Many models for forecasting ocean waves simplify the physics by assuming that waves are essentially two-dimensional, like a long breaker heading toward shore. But in the open ocean, waves often Keep reading
Month: March 2025
When Fires Make Rain
The intense heat from wildfires fuels updrafts, lifting smoke and vapor into the atmosphere. As the plume rises, water vapor cools and condenses around particles (including ash particles) to form Keep reading
“Immersion”
Some seabirds, including gannets and boobies, feed by plunge diving. From high in the air, they fold their wings and dive like darts into the water, impacting at speeds around Keep reading
Engineering Our Landfills
We create a lot of waste and, at least for now, much of that waste goes into landfills. Properly managing garbage requires much more than digging a hole in the Keep reading
The Crashing Waves of French Polynesia
Surfer and photographer Tim McKenna lives in the village of Teahupo’o on Tahiti’s southeastern coast. The area’s shallow coral reef system creates some of the world’s biggest barreling waves, which Keep reading
Slushy Snow Affects Antarctic Ice Melt
More than a tenth of Antarctica’s ice projects out over the sea; this ice shelf preserves glacial ice that would otherwise fall into the Southern Ocean and raise global sea Keep reading
Swimming With Cilia
Like most microswimmers, these Synura uvella algae use cilia to swim. Cilia are tiny, hair-like appendages that flap to produce thrust. Even under a microscope, the cilia are hard to Keep reading
Peering Inside Viscous Fingering
Viscous fingers form when a low-viscosity fluid is pumped into a narrow, viscous-fluid-filled gap. The branching pattern that forms depends on the ratio of the two viscosities, among other factors. Keep reading
More Gigantic Jets
It’s wild that we’re still discovering new weather phenomena, but the gigantic jets seen here were only identified in 2002. This uncommon type of lightning shoots up from the tops Keep reading
First Ice
The early light of dawn illuminates ice forming at the edge of this pond in Vermont. Caught after a frigid mid-November night, the ice is some of winter’s first. The Keep reading