DOCSLIB.ORG

Scientists to Standardize the Naming of Seamounts, Trenches, and Other Undersea Features, Reducing Ambiguity in Identification and Communication

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Scientists to Standardize the Naming of Seamounts, Trenches, and Other Undersea Features, Reducing Ambiguity in Identification and Communication VOL. 98 NO. 2 FEB 2017 The Ideas That Made a Tectonic Shift Naming Ocean Floor Features Environment in the Age of Trump Freezing Mars’s Core in the Lab Earth & Space Science News Contents FEBRUARY 2017 VOLUME 98, ISSUE 2 PROJECT UPDATE 12 A Name Directory for the Ocean Floor New web resources enable scientists to standardize the naming of seamounts, trenches, and other undersea features, reducing ambiguity in identification and communication. PROJECT UPDATE 23 Interviewing 101: Navigating the Four-Step Process Think of an interview as a dance of words. As in many dances, there are a few patches 18 of tricky footwork. COVER RESEARCH SPOTLIGHT A Meeting That Helped Foster New Insight into Silica 43 Explains Planetary the Acceptance of Global Tectonics Smashup A better equation of state for silica will Fifty years ago, scientists in the United States added their heft to a help planetary scientists accurately theory with profound implications: Earth’s ocean crust recycles itself constrain the giant impacts that have on a global scale, and continents move across the face of the planet. shaped our solar system. 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., José D. Fuentes David Halpern USA; [email protected] Department of Meteorology, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pennsylvania State Pasadena, Calif., USA; University, University davidhalpern29@gmail Park, Pa., USA; .com [email protected] Editorial Advisory Board Mark G. Flanner, Atmospheric Jian Lin, Tectonophysics Sciences Figen Mekik, Paleoceanography Nicola J. Fox, Space Physics and Paleoclimatology and Aeronomy Jerry L. Miller, Ocean Sciences Steve Frolking, Biogeosciences Michael A. Mischna, Planetary Sciences Edward J. Garnero, Study of the Thomas H. Painter, Cryosphere Sciences Earth’s Deep Interior Philip J. Rasch, Global Environmental Michael N. Gooseff, Hydrology Change Brian C. Gunter, Geodesy Eric M. Riggs, Education 41 Kristine C. Harper, History Adrian Tuck, Nonlinear Geophysics of Geophysics Sergio Vinciguerra, Mineral Susan E. Hough, Natural Hazards and Rock Physics Emily R. Johnson, Volcanology, Andrew C. Wilcox, Earth and Planetary Geochemistry, and Petrology Surface Processes 27–40 AGU News Keith D. Koper, Seismology Earle Williams, Atmospheric JGR: Planets Celebrated 25 Years; Robert E. Kopp, Geomagnetism and Space Electricity and Paleomagnetism Mary Lou Zoback, Societal Impacts Awardees and Prize Winners John W. Lane, Near-Surface Geophysics and Policy Sciences Honored at 2016 AGU Fall Meeting. Staff Production and Design: Faith A. Ishii, Production Manager; Melissa A. Tribur, Senior Production Specialist; Elizabeth Jacobsen, Production and Editorial Assistant; Yael 41–43 Research Spotlight Fitzpatrick, Manager, Design and Branding; Travis Frazier and Valerie Friedman, East of Japan, Upper Ocean Waves Electronic Graphics Specialists Peter L. Weiss, Manager/Senior News Editor; Mohi Kumar, Scientific Follow a Seasonal Cycle; A Wetter Editorial: Content Editor; Randy Showstack, Senior News Writer; JoAnna Wendel, News Writer; 9 Climate Increases Methane Liz Castenson, Editorial and Production Coordinator Production in Peat; A Significantly Marketing: Jamie R. Liu, Manager, Marketing; Angelo Bouselli and Tyjen Conley, Hotter Mantle Beneath Iceland; Marketing Program Managers Advertising: Jeff Borchardt, Development Director; Tel: +1-202-777-7536; New Insight into Silica Explains 3–7 News Email: [email protected] Planetary Smashup. It’s Not Just Fracking: New Database ©2017. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved. Material in this issue may be photocopied by individual scientists for research or classroom use. Permission is of Human-Induced Quakes; also granted to use short quotes, figures, and tables for publication in scientific books California’s Governor Promises to 44–51 Positions Available and journals. For permission for any other uses, contact the AGU Publications Office. Fight for Science; Rise in Tornadoes Current job openings in the Earth Eos (ISSN 0096-3941) is published monthly by the American Geophysical Union, 2000 Florida Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20009, USA. Periodical Class postage paid per Outbreak Might Not Be Tied to and space sciences. at Washington, D. C., and at additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address Warming; Freezing Mars’s Core—in changes to Member Service Center, 2000 Florida Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20009, USA. the Lab; A Quest to Put Sea Level 52 Postcards from the Field Rise Data in Your Pocket. Member Service Center: 8:00 a.m.