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&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/h/neptune/games_junk.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&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/h/neptune/games_junk.html">winds</a> and <a href="/earth/Atmosphere/hurricane/surge.html&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/h/neptune/games_junk.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>A new study has found that <a href="/earth/Atmosphere/airpollution_intro.html&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/h/neptune/games_junk.html">pollution</a> from <a href="/earth/Atmosphere/particulates.html&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/h/neptune/games_junk.html">fine particles</a> in the air - mainly the result of burning coal or <a href="/earth/interior/eruptions.html&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/h/neptune/games_junk.html">volcanic eruptions</a> - can shade <a href="/earth/Life/cnidarian.html&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/h/neptune/games_junk.html">corals</a> from sunlight and cool the surrounding water resulting in reduced growth rates. Coral growth rates in the Caribbean were affected by volcanic aerosol emissions in the early 20th century and by aerosol emissions caused by humans in the later 20th century. For more information, see the <a href="http://www.exeter.ac.uk/news/featurednews/title_278202_en.html">press release</a>.<p><small><em>Image courtesy of Toby Hudson (Wikimedia Commons)</em></small></p>This image is a montage of high resolutions photographs of the Earth taken in January 2012 by the Visible/Infrared Imager Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) instrument on the Suomi NPP satellite. The image shows many stunning details of <a href="http://www.windows2universe.org/earth/earth.html">our home planet</a> - <a href="http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/gallery/VIIRS_4Jan2012.jpg">particularly at high resolution</a>. The beauty of our planet is obvious from space - our blue <a href="http://www.windows2universe.org/earth/Water/overview.html">waters</a>, our white <a href="http://www.windows2universe.org/earth/Atmosphere/cloud.html">clouds</a>, and the green from <a href="http://www.windows2universe.org/earth/Life/life.html">life</a> abundant at the surface.<p><small><em>Image courtesy of NASA</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>How did life evolve on <a href="/earth/earth.html&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/h/neptune/games_junk.html">Earth</a> during the <a href="/earth/past/Archean.html&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/h/neptune/games_junk.html">Archean</a>, when the <a href="/sun/sun.html&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/h/neptune/games_junk.html">Sun</a> was about 25% weaker than today? The Earth should have been <a href="/earth/polar/cryosphere_glacier1.html&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/h/neptune/games_junk.html">glaciated</a>, if <a href="/earth/climate/earth_greenhouse.html&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/h/neptune/games_junk.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&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/h/neptune/games_junk.html">isotopic</a> signatures of Earth's early atmosphere in <a href="/earth/geology/rocks_intro.html&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/h/neptune/games_junk.html">rocks</a> from Northern Australia have ruled out high levels of <a href="/physical_science/chemistry/nitrogen_molecular.html&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/h/neptune/games_junk.html">nitrogen</a> as a possible way to increase warming from <a href="/earth/Atmosphere/overview.html&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/h/neptune/games_junk.html">atmospheric</a> <a href="/physical_science/chemistry/carbon_dioxide.html&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/h/neptune/games_junk.html">carbon dioxide</a>.<p><small><em>Image courtesy of Manchester University</em></small></p>March 2012 marks the first anniversary of the 9.0 magnitude <a href="/earth/geology/quake_1.html&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/h/neptune/games_junk.html">earthquake</a>, <a href="/earth/tsunami1.html&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/h/neptune/games_junk.html">tsunami</a>, and resulting nuclear accident in Japan on <a href="/headline_universe/march112011earthquaketsunami.html&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/h/neptune/games_junk.html">11 March 2011</a>. The tsunami did massive damage, wiping out entire villages and killing ~16,000 people, and leading to one of the most serious nuclear accidents in history. This image shows before and after photos of the area north of Sendai, where 10,000 people were lost.<p><small><em>Photos by <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/03/13/world/asia/satellite-photos-japan-before-and-after-tsunami.html?hp">GeoEye/EyeQ</a>.</em></small></p>


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