Atmosphere

A group of New Brunswick university students is one step closer to launching a mini-satellite into space.Satellite Violet is named after New Brunswick's provincial flower and is about the size of a loaf of bread. It successfully passed the testing phase at the Canadian Space Agency in Montreal and is headed to the International Space Station early next year.Once the satellite is deployed from the space station into Earth's orbit, the group will be able to perform scientific experiments to study the planet's upper…

The last time carbon dioxide in the atmosphere consistently matched today's human-driven levels was 14 million years ago, according to a large new study Thursday that paints a grim picture of where Earth's climate is headed.Published in the journal Science, the paper covers the period from 66 million years ago until the present, analyzing biological and geochemical signatures from the deep past to reconstruct the historic CO2 record with greater precision than ever before."It really brings it home to us that what we are…

The unrelenting solar activity on the Sun is not just affecting the Earth but all the nearby planets as well. In October, it was reported that an intense coronal mass ejection (CME) cloud hit Venus and the strong electromagnetic fluctuation resulted in eroding some of its atmosphere which released into space. Now, a full halo CME is set to hit Mars and trigger a solar storm on December 11, as per data from a NASA model. It too will have a similar effect on the red planet and it is expected to disintegrate a small amount…

Destiny 2’s Season 23 started strong, featuring the new Warlord’s Ruin Dungeon and activities like The Coil. But beneath the surface, it’s possible Bungie and Destiny have received a blow that’s impossible to recover from. A new report from IGN’s Rebekah Valentine alleges that the situation only worsens for the remaining employees at Bungie. Morale and company culture seem like they’re taking a backseat, in order to avoid something as drastic as a complete Sony takeover. Following Bungie’s layoffs at the end of October,…

The United Nations weather agency said Thursday that 2023 is all but certain to be the hottest year on record, warning of worrying trends that suggest increasing floods, wildfires, glacier melt and heat waves in the future.The World Meteorological Organization also warned that the average temperature for the year is up some 1.4 degrees C from pre-industrial times — a mere one-tenth of a degree under a target limit for the end of the century as laid out by the Paris climate accord in 2015.The WMO secretary general said the…

Christmas lights might not be the only thing lighting up these dark December nights, as a solar storm is expected to bring bright northern lights to the Prairies this weekend.Aurora borealis is considered among the greatest natural wonders and scientists say it starts with the sun."The sun is sort of spewing off protons and electrons as a plasma in all directions, all the time, we call that the solar wind," said Bill Archer, mission manager at the Canadian Space Agency. "The magnetic field of the Earth actually forces the…

A study quantifies the atmospheric emission of microplastics from sea spray, revealing that oceans release between 0.02 to 7.4 million tons of microplastics annually, necessitating detailed ocean microplastics inventories for accurate assessment. A new study quantifies how much microplastic is sent into the air from ocean spray. When sea bubbles pop, they launch tiny particles, like salt or organic fragments, into the atmosphere. This activity transfers a considerable amount of material, which can impact the world’s…

The James Webb Space Telescope is so powerful that it has given us new glimpses into the mysteries of the early universe. Scientists have also used Webb to detect carbon dioxide and water vapor on distant exoplanets. Now, James Webb has detected methane in an exoplanet’s atmosphere for the first time.The exoplanet in question is WASP-80 b, which is what astronomers call a “warm Jupiter.” This means the planet is large like Jupiter, but its surface temperature averages around 825 kelvins (roughly 1,025…

SpaceX's uncrewed spacecraft Starship, developed to carry astronauts to the moon and beyond, was presumed to have been lost minutes after lifting off on Saturday in a second test after its first attempt to reach space ended in an explosion.The two-stage rocketship blasted off from the Elon Musk-owned company's Starbase launch site near Boca Chica in Texas, soaring roughly 90 kilometres above ground on a planned 90-minute flight into space.But the rocket's Super Heavy first-stage booster, though it appeared to achieve a…

This story is part of CBC Health's Second Opinion, a weekly analysis of health and medical science news emailed to subscribers on Saturday mornings. If you haven't subscribed yet, you can do that by clicking here.The impacts of climate change hit Canada hard in recent years, from the deadly heat dome of 2021 to the country's worst-ever wildfire season last summer. And those devastating environmental disasters provoked a lot of anxiety among pregnant individuals."Pregnancy, even without heat and smoke, is a time when…