–6:00 p.m. Eastern time; Tel: +1-202-462-6900; A team uses portable and handheld Fax: +1-202-328-0566; Tel. orders in U.S.: 1-800-966-2481; Email: service@ agu.org. instruments to survey geochemistry 8 Meeting Report Use AGU’s Geophysical Electronic Manuscript Submissions system to submit on Kilauea’s flanks. a manuscript: http://eos-submit.agu.org. Flood Response Using Earth Views expressed in this publication do not Observation Data and Products. necessarily reflect official positions of the American On the Cover Geophysical Union unless expressly stated. A section of the central rift of Christine W. McEntee, Executive Director/CEO 9–11 Opinion Reykjanes Ridge in Iceland’s Environmental Issues in the Age Thingvellir National Park. Credit: of Trump: Take the Long View. imageBROKER / Alamy Stock Photo. facebook.com/AmericanGeophysicalUnion @AGU_Eos linkedin.com/company/american-geophysical-union youtube.com/user/AGUvideos 2 // Eos February 2017 NEWS from a tall building, Foulger said. At some It’s Not Just Fracking: New Database point, the building will collapse. In 2007, for example, more than 100 mines of Human-Induced Quakes in China reported seismic events larger than magnitude 4, she said. In 1989, an induced magnitude 5 quake in Germany collapsed the surface over 5 square kilometers of a potash University in the mine, killing three. United Kingdom, Not all mining-​­induced quakes are so large, ended up compiling however. The majority of the mining quakes in the most complete the database range between magnitudes 2 and 4, database of occur- according to the publicly available preliminary rences to date. report (see http:// bit . ly/ durham - report). The team also found that induced Earthquake Sources earthquakes are in Groundwater Removal “tremendously Another example from the “removing mate- underreported,” rial” column took place in Spain, Foulger said. Foulger said. She In 2011, a magnitude 5.1 earthquake razed a presented her team’s small town called Lorca and killed 10 people. findings on Research following the earthquake tied the 13 December (see event to the decades-​­long removal of water http:// bit . ly/ from the ground for irrigation, which drasti- triggered - quakes cally lowered the water table. This led to ground Design Pics via AP An oil sand mine in Alberta in Canada. Processes involved in mining, such as removing - abstract). subsidence and resulted in the earthquake. material from the surface or subsurface, can induce earthquakes. A team of research- In fact, a 2014 paper in Nature found that ers recently cataloged 715 human-induced earthquakes and found that although media Hunting the increase in small earthquakes recorded in attention focuses mainly on induced earthquakes from waste water injection, most for Quakes California’s San Joaquin Valley could be tied to induced quakes are caused by other processes. Foulger and her col- underground water removal. More than 100 leagues spent a year cubic kilometers of water have been removed digging through sci- from the ground in the region over the past ow many earthquakes have human entific literature, industry literature, newspa- 150 years, mostly for irrigation purposes (see processes induced? Probably many per reports, and accounts from colleagues to http:// go . nature . com/ 2id2utN). H more than we think, scientists said in create the database of as many previously “The removal of any mass from under the December at the 2016 AGU Fall Meeting in San reported induced earthquakes as they could ground is going to create voids, and essentially Francisco, Calif. find. The database, which stretches back the earth is going to collapse,” Foulger said. Just in the United States, the number of through the early 19th century, currently lists “There’s just so much material you can earthquakes per year in the center of the coun- 715 earthquake sequences, each consisting of as remove from the earth before it has to sub- try has jumped dramatically since the early many as several hundred quakes. side.” And sometimes that subsidence results 2000s. According to the U.S. Geological Survey The catalog divides the causes of induced in an earthquake, she continued. (USGS), the central United States experienced earthquakes into four general triggers: sur- about 21 earthquakes of magnitude 3 or higher face operations (such as quarrying, building Dam-Induced Quakes each year between 1973 and 2008. This number structures, and impounding water reser- After mining, the next most common source grew to almost 100 per year between 2009 and voirs), injecting material into the subsurface of induced earthquakes, making up about 20%, 2013.