earth and atmospheric sciences archive

Group gears up for climate change awareness ride - A group of MIT-affiliated cyclists hope to fuel themselves from New York to Washington in late September to raise awareness -- and money -- for climate change initiatives. September 8, 2008

MIT tool aims to cut airline delays - MIT researchers are working toward a computer tool that could reduce airline flight delays due to weather. Already, they have found that a prototype deployed in the New York City region cut delays last year by 2,300 hours. September 3, 2008

Saving lives through smarter hurricane evacuations - Hundreds of lives and millions of dollars could potentially be saved if emergency managers could make better critical decisions when faced with an approaching hurricane. Now, an MIT student has developed a computer model that could help do just that. August 28, 2008

Experts available to discuss hurricanes and their aftermath - MIT faculty with expertise on hurricanes and their aftermath are available for comment to members of the media. August 27, 2008

Understanding climate change complacency - Why is the general public not more concerned about the potential consequences of climate change? MIT Professor John Sterman's research suggests that people don't have good mental models for understanding the phenomenon. August 20, 2008

Geobiologist Newman follows a rocky road - When most people look at a rock, they see a lifeless slab. When Dianne Newman looks at one, she sees clues to the history of life on Earth--and potential answers to some of today's medical mysteries. August 4, 2008

MIT students help cities plan for changing climate - Ten graduate students from MIT recently spent three weeks in Durban, South Africa, working on a project to develop an online tool that could help municipal governments around the world adapt to a changing climate. July 22, 2008

Don't bank on long-term climate policy success - Long-term climate change policy in the United States and abroad is likely to change very slowly, warns an MIT professor who says the lack of future flexibility argues for stronger short-term goals to reduce carbon emissions. July 11, 2008

MIT shows China quake was rare event - A new analysis of the setting for last month's devastating earthquake in China by a team of geoscientists at MIT shows that the quake resulted from faults with little seismic activity. Similar events in that area occur only once in every 2,000 to 10,000 years. June 30, 2008

Jane McNabb, worked at MIT for 47 years - Jane McNabb, a 47-year employee at MIT's Department of Meteorology and Physical Oceanography--a precursor to the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences (EAPS)--died on Saturday, May 24. She was 84. June 12, 2008

Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences awards - Awards given in MIT Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences for the academic year 2007-2008. June 6, 2008

MIT researcher envisions towering Katrina memorial - After Hurricane Katrina left its trail of destruction along the Gulf coast, MIT research affiliate Joe Davis decided to do something to memorialize the event. His idea? Build a tower that will capture electricity from lightning and throw energy back into the sky. June 4, 2008

The Earth below, the sky above - Twenty-five years ago, MIT decided to bring together the Earth and the sky. In the years that followed, many others did the same. June 3, 2008

Seafoam hits fan over hurricane research - Kerry Emanuel, MIT professor of meteorology, answers questions about his latest complex hurricane research, the results of which, he says, validate the connection he found between global warming and hurricane intensity in a 2005 study using historical data. May 1, 2008

Mapping Earth's soil moisture - Professor Dara Entekhabi will lead the science team designing a NASA satellite mission to collect global soil moisture measurements to improve weather, flood and drought forecasts and predictions of agricultural productivity and climate change. April 28, 2008

New MIT study validates hurricane prediction - Hurricanes in some areas, including the North Atlantic, are likely to become more intense as a result of global warming even though the number of such storms worldwide may decline, according to a new study by MIT researchers. April 17, 2008

News that oozes: Communicating climate change - The slow, incremental unfolding of the evidence for global climate change is one reason it has been such a difficult subject for journalists to cover, and for the scientists who try to explain it, said panelists at a recent conference at MIT. April 16, 2008

Edward Lorenz, father of chaos theory, dies at 90 - Edward Lorenz, an MIT meteorologist who tried to explain why it is so hard to make good weather forecasts and wound up unleashing a scientific revolution called chaos theory, died April 16 of cancer at his home in Cambridge. April 16, 2008

