Feed aggregator | Отдел физики околоземного космического пространства

A new study finds that commercial satellite imagery data often outperforms public data sets when identifying surface water, but that public data sets may be better at detecting water hidden by forest cover. Satellite imagery is a powerful tool for mapping surface water, from the movement of rivers and streams to water levels and even water temperatures. The effectiveness of those satellites depends on their ability to identify water in the images they capture.

Major volcanic eruptions might be driven by gas dissolving back into magma

Phys.org: Earth science - Fri, 03/27/2026 - 16:40

Understanding what triggers large volcanic eruptions is crucial for hazard assessment, but the exact mechanism driving these eruptions is still poorly understood. The prevailing theory is that volatile exsolution—gas coming out of magma—is a main driver of eruptions, particularly in volcanoes rich in silica. However, a new study, published in Nature Communications, posits that it is actually gas being dissolved back into the magma that leads to the pressurization needed for large eruptions.

Cyclone Narelle is now larger and 'more severe' as it crosses the Western Australian coast

Phys.org: Earth science - Fri, 03/27/2026 - 14:20

Severe Tropical Cyclone Narelle continues to amaze us with its long journey across northern Australia. This cyclone began life near the Solomon Islands on March 16, when moist air rose rapidly and created a low-pressure zone.

Unraveling active magma by drilling in the heart of volcanoes

Phys.org: Earth science - Fri, 03/27/2026 - 13:00

Although volcanic eruptions are spectacular natural events that occur around the world every day, most volcanoes spend the majority of their time not erupting. To accurately forecast volcanic activity, it's important to characterize the magma before an eruption is imminent.

Japan's giant caldera volcano is refilling 7,300 years later

Phys.org: Earth science - Fri, 03/27/2026 - 10:00

The magma reservoir of the largest volcanic eruption of the Holocene is refilling. This Kobe University insight on the Kikai caldera in Japan allows us to understand giant caldera volcanoes like Yellowstone or Toba more generally and gets us closer to predicting their behavior, too.

Utilizing the deuterium-tritium fusion resonance to diagnose thermal runaway in igniting plasmas

Physical Review E (Plasma physics) - Fri, 03/27/2026 - 10:00

Author(s): Robert H. Dwyer, K. D. Meaney, B. M. Haines, B. J. Albright, H. Geppert-Kleinrath, J. P. Sauppe, W. Daughton, N. M. Hoffman, C. Forrest, S. P. Regan, and Y. Kim

For high-efficiency inertial confinement fusion implosions, it is predicted that a burning hot spot will successfully encompass all surrounding fuel and then transition into a thermal runaway where the internal energy increase from fusion occurs on a timescale faster than the expansion of the fuel i…

[Phys. Rev. E 113, 035214] Published Fri Mar 27, 2026

Discarded oyster shells may pull rare earth metals from polluted water

Phys.org: Earth science - Fri, 03/27/2026 - 00:40

New research from a team at Trinity College Dublin has unearthed a cheap and environmentally friendly new option for removing pollutants from our water. The key? Oyster shells that would ordinarily end up in landfill sites after consumption. The research, just published in the journal Science of the Total Environment, shows that waste seashells—especially those from oysters—can capture and remove rare earth elements from polluted water. And what's more, they do it entirely naturally, turning them into stable mineral crystals.