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.

Myths Related to Aspects of the Earth

Early civilizations had many myths about gods and goddesses associated with what they experienced in their daily lives at the surface of the Earth. This section provides a glimpse of myths associated with aspects of Earth - storms, precipitation, lightning and thunder, winds, clouds, rainbows, water and the seas, aurora, volcanoes and the underworld - which early civilizations used to help understand the sometimes frightening world around them.
<a href="/mythology/tlaloc_rain.html&edu=elem">Tlaloc</a> was an important deity of <a href="/earth/Atmosphere/precipitation/rain.html&edu=elem">rain</a> and fertility of the Aztec mythology, associated with caves, springs, and mountains. Tlaloc was depicted as a man wearing a net of <a href="/earth/Atmosphere/cloud.html&edu=elem">clouds</a>, a crown of heron feathers, foam sandals and carrying rattles to make thunder. While he was thought to sustain life, he was also feared for sending <a href="/earth/Atmosphere/precipitation/hail.html&edu=elem">hail</a>, <a href="/earth/Atmosphere/tstorm/tstorm_lightning.html&edu=elem">thunder and lightning</a>. This image shows Tlaloc on a multicolor ceramic vessel from the Great Temple of Tenochtitlan.<p><small><em>Image courtesy of the Museo del Templo Mayor, Mexico.</em></small></p>

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Explore Myths Related to Aspects of the Earth

Norse: Freya

Norse mythology associates the aurora with the beautiful goddess, Freya, daughter of Njord ...Read more

Norse: Valkiries

In Norse mythology, it is believed that the northern lights (the aurora) were light reflected ...Read more

Chinese: Pan-ku

Chinese people thought the universe had the shape of a chicken's egg. After 18,000 years. the ...Read more

Pawnee: Tirawa

According to the Pawnee, the world was created by the god Tirawa. Tirawa sent the stars to ...Read more

Greek: Pan

Pan is the Greek god protector of shepherds and their flocks. He has horns and legs of a goat, ...Read more

Roman: Faunus

Faunus was a Roman pastoral god. The Romans identified him with the Greek god Pan . Like Pan, ...Read more

African: Shango

Shango was the king of the Oyo kingdom in West Africa. This was where the Yoruba people lived ...Read more

Japanese: Susanowo

According to the ancient Japanese religion Shinto, Susanowo was the god of the sea and the ...Read more

Aztec: Tlaloc

Tlaloc was an important deity of rain and fertility of the Aztec mythology. Aztec people were ...Read more

Navajo: Tonenili

Tonenili is the Navaho God of Water.  He is also called the Water Sprinkler because he sprinkles ...Read more

More about Myths Related to Aspects of the Earth

Historical Events

5/22 ~7.9 magnitude earthquake hits near Xining, Tsinghai, China in 1927
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

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Did you know?

Did you know that the Celtic Sun god, Lugh, threw a magic stone that killed Balor, the god of the underworld?

Do you know what the Greek goddess, Persephone, has to do with the seasons and the underworld?

 

Earth and Space Science Concept of the Day

Do you know what this word or phrase means?

S-wave
xS-wave : An s-wave (for shear wave) is a seismic body wave that shakes the ground back and forth perpendicular to the direction the wave is moving

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Research Highlights

Deadly Tonga Earthquake Revealed as Three Big Quakes

Geologists have learned that a large earthquake and tsunami that killed 192 people on September 29, 2009 in Samoa, American Samoa and Tonga was in fact a triple-whammy. The magnitude 8.1 "great earthquake"...Read more

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