News: Curiosity on the Way to Mars, p. 455 Forum: Was Pre–Twentieth Century Level Stable?, p. 455 Meeting: Observing Terrestrial Gamma Ray Flashes, p. 457 Meeting: Radiation Belt , p. 457 AGU Bookshelf: Mountain Rivers Revisited, p. 458 Research Spotlight: Quake Visualization, Ice Stream Flow, and More, p. 464

volume 92 number 49 6 DECEMBER 2011

Dead Sea Deep Cores: A Window A Library of Georeferenced Into Past Climate and Seismicity Photos From the Field The area surrounding the Dead Sea was The location of the Dead Sea Basin, at the A picture is worth a thousand of words, only to the owner of the photos (i.e., private the locus of humankind’s migration out of boundary between the Arabian-­ des- and every day hundreds of scientists, stu- mode). This privacy control feature warrants and thus has been the home of peo- erts and the Mediterranean climate zones, dents, and environmentally aware citizens priority use of the field photos by the photo ples since the Stone Age. For this reason, enhances its sensitivity to the starkly con- are taking field photos to document their contributors for their own research activities understanding the climate and tectonic his- trasting (arid versus temperate) climate and observations of rocks, glaciers, soils, forests, if needed. Photo contributors with “private” tory of the provides valuable insight hydrological conditions of these . wetlands, croplands, rangelands, livestock, photos are regularly notified and encouraged into and studies of human his- Moreover, because the formation of the and and mammals, as well as impor- to make their photos “public.” An interac- tory and helps to gain a better picture of basin is a consequence of tectonic activity tant events such as droughts, floods, wild- tive graphical user interface is also available future climate and tectonic scenarios. along the Dead Sea [Ben- fires, insect emergences, and infectious dis- for users to interpret and classify field pho- The deposits at the bottom of the Dead Avraham, 1997], its sediments preserve the ease outbreaks. Where are those field photos tos (e.g., various land cover types); to enter Sea are a geological archive of the environ- history of seismic activity [e.g., Marco et al., stored? Can they be shared in a timely fash- field notes; and to build thematic databases mental conditions (e.g., rains, floods, dust 1996; Migowski et al., 2004], which are impor- ion to support education, research, and the from the photos, ranging from crop-specific storms, droughts) during ice ages and warm tant to hazard assessments of the region. leisure activities of citizens across the world? themes (e.g., paddy rice, , and win- ages, as well as of seismic activity in this Two sites were cored (Figure 1) as part of the What are the financial and intellectual costs if ter wheat) to general land cover types (e.g., key region. An International Continental Sci- ICDP-funded venture into the Dead Sea. One those field photos are lost or not shared? forests, cropland). After selection of specific entific Drilling Program (ICDP) deep drill- was in the deepest basin in the center of the Recently, researchers at the Univer- photos (e.g., by time, keywords, geographical ing project was performed in the Dead Sea Dead Sea, at a depth of 297 meters, and sity of Oklahoma developed and released domains, and land cover types) a user can between November 2010 and March 2011. recovered cores down to about 460 meters the Global Geo-Referenced Field Photo download both photos and associated data The project was funded by the ICDP and below the sediment surface. The second site, Library (hereinafter referred to as the Field in several formats (e.g., as comma-­separated agencies in , Germany, Japan, Norway, in several meters of water, recovered cores Photo Library; http://​www​.eomf​.ou​.edu/​ values (.csv), an Excel file (.xls(x)), a zipped Switzerland, and the . Drilling down to roughly 350 meters below the sedi- ­photos/), a Web-based data portal designed Keyhole Markup Language file (.kmz), and was conducted using the new Large ment surface. For another picture of the drill- for researchers and educators who wish to an ArcGIS Esri shapefile (.shp)). These files Drilling Facility (Figure 1), a barge with a ing facility, see Figure S1 in the online sup- archive and share field photos from across can then be used for spatial analyses in geo- drilling rig run by DOSECC, Inc. (Drilling, plement to this brief report (http://​www​.agu​ the world, each tagged with exact position- graphical information systems (e.g., ArcGIS), Observation and Sampling of the ’s .org/​journals/​eo/​v092/​i049/​2011EO490001/​ ing data (Figure 1). The data portal has a image processing (e.g., Exelis’s Environment Continental Crust), a nonprofit corporation 2011EO490001_suppl​ .pdf).