VOL. 101 | NO. 5 40 Years of Science MAY 2020 at Mount St. Helens Farming Changes Are Improving Cuba's Water Coastal Wetlands Save Millions of Dollars NEW SPARKS FOR LIGHTNING SCIENCE FROM THE EDITOR Editor in Chief Heather Goss, AGU, Washington, D.C., USA; [email protected] A G U S t a Investigating the Spark Vice President, Communications, Amy Storey Marketing, and Media Relations here’s a term in French that describes falling in love Editorial Manager, News and Features Editor Caryl-Sue Micalizio at first sight: coup de foudre,” said Yoav Yair. “Liter- “ Science Editor Timothy Oleson ally translated, it means ‘bolt of lightning.’” Yair is News and Features Writer Kimberly M. S. Cartier T Jenessa Duncombe the dean of the School of Sustainability at the Interdisciplinary News and Features Writer Center Herz liya in Israel and Eos’s Science Adviser for AGU’s Production & Design Atmospheric and Space Electricity section. “This is how I felt Manager, Production and Operations Faith A. Ishii about atmospheric electricity when I started my master’s Senior Production Specialist Melissa A. Tribur degree at Tel Aviv University back in the 1980s: instant fasci- Assistant Director, Design & Branding Beth Bagley nation, deep curiosity, and a desire to know more.” Senior Graphic Designer Valerie Friedman Graphic Designer J. Henry Pereira I was excited when Yair suggested that we cover lightning in our May issue of Eos. As a magazine editor, I certainly think Marketing you can’t beat the photography, but more than that, I was Director, Marketing, Branding & Advertising Jessica Latterman intrigued by the number of questions that remain about this Assistant Director, Marketing & Advertising Liz Zipse phenomenon nearly all of us have grown up experiencing, watching from our windows as Advertising storms roll in. “Lightning is indeed beautiful, dangerous, and multifaceted, and it hides a lot Display Advertising Dan Nicholas and reveals a lot. And although it has been known to humanity for millennia—feared and wor- [email protected] Recruitment Advertising Kristin McCarthy shiped—we still don’t fully understand it,” explained Yair. [email protected] Chris Schultz of NASA’s Short-term Prediction Research and Transition Center assures me we are living in a “second golden age” of lightning observations. In “Lightning Research Science Advisers Flashes Forward” (p. 28), meteorologist Ashley Ravenscraft explains how she uses data recently Geomagnetism, Paleomagnetism, Julie Bowles and Electromagnetism made available to the National Weather Service from the Geostationary Lightning Mapper on Space Physics and Aeronomy Christina M. S. Cohen board the GOES-R satellite (p. 5) that show the rate of lightning strikes in an area. She uses Cryosphere Ellyn Enderlin these data—sometimes these data alone, when necessary—as a proxy to predict tornadoes Study of the Earth’s Deep Interior Edward J. Garnero Geodesy Brian C. Gunter and issue warnings to the nearby Huntsville, Ala., community. Like so many meteorologists, History of Geophysics Kristine C. Harper she got into the field to save lives, and with this new information, she’s giving her neighbors Planetary Sciences Sarah M. Hörst sometimes as long as 45 minutes to get to safety. Natural Hazards Michelle Hummel Volcanology, Geochemistry, and Petrology Emily R. Johnson “In recent decades, we have made tremendous progress and devised sophisticated ways to Societal Impacts and Policy Sciences Christine Kirchho decipher lightning and its associated impacts on the atmosphere,” said Yair, “here on Earth Seismology Keith D. Koper and also on other planets.” In “Planetary Lightning: Same Physics, Distant Worlds” (p. 22), Tectonophysics Jian Lin Near-Surface Geophysics Juan Lorenzo we take a trip through the solar system to investigate why lightning is pervasive on Jupiter, Earth and Space Science Informatics Kirk Martinez how Neptune and Uranus are similar in so many ways except in generating lightning, and, in Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology Figen Mekik this case and so many others, why Venus is just so weird. Mineral and Rock Physics Sébastien Merkel Finally, where are all these lightning data when you need them? On page 18, learn about Ocean Sciences Jerry L. Miller Global Environmental Change Hansi Singh WALDO—the Worldwide Archive of Low-frequency Data and Observations—in “Returning Education Eric M. Riggs Lightning Data to the Cloud.” Morris Cohen, professor of electrical engineering at Georgia Hydrology Kerstin Stahl Institute of Technology (and president-elect of AGU’s Atmospheric and Space Electricity sec- Tectonophysics Carol A. Stein Atmospheric Sciences Mika Tosca tion), and a colleague manage this database of radio measurements meant to facilitate research Nonlinear Geophysics Adrian Tuck not only in lightning