John P. Rafferty
John P. Rafferty
Encyclopædia Britannica Editor
Connect with John P. Rafferty
BIOGRAPHY

John P. Rafferty writes about Earth processes and the environment. He serves currently as the editor of Earth and life sciences, covering climatology, geology, zoology, and other topics that relate to the natural world. Prior to joining Encyclopaedia Britannica in 2006, he held teaching positions at Lewis University, Roosevelt University, and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Follow him on Twitter: @john_p_rafferty

Primary Contributions (331)
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) research vessel Miller Freeman.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), U.S. governmental agency established in 1970 within the Department of Commerce to study Earth’s oceans, atmosphere, and coastal areas insofar as they affect the land surface and coastal regions of the United States. The organization is…
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Florida panther
desertification
Lake Vostok
Joe Trippi
aftershock
Keeling Curve
biodiversity loss
Patrick Matthew
world’s largest deserts
world’s longest rivers
world’s largest dams
Indianapolis 500 winner
Hurricane Andrew
Postcards from the 6th Mass Extinction
heat wave
Daniel Lieberman
Hurricane Ian
invasive species
Ezra Taft Benson
Little Ice Age
Japan earthquake and tsunami of 2011
derecho
the Cars
liger
the Go-Go’s
Richter scale
Greenland shark
Mary Anning
Anton Zeilinger
the Pretenders
National Weather Service
Endangered Species Act
Fender Stratocaster
Inge Lehmann
Fender Telecaster
the Cure
megalodon
Jason Momoa
brontosaurus
Sylvia Earle
Sichuan earthquake of 2008
Women’s March
global warming policy
Gigantopithecus
Superstorm Sandy
bilby
Eyjafjallajökull volcano
Michelle Howard
texture
Adélie penguin
ocean acidification
Nazca Plate
Super Outbreak of 2011
Linger brothers
Nepal earthquake of 2015
Svante Pääbo
Emma Lucy Braun
Thorndike’s law of effect
polar vortex
lag phase
urban sprawl
lynx
Martins Dukurs
Rankine temperature scale
Julia Alvarez
Anthropocene Epoch
medieval warm period
ocean thermal energy conversion
moment magnitude
North Atlantic Oscillation
Francisco J. Ayala
Marcel Hirscher
Steve Easterbrook
Chile earthquake of 2010
African penguin
Hadean Eon
apex predator
Rodinia
M. Night Shyamalan
New Madrid earthquakes of 1811–12
Tangshan earthquake of 1976
Tonian Period
Cryogenian Period
Jeanne Villepreux-Power
Perry Chen
Howard Dean
coevolution
Lee Berger
Australopithecus sediba
Sahul
Mária Telkes
black panther
Margaret Morse Nice
John F. Clauser
Ruth Patrick
Podokesaurus
Klaus Hasselmann
Margaret Bryan Davis
Andrew Mason
Van earthquake of 2011
Michael Stonebraker
Alain Aspect
emperor penguin
Manabe Syukuro
Super Typhoon Haiyan
Beer’s law
Hosain Rahman
Ted Ligety
Hurricane Irene
James Lovelock
Daniel G. Nocera
Donald Johanson
fish owl
K-selected species
r-selected species
soil liquefaction
great Indian bustard
Christchurch earthquakes of 2010–11
gentoo penguin
titanosaur
crurotarsan
Magellanic penguin
Homo sapiens sapiens
yellow-eyed penguin
Fiordland penguin
blue penguin
vervet
royal penguin
Elysia chlorotica
common clown fish
erect-crested penguin
macaroni penguin
chinstrap penguin
kipunji
Humboldt penguin
Galapagos penguin
king penguin
quetzal
rockhopper penguin
Novarupta
brown tree snake
cryoseism
Coral Triangle
World Oceans Day
coral bleaching
India-Pakistan heat wave of 2015
frugivore
volcanic winter
Homerian Stage
Telychian Stage
Sheinwoodian Stage
Wilkins Ice Shelf
regolith
bedrock
Ediacaran Period
Cyclone Pam
Teshekpuk Lake
Snares penguin
Barbados threadsnake
maritime continent
Katian Stage
Aeronian Stage
Roadian Stage
Wordian Stage
Capitanian Stage
Wuchiapingian Stage
Tahina palm
pliosaur
Ludfordian Stage
Jiangshanian Stage
Dapingian Stage
Gelasian Stage
Chengjiang fossil site
Dreadnoughtus
Katla
Hirnantian Stage
Sandbian Stage
Rhuddanian Stage
Paibian Stage
Gorstian Stage
Guzhangian Stage
Floian Stage
Fortunian Stage
Changhsingian Stage
Drumian Stage
Charrier coffee
gyre
back-arc basin
Ionian Stage
Tarantian Stage
kimberlite eruption
hypsometry
High-oblique view of the extra-tropical unnamed cyclone that merged with Hurricane Earl is featured in this image taken by an Expedition 24 crew member on the International Space Station (Sept. 2010).
