A global Martian dust storm in summer 2018 blocked sunlight on the planet for weeks. Curiosity’s Mast Camera captured the storm’s advance in these images from June to September. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/York University
AGU News
Two weeks left to submit to our Journalism Awards!
Submit your own work or nominate others’ Earth and space science stories. We have one award for features and one for short-turnaround news stories; work must have been first published in 2024. Entries from all countries are encouraged. Deadline: 31 March. Send questions to [email protected]. [award information][submit here]
Featured Research
Martian dust will be a health hazard for astronauts
Prolonged exposure to the Red Planet’s regolith, which contains carcinogens and toxic metals, could pose respiratory threats and increase chronic disease risk. [GeoHealth study][Eos research spotlight]
Hailstones send heavy metals back to Earth
Hailstones from more heavily populated — and polluted — parts of China had higher concentrations of heavy metals than those in more rural regions, a new study finds. The metals primarily come from traffic emissions. [Geophysical Research Letters study]
More than a million premature deaths due to biofuel burning
Burning solid biofuels, such as wood and animal waste, creates air pollution that can cause health problems or death. Although burning biofuels is less common than it used to be, globally it caused between 1.1 and 1.4 million premature annual deaths in 2000-2019, a new study finds. That is roughly twice as high as previous estimates. [GeoHealth study]
New assessment of landslide risk across Europe
Many landslide risk assessments are at local or regional scales, limiting knowledge of large-scale patterns and drivers of this hazard. A first-of-its-kind study analyzes daytime and nighttime landslide risk across the European continent and maps threats to human settlements and agriculture. [Reviews of Geophysics study][explore the risk map]
The Middle East’s first comprehensive carbon budget
The first greenhouse gas budget for Central and West Asia, comprising 24 countries, was just published. Iran was the top emitter, and the top 10 countries emitted 84% of the region’s greenhouse gases. [Global Biogeochemical Cycles study][Eos research spotlight]
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