How strong is a hurricane? Just listen - Knowing how powerful a hurricane will be can help to save lives. Airplanes currently provide this crucial data by flying into the storm, gathering wind speed informaion. Some MIT researchers now think there's a better way: using sound. April 9, 2008

'Four-winged dinosaur' soars in wind tunnel - MIT Senior Technical Instructor Dick Perdichizzi prepares a lifesize model of a prehistoric four-winged bird-like creature for testing in Aero-Astro's Wright Brothers Wind Tunnel. March 6, 2008

Mercury rising: New images draw interest - Professor Maria Zuber, head of MIT's Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, addresses a Jan. 30 NASA press conference in which results from the first mission to visit the planet Mercury in 30 years were unveiled. February 1, 2008

U.K.'s Stern eyes responses to climate change - As difficult as adapting to climate change will be for rich countries, developing countries will be much more deeply affected, British government adviser Nicholas Stern told an MIT Energy Initiative (MITEI) colloquium Monday, Nov. 19. November 28, 2007

'The Greening of MIT' to focus on sustainability Nov. 13 - MIT's 14th annual Catherine N. Stratton Lecture on Critical Issues, "The Greening of MIT," to be held Nov. 13, will bring together four distinguished advocates for energy sustainability. November 7, 2007

Human-caused ozone will damage crops, economy - A novel MIT study concludes that increasing levels of ozone due to the growing use of fossil fuels will damage global vegetation, reducing production by 10 percent or more by 2100 and resulting in serious costs to the world's economy. October 26, 2007

Rafael Bras to receive AGU's Horton Medal - Professor Rafael Bras has been named this year's winner of the Robert E. Horton Medal, the highest award given to hydrologists by the American Geophysical Union. Bras is being recognized for his contributions to the geophysical aspects of hydrology. October 17, 2007

Biofuels report warns of strain on water resources - Boosting ethanol production by growing more corn in the U.S. without considering the quality and availability of water by region could put a significant strain on water resources, according to a report co-authored by an MIT professor. October 11, 2007

Observations give precise estimate of Mars ice - An MIT-led team of scientists has found that the southern pole of Mars contains the largest deposit of frozen water in the inner solar system, outside of Earth. The work shows that water, not carbon dioxide, is the predominant frozen liquid in that area. September 21, 2007

MIT model compares effects of emissions bills - While Congress considers seven bills that aim to limit America's greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, the MIT Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change applied its model to the bills to determine how their costs might affect the domestic economy. June 26, 2007

Summons wins Humboldt Award - Roger E. Summons, a professor in the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, will receive a Humboldt Research Award from the Alexander von Humboldt-Stifung Foundation in Germany. June 1, 2007

Team discovers 'throttle' for solar wind - Helium may modulate the speed of solar wind, according to researchers from MIT's Kavli Institute for Astrophysics. The new findings could lead to better understanding of what factors make the solar wind blow, and have impacts on plasma research. May 17, 2007

Linking science, innovation and policy - The MIT Energy Initiative is an Institute-wide endeavor designed to help transform the global energy system to meet the needs of the future and to help build a bridge to that future by improving today's energy systems. May 9, 2007

Images herald new era in Earth sciences - High-resolution images that reveal unexpected details of the Earth's internal structure are among the results reported by MIT and Purdue scientists, who adapted technology used for near-surface exploration of oil to image the core-mantle boundary. April 6, 2007

Model captures diversity of underwater forests - Scientists at MIT have created an ocean model so realistic that the virtual forests of diverse microscopic plants they "sowed" have grown in population patterns that precisely mimic their real-world counterparts. March 29, 2007

MIT Darwin Project will model ocean microbes - A new program to develop computational models of how marine microbes live and evolve in the global ocean has been launched with a $3.7 million gift from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. March 29, 2007

