The aim of this briefing paper is to provide an overview of the way measurements from space can provide a basis for the understanding and analysis of climate change, highlighting some of the insights that they have provided but also describing the difficulties that are inherent in constructing climate quality space based records.

Phase transitions of atmospheric water play a ubiquitous role in the Earth's climate system, but their direct impact on atmospheric dynamics has escaped wide attention. Here we examine and advance a theory as to how condensation influences atmospheric pressure through the mass removal of water from the gas phase with a simultaneous account of the latent heat release. Building from fundamental physical principles we show that condensation is associated with a decline in air pressure in the lower atmosphere.

Black carbon aerosol plays a unique and important role in Earth's climate system. Black carbon is a type of carbonaceous material with a unique combination of physical properties. This assessment provides an evaluation of black-carbon climate forcing that is comprehensive in its inclusion of all known and relevant processes and that is quantitative in providing best estimates and uncertainties of the main forcing terms: direct solar absorption, influence on liquid, mixed-phase, and ice clouds, and deposition on snow and ice.

It will help in understanding the process of creation and decay of sunspots

Work on the world’s largest solar telescope is likely to commence in the Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir by the end of this year. The telescope, with an aperture of two metres, is expected to be of great help in understanding the process of creation and decay of sunspots, apart from furthering cutting edge research on other fundamental processes taking place on the Sun.

The increasing trend of rising tropospheric temperatures due to the global climate change is reflected in the efficacy
of Indian monsoons too. It is imperative to have a high level, skilled mechanism to monitor and predict this trend
to help manage preparedness.

The deliberate injection of particles into the stratosphere has been suggested as a possible geoengineering scheme to mitigate the global warming aspect of climate change. Injected particles scatter solar radiation back to space and thus reduce the radiative balance of Earth. Previous studies investigating this scheme have focused primarily on sulphuric acid particles to mimic volcanic injections of stratospheric aerosol. However, the composition and size of volcanic sulphuric acid particles are far from optimal for scattering solar radiation.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) of the United States opened a new chapter in the history of interplanetary exploration on Monday when its $2.5 billion nuclear-powered robot, Curiosity, beamed back pictures from the surface of Mars.

The one-tonne mobile lab is the largest rover ever sent to Mars, and its high-speed landing was the most daring to date, using a rocket-powered sky crane to lower the six-wheeled vehicle gently to the red planet’s surface.

Cosmic dust that fills space could be playing a part in climate change, scientists say.

Washington: The supermassive black hole at the heart of the Milky Way may be devouring asteroids on a daily basis, a new study based on findings by Nasa’s Chandra spacecraft has suggested.

WASHINGTON: Key steps on pollution control would slow down global warming by 0.5 degree Celsius, increase crop yields by 135 million tonnes and prevent thousands of premature deaths every year in I

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