News by Subject Earth Science

Certain types of bacteria and viruses are readily ejected into the atmosphere when waves break; others less so, researchers reported May 22. A team of chemists, oceanographers, microbiologists, geneticists, and pediatric medicine specialists are attempting to understand how far potentially infectious bacteria and viruses can travel and if those that pose the greatest risks to public health are among those most likely to escape the ocean.

Last September, a massive new region of magnetic field erupted on the Sun's surface next to an existing sunspot. The powerful collision of magnetic fields produced a series of potent solar flares, causing turbulent space weather conditions at Earth. These were the first flares to be captured, in their moment-by-moment progression, by New Jersey Institute of Technology's (NJIT) recently expanded Owens Valley Solar Array (EOVSA).

Vanderbilt and University of Illinois researchers used archaeological excavations, geologic mapping and coring, and radiocarbon dating to identify how Native Americans built and inhabited the Grand Caillou mound near Dulac, La.

Ancient rainfall records stretching 550,000 years into the past may upend scientists' understanding of what controls the Asian summer monsoon and other aspects of the Earth's long-term climate. Milankovitch theory says solar heating of the northernmost part of the globe drives the world's climate swings between ice ages and warmer periods. The new work turns Milankovitch in its head by suggesting climate is driven by differential heating of the Earth's tropical and subtropical regions.

Without careful management, distributed energy resources have the potential to cause unreliable power delivery, or even outages, and lead utility companies to overcharge customers. A new index will help ISOs and utilities account for uncertainties introduced by both the electricity market and DERs so utility companies can balance the distribution grid and find the fairest customer rates.

Why it's important to study the deep similarities, and the critical differences, between humans and the apes to seek an anthropological and evolutionary explanation.

Tropical Cyclone Mekunu, the second tropical cyclone in less than a week, formed in the western Arabian Sea early on May 22, 2018 and is moving toward a landfall in Oman. NASA satellites provided an infrared, night-time and precipitation analysis of the storm.

Ecologists have no doubt that climate change will affect the earth's animals and plants. But how exactly? This is often hard to predict. There are already indications that some species are shifting their distribution range. But it is much less clear how individual animals and populations are responding to the changes. Scientists at the UFZ have been studying nocturnal desert geckos to see how they are adapting to climatic changes.

Magma steadily emerges between oceanic plates. It pushes the plates apart, builds large underwater mountains and forms new seafloor. This is one of the fundamental processes that constantly change the face of the Earth. But there are also times when new seabed is created without any volcanism, by un-roofing mantle material directly at the seafloor. Scientists led by GEOMAR, Germany have published the first estimation based on seismic data on how much seafloor is produced this way.

A material with atomically thin layers of water holds promise for energy storage technologies, and researchers have now discovered that the water is performing a different role than anyone anticipated. The finding was possible due to a new atomic force microscopy method that measures the sub-nanoscale deformation rate in the material in response to changes in the material caused by energy storage.