Earth Sciences

One anticipated component missing from an ice core drilled through a high-mountain, Alaskan ice field may force researchers to rethink the geologic history of that region.

Ohio State University scientists had expected to find a thick layer of volcanic tephra – evidence of a massive historic eruption – near the bottom of core they drilled between Mount Bona and Mount Churchill, both ancient volcanoes, in southeast Alaska’s St. Elias Mountain Range. That tephra layer would provide

A new NASA Internet tool called “Giovanni” allows high school and college students and researchers to access and analyze satellite-derived ocean color data. Ocean color data provides students with information about ocean biology by looking at phytoplankton through changes in the color of the ocean surface.

“Ocean color” refers primarily to the measurement of the green pigment called chlorophyll, which is contained in phytoplankton. Phytoplankton are free-floating plants that are

The Earth is a dynamic entity, and scientists are trying to understand it. Various things in nature grow and shrink, such as ice sheets, glaciers, forests, rivers, clouds and atmospheric pollutants, serving as the pulse of the planet and affecting many people in many walks of life. Scientists using NASA’s Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite (ICESat) are measuring the height of these dynamic features from space with unprecedented accuracy, providing a new way of understanding our changing

Essential Air

Take a deep breath. On Earth the air is easy to take for granted. It’s everywhere. But if you take a rocket into space the Earth’s atmosphere falls away. Astronauts understand this at an instinctive level. Unlike just about every other career in the world, astronauts must bring their own atmosphere to work. It is this essential nature about the atmosphere that generated such high expectations for NASA’s Aura satellite. Launched in July of 2004, this powerful resear

At 32 degrees Fahrenheit, or 0 Celsius, ice changes to water. This simple, unique fact dominates the climate in Earth’s polar regions. Using satellites to detect changes over time, NASA researchers and NASA-funded university scientists have found that Earth’s ice cover is changing rapidly near its poles. Recent studies point to new evidence of relationships between climate warming, ice changes and sea level rise.

Two researchers from NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), Green

A University of Colorado at Boulder research team has discovered evidence of microbial activity in a rock glacier high above tree line in the Rocky Mountains, a barren environment previously thought to be devoid of life.

Found in an intermittent stream draining from the glacier, the evidence includes traces of dissolved organic material and high levels of nitrates, said Mark Williams, a fellow at CU-Boulder’s Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research. The high nitrate levels