but also in space weather, terrestrial gamma rays, and gravity waves, Biogeosciences Merritt Turetsky among other phenomena. Hydrology Adam S. Ward Earth and Planetary Surface Processes Andrew C. Wilcox “As our society becomes more technological, urban, [and] densely populated, and as our Atmospheric and Space Electricity Yoav Yair climate is changing, we need to know what lightning will be like in the future,” said Yair. We GeoHealth Ben Zaitchik hope this issue gives you some idea of how lightning affects us, as well as of the interdisci- plinary nature of the exciting science questions it presents. ©2020. AGU. All Rights Reserved. Material in this issue may be photocopied by individual scientists for research or classroom use. Permission is also granted to use short quotes, fi gures, and tables for publication in scientifi c books and journals. For permission for any other uses, contact the AGU Publications O ce. Eos (ISSN 0096-3941) is published monthly by AGU, 2000 Florida Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20009, USA. Periodical Class postage paid at Washington, D.C., and at additional mailing o ces. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Member Service Center, 2000 Florida Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20009, USA Member Service Center: 8:00 a.m.–6:00 p.m. Eastern time; Tel: +1-202-462-6900; Heather Goss, Editor in Chief Fax: +1-202-328-0566; Tel. orders in U.S.: 1-800-966-2481; [email protected]. Submit your article proposal or suggest a news story to Eos at bit.ly/Eos-proposal. Views expressed in this publication do not necessarily refl ect o cial positions of AGU unless expressly stated. SCIENCE NEWS BY AGU // Eos.org 1 CONTENT 18 28 22 34 Features 18 Returning Lightning Data 28 Lightning Research Flashes to the Cloud Forward By Morris Cohen By Heather Goss No longer lost among the Betamax tapes in a dusty A new wave of instruments is helping researchers make warehouse, these low-frequency observations have a big leaps in their knowledge of the “big spark.” new digital home. 34 Lessons from a Post-Eruption 22 Planetary Lightning: Same Landscape Physics, Distant Worlds By Jon J. Major et al. By Kimberly M. S. Cartier Scientists have had 4 decades to watch the biophysical Lightning is a powerful tool to learn about the complex responses to the cataclysmic eruption on Mount environments around the solar system and beyond. St. Helens. On the Cover Brandon Morgan/Unsplash 2 Eos // MAY 2020 CONTENT 15 42 Columns From the Editor AGU News 1 Investigating the Spark 41 The Future Needs Science. The U.S. Elections Need You | STEM Supports 67% of U.S. Jobs News 4 Speleothem Documents Belgium’s Historic Climate Research Spotlight 5 Mapping Lightning Strikes from Space 42 How to Read Atmospheric History Written 6 Earth’s Skies Transmitted Signs of Life During in Flowstones Lunar Eclipse 43 Investigating Rates of Microbial Methane Munching 8 Microbes Discovered Hanging Out in the Ocean’s in the Ocean | Missing Lakes Under Antarctic Ice Crust Sheets 9 Researchers Quantify a Seeded Snowpack 44 Santa Ana Winds and Wildfires Influence 10 The Ecological Costs of Removing California’s Air Pollution | New Study Shifts Paradigm of Coastal Offshore Oil Rigs Sediment Modeling 12 Could Wildfire Ash Feed the Ocean’s Tiniest 45 Solving the Global Nitrogen Imbalance Life-Forms? 13 Coastal Wetlands Save $1.8 Million per Year Positions Available for Each Square Kilometer 46 Current job openings in the Earth and space sciences 15 Sustainable Agriculture Reflected in Cuba’s Water Quality Postcards from the Field Opinion 48 Researchers prepare to ski across a glacier in the Canadian Rockies, carrying a ground-penetrating 16 Don’t @ Me: What Happened When Climate Skeptics radar to measure ice thickness. Misused My Work AmericanGeophysicalUnion @AGU_Eos company/american-geophysical-union AGUvideos americangeophysicalunion americangeophysicalunion SCIENCE NEWS BY AGU // Eos.org 3 NEWS Speleothem Documents Belgium’s Historic Climate eep in the south of Belgium, near the appeared in sig- winding Lesse River, lies a cave rich nificantly higher Dwith history and geologic wonders. amounts in more The Han-sur-​­ Lesse​­ cave system has long fas- recent samples, cinated visitors, with its well-defined​­ calcium hinting at anthro- carbonate formations (speleothems) mar- pogenic pollution. veled at for centuries. Trace elements Recently, scientists from various Belgian also revealed more institutions studied one of the cave’s fastest subtle properties growing stalagmites, Proserpine, to learn about the cave and more about the evolution of the region’s cli- the region’s past mate. By analyzing such data as stable iso- climate. For exam- topes and trace elements, the researchers ple, elevated levels found clear evidence of increasingly dry