Author: Stacy Morford4
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Iron Fertilization Won’t Work in Equatorial Pacific, Study Suggests
Over the past half-million years, the equatorial Pacific Ocean has seen five spikes in the amount of iron-laden dust blown in from the continents. In theory, those bursts should have turbo-charged the growth of carbon-capturing algae, but a new study shows that the excess iron had little to no effect.
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Maureen Raymo Elected to National Academy of Sciences
Maureen Raymo, a marine geologist at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory whose name is connected with key theories about how ice ages wax and wane and how sea levels change, has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences, one of the highest honors awarded to scientists in the United States.
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In Greenland, Exactly Where Meltwater Enters the Ocean Matters
In southern Greenland in summer, rivers have been streaming off the ice sheet, pouring cold fresh water into the fjords. A new study tracks where that meltwater goes—with surprising results.
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Walter Pitman and the Smoking Gun of Plate Tectonics
“We had this magic key, this magic magnetic profile,” Pitman said. “We were able to date it and eventually use it not only as a tool that proved continental drift but a tool by which we could actually reconstruct the pattern of drift, that is the relative position of the continents, and the actual timing…
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Top Seismology Award Goes to Pioneer in Rock Mechanics: Christopher Scholz
For his pioneering work in rock mechanics and his skill at communicating earthquake science, Scholz is being honored on April 20 by the Seismological Society of America with its top award, the Harry Fielding Reid Medal.
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Accounting for Volcanoes Using Tools of Economics
Climate scientists teamed up with an econometrics expert to develop an innovative new method for picking out past volcanic eruptions in temperature reconstructions going back millennia and gauging their impact on the climate.
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Attributing Extreme Weather to Causes—Including Climate Change
New research and more powerful computer models are advancing scientists’ ability to tease apart the forces that can worsen extreme weather. In a new report, a committee of the National Academy of Sciences that includes Columbia’s Adam Sobel assesses the young field of attribution studies.
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Pump Meltwater Back on Antarctica? Do You Have 850,000 Wind Turbines?
A new study that looked at the feasibility of lowering sea levels by pumping water onto icy Antarctica offers a warning about the costs today’s greenhouse gas emissions may be creating for future generations.
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MESSENGER Data Reveal Evidence of Ancient Carbon-Rich Crust on Mercury
Mercury’s dark surface is revealing intriguing new clues about the formation of the solar system, including evidence announced today that the planet closest to the Sun may have formed in part from carbon, a key component of life.
