Studying Climate Variability By Reconstructing 2500 Years Of Volcanic Activity

Scientists from the Desert Research Institute (DRI) and other institutions reconstructed 2500 years of volcanic activity to prove that volcanic eruptions contribute to climate variability. Gathering data from eruptions dating as far back as the Roman Era, the scientist published a study associating these with extreme shifts in the climate.

The study notes that eruptions in the tropic and high latitudes were primary contributors of climate variability. These were caused by large amounts of volcanic sulfate particles injected into the upper atmosphere which blocked incoming solar radiation from reaching the Earth's surface. The scientists also studied tree rings from long living bristlecone-pines and saw indications for extreme cooling after a large volcanic eruption. The same results were also derived from looking at ice cores from Greenland (see image above).

The study also shows that between 500 BC and 1000 AD, 15 of the 16 coldest summers followed large volcanic eruptions; four of them happening just after the largest volcanic events found in record.

Moon Sized Crystal Core Discovered Inside Earth's Inner Core

Scientists have discovered an additional core inside the Earth's inner core. The team published their discovery in the journal Nature Geoscience.

Using seismic waves, researchers from the University of Illinois and Nanjing University in China have discovered that the inner core of the Earth has an inner core of its own. It is previously known that the inner core of the Earth contains iron crystals that are aligned in a north to south direction. The newly discovered core has crystals aligned in a east to west direction.

The core was discovered using seismic waves are energy waves generated from an earthquake or loud explosions that passes through the Earth . Using principles similar to ultrasound, the team used seismic sensors to collect data from a seismic wave produced during an earthquake's aftermath.

The discovered core is smaller than the moon and may give information on how the Earth was formed, its history and an understanding what is happening deep inside the planet.

Super Earths and Planetary Formation Recreated Using Laser Compression and Crystals

Researchers at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Bayreuth University (Germany), LLNL and University of California, Berkeley were able to recreate the pressure and melting temperature of materials of a super-Earth planet at the core-mantle boundary.

Using laser shock compression, the team were able to measure the melting temperature of silica at 500 GPa (5 million atmospheres). Inside these planets, extreme density, pressure and temperature strongly modify the properties of the constituent materials. A planet's internal structure and evolution can be determined by measuring how much heat solids can sustain before melting under pressure.

Super-Earths can be defined as planets that are at least five times more massive than the Earth. These planets are lighter than gas giants like Neptune. They can be made up of gas, rock or both. To date, there are around 70 discovered super-earth like planets with hundreds more waiting to be classified.

The breakthrough that made this experiment possible was the ability to synthesize millimeter-sized transparent polycrystals and single crystals of stishovite, a high-density form of silica (SiO2) usually found only in minute amounts near meteor-impact craters. Ultrafast optical pyrometry and velocimetry at the Omega Laser Facility at the University of Rochester's Laboratory for Laser Energetics allowed the team to measure the melting temperature of the material at a much higher pressure.

Shock compression is a technique for inducing high pressures in materials, and high pressures. Usually explosives and impact guns were used to achieve strong shock waves. The new process of using lasers makes it possible to generate pressures far more higher than using traditional methods.

Experiment Recreates Asteroid Collision With Earth That Killed Off the Dinosaurs

An experiment that recreated the impact of an asteroid with the Earth that led to the extinction of the dinosaurs was done by researchers from the University of Exeter, University of Edinburgh and Imperial College London.

The scientists used a fire propagation apparatus to recreate the thermal pulse generated by an asteroid collision. Halogen lamps were also utilized to simulate the delivering thermal radiation (see image).

The experiment revealed that the long standing theory that the collision created firestorms around the Earth proved false. The heat generated by the experiment showed that the actual asteroid impact would have generated a heat pulse that lasted less than a minute. That is not enough time to ignite live plants.

