Atmospheric Chemistry

The science of thunderstorms

The science of thunderstorms – thunder, lightning, and chemical reactions

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The science of thunderstorms
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Here in the UK, a completely un-British heatwave finally came to a thundery end last weekend. Having already looked at the chemistry behind the smell of rain, here’s a look at some of the science behind thunderstorms. How does lightning happen, what gives it its blue-violet tinge, and what does it have to do with plant growth?
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Ice Cores and Atmospheric History

The science of ice cores: Atmospheric time machines

Ice Cores and Atmospheric History
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We know what global temperatures are like now, from direct measurement around the globe. And we know quite a lot about what temperatures were like over the past few hundred years thanks to written records. But what about further back than that? How do we know what temperatures were like a thousand years ago, or even hundreds of thousands of years ago? There is, of course, no written record that far back in history – but there is a chemical record, hidden in the ice of Antartica and Greenland.

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