Earth's Atmosphere

Enigmatic STEVE is somewhat like an aurora...and somewhat different.

The shock waves from Allied bombing raids during World War II briefly weakened the ionosphere.

An alert released yesterday (Sept. 10) warns of a moderate geomagnetic storm that will lash the planet tonight. It shouldn't be dangerous, but might bring auroras.

There is a beautiful mystery in the sky, and its name is Steve.

Whistler waves are normally produced in the atmosphere by lightning. They could help protect nuclear fusion reactors from runaway electrons.

Wildfires can fuel "dirty" thunderstorms that fill the stratosphere with as much smoke as a volcanic eruption.

Sprinkling large amounts of salt into the atmosphere could stave off climate change, a group of researchers has proposed.

Efforts to heal the hole in Earth's ozone layer over Antarctica appear to be paying off, according to a first-of-its-kind study that looked directly at ozone-destroying chemicals in the atmosphere.

A new NASA mission, the first to hitch a ride on a commercial communications satellite, will examine Earth's upper atmosphere to see how the boundary between Earth and space changes over time.

A NASA sounding rocket launched early this morning and lit up the skies over the U.S. East Coast with colorful clouds, ringing in an early July Fourth celebration.

In what appears to be a historic first, a chicken sandwich was successfully carried to the edge of space today aboard a high-altitude balloon.

In an unexpected first, researchers have discovered ammonia in the troposphere, Earth's lowest atmospheric layer, a new study finds.

Weird radio echoes that appear at dawn every day over an observatory in Peru have long baffled scientists, until now.

The mysterious disappearance of electrons in the atmosphere could be caused by meteors burning up in the sky, new research suggests.

Huge wildfires sparked by a powerful El Niño event 16 years ago left a distinct tinge of sulfur in Antarctica's snow.

The origin of the mysterious reddish lighting above thunderstorms, known as atmospheric sprites, has long puzzled scientists, but they now have some idea how it forms.