming isn't really happening. Now, according to three new studies published in the journal Science, it turns out those conclusions based on satellite and weather balloon data were based on faulty analyses. The atmosphere is indeed warming, not cooling as the data previously showed. ... Argument evaporatesAccording to Santer, the only group to previously analyze satellite data on the troposphere -- the lowest layer in Earth's atmosphere -- was a research team headed by Roy Spencer from...

It’s ironic that Andy Crouch referred to the pseudoscience of Darwinism in his article “Environmental Wager” [Christianity Today, August, p. 66]. Some of his comments about global warming are identical to Darwinist claims. He writes that it’s “all-but-unanimous scientific consensus” and there is “no serious disagreement.” Not only are such unrestrained statements red flags in critical thinking, Crouch needs to do a little better research. If he did, he would find that the scientific journals Science and Nature were criticized for censoring research refuting global warming. Such bias was also found in government panels and other groups on climate change....

Charles David Keeling, the world's leading authority on atmospheric greenhouse gas accumulation and climate science pioneer at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego (UCSD), died Monday, June 20, 2005, while at his Montana home, of a heart attack. He was 77 years old. Keeling has been affiliated with Scripps since 1956. Keeling was the first to confirm the rise of atmospheric carbon dioxide by very precise measurements that produced a data set now known widely as the "Keeling curve." Prior to his investigations, it was unknown whether the carbon dioxide released from the burning of fossil fuels...

Forecasters at the NOAA Space Environment Center in Boulder, Colo., observed a geomagnetic storm on Sunday, May 15, which they classified as an extreme event, measuring G-5—the highest level—on the NOAA Space Weather Scales. (Click image for larger view of the sun from the SOHO spacecraft of the intense solar activity taken May 15, 2005, at 7:50 a.m. EDT. Click here to view high resolution version, which is a large file. Click here to view latest images. Please credit “SOHO.”)

Boulder, CO, Apr. 4 (UPI) -- UPI's Climate was reminded the other day there is a broad spectrum of interpretations of the science behind global climate change. Roger Pielke Jr., a professor of environmental studies at the University of Colorado in Boulder and the author of an excellent science Web log called Prometheus, took to task a recent column on adapting to warming, saying, "You equate 'climate skeptics' with those who support adaptation. Most climate skeptics do not support adaptation because it would mean admitting that there is a problem needing to be adapted to in the first place." ......

Could dandruff be altering the world’s climate? Along with fur, algae, pollen, fungi, bacteria, viruses and various other “bio-aerosols” wafting around in the atmosphere, it may well be. A global study has found that tiny fragments of biological detritus are a major component of the atmosphere, controlling the weather and forming a previously hidden microbial metropolis in the skies. Besides their climatic influence, they may even be spreading diseases across the globe. Scientists have known for some time that aerosols of soot, dust and ash can influence climate by reflecting or absorbing the Sun’s rays and by providing the condensation...

While the entire northeast of the United States was digging out from a huge blizzard–usually a sign of cold weather–a meeting on "the climate challenge" was occurring in London, England and "an independent report" by the Institute for Public Policy Research (Great Britain), The Australia Institute, and the Center for American Progress announced that "an ecological time bomb is ticking away" that will plunge the world into chaos due to the heat said to be generated by greenhouse gas emissions. This kind of lunacy is intended to impose caps on the use of energy everywhere. It is the goal of...

Cassini-Huygens home page

Asteroid shaves past Earth's atmosphere 13:59 23 August 04 NewScientist.com news service The closest observed asteroid yet to skim past the Earth without hitting the atmosphere, was reported by astronomers on Sunday. The previously unknown object, spanning five to 10 metres across, has been named 2004 FU162. It streaked across the sky just 6500 kilometres - roughly the radius of the Earth - above the ground on 31 March, although details have only now emerged. The MIT Lincoln Laboratory's asteroid-hunting LINEAR telescope in Socorro, New Mexico,US, observed the new object four times over a 44-minute period, several hours before its...

If all goes well, a Delta II rocket will take off from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California at 3:01:59. This will be the fourth attempt. Live coverage right now in countdown mode on NASA TV webstream. Image is clear on dial-up ISP. Listen for a loud sonic boom on the West Coast. "Image : Aura's Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) is designed to profile atmospheric chemistry across the globe. Aerosols are one of the trace gases humans introduce into the atmospheric chemistry through pollution. Credit: NASA" "Aura is part of the Earth Observing System (EOS), a program dedicated to monitoring the...

Global Warming's Latest Hot Topic Causes Yet More Nasty ArgumentsClimate change research is a giant scientific sandbox. The subject is so complex, the data sources spread across so many disciplines, and the analytical tools so new and powerful that just about any scientist can stick in his shovel someplace and come up with a new -- and probably plausible -- result. There even remains -- in the United States, at least -- controversy over whether global temperatures are rising and, if so, how much. A recent paper in the British journal Nature claims to have found a way out of...

The highest layers of the Earth's atmosphere are cooling and contracting, most likely in response to increasing levels of greenhouse gases, according to a new study by scientists at the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL). This contraction could result in longer orbital lifetimes for both satellites and hazardous space debris. In a paper to be published February 5 in the Journal of Geophysical Research - Space Physics, John Emmert, Michael Picone, Judith Lean, and Stephen Knowles report that the average density of the thermosphere has decreased by about 10 percent during the past 35 years. The thermosphere is the highest layer...

