Atmosphere News

November 25, 2024

Top Headlines

Improving Hurricane Modeling With Physics-Informed Machine Learning

Nov. 19, 2024 — Researchers employ machine learning to more accurately model the boundary layer wind field of tropical cyclones. Conventional approaches to storm forecasting involve large numerical simulations run on supercomputers incorporating mountains of ...

Microplastics Impact Cloud Formation, Likely Affecting Weather and Climate

Nov. 7, 2024 — Scientists have spotted microplastics, tiny pieces of plastic smaller than 5 millimeters, in some of the most pristine environments on Earth, from the depths of the Mariana Trench to the snow on Mt. Everest to the mountaintop clouds of China and ...

Nanoparticle Bursts Over the Amazon Rainforest

Nov. 8, 2024 — Atmospheric aerosol particles are essential for the formation of clouds and precipitation, thereby influencing the Earth's energy budget, water cycle, and climate. However, the origin of aerosol particles in pristine air over the Amazon rainforest ...

How Life Began on Earth: Modeling Earth's Ancient Atmosphere

Oct. 31, 2024 — This model reveals how vastly different the atmosphere was on ancient Earth, and how life may have first ...

Latest Headlines

updated 4:21pm EST

Dinosaurs Thrived After Ice, Not Fire, Says a New Study of Ancient Volcanism

Oct. 28, 2024 — The Triassic-Jurassic Extinction, 201.6 million years ago, has been considered by some to have been a fairly slow-burn event, driven by rising ...

Watershed Moment: Engineers Invent High-Yield Atmospheric Water Capture Device for Arid Regions

Oct. 25, 2024 — As a megadrought stresses the water supply throughout the Southwest, revolutionary research is answering this problem with a groundbreaking ...

Weather-Changing El Nino Oscillation Is at Least 250 Million Years Old

Oct. 21, 2024 — A new modeling study shows that the El Nino event, a huge blob of warm ocean water in the tropical Pacific Ocean that can change rainfall patterns around the globe, was present at least 250 million ...

Microbes Drove Methane Growth Between 2020 and 2022, Not Fossil Fuels

Oct. 21, 2024 — Microorganisms growing in landfills, on agricultural land and in wetlands are contributing to skyrocketing levels of atmospheric methane, a potent greenhouse gas, according to new ...

Research Improves Hurricane Intensity Forecasting

Oct. 17, 2024 — A collaboration between is improving hurricane forecasting by incorporating the effects of sea spray into the models that predict hurricane ...

Microplastics Detected in Dolphin Breath

Oct. 17, 2024 — U.S. researchers have detected microplastic particles in air exhaled by wild bottlenose dolphins, suggesting that inhalation may be a relevant route of exposure to these potentially harmful ...

Plastic Pollution Harms Bees, Review Finds

Oct. 16, 2024 — A new review systematically shows the harmful effects of nano- and microplastics on bees and other beneficial insects. Their function as pollinators is impaired by the plastic particles. This harbors ...

NASA, NOAA: Sun Reaches Maximum Phase in 11-Year Solar Cycle

Oct. 15, 2024 — Experts have announced that the Sun has reached its solar maximum period, which could continue for the next year. Scientists will not be able to determine the exact peak of this solar maximum period ...

Snowflake Dance Analysis Could Improve Rain Forecasts

Oct. 9, 2024 — Research observing the physical motion of falling ice crystals could help scientists better estimate where and when these crystals will melt into ...

Lightning Strikes Kick Off a Game of Electron Pinball in Space

Oct. 10, 2024 — When lightning cracks on Earth, especially high-energy electrons may fall out of Earth's inner radiation belt, according to a new study -- an electron 'rain' that could threaten satellites, and even ...

Hurricane Helene's Gravity Waves Revealed by NASA's AWE

Nov. 7, 2024 — On Sept. 26, 2024, Hurricane Helene slammed into the Gulf Coast of Florida, inducing storm surges and widespread impacts on communities in its path. At the same time, NASA's Atmospheric Waves ...

Optimal Standing Positions and Ventilation in Airport Smoking Lounges

Oct. 29, 2024 — New research shows that not all standing positions in airport smoking lounges are created equal. Scientists found that the thermal environment and positioning of smokers influences how particles ...

It Could Take Over 40 Years for PFAS to Leave Groundwater

Oct. 10, 2024 — Per- and polyfluoroalkyl chemicals, known commonly as PFAS, could take over 40 years to flush out of contaminated ...

