This dramatic view of Jupiter's <a href="/jupiter/atmosphere/J_clouds_GRS.html&edu=high&dev=1/meta_intro.html">Great Red Spot</a> and its surroundings was obtained by <a href="/space_missions/voyager.html&edu=high&dev=1/meta_intro.html">Voyager 1</a> on Feb. 25, 1979, when the spacecraft was 5.7 million miles (9.2 million kilometers) from Jupiter. Cloud details as small as 100 miles (160 kilometers) across can be seen here. The colorful, wavy cloud pattern to the left of the Red Spot is a region of extraordinarily complex end variable wave motion.<p><small><em>Image courtesy of NASA</em></small></p>The massive 9.0 magnitude <a href="/earth/geology/quake_1.html&edu=high&dev=1/meta_intro.html">earthquake</a> off of Honshu, Japan on <a href="/headline_universe/march112011earthquaketsunami.html&edu=high&dev=1/meta_intro.html">11 March 2011</a> generated a <a href="/earth/tsunami1.html&edu=high&dev=1/meta_intro.html">tsunami</a> that exceeded 10 meters on the coast near the epicenter. This image shows model projections for the tsunami wave height in cm which are in good agreement with the observed waves. Our thoughts and prayers are with those who were lost, and their families, as we remember this event.<p><small><em><a href="http://blogs.agu.org/wildwildscience/files/2011/03/680_20110311-TsunamiWaveHeight.jpg">NOAA Tsunami Wave Height Projections image</a></em></small></p>A group of Emperor penguins wait their turn to dive into the ocean near <a href="/people/postcards/jean_pennycook_11_29_0.html&edu=high&dev=1/meta_intro.html">Ross Island, Antarctica</a> on November 3, 2004. Emperor penguins routinely dive to 500 meters in search of food. Scientists are interested in understanding how they can endure the stress of these dives in such an <a href="/earth/extreme_environments.html&edu=high&dev=1/meta_intro.html">extreme environment</a>.<p><small><em> Image courtesy of Emily Stone, National Science Foundation</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=high&dev=1/meta_intro.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>Scientists are concerned that melting Arctic sea ice will increase the amount of fresh water in the <a href="/earth/polar/arctic_currents.html&edu=high&dev=1/meta_intro.html">Beaufort Gyre</a>, which could spill out into the Atlantic and cause major climate shifts in North America and Western Europe. Watch the <a href="/earth/changing_planet/freshwater_arctic.html&edu=high&dev=1/meta_intro.html">Changing Planet: Fresh Water in the Arctic video</a>.<p><small><em> Courtesy of Jack Cook, WHOI (<a href="http://www.whoi.edu">Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute</a>)</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>


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Clouds in Art

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Physics of Space Weather

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Earthquakes happen as large blocks of the Earth’s crust move suddenly past one another because of the force of plate tectonics. These blocks of the Earth’s crust meet at cracks called faults ...Read more

Mercury

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Hercules

Hercules, the great Greek warrior, can be seen kneeling in the sky for northern latitudes throughout...Read more


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