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Oct 31, 2014

New Amazon Carbon Maps May Help Limit Deforestation

The vast jungle canopy of the Amazon looks like a solid wall of green from space to the human eye. But satellites and other high tech instruments can provide a much more nuanced view right down to the household level. That might sound like something the CIA would be interested...

Oct 31, 2014

Feel the Heat: Fourth-Warmest October for U.S.

It might be chilly (OK, downright Arctic) in the middle third of the U.S. these days, but if you live there, you can warm yourself with memories of October. According to new data released Thursday, October wasn’t just a little warm, it was the fourth-warmest October for the lower 48...

Oct 31, 2014

Secrets Cracked in Yosemite's Tuolumne Meadows

The broad, grassy plain of Yosemite National Park's Tuolumne Meadows is a welcome stop for visitors driving California's steep and winding Highway 120. But the wildflower-studded field is an oddball in Yosemite's iconic landscape of deep valleys and rugged peaks. The flat valley floor is a striking contrast to the...

Oct 31, 2014

Quiet 2014 Atlantic Hurricane Season Comes to a Close

The mellow 2014 Atlantic hurricane season ends Sunday (Nov. 30), marking another year without major hurricanes hitting the Eastern United States. It has been a record-breaking nine years since a Category 3 hurricane (or stronger) made landfall along U.S. coastlines. The last was Hurricane Wilma in 2005 (Sandy was not...

Sep 30, 2014

Why Asia's Glaciers Are Mysteriously Expanding, Not Melting

Updated on Oct. 13 at 11:33 a.m. ET. Glaciers around the world are melting, retreating and even vanishing altogether. But in the mountainous Karakoram region of Asia — home to K2, the second-highest peak on Earth — the glaciers aren't melting. If anything, some are expanding. Now, scientists have found...

Sep 30, 2014

Century-Old Notebook from Legendary Antarctic Expedition Found

Hidden in ice for more than 100 years, the photography notebook of a British explorer on Captain Robert Falcon Scott's ill-fated expedition to Antarctica has been found. The book belonged to George Murray Levick, a surgeon, zoologist and photographer on Scott's 1910-1913 voyage. Levick might be best remembered for his...

Sep 30, 2014

A New Way to Form Continents

This article was originally published on The Conversation. The publication contributed this article to Live Science's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. From the 1950s until recently, we thought we had a clear idea of how continents form. Most people will have heard of plate tectonics: moving pieces on the surface...

Aug 31, 2014

Iceland Volcano Sparks New Flooding Threat

Iceland's fiery Holuhraun eruption may soon tunnel under a nearby glacier, triggering an explosive showdown between lava and ice, according to scientists monitoring the volcanic turmoil. To make space for the fresh magma feeding the eruption, rock underneath nearby Dyngjujokull glacier has cracked, forming a long depression called a rift...

Aug 31, 2014

Spectacular Auroras Light Up Alaska Skies (Photos)

The superheated particles launched from the sun after two back-to-black solar flares erupted this week have created dazzling light shows for skywatchers. Filling the skies near Cleary Summit in Fairbanks, Alaska, with their eerie green and purple-pink glow, the northern lights made for quite a sight. And Victor Chinn, a...

Aug 31, 2014

Southwest's Earthquake Spike Linked to Injection Wells

A dramatic increase in earthquakes in a small region of New Mexico and Colorado was triggered by the underground disposal of wastewater, according to a new study from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). There was a 40-fold increase in earthquakes in the area since 2001, compared to over the last...

Aug 31, 2014

NASA Space Shuttle Data Tapped to Combat Climate Change

The White House is looking to data from NASA's space shuttle program to help in the fight against climate change. At the United Nations Climate Summit in New York this week, U.S. President Barack Obama announced a suite of new initiatives to help people around the world prepare for drought,...

Aug 31, 2014

Lots o' Water! 117 Million Lakes Dot Earth, Most Accurate Survey Finds

Until now, no one knew for sure how many lakes exist on Earth. Blame geography — most of the world's lakes are in places where humans don't live, said David Seekell, an environmental scientist at Umea University in Sweden. This is something one would have assumed had been done long...

Jul 31, 2014

Dead Volcano, Dying Lake Seen from Space (Photo)

A volcano that once poked out of a salty lake in Iran now sits on the shores of the drying body of water. This extinct volcano sits by Lake Urmia, one of the largest lakes in the Middle East, according to NASA's Earth Observatory, But Lake Urmia is shrinking rapidly....

Jul 31, 2014

Supermoon Sunday: Largest Full Moon of the Year Rises

The biggest and brightest full moon of the year — a dazzling supermoon — will rise tomorrow (Aug. 10). Sunday's supermoon will be the largest of a summer trifecta, along with a full moon that lit up skies in July and another that will occur in September. However, this weekend's...

Jul 31, 2014

Faraway Earthquake Triggered Antarctica Icequakes

Antarctica's ice snapped and popped because of a major earthquake in Maule, Chile, halfway around the world, a new study reports. Antarctica has been touched by great earthquakes before. In March 2011, Japan's Tohoku tsunami tore off two Manhattan-size icebergs from the Sulzberger Ice Shelf, more than 8,000 miles (13,000...