A miniature radar device that scans deep below ground is being developed to identify ice deposits and even hollowed out lava tubes on the Moon to support possible human settlement.
Tag: GEOPHYSICS/GRAVITY
The anatomy of a planet
ETH researchers analyse marsquakes
Mars: Scientists determine crustal thickness
Based on the analysis of marsquakes recorded by NASA’s InSight mission, the structure of Mars’s crust has now been determined in absolute numbers for the first time. Beneath the InSight landing site, the crust is either approximately 20 or 39…
RAS launches new multi-disciplinary journal
The Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) is pleased to announce the launch of its first new journal in almost 100 years. Tentatively titled RAS Techniques and Instruments , it will cover topics in astronomy and geophysics ranging from instrumentation, data science,…
National Astronomy Meeting 2021: Media invitation
Around 850 astronomers and space scientists will gather online from 19 – 23 July, for the Royal Astronomical Society National Astronomy Meeting 2021 (NAM 2021) hosted by the University of Bath. Postponed in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the…
Physicists describe sun’s electric field
As the Parker Solar Probe ventures closer to the sun, we are learning new things about our home star. In a new study, physicists led by the University of Iowa report the first definitive measurements of the sun’s electric field,…
Solar radio signals could be used to monitor melting ice sheets
The sun provides a daunting source of electromagnetic disarray – chaotic, random energy emitted by the massive ball of gas arrives to Earth in a wide spectrum of radio frequencies. But in that randomness, Stanford researchers have discovered the makings…
Training an AI eye on the moon
A Moon-scanning method that can automatically classify important lunar features from telescope images could significantly improve the efficiency of selecting sites for exploration. There is more than meets the eye to picking a landing or exploration site on the Moon.…
Sea-level rise may worsen existing Bay Area inequities
Rather than waiting for certainty in sea-level rise projections, policymakers can plan now for future coastal flooding by addressing existing inequities among the most vulnerable communities in flood zones, according to Stanford research. Using a methodology that incorporates socioeconomic data…
Q-CTRL awarded $3.5 million grant from Australian government for space-based quantum sensors
Company to expand the development and manufacture of advanced sensors for climate data monitoring, mining, defense applications and more
Continental pirouettes
Supervolcano fed from Earth’s mantle caused crustal plates to rotate
Like a molten pancake
New model for shield volcano eruption
Changes in Earth’s orbit enabled the emergence of complex life
Scientists at the University of Southampton have discovered that changes in Earth’s orbit may have allowed complex life to emerge and thrive during the most hostile climate episode the planet has ever experienced. The researchers – working with colleagues in…
New study helps explain ‘silent earthquakes’ along New Zealand’s North Island
Seamounts offer clue to solving a tectonic puzzle
Studies add to concern about climate tipping
Tipping found in models of the Gulf Stream and North American mid-latitude wind systems add to the growing concern that anthropogenic climate change might be abrupt and irreversible
Ancient diamonds show Earth was primed for life’s explosion at least 2.7 billion years ago
A unique study of ancient diamonds has shown that the basic chemical composition of the Earth’s atmosphere which makes it suitable for life’s explosion of diversity was laid down at least 2.7 billion years ago. Volatile gases conserved in diamonds…
Crustal block tectonics offer clues to Venus’ geology, study finds
New study that includes contributions by Baylor planetary geophysicist Peter James, identifies previously unrecognized pattern of tectonic deformation on Venus
Numerical Study First to Reveal Origin of ‘Motion of the Ocean’ in the Straits of Florida
Scientists Identify Mechanisms of Instability Responsible for the Formation of Sub-mesoscale Eddies
Marine ice cliff collapse limited by ice sheet thickness
Marine-terminating glaciers may be less vulnerable to rapid and irreversible collapse than previously suggested, according to a new study, which finds that ice cliff collapse is limited by upstream thinning of the ice sheet and how quickly calved icebergs and…
EU provides 15 million euros of funding for Arctic project
The European Union will provide 15 million euros from the Horizon 2020 Programme to fund the Arctic PASSION project for the period 2021 to 2025. Under the leadership of the Alfred Wegener Institute, a consortium of 35 partners will promote…
Subsurface geophysics is key to geological carbon dioxide storage
Using unique 3D imaging technology to find a negative carbon solution
Ocean circulation is key to understanding uncertainties in climate change predictions
The accuracy of climate predictions depends crucially on how the ocean circulation of the North Atlantic is incorporated into climate models, study shows
Balanced rocks set design ground motion values for New Zealand dam
For the first time, researchers have used precariously-balanced rocks to set the formal design earthquake motions for a major existing engineered structure–the Clyde Dam, the largest concrete dam in New Zealand. Mark Stirling of the University of Otago and colleagues…
Scientists expose the cold heart of landfalling hurricanes
Using simulations, researchers uncover a key clue as to whether hurricanes will decay or re-intensify after hitting land
Pine Island Glacier’s ice shelf is ripping apart, speeding up key Antarctic glacier
For decades, the ice shelf helping to hold back one of the fastest-moving glaciers in Antarctica has gradually thinned. Analysis of satellite images reveals a more dramatic process in recent years: From 2017 to 2020, large icebergs at the ice…