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Deep Carbon Science
    From Crust to Core Carbon plays a fundamental role on Earth. It forms the chemical backbone for all essential organic molecules produced by living organ- isms. Carbon-based fuels supply most of society’s energy, and atmos- pheric carbon dioxide has a huge impact on Earth’s climate. This book provides a complete history of the emergence and development of the new interdisciplinary field of deep carbon science. It traces four cen- turies of history during which the inner workings of the dynamic Earth were discovered, and it documents the extraordinary scientific revolutions that changed our understanding of carbon on Earth for- ever: carbon’s origin in exploding stars; the discovery of the internal heat source driving the Earth’s carbon cycle; and the tectonic revolu- tion. Written with an engaging narrative style and covering the scien- tific endeavors of about 150 pioneers of deep geoscience, this is a fascinating book for students and researchers working in Earth system science and deep carbon research. is a life fellow at St. Edmund’s College, University of Cambridge. For more than 50 years he has passionately engaged in bringing discoveries in astronomy and cosmology to the general public. He is a fellow of the Royal Historical Society, a former vice- president of the Royal Astronomical Society and a fellow of the Geological Society. The International Astronomical Union designated asteroid 4027 as Minor Planet Mitton in recognition of his extensive outreach activity and that of Dr. Jacqueline Mitton. From Crust to Core A Chronicle of Deep Carbon Science University of Cambridge University Printing House, Cambridge CB2 8BS, United Kingdom One Liberty Plaza, 20th Floor, New York, NY 10006, USA 477 Williamstown Road, Port Melbourne, VIC 3207, Australia 314–321, 3rd Floor, Plot 3, Splendor Forum, Jasola District Centre, New Delhi – 110025, India 79 Anson Road, #06–04/06, Singapore 079906 Cambridge University Press is part of the University of Cambridge.
    [Show full text]
  • What Is the Meaning of This?
    What is the Meaning of This? Claudia Alexander Over a decade of exploration... Discovery of an ocean: Priceless Major Findings: • An ocean under the surface of Europa. • First ever successful probe of a gas giant atmosphere. • An icy satellite capable of gggenerating its own magnetosphere (Ganymede). • Characterization of the thin exospheres of icy satellites. • Sufficient detail of Io’s volcanism to call it a window into Earth’s past. • Detailed sampling of the Io plasma environment and its intricate connection to the dynamics of the magnetosphere. • Complete understanding of the formation of the Jovian ring. • High resolution sampling of a rarely Project Inception—November 19, 1977 visited region: the Jovian radiation belts LhdItltCiLaunch and Interplanetary Cruise—Oc t. 18, 1989 - Dec. 5, 1995 Galileo Prime Mission—Dec. 5, 1995 - Dec. 15, 1997 Galileo Europa Mission (GEM)—Dec. 15, 1997 - Jan. 1, 2000 • Discovery of an asteroid with its own Galileo Millennium Mission (GMM)—Jan. 1, 2000 - Sept. 21, 2003 moon 10/21/03 Galileo End of Mission Summary ‐cja‐ 2 Claudia with GLL Comet Nevski‐Novichonok (ISON) as it may appear at sunset on Nov. 29, if it survives its close approach. • Target of Rosetta Mission: Comet 67P/Churymov‐Gerasimenko. • Art Chmielewski’d best joke: Ukrainian sources reported today that the Rosetta target comet Churyumov‐Gerasimenko discoverer Dr. Churyumov married his former graduate student Dr. Gerasimenko. Dr. Gerasimenko will now hyphenate her name, Gerasimenko‐Churyumov. Dr. Churyumov stated that he would like the comet’s name to reflect his complete Russian name including the otchestvo, father’s name – Chury, making the comet’s name Churyvich‐Churyumov‐Gerasimenko‐Churyumov.