Is the Number of Hurricanes Increasing?
Camel caravan moving across the Sahara desert sand dunes, Morocco, North Africa
How Do Deserts Form?
Comparison of a hare and a rabbit. (Left-hare) black-tailed jackrabbit (Lepus californicus); (right-rabbit) desert cottontail (Sylvilagus audubonii)
What’s the Difference Between Rabbits and Hares?
Hong Kong. Hong Kong harbour. Hong Kong special administrative region of China, located to the east of the Pearl River (Xu Jiang) estuary on the south coast of China.
A Look at Hong Kong and China 20 Years After Reunification
Bear Hat Mountain above Hidden Lake on a crest of the Continental Divide in Glacier National Park, Montana
Exploring 7 of Earth’s Great Mountain Ranges
close up of a football, gridiron
Are You Ready for Some Fantasy Football?
Spider monkey swinging in a tree. (primate, jungle animal)
Why Do Animals Have Tails?
Solving a math problem with paper. (mathematics, calculation, arithmetic, education, analysis, equations)
What Are Matrices Used For?
This image depicts a 3-day average of actual sea surface temperatures for the Caribbean Sea and Atlantic Ocean, from August 25-27, 2005 during Hurricane Katrina, with 2005 hurricane season names overlaid
How Do Hurricanes Get Their Names?
Sledgehammer breaking rocks. (demolishing, crushing, blurred motion)
Can Anything Break if You Hit It Hard Enough?
Close-up of a dog turning around and about to lie down. (animals, dogs, pets).
Why Do Dogs Circle Before They Lie Down?
Peregrine falcon in flight
What Is the Most Aerodynamic Animal?
Studio portrait of young Black woman with arms folded
Why Do Our Noses Have Two Nostrils?
Super Typhoon Noru over the western tropical Pacific Ocean as observed by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA Aqua satellite July 31 2017
What Is the Difference Between a Typhoon and a Super Typhoon?
Space, Sun and planet Earth. Western hemisphere. This image elements furnished by NASA.
Why Does the Tropic of Cancer's Location on Earth Move Over Time?
Products from aluminum, copper, bronze, and brass on a white background. (metals)
Why Are Some Metals More Conductive than Others?
Hurricane Irma seen striking Miami, Florida with 100+ mph winds and destructive storm surge.
What Is the Difference Between a Meteotsunami, a Seiche, and a Storm Surge?
Composite image - Katsushika Hokusai The Great Wave off Kanagawa, color woodcut print, with background of Seismograph recording seismic activity and detecting an earthquake
How Do Scientists Predict Tsunamis After Earthquakes?
Volcanic eruption of a volcano near Antigua, Guatemala
What Causes a Volcano to Erupt?
Periplaneta americana (american cockroach, waterbug, palmetto bug)
How Do Cockroaches Breathe?
Thermal image portrait of mid adult woman with raised hands
How Does the Human Body Maintain Its Temperature?
Digital image of the Western Hemisphere (Earth, Blue Marble) at the time of one of the strongest hurricanes (Hurricane Linda) ever observed in the Eastern Pacific. Moon is an artistic addition. (Data date: 2000)
How Old Is Earth?
Tyrannosaurus Rex attacking two Struthiomimus dinosaurs.
How Do We Know What Dinosaurs Sounded Like?