A New Era of Solar Observation

Oct. 3, 2024 — For the first time, scientists have taken near-daily measurements of the Sun's global coronal magnetic field, a region of the Sun that has only been observed irregularly in the past. The ...

Most Tropical Lightning Storms Are Radioactive

Oct. 2, 2024 — Researchers have known for several decades that thunderstorms can act as miniature particle accelerators that produce antimatter, gamma rays and other nuclear phenomena. But they did not know how ...

Using Antimatter to Detect Nuclear Radiation

Oct. 1, 2024 — Discerning whether a nuclear reactor is being used to also create material for nuclear weapons is difficult, but capturing and analyzing antimatter particles has shown promise for monitoring what ...

Harvests, Wildfires, Epidemics: How the Jet Stream Has Shaped Extreme Weather in Europe for Centuries

Sep. 25, 2024 — Tree-ring data reveal that periodic shifts in strong winds high above the Earth's surface have driven opposite climates in different parts of Europe for the past 700 years and likely much ...

Atmospheric Methane Increase During Pandemic Due Primarily to Wetland Flooding

Sep. 24, 2024 — A new analysis of satellite data finds that the record surge in atmospheric methane emissions from 2020 to 2022 was driven by increased inundation and water storage in wetlands, combined with a ...

Abrupt Intensification of Northern Wildfires Due to Future Permafrost Thawing

Sep. 24, 2024 — Climate scientists and permafrost experts show that, according to new climate computer model simulations, global warming will accelerate permafrost thawing and as a result lead to an abrupt ...

Atmospheric Blocking Slows Ocean-Driven Melting of Greenland's Largest Glacier Tongue

Sep. 24, 2024 — Northeast Greenland is home to the 79 N Glacier -- the country's largest floating glacier tongue, but also one seriously threatened by global warming: warm water from the Atlantic is melting it ...

Explaining Dramatic Planet-Wide Changes After World's Last 'Snowball Earth' Event

Sep. 18, 2024 — Some of the most dramatic climatic events in our planet's history are 'Snowball Earth' events that happened hundreds of millions of years ago, when almost the entire planet was encased ...

Pollen Affects Cloud Formation and Precipitation Patterns

Sep. 17, 2024 — Pollen not only plays a role in allergies, but also influences the local weather. Especially in spring, when large amounts are released, it contributes to the formation of ice in clouds, which can ...

Beneath the Brushstrokes, Van Gogh's Sky Is Alive With Real-World Physics

Sep. 17, 2024 — Van Gogh's brushstrokes in 'The Starry Night' create an illusion of sky movement so convincing it led researchers to wonder how closely it aligns with the physics of real skies. Marine ...

EarthCARE's Lidar Shows Particles in the Atmosphere in Detail

Sep. 16, 2024 — The atmospheric lidar ATLID, the last of four instruments on board the EarthCARE satellite launched in May, has now been successfully put into operation. The mission is designed to measure clouds, ...

Exceptional Warm Air Intrusions and Omnipresent Aerosol Layers in the Stratosphere

Sep. 13, 2024 — Extremely clean air on the ground, warm air intrusions and sulphate aerosol at high altitudes -- a research project has gained new insights into clouds in ...

Ozone Pollution Reduces Tropical Forest Growth

Sep. 12, 2024 — Ozone gas is reducing the growth of tropical forests -- leaving an estimated 290 million tons of carbon uncaptured each year, new research ...

One of World's Fastest Ocean Currents Is Remarkably Stable, Study Finds

Sep. 11, 2024 — Scientists found that the strength of the Florida Current, the beginning of the Gulf Stream system and a key component of the global Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, or AMOC, has remained ...

Breakthrough Insights Into Carbon Dioxide Absorption Using Cement-Based Materials

Sep. 9, 2024 — Cement-based materials provide a potential solution for mitigating climate change by trapping and storing atmospheric carbon dioxide as minerals, via a process known as carbonation. Despite extensive ...

Just How Dangerous Is Great Salt Lake Dust? New Research Looks for Clues

Sep. 6, 2024 — Scientists determine sediments from the lake's growing exposed playa have elevated 'oxidative potential,' indicating greater risk to human health compared with sediments from other ...

Scientists Uncover Hidden Source of Snow Melt: Dark Brown Carbon

Sep. 4, 2024 — Researchers have quantified the effect of dark brown carbon on snow ...