    [Show full text]
  • When the Earth Moves Seafloor Spreading and Plate Tectonics
    This article was published in 1999 and has not been updated or revised. BEYONDBEYOND DISCOVERYDISCOVERYTM THE PATH FROM RESEARCH TO HUMAN BENEFIT WHEN THE EARTH MOVES SEAFLOOR SPREADING AND PLATE TECTONICS arly on the morning of Wednesday, April 18, the fault had moved, spanning nearly 300 miles, from 1906, people in a 700-mile stretch of the West San Juan Bautista in San Benito County to the south E Coast of the United States—from Coos Bay, of San Francisco to the Upper Mattole River in Oregon, to Los Angeles, California—were wakened by Humboldt County to the north, as well as westward the ground shaking. But in San Francisco the ground some distance out to sea. The scale of this movement did more than shake. A police officer on patrol in the was unheard of. The explanation would take some six city’s produce district heard a low rumble and saw the decades to emerge, coming only with the advent of the street undulate in front of him, “as if the waves of the theory of plate tectonics. ocean were coming toward me, billowing as they came.” One of the great achievements of modern science, Although the Richter Scale of magnitude was not plate tectonics describes the surface of Earth as being devised until 1935, scientists have since estimated that divided into huge plates whose slow movements carry the the 1906 San Francisco earthquake would have had a continents on a slow drift around the globe. Where the 7.8 Richter reading. Later that morning the disaster plates come in contact with one another, they may cause of crushed and crumbled buildings was compounded by catastrophic events, such as volcanic eruptions and earth- fires that broke out all over the shattered city.
    [Show full text]
  • Rosetta at Comet 67P/Churyumov- Gerasimenko: Get Ready for the Ride NASA SBAG Report
    Rosetta at Comet 67P/Churyumov- Gerasimenko: Get Ready for the Ride NASA SBAG Report Bonnie Buratti, US Rosetta Project Scientist, JPL Arthur B. Chmielewski US Rosetta Project Manager, JPL 1 Mathieu Choukroun, US RosettaDeputy Project Scientist, JPL June 28, 2016 Rosetta is an ESA mission with contributions from its member states and NASA. Rosetta's Philae lander is provided by a consortium led by DLR, MPS, CNES and ASI. The US Contribution to Rosetta 1. 3 ½ instruments 2. 3 PI’s, PS, DPS, IDS 3. 46 Co-I’s and researchers 4. DSN 70 m and 34 m support 5. ASPEN scheduling software for science observations 6. SPICE support 7. Comet modeling 8. Shadow navigation for flight dynamics verification 9. Outreach and media products 2 10. Leadership for ESA's Amateur Ground Observing Campaign Pre-and post- 19 Feb 2016 outburst amateur images mages of 67P 13 Feb 2016 19 Feb 2016 27 February 17 Feb 2016 3 Instrument Purpose Country of Origin Alice Ultraviolet spectrometer United States CONSERT Radar tomography France COSIMA Dust composition Germany GIADA Dust detector Italy MIDAS Atomic Force Microscope Austria MIRO Microwave spectrometer/radiometer United States OSIRIS Narrow-angle and wide-angle cameras Germany 4 ROSINA Gas composition Switzerland RPC Magnetometer, plasma detectors Various, inc. US RSI Radio science investigation Germany VIRTIS Infrared spectrometer Italy Instrument Purpose Country of Origin APXS Alpha/x-ray spectrometer Germany CIVA Panoramic cameras and microscope France CONSERT Radar tomography of nucleus France COSAC Evolved gas analyzer: molecules Germany Ptolemy Evolved gas analyzer: isotopes United Kingdom MUPUS Surface and subsurface properties Germany ROLIS Descent imaging Germany 5 ROMAP Magnetometer and plasma monitor Germany/Hungary SD2 Sample drill and distribution system Italy SESAME Surface electric/acoustic properties Germany/Finland MIRO: Microwave Instrument on the Rosetta Orbiter • MIRO is a millimeter/submillimeter radio telescope.
