Earth Science

So I'm sitting here as rain is pouring down, collecting in puddles, raising the water table, and filling aquifers to the point of almost flooding and I'm just thinking about all the areas in the U.S. that are facing drought. My first thought is, do I really have this excess of water here that I think we do? Is the ground supersaturated with water or has it just not filtered through yet? My second thought is, if there really is all this excess water and flooding, why can't we send it to the drought stricken areas? We have oil and gas pipelines that crisscross our nation, why can't we do the same with water and fill up Californian reservoirs? Just some thoughts. I would lov…

I wonder if anyone has any ideas as to how one might figure this out. If there were a tunnel from one side of the earth, through the center of the earth, and on out the other side, what would the air pressure be in the center? I have some ideas, but one catch is that the air pressure and air density would seem to be mutually interdependent..

But we (life) are an integral part of the planetary system and we (life) depend on that system; I'm not sure there's a qualitive difference between the two. The ecosystem that is me, may as well be a planet to the life that depends on me; even a virus, that is trying to kill me, needs me to live, or at least provide a suitable enviroment.

From what i understand, large volcanic eruptions occur when the preassure below the surface is too great and the volcano blows it's top and spews out huge amounts of matter. My question is, why can't we drill into the chamber and slowly release the preassure? The side benefit of this would be that we could use this preassure to generate huge amounts of electricity. So what's the problem?

Our current usage of coal, oil , uranium and other resources , has given concern that we may be ' or rather are' in danger of stripping our store of energy reserves dry. With our current technology , and a lot of advanced thinking , It may now be , technologically possible to tap into the SUN's supply of energy directly , other than by earth bound solar panels. A project of this nature, is both beneficial for earths resources as well as employment in research & development and the ensuing, industrial engineering projects on an enormous scale , that would be , of necessity , involved. All this in addition to the new ' User' facilities whose need will ari…

Hello, I do not really understand how one can determine the flow direction of a river by looking at a topographic map (see attachment). Does the river flow from north to south or from south to north? I think it has to do something with the steepness of the meanders on either side, but I do not really understand the full process. Can anyone help me figure it out? Thanks already!

Could climate change be caused by the heat water (thermodynamics pollution) discharged by once-through cooled natural gas, coal and nuclear power plants that heated water is disrupting the ocean currents similar to the water pump in a car malfunctioning? Experimentally, increasing the 400 ppm CO2 (.04%) in a small glass greenhouse to 3,000 ppm (.3%) does not increase the temperature differential yet one would expect a 13° F temperature differential at the upper 3,000 ppm CO2 concentration. In the last 100 years, the atmospheric co2 has increased by 200 ppm which would result in a 1° F increase in the glass greenhouse for every 200 ppm increase in the co2 level…

I think that global warming is just an opinion. Who here in the science comunity agrees?!?

I need Help finding the answers and confirming for the multiple choice questions please. This is for study guide A counterclockwise atmospheric circulation in the Northern Hemisphere is known as a/an Answer_A A) cyclone B.) pressure gradient C) troposphere D) anticyclone E) Coriolis effect 2.________ is the time of day when tornadoes are most likely to occur. Answer_A A) Mid-afternoon B.) Dawn C) Noon D) Evening E) Mid-morning 3. A weak migratory low pressure trough which is common in the low latitudes is often called a/an Answer_A A) easterly wave …

Some or all of the seas and rivers we have on earth today , were once in another form, on, or around, previously existing Supercontinents. If I understand it correctly what is left of the Tethis sea is a band running down the Mediterranean sea across through the Persian gulf and across with India missing , ? But we need to go back further in time to the early Supercontinents. Mike

If the ozone is depleting why not artificially added extra ozone (O3) to the layer to stabilize it? Sounds really fundamwntal, so I know Im wrong, but why? ~ee

Hello, I need to interview an environmental scientist/expert for my AP environmental science summer assignment, so i thought it would be a good idea to ask someone online to answer these questions. IF you would like to answer them, just answer the questions to the best of your ability, and put your name at the end of your post, as well as any formal titles that would prove your expertise (not necessary but would be preferred). Please take the time to give some input to these questions, it would be very helpful to me and also it would shed some light on views on important environmental issues. 1.Do you believe that global warming is an eminent threat or won't rea…

Through various media outlets there appears to be a lot of damage to the pacifics eco-system. Are there any on-going studies to marine life including phytoplankton affected by the on-going leakage of radio-active materials?

