Atmosphere News

December 21, 2024

Top Headlines

Dripstones Offer Insights Into Climate Dynamics in Europe

Dec. 20, 2024 — Investigations into precipitation patterns in eastern Central Europe since the end of the last ice age have shown that dynamic processes in atmospheric circulation, such as the North Atlantic jet stream, influence regional changes in precipitation. ...

First Results from 2021 Rocket Launch Shed Light on Aurora's Birth

Dec. 19, 2024 — Scientist have begun to reveal the particle-level processes that create the type of auroras that dance rapidly across the sky. The Kinetic-scale Energy and momentum Transport experiment -- KiNET-X -- lifted off from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in ...

Scientists Solving Meteorological Mysteries on Mars

Dec. 19, 2024 — Scientists are changing our understanding of climate and weather on Mars and providing critical insights into Earth's atmospheric processes as ...

Changes in Store for Atmospheric Rivers

Dec. 19, 2024 — Communities up and down the West Coast of the United States can expect atmospheric rivers to evolve as the climate warms. But residents in Southern California will see much different changes than residents in more northerly locations like ...

Latest Headlines

updated 9:20am EST

New Approach to Measure Ocean Memory: North Atlantic Ocean Has Nearly Two Decades Memory, Study Finds

Dec. 3, 2024 — A research team has developed new approach to measure ocean memory and found that the North Atlantic Ocean has a memory of approximately one to two ...

Aerosol Pollutants from Cooking May Last Longer in the Atmosphere

Dec. 10, 2024 — New insights into the behavior of aerosols from cooking emissions and sea spray reveal that particles may take up more water than previously thought, potentially changing how long the particles ...

Desert Ants Use the Polarity of the Geomagnetic Field for Navigation

Dec. 6, 2024 — Desert ants of the Cataglyphis nodus species use the Earth's magnetic field for spatial orientation, but rely on a different component of the field than other insects. The survey suggests that the ...

Record-Low Antarctic Sea Ice Can Be Explained and Forecast Months out by Patterns in Winds

Dec. 6, 2024 — Researchers show that the all-time record low in winter sea ice extent in 2023 can be explained by warm Southern Ocean conditions and patterns in the ...

Researchers Use Data from Citizen Scientists to Uncover the Mysteries of a Blue Low-Latitude Aurora

Dec. 5, 2024 — Colorful auroras appeared around Japan's Honshu and Hokkaido islands on May 11, 2024, sparked by an intense magnetic storm. Usually, auroras observed ...

Rainforest Emissions Linked With New Particle Formation at High Altitudes

Dec. 4, 2024 — Why are there so many newly formed aerosol particles in the upper troposphere over tropical regions such as the Amazon? Tropical forests play an important role in global climate regulation; however, ...

The Amazon Rainforest as a Cloud Machine: How Thunderstorms and Plant Transpiration Produce Condensation Nuclei

Dec. 4, 2024 — The rainforest in the Amazon basin transpires vast amounts of gaseous isoprene. Until now, it was assumed that this molecule is not transported far ...

Clay Minerals: Researchers Observe for the First Time How Sediment Particles Align During Deposition

Dec. 2, 2024 — Clay minerals are a major constituent of the earth's surface and are mainly found in the sediments of lakes, rivers and oceans. The properties of ...

Oceans Emit Sulfur and Cool the Climate More Than Previously Thought

Nov. 27, 2024 — Researchers have quantified for the first time the global emissions of a sulfur gas produced by marine life, revealing it cools the climate more than previously thought, especially over the Southern ...

Quantum Mechanism Identified as a Key to Accelerating Ocean Temperatures

Nov. 26, 2024 — Accelerating rates of heat uptake by oceans that don't fit current climate models can now be explained by quantum ...

Improving Hurricane Modeling With Physics-Informed Machine Learning

Nov. 19, 2024 — Researchers employ machine learning to more accurately model the boundary layer wind field of tropical cyclones. Conventional approaches to storm forecasting involve large numerical simulations run ...

Nanoparticle Bursts Over the Amazon Rainforest

Nov. 8, 2024 — Atmospheric aerosol particles are essential for the formation of clouds and precipitation, thereby influencing the Earth's energy budget, water cycle, and climate. However, the origin of aerosol ...

