Stuff we linked to on Twitter last week

Anne is heading of to a conference this weekend, so Chris has taken responsibility for culling this week’s link collection. Hopefully he did not filter out all the watery goodness…

Earthquakes

• USGS Natural Hazards budget being cut by 20%. Absolutely nothing natural disaster-ish has happened recently, after all.
  http://arizonageology.blogspot.de/2012/07/impacts-of-proposed-cuts-to-national.html
• Aerial gravity and magnetic surveys over epicentre of last year’s M5.8 Virginia quake to investigate regional structure.
  http://www.delmarvanow.com/article/20120712/NEWS01/207120352/Earthquake-epicenter-focus-study
  Meanwhile, the Washington Monument, damaged by that earthquake, may not be reopened until 2014.
  http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/earthquake-damaged-washington-monument-may-be-closed-into-2014/2012/07/09/gJQAXrTNYW_story.html
• Last tsunami-generating rupture on the Seattle fault system in ~930 AD may have been larger than currently thought.
  http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2018653793_tsunami11m.html
• Newly released photos show tsunami overwhelming Fukushima nuclear power plant. Things really kick off around #9
  http://blogs.wsj.com/japanrealtime/2012/07/10/fukushima-watch-new-photos-of-the-day-the-tsunami-hit/tab/slideshow/#slide/1
• Detailed review of the 2009 L’Aquila earthquake, including the possible link between foreshocks, fluid migration and the main shock.
  http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0191814112001459
• Why last week’s deep earthquake in NZ was reported locally as a M7 when USGS said M 6.2: slab guides seismic energy.
  http://geonet-scienceinaction.blogspot.co.nz/2012/07/deep-earthquakes-and-magnitude-again.html
• Vladimir Keilis-Borok’s career-long quest to predict large earthquakes from statistical analysis of foreshocks.
  http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-quake-forecaster-20120709,0,761270,full.story

Volcanoes

• Studying the structure of volcanoes buried under ice & rock on the Antarctic peninsula, using aeromagnetic surveying.
  http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0040195112003642
• Attempt to account for effect of unrecorded eruptions on volcanic hazard estimates. Could you do this for quakes?
  http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0377027312002065
• Best “supervolcano” line ever? “Visit Yellowstone before it visits you!”
  http://www.watchingforrocks.com/2012/07/when-is-this-thing-gonna-blow.html
  (via @lockwooddewitt)

(Paleo)climate

• This is a very interesting chart. Extreme weather affecting more of US this year than any year on record
  http://www.climatecentral.org/blogs/the-extreme-weather-of-2012-explained-in-one-chart/
  (via @afreedma)
• First attempt to do relatively rapid post-hoc attribution of weather extremes to Global Warming just published
  http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2012/07/global-warming-punched-up-some.html
• New research suggests that global sea level 5-6m higher 125,000 yrs ago, when it wasn’t much warmer than today.
  http://oncirculation.com/2012/07/14/sea-level-rise-in-science/
• Great piece by Myles Allen: The climate of the climate change debate is changing.
  http://www.guardian.co.uk/p/39vyc/tw
  (via @AJCorner)
• More cool core from the Joides Resolution’s latest ocean drilling expedition: Cretaceous ocean anoxic events!
  http://joidesresolution.org/node/2644
  (via @TheJR)
• Miami didn’t use to flood with high tides and full moons: we’re living with #LoadingOfWeatherDice
  http://getenergysmartnow.com/2012/07/06/speaking-of-sea-level-rise-or-mom-dont-you-know-what-i-do-for-a-living/
  (via @A_Siegel)

Water

• Post-Colorado wildfire hydrology: water-repellent soils, loss of vegetation, risk of flash floods.
  http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/31255541/detail.html
  (via @SnowHydro, @FireInfoGirl)
• Thousands flee Japanese floods, 20 dead in northern Japan after 30 inches!!! of rain in 72 hrs
  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-18840329
• Tensions Rise With Plan To Flood Grand Canyon [We play god with regulation of rivers].
  http://www.npr.org/2012/07/10/156566151/tensions-rise-with-plan-to-flood-grand-canyon
  (via @mollyis, @nrpnews)
• Modeling Study: fracking fluids can migrate into groundwater much faster than previously believed.
  http://www.propublica.org/article/new-study-predicts-frack-fluids-can-migrate-to-aquifers-within-years
  (via @argillic)
• NPR: Texas Seeks New Water Supplies Amid Drought – good story about water shortage and quest for solutions
  http://www.npr.org/2012/07/08/156366821/texas-seeks-new-water-supplies-amid-drought

