ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

Dust plumes blew over Banghazi (Benghazi) in mid-January 2013. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite captured this natural-color image on January 15, 2013, as plumes blew toward the north-northwest over the coastal city. Away from the coast, which enjoys a Mediterranean climate, the Libyan landscape consists largely of sand seas. Only about 1 percent of the land is arable, and dust storms rank among the country’s leading natural hazards. References CIA World Factbook. (2013, January 7) Libya. Accessed January 17, 2013.

The deep drought in the United States that has fueled wildfires, damaged crops, and caused near record-low water levels on the Mississippi River has lingered well into January. Though there has been some relief from a series of recent winter storms, a pair of satellites operated by NASA show that groundwater supplies continue to be unusually low in many parts of the country. The maps above combine data from the twin satellites of the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) with other satellite and ground-based measurements to model the relative amount of water stored near the surface and underground between January 8 and January 14, 2013. The top map shows moisture content in the top 2 centimeters (0.8 inches) of surface soil; the bottom map shows the condition of groundwater in aquifers. The soil moisture map depicts short-term conditions, while the groundwater map offers a longer-term perspective. The wetness, or water content, of each layer is compared to the ave

An unusual event playing out high in the atmosphere above the Arctic Circle is setting the stage for what could be weeks upon weeks of frigid cold across wide swaths of the U.S., having already helped to bring cold and snowy weather to parts of Europe. Forecast high temperatures on Monday, Jan. 21, from the GFS computer model. Click to enlarge the image.  Credit: Weatherbell This phenomenon, known as a “ sudden stratospheric warming event ,” started on Jan. 6, but is something that is just beginning to have an effect on weather patterns across North America and Europe.  While the physics behind sudden stratospheric warming events are complicated, their implications are not: such events are often harbingers of colder weather in North America and Eurasia. The ongoing event favors colder and possibly stormier weather for as long as four to eight weeks after the event, meaning that after a mild start to the winter, the rest of this month and February could bring the coldest weather

Here's how to make a powerful  solar cell from indium and phosphorus: First, arrange microscopic flecks of gold on a semiconductor background. Using the gold as seeds, grow precisely arranged wires roughly 1.5 micrometers tall out of chemically tweaked compounds of indium and phosphorus. Keep the nanowires in line by etching them clean with hydrochloric acid and confining their diameter to 180 nanometers. (A nanometer is one billionth of a meter.) Exposed to the sun, a solar cell employing such nanowires can turn nearly 14 percent of the incoming light into electricity—a new record that opens up more possibilities for cheap and effective  solar power . According to  research published online in  Science —and validated at Germany's Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems—this novel nanowire configuration delivered nearly as much electricity as more traditional indium phosphide  thin-film solar cells  even though the nanowires themselves covered only 12 percent of the d

A true-color image captured by Cassini in February 2011 shows the head of the storm overtaking the fainter, turbulent tail. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI Just as regions of our planet have monsoon season, or tornado season, so too does Saturn have  its own stormy season . Once every Saturn year or so—which corresponds to roughly 30 Earth years—a giant, churning storm works its way through  the clouds  of Saturn’s northern hemisphere, sometimes encircling the entire planet like a belt. Lasting a few dozen days or more, these storms have been documented as far back as 1876. The sixth giant Saturnian storm on record arrived a bit early, kicking off in late 2010, just 20 years after the previous storm. The timing proved fortuitous for planetary astronomers, who currently have a dedicated orbiter called Cassini  stationed at the ringed planet . And Cassini’s ringside seat, so to speak, has afforded the NASA spacecraft quite a show. A new study summarizing Cassini observations

BEIJING - A Chinese mainland spokesman on Wednesday reaffirmed the country's opposition to arms sales by the United States to Taiwan and urged the superpower to adhere to the one-China policy. "Our stance toward US arms sales, as you are clearly aware, is that we firmly oppose them," Yang Yi, spokesman for the State Council's Taiwan Affairs Office, told a press conference. Responding to a Taiwanese reporter's request for comment on Taiwan leader Ma Ying-jeou's recent intention to continue purchasing US weapons, Yang said, "We also hope that the US strictly abides by the three Sino-American joint communiques and the one-China policy." "Cross-Straits issues have to be eventually settled by Chinese living on both sides," Yang said. "We hope that both the mainland and Taiwan make joint efforts to create a new situation for the development of cross-Straits relations, and benefit compatriots and the Chinese nation." The People's Rep

Cold snaps in southern China have triggered rising vegetable prices, disrupted transport and reignited debate over central heating, as He Na, Hu Yongqi and Zhang Yuchen report. Huang Hui, a 33-year-old English-language teacher at a Shanghai university, once had a coveted job as team leader with a multinational company in Beijing. She may have realized her ambition of becoming a project manager had it not been for her parents, who constantly reminded her it was time to get married and settle down. Clockwise from top: Workers remove ice from a cable in Weining county, Guizhou province. South China was hit by cold weather in early January, with the average price of vegetables rising continuously for 10 weeks. Residents try to clear ice from the street in Chenzhou, Hunan province. Tao Liang / Xinhua He Maofeng / for China Daily Zhan Yan / Xinhua Instead, Hui decided to leave the capital almost three years ago to pursue an academic career, living a quiet but independent lifestyle. However,

(Agencies) VIENNA/DUBAI - The UN nuclear watchdog and Iran appear to have failed again in talks this week to finalise a deal to unblock an investigation into suspected atom bomb research in the Islamic state, a diplomatic source said on Thursday. The UN International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and Iran were expected to hold a further meeting on February 12, following two days of negotiations in Tehran that ended on Thursday, the source added, giving no further details. The apparent absence of a breakthrough in the January 16-17 discussions in the Iranian capital signalled a new setback for efforts to allay mounting international concern over Tehran's atomic aims and help avert the threat of a new Middle East war. The Vienna-based UN agency had hoped to clinch an elusive framework agreement with Iran that would allow the IAEA to resume a long-stalled inquiry into suspected military dimensions to the country's nuclear program. The IAEA, whose mission is to prevent the spread of