A Look at How Earthquakes Are Measured
Earthquake strength is registered on the moment magnitude scale, which measures how much energy was released when the rocks along a fault moved during the quake.
By Henry Fountain
Henry Fountain
Henry Fountain was a reporter and editor at The New York Times for 28 years. He retired in February 2023.
He joined The Times’s climate team when it was created in 2017, focusing on the innovations needed to address climate change. He also wrote about other science-related subjects, including earthquakes, hurricanes, mudslides, nuclear accidents and other natural and human-caused disasters. For 10 years he wrote about research findings from across the world of science in Observatory, a weekly column. He is the author of “The Great Quake,” a book about the 1964 Alaskan earthquake.
Latest
A Huge Underground Battery Is Coming to a Tiny Utah Town
The project is part of an audacious plan to create hydrogen, which produces no carbon dioxide when burned, and store it in caverns until electricity is needed.
By Henry Fountain and Nina Riggio
In New Mexico, balloon launches were part of the celebration.
This was featured in live coverage.
By Henry Fountain
Here’s Life on an Expedition to Track Declining Arctic Ice
Each September, the ice at the top of the world hits its lowest extent of the year. Researchers are studying how a warming climate is affecting a not-so-frozen ocean.
By Henry Fountain and Esther Horvath
Turkey’s Earthquake Zone Is a Lot Like California’s. Here’s What That Means.
Scientists are analyzing the disaster for clues about the potential strength and location of future West Coast quakes.
By Henry Fountain
The Salton Sea, an Accident of History, Faces a New Water Crisis
The vast California lake relies on runoff from cropland to avoid disappearing. But as farmers face water cuts due to drought and an ever drier Colorado River, the Salton Sea stands to lose again.
By Henry Fountain and Mette Lampcov
Scientists Wondered if Warming Caused Argentina’s Drought. The Answer: No.
Climate change didn’t make the dry spell more likely, researchers found, though extreme heat probably made it hurt more.
By Henry Fountain
Scientists Get a Close-Up Look Beneath a Troubling Ice Shelf in Antarctica
A robot lowered through the ice reveals how the Thwaites shelf is melting, which will help forecast its effect on global sea level.
By Henry Fountain
What We Know About the Earthquake in Turkey and Syria
As the death toll rises in the one of the deadliest quakes in decades, a global humanitarian aid effort faces deep challenges.
By The New York Times
How Turkey’s Anatolian Fault System Causes Devastating Earthquakes
See the fault zones where more than a century of the deadliest earthquakes have occurred.
By Leanne Abraham, Henry Fountain and K.K. Rebecca Lai
Hours after the first quake, the region was hit by an unusually large aftershock.
Aftershocks normally follow a large earthquake, but they are rarely as powerful as the 7.5 magnitude tremor that came after the 7.8 shock in Turkey on Monday.
By Henry Fountain
E.P.A. Blocks Long-Disputed Mine Project in Alaska
The move to ban disposal of mining wastes near the site of the proposed Pebble mine, made under the Clean Water Act, protects a valuable salmon fishery.
By Henry Fountain
Why Hasn’t It Snowed Yet in New York City?
If there is still no measurable snowfall on Sunday, it would be the longest stretch of winter without snow since 1973.
By Joshua Needelman
Will Storms End California’s Drought? That May Be the Wrong Question
California has experienced what one researcher described as “weather whiplash” with quick swings between wet and dry periods.
By Henry Fountain
California’s lengthy drought made mudslides more likely when the rains came.
Dry, baked soil absorbs less rain and sheds more as runoff, while drought-fueled wildfires weaken the tree and plant roots that hold soil in place.
By Henry Fountain
The Last 8 Years Were the Hottest on Record
Europe experienced its hottest summer ever, while 2022 was the fifth-hottest year on record worldwide.
By Henry Fountain and Mira Rojanasakul
Restoration of the Ozone Layer Is Back on Track, Scientists Say
Rogue emissions from China of ozone-depleting chemicals had threatened to delay recovery by a decade. But the emissions were stopped, according to a U.N.-backed report.
By Henry Fountain
A ‘Once in a Generation’ Storm. What’s the Role of Climate Change?
The deadly freeze that swept the United States was extraordinary, but while scientists know that global warming can intensify extreme weather, the effects on winter storms are tricky to untangle.
By Henry Fountain
What Is a ‘Bomb Cyclone’?
These storms aren’t tremendously rare, but this particular one is much more powerful than most.
By Henry Fountain
What Is the Polar Vortex? And Other Cold-Weather Climate Questions.
The Northeast is plunging into a deep freeze. Here’s what scientists know, and don’t know, about the role of rapid Arctic warming.
By Henry Fountain
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