Dr Claire Belcher from the Earth System Science group in Geography at the University of Exeter said, "By combining computer simulations of the impact with methods from engineering we have been able to recreate the enormous heat of the impact in the laboratory. This has shown us that the heat was more likely to severely affect ecosystems a long distance away, such that forests in New Zealand would have had more chance of suffering major wildfires than forests in North America that were close to the impact. This flips our understanding of the effects of the impact on its head and means that palaeontologists may need to look for new clues from fossils found a long way from the impact to better understand the mass extinction event."

Information Found Inside Meteorite Gives Insight To Earth's Freezing Core

Researchers have captured information stored inside tiny magnetic regions in meteorite samples using a detailed imaging technique at the BESSY II synchrotron in Berlin.

Meteorites are fragments of asteroids formed in the early solar system. The asteroids were heated up by radioactive decay, causing them to melt and segregate into a liquid metal core surrounded by a solid rocky mantle. The convection of the liquid metal generates a magnetic field similar to how the Earth's magnetic field is created.

The information found by the team relays the magnetic field of the meteorite during core solidification on its parent body. These magnetic field readings provides a brief glimpse on the Earth's own magnetic field as the Earth's core continues to freeze.

The meteorites used are called Pallasite Meteorites which are made up of iron and nickel. The body of pallasite meteorites are studded with silicate crystals that resemble gems. The team found that along with iron and nickel, there are also tiny nanosized minerals called tetrataenite. These tetrataenites are just around 100 nanometers long which is magnetically much more stable than the rest of the meteorite, and holds within it a magnetic memory that the researchers have gathered.

The data shows that the magnetic fields generated by the asteroids lasted longer than expected; about several hundred million years after the it formed. The results help to answer many of the questions surrounding the longevity and stability of magnetic activity on small bodies, such as asteroids and moons.

Scientists now think that the Earth's core only began to freeze relatively recently in geological terms, maybe less than a billion years ago. How this freezing has affected the Earth's magnetic field is not known. "In our meteorites we've been able to capture both the beginning and the end of core freezing, which will help us understand how these processes affected the Earth in the past and provide a possible glimpse of what might happen in the future," said Dr Richard Harrison of Cambridge's Department of Earth Sciences, who led the research.

San Andreas Fault Predicted To Trigger Strong Los Angeles Earthquake

Scientists at Stanford University used underground ambient seismic waves to predict that Los Angeles will experience a strong and large ground movements if an earthquake occurs along the southern San Andreas Fault, near the Salton Sea.

The Stanford scientists used weak vibrations under the Earth's core to measure and follow the movement of seismic waves. These waves are produced by the ocean waves crashing into the Earth's core. Although billions of times weaker than seismic waves generated by earthquakes, these ambient waves still follow the path an earthquake wave would.

Based on their measurements, an earthquake generated seismic waves will be funneled toward Los Angeles if the southern San Andreas Fault section of California were to experience an earthquake.

The scientists further predict that the seismic waves will be futher amplified when it reaches Los Angeles because the city sits atop a large sedimentary basin.

Earthquake Lights (EQL) Associated With Rift Environments and Subvertical Faults

Earthquake lights (EQL) photographed in Tagish Lake, Yukon-Alaska border region. Lights were estimated at 1 meter in diameter with the closest orbs slowly drifting up the mountain to join the more distant ones.
Credit: Jim Conacher

A study suggests that earthquake lights (EQL) have a higher probability of occurring on or near rift environments where subvertical faults allow stress-induced electrical currents to flow rapidly to the surface.

Earthquake lights are mysterious lights that appear before or during an earthquake. They appear in different shapes and forms such as spheres of light floating through the air (as imaged on the left), high flames of light, multi-colored globes of light moving through the sky, or just streams of light running along the ground.

Earthquake lights are rarely seen after an earthquake. This suggests that the nature of these lights could be based on the stress mechanics exerted on the faults during an earthquake. Of the documented occurrences of earthquake lights, the study shows that 97% of these have been associated with rift environments.

