A Signal in Giant Earthquakes That Could Save Lives
The full power of the biggest temblors could be determined in as little as 10 to 15 seconds after they begin, a new study finds, and long before it ends.
Erupting volcanoes offset recent Earth warming, according to a team led by the University of Colorado at Boulder. Researchers arrived at this conclusion after searching for clues about why Earth did not warm as much as climatologists expected between 2000 and 2010.
Lead study author Ryan Neely said that the study’s findings take some of the pressure off of India and China, two countries that are believed to have increased their industrial sulfur dioxide emissions by approximately 60 percent from 2000 to 2010 through coal burning.
According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, the biggest sources of sulfur dioxide emissions are from fossil fuel combustion at power plants (73 percent) and other industrial facilities (20 percent). Smaller sources of sulfur dioxide emissions include trains, large ships and some industrial processes. Sulfur dioxide emissions are associated with a number of negative effects on the respiratory system.
