Current Events

  • Atmospheric CO2 Level Tops 400 ppm
    During the week of May 13th, the CO2 level at the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii topped 400 ppm rep...Read more

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    Atmospheric CO2 Level Tops 400 ppm

    During the week of May 13th, the CO2 level at the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii topped 400 ppm repeatedly. Daily levels of CO2 can vary due to weather, and there are seasonal trends as well. The level of atmospheric greenhouse gases continues to increase, now over 120 ppm since the Industrial Revolution began. For more on the Keeling Curve, see http://keelingcurve.ucsd.edu/. Find out more about greenhouse gases and warming.
  • Massive Tornado Outbreak on Tornado Alley
    The week of May 19 brings dozens of tornadoes to Tornado Alley in the states of Oklahoma, Kansas, Io...Read more

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    Massive Tornado Outbreak on Tornado Alley

    The week of May 19 brings dozens of tornadoes to Tornado Alley in the states of Oklahoma, Kansas, Iowa, Illinois and Missouri. On May 20th, a massive tornado struck Moore, Oklahoma, devastating communities - destroying over 100 homes and hitting two elementary schools and a hospital - with many casualties and deaths. Our thoughts are with our friends and colleagues suffering from these storms. For more on the May 20th storms, see the NOAA Storm Prediction Center Storm Report.
  • 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.

Water

Water is found in many places on Earth including on the surface of the planet, within rocks below the surface, and in the atmosphere.  Water travels between different areas of the Earth through the water cycle. About 70% of the Earth surface is covered with water, and most of that is the ocean. Only a small portion of the Earth's water is freshwater, which is found in rivers, lakes, and groundwater. Freshwater is needed for drinking, farming, and washing. In addition to liquid water, water is also present on Earth in the form of ice. Without water, life as we know it would not exist.

This beautiful sunset was captured off the coast of Chile in October, 2009.  Earth's ocean covers more than 70% of our planet's surface.  <a href="/earth/Water/ocean_motion.html">Ocean water is always moving</a>. It moves around by <a href="/earth/Water/ocean_currents.html">surface ocean currents</a>, <a href="/earth/Water/ocean_upwelling.html">upwelling</a>, <a href="/earth/Water/ocean_tides.html">tides</a>, and the <a href="/earth/Water/circulation1.html">global ocean conveyor</a> or <a href="/earth/Water/circulation1.html">thermohaline circulation</a>. The ocean's tides are one type of tide created by <a href="/glossary/tidal_forces.html">gravitational force</a>.<p><small><em>Image courtesy of Carlye Calvin</em></small></p>Two large warm water eddies are swirling to the north of the <a href="/earth/Water/gulf_stream.html">Gulf Stream current</a> in this satellite image recorded with the AVHRR sensor (Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer) aboard a NOAA satellite on June 11, 1997. Blue colors indicate cooler water, while yellow and orange colors indicate warmer water.<p><small><em>Courtesy of the Ocean Remote Sensing Group, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory</em></small></p>The <a href="/earth/Water/ocean.html">oceans</a> are full of <a href="/earth/Life/life1.html">life</a>. Anthias are small, peaceful reef fish, and are a significant fraction of the colorful fishes seen in <a href="/earth/climate/coral_change.html">coral reef</a> areas.  They occur in all tropical <a href="/earth/Water/ocean.html">oceans</a> and seas of the world, and feed mainly on <a href="/earth/Life/plankton.html">zooplankton</a>. <p><small><em>Image courtesy of Corel Photography</em></small></p>Hydrothermal vents in the deep ocean are located at tectonic <a href="/earth/interior/seafloor_spreading.html">spreading ridges</a>. While most of the water in the deep ocean is close to freezing, the water at hydrothermal vents is very hot and laden with chemicals.  In this <a href="/earth/extreme_environments.html">extreme environment</a>, certain species of <a href="/earth/Life/archaea.html">Archaea</a> and <a href="/earth/Life/classification_eubacteria.html">Eubacteria</a> thrive, enabling a unique <a href="/earth/Water/life_deep.html">food chain</a> including fish, shrimp, giant tubeworms, mussels, crabs, and clams.<p><small><em> Courtesy of NASA</em></small></p>This image is a montage of high resolutions photographs of the Earth taken in January 2012 by the Visible/Infrared Imager Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) instrument on the Suomi NPP satellite. The image shows many stunning details of <a href="http://www.windows2universe.org/earth/earth.html">our home planet</a> - <a href="http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/gallery/VIIRS_4Jan2012.jpg">particularly at high resolution</a>. The beauty of our planet is obvious from space - our blue <a href="http://www.windows2universe.org/earth/Water/overview.html">waters</a>, our white <a href="http://www.windows2universe.org/earth/Atmosphere/cloud.html">clouds</a>, and the green from <a href="http://www.windows2universe.org/earth/Life/life.html">life</a> abundant at the surface.<p><small><em>Image courtesy of NASA</em></small></p>This first global map of <a href="http://www.windows2universe.org/earth/Water/ocean.html">ocean</a> surface saltiness, released in September 2012 by the NASA Aquarius mission team, shows the distribution of salt in the first 2 cm of the Earth's ocean. <a href="http://www.windows2universe.org/earth/Water/salinity.html">Salinity</a> variations are one of the main drivers of <a href="http://www.windows2universe.org/earth/Water/circulation1.html">ocean circulation</a>, and are closely connected with the <a href="http://www.windows2universe.org/earth/Water/water_cycle.html">cycling of freshwater</a> around the planet. High salinity is seen in the Mediterranean, Atlantic, and the Arabian Sea.<p><small><em>Image courtesy of NASA/GSFC/JPL-Caltech</em></small></p>

