ROCKY REX'S SCIENCE BITES

According to the National Climatic Data Center of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (USA) 1 .  Global temperature information shows that the first ten months of 2014 (January–October) were the warmest such period since record-keeping began in 1880. 2. The combined global land and ocean average surface temperature was 0.68°C (1.22°F) above the 20th century average of 14.1°C (57.4°F). 3. The most recent 12-month period, November 2013–October 2014, broke the record (set just last month) for the all-time warmest 12-month period in the 135-year period of record, at 0.68°C (1.22°F) above average. 4. The combined average temperature over global land and ocean surfaces for October 2014 was the highest on record for October, at 0.74°C (1.33°F) above the 20 th   century average of 14.0°C (57.1°F).

The Earth is an amazing planet. To learn more about it one of the best of all websites is   The Earth .... at the Natural History Museum There is a lot on this website ..... Even someone who looks familiar...

Geologists rely on cores of rock drilled into the Earth to get evidence about the past. Collecting rocks from the surface only tells part of the story. This interesting source explains rock cores using examples from Antarctica ..... Antarctic rock cores There are even interesting educational activities included!

An 8 km wide crater has been found near Bow City in southern Alberta. Reported on Sci-News.com.... Ancient impact crater in Alberta Sometime in the last 70 million years, it is very likely that a large meteorite caused a big crater, around 2 km deep. Most of the rock has been eroded since then, leaving only the deepest part of the crater. The discovery is reported in the journal .... ' Meteorites and Planetary Science'. This is interesting, because it makes it possible to see rocks right at the bottom of an impact structure. These rocks have been affected by the forces of the event, and show how the shock changed the rocks and created complicated faults.