Head in a Cloud

Have you ever wondered how much other planets in our solar system are like Earth? Venus is especially much like Earth because they have similar characteristics such as chemical make-up, mass, distance from the sun, and size. Many Scientists have theorized that Venus and Earth started out the same and over time, have changed into [...]

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From the young child trying to figure out why there are no two snowflakes that look exactly the same to the scientist who attempts to answer such questions, ice has been a fascination to anyone who has seen it. The physics behind the delicate shapes has been a great source of study. Such historical figures [...]

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To help better explain the gap between theoretical and observed precipitation droplet growth times, Xue et al. attempted to quantify the effects of turbulent motions on collision and coalescence. In “Growth of Cloud Droplets by Turbulent Collision-Coalescence” from the February 2008 Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, several different model parameterizations for collision kernels were compared [...]

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Atmospheric circulation and the global energy budget are largely influenced by surface temperature. Thompson and Wallace (1998) showed that the Arctic Oscillation (AO) is the principal component of the Northern Hemisphere sea level pressure poleward of 20°N and Thompson et al (2000) showed that the AO accounts for as much as 50% of the [...]

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In the article “Midweek increase in U.S. summer rain and storm heights suggests air pollution invigorates rainstorms” printed in the Journal of Geophysical Research, Bell et al. make a strong case that air pollution plays a role in changing both precipitation coverage and intensity during summer afternoon thunderstorms. Pollution aerosols act to delay precipitation in [...]

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