Local wildlife reveals global warming's effect - In a Lowell, Mass., cemetery on Memorial Day 1868, a photograph captured mourners in heavy winter clothing gathered under leafless trees near the graves of two brothers killed in the Civil War. At the same spot on Memorial Day 2005, cemetery visitors wore light spring clothes. The trees were in full flower. February 27, 2007

Extrasolars' light guides atmosphere research - So far, astronomers have discovered about 200 planets outside our solar system, known as "extrasolar" planets. Very little is known about most of them, but for the first time, scientists have obtained new information about the atmospheres of two such planets. February 21, 2007

Panel reviews economics of climate change - Sir Nicholas Stern's report on the economics of climate change was significant for being produced at all--as the first attempt by a major national government to identify climate change as a major issue, concluded panelists at a recent MIT presentation. February 13, 2007

Scientists work to deep-six carbon dioxide - A new analysis led by an MIT scientist describes a mechanism for capturing carbon dioxide emissions from a power plant and injecting the gas into the ground, where it would be trapped naturally as tiny bubbles and safely stored in briny porous rock. February 7, 2007

Report: Human activity fuels global warming - Today's release of a widely anticipated report on global warming coincides with a growing clamor within the United States to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and prevent the potentially devastating consequences of global climate change. February 2, 2007

Panel backs 'heat mining' as key U.S. energy source - A comprehensive new MIT-led study of the potential for geothermal energy within the U.S. has found that mining the heat that resides as stored thermal energy in the Earth's hard rock crust could supply a considerable amount of electricity. January 22, 2007

Survey: Climate change tops concerns - According to a recent MIT survey, Americans now rank climate change as the country's most pressing environmental problem--a dramatic shift from three years ago, when they ranked climate change sixth out of 10 environmental concerns. October 31, 2006

Fred Sanders, pioneer storm forecaster, dies - Frederick Sanders, professor emeritus of meteorology and mentor and friend to an entire generation of weather researchers, died on Oct. 6 after a long illness. He was 83 and had been a longtime resident of Marblehead. October 27, 2006

Energy experts side with 'Truth' - Al Gore would be pleased to hear that "An Inconvenient Truth," his documentary on global climate change, passed the MIT test. Ernest J. Moniz and Peter H. Stone declared that Gore did "a fine job framing the problem." September 27, 2006

MIT team describes unique cloud forest - Trees that live in an odd desert forest in Oman have found an unusual way to water themselves by extracting moisture from low-lying clouds, MIT scientists report, adding that hungry camels are endangering the future of the site. September 6, 2006

An eggs-ellent beginning - The Terrascope Egg Drop was everything it was cracked up to be. About 50 participants teamed up in small groups on Aug. 28 to find a way to protect a raw egg dropped from the roof of the 18-story Green Building. September 1, 2006

Acoustic data may reveal hidden gas, oil supplies - Just as doctors use ultrasound to image internal organs and unborn babies, MIT Earth Resources Laboratory researchers listen to the echoing language of rocks to map what's going on tens of thousands of feet below the Earth's surface. August 28, 2006

Clock in the rock: Scientists measure Earth's history - MIT geologist Sam Bowring believes that it may be possible to more precisely correlate the extinction of dinosaurs 66 million years ago with events such as the massive asteroid that slammed into Earth at about the same time. August 14, 2006

Microbe center plumbs depths of ocean life - Scientists from MIT and six other institutions are part of a new center for exploring the microbial inhabitants of the sea. The alliance aims to bring together the disciplines of oceanography, microbiology, ecology and genomics. August 10, 2006

Scientists call for action to avert hurricane disaster - An MIT professor has joined other scientists in calling for government action to avert future disasters related to hurricanes. The group asserted that the main hurricane problem facing the U.S. is the growing density in coastal regions. July 25, 2006

Antarctic ocean found crucial to atmosphere's health - Circulation in the waters near the Antarctic coast may be one of the planet's critical means of regulating levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, according to researchers from MIT, Princeton and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. July 11, 2006

