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Ecosystem Services Quake Or Bomb? Earth VOL. 97 NO. 5 1 MAR 2016 Ecosystem Services Quake or Bomb? Earth 2.0 Thank You to Our Partners & Sponsors Their support helps further develop and expand AGU programs, opportunities for members, and supports meetings. Organizational Partners AGU‘s organizational partnership program develops relationships with organizations that align with AGU’s values of unselfish cooperation in research and the highest standards of scientific integrity, while maintaining AGU’s reputation. These organizations share a vested interest in and commitment to advancing and communicating science and its power to ensure a sustainable future. 2016 Ocean Sciences Meeting Sponsors • PLOS: Public Library of Science • Sea-Bird Scientific • Consortium for Ocean Science Exploration and Engagement (COSEE) Earth & Space Science News Contents 1 MARCH 2016 PROJECT UPDATE VOLUME 97, ISSUE 5 22 Arctic Research on Thin Ice: Consequences of Arctic Sea Ice Loss Scientists embarked on a 6-month expedition in the Arctic Ocean to study the thinning sea ice cover, improve our understanding of sea ice loss effects, and help predict future changes. NEWS New Step Toward 7 Finding Earth 2.0 Researchers unveil a way to tease out the wobble of a star caused by unseen planets despite the confounding effects of star spots, which are the sunspots of distant stars. OPINION 16 10 PROJECT UPDATE Understanding Ecosystem Services from a Geosciences Perspective Drones in a Cold Climate Assessment of ecosystem services— the benefits society receives from As climate change reshapes the Earth’s polar regions, scientists turn ecosystems—can be improved by including to drone-mounted cameras to measure sea ice. One expedition found broader spatial and temporal scales of out that flying drones near Antarctica isn’t easy. geosciences perspectives. Earth & Space Science News Eos.org // 1 Contents DEPARTMENTS Editor in Chief Barbara T. Richman: AGU, Washington, D. C., USA; eos_ [email protected] Editors Christina M. S. Cohen Wendy S. Gordon Carol A. Stein California Institute Ecologia Consulting, Department of Earth and of Technology, Pasadena, Austin, Texas, USA; Environmental Sciences, Calif., USA; wendy@ecologiaconsulting University of Illinois at cohen@srl .caltech.edu .com Chicago, Chicago, Ill., USA; [email protected] José D. Fuentes David Halpern Department of Meteorology, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pennsylvania State Pasadena, Calif., USA; University, University davidhalpern29@gmail Park, Pa., USA; .com [email protected] Editorial Advisory Board M. Lee Allison, Earth and Space John W. Lane, Near-Surface Geophysics Science Informatics Jian Lin, Tectonophysics Mark G. Flanner, Atmospheric Figen Mekik, Paleoceanography Sciences and Paleoclimatology Nicola J. Fox, Space Physics Jerry L. Miller, Ocean Sciences and Aeronomy Michael A. Mischna, Planetary Sciences Steve Frolking, Biogeosciences Thomas H. Painter, Cryosphere Sciences Edward J. Garnero, Study of the Philip J. Rasch, Global Environmental Earth’s Deep Interior Change Michael N. Gooseff, Hydrology Eric M. Riggs, Education 12 Brian C. Gunter, Geodesy Adrian Tuck, Nonlinear Geophysics Kristine C. Harper, History Sergio Vinciguerra, Mineral of Geophysics and Rock Physics Susan E. Hough, Natural Hazards Andrew C. Wilcox, Earth and Planetary 10–13 Opinion Emily R. Johnson, Volcanology, Surface Processes Geochemistry, and Petrology Earle Williams, Atmospheric Understanding Ecosystem Services Keith D. Koper, Seismology and Space Electricity Geomagnetism Societal Impacts from a Geosciences Perspective; Robert E. Kopp, Mary Lou Zoback, and Paleomagnetism and Policy Sciences Geochronology: It’s About Time. Staff Production: Faith A. Ishii, Production Manager; Melissa A. Tribur, Senior Production Specialist; Liz Castenson, Editor’s Assistant; Yael Fitzpatrick, Manager, Design and 27–28 Research Spotlight Branding; Valerie Bassett and Travis Frazier, Electronic Graphics Specialists Early Agriculture Has Kept Earth Editorial: Peter L. Weiss, Manager/Senior News Editor; Mohi Kumar, Scientific Warm for Millennia; Oklahoma’s Content Editor; Randy Showstack, Senior News Writer; JoAnna Wendel, Writer; Dormant Faults Hide Huge Seismic Shannon Kelleher and Cody Sullivan, Interns Angelo Bouselli, Marketing Program Manager; Jamie R. Liu, Manager, Risk Potential; P Wave Amplitude Marketing: Marketing 27 Decay Offers a Glimpse of Earth’s Advertising: Christy Hanson, Manager; Tel: +1-202-777-7536; Email: advertising@ Structure. agu.org ©2016. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved. Material in this issue may 3–8 News be photocopied by individual scientists for research or classroom use. Permission 29–32 Positions Available is also granted to use short quotes, figures, and tables for publication in scientific What Caused the Sudden Heating Current job openings in the Earth books and journals. For permission for any other uses, contact the AGU Publications of Uranus’s Atmosphere?; Quake Office. and space sciences. or Bomb? Seismic Waves Speak Eos (ISSN 0096-3941) is published semi-monthly, on the 1st and 15th of the month by Truth, Even If Nations Don’t; the American Geophysical Union, 2000 Florida Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20009, USA. Periodical Class postage paid at Washington, D. C., and at additional mailing Human Activities Account for Less Inside Back Cover: offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Member Service Center, 2000 Than a Third of Ocean Nitrogen; Postcards from the Field Florida Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20009, USA. United States Still First in Science, Member Service Center: 8:00 a.m.