On windy days, streaks of snowflakes snake in the air above a mountaintop snowfield. And when snorkeling in the surf, you can watch the inbound waves sculpt underwater ripples in Keep reading
Tag: geophysics
Eroding Ice
When glaciers form, they do so in layers, with clear blue ice sandwiched between sediment and air-bubble-filled white ice. Because each of these layers absorbs sunlight differently, they don’t melt Keep reading
Dunes Avoid Collisions
The speed at which a dune migrates depends on its size; smaller dunes move faster than larger ones. That speed differential implies that small dunes should frequently collide into and Keep reading
Submarine Canyons Focus Waves
In winter months Toyama Bay in Japan can get hammered by waves nearly 10 meters in height. These waves, known as YoriMawari-nami, pose dangers to both infrastructure and citizens, and, Keep reading
Ice Rings Caused By Underlying Eddies
Observations of strange ice rings on Lake Baikal, the world’s deepest lake, have puzzled scientists for decades. Surveys of satellite imagery have revealed rings on Baikal and two other lakes Keep reading
Where are Titan’s Deltas?
Saturn’s moon Titan is the only other planetary body in our solar system known to have bodies of liquid on its surface. But where Earth has lakes and seas of Keep reading
Recreating Volcanic Lightning
Some natural phenomena, like volcanic eruptions or tornado formation, don’t lend themselves to fieldwork — at least not at the height of the action. The danger, unpredictability, and destructiveness of Keep reading
Martian Landslides
Sometimes there are advantages to studying planetary physics beyond Earth. Mars does not have plate tectonics, vegetation, or the level of erosion we do, allowing geological features like those left Keep reading
Falling Drops and Forming Stalagmites
The vast stalactites and stalagmites found in caves take millennia to form. Mineral-rich water seeps down the icicle-like stalactites and then drips onto stalagmites below, each drop depositing a little Keep reading
Inside the Earth’s Mantle
Plate tectonics is a relatively young scientific theory, only gaining traction among geologists in the late 60s and early 70s. One key tenet of the theory is subduction where plates meet and one Keep reading