Scientists have observed that pressure from current-seafloor encounters drives the direction of the massive Antarctic Circumpolar Current in the Southern Ocean.
Research Spotlights
Research spotlights are plain-language summaries of recent articles published in AGU’s suite of 24 journals.
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Searching for Lightning's Signature on Venus
How energetic would lightning on Venus have to be to be detected by sensors? A new model sheds light.
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What Happens to Methane That Leaks from Abandoned Wells?
Three-dimensional simulations suggest that some aquifers may be more vulnerable to contamination from leaky oil wells than others.
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Rocks in Chile Help Scientists Hunt for Life on Mars
Investigating oxalate minerals in the Atacama Desert provides a terrestrial analogue to test techniques that could be used to study the carbon cycle in the cold deserts of Mars.
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The Quest to Understand Reversals in Earth's Magnetic Field
A review of the major features of the geomagnetic reversals preserved in Earth's rock record helps to answer the question, Which data could advance our understanding of these poorly described events?
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Cold Temperatures Set Off Slow-Moving Landslides
Falling ground temperatures in the cold season are found to trigger shallow, slow-moving landslides on slopes with clayey soil.
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Minerals Hint at Liquid Groundwater, More Oxygen in Mars's Past
Manganese deposits in Gale Crater fractures are similar to Earth features that usually require flowing water and highly oxidizing conditions.
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Predicting Space Weather, Protecting Satellites
A new model predicts electron and ion fluxes at geosynchronous orbit an hour ahead of time, allowing satellite operators to protect their instruments.
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Going Against the Flow: Documenting Seasonal Current Reversal
Scientists discover the source of a coastal Korean current that reverses its flow in the summer.
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An Ancient Sea Once Separated the Pacific and Indian Oceans
Seafloor under the hypothesized East Asian Sea vanished 10 million years ago as surrounding plates swallowed it up, according to new reconstructions of plate tectonics in the Philippine Sea region.