The frequency of eruptions with a Volcanic Explosivity Index of 7 is only one or two per thousand years but we cannot afford to be complacent.
Hazards & Disasters
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Visualizing One of the Most Hazardous Formations in Nature
A network of buoys provides a first glimpse of the seafloor beneath a volatile Italian caldera.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Evidence for Gravity Tectonics After the Great Sumatra Quake
A new method that applies structural geology principles to aftershock analyses suggests that gravity-driven motion may occur during part of the seismic cycle.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
What Causes Flash Floods in the Middle East?
Researchers zero in on the large-scale meteorological processes driving extreme precipitation events in the hot, arid desert region.
Posted inNews
Pacific’s Garbage Hot Spot Holds More Plastic Debris Than Was Thought
A nonprofit that helped to collect data for the research plans to use the study’s findings to help guide it in an upcoming campaign to remove buoyant plastic trash from ocean gyres.
Posted inScience Updates
Radon Tells Unexpected Tales of Mount Etna’s Unrest
Readings from a sensor for the radioactive gas near summit craters of the Italian volcano reveal signatures of such processes as seismic rock fracturing and sloshing of groundwater and other fluids.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
New Model Simulates Faults and Folds Shaping Each Other
A new model simulates how faulting and folding deep in Earth’s crust shape the way rocks fold and cause earthquakes.
Posted inFeatures
How Sudden Stratospheric Warming Affects the Whole Atmosphere
High above Earth’s surface, air temperatures occasionally increase suddenly, producing widespread effects on weather, air chemistry, and telecommunications.
Posted inNews
Alaska Spotlights Its Health Risks from Climate Change
In the only Arctic state in the United States, Alaskans have already been affected by health repercussions of warming. More and worse lie ahead, a new state health report says.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Improving Temperature Forecasts in the Upper Atmosphere
Scientists are blending output from multi-year model runs to improve temperature forecasts in regions where satellites experience “drag,” in the hopes of avoiding future spacecraft collisions.