Human activity linked to rise in hurricanes - Human-induced climate change, rather than naturally occurring ocean cycles, may be responsible for the recent increases in the frequency and strength of North Atlantic hurricanes, according to MIT and Penn State researchers. May 31, 2006

Algorithms put to use in oil hunt - Mathematical procedures developed by MIT researchers and teams at Shell International Exploration and Production may soon help energy companies locate new sources of oil many kilometers underground. May 17, 2006

Undersea channels studied to aid oil recovery - MIT studies of deep channels in the ocean floor filled with permeable, porous sedimentary deposits may help energy companies withdraw millions of additional barrels of oil from beneath the sea. May 2, 2006

Three awarded MacVicars for great teaching - The 2006 MacVicar Fellows share a passion for education that has earned all three the respect of students and faculty alike. This year's fellows are Professor Leslie Norford, Associate Professor Dennis Freeman and Professor Samuel Bowring. March 8, 2006

Microbe DNA helps scientists understand ocean - Using DNA analysis, MIT researchers and colleagues have gained new insight into how marine microbes thrive and survive at different depths of the ocean. February 22, 2006

MIT professors quoted on Hurricane Katrina - In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, news reporters consulted MIT experts about the science of hurricanes and the protection and rebuilding of cities. January 13, 2006

Team analyzes wind energy potential - MIT researchers studying winds off the Northeast coast have found that estimating the potential environmental benefits from wind requires a detailed understanding of the dynamics of both renewable resources and conventional power generation. December 21, 2005

Hurricane horror mostly bad luck -- for now - The high-impact hurricanes that have hit the United States over the past couple years are, at least for now, more a function of bad luck than of climate change, said MIT Professor Kerry Emanuel at a recent symposium. November 9, 2005

Post-hurricanes, MIT gets to work - In response to the hurricanes in the Gulf Coast region, members of the MIT community have created a number of educational initiatives, including a series of symposia that starts Sept. 30 with "How Can We Improve Disaster Response?" September 28, 2005

New web site explores local hurricane risk - MIT Sea Grant's newly launched hurricane web site provides information about planning and risk, as well as news about hurricane-related research being conducted by MIT experts. September 28, 2005

'Listening Up' tunes into sounds of science - Thanks to Carrie Bodle (S.M. 2005), Building 54 has been turned into a giant speaker, resonating with sounds from the upper level of Earth's atmosphere. September 15, 2005

Hurricanes growing fiercer with global warming - Hurricanes have grown significantly more powerful and destructive over the last three decades due in part to global warming, says an MIT professor who warns that this trend could continue. July 31, 2005

Scientists give boost to climate change predictions - Researchers from MIT, NASA and other institutions have created new supercomputer simulations that for the first time combine mathematical computer models of the atmosphere, ocean, land surface and sea ice. July 28, 2005

Freshmen exhibit Galapagos lessons - A cluster of freshman-designed interactive exhibits on the ecology, history and cultural life of the Galapagos Islands has transformed the lobby of Building 13 into a vivid portrait of the land Charles Darwin never forgot. May 17, 2005

New fault found in Himalayas - MIT and Dartmouth scientists have identified a previously unrecognized, active fault in the Nepalese Himalayas that provides new insights into how the mountains evolved. May 11, 2005

Geologists' find is evolutionary - MIT geologists have exciting new insights regarding ancient climate and early animals, and the link between the two. Their findings appeared in the April 1, 2005, issue of Science. April 13, 2005

Letters from Sri Lanka - MIT professor Charles Harvey is keeping a log of a trip he is taking with colleagues to research the effect of December's tsunami on drinking wells in Sri Lanka. February 22, 2005

Tsunami's impact a concern for MIT - The Indian Ocean tsunami's impact on Sri Lanka's drinking water and soil is the focus of an expedition this week by an MIT professor and colleagues from Florida and the Colorado School of Mines. February 14, 2005

Michaels describes hazards of blizzards - While many hunkered down in their warm homes during the blizzard of 2005, Channel 4 meteorologist Mish Michaels was racing to Cape Cod to stand in the heart of it. February 2, 2005