Hurricane Helene's Gravity Waves Revealed by NASA's AWE

Nov. 7, 2024 — On Sept. 26, 2024, Hurricane Helene slammed into the Gulf Coast of Florida, inducing storm surges and widespread impacts on communities in its path. At the same time, NASA's Atmospheric Waves ...

Microplastics Impact Cloud Formation, Likely Affecting Weather and Climate

Nov. 7, 2024 — Scientists have spotted microplastics, tiny pieces of plastic smaller than 5 millimeters, in some of the most pristine environments on Earth, from the depths of the Mariana Trench to the snow on Mt. ...

How Life Began on Earth: Modeling Earth's Ancient Atmosphere

Oct. 31, 2024 — This model reveals how vastly different the atmosphere was on ancient Earth, and how life may have first ...

Optimal Standing Positions and Ventilation in Airport Smoking Lounges

Oct. 29, 2024 — New research shows that not all standing positions in airport smoking lounges are created equal. Scientists found that the thermal environment and positioning of smokers influences how particles ...

Dinosaurs Thrived After Ice, Not Fire, Says a New Study of Ancient Volcanism

Oct. 29, 2024 — The Triassic-Jurassic Extinction, 201.6 million years ago, has been considered by some to have been a fairly slow-burn event, driven by rising temperatures and ocean acidification. A new study says ...

Watershed Moment: Engineers Invent High-Yield Atmospheric Water Capture Device for Arid Regions

Oct. 25, 2024 — As a megadrought stresses the water supply throughout the Southwest, revolutionary research is answering this problem with a groundbreaking technology that pulls large amounts of water from the air ...

Weather-Changing El Nino Oscillation Is at Least 250 Million Years Old

Oct. 21, 2024 — A new modeling study shows that the El Nino event, a huge blob of warm ocean water in the tropical Pacific Ocean that can change rainfall patterns around the globe, was present at least 250 million ...

Microbes Drove Methane Growth Between 2020 and 2022, Not Fossil Fuels

Oct. 21, 2024 — Microorganisms growing in landfills, on agricultural land and in wetlands are contributing to skyrocketing levels of atmospheric methane, a potent greenhouse gas, according to new ...

Research Improves Hurricane Intensity Forecasting

Oct. 17, 2024 — A collaboration between is improving hurricane forecasting by incorporating the effects of sea spray into the models that predict hurricane ...

Microplastics Detected in Dolphin Breath

Oct. 17, 2024 — U.S. researchers have detected microplastic particles in air exhaled by wild bottlenose dolphins, suggesting that inhalation may be a relevant route of exposure to these potentially harmful ...

Plastic Pollution Harms Bees, Review Finds

Oct. 16, 2024 — A new review systematically shows the harmful effects of nano- and microplastics on bees and other beneficial insects. Their function as pollinators is impaired by the plastic particles. This harbors ...

NASA, NOAA: Sun Reaches Maximum Phase in 11-Year Solar Cycle

Oct. 15, 2024 — Experts have announced that the Sun has reached its solar maximum period, which could continue for the next year. Scientists will not be able to determine the exact peak of this solar maximum period ...

It Could Take Over 40 Years for PFAS to Leave Groundwater

Oct. 10, 2024 — Per- and polyfluoroalkyl chemicals, known commonly as PFAS, could take over 40 years to flush out of contaminated ...

Lightning Strikes Kick Off a Game of Electron Pinball in Space

Oct. 10, 2024 — When lightning cracks on Earth, especially high-energy electrons may fall out of Earth's inner radiation belt, according to a new study -- an electron 'rain' that could threaten ...

Snowflake Dance Analysis Could Improve Rain Forecasts

Oct. 10, 2024 — Research observing the physical motion of falling ice crystals could help scientists better estimate where and when these crystals will melt into ...

A New Era of Solar Observation

Oct. 3, 2024 — For the first time, scientists have taken near-daily measurements of the Sun's global coronal magnetic field, a region of the Sun that has only been observed irregularly in the past. The ...

Most Tropical Lightning Storms Are Radioactive

Oct. 2, 2024 — Researchers have known for several decades that thunderstorms can act as miniature particle accelerators that produce antimatter, gamma rays and other nuclear phenomena. But they did not know how ...

Using Antimatter to Detect Nuclear Radiation

Oct. 1, 2024 — Discerning whether a nuclear reactor is being used to also create material for nuclear weapons is difficult, but capturing and analyzing antimatter particles has shown promise for monitoring what ...