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1500 questions
11
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4 answers
Plotting the wind direction in 3D?
How can I plot the wind direction in 3D, using the 3 wind vectors u, v and w?
Normally, I create 2D wind rose plots in the traditional way, using R or MATLAB.
Which ways do you know for plotting this in 3D, using the additional w vector?Do you have…
Arne
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11
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1 answer
Why does winter get colder after the solstice?
Intuitively, it makes perfect sense to think that the coldest day of the year would be the day that gets the least sunshine, the winter solstice. In the northern hemisphere, this occurs a few days before Christmas. But as anyone who lives in…
Mason Wheeler
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11
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2 answers
Is it possible to prevent high magnitude earthquakes by induced earthquakes?
As we know, earthquakes can be induced by human activities. Can we induce earthquakes around faults regularly so that the energy releases regularly, and hence prevent high magnitude earthquakes by stopping large amount of energy releases at one…
Gstestso
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11
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3 answers
How exactly is the "global average temperature" calculated and how reasonable is this method?
During the recent (2015) Paris climate negotiations there was a lot of talk in the media about "limiting the global temperature increase to 2 degrees Celsius".
I keep wondering about what this value of 2 degrees really means, and what can we read…
Shoebox
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11
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2 answers
How can I find the nearest point on the coast from an ocean location?
Given some location of interest $X$ in a lake or in the ocean with known lat and lon, I'd like to find the lat and lon of the coastal location that is closest to $X$, as well as distance between the two points. Of course, once the lat and lon of the…
user4624937
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11
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2 answers
Exhumation of blueschist
Blueschist has a mineral assemblage such that it must have formed at high pressures and low temperatures. It must therefore form in subducting slabs (and I believe this correlates with the locations in which it's found). However, that leaves the…
kaberett
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11
votes
3 answers
How long to melt all the polar ice?
The answers to this question say that the sea level will rise 66m if all the polar ice, etc, melts.
How long will this take?
Transporting incredible amounts of heat energy to the poles and injecting it into the ice, a good insulator, so that it…
ravenspoint
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11
votes
1 answer
How can I tell if a rock is really petrified wood?
I found a rock in the Mojave desert and it resembles a tree branch including what appears to be wood grain. Is there some test or observation that can be done at home to conclusively answer my question?
user350
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11
votes
2 answers
"The world will start COOLING DOWN in 2017"?
There's a story going around the low-grade news factories that one Dr. David Evans has predicted that the world will start cooling down in 2017. One source reports:
He says fundamental flaws in how future temperatures may rise have been included in…
Daniel Griscom
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11
votes
2 answers
What causes these odd-looking currents in the Tasman Sea?
I was looking at the model ocean current maps from earth :: a global map of wind, weather, and ocean conditions for 2015-10-07 00:00 UTC and there are a lot of odd-looking 'whirlpool' areas off the eastern coast of Australia. Anyone know the…
haresfur
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11
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2 answers
What are the striations or ridges in the eastern Pacific Ocean?
Messing around on Google Earth recently I noticed a number of striations in the Eastern Pacific. These appear in an East-West orientation and seem to start on the North and South American continental shelves, and extend for roughly half the Pacific…
Guillermo Phillips
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11
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2 answers
Have two hurricanes ever merged? And what was the result?
I was just reading this about how Hurricane Ethel could have merged with Hurricane Dora in 1964.
Has such a merge ever happened before in history? If so, what was the result? Would storms become twice as powerful? Or would they disrupt and dissipate…
DrZ214
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11
votes
1 answer
Does the Sun's oscillation affect Earth's climate?
Today, discourse on climate change seemingly tends to focus on earthly elements such as pollution and human activity. While I am certainly not well-read on climate change research, after inspiration from a physics teacher's example of a baseball…
mnml
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11
votes
2 answers
Has the number of natural disasters per year increased significantly in the years since human-caused climate change started?
Human-caused global warming has had an increasingly significant effect on the earth since the industrial era began.
Since the beginning of the industrial era, has there been a significant increase in any of the following categories per…
Brian Rushton
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11
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1 answer
How far from basalt bedrock can magnetometic survey find archaeological features?
Magnetometry is used to find archaeological features such as stone walls or ancient hearth. But it usually cannot be used for archaeological prospection in areas where the bedrock is strongly magnetic. Let's assume basalt - it is quite common near…
Pavel V.
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