Stuff we linked to on Twitter last week

Sit down with your choice of caffeinated beverage, relax, and enjoy some of the more interesting things that Chris and Anne have been reading this week.

Volcanoes

• Must-read post by Erik Klemetti on volcanic future of the Yellowstone Caldera: small eruptions more likely than big.
  http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/09/the-future-at-yellowstone-caldera/
• Some see tropical paradise. Anne sees a volcano: : View of Bora Bora (1 of 1st images by SPOT 6).
  http://www.astrium-geo.com/na/4423-first-images-from-spot-6
  (via @NASA_EO)

Earthquakes

• Earthquake prediction: difficult, almost impossible, or simply impossible? Ed Yong investigates:
  http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20120920-will-we-ever-predict-earthquakes
• Great pics from Dave Petley: Alpine Fault thrusting metamorphic rocks over river gravels, landslides and sedimentation.
  http://blogs.agu.org/landslideblog/2012/09/22/landslides-and-the-alpine-fault-in-new-zealand/
• Japanese town ponders a pre-emptive relocation due to tsunami risk – if they agree, will be the first.
  http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/fearing-new-tsunami-japanese-town-to-vote-on-relocation/story-e6frg6so-1226476051523

Planets

• Curiosity is a real geologist: when driving its cameras are easily turned by pretty outcrops. This one q coarse grained
  http://www.planetary.org/blogs/emily-lakdawalla/2012/09171235-curiosity-sol39-mosaic-truthan.html
• Pretty cool: Dawn observes evidence of hydrogen and water on Vesta. Not just dead since dawn of solar system, it seems…
  http://arstechnica.com/science/2012/09/evidence-for-hydrogen-and-water-on-vesta-hints-at-planetoids-past/
• Music of the Spheres – The Sounds of Earth’s Magnetosphere, at frequencies directly audible to humans!
  http://climatecrocks.com/2012/09/18/music-of-the-spheres-the-sounds-of-earths-magnetosphere/
  (via @planet3org)

Fossils

• Strange but true: creationists are particularly annoyed by feathered dinosaurs. Brian Switek explains.
  http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2012/09/creationists_and_dinosaurs_answers_in_genesis_teams_with_dissident_scientists_to_deny_feathered_dino_fossil_record.single.html

(Paleo)climate

• Canadian climate reconstructed from fossil wood that fell to bottom of volcanic kimberlite vents. Wow.
  http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0045537
  (via @OrbitalPete)
• Can you ‘prove’ an extreme flood or forest fire wouldn’t have happened without climate change? It’s tricky.
  http://www.nature.com/news/extreme-weather-1.11428
  In response, RealClimate discusses the ins and outs of extreme climate event attribution
  http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2012/09/why-bother-trying-to-attribute-extreme-events/
• New York Times: New York Is Lagging as Seas and Risks Rise, Critics Warn
  http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/11/nyregion/new-york-faces-rising-seas-and-slow-city-action.html
  (via @Revkin)
• The struggles of Galveston…great story highlighting tension in local communities caused by sea level rise/coastal erosion.
  http://texasclimatenews.org/wp/?p=5540
  (via @HeidiCullen)
• Final score for this year’s Arctic sea-ice minimum: 3.41 million square km, 18% below previous record low in 2007.
  http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/sep/19/arctic-ice-shrinks
  http://nsidc.org/arcticseaicenews/2012/09/arctic-sea-ice-extent-near-minimum/
• Meanwhile, a good discussion of how even latest models find it hard to reproduce recent rapid Arctic sea ice decline.
  http://neven1.typepad.com/blog/2012/09/models-are-improving-but-can-they-catch-up.html
• Post-Fukushima edging away from nuclear power could have a very negative impact on attempts to reduce CO2 emissions.
  http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/sep/14/nuclear-global-warming
• It’s also worth noting the upcoming uranium production shortfall, due to loss of major source (25% of annual demand for uranium met by decommissioned nuclear weapons, but next year that supply is being cut off.) and bad mining economics.
  http://www.theenergyreport.com/pub/na/14344