A rift is a linear zone where the Earth's crust and the hard and rigid outer layer of the Earth, called the lithosphere, are being pulled apart. This forms an extensive system of fractures and faults. Only 5% of seismic activity are associated with this type of intraplate seismic activity which also can explain the rare occurence of earthquake lights.

Diamond Anvil Produces Hydrogen Overnight

Nature produces hydrogen through "serpentinization." When water meets the ubiquitous mineral olivine under pressure, the rock absorbs mostly oxygen (O) atoms from H2O, transforming olivine into another mineral, serpentine -- characterized by a scaly, green-brown surface appearance like snakeskin. The complex network of fracturing and created by serpentinization also creates habitat for subsurface microbial communities. Image from Gros Morne National Park, Newfoundland, Canada.
Credit: Matt Schrenk, Michigan State University

Scientists at the University Claude Bernard Lyon 1 discovered a way to produce hydrogen up to 50 times faster than nature does. Using a diamond anvil cell (a tiny high pressure cooker) and aluminum oxide (Al₂o₃), water (H₂0), and the mineral, olivine ((Mg, Fe)₂SiO₄), they produced produced hydrogen in a matter of hours instead of weeks.

Essentially, it is water, rock, and aluminum oxide put under extreme pressure (2 kilobars) and heat ( 200 to 300 degrees Celsius) to produce hydrogen.

HYdrogen is the lightest and most abundant element in the Universe. Seventy five percent (75%) of the chemical elemental mass of the Universe is hydrogen. This latest discovery is very relevant to the energy industry where hydrogen is one viable energy source.

Using hydrogen as a fuel has many advantages. It is abundant. It is environmentally safe since the byproduct of hydrogen fuel cells is water and water vapor. And the power generated by hydrogen is much greater than that of regular gasoline.

Hydrogen fuel cells do not need combustion to produce energy, which also makes them safe and efficient.

Atmospheric Pattern Wavenumber-5 Key To Forecasting Heatwaves

This map of air flow a few miles above ground level in the Northern Hemisphere shows the type of wavenumber-5 pattern associated with US drought. This pattern includes alternating troughs (blue contours) and ridges (red contours), with an "H" symbol (for high pressure) shown at the center of each of the five ridges. High pressure tends to cause sinking air and suppress precipitation, which can allow a heat wave to develop and intensify over land areas.
Credit: Image courtesy Haiyan Teng

Based on historical weather data, scientists have identified an atmospheric pattern called Wavenumber-5 as a factor that could lead to forecasting a heatwave fifteen to twenty days before it happens.

An area experiencing unusual and excessive hot weather for a prolonged period of time is known to be going through a weather pattern called a heat wave. It is a phenomenon where the temperature for the period is much higher than what the climate for that area should be. Since a heat wave is relative to the area and its normal climate, the same temperature can be considered normal for people living in a hotter climate.

Wavenumber-5 is a pattern or sequence of five high-pressure systems and five low-pressure systems alternating with each other to form a circle around the northern midlatitudes, several miles above the surface of the Earth (see image on the left).

Heat waves pose environmental and health risks which could lead to drought, crop failures and hyperthermia. Hyperthermia is a condition where the person has an elevated body temperature which happens when the body produces or absorbs more heat than it dissipates

The 2003 heatwave in Europe, the hottest since 1540, was responsible for more than 70,000 deaths (mostly the elderly) and caused crop drought and forest fires throughout the southern regions. France was the hardest hit with around 14,000 deaths.

By being able to forecast a heatwave weeks in advance, measures can be undertaken to minimize the health and environmental hazards it can cause.

Understanding Hydraulic Fracturing (Fracking) - Multidisciplinary Session Held By The Geological Society of America (GSA)

How Hydraulic Fracturing (Fracking) Works
Credit: NPR, GRAPHIC BY PROPUBLICA/CREATIVE COMMONS

A multidisciplinary session on understanding the science and the water, air, and health issues behind fracking was set up by The Geological Society of America (GSA) in Denver. The goal of the session is to present to researchers and the general public, the state of the science of facking.

