Month: June 20113
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The Alaska Peninsula from the Skies
The first component of our program is to deploy seismometers onshore around the Alaska Peninsula. These instruments are very sensitive, so they can record small, local earthquakes, distant large earthquakes and (importantly for our project) the sound source of the R/V Langseth. However, there are no roads connecting towns on the Alaska peninsula, so one…
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Deciphering Past Climate Change in the High Andes
High above the tropical lowlands, the Andes form a formidable topographic barrier separating the coastal deserts in the west from the Amazon rainforest to the east. The Peruvian Andes are the highest peaks in all the tropics and, despite their proximity to the equator, are mantled with snow and ice. However, the glaciers clinging to…
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Mapping the Alaska Megathrust
Two tectonic plates converge along a 2,500-kilometer-long subduction zone offshore southern Alaska. Stress builds up at the contact between these plates, which is released in large, destructive earthquakes like the recent event offshore Japan. One of the big conundrums about these settings is how large of an area locks up on the contact between these…
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Climate News Roundup: Week of 6/12
California re-embraces carbon market, Reuters, June 13 After a court ordered California to consider alternatives to cap and trade, the Air Resources Board published a 120-page policy analysis on Monday, examining five approaches to cut emissions, including a carbon tax, direct regulation of power plants and big factories, and a cap-and-trade system. The report concludes…
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To the tip of the Andes
In the semi-arid Andes, glaciers store water and control the runoff of mountain rivers. They feed water to big cities such as Lima and Arequipa and irrigate the surrounding lowlands. But as the planet warms, mountain glaciers in the tropics are receding steadily. Despite their paramount importance, we don’t know the scale and the rate…
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SEDAC Data Featured via New Discovery Tool
Gridded Population of the World (GPW), the Environmental Performance Index (EPI), and the Last of the Wild/Human Footprint collection are just a few of the many SEDAC data holdings that can now be found via the improved search interface Reverb—NASA’s Next Generation Earth Science Discovery Tool.
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New Water-Smart Communities Prepare For a Water Scarce Future
A recent study by the Stockholm Environment Institute warns that the American Southwest is exhausting its water resources, and if water use isn’t reduced, “The cumulative water shortfall for the Southwest for the next century, without adaptation, will be 1,815 million acre feet” due to population and economic growth. Climate change will, of course, make…
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Toxic Waters in the Gilded State
To those who have never been, the Golden State is known for luxurious palm tree-lined avenues, sun-drenched beaches, and picturesque mountains. But not all parts of California were created equal. The state’s San Joaquin Valley hosts a scene entirely different from the images of Malibu beaches depicted in travel brochures. It is the non-glittering core…
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17th Annual International Sustainable Development Research Conference
“We have in the world today two dangerously different views of the future,” the view of natural scientists and the view of economists, says Lester Brown, founder of the Earth Policy Institute and a keynote speaker at the 17th annual International Sustainable Development Conference.
