EAPS News

12-15-2025

Wildfire smoke lofted into atmosphere could affect Earth's climate

Phys — Some wildfires are so intense, they create their own weather—thunderstorms driven by heat that hurtle smoke as high as 10 miles into the sky like giant chimneys. When these smoke plumes reach the thin, calm air of the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere, they can persist for weeks or even months—yet their exact effects on Earth's climate aren't well known because they're difficult to capture and measure. EAPS's Daniel Cziczo is a part of this research team.

12-15-2025

Giant LEAPS in Planetary Understanding | Earth, Atmospheric & Planetary Sciences - Purdue University

WebsEdgeScience YouTube — Purdue’s Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences community is pushing the boundaries of discovery, uncovering the forces that shape both our planet and our neighboring worlds. Researchers decode the history of Mars through precision lab analysis and rover data, simulate the powerful interactions between weather and climate to better understand severe storms, and map the hidden networks of water and seismic activity that sustain communities and infrastructure. Watch the latest feature about Purdue EAPS!

12-11-2025

Inside NASA's Prep for the Moon, Mars, and the Search for Life

NASA on YouTube — NASA experts take you behind the scenes in Iceland, where they study icy volcanoes, lava fields, hydrothermal vents, and other extreme environments that mimic other worlds. EAPS Assistant Professor Ali Bramson and her research team are working to figure out how astronauts can find and characterize water/ice and what is needed to prepare them for these activities.

12-11-2025

The evolutionary history of kissing, moss in space, and the origins of the moon

NPR Short Wave Podcast— Now, a new paper in the journal Science is attempting to figure out what this object Theia was made out of and where in the solar system it came from. EAPS's Kelsey Prissel made an appearance on the podcast.

12-10-2025

Findings suggest red planet was warmer, wetter billions of years ago

Rocks that stood out as light-colored dots on the reddish-orange surface of Mars now are the latest evidence that areas of the small planet may have once supported wet oases with humid climates and heavy rainfall comparable to tropical climates on Earth.

12-10-2025

NASA’s Perseverance Rover Found Evidence of Tropical Storms on Mars

Vice — In a new study published in Communications Earth and Environment, led by Adrian Broz of Purdue University EAPS, researchers report that these aluminum-rich rocks scattered around Jezero Crater have the same chemical signature as kaolinite formed in Earth’s tropical climates after millions of years of water slowly stripping minerals from rock.