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29 August 2016
New study identifies next faults to fail along California-Nevada border
A handful of faults lining the border of California and Nevada may be near the point of rupture, according to a new study assessing earthquakes in the region as far back as 1,400 years ago. Scientists report that earthquakes in a fault network east of the Sierra Nevada Mountains are not random, but are likely triggered from stress bestowed by past earthquakes. This same type of stress has built up in six faults near Death Valley, California, and Reno, Nevada, according to the new research.
25 July 2016
Study identifies link between cold temperatures in New York, destructive storms in Spain
In a recently published study, researchers show there’s a common atmospheric circulation pattern linking extreme weather on the two sides of the Atlantic Ocean.
15 June 2016
New study questions source of rare Earth metals that provide clues to life’s origins
A new study is reviving a decades-old debate about how Earth’s rarest elements came to exist on our planet – theories that have implications for the origin of life.
23 December 2015
Large asteroid hit would make the world burn, go dark
Sixty-six million years ago, an asteroid crashed into Earth. Its impact, scientists believe, caused global catastrophic fires, transformed the climate, and caused the extinction of the dinosaurs. A new study shows that if a similar asteroid were to strike Earth today, the soot from fires alone would severely alter the climate and imperil life.
1 December 2015
Seismic risk in eastern Mediterranean higher than previously estimated
The eastern Mediterranean is more seismically active than previously assumed, a new study finds. On a geological time scale, seismic activity around the island of Crete has generated large earthquakes in bursts, potentially increasing the future risk for earthquakes and tsunamis in the region.
14 September 2015
Breaking down India’s monsoon
Studying El Niño and La Niña’s effects in regions, sub-seasons, may improve rainfall forecasts.
19 August 2015
New study shows significant tsunami strength for parts of Southern California
Tsunamis generated by earthquake faults off the Santa Barbara coast could pose a greater danger to the cites of Ventura and Oxnard than previously thought.
6 August 2015
16th century Italian earthquake changed river’s course
In 1570, a 5.8-magnitude earthquake struck the northern Italian city of Ferrara, causing dozens of deaths, major damage to the city and thousands to flee. At the time, Pope Pius V said God sent the earthquake to punish the city’s duke who had given hospitality to Jews and Marranos who had escaped Spain.
Now, a new study finds that the 16th century earthquake and subsequent aftershocks were the last step in a tectonic process that occurred over thousands of years and changed the course of the Po River. The final rerouting of the river left Ferrara dry by the end of the 16th century, an event depicted in a painting that now hangs in the Vatican Museum.
29 April 2015
Lucky break kept major hurricanes offshore since 2005
For the last nine years the United States has dodged the hurricane bullet: No major tropical cyclones have made U.S. landfall. Such a remarkable “hurricane drought” has never been seen before – since records began in 1851. It beats the previous record of eight years from 1861-1868, say researchers who have looked into the probabilities of the unusual streak, what it means for the chances of hurricanes this year and whether or not insurance premiums reflect the risks. Their conclusion: the hurricane drought is mostly a matter of dumb luck.
16 March 2015
U.S. hurricanes begin in western Africa’s atmosphere
Hurricanes require moisture, the rotation of the Earth, and warm ocean temperatures to grow from mere atmospheric disturbances into tropical storms. But where do these storm cells originate, and exactly what makes an atmospheric disturbance amp up full throttle?
A new study accepted for publication in Geophysical Research Letters finds most hurricanes over the Atlantic Ocean that eventually make landfall in North America actually start as intense thunderstorms in western Africa.
GeoSpace is a blog on Earth and space science, managed by AGU’s Public Information staff. The blog features posts by AGU writers and guest contributors on all sorts of relevant science topics, but with a focus on new research and geo and space sciences-related stories that are currently in the news.