Military interest in space became intense during and after World War II because of the introduction of rocket science, the companion to nuclear technology. The early versions include the buzz bomb and guided missiles. They were thought of as potential carriers of both nuclear and conventional bombs. Rocket technology and nuclear weapon technology developed simultaneously between 1945 and 1963. During this time of intensive atmospheric nuclear testing, explosions at various levels above and below the surface of the earth were attempted. Some of the now familiar descriptions of the earth's protective atmosphere, such as the existence of the Van Allen...

<p>Beginning 8,000 years ago, atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide began to rise as humans started clearing forests, planting crops and raising livestock, a scientist said Tuesday. Methane levels started increasing 3,000 years later.</p> <p>The combined increases of the two greenhouse gases implicated in global warming were slow but steady and staved off what should have been a period of significant natural cooling, said Bill Ruddiman, emeritus professor at the University of Virginia.</p>

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The solar wind pries open immense cracks in the Earth's magnetic field, holding them apart while it gushes through to cause geomagnetic storms, scientists reported on Wednesday. The findings could help scientists better predict the storms, which can disrupt power, satellites and communications and endanger astronauts, the U.S. space agency NASA (news - web sites) said. "We think we have solved an old and long-standing controversial discussion of how this process of crack formation really works," Harald Frey of the University of California, Berkeley, who led the study, told a news conference. "Now that we know these...

Source: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Date: 2003-06-18 Headless Comets Survive Plunge Through Sun's Atmosphere A run through the jungle is too easy; for the ultimate reality show contest, try a race through the Sun's atmosphere, where two comets recently lost their heads. The tails from a pair of comets survived a close encounter with the Sun, even after the Sun's intense heat and radiation vaporized their heads (nuclei and coma), an extremely rare event photographed by the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) spacecraft. On May 24, 2003, a pair of comets arced in tandem towards the Sun, their paths taking...

June 09, 2003Disease DustupDust clouds may carry infectious organisms across oceans By Otto Pohl> Image: ORBITAL IMAGING CORPORATION Photo Researchers, Inc. SANDSTORM blows particulates out from the Sahara Desert in Africa (landmass at right) over the Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean. The storm occurred in February 2001. On February 11, 2001, an enormous cloud of dust whipped out of the Sahara Desert and moved north across the Atlantic, reaching the U.K. two days later. A few days afterward, counties across the island began reporting simultaneous outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease, a viral sickness of livestock (sometimes confused with mad cow...

cientists Puzzled by Decline of Atmospheric Mercury WASHINGTON, DC, June 10, 2003 (ENS) - Though the amount of gaseous mercury in the atmosphere has dropped sharply from its peak in the 1980s and has remained relatively constant since the mid-1990s, scientists cannot figure out why it has declined. The lower numbers, the scientists say, may result from control measures undertaken in western Europe and North America, but a scientific study of atmospheric mercury says they cannot reconcile the amounts actually found with current understanding of natural and human sources of the element. An international group of scientists, led by...

Source: Space Telescope Science Institute Date: 2003-03-14 Too Close For Comfort: Hubble Discovers An Evaporating PlanetFor the first time, astronomers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope have observed the atmosphere of an extrasolar planet evaporating off into space. Much of the planet may eventually disappear, leaving only a dense core. The planet is a type of extrasolar planet known as a "hot Jupiter." These giant gaseous planets orbit their parent stars very closely, drawn to them like moths to a flame. The scorched planet, called HD 209458b, orbits only 4 million miles (7 million kilometers) from its yellow, Sun-like star....

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2003 March 13 WIRO at Jupiter Credit: A. Kutyrev (SSAI/GSFC), D. Rapchun(GST/GSFC), J. Norris(NASA/GSFC) R. Canterna & R. Martin (U Wyoming) Explanation: Gazing out over the mountaintops from the Wyoming InfraRed Observatory (WIRO), astronomers recently recorded this bizarre looking image of the solar system's ruling planet, gas giant Jupiter. The false-color picture is a composite of images taken to test a sophisticated digital camera operating at liquid helium...

Dinosaur Breath The largest flying creature alive today is the Andean condor Vultur gryphus. At maximum size it weighs about 22 pounds and has a wingspread of about 10 feet. But 65 million years ago in the late cretaceous period, the last age of dinosaurs, there was another larger flying animal, the giant pterosaur Quetzalcotalus. It had a wingspread of over 40 feet, the size of a small airplane. Other pterosaurs were also quite large. The pteranodons of the late jurassic period, the classic flying dinosaurs of magazine illustrations, had a maximum wingspan of about 33 feet. This presents a...

<p>SAN JOSE, Calif.(AP) - The space shuttle Columbia broke up in a mysterious area of the upper atmosphere once so little understood and difficult to study that scientists dubbed it the "ignorosphere."</p> <p>On Friday, NASA said it has asked outside atmospheric scientists for their opinion on whether some sort of electrical discharge could have occurred as the shuttle screamed toward touchdown at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.</p>

<p>SAN FRANCISCO(AP) - Federal scientists are investigating whether electricity in the upper atmosphere might have doomed the space shuttle Columbia as it soared over California, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Friday.</p> <p>Investigators are also reviewing data recorded by a little-known network of instruments that might have detected a faint thunderclap at the same time a purplish bolt of lightning may have struck the shuttle high above Earth, the paper reported.</p>

Scientists discover global warming linked to increase in tropopause height over past two decades LIVERMORE, Calif. -- Researchers at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory have discovered another fingerprint of human effects on global climate. Recent research has shown that increases in the height of the tropopause over the past two decades are directly linked to ozone depletion and increased greenhouse gases. The tropopause is the transition zone between the lowest layer of the atmosphere -- the turbulently-mixed troposphere -- and the more stable stratosphere. The tropopause lies roughly 10 miles above the Earth's surface at the equator and five...