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1500 questions
24
votes
2 answers
Is climate chaotic?
The atmosphere is a highly dynamical system, and exhibits many chaotical features. An operational weather forecasting model tries to model an initial value problem, in fact one of the most famous examples of a chaotic system.
Climate however, is…
gerrit
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23
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2 answers
What properties must a rocky body possess in order to exhibit plate tectonics?
The Earth exhibits plate tectonics, but the other terrestrial planets do not (though Mars and Venus may have exhibited plate tectonics in the past).
What is "special" about Earth that allows it to have plate tectonics? Equivalently, what conditions…
senshin
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23
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1 answer
Why are most peninsulas oriented north-south?
Weird question, bear with me.
Most large peninsula on Earth are oriented southwards (and most of the rest northwards), much fewer east or west. Some examples:
Florida, Californa peninsula, Yucatan, South America, Antarctic peninsula, India,…
LocalFluff
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23
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1 answer
Why do Earth and Venus have different atmospheres?
Venus appears to be the closest to Earth in mass, density, size, etc. - though they clearly have different atmospheres. Why do Earth and Venus have different atmospheres?
blunders
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23
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1 answer
Where does wind come from?
Wind is (according to Wikipedia) the flow of gases on a large scale.On the surface of the Earth, wind consists of the bulk movement of air.
What forces would cause such a mass movement of air?
Ben A. Noone
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23
votes
2 answers
Are there pockets of liquid carbon dioxide in Earth's oceans?
The carbon dioxide phase diagram shows that at high pressure and normal temperature CO2 becomes liquid. Since it is heavier than water, I wonder if there are lakes of liquid CO2 at the bottom of the Earth's oceans, and if no, why?
Anixx
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23
votes
3 answers
What percent of the Earth's core is uranium?
What percent of the Earth's core is uranium? And how much of the heat at the core is from radioactive decay rather than other forces?
Steve Farkus
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23
votes
3 answers
How to distinguish P, S, Love, and Rayleigh waves in a seismogram?
What features should I look for to determine each of these kinds of waves in a seismogram? What signal processing methods (filters, transforms, etc...) should I use to determine them?
Paul
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23
votes
2 answers
Why do crystals, like quartz and diamonds, form in different colors?
Some crystals, like quartz and diamonds, form in a variety of different colors. For example, quartz can be clear, 'foggy', pink, yellow, and even blue.
What happens during the crystal's formation to make it one color or
another?
Azzie Rogers
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23
votes
2 answers
How can the average coldest day of the year be before the winter solstice?
There are parts of the U.S. where, on average, the coldest day of the year comes before December 21st. [source]
How can this be? Why would temperatures start rising again even while days are still growing shorter?
(I would have assumed that daily…
ruakh
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23
votes
5 answers
Is the color of the sky the same everywhere on earth?
Is the color of the sky at noon (local time) in, say, NY, Buenos Aires, London, Nairobi, Sydney, New Delhi and Tokyo the same? I choose the specific time of noon to exclude the twilight colors of the sky and I choose cities that aren't above the…
MagTun
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23
votes
1 answer
What causes 'positive' lightning to be rarer, higher charged, and longer lasting than 'negative' lightning?
Why is 'positive' lightning rarer, brighter, higher charged, and longer lasting than 'negative' lightning? Are there any other unique characteristics to positive lightning that sets it apart from more common negative lightning?
Positive Lightning…
DrewP84
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23
votes
2 answers
What was the Amazon like during Green Sahara?
It is said that the Amazon rainforest receives up to half of its nutrients via mineral dust from the Sahara desert. But a few thousand years ago, the Sahara desert was much more fertile, having a savannah-like environment.
Did this mean that the…
congusbongus
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23
votes
2 answers
What are some of the strongest theories against the existence of mantle plumes?
Among the people I interact with in the geodynamics community, it seems that almost all of us are in full support of the mantle plume theory. What are the strongest arguments against this theory? Is the earth science community not as divided on this…
Neo
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23
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3 answers
What caused the bend in the Emperor/Hawaii chain of islands, 45 million years ago?
What caused the bend in the Emperor/Hawaii chain of islands, 45 million years ago?
Has there been any updates to this mystery I am unaware of? Are there any new theories that could potentially explain it?
There is a lot of material but no answer at…
Alistair Riddoch
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