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1500 questions
12
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3 answers
How were we able to measure carbon dioxide levels in earlier climates?
It is said that carbon dioxide levels were much higher during the Cretaceous and Eocene periods: which proxies are used to determine paleo-pCO2?
InquilineKea
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12
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Is it true that distance between earth and sun is closer in winter season (January) and farther in summer season in the Northern Hemisphere?
Recently I heard that in winter season the distance between the Earth and the Sun will be closest and it is farthest in summer. If it is true then why is it hotter in summer and cooler in winter?
Hari-pacific
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12
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How deep is the permafrost in the Antarctic?
I tried in vain to find the answer to this question on the web, but all it would tell me was, "it is very deep", and "it is known as a thaw line rather than a frost line in the arctic and antarctic". How far down you would have to live to escape the…
Addison Richert
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12
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2 answers
Width of strata in stratigraphic column
I am trying to understand whether there is one "standard" meaning of the width of represented strata in stratigraphic columns, but I can find nothing online or in my geology books.
I notice that, sometimes, under stratigraphic columns there can be…
Self-teaching worker
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12
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3 answers
Does the gravitational pull of the moon affect the composition of Earth's atmosphere?
In particular, does the pull of the moon affect the amount of water vapour in the Earth's atmosphere? In other words, if the moon were larger, or orbiting more closely to the earth, would the increased gravity cause the composition of the atmosphere…
LulalaBoss
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12
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4 answers
What do the derivative or the integral of amplitude of a seismogram mean?
I'm doing a project in which I'm analyzing earthquake seismogram waves. I used a program to graph the exact amplitudes and how they changed over the course of a single earthquake. For the project I need to incorporate calculus, so I was wondering,…
Neeeedhelp
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12
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1 answer
What are the non-anthropogenic causes of The Netherlands' low elevation?
A large area of The Netherlands is below sea level. There are two non-anthropogenic reasons that I can think of:
Compaction of delta sediments that lie below the country,
A side effect of the isostatic rebound after the deglaciation of…
Gimelist
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12
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3 answers
What is the age of the earliest traces of life on Earth?
In the article Oldest rocks, earliest life, heaviest impacts, and the
Hadean–Archaean transition (Moorbath, 2005), the author states (based on previous referenced research) that the $\ce{^13C}$ depletion previously stated as being a biotracer of the…
user889
12
votes
2 answers
What atmospheric radiative effects, if any, do contrails cause?
First of all, this question is not about the conspiracy theory based chemtrails as in the linked question, from the answers there and from the question Equation for predicting contrail formation I understand how contrails form and how they could be…
user889
12
votes
2 answers
From where do weather radar maps get their data?
I see maps like this one all the time online and in the news. A moving map that shows clouds and stuff moving around with time. Where do they get the data from? Is it from a single source location or multiple locations? Also, is it free? Is it open…
KingsInnerSoul
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1 answer
What caused the Cretaceous uplift of the Harz mountains (Germany)
What are the likely stresses that caused the uplift of the Harz mountains? Was the uplift connected to another orogeny, lithospheric-scale folding or a mantle process?
tobias47n9e
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12
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2 answers
How stable is the Gulf Stream? Could it stop suddenly?
I'm not completely clear on what Western intensification means, but it looks like a pretty powerful (combination of) forces that presumably wouldn't be likely to change on a timescale of years (or even decades, centuries).
But I recall reading some…
FumbleFingers
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12
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1 answer
What does the term "Snow Interval" mean?
When looking Weather Station readings from the National Weather Service website, what does the term "Snow Interval (inches)" actually mean? 6 hr and 24 hr readings are obvious, but I can't seem to connect the dots to "Snow Interval".
For an…
RyanKDalton
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12
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Are the "polar vortex" and "cut-off lows" over/near the Great Lakes new phenomena?
In recent years, I've heard weather reporters describe "cut-off" low pressure systems which park over Southern Ontario for days at a time. In summer months, they bring us long stretches of cool cloudy, often rainy days. In only the last couple of…
Anthony X
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12
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Why does seismic activity shed light on the inner core rigidity?
Reading Introduction to Geology (MIT 2005) and Wikipedia's article on Earth's inner core, it is specified that:
Earth was discovered to have a solid inner core distinct from its liquid outer
core in 1936, by the seismologist Inge Lehmann, who…
Chirac
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