    [Show full text]
  • Dr. Claudia Alexander Jet Propulsion Laboratory - California Institute of Technology, United States, [email protected]
    65th International Astronautical Congress 2014 Paper ID: 26655 MULTILINGUAL ASTRONAUTICAL TERMINOLOGY SYMPOSIUM (E8) Multilingual Astronautical Terminology (1) Author: Dr. Claudia Alexander Jet Propulsion Laboratory - California Institute of Technology, United States, [email protected] Ms. Andrea Angrum NASA, United States, [email protected] Ms. Melba Martin United States, [email protected] ASTRONOMY AND GEOLOGY VOCABULARY, I.E. "NASA WORDS" IN NATIVE AMERICAN LANGUAGES Abstract Language preservation is an issue of urgent concern to indigenous communities in the U.S. and Canada. The US Rosetta Project has developed a program in selected Native American communities in which contemporary STEM vocabulary is taught alongside the same vocabulary in an indigenous language. The program has been applied in Navajo, with extensions to Hopi, Ojibwe, and Hawaiian. NASA images and science are used and described in the native language, alongside both lay English, and scientific English. Additionally, science curriculum (geology/chemistry/botany/physics) elements drawn from the reservation itself, including geomorphology, geochemistry, soil physics, are included and discussed in the native language as much as possible | with their analogs in other planetary environments (such as Mars). The program began with a student defining 30 brand new Navajo words to describe what he called `NASA' words, such as: cell phone, astronaut, space suit, computer, and planets that are not visible to the naked eye. Building the program beyond the Navajo, unique issues in each reservation community presented challenges, ranging from organizing Elder's Round Tables for discussion, and recording, of language with first speakers, to cultural awareness of clans and local variations in dialects and customs.
    [Show full text]
  • JGE Special Issue on Diversity: Broadening Participation in the Earth and Space Sciences
    JGE Special Issue on Diversity: Broadening Participation in the Earth and Space Sciences Claudia Alexander Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Eric Riggs Purdue University 2002 Challenge to the AGU Diversity Subcommittee • Fred Spilhaus, President of AGU, challenged the newly formed Diversity Sub-committee to ‘educate’ the AGU membership about the issue of Diversity • Simultaneously (2003) a Joint Society Conference on Diversity among groups (below) drafted a joint policy statement – GSA (Geological Society of America) – AMS (American Meteorological Society) – AGU (American Geophysical Union) – AIP (American Institute of Physics) – others http://www.agu.org/sci_soc/education/jsc/ 2003 Policy Statement on Diversity (partial) • Increased participation and retention of women, minorities, and persons with disabilities is an essential component of maintaining a robust and productive scientific workforce in the Earth, ocean, atmospheric, space, and related physical sciences. The future health of these disciplines in the U.S. is threatened by declining undergraduate and graduate enrollments, loss of degree-granting geosciences programs, and ageing of the current scientific workforce. • Failure to attract and retain women and minorities in the geosciences is not well understood. • The scientific societies and organizations listed below commit to take an active leadership role in efforts to increase participation of women, minorities, and persons with disabilities in the Earth, ocean, atmospheric, space, and physical sciences workforce. Specifically, these groups agree to: – • Make diversity a priority in the use of their organizational resources, educate the members about the need to become more involved in promoting diversity, and provide access to resources that will enable their members to work productively on this issue.
    [Show full text]
  • Plate Tectonics
    Plate tectonics tive motion determines the type of boundary; convergent, divergent, or transform. Earthquakes, volcanic activity, mountain-building, and oceanic trench formation occur along these plate boundaries. The lateral relative move- ment of the plates typically varies from zero to 100 mm annually.[2] Tectonic plates are composed of oceanic lithosphere and thicker continental lithosphere, each topped by its own kind of crust. Along convergent boundaries, subduction carries plates into the mantle; the material lost is roughly balanced by the formation of new (oceanic) crust along divergent margins by seafloor spreading. In this way, the total surface of the globe remains the same. This predic- The tectonic plates of the world were mapped in the second half of the 20th century. tion of plate tectonics is also referred to as the conveyor belt principle. Earlier theories (that still have some sup- porters) propose gradual shrinking (contraction) or grad- ual expansion of the globe.[3] Tectonic plates are able to move because the Earth’s lithosphere has greater strength than the underlying asthenosphere. Lateral density variations in the mantle result in convection. Plate movement is thought to be driven by a combination of the motion of the seafloor away from the spreading ridge (due to variations in topog- raphy and density of the crust, which result in differences in gravitational forces) and drag, with downward suction, at the subduction zones. Another explanation lies in the different forces generated by the rotation of the globe and the tidal forces of the Sun and Moon. The relative im- portance of each of these factors and their relationship to each other is unclear, and still the subject of much debate.
