According to NASA, Earth’s magnetic field has a weak spot called the South Atlantic Anomaly, named after its location somewhere over South America and the southern Atlantic Ocean, this small but evolving dent in Earth’s magnetic field can cause big headaches for satellites. Scientists at NASA are investigating the mysterious ... Read More »
Tag Archives: earth
Earth’s ozone layer healing: UN
The ozone layer had been thinning since the late 1970s. Scientists raised the alarm and ozone-depleting chemicals were phased out worldwide. As a result, the upper ozone layer above the northern hemisphere should be completely repaired in the 2030s and the gaping Antarctic ozone hole should disappear in the 2060s, ... Read More »
Scientists identify three causes of Earth’s spin axis drift
A typical desk globe is designed to be a geometric sphere and to rotate smoothly when you spin it. Our actual planet is far less perfect — in both shape and in rotation. Earth is not a perfect sphere. When it rotates on its spin axis — an imaginary line ... Read More »
ISRO launches PSLV-C42 carrying two British Earth Observation Satellites
PSLV-C42 will carry two earth observing satellites – NovaSAR and S1-4 – of Surrey Satellite Technology Limited, UK. This is the first commercial launch in arrangement with Antrix Corporation, the commercial arm of Indian Space Research Organization in 2018. Read More »
ISRO to launch two British Earth observation satellites onboard PSLV-C42
PSLV-C42 will carry two earth observing satellites – NovaSAR and S1-4 – of Surrey Satellite Technology Limited, UK. These satellites will be put into orbit in about 18 minutes after the launch. This is the first commercial launch in arrangement with Antrix Corporation, the commercial arm of Indian Space Research ... Read More »
Famous theory of the living Earth upgraded to ‘Gaia 2.0’
A time-honoured theory into why conditions on Earth have remained stable enough for life to evolve over billions of years has been given a new, innovative twist. For around half a century, the ‘Gaia’ hypothesis has provided a unique way of understanding how life has persisted on Earth. It champions ... Read More »
Ancient farmers spared us from glaciers but profoundly changed Earth’s climate
Millennia ago, ancient farmers cleared land to plant wheat and maize, potatoes and squash. They flooded fields to grow rice. They began to raise livestock. And unknowingly, they may have been fundamentally altering the climate of Earth. A study published in the journal Scientific Reports provides new evidence that ancient ... Read More »
Laughing gas may have helped warm early Earth and given breath to life
More than an eon ago, the sun shone dimmer than it does today, but the Earth stayed warm due to a strong greenhouse gas effect, geoscience theory holds. Astronomer Carl Sagan coined this “the Faint Young Sun Paradox,” and for decades, researchers have searched for the right balance of atmospheric ... Read More »
Blocking sunlight to cool Earth won’t reduce crop damage from global warming
Injecting particles into the atmosphere to cool the planet and counter the warming effects of climate change would do nothing to offset the crop damage from rising global temperatures, according to a new analysis by University of California, Berkeley, researchers. By analyzing the past effects of Earth-cooling volcanic eruptions, and ... Read More »
Earth at risk of heading towards ‘hothouse Earth’ state
Keeping global warming to within 1.5-2°C may be more difficult than previously assessed, according to researchers. An international team of scientists has published a study in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) showing that even if the carbon emission reductions called for in the Paris Agreement are met, ... Read More »
Mars reaches its closest approach to Earth in 15 years
It is the closest the two planets have been to one another since the historic 55.6 million kilometers close approach in August 2003, the agency said. Team members from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory gathered at Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles, California, to view the big event. The next similar close approach ... Read More »