While some Earth-like worlds can generate significant O2 only by biology, “waterworlds” and “desert worlds” can build up O2 even without life because of chemical changes from atmosphere loss to space.
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A Space Hurricane Spotted Above the Polar Cap
Researchers have identified a high-latitude phenomenon that looks remarkably like a tropospheric hurricane, with spinning arms of plasma and a shower of electrons.
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After the Dust Cleared: New Clue on Mars’ Recurring Slope Lineae
An imaging campaign after the 2018 planet-encircling dust storm on Mars revealed a significant increase in detections of enigmatic recurring slope lineae and new insights into how they might form.
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Arctic Lightning Up 300% in One 11-Year Study
The increase may be due to climate change, researchers suggest, but the trend hasn’t been observed in other lightning data sets.
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Flying Saucers Could One Day Probe the Mesosphere
Researchers have created thin, levitating disks that could be used to study the mesosphere, a layer of Earth’s atmosphere that’s difficult to reach with conventional flyers.
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Improving the Global Budget for Atmospheric Methanol
New aircraft survey data show that although atmospheric chemistry above remote ocean regions is a considerable source of methanol production, the ocean’s net methanol emission is minor.
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A Dip in Atmospheric Carbon May Have Facilitated Dinosaur Dispersal
Herbivorous dinosaurs migrated north across Pangea beginning about 214 million years ago, coincident with a downturn in atmospheric carbon dioxide levels.
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Rocket Mission Conjures a Ghostly Noctilucent Cloud
Night-shining clouds can be diagnostic tools to better understand how human activity is changing the meteorology of the mesosphere.
Posted inScience Updates
Improving Models for Solar Climate Intervention Research
Modern climate models were designed to simulate natural systems and changes mainly due to atmospheric carbon dioxide, rather than to predict effects of deliberate climate interventions.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Atmospheric Turbulence May Promote Cloud Droplet Formation
Turbulence causes local variations in relative humidity, which can push particles past a critical saturation threshold for droplet nucleation.