Hydraulic Fracturing or Fracking is the use of water, sand, and chemicals at high pressure to fracture rock for the purpose of obtaining natural gas trapped below the surface of the Earth. There are environmental and health concerns raised with fracking. Some of the risks that are attributed to fracking are water and air contamination, resulting toxic waste products, and increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide (C02) levels.

The sessions held in Denver covered topics such as outdoor air emissions from fracking, and specific health risks from exposure to the process.

The sessions of note are:

• Session 064: Energy and Health: The Emergence of Medical Geology In Response to the Shale Gas Boom
• Session 022: Geochemistry of Flowback and Produced Waters From Hydraulically Fractured Black Shale
• Session 299: A Comprehensive Look at Hydraulic Fracturing For Hydrocarbon Recovery and Other Purposes

250 Meter High Channel Hundreds of Kilometers Long Discovered Underneath Antarctic Ice Shelf

Credit: MODIS Mosaic of Antarctica (MOA) Image Map / Anne le Brocq.

An ice channel stretching hundreds of kilometers and reaching as high as 250 meters have been discovered under a floating ice shelf in Antarctica. The ice shelf was discovered using satellite image and radar measurements from the sky. Based on the data recorded, the channel is as tall as the Eiffel tower.

The image map from the MODIS Mosaic of Antarctica (see image above) shows the ice shelf channel as it aligns the flow route of the water under the ice sheet and the start of the ice shelf cannel. The dashed line marks the border where the ice leaves solid ground and starts to float on the ocean surface.

Ice shelves are thick platforms of ice 100 to 1000 meters thick that forms where a glacier or ice sheet flows down to a coastline and onto the ocean surface; similar to a pier or a dock. These can only be found in Antarctica, Greenland and Canada.

Around 44% of the ice shelves are connected to the Antarctic coastline covering an area of 1,541,700 km². In the image map above, the part of the ice sheet between the grounded ice (part of the ice shelf that rests on bedrock) and the floating shelf (on the ocean surface) is called the grounding line.

Gravity Field Mystery of the Moon Solved By NASA GRAIL Mission

Gravity Field Map of the Moon

The Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) mission by NASA has solved one of the moon's mysteries, its ever changing gravitational field. Mass concentrations under the lunar surface changes the gravitational field in the area that can either push or pull approaching spacecraft.

The GRAIL mission has mapped the gravity field of the lunar surface (see image).

The image on the left, known as a Mercator projection (similar to Earth maps), represents the entire surface of the moon with the far side of the moon (the dark side) at the center of the map and the nearside (as seen from the Earth), on the left and right side. The red parts correspond to mass excesses which create areas of higher local gravity, and the blue parts correspond to mass deficits which create areas of lower local gravity.

NASA's GRAIL mission involves two washing machine sized satellites that are placed on the same lunar orbit. It mapped the gravity of the lunar surface as well as its interior and thermal history. It also has a set of cameras known as MoonKAM that are used for NASA's education and public outreach project.

Study Shows Water On The Moon Came From Same Source As That of the Earth

A study on moon rocks and samples from the Apollo mission show that water on the moon came from the same source as that of water found on Earth. This discovery raises questions on how the Moon is believed to be formed.

The Great Impact Theory of the formation of the moon involves a planet the size of Mars called Theia colliding with the Earth around 4.5 billion years ago. The debris from the two colliding objects is believed to coalesce and fuse together to form the moon.

The Great Impact Theory was first proposed by Reginald Daly of Harvard in 1946 but was not thoroughly discussed until 1974 when Dr. William K. Harmann and Dr. Donald R. Davis brought it up again as a valid explanation of the moon's formation. The theory also would explain the geological and geochemical properties of the moon.

With the current research showing that the water found on the moon is from the same source as the Earth's, it is theorized that during the great impact, water already existing on the Earth survived the impact and settled on the moon during its formation.

Weekend Info: Climate Change Infographic

An infographic on climate change shows the dangers it brings as well as the effect it has on the world today.

