More polluting gas expected from Iceland's volcano (meteorological authority)

More polluting gas might be expected from the Holuhraun lava field following the end of its eruption three days ago, Iceland's Meteorological Office (IMO) said on Monday.

The IMO has been monitoring gas dispersal closely after the eruption in Holuhraun, north of the Bardarbunga volcano in southeastern Iceland, came to an end on Friday,

Heavy yellow dust hits S. Korea, warnings issued

The heaviest yellow dust in five years hit South Korea on Monday, driving the country's meteorological authorities to issue yellow dust warnings and advisories.

As of 10 a.m. local time, yellow dust warnings were in place in capital Seoul, Incheon, Gyeonggi Province and part of Gangwon Province, according to the Korea Meteorological Administration. Dust advisories were issued for most other parts of the country.

China's unmanned lunar orbiter returns home, first in nearly four decades

BEIJING, Nov. 1 (Xinhua) -- China succeeded Saturday in the world's first mission to the Moon and back in some 40 years, becoming the third nation to do so after the former Soviet Union and the United States.

The test lunar orbiter, nicknamed "Xiaofei" on Chinese social networks, landed in Siziwang Banner of China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region early Saturday morning.

Search teams have already recovered the orbiter at the designated landing area, about 500 kilometers away from Beijing.

NASA spacecraft seeks answers to lost water in Mars. (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution/MAVEN)

A NASA spacecraft designed to investigate how Mars lost its water is expected to put itself into orbit around the Red Planet today after a 10-month journey....

After traveling 711 million km from Earth, the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution, or MAVEN, probe faces a do-or-die burn of its six braking rockets beginning.
If successful, the thruster burns will trim enough speed for MAVEN to be captured by Mars' gravity and fall into a looping orbit.

UN Says Ozone Layer Might Recover by 2050

The Earth's protective ozone layer may fully recover in the next few decades thanks to harmonized international action against ozone depleting substances, a new assessment by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) reads.
"There are positive indications that the ozone layer is on track to recovery towards the middle of the century. The Montreal Protocol - one of the world's most successful environmental treaties - has protected the stratospheric ozone layer and avoided enhanced UV radiation reaching the earth's surface," said UN Under-Secretary-General and UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner in a press-statement Wednesday.

UN: Greenhouse Gases Hit Record Levels Last Year. (Large percentage of carbon dioxide emissions are absorbed by the oceans)

The United Nations says surging carbon dioxide emissions sent greenhouse gases in the atmosphere to record levels last year.

In its annual report on greenhouse gas concentrations released Tuesday, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said carbon dioxide levels between 2012 and 2013 marked the largest yearly increase since reliable global records began 30 years ago.

A large percentage of carbon dioxide emissions are absorbed by the oceans.

Mysterious source of ozone-depleting chemical baffles NASA / La Nasa a détecté une substance détruisant la couche d'ozone en quantité inexpliquée

WASHINGTON: A chemical used in dry cleaning and fire extinguishers may have been phased out in recent years but NASA said Wednesday (Aug 20) that carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) is still being spewed into the atmosphere from an unknown source. The world agreed to stop using CC14 as part of the Vienna Convention on Protection of the Ozone Layer and its Montreal Protocol, which attained universal ratification in 2009.
"Parties to the Montreal Protocol reported zero new CCl4 emissions between 2007-2012," the US space agency said in a statement. "However, the new research shows worldwide emissions of CCl4 average 39 kilotons per year, approximately 30 per cent of peak emissions prior to the international treaty going into effect."

France limits vehicle use in Paris amid pollution

PARIS, March 15 (Xinhua) -- The French government on Saturday decided to limit vehicle use in Paris and suburbs on next Monday after air pollution reached high levels in several regions in France.
In a statement posted on Matignon website, Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault decided to set a system of "alternating traffic" in Paris and suburbs in March 17 from 5:30 a.m. (0430 GMT) as pollution was expected to continue unabated through the weekend.
"We forecast an improvement in the situation tomorrow. However, the forecasts show a rise in pollution from Sunday night and on Monday and Tuesday," Ayrault's office said.

NASA to Look at Climate Change - On Mars

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The U.S. space agency, NASA, expects to launch its next mission to Mars on Monday, sending an orbiter to look at the red planet's upper atmosphere.

Scientists hope that MAVEN, which stands for Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution, can help them better understand what happened to cause Earth's neighbor to lose its surface water and its atmosphere to thin. The causes of the dramatic climate changes on Mars over billions of years - from warm with liquid water on its surface to today's cold and barren desert world - have not previously been studied.