Earth Sciences

Oscillations begun by the Sumatra-Andaman earthquake in December 2004 are providing important information about the composition of the Earth as well as the size and duration of the earthquake, according to a report in the journal Science by an international group of scientists led by Professor Jeffrey J. Park of the Department of Geology and Geophysics at Yale University.

“Just like thumping a watermelon to hear if it is ripe, after a big earthquake thumps our planet we measure the n

The December earthquake and tsunami that killed approximately 300,000 people in the Indian Ocean region was so powerful that no point on Earth went undisturbed, pointing to the need for more active warnings about the consequences of future events, according to University of Colorado at Boulder seismologist Roger Bilham.

Bilham offers his perspective in “A Flying Start, Then a Slow Slip,” an overview of findings on the Sumatra-Andaman earthquake published in the May 20 issue of Scie

The mammoth B-15A iceberg appears poised to strike another floating Antarctic ice feature, a month on from a passing blow that broke off the end of the Drygalski ice tongue. As this Envisat image reveals, this time its target is the ice tongue of the Aviator Glacier.

First discovered in 1955, and named to mark the work done by airmen to open up the Antarctic continent, the Aviator Glacier is a major valley glacier descending from the plateau of Victoria Land along the west side

A new global wind power map has quantified global wind power and may help planners place turbines in locations that can maximize power from the winds and provide widely available low-cost energy. After analyzing more than 8,000 wind speed measurements in an effort to identify the world’s wind power potential for the first time, Cristina Archer and Mark Jacobson of Stanford University suggest that wind captured at specific locations, if even partially harnessed, can generate more than eno

The world’s oldest volcano observatory has added satellites to its repertoire of instruments to monitor volcanic features flanking Naples. The result has been the most detailed view ever of ground motion in this vicinity.

When it was founded back in 1841, the Vesuvius Observatory of Italy’s National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology was the world’s first scientific institution devoted to volcanoes. Now its remit is more than simply scientific: the Observator

Summer in Europe means time for the beach. Testing the waters is a traditional holiday ritual: a swift hand or foot in the surf to check sea temperature. Or there is the modern approach – a flotilla of satellites identifying the warmest parts of all 2 965 500 square kilometres of the Mediterranean on a daily basis.

An updated map of the sea surface temperature (SST) of the world’s largest inland sea is generated every day as part of ESA’s Medspiration project, with an