Since it seems much of the northern hemisphere is cold and snowy at the moment, here’s some good reading to curl up with a hot drink over. For those in the southern hemisphere: here’s some good brain food to distract you from gloating…
Volcanoes
- The Royal Gardens subdivision in Hawaii, before and after Kilauea engulfed it: “buyers didn’t seem to notice or care that the subdivision was built on a steep slope downhill from a volcano.”
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=80258 - Volcanic activity at White Island is the most “vigorous” in years & could mean a large explosive eruption is imminent.
http://tvnz.co.nz/national-news/white-island-activity-could-lead-large-eruption-gns-5323727
Earthquakes
- When it comes to seismic risk from subduction megathrusts “we have no models that work, and we may not have for decades.” Chris Goldinger et al. argue that Sumatra and Tohuku have forced us back to the drawing board.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/01/130123133901.htm
http://srl.geoscienceworld.org/content/84/1/24 - Using earthquake induced landslide distribution to estimate slip distribution & mechanism of large earthquakes:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0012821X12007042 - A good write up of the recent study that suggested groundwater extraction near Lorca, Spain triggered a M5.1 earthquake.
http://blogs.egu.eu/gfgd/2013/01/21/guest-blog-can-humans-make-the-earth-shake/ - L’Aquila Earthquake Verdict – the “motivazione” for the sentence now published by the judge.
http://news.sciencemag.org/scienceinsider/2013/01/judge-in-laquila-earthquake-tria.html?ref=hp
(via @paleoseismicity, @geostuff) - Signs of activity at hot springs in Gwaii Haanas National Park that shut down following October’s M7.7 earthquake.
http://www.theprovince.com/news/springs+warming+again+after+earthquake+damage/7839032/story.html - Neato! Seismogram in sand found by
http://outsidetheinterzone.blogspot.com/2013/01/sketched-in-sand.html
(via @lockwooddewitt)
Planets
- Only one generation of humankind can be the 1st explorers of the solar system, and we are that generation. It’s pretty.
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2013/01/solar-system-geology/ - Two companies proposing to mine asteroids. Will be interesting to see if plans make it off glossy brochures into space.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-21144769
(Paleo)climate
- Glaciers in the tropical Andes have shrunk by an average of 30-50% since the 1970s, fastest rate in 300 years.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-21163386 - Powerful: Naomi Oreskes piece calling on Obama to mobilise scientists to tackle climate change
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/put-government-labs-to-work-on-climate-change/2013/01/17/bfd2d546-6003-11e2-b05a-605528f6b712_story.html
(via @callanbentley, @matt_levinson) - “with CO2 stabilized at 400 ppm we infer a likely long-term sea-level rise of >9 m …” note: ‘long-term’ = 10^3 yr
http://www.pnas.org/content/110/4/1209
(via @clasticdetritus) - Fascinating list & discussion of record snowfalls & Great Lakes snow belt. http://www.wunderground.com/blog/weatherhistorian/comment.html?entrynum=117
Water
- Nice summary of the @kentstateuniv & Duke research on wastewater from Pennsylvania fracking
http://www.ohio.com/news/local/pennsylvania-drilling-wastes-might-overwhelm-ohio-injection-wells-1.367102 - A useful description of velocity-area and solute slug injection methods of measuring stream discharge:
http://limnology.wisc.edu/courses/zoo548/Measuring Discharge in Streams.pdf - Sad stories from beautiful, flood-ravaged Assam.
http://india.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/22/in-northeast-india-studying-climate-change-along-the-brahmaputra-river/
(via @billmckibben) - Fear of flooding as widespread snow gets rained upon in the UK:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-21208910 - Could building snowmen help mitigate local flooding? Yes, this was seriously discussed in Chris’s snowy homeland this week!
http://ihrrblog.org/2013/01/25/could-building-snowmen-could-help-mitigate-local-flooding/ - Satellite gravity data show that despite recent rain, drought lingers in the US.
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/view.php?id=80221
(via @NASA_EO) - If the weather channel is going to name winter storms, should we maybe name droughts, too?
http://watercrunch.com/2013/01/should-we-name-droughts/
(via @jfleck, @watercrunch) - And don’t miss this setting of the drought monitor time series to music! Thanks @watercrunch.
http://www.youtube.com/ - PHOTO: Salty sewers? Winter’s residue builds up beneath the streets
http://neorsd.blogspot.com/2013/01/photo-salty-sewers-winters-residue.html
(via @neorsd) - The fallacy of the pool-riffle sequence as a river restoration tool
http://therivermanagementblog.wordpress.com/2013/01/21/the-fallacy-of-the-pool-riffle-sequence/
(via @Geomorphology) - Stream daylighting in UK: Plans to uncover hidden part of River Roch in Rochdale
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-19956737
(via @philipwlord) - Sanitation is vitally important for clean water & public health. Yet Rwanda has no waste treatment facilities!
