atmospheric science

Enlarge / Artist's conception of a gamma-ray burst. An astounding gamma-ray burst, dubbed GRB 221009A, continues to amaze even though it has been more than a year since it was detected. Scientists from Italy have recently published a study that shows how our planet’s ionosphere was impacted as a result of its high intensity and…

Enlarge / Some of the ice near the South Pole of Mars stays around all year long. Mars is a vast, frozen desert. Nowhere is that more evident than at its poles, which are the coldest regions on the planet. However, it looks like the weather forecast for its harsh winters and slightly more forgiving…

When Tonga’s underwater Hunga Tonga volcano lost its temper in an eruption on January 15, 2022, it belched gobs of magma and exhaled clouds of ash and water vapor out of the ocean, triggering intense lightning. This was no ordinary thunderstorm. Hunga is infamous for its tantrums, but it has outdone itself. That storm now…

Enlarge / The Hunga Tonga eruption started under water, yet still blasted straight through much of the atmosphere. In January this year, an undersea volcano in Tonga produced a massive eruption, the largest so far this century. The mixing of hot volcanic material and cool ocean water created an explosion that sent an atmospheric shockwave…

Enlarge / Pluto's atmosphere is fairly hazy. Saturn’s moon Titan is distinctive, in part for its orange-ish and hazy atmosphere. It’s virtually impossible to see surface features because the haze is so opaque in the visible portion of the spectrum; what we know of it comes from things like radar imagery, instead. The haze is…

Lightning is such a common phenomenon that people often overlook just how powerful it is (provided it doesn't hit you, obviously). But over the past decade, research has gradually revealed just how extreme lightning is. This everyday phenomenon is powerful enough to produce antimatter and transform atoms, leaving a radioactive cloud in its wake. Understanding…