Planet Earth, features and articles | Educational Science

Nov 30, 2010

Meltwater Could Paradoxically Slow Glacier Flow

It is well established that the glaciers that flow from Greenland's massive ice sheet like rivers of ice are, in some cases, sliding toward the sea much more quickly than they did in the past. Many scientists have suspected that global warming was behind the speed-up in the process, and...

Nov 30, 2010

Braided Rivers Flow Through Northern Italy

Three of northeastern Italy's rivers, the Cellina, Meduna and Tagliamento can be seen in this image taken on Sept. 21 by NASA's Landsat 5 satellite, as they flow toward the Adriatic Sea. The gravel-coated riverbeds contrast sharply with the surrounding landscape, highlighting the river contours. The rivers are fed by...

Nov 30, 2010

Our Daily Planet: Yellowstone Opens and San Francisco's Fragile Bay

Each weekday morning, OurAmazingPlanet takes the pulse of the Earth, reporting on natural phenomena and exploration news from around the globe. Fragile Bay: Four years into a big push to revive the damaged San Francisco Bay Delta, the West Coast's largest estuary, the project is in just as bad a...

Nov 30, 2010

Puzzle of Antarctic Ice Melt Solved

Researchers have finally found an answer to a question they have been asking for years: Recent data and satellite information have indicated what has been driving the rapid loss of ice in Western Antarctica. Glaciologists from the University of Colorado at Boulder and NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland...

Nov 30, 2010

Upgraded Sub Could Reach 98 Percent of Ocean Deep

SAN FRANCISCO A U.S. Navy-owned submarine that located a lost hydrogen bomb and scouted the wreck of the Titanic is getting a $40 million makeover to go deeper than ever before. But first things first: Some interior redecorating will allow the submarine's occupants to observe deep sea life without holding...

Nov 30, 2010

Fake Landslides May Help Understand Natural Ones

Using artificial landslides created in a giant outdoor laboratory, scientists have uncovered key details on how these disasters happen — research that could help them improve forecasts of landslides' size and impact. Many landslides are triggered when intense rainfall or snowmelt loosens steep, debris-laden slopes. As the torrentssurge downward, they...

Nov 30, 2010

Most Amazing Images of Earth from 2010

Aei Album Earth From Moon (Image credit: NASA/Goddard/Arizona State University)Planet Earth is a place of astounding beauty, from the depths of its oceans, to the edges of its atmosphere. Here, we take a look back at 2010 through the amazing images of our home planet captured during the year from...

Nov 30, 2010

Our Daily Planet: Southern California's Polluted Water and National Zoo Pandas

Each weekday morning, OurAmazingPlanet takes the pulse of the Earth, reporting on natural phenomena and exploration news from around the globe. California Storms: As Southern California recovers from recent brutal storms, residents now face polluted water and a high risk of mudslides. [Related: Pineapple Express Slams Southern California .] National...

Nov 30, 2010

EPA to Regulate Greenhouse Gas Emissions

With efforts to slash greenhouse gas emissions via legislation stalled in Congress, the Obama Administration is now pushing to get the job done with unilateral regulation. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced last night (Dec. 23) that it would move to curb the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of power plants...

Nov 30, 2010

Snowstorm from Space: Satellite Image of the Blizzard

The great blizzard of December 2010 is winding down today (Dec. 27), and a new satellite image shows the powerful storm from space. The powerful low-pressure system brought blizzard conditions from northern New Jersey to Maine over Christmas weekend. The GOES-13 satellite captured an image of the storm's center off...

Nov 30, 2010

Our Daily Planet: Indiana Earthquake and Polar Bear Spy Cams

Each weekday morning, OurAmazingPlanet takes the pulse of the Earth, reporting on natural phenomena and exploration news from around the globe. Indiana Earthquake: A magnitude-4.2 earthquake struck Indiana this morning, according to the USGS. Population 7 Billion: Our amazing planet will be populated by 7 billion people sometime in 2011....

Nov 30, 2010

Earth, a Snapshot: The World on the Eve of 2011

On the morning of Dec. 30, 2010, a satellite captured this stunning portrait of our planet. The serene, full-disk image of North and South America and their surrounding oceans belies the tumultuous events this hemisphere has seen over the last year devastating earthquakes in Haiti and Chile, a massive break...

Oct 31, 2010

Mexican Volcano Erupts Constantly

Popocatépetl Volcano one of North America's most active volcanoes has been erupting since January 2005. The volcano, which towers over central Mexico, vents almost constantly from fumaroles, openings in the Earth's crust that emit steam or gases. This low-level background is punctuated by minor steam, gas, and ash emissions ....

Oct 31, 2010

Indonesia Eruption: Why Are Volcanic Plumes So Dangerous?

After a lull in activity, Mount Merapi in Indonesia sent a giant ash cloud barreling down its slope on Sunday (Oct. 31). Indonesian government officials continue to warn that the volcano is still dangerously active, and that nearby villages should continue to stay evacuated. The showers of pale ash spewed...

Oct 31, 2010

Volcanic Eruptions Alter Rainfall Across Broad Swath of Planet

Powerful volcanic eruptions are capable of changing rainfall patterns over large portions of the Earth, soaking some areas while depriving others of essential rain, according to newly emerging data. Tree-ring researchers at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory showed that big eruptions tend to dry up much of central Asia but...