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Recent Articles
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Topic: Nature GeoscienceWritten by Guy Webster / DC Agle
Using an imaging spectrometer on MRO, researchers detected signatures of hydrated minerals on slopes where mysterious streaks are seen on the Red Planet. These darkish streaks appear to ebb and flow over time. They darken and appear to flow down steep slopes during warm seasons, and then fade in cooler seasons. They appear in several locations on Mars when temperatures are above minus 10 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 23 Celsius), and disappear at colder times. ![]() Dark, narrow streaks on Martian slopes such as these at Hale Crater are inferred to be formed by seasonal flow of water on contemporary Mars. The streaks are roughly the length of a football field. (NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona) «Read the rest of this article» Sections: Technology | No Comments
NASA’s Mars Curiosity rover measurements of Weather, Soil reveals possibility of Liquid Brine on MarsWritten by Guy WebsterNASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Perchlorate identified in Martian soil by the Curiosity mission, and previously by NASA’s Phoenix Mars Lander mission, has properties of absorbing water vapor from the atmosphere and lowering the freezing temperature of water. This has been proposed for years as a mechanism for possible existence of transient liquid brines at higher latitudes on modern Mars, despite the Red Planet’s cold and dry conditions. ![]() The Rover Environmental Monitoring Station (REMS) on NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover includes temperature and humidity sensors mounted on the rover’s mast. One of the REMS booms extends to the left from the mast in this view. (NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS) «Read the rest of this article» Sections: Technology | No Comments
NASA’s Cassini spacecraft data helps Scientists solve mystery behind Saturn’s StormsWritten by Preston Dyches
In 140 years of telescope observations, great storms have erupted on Saturn six times. Cassini and observers on Earth tracked the most recent of these storms from December 2010 to August 2011. During that time, the storm exploded through the clouds, eventually winding its way around Saturn. ![]() This series of images from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft shows the development of a huge storm of the type that erupts about every 30 years on Saturn. (NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI) «Read the rest of this article» Sections: Technology | No Comments
NASA and University of Texas researchers find two seafloor troughs that could threaten East Antarctica GlacierWritten by Alan Buis
The discovery likely explains the glacier’s extreme thinning and raises concern about its impact on sea level rise. ![]() This is the East Antarctic coastline. Icebergs are highlighted by the sunlight, and the open ocean appears black. (NASA) «Read the rest of this article» Sections: Technology | No Comments
NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter discovers younger than expected Volcanic Activity on the MoonWritten by Tony Phillips
This time period corresponds to Earth’s Cretaceous period, the heyday of dinosaurs. Some areas may be less than 50 million years old. “This finding is the kind of science that is literally going to make geologists rewrite the textbooks about the moon,” said John Keller, LRO project scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. ![]() The feature called Maskelyne is one of many newly discovered young volcanic deposits on the Moon. Called irregular mare patches, these areas are thought to be remnants of small basaltic eruptions that occurred much later than the commonly accepted end of lunar volcanism, 1 to 1.5 billion years ago. (NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University) «Read the rest of this article» Sections: Technology | No Comments
NASA’s Galileo spacecraft images give scientists evidence of plate tectonics on Jupiter’s moon EuropaWritten by Preston Dyches
Researchers have clear visual evidence of Europa’s icy crust expanding. However, they could not find areas where the old crust was destroyed to make room for the new. ![]() Scientists have found evidence of plate tectonics on Jupiter’s moon Europa. This conceptual illustration of the subduction process (where one plate is forced under another) shows how a cold, brittle, outer portion of Europa’s 20-30 kilometer-thick (roughly 10-20 mile) ice shell moved into the warmer shell interior and was ultimately subsumed. A low-relief subsumption band was created at the surface in the overriding plate, alongside which cryolavas may have erupted. (Noah Kroese, I.NK) «Read the rest of this article» Sections: Technology | No Comments
NASA’s Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellites data reveals River Areas Flood PotentialWritten by Alan Buis
“Case studies of the catastrophic Missouri River floods of 2011 show that flood-potential early warning times could be increased by a couple of seasons using these satellite data,” said co-author Jay Famiglietti. ![]() The flooded confluence of the Nishnabotna and Missouri Rivers in Iowa, June 2011. A study of the 2011 Missouri River Basin floods has shown that NASA satellite data can help predict the potential of a river basin to flood as much as 11 months in advance of flood season. (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers) «Read the rest of this article» Sections: Technology | No Comments
NASA scientists study changes to Earth’s Ozone levelsWritten by Alan Buis
The finding is good news, since human and plant health are harmed by exposure to ozone near the ground. Significant increases in ozone in Earth’s lowest atmospheric layer, the troposphere, would also lead to additional climate warming because ozone is a greenhouse gas. ![]() Astronauts aboard the International Space Station captured this photograph of Earth’s atmospheric layers on July 31, 2011, revealing the troposphere (orange-red) to the stratosphere and above. Earth-observing instruments in space allow scientists to better understand the chemistry and dynamics occurring within and between these layers. (NASA/JSC Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth) «Read the rest of this article» Sections: Technology | No Comments
Global ocean currents explain why the Northern Hemisphere is the soggier one
The findings, published Oct. 20 in Nature Geoscience, explain a fundamental feature of the planet’s climate, and show that icy waters affect seasonal rains that are crucial for growing crops in such places as Africa’s Sahel region and southern India. ![]() At the left is observations of average annual precipitation. The right is simulated precipitation with ocean conveyor-belt circulation turned off. (D. Frierson/UW) «Read the rest of this article» Sections: Technology | No Comments
Lunar Research funded by NASA detects Water on Moon’s Surface and possible Water underneath
Using data from NASA’s Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) instrument aboard the Indian Space Research Organization’s Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft, scientists remotely detected magmatic water, or water that originates from deep within the moon’s interior, on the surface of the moon. ![]() This image of the moon was generated by data collected by NASA’s Moon Mineralogy Mapper on the Indian Space Research Organization’s Chandrayaan-1 mission. It is a three-color composite of reflected near-infrared radiation from the sun, and illustrates the extent to which different materials are mapped across the side of the moon that faces Earth. (Image credit: ISRO/NASA/JPL-Caltech/Brown Univ./USGS) «Read the rest of this article» Sections: Technology | No Comments
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