Just wondering why all our huge bodies of water are salt water? if you put salt in a glass of water it eventually all settles to the bottom are the oceans slowly doing this? What happened to cause salt water? when water was formed on earth and most of the planet was water was it salt water then?

Why are density and seismic velocity inversely proportional to one another? Seems counterintuitive....

I have a friend who is big into Science and is adamant that we have a good grasp on how the World works. I can agree that Science has discovered many things about the Earth. I cannot agree that we have such a good grasp on the Earth yet to be able to state this with such conviction. 95% of our Oceans remain unexplored according to the National Ocean Service. According to live Science, we have discovered only 10% of living things on the Earth. In my opinion, Science has only barely scratched the surface on the Earth and what’s out there. If I knew only 10% of my multiplication tables, would it be reasonable for me to state I have a good grasp on multiplication tab…

Hans Rosling explains that we have recently reached "peak child": the number of children born per year, in an absolute sense, is at its peak. (Unlike "peak oil", it is not inevitable that it will go down though). He also explains why all predictions correctly say that we will get at least another 3 billion more people on our planet, despite this peak child. It is likely that we will max out at 10 billion people, due to the "Great Fill-Up". Please watch the video before discussing. All 13 minutes are well worth your time. I know that the title of the video is the relation between religion and the number of children born... but (spoiler alert) he concludes that there…

This is just a pure thought. I am not very sure about this pure thought. My question is can more ships and boats and submarines cause the sea level to rise?

Volcanic Eruptions Cause Global Cooling: Man Made Pollution Has a Very Small Effect Global temperatures over time are dependent on major volcanic eruptions and not on man made pollution as the global warming crowd claims. Volcanic eruptions have caused some heating, but the main effects have been global cooling. There are many examples of global cooling, some of which are described in the following paragraphs. (Reference 1,2) Approximately 74,000 years ago there was an eruption of a volcano in Java named Toba. This eruption is described by volcanists as “Humongous.” The eruption killed almost all humans on earth at that time. This is not a theory but is we…

This is a brief question exposing my lack of knolwedge on this issue. However, on average, I am considering that most of Northern Europe (including e.g. Sweden, Norway and Scotland) is colder than Southern Europe closer to the Equator. However, why is it that Australia, New Guinea and New Zealand are considered hot countries when they are close to the South Pole? I would love to know the answer.

If various OLOGIES are looking out for various aspects of world systems. EG Geology looking at the structure of the earth and its long history; Geography looking at the surface systems, Biology looking out for living things, etc etc Who specifically has the discipline that looks out for not just climate, but the whole shebang ! Ocean, air, rocks, life , climate, minerals , sea and all the interlinking systems that keep the Earth as a working system. Is there a degree course with ensuing professors who make it their business to get a handle on the WHOLE EARTH SYSTEM/SYSTEMS ?

Out of 39 of the major earthquakes around the world, 35 of them occured in Winter, Fall, and early spring, with the remaining 4 (four) occuring in Summer (June,July,August). So the question is, are the movement of plate tectonics actually either the contraction or expansion of the whole of the planet, in direct correlation to it's position to the Sun?. Winter, fall and spring are the closest earth comes to the sun, within our calendar year. Is this a expansion period?, thereby giving plate tectonics movements validity, as a cause of earthquakes?. Perhaps expansion of the planet as a whole, in relation to it's distance to the Sun, is the real culprit. Wheras in the Summe…

If the biblical account of Noah’s flood happened and it rained for long enough would the weight of water on the land surfaces cause the land to “sink” thereby pushing out hot magma into the oceans creating more rain as the oceans heat up eventually reaching a tipping point and covering all the land?

There seems to be a fairly general acceptance of the idea that atmospheric pressure is caused by the weight of the molecules in the atmosphere. This idea is supported even by Wikipedia. I am not convinced that this is true. I think that atmospheric pressure is caused by "air" molecules colliding with the Earth's surface. This is not a new idea, of course, but it may not be widely held. If true, however, surely the "air has weight" explanation should be put to rest, as in Wiki and other websites. If I am wrong in believing the "molecular collisions" explanation, I should welcome comments that would put me right. However, in order to support my rejection of t…

Was the Middle-East a jungle full of trees and shrubs, like billions of years ago? I ask this because I know that Middle-Eastern countries usually have lots of oil reserves and many of them are major exporters to the rest of the world. I also know that oil is produced from the decomposition of plant material with time/pressure etc. If the Middle-East was a jungle once, what caused it to become a desert now?