Earth

  1. Earth

    NOAA’s Virtual World

    Players of the virtual reality game Second Life can now soar through a virtual hurricane, experience rising through the atmosphere atop a weather balloon, and more at the National Atmospheric Administration’s new site. Go to: http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/outreach/sl/

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  2. Earth

    Ice Age Ends Smashingly: Did a comet blow up over eastern Canada?

    An extraterrestrial object apparently exploded above Canada about 12,900 years ago, sparking devastating wildfires and triggering a millennium-long cold spell.

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  3. Earth

    Using seismometers to monitor glaciers

    Seismic instruments could be used to estimate the amount of ice that shears away from glaciers as they flow into the sea, offering a way to better estimate sea level rise due to the breakup of those ice masses.

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  4. Earth

    Fish Free Fall: Hormone leads to population decline

    Trace amounts of the synthetic estrogen used in birth control pills can cause a fish population to collapse.

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  5. Earth

    Southern seas slow their uptake of CO2

    In recent decades, the rate at which oceans in the Southern Hemisphere soak up atmospheric carbon dioxide has slowed.

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  6. Earth

    Biological Hot Spots: Ocean eddies may not always lock away carbon

    The carbon in the tissues of organisms that bloom inside some ocean eddies doesn't always sink to the ocean floor to be locked away in sediments when those organisms die.

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  7. Earth

    Emissions tied to global warming are on the rise

    The United States emitted nearly 1 percent more greenhouse gases in 2005 than it did in the year before.

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  8. Earth

    Not-So-Clear Alternative: In its air-quality effects, ethanol fuel is similar to gasoline

    Switching the nation's vehicles from gasoline to ethanol may not reduce air pollution.

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  9. Earth

    Lake Superior is warming faster than its local climate

    In recent decades, the waters of Lake Superior have warmed significantly faster than have air temperatures at nearby sites onshore, a trend caused in part by a long-term decrease in the lake's winter ice cover.

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  10. Agriculture

    Bugged wines

    Stinky compounds emitted by ladybugs can impart a foul taste to wines made from grapes on which the insects had been feeding.

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  11. Earth

    Ash Detector: Laser device could protect aircraft in flight

    Analysis of a volcanic plume that wafted over central Alaska suggests that polarized laser beams can detect airborne ash, which can be a threat to aircraft.

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  12. Earth

    Pregnancy and Pollution: Women living in areas with poor air quality have babies with lower birthweights

    Pregnant women exposed even to moderate amounts of several common air pollutants tend to have babies with low birthweights.

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