<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=high&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/h/k=/teacher_resources/teach_pluggedCO2.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>Anti-crepuscular rays are beams of sunlight that appear to converge on a point opposite the sun. They are similar to crepuscular rays, but are seen opposite the sun in the sky. Anti-crepuscular rays are most frequently visible near sunrise or sunset. This photo of anti-crepuscular rays was taken at sunset in Boulder, Colorado. Crepuscular rays are usually much brighter than anti-crepuscular rays.<p><small><em> Image Courtesy of Carlye Calvin</em></small></p>On November 7, 2013, Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda in the Philippines) made landfall, with imated wind speeds of ~315 km/hr - the strongest <a href="/earth/Atmosphere/hurricane/intensity.html&edu=high&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/h/k=/teacher_resources/teach_pluggedCO2.html">tropical cyclone</a> to make landfall in recorded history. As Haiyan moved across the Philippines before reaching Vietnam and China, its <a href="/earth/Atmosphere/wind.html&edu=high&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/h/k=/teacher_resources/teach_pluggedCO2.html">winds</a> and <a href="/earth/Atmosphere/hurricane/surge.html&edu=high&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/h/k=/teacher_resources/teach_pluggedCO2.html">storm surge</a> left devastation in its wake, leading to massive loss of life, destruction of homes, and hundreds of thousands of displaced inhabitants. <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/09/world/iyw-how-to-help-typhoon-haiyan/index.html">How to Help</a><p><small><em>Image courtesy of COMS-1, SSEC, University of Wisconsin-Madison</em></small></p>As temperatures rise and soil moisture decreases, plants are stressed, which can lead to <a href="/earth/climate/crops_withering.html&edu=high&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/h/k=/teacher_resources/teach_pluggedCO2.html">crop withering</a>. <a href="/teacher_resources/online_courses/health/events_health.html&edu=high&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/h/k=/teacher_resources/teach_pluggedCO2.html">Droughts</a> accompanied by increased temperatures can lead to famine, social and political disruptions. Scientists are helping with early identification of drought that might trigger food shortages. Watch the NBC Learn video - <a href="/earth/changing_planet/withering_crops_intro.html&edu=high&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/h/k=/teacher_resources/teach_pluggedCO2.html">Changing Planet: Withering Crops</a> to find out more.<p><small><em>Image taken by Tomas Castelazo, Creative Commons <a href=&quot;http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en&quot;>Attribution 3.0 Unported</a> license.</em></small></p>New observations by the MESSENGER spacecraft provide support for the hypothesis that Mercury harbors abundant water ice and other frozen volatile materials in its permanently shadowed (shown in red) polar craters. Areas where polar deposits of ice imaged by Earth-based radar are shown in yellow.<p><small><em>Image courtesy of NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Carnegie Institution of Washington/National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center, Arecibo Observatory</em></small></p>How did life evolve on <a href="/earth/earth.html&edu=high&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/h/k=/teacher_resources/teach_pluggedCO2.html">Earth</a> during the <a href="/earth/past/Archean.html&edu=high&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/h/k=/teacher_resources/teach_pluggedCO2.html">Archean</a>, when the <a href="/sun/sun.html&edu=high&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/h/k=/teacher_resources/teach_pluggedCO2.html">Sun</a> was about 25% weaker than today? The Earth should have been <a href="/earth/polar/cryosphere_glacier1.html&edu=high&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/h/k=/teacher_resources/teach_pluggedCO2.html">glaciated</a>, if <a href="/earth/climate/earth_greenhouse.html&edu=high&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/h/k=/teacher_resources/teach_pluggedCO2.html">greenhouse</a> gas concentration was the same as today. <a href="http://www.manchester.ac.uk/aboutus/news/display/?id=10798">Researchers</a> studying the <a href="/physical_science/physics/atom_particle/isotope.html&edu=high&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/h/k=/teacher_resources/teach_pluggedCO2.html">isotopic</a> signatures of Earth's early atmosphere in <a href="/earth/geology/rocks_intro.html&edu=high&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/h/k=/teacher_resources/teach_pluggedCO2.html">rocks</a> from Northern Australia have ruled out high levels of <a href="/physical_science/chemistry/nitrogen_molecular.html&edu=high&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/h/k=/teacher_resources/teach_pluggedCO2.html">nitrogen</a> as a possible way to increase warming from <a href="/earth/Atmosphere/overview.html&edu=high&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/h/k=/teacher_resources/teach_pluggedCO2.html">atmospheric</a> <a href="/physical_science/chemistry/carbon_dioxide.html&edu=high&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/h/k=/teacher_resources/teach_pluggedCO2.html">carbon dioxide</a>.<p><small><em>Image courtesy of Manchester University</em></small></p>


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