Water

• The concept and design behind this interactive daily water budget model is awesome
  Content-http://wikiwatershed.org/mmw/mini/index.htm
• Check out this cool USGS primer video on urban streams that Anne found.
  http://all-geo.org/jefferson/usgs-primer-on-urban-streams/
• Things Anne is reading this weekend – All about Rain Gardens
  http://www.lowimpactdevelopment.org/raingarden_design/index.htmhttps://www.bae.ncsu.edu/topic/raingarden/http://www.princegeorgescountymd.gov/Government/AgencyIndex/DER/ESG/Bioretention/pdf/Bioretention Manual_2009 Version.pdf
• Maybe even more immediately relevant: homeowner’s guide to drainage problems and solutions
  http://www.princegeorgescountymd.gov/Government/AgencyIndex/DER/ESG/pdf/RDMANUAL.pdf
• Georgia officials give drought the silent treatment –
  http://www.latimes.com/http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-georgia-drought-20120916,0,2925119.story
• Shipping exec: ‘the mighty Mississippi has been a weakling lately.’ [because of drought]
  http://www.cnn.com/2012/09/15/us/drought-impact/index.html
  (via @billmckibben)
• A new paper shows significant increases in flood levels in stream reaches with levees and upstream (up to 2.3 m!) (link to abstract)
  http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/hyp.8261/abstract
• Groundwater recharge from overbank floods [link to abstract]
  http://www.agu.org/pubs/crossref/2012/2011WR011441.shtml

Environmental

• A slightly sarcastic account of Shell’s Arctic drilling attempt, now effectively suspended until next year.
  http://grist.org/news/shell-gives-up-on-arctic-drilling-until-next-year/
• Meanwhile, on the UK, a parliamentary committee recommends a ban oil drilling in the Arctic until decent spill responses in place.
  http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/environmental-audit-committee/news/announcement-of-report-publication1/
  (via @EuroGeosciences, @adamvaughan_uk)
• Interview with University of Texas geologist Susan Hovorka on her research into carbon capture and storage
  http://earthsky.org/earth/susan-hovorka-on-carbon-capture-and-storage
• Important question addressed in this paper: Landform change due to soil redistribution by intense tillage based on high-resolution DEMs (link to abstract)
  http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0169555X12003339?via=sd&cc=y
• Sustainable Infrastructure in Shrinking Cities by colleagues Kent State University:
  http://www.kent.edu/cpapp/research/upload/infastructure-in-shrinking-cities.pdf
• Great overview video of what Cleveland & @neorsd are doing about combined sewer overflows…
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1-aULDM0R0

General Geology

• Best. Field. Trip. Ever. Exploring the connection between rocks, water and whisky
  http://blog.geolsoc.org.uk/2012/09/17/whisky-on-the-rocks/
  (via @Geoblogfeed)
• Woohoo! @JacquelynGill gets a bigger megaphone on the @ScientopiaBlogs guest blog
  http://scientopia.org/blogs/guestblog/2012/09/17/mammoths-acacias-and-breadfruit-oh-my/
• Interesting looking Nature Geoscience paper on link between river drainage and tectonic deformation in Southern Alps of NZ.
  http://www.nature.com/ngeo/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/ngeo1582.html
• Anthropocene readings #1: “Humanity has become a global force whose exploits will be written in rock for millennia”
  http://lareviewofbooks.org/article.php?id=707&fulltext=1
• Anthropocene readings #2: human vs deep time as scientists debate where/how to draw the epochal line.
  http://eenews.net/public/Greenwire/2012/09/17/1
• In Australia, they don’t just have tornados. They have tornados made of fire!
  http://www.guardian.co.uk/p/3agap/tw
  (via @AJCorner)

Interesting Miscellaney

• Scientists, Your Gender Bias Is Showing
  http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2012/09/19/scientists-your-gender-bias-is-showing/
  (via @mabakerusu)
• Academia is a cult.
  http://membracid.wordpress.com/2007/07/28/academia-is-a-cult/
  (via @bug_girl)
• Biogeochemistry tenure-track faculty position in Biology at Kent State University. Come join the cool people [in the cult].
  http://all-geo.org/jefferson/biogeochemistry-faculty-position-in-biology-at-kent-state-university/
• !!! Warp Drive May Be More Feasible Than Thought, Scientists Say via
  http://www.space.com/17628-warp-drive-possible-interstellar-spaceflight.html
  (via @BrianShiro, @SPACEdotcom)
• This explains much: The Romney Campaign is being brought to you by the makers of Lost…
  http://www.citizenschwartz.com/showrunner-jj-abrams-promises-inexplicable-inconsistencies-glaring-logic-problems-will-all-be-explained-in-satisfying-series-finale-to-romney/
• This astounding photo catching a drop in the act of formation wouldn’t be out of place in an art gallery.
  http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/visualscience/2012/09/17/the-beautiful-breaking-point/
  (via @edyong209)

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