After multiple high-profile injuries caused by atmospheric turbulence, you might be wondering whether airplane rides are getting rougher. Unfortunately, the answer is yes, at least for clear-air (i.e., non-storm-related) turbulence Keep reading
Tag: atmospheric science
How Venus Is Losing Its Water
Since Venus formed at the same time as Earth and is similar in size, scientists believe it once had the same amount of water our planet does. Today, hellish Venus Keep reading
Exoplanet Heating
WASP-96B is a tidally-locked exoplanet between the size of Saturn and Jupiter. This hot, massive planet lies close to its star, orbiting in less than three-and-a-half Earth days. A recent Keep reading
Red Sprites
Sprites, or red sprites, are high-altitude electrical discharges in the atmosphere. Although sometimes called upper-atmospheric lightning, sprites are a cold plasma phenomenon. They often occur in clusters, as in this Keep reading
Dust Storms
Hot, dry berg winds swept down from the Namibian highlands and sent these plumes of dust flying out to the Atlantic coast. Another plume — white instead of brown — Keep reading
Rolling Over Wisconsin
Although they may look sinister, roll clouds like this one are no tornado. These unusual clouds form near advancing cold fronts when downdrafts cause warm, moist air to rise, cool Keep reading
Clouds Down Under
This large and unusual cloud formation was captured one July morning over western Australia. Stretching over 1,000 kilometers, the clouds have interesting features at both the large and small scale. Keep reading
“Vorticity 5”
Photographer and stormchaser extraordinaire Mike Olbinski is back with the fifth volume in his “Vorticity” series. Shot over the 2022 and 2023 tornado seasons in the U.S. Central Plains, this Keep reading
Uranus’s Polar Cyclone
Uranus is an oddity among the planets of our solar system. Where other planets spin around an axis roughly in line with their orbital axis, Uranus spins on its side, Keep reading
Jovian Swirls
Jupiter, our solar system’s stormiest planet, shares many similarities with Earth. But where Earth’s strongest storms are cyclones centered on low-pressure regions, Jupiter’s longest and strongest storms are anti-cyclones, driven Keep reading