By Claire Google (in conjunction with NASA and the USGS) has just released a series of timelapse movies, showing the changes occurring to the surface of our planet since the 1970s. These videos use images taken by the LandSat satellite over the last ...

Jordon's log. May 19th, 2013. We're smack dab in the middle of day two. Tensions are high...cookie break was almost forgotten. Yes, having a cookie break everyday at 9 and 3 isn't the only thing scheduled on our mission on the JOIDES Resolution. From 7:30 AM on it's a non-stop borage of learning. So fast and furious that Vin Diesel himself would wet his pantaloons.

Guest post by R. Gates Recently on Judith Curry's blog, a guest post was submitted by DocMartyn which was a rather nicely (from a math perspective) done extrapolation of past tropospheric temperature trends and cycles out to 2040 and beyond. It was...

I have been known to occasionally make some armor. The functional kind. I participate in 'heavy weapons' in the Society of Creative Anachronism, which is meant to be similar to what one might experience if fighting with broadswords, or with ... C...

Jeff's first blog from the School of Rock. Anchors away. Bringing the North Pacific seafoor to the Ogallala aquifer. Here we go School of Rock 2013. Getting ready for the trip of a lifetime. We are currently sitting at the dock in Esquimalt Bay, Victoria, BC, Canade. We have spent the last 2 day getting used to the ship and learning all about JOIDES Resolution research ship.

The geology of diamonds is fascinating in itself, but they also give insights into wider geological processes and history. Up until 1725, diamonds were only known from India. That all changed when Brazilians panning river sediments for gold, instead found diamonds. Recent studies of inclusions in Brazilian diamonds give insights into what was going on deep under Brazil back when it was part of Gondwanaland.

Viewing the two lava balls in the left of yesterday's photo from a different angle. I'll reiterate that I'm not sure if "lava balls" is a term used broadly among volcanologists; Lava Butte is the only place I've seen it. At the same time, I want to acknowledge that the mechanism described on the interpretive sign there seems logical and the best explanation *I* can think of. The rabbit brush is typically 2-3 feet in height, so these are pretty big- maybe 10-15 feet in diameter. The thought of these incandescently hot, rolling down an active lava flow, is quite intimidating.

After earning my Master's degree in geology at the University of Albany in the early 1990s, I worked for a couple of years for the New York State Geological Survey down in the State Museum.  One of the geologists there at the time, and a hell of a nice guy to younger geologists like myself, was Dr. Yngvar Isachsen (since deceased).

I've been out in the field on a fairly routine basis recently, taking pictures mostly of rocks and my hammer (for scale). Occasionally I take a photo or two looking off into the distance, or of other non-work items (like lizards) that I come acros...

Anne Deacon provides an overview of mental health services in Whatcom County in the Bellingham Herald (Whatcom County Mental Health).

A tornado described as a 4 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale (wind seeds between 267 and 322 kph) by the National Weather Service, hit the north Texas town of Granbury on the evening of Wednesday 15 May 2013, devastating the Rancho Brazos neighborhood ...

I've already mentioned that my time in Canada involved a short trip to Dinosaur Provincial Park with Darren Tanke, but we were also out with Mark Graham, a preparator at the Natural History Museum in London. Mark has kindly written up a guest post on the trip and the hunt for the lost Spinops quarry.

 The presentations from the annual Peer Review of US DOE funded geothermal projects are now posted online.  AZGS presented the progress and results on the National Geothermal Data System we run on behalf of the Association of American State Geolog...

How do the benefits of urban green infrastructure stack up against the costs? We need to better understand the services and disservices generated by urban green infrastructure in order to build better decision support tools for improved planning and management of urban ecosystems that support human health and well-being.

The famous Danish physicist Niels Bohr once humorously observed, "Predictions are very difficult, especially about the future." And so, as the world considers yet another rosy oil supply forecast, this time from the Paris-based International Energy Agency (IEA), it is worth reviewing the agency's record.

It's my turn to be stranded on a Desert Island where all my worldly possessions have sunk into the deep sea amid a large storm. I can choose just one book, geology themed of course, to take on the rescue boat. Which one should I choose?

Visible Geology Stereonet now has support for contours, as well as rose diagrams!

On Thursday at our second sampling site, our team lowered a camera into an ice borehole to get a look at the underside of the ice. In the following video, algae in the bottom of the ice is visible because of their pigments, which they use to harvest ...

Professor Richard Owen lecturing at the Museum of Practical Geology 1857. Image from Illustrated London News. The tiered lecture room at the Jermyn Street Museum was a popular venue in Victorian London and was considered to hold an audience of 600 ...

The above skeleton is of the salamander-like Apateon pedestris from the Permian of Odernhelm, Germany. There are just enough of these tiny little bones to show the ghostly outline of this freshwater amphibian. It is our only amphibian fossil at Wooster, and it is another gift from the George Chambers collection.

By Kelly Although it's in the news again, this is not the Pacific Ring of Fire. Instead I'm here to say that there is more to the Pilbara than just what is in the ground. Look what happens above.  I  hope you have enjoyed your weekend.   ...

by L. Heineman My particular view of the water world is constrained by scarcity. We don't move a lot of cargo on the Rio Grande or the Colorado, the two rivers in my immediate field of view. I forget, and our current trip to the Pacific Northwest h...

Over the past 8 years, NASA scientists have documented

... Mount St. Helens exploded with a fury that surpassed expectations.

Hiked up to Giant's Ledge today with some nice folks from the Meetup.com group Ulster County Outdoors.  Typical Catskill's hike, mostly uphill one way and downhill the other with a rocky trail.  The views from Giant's Ledge were well worth it, however.

Earthquakes and tsunamis are great motivators, as are the pursuits. These are the reasons why a lot of time and resources have gone into studying the seismic, geodynamic, and hydrothermic systems in the Pacific Northwest.

My friend John Cook, (an Australian Physicist who runs the superb website Skeptical Science) is the lead author of a paper in the AGU journal Geophysical Research Letters that has gotten worldwide attention this past week. Not because the findings a...

So the experience finally begins.... After months of planning and anticipation I am finally sitting on the JOIDES Resolution research vessel.  We are currently in dock in Victoria, British Columbia anticipating setting sail 8:00 am Monday morning, May 20th.

You all know how the plot of a disaster movie plays out...amidst the destruction of the city, the world, the solar system, a small plucky group of survivors goes about surviving, the concerns of the few outweighing the needs of the many, so to speak. That is how I felt this week as I come up for air (briefly) to explain my absence from any kind of blogging for the last week. We moved our science division, a gargantuan task involving dozens and dozens of people working under a strict deadline. But like the disaster movie concentrating on a small plucky group, I offer a view of the move from the point of view of our little geology department. Read to the end for an invitation!

The entertainment went on like this for nearly an hour. Sometimes only one Vrr'ak'l would be performing, sometimes as many as ten were leaping and flipping in the air in a mad flutter of feathers and claws. It was probably ... Continue reading �...