A tornado in rural Iowa sweeps dangerously near a farm. Weather storm
Why Does the United States Have More Tornadoes than Any Other Country?
Two puppies and a kitten, puppy playfully biting kitten's head
Why Are the Babies of Mammals Cute?
Magnifying glass focusing on Afghanistan, Pakistan and surrounding countries on world map
Where Did the -stan Country Name Suffix Come From?
Sloth hanging from a tree in Costa Rica
Why Are Sloths So Slow?
Illustration of a group of Brachiosaurus dinosaurs in the water. Sauropod late Jurassic to early Cretaceous
Why Does -saur Appear So Often in Dinosaur Names?
African Elephant
Why Are Elephants’ Ears So Big?
Weather map, meteorology
Why Is Predicting the Weather So Difficult for Meteorologists?
This close-up image of a dust storm on Mars was acquired by the Mars Color Imager instrument on NASA Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter on Nov. 7, 2007. This image is centered on Utopia Planitia
Do Hurricanes Happen on Other Planets?
Artwork of the Cretaceous dinosaur dineobellator, whose remains have been found in North America. This animal was around 2.5 to 3 metres in length, weighed up to 40 kg, and there is evidence that it had feathers.
How Do We Know That Dinosaurs May Have Had Feathers?
Model of global ocean currents and temperatures
How Do Ocean Currents Affect the Biosphere?
Astronomical Observatory of the Mojon del Trigo. Long exposure using the star trail technique. Sierra Nevada National Park, in the province of Granada, Andalusia.
Is Earth Going to Change the Direction in Which It Rotates?
Hungry Pelican waiting to be fed, beak open, Australia
Why Don’t Birds Have Teeth?
Gray squirrel holding acorns sitting on hind legs in bright sunlight in a grassy field in autumn, Brighton, East Sussex, Uk, Europe.
Is It True That Squirrels Forget Where They Bury About Half of Their Food?
Chameleon on branch
How Do Chameleons Change Colour?
Macro Aedes aegypti Mosquito. Close up a Mosquito sucking human blood,
What Purposes Do Mosquitoes Serve in Ecosystems?
World map. Continents. Oceans. Mendel thumb ok
Just How Many Oceans Are There?
Roald Engelbrecht Gravning Amundsen. (1872-1928). Norwegian explorer, South Pole, 1911. Amundsen led first expedition to reach South Pole, arriving December 1911, one month before ill-fated British expedition commanded by Captain Scott. (see notes)
What were the circumstances that surrounded Roald Amundsen’s death?
A handout photo made available by Greenpeace Brazil showing smoke rising from the fire at the Amazon forest in Novo Progresso in the state of Para, Brazil, August 23, 2019.
What Happens to Earth If the Amazon Rainforest Is Completely Burned?
Tyrannosaurus Rex attacking two Struthiomimus dinosaurs.
Did Dinosaurs Really Have Feathers?
Brown layer of Los Angeles smog; photo taken on November 10, 2016.(California, environment, smog)
What's the Difference Between Global Warming and Climate Change?
Aerial view of Tokyo, Japan at dusk circa 2009. Tokyo Tower (right) located in Shiba Park, Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Office buildings, architecture, skyscrapers, skyline.
Is Light Pollution Really Pollution?
Thermonuclear hydrogen bomb, code-named MIKE, detonated in the Marshall Islands in the fall of 1952. Photo taken at a height of 12,000 feet, 50 miles from the detonation site. (Photo 6 of a series of 8) Atomic bomb explosion nuclear energy hydrogen energy
The Anthropocene Epoch: Adding Humans to the Chart of Geologic Time
Path through summer forest in the Ukraine. (trees, lush, green, walk, walkway, road, Ukrainia, Ukrainian, woods)
What Is the Difference Between Primary and Secondary Ecological Succession?
megalodon (Carcharocles megalodon), female, extinct shark, fishes
What Happened to the Megalodon?
Charles Darwin, carbon print photograph by Julia Margaret Cameron, 1868.
What Darwin Got Right (and Wrong) About Evolution
Portrait of Salvador Dali in front of painting "The Madonna of Port Lligat."
Famous Mustaches in History
Skeleton fossil record of ancient reptiles in stone.
