On May 20, 2013, a massive EF5 <a href="http://www.windows2universe.org/earth/Atmosphere/tornado.html">tornado</a> hit Moore, Oklahoma, devastating communities and lives. The tornado, on the ground for 40 minutes, took a path through a subdivision of homes, destroying block after block of homes, and hitting two elementary schools just as school was ending as well as a hospital. Hundreds of people were injured, and 24 were killed.<p><small><em>Image courtesy of Ks0stm, Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license</em></small></p><p>Something on Earth is always burning! NASA's Earth Observatory tracks wildfires across the world with <a href="http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/GlobalMaps/view.php?d1=MOD14A1_M_FIRE" target="_blank">maps available for viewing</a> from 2000-present. Some wildfires can restore <a href="/earth/ecosystems.html&edu=elem&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/particulates.html">ecosystems</a> to good health, but many can threaten human populations, posing a natural disaster threat.</p> <p>Check out the materials about natural disasters in <a href="/earth/natural_hazards/when_nature_strikes.html&edu=elem&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/particulates.html">NBC Learn Videos</a>, and their earth system science connections built up by the related secondary classroom activities.</p><p><small><em>NBC Learn</em></small></p><p>The United Nations <a href="http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/PAND_report.pdf" target="_blank">estimated</a> that between 1994-2015, there were 6,873 natural disasters worldwide, which affected 218 million people and claimed 1.35 million lives. </p> <p>Check out the materials about natural disasters in <a href="/earth/natural_hazards/when_nature_strikes.html&edu=elem&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/particulates.html">NBC Learn Videos</a>, and their earth system science connections built up by the related secondary classroom activities.</p><p><small><em>NBC Learn</em></small></p>A <a href="http://iopscience.iop.org/1748-9326/8/2/024035/article">study</a> of over 40,000 written entries in Irish Annals and ice core measurements shows a strong correlation between <a href="http://www.windows2universe.org/earth/interior/eruptions.html">volcanic eruptions</a> and extreme cold weather in Ireland over a 1200 year period, from 431 to 1649. During this time up to 48 volcanic eruptions were identified in Greenland ice core records through deposition of volcanic sulfate in annual layers of ice. Find out more about <a href="http://www.windows2universe.org/earth/climate/geosphere_volcanoes_influence_on_climate.html">volcanoes and climate</a>.<p><small><em>Image Courtesy of Marco Fulle</em></small></p>According to <a href="http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2013-277">NASA scientists</a>, the Voyager 1 spacecraft entered interstellar space in August 2012, becoming the first spacecraft to leave the <a href="/our_solar_system/solar_system.html&edu=elem&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/particulates.html">solar system</a>. The space probe is about 19 billion km from the <a href="/sun/sun.html&edu=elem&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/particulates.html">Sun</a>. <a href="/space_missions/voyager.html&edu=elem&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/particulates.html">Voyager 1 and 2</a> were launched in 1977 on a <a href="/space_missions/voyager.html&edu=elem&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/particulates.html">mission</a> that flew them both by <a href="/jupiter/jupiter.html&edu=elem&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/particulates.html">Jupiter</a> and <a href="/saturn/saturn.html&edu=elem&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/particulates.html">Saturn</a>, with Voyager 2 continuing to <a href="/uranus/uranus.html&edu=elem&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/particulates.html">Uranus</a> and <a href="/neptune/neptune.html&edu=elem&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/particulates.html">Neptune</a>. Voyager 2 is the longest continuously operated spacecraft. It is about 15 billion km away from the <a href="/sun/sun.html&edu=elem&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/particulates.html">Sun</a>.<p><small><em>Image courtesy of NASA</em></small></p>The <a href="http://www.windows2universe.org/earth/Atmosphere/tornado/fujita.html">EF-5</a> <a href="http://www.windows2universe.org/earth/Atmosphere/tornado.html">tornado</a> that hit El Reno, Oklahoma on May 31st, 2013 was the widest ever recorded in the US, according to the National Weather Service in Norman Oklahoma. The tornado, which remained on the ground for 40 minutes and reached 2.6 miles across (4.2 km), took the lives of 18 people including storm chasers Tim Samaras, Paul Samaras and Carl Young.<p><small><em>Image courtesy of National Weather Service, Norman Oklahoma</em></small></p>


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Video About Ocean Dead Zones

Oceanographers are using robotic undersea "gliders" to study "dead zones" in the seas. View this video from the National Science Foundation ...Read more
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Clouds in Art

Landscape painters have been representing clouds in their art for centuries. Different artists with different styles have painted clouds differently. Check out the Clouds in Art Interactive ...Read more
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The Sun Today

Live and recent images of the Sun from telescopes around the world and satellites in space. Spanning the spectrum from X-rays to infrared images, these views reveal sunspots, solar flares, and ...Read more
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Icebergs

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For thousands of years people have told stories that connect their cultures with objects in the sky and in the natural world around us, creating tales of thunder gods and Moon goddesses ...Read more

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Impact on Jupiter - July 2009

Anthony Wesley is an astronomer in Australia. One night in July 2009, Wesley noticed a dark spot on Jupiter...Read more


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