Planet Earth, features and articles | Educational Science

Mar 31, 2005

Salmon of Small Stature Endowed with Mating Advantage

Picture the wee little salmon. Choosing not to go to sea, he's waited for a mate for what seems like a lifetime in a streambed in the mountains of Idaho. Months and months go by, perhaps years. Finally she arrives, and she's a whopping 20 pounds. He, having stayed behind,...

Mar 31, 2005

Antarctic Glaciers Melting Rapidly

A new study of glaciers in a portion of the Antarctic finds 84 percent of them have retreated over the past 50 years in response to a warmer climate. The work was based on 2,000 aerial photos, some taken in the 1940s, and satellite images. The climate in the region...

Mar 31, 2005

Crumbled Tombstones Lead to New View of 1906 Earthquake

The great San Francisco earthquake of 1906 was the deadliest in U.S. history. A new map of the event, based in part on crumbled tombstones, shows in detail the extent of ground rumbling and provides lessons for future events. On the morning of April 18, 1906, an earthquake of approximate...

Mar 31, 2005

Warning: Dangerous U.S. Volcanoes Not Properly Monitored

Dangerous volcanoes in six states are not adequately monitored, U.S. Geological Survey officials said Friday. The agency called for a new nationwide warning system. Geologists conducted a new survey of the 169 known U.S. volcanoes and ranked them according to their threat to human life, property and aviation safety. Alaska,...

Feb 28, 2005

Rumbling Alaskan Volcano Prompts Warning

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) -- Volcanic rumblings at Mount Spurr are creating hazardous conditions for extreme skiers, snowboarders and pilots landing in the area, the Alaska Volcano Observatory said Friday. Possible dangers include unstable snow and ice, higher concentrations of potentially lethal gases and acidic water that could be strong enough...

Feb 28, 2005

Earth's Lightning Zaps Space, Too

Updated 6:00 p.m. ET Lightning not only zaps the Earth, but it affects our local space environment with flashes from both ends of the electromagnetic spectrum - radio waves and gamma rays, new research shows. We see lightning in the visible, but that's not the only frequency that is emitted...

Feb 28, 2005

Weather So Perfect It's Strange

With extreme weather and a shifty climate constantly in the news, a little moderation might seem strange. Take last year's weather in the Midwest: It was so perfect, it was unlike anything seen in more than a century. Goldilocks weather conditions -- not too cloudy, not too hot, just enough...

Feb 28, 2005

Silver Contaminates 'Pristine' North Pacific

A survey announced today found the highest levels of silver contamination ever observed in the ocean. The high concentrations are in the North Pacific, a region thought to be relatively pristine, scientists said. The extent of contamination -- 50 times higher than the natural level of silver that should be...

Feb 28, 2005

No Stopping it Now: Seas to Rise 4 Inches or More this Century

Even if all industrial pollution and auto emissions suddenly ceased today, Earth's climate will warm at least 1 degree by the year 2100 and seas will rise 4 inches (11 centimeters), according to a new study. The warming is likely to continue through 2400, another study forecasts. The worst-case scenario...

Feb 28, 2005

World's Largest Floating Object Free Again

An iceberg the size of Luxembourg is adrift again after running aground two months ago, when it blocked sea ice in Antarctica and threatened wildlife. In January the giant frozen block was on a collision course with the Drygalski ice tongue in McMurdo Sound on the Ross Sea. But it...

Feb 28, 2005

New Volcano Threat: Just When You Think It's Safe ...

When a volcano blows and you think you're safe by the sea after the main event subsides, watch your back. That's the message in a new study of an eruption in the Caribbean. The research confirmed what scientists had expected, and the scenario is a bit frightening. The Soufriere Hills...

Feb 28, 2005

Mystery Behind Monday's 'Great' Earthquake

Monday's 8.7-magnitude earthquake off the coast of Sumatra apparently did not generate a significant tsunami, despite originating in the same area as the Dec. 26 earthquake that unleashed towering killer waves across the Indian Ocean. The reason remains a mystery for now. This new event is very significant - what...

Jan 31, 2005

Hawaii Lava Splashes into the Sea

Earlier this week, the Kilauea volcano began dripping molten rock into the Pacific at two new sites in Hawaii National Park. One of the new spots is about a mile and a half from a ranger station. Park visitors are being treated to a spectacle as the flows, at 2,100...

Jan 31, 2005

U.S. Exports Pollution to Europe

On Nov. 14, 2001, a low-pressure system caused a large mass of air huddled over the eastern half of the United States to rise up several miles, where it was then carried by the jet stream to Europe. This plume brought with it carbon monoxide, ozone, and other pollutants from...

Jan 31, 2005

New Large Iceberg Breaks off Antarctica

A new iceberg about twice the size of Dallas broke off an Antarctic ice shelf, scientists said Friday. The event is the latest in a series of breakups of the Larsen B ice shelf, which until recent years had endured several millennia without such major change. The breakup has coincided...