Science News

 Decades of extreme weather crippled, and ultimately decimated, first the political culture and later the human population of the ancient Maya, according to a new study by an interdisciplinary team of researchers that includes two University of California, Davis, scientists.

This animation of GOES data runs through the period of April 14-15, 2012. The imagery reveals the strong flow of warm, moist air from the Gulf into an advancing cold front. There were more than 135 reports of tornadoes and 124 different warnings during this period.

One year after the historic tornado outbreak of April 27-28, 2011, researchers say they've learned a few things about deadly twisters. This week's ScienceCast presents some of the scientific findings that emerged from the swath of destruction.

Earth's clouds got a little lower -- about one percent on average -- during the first decade of this century, finds a new NASA-funded university study based on NASA satellite data. The results have potential implications for future global climate.

One of the primary instruments on NASA's Aqua spacecraft is the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS), which is providing a detailed three-dimensional view of the atmosphere. This new view is helping scientists to better understand the climate system and is proving of great value also in several practical applications, including weather forecasting.
This video is public domain and can be downloaded at: ‪http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/goto?10893

A brief recap of the satellite news media tour on February 1, 2012 that looked at the science of falling snow, how NASA observes snow from space, and the factors that lead to the 2010 "Snowmageddon." For more on the story, check out http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/know-snow.html

Computer scientists who set out to simulate all rainbows found in nature, wound up answering questions about the physics of rainbows as well.

This animation visualizes daily snow cover over North America from July 1, 2009 - March 11, 2012.