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1500 questions
20
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5 answers
Academic but accessible defense of the scientific understanding of anthropogenic climate change?
I'm an intelligent and well-educated guy, but all of my schooling has been in economics, statistics, and public policy. I'm interested in reading a thorough explanation/defense of the scientific understanding of anthropogenic climate change that is…
John Chrysostom
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Is it true that a butterfly flapping its wings can result in a tornado in a distant location?
I have heard that extreme storm events can be caused simply by a butterfly flapping its wings somewhere in a distant location. Is it true that such a small disturbance in the air in one location can result in such a large catastrophic event in…
Kenshin
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2 answers
Why do colder climates have more rugged coasts?
I've been playing Worldle for a while, and noticed that colder countries seem to have more rugged coasts. See Svalbard for example:
And Patagonia:
Whereas e.g. Bali is smoother:
Does it have something to do with the ocean being stronger in colder…
Simon Bohnen
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In the northern hemisphere summer, why are places in the north cooler than those in the south?
As the Earth's axis is inclined, during summer in the northern hemisphere places in the north are exposed to the Sun's rays for longer, so days are longer during summer (say in June - Aug). Yet, countries like the UK have a lower summer temperature…
Leo
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Will the Earth ever stop rotating?
It is well known that the Earth's rotation is slowing down and that millions of years ago there was a point in time where there was only a mere 20 hours in a day on Earth.
My question is in two parts. Firstly why is the Earth's rotation slowing…
Kenshin
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20
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3 answers
Can the overuse of geothermal energy become an environmental concern?
At what power output would we be using so much geothermal energy that we cool the core enough to endanger the Earth's magnetic field and have to stop using it? Is this a conceivable concern for a future energy crisis?
Mazura
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What is the 'natural variation' in global temperature that climate-change skeptics mention?
I was wondering if there really was some natural variation that keeps getting cited by climate-change skeptics that predicts a warming? The only such variation I can think of would be the milankovitch cycles, however this predicts cooling not…
AlexLipp
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What can we learn by studying lunar atmospheric tides?
Lunar atmospheric tides are likely insignificant for weather, although Guoqing (2005) asserts that The lunar revolution around the earth strongly influences the atmospheric circulation. They don't seem to be studied terribly much. What insights…
gerrit
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4 answers
What is the deepest we have ever gone into the Earth?
I remember Journey to the Center of Earth and wonder: What is the deepest in the Earth surface or below sea level we have traveled either by foot, sub, drill or camera?
Muze
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Do fossil fuels insulate the crust from the Earth's interior?
I was doing a project for my English class, and I came upon the article Energy conservation in the earth's crust and climate change. I can't view the full text of the article, but the abstract piqued my interest:
Do long hydrocarbons in the earth…
tox123
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20
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1 answer
Why Earth's magnetic poles are (and were) in their positions?
This is a sort of a follow-up question to What causes the Earth to have magnetic poles?
The Earth has magnetic fields, and according to dynamo theory I roughly understand why. If the Earth's rotation influences the Earth's magnetic field, it also…
Pavel V.
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What is the origin of the Montmartre mountain in Paris?
I have always wondered what is the origin of Montmartre mountain in Paris. What surprises me is that the whole area seems quite flat, and yet there's a very steep hill in the middle. How has that happen? Is it an instance of some common geological…
yo'
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4 answers
Lanes of flat ocean surface in coastal waters
When the ocean is still, i.e. there aren't waves that disturb the surface, you often see "lanes" of water that seem flat as opposed to areas where the wind causes ripples. What causes this?
user8389
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7 answers
Why doesn't the 71% water of the earth dry or evaporate?
Perhaps a simple question, we know 71% of the earth's surface contains water as oceans. If Earth's age is 4.543 billion years, then I guess it should be decreased with drying or should have been dried so far. Why doesn't it dry or decrease?
If we…
Harry
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2 answers
Historically, how has the fraction of Earth covered by water changed?
Today, 70.8% of the Earth is covered in water (± a few tenths of a percent depending on how you account for lakes).1 How has this figure changed over the history of the Earth, and why?
Of course, if we go back to the early Hadean Eon, there were no…
senshin
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