Seventy-five years ago next week, a massive geomagnetic storm disrupted electrical power, interrupted radio broadcasts, and illuminated the night sky in a World War II battle theater.
Hazards & Disasters
Posted inResearch Spotlights
How Vague Historical Writings Help Scientists Predict Floods
By including imprecise historical written records in their calculations, researchers were able to decrease uncertainty in estimations of future flood frequency.
Posted inEditors' Vox
Volcanic Java and Climate Change
An account of a geophysicist's recent trip to Indonesia wouldn't be complete without intrigue and elucidations about what Java, climate change, and Butch Cassidy all have in common.
Posted inFeatures
Sargassum Watch Warns of Incoming Seaweed
The Sargassum Watch System processes satellite data and feeds results to a Web portal, giving decision makers timely information on seaweed location and warnings for potential beaching events.
Posted inNews
New Flood Model Offers National Streamflow Coverage
The model, released by the National Weather Service, will provide neighborhood-level flood forecasting.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Forecasting Space Weather Like Earth Weather
Researchers find that as with terrestrial weather, ensemble forecasting—which uses several different models simultaneously—is the best way to produce accurate and precise forecasts of space weather.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Does Water Vapor from Volcanic Eruptions Cause Climate Warming?
By studying past volcanic eruptions, scientists find that the amount of water vapor reaching the stratosphere during moderately explosive eruptions may not be contributing to the greenhouse effect.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
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.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
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.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Tracking Ions at the Edge of the Atmosphere
The first results from a recently launched satellite hold promise for studying solar storms, the very top of Earth's ionosphere, and how the atmosphere is evolving.