Do Fossil Fuels Really Come from Fossils?
Abandoned school in Pripyat in the explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear plant
Nuclear Exclusion Zones
Banksy Snorting Copper stenciled graffiti on Curtain Road, in Shoreditch, London taken circa 2005, before it was later vandalised and covered over.
Art Restoration: Beyond Canvas
Young boys working in a thread spinning mill in Macon, Georgia, 1909. Boys are so small they have to climb onto the spinning frame to reach and fix broken threads and put back empty bobbins. Child labor. Industrial revolution
The Rise of the Machines: Pros and Cons of the Industrial Revolution
Paleogeography and paleoceanography of Early Triassic time. The present-day coastlines and tectonic boundaries of the configured continents are shown at the lower right. Continents, continental drift, plate tectonics, Pangea, Laurussia, Gondwana.
Spotting a Supercontinent: How Pangea Was Discovered
Sailboat against a beautiful landscape
Which Waters Do You Pass Through When You “Sail the Seven Seas”?
Pirate Barbarossa also known as redbeard
From Pirate to Admiral: The Tale of Barbarossa
ripped torn flag, pirate, skull
Are There Laws on the High Seas?
Hot-air balloon against a sky (clouds, hot air ballooning, recreation)
Why Is the Sky Blue?
Female meadow adder snake (Vipera ursinii) Also called meadow viper or Ursini's viper. Reptile venomous poisonous tongue
What’s the Difference Between Venomous and Poisonous?
solar eclipse, sun, moon, astronomy, space
How Do You Tell the Difference Between Total, Annular, Solar, and Lunar Eclipses?
VAN, TURKEY - OCTOBER 25: A building and car ruined during the earthquake of Van-Ercis on October 25, 2011 in Van, Turkey. It is 604 killed and 4152 injured in Van-Ercis Earthquake.
What Is an Aftershock?
Digitally altered image of tsunami waves sweeping over city (digital alteration; natural disaster)
What Causes Tsunamis?
In late August 2016, sunlight returned to the Antarctic Peninsula and unveiled a rift across the Larsen C Ice Shelf that had grown longer and deeper over the austral winter
A Trillion Tonnes of Antarctica Fell into the Sea
Naked mole-rats in a zoo environment. Naked mole rat ((Heterocephalus glaber)
The Naked Mole Rat's Latest Superpower
Submerged sperm whale off east Sri Lanka coast, mammal
How Did the Sperm Whale Get Its Name?
Concept of human evolution from ape to man. Man evolution. Development progress, primate growth, ancestor and mankind, caveman and neanderthal mammal generation. Neanderthal and monkey. Raster version
Just How Old Is Homo sapiens?
Chicago, Illinois. Provident Hospital. Newborn babies Contributor Names, 1942
America's Boomer Generation
Map of Congressional Districts in the state of Wisconsin, reflecting district boundaries current to the 113th United States Congress. 2014
What Is Gerrymandering?
President Ronald Reagan deliving his famous speech that challenged the Soviet Union to tear down the Berlin Wall, at the Brandenburg Gate in West Berlin, June 12, 1987.
“Mr. Gorbachev, Tear Down This Wall!”: Reagan’s Berlin Speech
Aerial photo from 380 km over earth from the International Space Station over Mindanao Island group, Philippines. Atmosphere, clouds weather sky, limb of the earth
U.S. Exits Paris Climate Agreement
Movie Still from the film Erin Brockovich starting Julia Roberts (2000). Directed by Steven Soderbergh
What is Hexavalent Chromium (or Chromium-6)?
Toilet. Bathroom. Plumbing. Flush. A public toilet with a wooden seat.
Do Toilets in Different Hemispheres Flush in Different Directions?
Still from Star Wars 1977 from left to right Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker, Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia, Peter Mayhew as Chewbacca, and Harrison Ford as Han Solo
The 40th Anniversary of Star Wars
Iceberg, Arctic (polar, environment, global warming)
Why Does Water Freeze from the Top Down?
Northern lights or Southern lights, also called Aurora Borealis. Luminous phenomenon of Earth's atmosphere. (magnetism; luminous atmospheric display)
What Causes the Northern and Southern Lights?
