#New Zealand’s White Island likely to erupt again, but a new alert system could give hours of warning and save lives

“#New Zealand’s White Island likely to erupt again, but a new alert system could give hours of warning and save lives” Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain Tourists visiting Whakaari/White Island on December 9 last year had no warning of its imminent violent eruption. The explosion of acidic steam and gasses killed 21 people, and most survivors…

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#Plato was right: Earth is made, on average, of cubes

“#Plato was right: Earth is made, on average, of cubes” Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain Plato, the Greek philosopher who lived in the 5th century B.C.E., believed that the universe was made of five types of matter: earth, air, fire, water, and cosmos. Each was described with a particular geometry, a platonic shape. For earth, that…

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#Photos may improve understanding of volcanic processes

“#Photos may improve understanding of volcanic processes” A team of Penn State researchers studied Telica Volcano, a persistently active volcano in western Nicaragua, to both observe and quantify small-scale intra-crater change associated with background and eruptive activity. Credit: Google Earth The shape of volcanoes and their craters provide critical information on their formation and eruptive…

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#ENSO influences trans-Pacific ozone transport from vegetation fires in Southeast Asia

“#ENSO influences trans-Pacific ozone transport from vegetation fires in Southeast Asia” Credit: CC0 Public Domain Long-range transboundary transport of air pollutants (e.g. ozone) is one of the important environmental concerns globally. Previous studies on trans-Pacific transport of air pollutants have been mainly focused on the influence of anthropogenic fossil fuel combustion sources in Asia, especially…

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