–6:00 p.m. Eastern time; Tel: +1-202-462-6900; Remnants of a glacier’s passing, Fax: +1-202-328-0566; Tel. orders in U.S.: 1-800-966-2481; Email: [email protected]. Tech Research Spending; New Step seen in the Scottish Highlands. Use AGU’s Geophysical Electronic Manuscript Submissions system to submit a Toward Finding Earth 2.0; Claudia manuscript: http://eos-submit.agu.org. Joan Alexander (1959–2015). Views expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect official positions of the On the Cover American Geophysical Union unless expressly stated. A drone’s-eye view of the U.S. Christine W. McEntee, Executive Director/CEO 9 Meeting Report icebreaker Nathaniel B. Palmer on The Impact of African Dust on Air 13 April 2015, en route to the ice Quality in the Caribbean Basin. shelves near East Antarctica. facebook.com/AmericanGeophysicalUnion @AGU_Eos linkedin.com/company/american-geophysical-union youtube.com/user/AGUvideos 2 // Eos 1 March 2016 NEWS What Caused the Sudden Heating of Uranus’s Atmosphere? heating. However, because the gas giants are so huge and rotate so fast, this heat circles the poles without spreading globally, so it wouldn’t account for the global upper atmospheric heating that’s been observed, Melin said. Given the storm in Uranus’s lower atmo- sphere, Melin suspects that another factor could be at work: low- amplitude “acoustic waves”—also known as gravity waves— generated by huge, turbulent storms. These waves originate from disturbances, like rip- ples in a pond. On Earth, gravity waves come from violent thunderstorms or when wind blows over a mountain. On the gas giants, storms in the lower altitudes create these waves, which propagate toward the higher NASA/JPL altitudes and generate heat, Melin said. The Voyager 2 spacecraft snapped these (left) true- color and (right) false- color images of Uranus in 1986. “Uranus is unique in that it has remained so very quiet [stormwise] for so long and that the appearance of these storms in 2014 cor- odels of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and occur all the time on Jupiter and Saturn, the relates so well with the abrupt heating of the Neptune predict that the tempera- disturbances might have a hand in maintain- upper atmosphere,” Melin said. M tures of their upper atmospheres— ing high temperatures in their upper atmo- the zones of dilute gases far above the planets’ spheres, he suggested. Stormy Waves frigid cloud tops—should be around 200 kel- Melin presented the data on the Uranian Astronomers have seen a similar effect before vins, or –73°C. However, when the two Voy- heating last December at the 2015 AGU Fall on Saturn, said Leigh Fletcher, a planetary sci- ager spacecraft zipped by those gas giants in Meeting in San Francisco, Calif. (see http://bit entist who is also at the University of Leicester the late 1980s, scientists discovered that the .ly/FM15- abstract). in the United Kingdom but wasn’t involved in planets’ outermost atmospheres were much the research by Melin and his colleagues. In hotter than expected—nearing 1000 kelvins, Turning Up the Heat 2010, a huge storm erupted in Saturn’s lower or more than 700°C. During the past 20 Earth years, the upper atmosphere, and scientists witnessed the evo- Scientists have had trouble coming up with atmosphere of Uranus cooled from 750 to 550 lution of a region of hot gases that rose into a mechanism to explain these searing tem- kelvins, but since 2013, it has heated by about the upper atmosphere (see http://bit.ly/ peratures. Now, after decades of observation, 50 kelvins per Earth year, Melin said. A Uranus Saturn- Storm). they might be closer to an answer. year is 84 Earth years, so small variations in “Connecting this middle- atmospheric Although close monitoring has shown that Uranus’s atmospheric temperature while the activity to the tropospheric storms is very Uranus’s upper atmosphere underwent con- planet orbits the Sun should take place gradu- challenging, but it’s also possible that waves sistent cooling over the past 20 years, mea- ally. That the reversal happened relatively can transfer their energy all the way up to the surements since 2014 by University of Leices- quickly means that “something dramatic has top of the atmosphere, where Dr. Melin has ter’s Henrik Melin and colleagues revealed a changed,” Melin said. been working,” Fletcher continued. reversal toward heating. Several mechanisms can heat a planet, but However, scientists remain unclear as to During this time, other observers detected a none solve the mystery of the gas giants’ so- how these planets’ lower atmospheres inter- storm in the planet’s lower atmosphere.
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