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  • Irish Chronicles Document Links Between Volcanoes and Weather
    A study of over 40,000 written entries in Irish Annals and ice core measurements shows a strong corr...Read more

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    Irish Chronicles Document Links Between Volcanoes and Weather

    A study of over 40,000 written entries in Irish Annals and ice core measurements shows a strong correlation between the occurrence of volcanic eruptions and extreme cold weather in Ireland over a 1200 year period. Data analyzed in this study cover the period from 431 to 1649, during which time up to 48 volcanic eruptions are identified in Greenland ice core records through deposition of volcanic sulfate in annual layers of ice. You can find the study (open access), published on 6 June 2013 in IOP Publishing's journal Environmental Research Letters, at http://iopscience.iop.org/1748-9326/8/2/024035/article. Find out more about how volcanoes can influence climate.
  • EF-5 Tornado in El Reno, Oklahoma Widest Ever Recorded in US
    The EF-5 tornado that hit El Reno, Oklahoma on May 31st was the widest ever recorded in the US, acco...Read more

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    EF-5 Tornado in El Reno, Oklahoma Widest Ever Recorded in US

    The EF-5 tornado that hit El Reno, Oklahoma on May 31st was the widest ever recorded in the US, according to the National Weather Service in Norman Oklahoma. The tornado, which remained on the ground for 40 minutes and reached 2.6 miles across (4.2 km), took the lives of 18 people including storm chasers Tim Samaras, Paul Samaras and Carl Young. For more information on the tornado, visit http://ow.ly/i/2hfDG.
  • 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.
This is an image of the Earth, 240 M ago.
Image courtesy of the Wikipedia Commons

The Triassic

This period of time in Earth's history is a period when dinosaurs roamed the Earth. This period lasted 37 Million years. During this time, the continents we know today were combined into a giant continent named PANGAEA.

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The History of Martian Volcanism

During its earliest history, Mars was bombarded with asteroid-like boulders leftover from the formation of Mars. The impacts of these boulders caused the surface of Mars to become warm enough for continents...more

The Archean

The Archean is the name of the age which began with the forming Earth. This period of Earth's history lasted a long time, 2.8 billion years! That is more than half the expected age of the Earth! And no...more

Salts in the Earth's early ocean

We all know that today ocean waters are very salty. Two things help scientists figure out what salt may have been part of the Earth's early oceans. Since there are very little sedimentary rocks of ages...more

The Triassic

This period of time in Earth's history is a period when dinosaurs roamed the Earth. This period lasted 37 Million years. During this time, the continents we know today were combined into a giant continent...more

Earth's Primordial Atmosphere

Scientists ask many questions. One of the questions they like to ask is "Where did the atmosphere come from?" As always, scientists chip in with many different, and sometimes conflicting answers. Some...more

Earth's Early Ocean

Once the Earth began to cool, water vapor, one of the volatiles, began to condense and form an ocean. According to the Goldilocks theory, Earth is at just the right distance from the sun for the temperature...more

Iron Ore Deposits

Eventually, photosynthesis by the earliest forms of plant life (a form of life capable of feeding itself instead of feeding off of others) began to produce significant amounts of oxygen. One important...more

K-T Extinction (Why Did the Dinosaurs Go Extinct?)

Why did the dinosaurs go extinct? No one knows for sure, and scientists have come up with a number of theories to explain why the dinosaurs suddenly died out about 65 million years ago. This extinction...more

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