Climate change and global warming have been used interchangeably. Although they seem to refer to the same thing, they technically are different. Global warming refers to the rise in average temperature near the Earth's surface while climate change refers to any significant change in climate over a long period of time.

Climate change addresses significant and long term changes in climate factors which include but not limited to temperature, precipitation, or wind patterns.

Major scientific organizations such as the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) agree that climate change is happening and that man is a major contributor to it. In 2010, the National Research Council concluded that "Climate change is occurring, is very likely caused by human activities, and poses significant risks for a broad range of human and natural systems".

The infographic communicates the dangers that climate change can bring as well as changes that are already happening because of it.

Using Particle Physics and Geo-Electrons To Probe The Deep Layers of The Earth

The picture depicts the long-range spin-spin interaction (blue wavy lines) in which the spin-sensitive detector on Earth’s surface interacts with geoelectrons (red dots) deep in Earth’s mantle. The arrows on the geoelectrons indicate their spin orientations, opposite that of Earth’s magnetic field lines (white arcs).
Credit: Marc Airhart (University of Texas at Austin) and Steve Jacobsen (Northwestern University).

Researchers have come up with a new technique using particle physics and geo-electrons to find out in great detail what the deep layers of the Earth is made up of and how it behaves.

Scientists for a long time have been trying to understand more about the Earth's core. The surface of the Earth is known as the crust and is around 10 kilometers thick at its thinnest. Below the crust is the mantle and between the mantle and the inner core, it is around 3,000 kilometers. It is impossible by current technologies to even drill past the crust.

In November 2011, Japanese scientist Kei Hirose, used a particle accelerator (the Spring-8 Synchrotron) to recreate the conditions believed to exist at the Earth's core. The experiment suggests that the core is made up of a forest of huge crystals 10 kilometers tall.

Other techniques used to study the Earth's inner layers are by studying the vibrations caused by earthquakes, using x-rays and other imaging techniques, or by mimicking the temperatures and pressures of the deep Earth in laboratories.

Now, researchers from Amherst College and The University of Texas at Austin have developed another technique to solve this geological mystery not by recreating the conditions but by studying electrons found in mantle minerals called geoelectrons.

MIT News: Smaller India Collided With Asia 10 Million Years Earlier Than Believed

It was previously believed that India joined Asia around 50 million years ago. Researchers at MIT have placed the timing of the event at 10 million years earlier (40 million years ago) and suggested that India was much smaller then than generally assumed.

Around 300 million years ago, the landmass of the Earth comprised of one supercontinent, Pangea. Because of tectonic forces pulling and pushing, Pangea broke up into smaller pieces and drifted away and formed what is now the present configuration of the Earth. From Pangea to what is now the seven continents of the Earth, there have been several upheavals. The continents drifted away, crashed into each other and some joined together.

Pangea broke up into two supercontinents, Gondwana was the southernmost. The other supercontinent formed was Laurasia. Gondwana broke up and formed most of the landmasses of the Southern Hemisphere. These include Africa, Antarctica, Madagascar, South America, and the Australian continent. It also included the Arabian Peninsula and the Indian subcontinent.

The Indian Ocean was formed due to the movement and drifting of the continents. The Indian plate (colored red in the image) was part of Gondwana around 140 million ears ago and was believed to be moving north at a rate of about 20 centimeters a year. Currently, the Indian Plate is moving northeast at 5 centimeters (2.0 inches) per year.

Due to plate tectonics, the India Plate split from Madagascar and collided with the Eurasian Plate, resulting in the formation of the Himalayas.

Mathematics of Planet Earth 2013 Will Address Mathematician's Role In Climate Research

Scientific societies, research institutes, universities, and science organizations have dedicated 2013 as a special year for the Mathematics of Planet Earth. As part of the dedication, mathematicians will try to understand weather and climate through math.

