This summary for the year 2003 tropical weather season states that in only six of the past one hundred and eighteen seasons have there been as many tropical cyclones and that eight of them had some effect on the United States. Tropical storms cited are Ana, Grace, and Henri and hurricanes include Claudette, Erika, Fabian and Isabel. Outside of the U.S., Claudette, Larry, and Erika hit Mexico and tropical ... Full description.

This is the twenty-fourth annual report on air pollution trends in the United States issued by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The report is prepared by the Air Quality Trends Analysis Group (AQTAG) in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina and is directed toward both the technical air pollution audience and other interested parties and individuals. Air quality topics covered in the report ... Full description.

This news article is about the toxic cyanide poisoning of the Tisza River in Hungary. The article explains how wildlife and people nearby are affected by this disaster. There are estimates of how long it will take fish and river life to return and explanations of what is being done to minimize loss. Full description.

The Colorado Learning Attitudes about Science Survey (CLASS) is a new instrument designed to measure student beliefs about physics and about learning physics. This instrument extends previous work by probing additional aspects of student beliefs and by using wording suitable for students in a wide variety of physics courses. The CLASS has been validated using interviews, reliability studies, and extensive ... Full description.

This report assesses knowledge of the flow of water in the nation's streams and rivers, which plays a vital role in flood protection, water supply, pollution control, and environmental management. The nation requires streamflow information for a variety of purposes to address local, regional, and national water-management issues. The U.S. Geological Survey has developed a conceptual plan, the National ... Full description.

This report of the Ocean Studies Board of the National Research Council identifies and suggests mechanisms for addressing national needs for spatial information in the coastal zone. It identifies high priority needs, evaluates the potential for meeting those needs based on the current level of effort, and suggests steps to increase collaboration and ensure that the nation's need for spatial information ... Full description.

This Why Files article investigates the possibility of asteroid impacts on Earth. The feature covers what asteroids are, why their orbits change to hit planets, and major impacts from Earth's past. Could a major impact have killed off the dinosaurs? What is the likelihood of a large 'global killer' asteroid striking in the near future? These questions became popular with the advent of impact movies ... Full description.

This article is a Why Files short piece on how astronomers use information from radio astronomy. Contrary to popular belief, large radio telescopes are not looking for signs of life outside our solar system, but are making images of black holes, centers of galaxies, and gamma ray bursts. These phenomena cannot be seen in visible light, but emit radio waves which can be translated into images. The ... Full description.

This site contains information about the tide pools of Doheny State Beach, California, and the many animals that thrive in this ever-changing world of sand and surf. This narrative essay reports on the study of the beach tide pools, including the hermit crabs, snails, periwinkles, mussels, starfish (or sea stars), chitons, barnacles, sea urchins,limpets and striped shore crabs. Full description.

This report outlines a fire model that makes use of an artificial neural network (ANN) as the decision-making engine. ANN-based wildfire models are distinctive in comparison to contemporary models in two ways: 1) they integrate relationships between environment variables relating to fire behavior that occurs at multiple spatio-temporal scales and 2) they allow the capture and analysis of cover, landform ... Full description.