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1500 questions
19
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4 answers
What would be the first thing which will render the Earth uninhabitable?
There are quite a few things which can make an otherwise habitable planet uninhabitable, and some of these will eventually happen, sooner or later:
engulfed by its star when it becomes a red giant
destroyed by the nova or supernova of its…
vsz
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Is there any consensus of what caused the Lusi Mud Volcano eruptions in Indonesia?
In May, 2006, the Lusi Mud Volcano in eastern Java, Indonesia came to life, smothering much of the surrounding land in mud.
According to the article Indonesia's Infamous Mud Volcano Could Outlive All of Us (Normile, 2011), there is considerable…
user889
19
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2 answers
Current consensus on the Messinian Salinity Crisis
In 1973, Hsü et al. explained the findings of a large evaporite deposit during the Messinian (Latest Miocene stage, ca. 6Ma) in the Mediterranean by a basin-wide desiccation event. It has been speculated later that it was due to the closing of the…
plannapus
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What is the status of meteorological data exchange standards?
How do the web services exchange meteorological data?
One method is transferring NetCDF and GRIB data and hooking them up to your software.
I read here about the possibility of using WFS and WCS. Here, I read about the proposal of using calls like…
Sean
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19
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2 answers
To what accuracy and precision do we know the volume of the Earth?
Satellites such as GOCE and GRACE measure the geoid with unprecedented accuracy. Altimeters can determine local surface elevation with millimetre-precision. This makes me wonder: to what precision and accuracy can we measure (or calculate) the…
gerrit
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19
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1 answer
What percent of volcanoes are glaciated?
I have not been able to find an estimate of how many known volcanoes host perennial ice masses, and it would be very useful to me. Does anyone know of any attempts to do this?
foobarbecue
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19
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2 answers
What are the applications of hydrostatic solvers vs non-hydrostatic solvers in numerical weather prediction?
In the atmospheric dynamics research community, many colleagues of mine happen to use atmospheric models that have non-hydrostatic equation solvers, e.g. the UK MetOffice model, and WRF-ARW:
The equation set for ARW is fully compressible, Eulerian…
decvalts
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19
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Can Venus be considered to be tectonically active?
Venus is noted for its absence of spreading ridges, transform faults, and subduction zones, which are characteristic of plate tectonics on Earth. But given that it exhibits rift zones, mountain belts and other "secondary" features of tectonic…
decvalts
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19
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5 answers
Why do trees break at the same wind speed?
Several people have independently mentioned to me that all trees break at the same wind speed. This phenomenon is independent of type and size of the tree. Supposedly, Galileo already had described this phenomenon in one of his books. I think the…
arkaia
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19
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3 answers
Are metals and other elements in every continent?
I originally thought that you can only find certain things like iron, copper, and other things in certain places in the world and deep in mines but I saw in a few YouTube videos that you can find iron in rocks just laying on the ground. I searched…
user11937382
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1 answer
Debunking scientific paper "Has global warming already arrived?"
I read the IPCC reports, I know global warming is happening and is man-made.
But as any skeptic should do periodically, I went to a few climate deniers websites and stumbled upon this peer-reviewed scientific paper, published in "Journal of…
Frederic Conrotte
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19
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2 answers
Do dams reduce the flow of river downstream?
There is a conflict between Egypt and Ethiopia, because the latter wants to build a dam on the Nile river. Citing this article:
[Egypt] fears the Nile dam will reduce its share of the river and leave the
country with dwindling options as it seeks…
Martin Drozdik
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19
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2 answers
Where is the calmest place on Earth?
I have done some research online, and I've found out that Antarctica has the calmest winds (lowest maximum wind speed) recorded on Earth. However, it is uninhabitable for human life. Other very calm areas are the doldrums, but they are over water.…
Muze
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19
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Why do Tsunamis travel slower than sound?
Tsunamis, in the deep ocean, travel at around 800 kilometers per hour.
The speed of sound under water is about 5300 kilometers per hour.
Both of these waves are pressure waves, operating in the same medium. Why is one so much faster than the other?
naught101
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19
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3 answers
Do volcanos really create fertile soil?
I'm developing an ecology for a portion of my world that's geologically active and I remembered hearing that volcanic ash in soil makes it more fertile to agriculture.
After extensive googling I've found surprisingly little information about the…
Nascence