Mathematics of Planet Earth 2013 (MPE 2013) is an initiative of the science community to encourage research in identifying and solving fundamental questions about planet Earth,encourage educators at all levels to communicate the issues related to Earth, and inform the public about the essential role of the mathematical sciences in facing the challenges to Earth.

MPE also will try and encourage young people interested in sustainability and global issues to consider mathematics as an exciting career choice.

Climate

Climate is the weather condition of an area averaged over a period of time (usually in years). The difference between weather and climate is that weather is the condition of the area in that specified time. Aside from measuring devices such as barometers, weather satellites provide images and data on a global scale on how the present condition of the Earth's climate.

When it comes to forecasting weather and predicting climate there are many factors to consider such as temperature, humidity, air pressure, wind speed, and elevations. Both weather and climate share these most, if not all, factors.

Mathematics is used to understand the weather and climate models. Short term weather forecasts have become more accurate now compared to 20 years ago. Computers have helped with this development but more so with the mathematics used by these computer models.

Understanding Earth's Planetary Interior Through Observation of Magnesium Oxide

A team of scientists observed magnesium oxide in extreme pressures and temperatures to understand what is happening deep within the Earth's layer and found some surprising results.

The mantle of the Earth is a layer of thick rocky substance and is found between the crust of the Earth and the Outer Core. It is around 2,900 km (1,800 miles) thick and makes up about 84% of the total weight and mass of the Earth.

Temperatures in the mantle range between 500 to 900 °C (932 to 1,652 °F) at the upper boundary with the crust; to over 4,000 °C (7,230 °F) at the boundary with the core.

Study Shows Proof That Moon Was Formed From Early Earth Collision With Planetary Body

Scientists believe that the moon was formed when a Mars sized planet called Theia (in Greek mythology the mother of the moon Selene) collided with the Earth 4.5 billion years ago. The resulting debris from the impact coalesced and formed the moon. This hypothesis is called the Great Impact Theory.

Prior to the Great Impact Theory, the predominant explanation theorized by George Darwin in 1898 for the formation of the moon was that the moon spun off from the Earth because of centrifugal forces (known as the Fission Theory). In 1946, this was challenged by Canadian geologist Reginald Daly of Harvard. He proposed that it wasn't centrifugal force but an impact that formed the moon.

Massive Earthquakes And Their Relationship To Each Other

San Francisco Mission District burning in the aftermath of the San Francisco Earthquake of 1906.

One important aspect of an earthquake sequence is the clustering of earthquakes within an area in a duration of time. This is observed in both small scale and global levels.

Earthquake swarms or clusters are events where a local area experiences sequences of many earthquakes striking in a relatively short period of time. Most earthquakes, except possibly the strongest ones, come in clusters. Earhquakes consists of one main shock and the resulting aftershocks, there are even events of multiple earthquakes clustered so densely that they are considered as a single event.

The phenomena of clustering has been garnering attention due to the recent spate of earthquakes in the last decade. It has increased recently when it was noticed that unusually large clusters of earthquakes often occur after a strong earthquake. However, the mechanism of clustering is not clear and presents an important problem due to its intrinsic connection with one of the unexplained fundamental features of earthquakes-their interaction with each other over wide distances and time intervals.

Are large earthquakes linked across the globe?

The past decade has been plagued with what seems to be a cluster of large earthquakes, with massive quakes striking Sumatra, Chile, Haiti and Japan since 2004. Some researchers have suggested that this cluster has occurred because the earthquakes may be "communicating" across large distances, possibly triggering each other. But a new analysis by Tom Parsons and Eric Geist of the US Geological Survey concludes that the cluster could just as well be the result of random chance.

Each of the devastating quakes in the 2000s drew huge media coverage and required extensive rebuilding and economic restoration. The intense interest in the earthquakes has led some to wonder if we are living in the middle of an "age of great quakes," similar to a global cluster of quakes in the 1960s. It's important to know whether these clusters occur because big earthquakes trigger others across the world, Parsons and Geist say, in order to predict whether more severely destructive quakes might be on the way.