Machine learning model doubles accuracy of global landslide ‘nowcasts’
Every year, landslides – the movement of rock, soil, and debris down a slope – cause thousands of deaths, billions of dollars in damages, and disruptions to roads and power lines. Because terrain, characteristics of the rocks and soil, weather,…
Study shows how permafrost releases methane in the warming Arctic
Researchers from Skoltech have designed and conducted experiments measuring gas permeability under various conditions for ice-containing sediments mimicking permafrost. Their results can be useful both in modeling and testing techniques for gas production from Arctic reservoirs and in tracing methane…
The rocky road to accurate sea-level predictions
Dirt and water under Greenland control future sea
Coalition of scientists determine cause, scope of February 2021 Uttarakhand disaster
The researchers suggest that climate change is contributing to such events happening more frequently
Physicists report definitive evidence how auroras are created
The aurora borealis, or northern lights, that fill the sky in high-latitude regions have fascinated people for thousands of years. But how they’re created, while theorized, had not been conclusively proven. In a new study, a team of physicists led…
Underground storage of carbon captured directly from air — green and economical
New study shows that geological storage of low-purity carbon dioxide mixed with oxygen and nitrogen from direct air capture is an environmentally friendly and economically viable approach to remove carbon from the atmosphere
Coastal flooding increases Bay Area traffic delays and accidents
Almost half of the world’s population currently lives in cities and that number is projected to rise significantly in the near future. This rapid urbanization is contributing to increased flood risk due to the growing concentration of people and resources…
Five million years of climate change preserved in one place
An 80-meter-thick sedimentary succession at Charyn Canyon, Kazakhstan, recorded interactions between land, atmosphere and ocean
Is Earth’s core lopsided? Strange goings-on in our planet’s interior
Model of how Earth’s inner core froze into solid iron implies it may be only 500 million years old
Using fossil plant molecules to track down the Green Sahara
New publication: Researchers explain how vegetation was possible in the desert
What causes the deep Earth’s most mysterious earthquakes?
The cause of Earth’s deepest earthquakes has been a mystery to science for more than a century, but a team of Carnegie scientists may have cracked the case.
What causes the deep Earth’s most mysterious earthquakes?
The cause of Earth’s deepest earthquakes has been a mystery to science for more than a century, but a team of scientists may have cracked the case.
Deep oceans dissolve the rocky shell of water-ice planets
What is happening deep beneath the surface of ice planets? Is there liquid water, and if so, how does it interact with the planetary rocky “seafloor”? New experiments show that on water-ice planets between the size of our Earth and…
Study reveals new details on what happened in the first microsecond of Big Bang
Researchers from University of Copenhagen have investigated what happened to a specific kind of plasma – the first matter ever to be present – during the first microsecond of Big Bang.
‘Slow slip’ earthquakes’ hidden mechanics revealed
Slow slip earthquakes, a type of slow motion tremor, have been detected at many of the world’s earthquake hotspots, including those found around the Pacific Ring of Fire, but it is unclear how they are connected to the damaging quakes…
Electromagnetic anomalies that occur before an earthquake
It has been documented over hundreds of years that various electromagnetic anomalies occur during a few weeks before the occurrence of a large earthquake. These electromagnetic anomalies are variations that appear in telluric current, geomagnetism, electromagnetic waves etc. before the…
New study shines light on hazards of Earth’s largest volcano
Researchers find that a large earthquake could set off eruption of Hawaii’s Mauna Loa volcano
UBCO researcher uses geology to help astronomers find habitable planets
Findings will help better identify Earth-like planets that could sustain life
Scientists warn: Humanity does not have effective tools to resist the tsunami
This threatens with sudden destruction of coastal cities and numerous human casualties
Local impacts from fracking the Eagle Ford
Fracking and earthquakes
Previously unrecognized tsunami hazard identified in coastal cities
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. –A new study found overlooked tsunami hazards related to undersea, near-shore strike-slip faults, especially for coastal cities adjacent to faults that traverse inland bays. Several areas around the world may fall into this category, including the San Francisco…
How do slow anomalies beneath subducting slabs affect giant megathrust earthquakes?
Earthquakes and volcanoes in subduction zones may cause great human catastrophe. Previous studies on subduction zone structure and causal mechanisms of giant megathrust earthquakes (M ≥ 9.0) have mainly focused on aspects like subducting plates and plate interfaces. In contrast,…
Researchers receive funding to help Parkinson’s patients, protect environment
BINGHAMTON, N.Y. — New grants from the State University of New York could help researchers at Binghamton University create a new therapy to provide relief to Parkinson’s patients and help locate abandoned oil and gas wells. Binghamton University researchers Christopher…
A song of ice and fiber
Sandia embarks on Arctic seafloor data project using new underwater technique
More than 5,000 tons of extraterrestrial dust fall to Earth each year
Every year, our planet encounters dust from comets and asteroids. These interplanetary dust particles pass through our atmosphere and give rise to shooting stars. Some of them reach the ground in the form of micrometeorites. An international program conducted for…