The Sun's plasma blasts Earth’s magnetosphere at more than a million miles per hour. The fastest pours from holes in the corona, but until recently the source of the "slow" solar wind was a mystery.
unsolved mysteries
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Mysterious "Necklace Echoes" in the Sky Explained
Scientists studying a 50–year–old mystery in the Earth's ionosphere have come up with their best explanation of it yet.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Mysterious Heavy Ion Beams Above Mars Explained
NASA's latest mission to Mars has uncovered the origins of fast-moving streams of particles high above the planet, flowing against the solar wind.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
What Causes Long-Term North Atlantic Surface Temperature Cycles?
New evidence strengthens a likely link between 20- to 40-year sea surface temperature fluctuations and varying ocean circulation patterns.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Modeling the Effects of Clouds on Climate
New research investigates how mixed-phase cloud partitioning and cloud cover compensate each other in GCMs.
Posted inNews
A Warm Day Can Trigger Rockfalls
Research on a cliff face in Yosemite National Park finds that when rockfalls happen without an obvious cause, ordinary warming in the Sun could be the culprit.
Posted inScience Updates
Great Mysteries of the Earth's Magnetotail
Workshop on Magnetotail Reconnection Onset and Dipolarization Fronts; Laurel, Maryland, 16–18 September 2015
Posted inScience Updates
How Will Sea Ice Loss Affect the Greenland Ice Sheet?
On the Puzzling Features of Greenland Ice-Core Isotopic Composition; Copenhagen, Denmark, 26–28 October 2015
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Magnetic Field Pulsations and Aurora Tightly Linked
Mysterious plasma waves from space are generating displays of aurora near Earth's poles.
Posted inNews
What Makes the Ground Suddenly Pop?
A geological feature in Michigan’s wooded Upper Peninsula has scientists scratching their heads.