Tag: atmospheric science
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Red Sprites Illuminate Kimberley Skies: Rare Storm Light Captured
What Are Red Sprites? Red sprites are a rare, luminous phenomenon that appears high above thunderstorms. They manifest as sudden bursts of reddish light, often shaped like delicate tendrils or jellyfish-like forms, and occur tens of kilometers above the storm tops. While scientists have studied them for decades, red sprites remain fleeting—moments after a large…
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Clouds as the Sky’s Economy: How to Observe the Shifts in Our Atmospheric “Market”
Introduction: Clouds as a Living Record Clouds are more than weather icons on a forecast. They are dynamic indicators of the atmosphere’s health and energy balance. As a scholar studying the “economy of the sky,” I’ve learned that the distribution, density, and movement of clouds encode stories about humidity, air currents, and the planet’s energy…
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Seeing the Shifts Above: How Our Clouds Are Changing and Why It Matters
Introduction: The Economy of the Sky Clouds are more than white cotton above our heads. They are dynamic systems, balancing energy, moisture, and physics in the atmosphere. As a scholar who studies the “economy of the sky,” I’ve learned that clouds do not simply reflect weather; they reveal long-term processes shaping climate, air quality, and…
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Webb Unveils a Hazy Exoplanet That Refuses to Be a Twin
Overview: A Starry Twin With a Twist When astronomers first spotted a world that appeared to be a nearly perfect twin of a known exoplanet, expectations ran high. But the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and researchers from the Trottier Institute for Research on Exoplanets (IREx) at Université de Montréal revealed a more complex truth:…
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NASA Antarctic Science Balloon: Frontierside Observation and Discovery
NASA Launches a Science Balloon in Antarctica: A Glimpse into Frontier Research NASA’s latest frontier science mission unfolds not in orbit or on the surface, but high above it. On a crisp Antarctic day, researchers prepared and launched a helium-filled scientific balloon that will carry instruments to roughly 120,000 feet (about 36.6 kilometers). This extraordinary…
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Wildfire Smoke and Climate: Pyrocumulonimbus Impacts
Introduction: Wildfire smoke and a climate connection Wildfires do more than scorch forests and darken skies. In the most extreme cases, the burning fuels power their own weather systems, forming pyrocumulonimbus thunderstorms that shoot smoke and ash thousands of meters into the atmosphere. This surprising dynamic—where wildfires influence atmospheric processes on a global scale—adds a…
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Understanding Cloud Droplets Could Improve Climate Modeling
How Drops Shape Climate Modeling Clouds play a pivotal role in Earth’s climate, acting as both mirrors and blankets that influence how much sunlight is reflected back to space and how much heat is retained near the surface. A growing body of research, including recent work in Geophysical Research Letters, reveals that the arrangement of…
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Rising CO2 and the Ionosphere: How Global Warming Could Disrupt Shortwave Space Communications
Global warming reaches new frontiers: space communications under threat As the planet warms, scientists are uncovering a surprising wrinkle in how climate change could affect our ability to communicate through space and near-space environments. A team from Kyushu University has found that rising carbon dioxide (CO2) levels in Earth’s atmosphere may cool the upper atmosphere…
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JWST Finds Bizarre Planet Baked by Auroras, Far From Any Sun
A Rogue World Illuminated by Auroras A new study published in Astronomy & Astrophysics reports that the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has observed a rogue planet — a planetary-mass world drifting in interstellar space, unbound to any star. Far from any solar heat, this world nonetheless shimmers with auroral light across its upper atmosphere.…