northern
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Space & Cosmos
Northern Lights: How the Northern Lights Captivated People in the 18th Century
Credit: CC0 Public Domain Since May this year, the Northern Lights have been visible further south than usual over the UK, causing surprise and fascination. Social media is abuzz with images of skies glowing with green, pink and red light. We now know that these lights occur during magnetic storms. This is when charged subatomic particles, primarily electrons, collide with…
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Earth
Geodynamic mantle flow model explains deformation of continental crustal blocks in northern China
Crustal structure and reconstruction of deforming plates in Northeast Asia and the Western Pacific. Credit: Nature Geoscience (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41561-024-01513-2 Cratons are fascinating but mysterious geological formations. Cratons, known as relatively stable parts of Earth’s continental crust, have remained largely unchanged for billions of years. Although cratons have survived many geological events, some are undergoing decratonization, a process characterized by…
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Earth
Modeling study reveals that ‘greening’ of Africa’s Sahara Desert could change the climate of the Northern Hemisphere
Winter temperature (a, b), summer temperature (c, d), and annual precipitation (e, f) between preindustrial values, paleoclimate model (MH-PMIP), and Sahara Greening Model (MH). Comparison of the reconstructed model and environmental surrogate-GS). Credit: Past Climate (2024). DOI: 10.5194/cp-20-1735-2024 Africa’s Sahara Desert may be considered an extreme environment for flora and fauna to thrive, with vast expanses of barren sand and…
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Environment
3 people killed in flash floods in northern Thailand
Tourists were evacuated from a hotel in the Thai city of Chiang Mai through knee-deep muddy water. Three people were killed in flash floods in Thailand’s popular tourist destination Chiang Mai, health officials said Sunday, as tourists were evacuated from hotels in knee-deep mud and shops in the city center closed. Two elephants also drowned in rapidly rising floodwaters north…
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