Dust from Alaska is particularly effective at forming ice crystals because it contains biological components, researchers believe. The finding has implications for cloud physics and our planet’s climate.
geophysics
Posted inFeatures
Cryovolcanism’s Song of Ice and Fire
Ocean moons of the outer solar system hint at ice volcanoes, hydrothermal vents, and the tantalizing chance of habitability.
Posted inNews
True North, Strong and Free—And Better Oriented
Researchers explored a method for locating true north using the polarization patterns of daylight.
Posted inFeatures
Christopher Kyba: Luck in Light Pollution
A series of serendipitous encounters shaped Kyba’s path from particle physicist to dark sky defender.
Posted inEditors' Vox
20 Years of Biogeosciences Research: Looking Back to Forge Ahead
A new special collection invites review papers to mark the 20th anniversary of the Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences with a focus on what we have learned and what is still unknown.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Zooming in on the Nucleus of Earthquake Fault Slips
Controlled arrest and re-nucleation of laboratory earthquakes reveals nucleation processes unapproachable by traditional linear elastic fracture mechanics.
Posted inENGAGE, News
Climate Change Knocks It Out of the Park
A climate curve ball: Short-term gains in home runs might soon give way to long-term problems when it gets too hot to play.
Posted inScience Updates
Envisioning a Near-Surface Geophysics Center for Convergent Science
A recent effort identified how a proposed near-surface geophysics center integrating research and teaching could address critical challenges and promote community engagement and cultural change.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Eminently Complex – Climate Science and the 2021 Nobel Prize
The 2021 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded for climate modeling and for the discovery of multifractals to describe intermittency and the scaling dynamics of climate variables, including extremes.
Posted inFeatures
Are We Entering the Golden Age of Climate Modeling?
Thanks to the advent of exascale computing, local climate forecasts may soon be a reality. And they’re not just for scientists anymore.