​ simple user interface that allows people to for Visualizing Images (ENVI) and Inter- dedicated to advancing scientific drilling upload, query, and download georeferenced graph’s Earth Resources Data Analysis System worldwide. The main purpose of the proj- Preliminary Results and Future Plans. field photos in the library. (ERDAS)), and Google Earth. ect was to recover a long, continuous core The idea behind this is simple: Changes The Field Photo Library was initially set to provide a high resolution record of the Opening and description of the recovered in land use and land cover have significant up to aid the effort to track changes in land paleoclimate, paleoenvironment, paleoseis- cores occurred in June and October 2011 at impacts on weather, climate, hydrology, biodi- use and land cover from airborne and space- micity, and paleomagnetism of the Dead Sea the GFZ German Research Centre for Geo- versity, and food security across various spa- borne remote sensing. Georeferenced field Basin. With this, scientists are beginning to sciences in Potsdam, Germany. The cores tial and temporal scales. Tracking land use and photos are used as in situ or ground refer- piece together a record of the climate and have two main sedimentary facies: (1) marly land cover changes through georeferenced ence data for algorithm development and seismic history of the during the sequences of millimeter-thick laminated lay- photos gives a visual picture (ground truth) to validation of remote sensing data products. past several hundred thousand years in mil- ers of inorganic aragonite and silty detritus numerical data, allowing scientists, policy mak- Many research projects have carried out lennial to decadal to annual time resolution. composed mainly of calcite and quartz and ers, and the public the opportunity to visual- field expeditions, often repeatedly in the (2) sequences of rock and marls (see Fig- ize the evolution of landscapes at small scales. same study areas, without a means of shar- Regional Setting and the Collection of Cores ure S2 in the online supplement). The arago- Thus, these photos are invaluable for docu- ing field photo data. By using the Field Photo nite and detritus laminations reflect deposi- menting land use and land cover changes. Library, researchers can contribute to a spa- The Dead Sea, located in the Dead Sea tion in dry (summer) and wetter and stormy tially and temporally extensive database of Basin at the lowest continental elevation on (winter) seasons, respectively. Moreover, the Using the Library detailed ground reference information that Earth (currently 425 meters below mean sea aragonite provides the potential to establish can be accessed from any location in the level), is a terminal lake that evolved from a calendar chronology, through uranium-­ Through its privacy control feature, photo world. For example, a user can query and previous water bodies that occupied the tec- thorium dating and isotope stratigra- contributors to the Field Photo Library can download thousands of georeferenced field tonic depressions along the Dead Sea Trans- phy [e.g., Haase-­Schramm et al., 2004; Torfs- designate whether their photos are publicly form Fault. The history of these water bodies tein et al., 2009]. Gypsum layers are scattered available (i.e., public mode) or available Field Photo Library cont. on page 454 commenced with the late Neogene ingres- throughout, indicating sustained dry periods. sion (~6–3 million years ago) of the Mediter- Provisional interpretation of the lithology of ranean Sea into the valley, forming a back- the core through time strongly indicates that water called the Sedom Lagoon. A series of the salt layers are deposited during arid inter- terminal (lakes with no outlets) filled glacials and that long salt-free marly inter- the basin after the disconnection of the vals are wetter glacials, together spanning an lagoon from the Mediterranean [Stein, 2001]. interval of about 200,000 years. This interval The lakes received their water from two bleeds into the time frame of the interglacial major sources: calcium brines that labeled in oxygen isotope records of evolved from the ancient remnant solution sediments as marine isotope stage 7. of the Sedom Lagoon, and freshwater runoff. An important discovery is a mud-free The limnology of the lakes was controlled layer of rounded pebbles, possibly reflect- by the regional hydrology, which reflects the ing a beach deposit, more than 230 meters climate conditions in the watershed [Stein deep in the core taken from the deep basin, et al., 1997]. Over the past several hundred deposited at an age provisionally estimated thousand years the lakes expanded and con- to be the last interglacial. The pebble layer tracted with changing climate conditions due overlies about 40 meters of mainly salt, and to the supply of freshwater. The modern Dead Sea is the latest of these series of lakes. Dead Sea Cores cont. on page 454