A tropical seesaw between drought and flooding - MIT scientists have learned that a seesawing climatic conversation occurs between the world's two largest tropical river basins: the Amazon in South America and the Congo in Africa. January 31, 2005

Predicting the next blizzard - Mish Michaels of CBS4 television in Boston will be on campus Friday, Jan. 28 speaking to students in an IAP course on weather forecasting taught by MIT lecturer Lodovica Illari. January 25, 2005

Symposium examines evolution - The Earth System Initiative's first symposium attracted participants and speakers who discussed Earth's evolution, with a focus on the role of life in shaping our planet. March 17, 2004

Students dig rock and road on IAP trip - Professors Samuel Bowring and Timothy Grove of earth, atmospheric and planetary sciences led students through the Mojave Desert to view geological features they couldn't see in New England. February 4, 2004

Students on rock trip - The 17 people eating breakfast and waiting for sunrise were students and faculty members of 12.102 turned loose in California and Nevada for 10 geology-filled days. January 30, 2004

Climate data gathered - NASA has approved an MIT-led project that will measure soil moisture from space. January 14, 2004

California casts chill - January's frigid New England weather was triggered by the December storms that wreaked havoc in coastal California, says lecturer in meteorology Lodovica Illari. January 14, 2004

Space technology boosts understanding of earthquakes - Nearly 10 years after Los Angeles was shaken by a devastating earthquake, scientists are showing that maturing space-based technologies and other techniques are rapidly advancing our understanding of earthquakes. December 17, 2003

Space-based research helps predict earthquakes - Nearly 10 years after Los Angeles was shaken by a devastating earthquake, scientists are showing that maturing space-based technologies and other techniques are rapidly advancing our understanding of earthquakes. December 12, 2003

'Perfect storms' - Scientists at MIT's Haystack Observatory watched as a surprisingly violent solar flare lashed out from the sun and sent an intense burst of energy and matter racing into space. December 3, 2003

Asteroid that strikes Earth - Of the approximately 1,000 near-Earth asteroids larger than 1 kilometer in diameter, one strikes the Earth on average once every 600,000 years. September 10, 2003

Maria Zuber heads EAPS - Maria T. Zuber, the E.A. Griswold Professor of Geophysics, will take over as head of the Department of EAPS. June 12, 2003

Zuber to head EAPS - Maria T. Zuber, the E.A. Griswold Professor of Geophysics, will take over as head of the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences (EAPS) on July 1. June 10, 2003

Earthquake patterns noted - An economist from MIT and physicists from Boston University discovered that large-scale events in the stock market adhere to distinct patterns. May 21, 2003

Blame it on the Rockies - The extreme weather here is caused by factors, starting with the fact that the Rockies force some high-altitude weather anomalies down into the air of the Gulf of Mexico. May 7, 2003

Earth-based tools image weather in space - Using ground-based instruments, MIT researchers can now provide real-time images of space weather, a new view of the same information NASA gets from space-based sensors looking back at the Earth. May 6, 2003

New England's wild weather - The extreme weather in New England is caused by a number of factors. May 2, 2003

Climate models need veggies - Just as vegetables are essential to balancing the human diet, the inclusion of vegetation may be equally essential to balancing Earth's climate models. April 2, 2003

Air pollution in Mexico City - An international team is working to help Mexican policy-makers find ways to reduce Mexico City's severe and persistent air pollution. April 2, 2003

Vegetation essential to balancing climate models - Just as vegetables are essential to balancing the human diet, the inclusion of vegetation may be equally essential to balancing Earth's climate models. March 31, 2003

Mexico City's air pollution focus of research - An international team led by an MIT research scientist and her husband, an MIT Nobel laureate, is working to help Mexican policy-makers find ways to reduce Mexico City's severe and persistent air pollution. March 26, 2003

