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I just read news that Antarctica had set a new record high temperature, above 18 °C. How can this be the case if it is currently winter there?
Currently it is winter in Antarctica. According to news I read, Antarctica has set a new record high temperature, above 18 °C. How did this temperature records occur?
Anixx
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Is there a reliable way to identify regions with negatively-correlated winds?
When examining the potential for large-scale electricity grids, and when identifying the lowest-cost ways to generate clean electricity, a recurring theme is of spreading wind generation across a wide-enough area that it evens out.
One way to bring…
410 gone
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How has the relative ratio of igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic rocks changed over Earth's history?
Has the relative ratio of sedimentary over igneous rocks increased, simply as a result of more and more of the Earth's rock being exposed to sedimentary processes?
Or has it increased only for the first billion years of Earth's history, and stayed…
InquilineKea
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How can I downscale daily values of relative humidity?
I have a dataset (The ISIMIP interpolation of CMIP5 output) that contains daily values of the following variables:
air_temperature (C)
air_temperature_max (C)
air_temperature_mmin (C)
relative_humidity (%)
There are other variables (wind,…
David LeBauer
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How are paleomagnetic polarities determined?
In magnetostratigraphic logs various chrons are distinguished with either normal or reversed polarity, with the magnetic north pole at the geographic north and south pole, respectively.
How and why can these polarities be determined? Note that I'm…
hugovdberg
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9
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How are the thickness of ice sheets from previous glaciation periods determined?
How is the thickness/depth of ice sheets from previous glaciation periods determined? I've for instance often seen statements that the ice sheet over Scandinavia at the last glacial period maximum (i.e. Weichel) was 3-4 km thick, but haven't seen…
fileunderwater
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Why is Somalia so dry?
Most deserts are a result of the rainshadow effect, cold currents, the subtropical ridges, or a combination of those. Knowing this, how is the Somali desert caused?
It is notable since it has a desert climate close to the equator, which is known for…
Tateran
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9
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Why is Earth's density gradient a step-function, rather than smooth?
Why is the density of particles in Earth's atmosphere above surface-level so much less than ground and below? Why, instead, isn't Earth simply a ball of swirling gasses / liquids, which become progressively denser as you approach the core (since…
Nikhil Kumar
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Will the sea get saltier forever?
The sea wasn't always salty. It's been getting saltier over millions of years as minerals dissolve.
Is there a natural limit to this process, or the will the sea keep getting saltier forever?
Is there a natural process which removes salt from the…
spraff
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Can overshooting tops enter the stratosphere, or will they rather push the tropopause upward?
Convective overshooting tops
reach above the normally horizontal flat layer of the convective system, a layer that should coincide with the tropopause. If we have such an overshooting top, does this mean we actually have the cloud reaching into…
gerrit
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9
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Are El Niños stronger when there is a longer gap from the last El Niño?
E.g. see http://www.wired.com/2014/04/el-nino-effects/.
I'm thinking.. In case a major El Niño event didn't happen this year, then would it only make it more likely that a stronger El Niño would happen in a subsequent year?
InquilineKea
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Why are atmospheric BrO and ClO important to measure by satellite?
The announcement Arianespace orbits two satellites – JCSAT-17 and GEO-KOMPSAT-2B – to support connectivity and environmental monitoring in Asia mentions GEO-KOMPSAT-2B which hosts the Geostationary Environmental Monitoring Spectrometer or GEMS…
uhoh
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Was this spherical device used in weather forecasting in the 1960's?
The New York Times obituary Robert M. White, Who Revolutionized Weather Forecasts, Dies at 92 shows the image below. It looks like it might be a model of the Earth but I can't tell for sure.
Can the sphere be identified, and if so, is it related to…
uhoh
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9
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What causes the "ripples" that extend east-west along the mid-atlantic ridge?
Below are two cropped screenshots from the super-cool video Draining Earth's oceans, revealing the two-thirds of Earth's surface we don't get to see with the oceans "drained" to 4000 and 5000 meters below sea level.
We've all read about the magnetic…
uhoh
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Where did the atmosphere's nitrogen come from?
According to Wikipedia's article Atmosphere of Earth:
Outgassing from volcanism, supplemented by gases produced during the late heavy bombardment of Earth by huge asteroids, produced [Earth's second] atmosphere, consisting largely of nitrogen plus…
CJ Dennis
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