http://nedbreslin.tap.waterforpeople.org/shit-mountain - Nice video from UNESCO on challenges for water in cities in developing nations & developed ones:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImzNmJT3_OA
Environmental
- Long but interesting: Wicked Problems and the utility of socio-ecological systems thinking applied to cities.
http://www.thenatureofcities.com/2013/01/20/wicked-problems-social-ecological-systems-and-the-utility-of-systems-thinking/ - Ecological changes due to over-fishing + depression-era drainage ditches = rapid erosion of Cape Cod salt marshes.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/01/130125104228.htm - Really interesting post on Scientific American about conflicts between chimps & humans in Uganda, by @mccarthymaureen
@carlzimmer writes about scientists trying to rescue Tasmanian devils from a contagious cancer.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/22/science/saving-tasmanian-devils-from-extinction.html - Anne’s mom describes what it means to be a restoration ecologist using #upgoer5 words
http://tenhundredwordsofscience.tumblr.com/post/41073084204/my-job-is-to-fix-places-where-too-many-people-have
General Geology
- The Metageologist takes a wonderful literary journey all the way from the Big Bang to a rock in his hand.
http://all-geo.org/metageologist/2013/01/rock-from-scratch/ - Like this: map of the supercontinent Pangaea in Triassic by Richard Morden.
http://www.redbubble.com/people/morden/works/7934965-map-of-the-supercontinent-pangaea
More details:
http://www.dramsch.net/archives/84-Beasties-of-fur-and-of-feather.html - Science in action: academic fisticuffs over hypothesis that a gamma ray burst hit Earth in the 8th century?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-21082617 - “On the shoulders of giants – things I learned going through 40 year old field books:”
http://tannislikesrocks.blogspot.com/2013/01/on-shoulders-of-giants.html?spref=tw
(via @TMMCC) - Anne thinks @lockwooddewitt is trying to make her totally homesick with this week’s Oregon geology pictures of the McKenzie:
http://outsidetheinterzone.blogspot.com/
Interesting Miscellaney
- A nice Storify illustrating the benefits of Twitter for academics.
http://storify.com/professor_dave/academic-use-of-twitter-acadtwitter
(via @davidmpyle, @professor_dave) - A good summary of the perverse incentive structures in academia that can inhibit Open Access publishing.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/blog/2013/jan/23/open-access-publish-paywalls-victims-perpetrators
(via @kwinkunks) - Some good thoughts from Warren Ellis on why we are bored by the increasingly astonishing present. Plus, this little gem of a factoid: on Mars, you can quite literally walk up (Olympus Mons) most of the way to space.
http://www.warrenellis.com/?p=14314 - Mind-bending new dark matter theory: it’s energy tied in domain walls of a frozen ancient force-field.
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn23094-earth-may-be-crashing-through-dark-matter-walls.html
(via @bldgblog) - Not your average day at the office: ROV operation interrupted by inquisitive sperm whale (video):
http://deepseanews.com/2013/01/sperm-whales-be-messing-with-my-robot/ - How We Use Maps and Globes: An Illustrated Guide from 1968
http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2013/01/04/how-we-use-maps-and-globes-1968/
(via @BoraZ) - The Onion for scientists.
http://collectivelyunconscious.wordpress.com/
(via @StephSchuttler, @JenHamel) - Mustread post by DNLee: tragedy of STEM opportunities denied to students very early on
http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/urban-scientist/2013/01/24/a-dream-deferred-how-access-to-stem-is-denied-to-many-students-before-they-get-in-the-door-good/ - A field guide to privilege in marine science: some reasons why we like diversity. Excellent post by Miriam Goldstein.
http://deepseanews.com/2013/01/a-field-guide-to-privilege-in-marine-science-some-reasons-why-we-lack-diversity/ - Great post about being LGBTQ in science and feeling isolated. Needs to change to increase diversity in #STEM
http://grainsand.wordpress.com/2012/07/02/help-send-scientists/
(via @scicurious) - Prof friends, please read: pregnant students have rights:
http://thefeministbreeder.com/did-you-know-pregnant-students-have-rights-neither-did-i/ - Early blogosphere post that has always stuck with me had the analogy of 1st year faculty as being kicked UP a cliff:
http://mommyscientist.blogspot.com/2007/01/teaching-giant-sucking-sound.html - “The study that almost made me quit grad school”
http://dynamicecology.wordpress.com/2013/01/22/the-study-that-almost-made-me-quit-grad-school/ - Too often true: Trainees get scientific mentoring, but lack career mentoring
http://www.asbmb.org/asbmbtoday/asbmbtoday_article.aspx?id=24077
(via @deepseadawn, @ElenaBennett, @lkluber) - Why you should consider doing a Master’s first.
http://labroides.wordpress.com/2013/01/19/why-you-should-consider-doing-a-masters-first/
(via @Drew_Lab)
Nice plan for content warnings on Mastodon and the Fediverse. Now you need a Mastodon/Fediverse button on this blog.