Greenhouse gases should be reduced - Any attempt to curb global warming should include efforts to reduce natural and man-made greenhouse gases. February 11, 2003

Key to global warming prediction - The search for a Holy Grail of climate science may be nearing an end, if an MIT-led project is launched by NASA to measure soil moisture . December 4, 2002

Initiative aims to monitor Earth - MIT has launched a major environmental initiative to forge a better understanding of how the Earth functions from the molecular to the global scale. November 20, 2002

Earth System Initiative launched - MIT has launched the Earth System Initiative (ESI) to help monitor the planet's "vital signs," predict the effects of future human activities and otherwise contribute to the responsible stewardship of the planet. November 14, 2002

Key to global warming prediction within reach - The search for a Holy Grail of climate science may be nearing an end, if an MIT-led project is launched by NASA to measure soil moisture. November 14, 2002

Venice could aid flood control method - The Italian government is expected to decide whether to proceed with a public-works project that would build a series of floodgates at three inlets along the lagoon surrounding Venice. November 6, 2002

Use of sea floor for hurricane info - An MIT professor is developing what could be a less harrowing (and less expensive) method, based on listening to the storm from the ocean floor. October 2, 2002

MIT astronomers ID object - Astronomers at MIT played a key role this week in identifying a near-Earth object as most likely the third stage of an Apollo-era moon rocket. September 19, 2002

Nitrate pollution studied - MIT researchers have shown that a common pollutant strongly impacts the behavior of arsenic and possibly other toxic metals in some lakes. September 11, 2002

Forecasting team victory - MIT team won first prize in the National Collegiate Weather Forecasting Contest, beating out some of the nation's leading programs in weather forecasting. September 11, 2002

Forecasting team wins contest - For the second consecutive year, an MIT team won first prize in the National Collegiate Weather Forecasting Contest. September 4, 2002

Earth-based tools used to see space weather - MIT researchers can now provide real-time images of space weather--a new view of the same information NASA gets from space-based sensors looking back at the Earth. May 8, 2002

Kyoto Protocol discussed - While it is likely that the Kyoto Protocol will be ratified, the absence of the United States from the agreement will limit its environmental effect, MIT climate policy experts reported Feb. 17 at the AAAS annual meeting. February 27, 2002

EAPS presents problems - Kip Hodges thinks one way to help freshmen get turned on about learning the fundamentals of engineering and science is to encourage them to spend some time building castles in the air. December 19, 2001

Haystack dedicates office - The MIT Haystack Observatory in Westford dedicated a new wing, a 4,500-square-foot office complex, on Oct. 26. October 31, 2001

New landscape erosion model - A new landscape erosion model created by MIT researchers includes the significant effects of vegetation on the Earth's surface. June 6, 2001

Researchers look at atmospheric cleanser levels - Levels of our atmosphere's main cleansing agent -- the hydroxyl radical (OH) -- have first risen and then fallen substantially since 1978, an international team of researchers. May 9, 2001

Nature's atmospheric cleanser needs closer look, MIT-led research team finds - Unexpected changes in gas levels could affect future air quality and global warming policy. May 3, 2001

Lincoln Lab's view of Earth - Thanks in part to an instrument created by MIT Lincoln Laboratory, NASA's Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) spacecraft is sending back stunningly detailed images of the planet. March 14, 2001

Lincoln forecasting helps airlines - A weather forecasting system developed by the MIT Lincoln Laboratory and tested at four New York-area airports saved airlines and passengers more than $150 million last year. February 28, 2001

Researchers save airlines, reduce delays - Weather forecasting system developed by MIT and tested at NY airports saved airlines and passengers more than $150 million last year by reducing delays. February 15, 2001

Climate uncertainty reduced - MIT researchers reported that they have come up with a way to quantify the world of global climate change prediction and reduce some of the uncertainties. January 10, 2001

System improves fog forecasts - Researchers at MIT's Lincoln Laboratory expect that their new method to predict the clearing times of San Francisco fog will reduce delays for air travelers. January 10, 2001