ScienceDaily: Earth Science News

Why Is The Earth’s Mantle Conductive?

Researchers in France have found that the high conductivity of the Earth’s upper mantle is due to molten carbonates. They have demonstrated the very high conductivity of this form of carbon. ...

Sun's Magnetic Field May Impact Weather And Climate: Sun Cycle Can Predict Rainfall Fluctuations

The sun's magnetic field may have a significant impact on weather and climatic parameters in Australia and other countries in the northern and southern hemispheres. Droughts are related to the ...

Satellites Flying In Formation To Help Improve Understanding Of Earth

Based on the outstanding success of the first tandem mission between ERS-2 and Envisat last year, ESA has paired the two satellites together again to help improve our understanding of the planet.

ESA Tests Laser To Measure Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide

A recent ESA campaign has demonstrated how a technique using lasers could be employed to measure carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The campaign supports one of the main objectives of the candidate ...

Climate Clues In Southern Ocean: Ocean Currents Surprisingly Resistant To Intensifying Winds

The Antarctic Circumpolar Current is the current system with the largest volume transport in the world ocean. Between 40° and 60°S strong westerlies move about 140 million cubic meters of...

Rivers Are Carbon Processors, Not Inert Pipelines

Microorganisms in rivers and streams play a crucial role in the global carbon cycle that has not previously been considered. Freshwater ecologists note that our understanding of how rivers and stre...

Measuring Greenhouse Gases In Old Bottles Of Wine

In order to investigate the greenhouse gas effect in Europe, one has to measure the concentrations of CO2 from fossil fuels at different places all over the continent. This could be done with 14C t...

Volcanic Eruption Signals Simulated In Lab For First Time

For the first time, seismic signals that precede a volcanic eruption have been simulated and visualized in 3-D under controlled pressure conditions in a laboratory. The ability to conduct such simu...

Rare Mineral Can Track Ancient Climates, And Foretells Major Meltdown

By discovering the meaning of a rare mineral that can be used to track ancient climates, geologists are helping climatologists to better understand what we're probably in for over the next cent...

Why Atmospheric Pressure Peaks At 10am And 10pm In The Tropics

For over two centuries, meteorologists were puzzled by the observation that atmospheric pressure in the tropics peaks at 10 a.m. and 10 p.m. nearly every day.