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Explore Water

The Ocean

Earth's ocean covers more than 70% of our planet's surface. There are five major ocean basins. ...Read more

Rivers and Other Freshwater

Rivers are very important to Earth because they are major forces that shape the landscape. ...Read more

Groundwater

Most of the water we are aware of is in ponds, rivers, oceans, streams, lakes, puddles, and ...Read more

Ice: Frozen Water

The cryosphere includes the parts of the Earth system where water is in its frozen (solid) ...Read more

Our Changing Planet

When we look around us, we can see that our planet's climate is changing rapidly. The National ...Read more

Clouds: Water in the Sky

Clouds can come in all sizes and shapes, and can form near the ground or high in the atmosphere. ...Read more

The Water Cycle

Water is always on the move. Rain falling where you live may have been water in the ocean just ...Read more

Life in the Ocean

The ocean holds the largest of all biomes on Earth. It covers 70% of the planet’s surface. ...Read more

Ocean Chemistry

Earth's oceans are, of course, full of water. That water is not, however, simply pure H2O. ...Read more

Water News

Read about current science, happenings and discoveries related to water on Earth! ...Read more

Water Images

Access wonderful captioned photos and illustrations that will inspire and excite you. ...Read more

More about Water

Historical Events

5/24 Nicholas Copernicus, a Polish astronomer, died on this date in 1543 Details
5/30 7.5 magnitude quake hits Quetta, Pakistan in 1935
5/31 7.9 magnitude earthquake hits Peru in 1970

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Did you know?

Did you know that the lights of the aurora come in different colors, depending on the energy of the particles that produce the aurora?

Did you know that there are many different names for the full Moon?

 

Earth and Space Science Concept of the Day

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Magnetic polarity reversal
xMagnetic polarity reversal : A magnetic polarity reversal is a change of the earth's magnetic field to the opposite polarity. This has occurred at irregular intervals during geologic time.

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Research Highlights

Silver Tells a Story of Early Earth: Water Here Since Planet's Very Early Days

Tiny variations in the isotopic composition of silver in meteorites and Earth rocks are helping scientists put together a timetable of how our planet was assembled, beginning 4.568 billion years ago. Results...Read more

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The Spring 2011 issue of The Earth Scientist is focused on modernizing seismology education. Thanks to IRIS, you can download this issue for free as a pdf. Print copies are available in our online store.

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