All things geology, climate, oceans, and more
As California burns from both ends, the Camp Fire currently ravaging the northern part of the state has become the most destructive in its history. The fire had stretched 100,000 acres as of Saturday morning, according to officials. At least 6,453 homes and 260 commercial structures have been destroyed in the fire, the cause of…
I can’t tell you how it started, or even where or when. I will not be the most informed person that you will find regarding the fire currently invading the city of Malibu. I can tell you, though, what it felt like trying to get out of there Friday morning, and what it looked like.…
Earth’s oldest soil could be tucked away in an ancient rock outcrop in Greenland, according to new research. Dating back some 3.7 billion years, the suspected soil—exposed underneath a retreating ice cap—could potentially contain fossilized traces of primordial life. The new study, published this week in the awkwardly named science journal Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, opens thusly:…
Both ends of California are on fire. While firefighters battle the Camp Fire in Northern California, their compatriots in Southern California are facing an equally harrowing situation. Spurred by the Santa Ana winds, the Woolsey and Hill fires are wreaking havoc just north of Los Angeles with an estimated 75,000 homes under evacuation orders. The…
While dawn in California is still a few hours away, it will rise on a town completely changed. The 27,000-person community of Paradise was ravaged by the explosive Camp Fire last night. Early reports indicate the entire town was basically wiped out, and residents died or were severely burned trying to escape the inferno. “Pretty…
The so-called Camp Fire has already consumed over 20,000 acres in Northern California, forcing about 50,000 people to evacuate. But the fire has moved so quickly that some people have barely escaped—like Brynn Parrott Chatfield from the town of Paradise, who posted this video to social media showing her family’s terrifying drive through the flames…
An incredibly dangerous wildfire has exploded to life in Northern California. The Camp Fire has spurred numerous evacuations in Butte County as it races across the landscape. The fire was first reported at 6:30 a.m. PT, and grew to at least 5,000 acres in three hours. California’s state fire agency reported the fire is “very…
When the world gets its act together, it can actually solve big problems. Case in point: The ozone hole, which if everything goes according to plan could be healed up by the 2060s, according to a new report from the United Nations. According to the report, a decades-old international treaty to ban ozone-depleting chemicals has…
Venice isn’t just a city of canals: Normally, there are nice dry spots to take in the sights. But on Monday, dry patches were in short supply as a powerful storm swept winds across the Adriatic Sea and across the city. More than three-quarters of Venice flooded during one of the highest tides the city…
The most violent eruption of the last 5,000 years was undoubtedly that of Taupo, a volcanic cauldron found in New Zealand. It’s still an active volcanic system, so the more we know about it the better—but the exact age of that eruption has proved to be a puzzle for scientists. The most precise dating methods…
The U.S. Geological Survey has updated its National Volcanic Threat Assessment, ranking the most dangerous active volcanoes in the United States. To the surprise of no one, Hawaii’s Mount Kilauea is ranked at the top of the list, but other potentially dangerous volcanoes—including some lurking below the public’s radar—are just as worthy of concern. The…
Antarctica has been really been letting its hair down lately. First, there was news of a haunting hum coming from one of its ice shelves. Then came the weirdo rectangular iceberg. It’s enough to make you think aliens inhabit the Seventh Continent. But no, it’s just our freak show planet doing its thing. And people…
Sometimes science is all about being in the right place at the right time. Such was the case with the “fortuitous” discovery of a wild lava garden nearly three miles underwater, which scientists are pointing to as evidence of the deepest recent undersea eruption ever documented. Researchers got their lucky break exploring the central Mariana…
Super Typhoon Yutu continues to tear across the western Pacific after striking the tiny Northern Mariana Islands on Thursday local time. The U.S. commonwealth now faces a major cleanup after a direct hit from one of the strongest storms on record to make landfall anywhere in the world. Super Typhoon Yutu struck the two islands…
New photos of a surprisingly rectangular iceberg are offering the full picture of this now-famous Antarctic structure—and it remains weird as hell. Scientists with NASA’s Operation IceBridge released the original photo last week, but it only showed a portion of the odd iceberg. With much of the ‘berg out of the frame, it wasn’t clear…
It feels like 2018 is the year of rapid intensification. Storm after storm after storm has spun up from humble begins to cyclonic monster around the world. The latest cyclone to join the ignominious club is Typhoon Yutu which is in the midst of spinning up into a forecast Category 5 super typhoon by Wednesday.…
Well here’s something you don’t see everyday: an iceberg so unbelievably geometric in shape you’d think it was deliberately carved with a gigantic chainsaw. Scientists have documented this sort of thing before, but this latest ‘berg, which recently split from Antarctica’s Larsen C ice shelf, happens to be a rather extraordinary example. What you’re looking…
It was a nice two weeks of quiet in the tropics, wasn’t it? Unfortunately, that quiet is over. Over the weekend, Hurricane Willa rapidly intensified into a Category 4 beast that’s beelining for the Mexican coast. It will bring fierce winds, powerful surf, and rains that could trigger landslides. Willa has unfortunately followed the Hurricane…
Hurricane Michael, an unprecedented storm that slammed into the Florida Panhandle at Category 4 strength, may well be an harbinger of things to come in a world where climate change is poised to make such devastating hurricanes all the more likely. But it also gave us a look at the past in the form of…
Researchers report that they’ve observed seismic waves traversing the Earth’s inner core, allowing them to figure out what it’s like: solid, but softer than previously thought. Scientists predicted that the Earth has a solid inner core and liquid outer core 80 years ago, based on measurements inconsistent with just one single core. The solid core…