    [Show full text]
  • Galileo Probe
    September 16, 2003 Many Miles, Many Moons: A Galileo Album By JOHN NOBLE WILFORD On Sunday, several hundred engineers and scientists will gather at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., and await the end of the Galileo spacecraft in a suicide plunge into Jupiter's dense atmosphere. They are the kind of professionals who try to resist anthropomorphizing their machines, even one like Galileo, which has been a longtime companion in their lives and careers. But they freely concede that they will be there at the end as an act of homage. "It will be the equivalent of a wake," said Dr. Claudia Alexander, manager of the project. NASA Few flight teams have had to contend IO At left, a composite image of the moon, photographed by Galileo in April with a spacecraft more demanding of 1997. The surface, right, bubbles with erupting volcanoes. their attention and ingenuity. Launched in 1989 after a long delay caused by the loss of the space shuttle Challenger in 1986, Galileo took six years going to Jupiter, almost half a billion miles away, by a circuitous route dictated by the limited power of its initial rocket boost. From then on, the three-ton spacecraft was tormented by as many afflictions as poor Job. The main antenna, the one that scientists counted on for the return of pictures and data of Jupiter and its four largest moons, failed to unfurl. Engineers had to rely on a smaller antenna and an improvised system of data shorthand. Galileo was further hobbled by an erratic tape recorder.
    [Show full text]
  • (CEPS) Scientific Papers, Articles, and Blogs 2015 CEPS Employees
    Center for Earth and Planetary Studies (CEPS) Scientific Papers, Articles, and Blogs 2015 CEPS employees’ names are highlighted SCIENTIFIC PAPERS PRESENTED CEPS First Authors Title Conference Author 46th Lunar and B. A. Campbell, G. A. Morgan, N. E. Putzig, J. L. Enhanced Radar Visualization of the Structure in Yes Whitten, J. W. Holt, and R. J. Phillips the South Polar Deposits of Mars Planetary Science Conference Estimates of the Erosion Rates on Mars over Time 46th Lunar and C. Quantin-Nataf, R. A. Craddock, F. Dubuffet, L. No and Their Implications for the Evolution of the Lozac'h, and M. Martinot Planetary Science Atmopshere Conference "Fill and spill" Lava Emplacement Associated with 46th Lunar and C. W. Hamilton, S. P. Scheidt, J. E. Bleacher, R. P. No the December 1974 Flow on Kilauea Volcano, Irwin III, and W. B. Garry Planetary Science Hawaii, USA Conference D. W. Ming, D. W. Mittlefehldt, R. Gellert, T. 46th Lunar and Peretyazhko, B. C. Clark, R. V. Morris, A. S. Yen, R. E. Iron-Manganese Redox Reactions in Endeavour No Arvidson, L. S. Crumpler, W. H. Farrand, J. A. Grant, B. Crater Rim Apron Rocks Planetary Science L. Jolliff, T. J. Parker, and the Athena Science Team Conference D. W. Mittlefehldt, R. Gellert, D. W. Ming, R. V. Morris, Noachian Impact Ejecta on Murray Ridge and Pre- 46th Lunar and C. Schroder, A. S. Yen, W. H. Farrand, R. E. Arvidson, No Impact Rocks on Wdowiak Ridge, Endeavour B. J. Franklin, J. A. Grant, K. E. Herkenhoff, B. L. Jolliff, Planetary Science Crater, Mars: Opportunity Observations and the Athena Science Team Conference Analyses Of Basaltic Sediments Subjected To Wave 46th Lunar and No E.
