Latest EARTH News

Temblor flattens Turkish towns

Erin Wayman — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 15:01:40

A magnitude-6.0 earthquake struck eastern Turkey Monday morning, causing severe damage and killing more than 50 people.

Closing Istanbul's seismic gap

Mary Caperton Morton — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 11:05:00

Since 1939, a progression of deadly earthquakes has been marching westward across Turkey's North Anatolian Fault. All signs point to Istanbul as the next likely target — but Turkey's largest city may be struck by a series of moderate earthquakes, rather than one big event.

Designing Snowflakes

Brian Fisher Johnson — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 16:26:17

Is every snowflake truly unique? Physicist Kenneth Libbrecht has made a career out of photographing the variety of snowflake shapes, from familiar six-sided forms to more exotic "bullet rosettes" and "capped columns." EARTH's latest slideshow takes you on a visual tour of these delicate ice crystals.

Pacific Northwest earthquake threat heightened?

Bernard Langer — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 16:18:25

Scientists have upgraded the potential earthquake threat to cities including Portland, Ore., Seattle, Wash., and Vancouver, British Columbia in the Pacific Northwest. Although it was once thought that large earthquakes in this region, called the Cascadia Subduction Zone, would more likely happen offshore, they could occur much closer to the coast.

Chile quake/tsunami news coverage: The bad and the good

Carolyn Gramling — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 16:26:40

As you would expect, there's been tons of coverage of the earthquake off the coast of Chile and the resulting tsunami in the mainstream media. And yes, some of it has been notoriously poor.

Chile's quake larger but less destructive than Haiti's

Erin Wayman — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 16:30:43

A magnitude-8.8 earthquake struck offshore Maule, Chile, on Feb. 27, killing at least 711 people and displacing 2 million people. Why was the magnitude-7.0 earthquake that struck Haiti in January more deadly? Geological differences as well as social factors are both part of the explanation.

Sea sprawl: Into the blue frontier of ocean development

Carolyn Gramling — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 10:23:00

A growing number of industries turning their eyes to the vast real estate in the U.S.' deep offshore waters — a region that may soon become a busy, crowded place. But balancing commercial and environmental interests in those waters may require regulatory oversight that does not yet exist.

Voices: Should science dictate whether to rebuild after a natural disaster?

John C. Mutter — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 16:55:24

When natural disasters strike major cities, such as the Haiti earthquake and 2005's Hurricane Katrina, scientists debate whether to rebuild or relocate the city. Relocating may be the best bet for Port-au-Prince, says EARTH commenter and Columbia Earth Institute geophysicist John Mutter. But in other cases, such as New Orleans, we should rebuild.

Reclaiming Alberta's oil sands mines

Bridget Mintz Testa — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 10:35:46

In 1983, the erstwhile surface mine Gateway Hill, part of Canada's Athabasca Oil Sands Deposit, resembled a pockmarked, barren moonscape. Today, after years of reclamation effort, Gateway Hill is thickly forested and filled with wildlife — and as the first oil sands mine site to be certified by the government to be at pre-mine condition, it is a model for new and ongoing reclamation projects.

Termites and climate change: Here, there and everywhere?

Chris J. Peterson — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 17:08:14

As the climate changes, warmer conditions are creeping northward — and termites, among other creatures, are likely to expand their territories into higher latitudes. Those areas, however, are currently ill-equipped to handle termites, which could cause billions of dollars in property damages.

What makes a disaster? Does this blizzard count?

Carolyn Gramling — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 15:36:42

We recommend: One of EARTH's regular contributors, Callan Bentley, has a thoughtful post up on his blog about what makes a natural disaster. Click through for the link.

Voices: If global warming is real, why is it snowing in DC?

Megan Sever — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 14:13:56

Washington, D.C., has been buried in snow over the last week, prompting many people to ask what that means about global warming. The answer? Nothing: It’s weather, not climate.

Can snowstorms be categorized like hurricanes or other hazards?

Meg Marquardt — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 17:29:02

Unlike other natural disasters, snowstorms have no categorization system. But NOAA now has a snowstorm ranking system that includes snowfall inches, societal impact and population density — to show where the storm hit hardest.

Hubble's pics of Pluto: Dark orange and charcoal-black

Carolyn Gramling — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 16:41:58

Today NASA released new Hubble images of dwarf planet Pluto — and far from being just an icy colorless rock, the images show a mottled, orangey-black world.

Where on Earth? - February 2010

Staff — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 14:06:57