This reference provides information about the composition, structure, and dynamics of our atmosphere. It offers links to detailed descriptions of the magnetosphere, exosphere, thermosphere, ionosphere, mesosphere, ozone layer, stratosphere and troposphere. Other topics include the dynamics of the atmosphere; temperature, pressure, winds, the jet stream, and the Coriolis effect. Meteors and auroras ... Full description.

This section of the Windows to the Universe web site provides information and images about scientists including detailed information about the history of the scientists, mathematicians, astronauts, and inventors that discovered phenomena about the Earth and the universe from ancient times to the present. Windows to the Universe is a user-friendly learning system pertaining to the Earth and Space sciences. ... Full description.

ScienceDaily is an online magazine devoted to science, technology, and medicine. This is the home page for the Earth and Climate News section of ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily is unique in that the magazine's articles are selected from news releases submitted by leading universities and other research organizations around the world. Each news release is posted in its original form, with a contact name ... Full description.

This Why Files article looks at tsunamis in the wake of the July 17, 1998 disaster in Papua New Guinea that killed over a thousand people. Topics covered are: the causes of tsunamis, tsunami movement across the ocean, the history of some killer tsunamis of the last few hundred years, and ways to reduce human vulnerability to tsunamis. Readers can download a movie about how investigators think the ... Full description.

This site contains a series of pages, each with a fact relating to the subject of meteorology, hydrology, or atmospheric science. Each bit of information has to do with the composition, structure or dynamics of the atmosphere including temperature, pressure, and humidity. Full description.

Beginning on January 31, 2002, a huge section of the Larsen Ice Shelf in Antarctica broke off and floated away. Scientists used a robotic vehicle to look at what was under the shelf and have discovered huge mats of bacteria as well as clams surrounding a mud volcano vent. This vent is a cold seep, a rare phenomenon (and the first found in the Antarctic) where methane gas bubbles up from under the ... Full description.

Fossil Butte National Monument preserves a 50-million year old bed of Eocene limestone that contains one of the richest fossil deposits in the world. Site features include park geology information, photographs of fossils, related links, visitor information, multimedia resources, and resources for teaching geology with National Park examples. The park geology section discusses the Monument's geologic ... Full description.

This article, entitled Earth: All Stressed Out, dicusses the reasons for crustal movement, the different types of faults and seismic waves, and an explanation of how the damage is caused. The article includes several animations that support the explanations, plus a video taken during a destructive California earthquake. There are also three sidebars that support the article. They are Learning from ... Full description.

This Nine Planets site highlights the history of spacecraft and discoveries they have made. It is divided into three categories that lead the user to specific mission information. Past Missions discusses the Luna, Mariner, Apollo, Pioneer, Venera, Viking, Voyager, Magellan, and Mars Observer. Ongoing Missions includes information about Voyager, Galileo, Hubble Space Telescope, Ulysses, Mars Surveyor ... Full description.

This United States Geological Survey (USGS) factsheet contains information about US mercury contamination. Issues discussed include how mercury becomes a toxicological problem through bioaccumulation, human effects of mercury toxicity, and levels of atmospheric mercury. Mercury levels in fish are examined to determine how mercury gets into the environment and into the food chain. Full description.