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  • Kansas Legislator Proposes Bill to Outlaw Sustainability Education
    A bill has been introduced in the Kansas legislature this week that would prohibit the promotion of ...Read more

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    Kansas Legislator Proposes Bill to Outlaw Sustainability Education

    A bill has been introduced in the Kansas legislature this week that would prohibit the promotion of sustainability. Here is a link to the one-page bill: http://www.kslegislature.org/li/b2013_14/measures/documents/hb2366_00_0000.pdf. See report on Bloomberg News.
  • Earth's Center Is 1,000 Degrees Hotter Than Previously Thought, Synchrotron X-Ray Experiment Shows
    Scientists have determined the temperature near the Earth’s center to be 6000 degrees Celsius, 1000 ...Read more

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    Earth's Center Is 1,000 Degrees Hotter Than Previously Thought, Synchrotron X-Ray Experiment Shows

    Scientists have determined the temperature near the Earth’s center to be 6000 degrees Celsius, 1000 degrees hotter than in a previous experiment run 20 years ago. These measurements confirm geophysical models that the temperature difference between the solid core and the mantle above, must be at least 1500 degrees to explain why the Earth has a magnetic field. For more information about this study, see the press release from the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility.
  • Ocean Volcanic Rocks Contain Samples of Recycled Crust
    Scientists have long believed that lava erupted from certain oceanic volcanoes contains materials fr...Read more

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    Ocean Volcanic Rocks Contain Samples of Recycled Crust

    Scientists have long believed that lava erupted from certain oceanic volcanoes contains materials from the early Earth’s crust. But decisive evidence for this phenomenon has proven elusive. New research from a team including Carnegie’s Erik Hauri demonstrates that oceanic volcanic rocks contain samples of recycled crust dating back to the Archean era 2.5 billion years ago. Their work is published in Nature. Oceanic crust sinks into the Earth’s mantle at so-called subduction zones, where two plates come together. Much of what happens to the crust during this journey is unknown. Model-dependent studies for how long subducted material can exist in the mantle are uncertain and evidence of very old crust returning to Earth’s surface via upwellings of magma has not been found until now. For more information about these results, see the press release from the Carnegie Institution.
This animation shows a northeaster moving up the East Coast.
Animation Courtesy of NOAA/National Climatic Data Center

Northeaster in Action

This radar image shows a northeaster that moved through the east coast of the United States on April 15-17, 2007. Several areas in the Mid-Atlantic and northeast regions were flooded because of heavy rain that fell along with strong winds. 7.6 inches (1.92 meters) of rain fell in New York City on April 15th from this northeaster. Accumulations of as much as 17 inches (43 cm) of snow fell in high elevation areas of northern New York, Vermont, and New Hampshire. This animation helps demonstrate how a northeaster builds in intensity. As the storm moves from the Atlantic Ocean onto land then to the areas of higher elevation, you can see the strong spin of the storm and the change in color from blue to yellow. A northeaster starts to weaken when it moves onto the higher terrain. The blue color represents clouds that are closer to the ground while the yellow color is colder clouds higher in the atmosphere.

This northeaster occurred during the Boston Marathon. Runners encountered a strong headwind and rain, which caused the slowest race finish since 1977. Strong winds also caused power outages from South Carolina to Maine.

Last modified August 1, 2008 by Vanessa Pearce.

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