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The Weather Channel
Scientific American: Tornado Simulation "Tornadoes are unpredictable and deadly. They also seem irresistible. Stout-hearted 'storm chasers' race to put themselves right in the path of danger, both for the sheer thrill of it and to gather information that will clarify how tornadoes form, gather strength and dissipate. . .more" Why Files, El Niņo Explained "To understand El Niņo, you've got to fathom the planetary "heat engine." Heat engines -- there's one in your car -- use heat to create motion. In your car, heat from burning gasoline creates motion so you can cruise for burgers. On Earth, heat from the sun warms the equator much more than the poles, and then the atmosphere and oceans move this heat toward the poles. . .more" Scientific American: Hello La Niņa "The area of below normal sea surface temperatures continues to expand in the central equatorial Pacific, marking the demise of the 1997/1998 El Niņo episode and the further evolution of La Niņa (Cold episode) conditions. If current trends continue, La Niņa conditions can be expected by late Northern Hemisphere summer to early fall. . . .more" Scientific American: Tornadoes by Robert Davies-Jones
Why Files, Tornadoes "To scientists who study them, twisters are the most fascinating storms on Earth. Let's say they're right . . . and take a gander at the wild, whirling winds. . .more" Why Files, Hurricanes "Hurricanes. They are the greatest storm, a regular late-summer and fall visitor t to certain coastlines. Born over water, blown by winds, they can simmer for weeks, deriving energy from warm ocean water as they blast islands and coasts with fierce winds, torrential rains and swollen seas. . .more" Why Files, Lightning "Lightning is a kick-butt jolt of electricity that can travel inside a cloud, between clouds, or from a cloud to Earth. There's no real consensus on how clouds accumulate such huge charges. . .more" A Lightning Primer "The mission of the GHCC Lightning Team is to investigate the causes and effects of lightning as well as analyzing a wide variety of atmospheric measurements related to thunderstorms. . .more"
Scientific American: Lightning Between Earth and Space "A sequence of video images from a sensitive monochromatic camera (A-D) reveals how lights jet upward from the top of thunderclouds at speeds of about 120 kilometers per second. Researchers are still trying to reconcile competing theories to explain exactly how blue jets come about. . .more" Scientific American: Cosmic Rays at the Energy Frontier by James W.
Cronin, Thomas K. Gaisser and Simon P. Swordy "Roughly once a second, a subatomic particle enters the earth's atmosphere carrying as much energy as a well-thrown rock. Somewhere in the universe, that fact implies, there are forces that can impart to a single proton 100 million times the energy achievable by the most powerful earthbound accelerators. Where and how? . . .more" Why Files, Interplanetary Weather Forecast "According to new observations, our solar system lies in a neighborhood that's pretty empty. Extremely empty, in fact. The interstellar gas around the solar system is hot (7,000 degrees Kelvin), fast-moving (16 miles per second relative to the sun), and thin (containing an average of one hydrogen atom per 10 cubic centimeters). . .more"
Why Files, Climatologist's ToolBox "To tackle a problem, the basic impulse of our species is to invent a tool to fix it. Science is a heck of a long way from being able to deliberately alter climate. In fact, scientists are only beginning to solve the most basic climate problem of all -- measuring climate and how it changes over time. So what are some of the tools of the climatologist?. . .more" Climatologist's ToolBox, Supercomputers "The supercomputer-driven climate model -- If there is a big gun in the arsenal of modern climatology, it is the climate models that play themselves out on the biggest, baddest computers around. To the initiated, they are known as "general circulation models" (defined) and their purpose in life is to simulate past, present and future climate. . .more" Climatologist's ToolBox, Fire and Ice "Attempts to forecast future climate are notoriously difficult -- and controversial. But looking back in time is no walk in the park, either. . .more" Scientific American: The Coming Climate by Thomas R. Karl, Neville
Nicholls and Jonathan Gregory "Meteorological records and computer models permit insights into some of the broad weather patterns of a warmer world. . .more" |
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"The storms that spawn twisters are now largely