Around 66 million years ago, an asteroid or comet at least 10 kilometers (6 miles) in diameter impacted a few miles from the present-day town of Chicxulub in Mexico (hence it is dubbed as the “Chicxulub impactor”, the “dinosaur-killer”), at around 64,000 kilometers per hour (40,000 mph). The impact has created a crater (Chicxulub crater) […]
Category Archives: Climate
Most species hold their geographic range if we limit global warming to 1.5°C, study says
If we limit global warming to 1.5°C rather than 2°C above the pre-industrial levels by the year 2100, the impacts of climate change would be much less dramatic, a new study says. According to the researchers, for vertebrates and plants, the number of species losing more than half their geographic range by 2100 will be […]
Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide Reached the Highest Levels in 800,000 years
According to measurements from Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii, with 410.31 ppm (parts per million), the level of carbon dioxide in Earth’s atmosphere hit a new high in April 2018. This is the highest point for the last 800,000 years. Last year’s (April 2017) value, 409.00 ppm, was also a record high. As you can […]
What would happen if the Earth started spinning backward?
The dynamics of the ocean and the atmosphere are strongly influenced by the Earth’s rotation. Currently, our planet rotates from west to east (prograde, which appears counterclockwise) with a linear velocity of 465.1013 m/s (1674.365 km/h or 1040.40 mph) at the equator. What would happen if the Earth started spinning backward (from east to west)?
Global Warming: Future greenhouse gas emission scenarios
The future of our carbon dioxide and greenhouse gas emissions will decide how many degrees will planet Earth be warmer by 2100 (relative to pre-industrial temperatures). Using the data from Climate Action Tracker, the online publication that shows how living conditions are changing, Our World In Data has published a chart showing future greenhouse gas […]
Want to Become a Citizen Scientist for NASA?
You can help NASA on some projects: for instance, citizen scientists helped NASA identify an aurora-related celestial phenomenon, now called STEVE. Want to become a citizen scientist? You can find projects on the NASA website.
Iceland is growing new forests for the first time in 1,000 years
Iceland was extensively forested when it was first settled. When the Vikings first arrived in the 9th century, the Nordic island was covered in 25 to 40 percent forest, compared to 1% in the present day. In the late 12th century, Ari the Wise (Ari Thorgilsson, 1067-1148 AD), Iceland’s most prominent medieval chronicler, described it […]
Climate Reanalyzer: Visual Climate and Weather Datasets
Today I stumbled upon on a beautiful website: the Climate Reanalyzer. In fact, Chris Hadfield, the retired Canadian astronaut and also who was the first Canadian to walk in space, tweeted about the website, saying “The current bulge of cold“. Then I visited the website and found it really informative.
2018 Arctic Wintertime Sea Ice Extent is the Second Lowest On Record
The sea ice cover blanketing the Arctic Ocean and nearby seas thickens and expands during the fall and winter each year. It reaches its maximum yearly extent in February or March. This year (2018), on March 17, the Arctic wintertime sea ice cover peaked at only 5.59 million square miles (14,478,033.54 km2), the 2nd lowest […]
Global Sea-Level Rise Accelerating, New Study Finds
As a result of global warming, the seas warm and ice melts. Naturally, Earth’s oceans have risen steadily – or at least, it was thought so. According to a new study based on 25 years of NASA and European satellite data, rather than increasing steadily, global sea-level rise has been accelerating in recent decades. If this trend […]
