Rain falling on bare soil can form a hard crust that prevents further infiltration. But do these crusts worsen land degradation or help to prevent it?
Research Spotlights
Research spotlights are plain-language summaries of recent articles published in AGU’s suite of 24 journals.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Improved Models of Wind Flow over Mountains
A new approach for representing areas of low-lying mountains improves the simulation of atmospheric flow over gentle topography without increasing computational requirements.
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Distant Rains Contributed to La Niña Ocean Warming Event
Unusually low salinity intensified a warm-water current off the coast of Western Australia in 2010–2011.
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Magnetic Field Pulsations and Aurora Tightly Linked
Mysterious plasma waves from space are generating displays of aurora near Earth's poles.
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New Model Predicts Big Solar Proton Storms
Forecasts of dangerous solar events could buy time for astronauts en route to the Moon or Mars.
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Illuminating the Controls of Convection
Researchers compare observations and models of air circulation over the tropics to determine if simulations capture how the environment shapes convection.
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Aerosols Make Cumulus Clouds Brighter but Shorter Lived
Computer simulations show that although adding aerosol particles to clouds can make them more reflective, the cooling effect from clouds is largely counterbalanced by a reduction in overall cloud cover.
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California Is the Driest It's Been in 2000 Years
Scientists reconstruct the paleohydrology of Tulare Lake to unravel the region's long-term drought history.
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Deep-Sea Microbes Can Leave Records of the Past
Researchers use carbon signatures within sea sediments to identify microbial activity and also to date earthquakes.
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Tracking the Fate of Antarctica's Ice
New, more accurate satellite data provide researchers with ice shelf thickness measurements that will allow for better ice loss monitoring.