Earth Sciences131
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What can we learn from ‘land terminating’ glaciers?
Nature is keeping us in check at every turn. With weather and volcanic ash clouds limiting visibility we have to regularly rearrange plans, but most days we are able to capture a fairly complete set of data.The flight over Russell Glacier in Southwest Greenland (just inland from Kanger) was a redirect from a mission aborted…
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Greenland’s ‘Big Three’ Glaciers
Today’s flight had to be carefully planned in order to avoid the volcanic ash plume still drifting from Iceland, so we flew to the east coast of Greenland to survey the Helheim glacier first. Glaciologists refer to Helheim glacier as one of ‘The big three’ in Greenland. The ‘big three’ (Helheim, Jakobshavn/Ilulissat and Kangerdlussuaq) are among…
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Triaging the Behindedness
Last fall, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, honored my former advisor and boss, Bill Ryan. As my small contribution, I offered this essay that ends with a story about Bill. “Triage” is a term originating with medical personnel in the military. Its original meaning was the process of dividing wounded on the battlefield into three groups: those…
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Earthquake Chasers in Upstate New York
Following a series of small, mysterious earthquakes in the rural town of Berne, southwest of Albany, N.Y., seismologists from Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory have placed three temporary seismometers in the area, in an attempt to understand what is driving the tremors and assess whether there is a risk of larger events. Occasional small quakes have been recorded…
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Seismologists Gather for “Discourse over Materials”
Every Friday afternoon, for as long as anyone can remember, the seismologists at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory have gathered for a lively session of discourse over materials. “Discourse over materials” is a phrase coined by scholars who use ethnographic techniques to study the behavior of scientists and science students as though they (we) were a recently-contacted…
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Challenges Inherent in Teaching Geosciences
Several inherent attributes of ocean, atmosphere and solid earth sciences contribute to making these disciplines challenging to teach and learn at the K-14 level. These include the large spatial scale of important processes, the consequent reliance on models and representations rather than actual target phenomena in hands-on activities, the centrality of systems thinking and emergent…
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Code Charlie Turns to Code Delta
Since the first week of the Spring Campaign we have had a planned flight from Thule to Fairbanks. This trans Arctic flight will provide a valuable overview of the icecap and the condition of the Northwest Passage. The weather has caused reschedules in that flight until we are down to the last days of the…
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Taro Takahashi Wins Top U.N. Award for Environmental Leadership
The United Nations has awarded Taro Takahashi, a geochemist at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, its highest honor for environmental leadership, the Champions of the Earth award, for his research on the oceans’ uptake of carbon dioxide and its implications for global warming. He was presented with a trophy and a $40,000 prize on Thursday, April 22,…
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Paul Richards Wins Seismological Society of America’s Reid Medal
In a research career spanning more than four decades, Paul Richards, a seismologist at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, has helped uncover Earth’s inner structure and advanced techniques for detecting nuclear explosions to ensure that bans on nuclear testing can be enforced. Richards will receive the Seismological Society of America’s Harry Fielding Reid medal at its annual…