    [Show full text]
  • Discover NASA
    SPACE SCIENCE INSTITUTE NEWSLETTER WINTER 2016 W Space Science Institute Newsletter THE CARINA NEBULA IMAGE CREDIT: NASA, ESA/ STSCI IN THIS ISSUE NCIL News… Big News in Astronomy Conference Highlights: Clouds Over Martian DPS, AGU and AAS Low Latitudes! By Dr. Karly Pitman, Executive Director Submitted by Dr. Todd Clancy – SSI NC While the rest of the world is Over the past two slowing down around the holidays, decades, the our scientists kick into high gear in importance of the winter months submitting grant clouds in Mars’ proposals, judging others’ proposals atmosphere has at review panels, and traveling to been established present results at national and through new More on Page 6… international conferences. This year, observations and Cassini Completes Final Close conference season kicked off with the modeling. A Enceladus Flyby! American Astronomical Society’s variety of cloud Division for Planetary Sciences forms reflects the (DPS) held Nov. 8-13, 2015 at the variety in Gaylord National Resort and saturation Figure 1. CRISM color Convention Center in National conditions (e.g. limb image of CO2 Harbor, MD. More on Page 10 atmospheric clouds – credit page 3. temperatures) and dynamical forcing ranging from local to global conditions. This range of behaviors spans narrow vertical pipes of uplift that force high altitude More on Page 2… perihelion (nearest to the Sun) cloud trails in the warm orbital phase of the Covering science news around Mars atmosphere, to the global low Boulder! latitude gird of the aphelion (farthest More on Page 5… from the Sun) cloud belt in the cold orbital phase of the Mars atmosphere.
    [Show full text]
  • Major Concepts That Underpin Our Current Understanding of the Earth
    Chapter 3 Understanding the `big ideas': major concepts that underpin our current understanding of the Earth 3.1 The rock cycle (Hutton, 18th Century) James Hutton had the `big idea' that great cycles of rock formation and deformation had affected the Earth in the past. So in 1788, to show why he believed this, he took his friend John Playfair to Siccar Point on the sea shore near Edinburgh. Play- fair saw, exposed on the shore, sedimentary rocks that must have first been laid flat on the bottom of the sea, that were now tilted upwards. Beneath these dipping sediments were even more ancient sediments, dipping more steeply in what we now call an an- gular unconformity. When James Hutton explained how much time this must have taken, for sediment to be deposited, formed into rock, tilted, eroded and then for more sediment to be deposited on top and the Figure 3.1: The unconformity at Siccar Point same things to happen, Playfair wrote, near Edinburgh. Ancient tilted sediments on `What clearer evidence could we have had top of even more ancient tilted sediments, of the different formation of these rocks, while modern sediments are being deposited and of the long interval which separated in the sea behind. their formation ...?'. `The mind seemed to grow giddy by looking so far into the abyss [great depths] of time.' At that time, people had no idea of the age of the Earth. Although some scientists had 71 found evidence that the Earth was ancient, the general public thought that the Earth had formed only around 6000 years ago.
    [Show full text]
  • Women in Astronomy: an Introductory Resource Guide
    Women in Astronomy: An Introductory Resource Guide by Andrew Fraknoi (Fromm Institute, University of San Francisco) [August 2021] © copyright 2021 by Andrew Fraknoi. All rights reserved. For permission to use, or to suggest additional materials, please contact the author at e-mail: fraknoi {at} fhda {dot} edu This guide to non-technical English-language materials is not meant to be a comprehensive or scholarly introduction to the complex topic of the role of women in astronomy. It is simply a resource for educators and students who wish to begin exploring the challenges and triumphs of women of the past and present. It’s also an opportunity to get to know the lives and work of some of the key women who have overcome prejudice and exclusion to make significant contributions to our field. We only include a representative selection of living women astronomers about whom non-technical material at the level of beginning astronomy students is easily available. Lack of inclusion in this introductory list is not meant to suggest any less importance. We also don’t include Wikipedia articles, although those are sometimes a good place for students to begin. Suggestions for additional non-technical listings are most welcome. Vera Rubin Annie Cannon & Henrietta Leavitt Claudia Alexander Cecilia Payne Table of Contents: 1. Resources on the History of Women in Astronomy 2. Resources on Issues Women Face 3. Material on Some Women Astronomers of the Past 4. Material on Some Living Astronomers who are Women 5. A Sampling of Material about Other Women Astronomers
    [Show full text]