Environmental

• Some hard truths on sustainability (or our civilisation’s lack thereof) from Paul Ehrlich.
  http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/2012/07/10/the-sustainability-paradox/
• Warming the planet to cool our homes: electricity used for air conditioning will rise 8 to 10-fold globally by 2050.
  http://e360.yale.edu/feature/cooling_a_warming_planet_a_global_air_conditioning_surge/2550/
• This heat is killing fish by lowering dissolved oxygen in water
  http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/07/07/12616289-another-sign-of-the-heat-times-thousands-of-dead-fish
  (via @MichaelEMann, @bjkingape)
• Scary thought: what happens if wildfires hit the radioactive pine forests around Chernobyl?
  http://www.desdemonadespair.net/2012/07/chernobyl-radioactive-trees-and-forest.html
  (via @planet3org)
• The problem of unreported oil spills – and the general lack of petroleum industry oversight – in developing countrys.
  http://geo-development.blogspot.com/2012/07/dan-sharpe-under-publicised-oil-spills.html

Fossils

• Fascinating story from the dawn of geology – 17th century ‘fossil wars’
  http://blogs.royalsociety.org/history-of-science/2012/07/11/fossil-wars/
  (via @royalsociety)
• Paleobotanist (and Anne’s friend) Reagan Dunn explains how modern Costa Rica helps to understand 40 Ma fossils in Patagonia
  http://youtu.be/xZd1qoxilKM

Planets

• Mars crater image beamed back by Nasa rover Opportunity
  http://www.guardian.co.uk/p/38png/tf
  (via @guardianscience)
• Earth’s water came from meteorites, not comets?
  http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-07/ci-ssi070912.php

General Geology

• Call for Posts: Accretionary Wedge 48: Geoscience & Technology
  http://earth-likeplanet.blogspot.com/2012/07/call-for-posts-accretionary-wedge-48.html
  (via @meagenpollock, @EarthlikePlanet)
• Cool – the BGS now has a staff geoblog.
  http://britgeopeople.blogspot.com/
  (via @BritGeoSurvey)
• Geoscientist bloggers looking for more exposure may want to consider the nascent EGU Blog network:
  http://egugeolog.wordpress.com/2012/03/09/join-the-egu-blog-network/
  (via @EuroGeosciences)
• Amazing photos: wildfire smoke meets storm system and gets pumped up into the troposphere.
  http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=78497&src=eoa-iotd
• Absolutely massive landslide onto glacier in Alaska. Possibly biggest in North America:
  http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/massive-landslide-in-glacier-bay-national-park-sends-rock-and-ice-over-glacier/2012/07/12/gJQAED1ZgW_story.html
  (via @KatherineBaylor)
• How geology played an important role in preparing sites for the Olympics.
  http://planetearth.nerc.ac.uk/index.aspx
• The ‘Anthropocene’ remains a powerful concept that is difficult to precisely define.
  http://hol.sagepub.com/content/early/2012/07/06/0959683612449764.abstract
  (via @palaeo_isotopes, @mammuthus)
• Possible geomagnetic superchron – long period with no field reversals – in 1 billion yr-old rocks in Siberia
  http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0012821X12002671

Interesting Miscellaney

• The AGU’s upcoming handover of its publication arm to an as-yet-unannounced commercial publisher continues to generate concern. The only information available is sparse, and buried in a lot of meaningless verbiage.
  http://lablemminglounge.blogspot.com/2012/07/more-details-on-agu-publication.html
  http://lablemminglounge.blogspot.com/2012/07/additional-agu-publication-update.html
  (via @Geoblogfeed)
• The final hammer blow on the arsenic life saga? Rosie Redfield presents the final results of her open notebook refutation of last year’s controversial Science paper. Chris is getting a little fed up with journalists running around declaring how this has changed science, when it’s more a change in the channels it was discussed in, and the way it was reported as a result. But if it means more of this sort of thing, then it’s a net good.
  http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/loom/2012/07/08/live-blogging-arsenic-life/
• How can you create lab culture to support diversity?
  http://scientopia.org/blogs/gertyz/2012/07/07/recruit-and-retain/
  (via @GertyZ, @labroides)
• Hmmm. Lumping together oil and natural gas liquids has boosted production figures, but latter not substitute for former.
  http://resourceinsights.blogspot.com/2012/07/how-changing-definition-of-oil-has.html
• The house always wins… 4 golden rules financial crisis has taught us about the banking industry
  http://www.economist.com/node/21558584
  (via @TheEconomist)
• The ultimate indoor GPS: Earth’s magnetic field. Neat idea, but fields inside buildings often fluctuate.
  http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/onepercent/2012/07/earths-magnetic-field-guides-y.html
  (via @PaulMarks12)
• ‘Doing science is mostly about performing mundane, repetitive tasks’. You must earn the intellectual payoff: to paraphrase Edison, Science is 90% perspiration, 9% inspiration, 1% how f***ing cool is that!?
  http://www.lastwordonnothing.com/2012/07/12/the-mundaneness-of-science/
  (via @BoraZ)