Planet Earth - Winter 2009
NERC's award-winning free magazine, Planet Earth, is aimed at non-specialists with an interest in environmental science.
This issue is no longer in print.
* Unless specified, all articles are less than 1MB in size.
Planet Earth - Winter 2009 (4·4MB) Whole magazine. Individual articles are available below.
Leader Productive. Healthy. Sustainable.
News (1·5MB) Ice sheets thinning, virus linked to bee colony collapse, oil palm plantations cause pollution and other stories in brief.
Whitening the clouds (1·2MB) An idea that could help keep the Earth cool and buy us precious time to prevent climate change.
Rebels with a cause Rebel organisms shake up the prevailing ecological order and can radically reshape the environment.
(Cover story) Do volcanoes trigger climate change? Huge volcanic eruptions may have pushed the climate from global warming to global cooling 16 million years ago.
Why the Amazon should quit smoking Satellite data is changing our view of what fire means for this vulnerable but crucially important ecosystem.
Hot stuff in the deep sea (1·1MB) How do fossils form around hydrothermal vents?
Star turns (1MB) Sea stars could be an important tool for assessing the impact of contaminants on fragile ecosystems.
Secrets of the mysterious yeast This seemingly simple organism is far more complex than had ever been imagined.
Settling dust (1MB) Desert dust blown on the wind has a profound effect on the Earth's energy balance and climate.
The voyage of the Ocean of Bliss (1·1MB) Wandering the mangrove swamps of West Africa by night in order to get insights into ecosystem services.
Afloat on a sea of noise How to map the Earth's interior beneath the oceans using seismic waves.
Pounds, shillings & pence How much are natural resources worth? Finding the answer could help us conserve them more effectively.
What's hiding in the basement? What it's like to go from a quiet academic existence to working in some of the world's most rugged locales.