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Earth Science

Launched Q&A site for those interested in the geology, meteorology, oceanography, and environmental sciences.

88 Example Questions

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In the isotopic analysis of water, how can I interpret observed deviations from the global meteoric water line as vectors?
added by Deditos Aug 12 '13 at 12:48
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When does sediment become sedimentary rock?
added by a different ben Aug 11 '13 at 23:46
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What variables are used to interpolate terrestric temperature from station data, besides altitude and distance from sea?
added by Tomas Aug 9 '13 at 20:49
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How does estimation of AET/PET using remote sensing work?
added by Tomas Aug 9 '13 at 20:46
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What is the difference between actual, potential and reference evapotranspiration?
added by Tomas Aug 9 '13 at 20:44
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How does Penman equation for calculating evapotranspiration work?
added by Tomas Aug 9 '13 at 20:43
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Systematic bias in NCDC GSOD climate dataset?
added by Tomas Aug 9 '13 at 12:45
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actual question from practice, currently asked here: opendata.stackexchange.com/questions/981/… – Tomas Aug 9 '13 at 12:45
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What data formats are commonly used in the study of marine meteorological data?
added by e-sushi Aug 3 '13 at 3:42
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How much influence does the movement of the inner core have on the crust's stability?
added by e-sushi Aug 3 '13 at 3:41
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What happens to water trying to evaporate near the planet's core?
added by e-sushi Aug 3 '13 at 3:39
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Water near the planet#s core will have a hard time to evaporate. The temperature is in the order of 6k Kelvin. Using the approximate equation here : en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vapour_pressure_of_water we get vapor pressure is in the order of e^20 mm Hg. The pressure in earths core is 3*1M*760 mmHg, which is larger than the vapor pressure. So water will not evaporate. – Sean Aug 7 '13 at 12:39
@Sean Thanks for the answer... too bad this isn't in Beta yet so I can accept the answer. ;) – e-sushi Aug 7 '13 at 16:22
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What is the maximum depth to find an enclosed gas reservoir?
added by e-sushi Aug 3 '13 at 3:37
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What atmospheric circumstances produce ball lightning?
added by e-sushi Aug 3 '13 at 3:36
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Is the water table a function of the quantity, and quality of soil at that place?
added by Everyone Jul 31 '13 at 6:55
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Can I assume that wind is always distributed by a weibull distribution?
added by eliavs Jul 30 '13 at 13:46
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How do I seperate the terrestrial emitted and solar reflected components for a 3.7µm channel (such as AVHRR channel 3B)?
added by gerrit Jul 24 '13 at 16:06
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Could there ever be a magnitude 10 earthquake?
added by Joe Kington Jul 17 '13 at 2:31
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Why do severe storm clouds sometimes look green?
added by JustinY Jul 17 '13 at 0:48
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This should belong to meteorology, but the actual reason is not known. it is postulated, that the particles in the cloud, with sun behind them, scatters more blue for mei scattering, and more red with rayleigh scattering. therefore, the light that gets passed through the cloud is mainly green, making it green. Nonetheless problem is, both type scatters some green light, so confusion remains. – Sean Aug 7 '13 at 12:44
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Is significant liquid groundwater known to exist beneath permafrost areas? I'm specifically interested in the case at Ross Island, Antarctica.
added by foobarbecue Jul 12 '13 at 17:03
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What is the geological period of birth of the river Ganges ?
added by Sébastien Palcoux Jun 30 '13 at 8:54
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How is a volcanic eruption's VEI (volcanic explosivity index) calculated?
added by Damien Jun 15 '13 at 13:25
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How are Richter Scale magnitudes calculated?
added by Damien Jun 15 '13 at 13:24
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Does the climate play any role in tectonic dynamics?
added by Damien Jun 14 '13 at 7:15
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This is an excellent question, with (I find) a delightfully surprising answer. – naught101 Jun 26 '13 at 12:52
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Why is it that Earth and Venus, whilst having many similar properties (bulk composition, size, uncompressed density) have such different atmospheres?
added by Shane Hunt Jun 9 '13 at 13:17
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How are the dynamics of intraplate and plate-boundary earthquakes different?
added by Damien Jun 8 '13 at 11:11
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What relation is there between the volume of ejected volcanic material and local and global temperature drop?
added by Damien Jun 7 '13 at 21:07
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What geological processes can cause local biases in the fossil record, e.g. when comparing diversity or occurances in different areas?
added by fileunderwater Jun 7 '13 at 14:34
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How long does something have to be in the ground for it to be considered a fossil?
added by Cody Guldner Jun 7 '13 at 14:29
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What causes a volcano to erupt?
added by Cody Guldner Jun 7 '13 at 14:28
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What is the difference between a rock and a mineral?
added by Cody Guldner Jun 7 '13 at 14:28
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What gives a rock its "hardness?"
added by Cody Guldner Jun 7 '13 at 14:28
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Why do earthquakes happen near fault lines? Can they happen in an area that isn't near a fault?
added by Cody Guldner Jun 7 '13 at 14:27
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What effect does the Earth's rotation have on the transport of energy through the atmosphere?
added by Shane Hunt Jun 5 '13 at 21:45
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To what degree do oceans 'buffer' atmospheric CO2 levels and what is their approximate 'buffer capacity'?
added by Lorentz May 14 '13 at 21:00
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If an area is prone to fog in the mornings, is it less likely to rain?
added by user1707602 May 13 '13 at 20:39
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In freely propagating internal gravity waves why is the fluid motion perpendicular to the direction of energy propagation?
added by Isopycnal Oscillation Apr 2 '13 at 22:29
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Geomagnetic secular variation: is there a Holocene reference stack (‘master curve’) for southern Europe, as there is for the UK?
added by Pont Mar 20 '13 at 10:45
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What is the origin of isolated Montmartre mountain in the flat Parisian area?
added by tohecz Mar 4 '13 at 19:50
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Nice, although perhaps a little too localised. Could be broadened with "Are there other mountains around the world that have a similar origin?" – naught101 May 8 '13 at 4:59
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IMHO not TL as is. It can be widened in some sense, but these questions are a good content-maker, and usually questions like this are well indexed by search engines, bringing people to the site. – tohecz May 9 '13 at 8:45
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What, if any, paleoclimate data can be derived from stromatolite fossils?
added by Paul A. Clayton Feb 11 '13 at 14:27
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It might be good to try to figure out where the boundary is between this proposal and Biology.SE. More questions like this would help! – naught101 Apr 2 '13 at 4:35
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In this case, I'd say it's clearly appropriate for geoscience because (1) it's specifically about fossils, not living organisms and (2) the interest is in the geoscientific data we can get from the fossils, rather than the organisms per se. There's a clear potential for overlap though, especially when you start trying to calibrate your fossil data against nearest-equivalent living organisms in present-day environments. – Pont Jun 3 '13 at 10:56
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Since fossil record is necessarily incomplete, why should we rely on it to define GSSPs? Would not a physical/chemical event be a better choice?
added by furins Jan 28 '13 at 23:12
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GSSPs = en.wikipedia.org/wiki/… – Nick Jun 6 '13 at 0:15
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Do tectonic plate speeds move at different rates after an earthquake?
added by Reliable Source Jan 18 '13 at 15:33
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