Homo Naledi on exhibition in 2015
Measuring the Reign of Homo naledi
Sea shell of sea snail in close up showing damage and pitting.
Ocean Acidification: How Carbon Dioxide Is Hurting the Seas
Statue eroded by acid rain, pollution, weathering.
What Happened to Acid Rain?
Horseshoe crab on sand beach in Leizhou Peninsula, Guangdong province, China.
Horseshoe Crab: A Key Player in Ecology, Medicine, and More
A frozen pond in the Khumbu Glacier with Pumori mountain in the left background, near Mount Everest in Sagarmatha National Park in the Himalayas, Nepal.
What Was the Little Ice Age?
The view of Mount Everest from Tibet. Mountain on the crest of the Great Himalayas of southern Asia that lies on the border between Nepal and the Tibet.
Cheating Death on Everest
September 11, 2005, ozone thinning over antarctica reached its maximum extent for the year.
Is the Ozone Layer Finally Healing Itself?
Businessman using tablet phone on airplane
Why Do You Have to Turn Off Electronic Devices on an Airplane?
Passengers waiting in a row for boarding on an airport to a flight to America
Why Do Airlines Overbook Seats on Flights?
Small canyon underwater carved by the swell into the fore reef with sunlight through water surface, Huahine island, Pacific ocean, French Polynesia.
A Tale of Two Submerged Continents
Cracked ice in Arctic Ocean (ice floe; ice flow; ice formation; melting ice; glacier)
Is Climate Change Real?
Polar bear leaping among ice floes at Spitsbergen, Svalbard archipelago, Norway, the Arctic. Sea ice climate change mammal jump global warming
A Recent History of Climate Change
Average temperature in the United States during August 2016, weather
What’s the Difference Between Weather and Climate?
Great Barrier Reef coral bleached area map and infographic
Coral Bleaching: A Threat to Our Reefs
Al Gore in the documentary An Inconvenient Truth, 2006 directed by Davis Guhhenheim
An Inconvenient Truth: 10 Years Hence
composition demonstrating Drought. drought, dried crops, duststorm, dried ground.
Smothered in Drought
An Air Force search and rescue team in an HH-60 G Pave Hawk helicopter surveys the damage as it flies over Sendai, Japan, March 14, 2011. Japan 2011
Five Years Later: The Great Sendai Earthquake
Thomas Malthus (Thomas Robert Malthus) 1806. English cleric and economist, believed population growth would outstrip food supplies with disastrous results. His famous essay was first published in 1798 advocating population control as the solution to the
Thomas Malthus’s 250th Birthday
The Vince Lombardi Trophy is displayed inside the NFL Experience Tuesday, Feb. 2, 2016, in San Francisco. The Denver Broncos will play the Carolina Panthers in Super Bowl 50 Sunday, Feb. 7, 2016.
Super Bowl Sunday: An Unofficial Holiday
Adam Driver as Kylo Ren, John Boyega as Finn, and Daisy Ridley as Rey. Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens(2015). Directed by JJ Abrams
Returning to a Galaxy Far, Far Away
A brief history of whaling. infographic, whales
Japan Maneuvers to Skirt Whaling Restrictions
Hurricane Katrina infographic. Path of the Hurricane Katrina disaster. Includes information on casualties, damage, and the flooded parts of NOLA. tropical cyclone, storm
When Katrina Struck
Mount Saint Helens (Cascade Range, southwestern Washington) spewing ash during the 1980 eruption.; Mount St. Helens
35th Anniversary of Mount Saint Helens Eruption
Fireboat response crews battle the blazing remnants of the off shore oil rig BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill, in the Gulf of Mexico, April 21, 2010. A Coast Guard rescue helicopter document the fire, searches for survivors of the 126 person crew. BP spill
Deepwater Horizon Disaster: Five Years Later
animated gif/infographic of the Mount Tambora eruption, April 1815. volcano. Indonesia.
Mount Tambora 200 Years Later
The assassination of President Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre, Washington, D.C., April 14th, 1865; from a lithograph by Currier and Ives.
9 Infamous Assassins and the World Leaders They Dispatched