Fig. 1. A data flow that shows (clockwise from top left) acquisition of georeferenced field pho- tos, ingestion into the Field Photo Library, and application for satellite-based mapping of land use and land cover change. In this example, a photo of a rice paddy from Bali, Indonesia, was uploaded into the database, where users can see the concentration of photos uploaded by oth- er people (orange and red circles on the world map). The photo was then seen in the context of satellite-derived land use and land cover for other regions of . The inset at bottom left is a graph that shows an example of phenological patterns for the specific location where the photo was taken, derived from data recorded every 8 days from satellite-based Moderate Reso- lution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) sensors. Users can choose the interval they want graphed—the example shows data from 2004 to 2005. 453 Eos VOLUME 92 NUMBER 49 6 DECEMBER 2011

Dead Sea Cores cont. from page 453

together they indicate an extreme lake level drop during that time. The cores have been sampled for radiomet- TRANSACTIONS ric dating to provide the chronological frame- AMERICAN GEOPHYSICAL UNION The Newspaper of the Earth and Space Sciences work for further studies, as well as for biologi- cal studies. The planned future studies will Editors range from continuing studies of the biology, to the changes in the regional magnetic field, Anny Cazenave: Laboratoire d’Etudes en Géo- physique et Océanographie Spatiales, Toulouse, to the hydrological conditions (from the lake France; [email protected] precipitates aragonite, gypsum, and salt), to atmospheric circulation (from eolian dust), to Christina M. S. Cohen: California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, Calif., USA; cohen@ -­seismology (from earthquake layers). srl.caltech.edu José D. Fuentes: Department of Meteorology, Acknowledgments Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pa., USA; [email protected] The dedication of the DOSECC drill crew Wendy S. Gordon: University of Texas at Aus- was instrumental for this project’s success. tin, Austin,Tex., USA; [email protected] Along with the ICDP, funds were provided by the Israel Science Foundation; Dead Sea Fig. 1. The Drilling, Observation and Sampling of the Earth’s Continental Crust, Inc. (DOSECC), Halpern: NASA Headquarters, Wash- drilling rig in the Dead Sea, drilling at a water depth of 300 meters. Inset shows locations of the ington, D. C., USA; [email protected] Works; the Israel ministries of Sciences and drill sites in the Dead Sea (white circles). The map illustrates the location of the Dead Sea Basin, of National Infrastructures; U.S. National Sci- Carol A. Stein: Department of Earth and in between the Arabian-Sahara desert belt and the Mediterranean climate zone. Environmental Sciences, University of Illinois at ence Foundation; Swiss National Science Chicago, Chicago, Ill., USA; [email protected] Foundation; GFZ Potsdam; the University of Haase-Schramm, A., S. L. Goldstein, and M. Stein Stein, M., A. Starinsky, A. Katz, S. L. Goldstein, Editor in Chief Bergen in Norway; and the Swiss Federal (2004), U-Th dating of Lake Lisan (late Pleisto- M. Machlus, and A. Schramm (1997), Stron- Institute of Technology (ETH Zurich). For a cene Dead Sea) aragonite and implications for tium isotopic, chemical and sedimentological Barbara T. Richman: AGU, Washington, D. C., list of principal investigators representing glacial east Mediterranean climate change, Geo- evidence for the evolution of Lake Lisan and USA; eos_ [email protected] the participating institutes and countries, chim. Cosmochim. Acta, 68, 985–1005. the Dead Sea, Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta, 61, Marco, S., M. Stein, A. Agnon, and H. Ron (1996), 3975–3992. Editorial Advisory Board see the online supplementary material at http://​www​.agu​.org/​journals/​eo/​v092/​i049/​ Long-term earthquake clustering: A 50,000-year Torfstein, A., A. Haase-Schramm, N. Waldmann, M. Lee Allison Earth and Space Science 2011EO490001/​2011EO490001​_suppl​.pdf. paleoseismic record in the Dead Sea graben, Y. Kolodny, and M. Stein (2009), U-series and oxy- Informatics J. Geophys. Res., 101(B3), 6179–6191. gen isotope chronology of the mid- Nathan T. Bridges Planetary Sciences Migowski, C., A. Agnon, R. Bookman, J. F. W. Neg- Lake Amora (Dead Sea basin), Geochim. Cosmo- References endank, and M. Stein (2004), Recurrence pattern chim. Acta, 73, 2603–2630. Roland Bürgmann Tectonophysics of Holocene earthquakes along the Dead Sea Michael A. Ellis Earth and Planetary Ben-Avraham, Z. (1997), Geophysical framework transform revealed by varve-counting and radio- —Mordechai Stein, Geological Survey of Israel, Surface Processes of the Dead Sea: Structure and tectonic, in The carbon dating of lacustrine sediments, Earth ; E-mail: [email protected]; Zvi Ben- Arlene M. Fiore Atmospheric Sciences Dead Sea: The Lake and Its Settings, Oxford Planet. Sci. Lett., 222, 301–314. Avraham, Department of Geophysics and Plan- Monogr. Geol. Geophys. Ser., vol. 36, edited Stein, M. (2001), The history of Neogene-Quaterna- etary Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Ramat Aviv, Israel; Nicola J. Fox Space Physics and Aeronomy by T. M. Niemi, Z. Ben-Avraham, and J. R. Gat, ry water bodies in the Dead Sea Basin, J. Paleo- and Steven L. Goldstein, Lamont-Doherty Earth Michael N. Gooseff Hydrology pp. 22–35, Oxford Univ. Press, New York. limnol., 26, 271–282. Observatory of Columbia University, Palisades, N. Y. Seth S. Haines Near-Surface Geophysics provide scientific information of interest. The Land-Cover/Land-Use Change Program Kristine C. Harper History of Geophysics Field Photo Library cont. from page 453 Field Photo Library is specialized for scien- (NNX09AC39G), NIH Fogarty International Keith D. Koper Seismology tific applications and educational purposes. Center (R01-TW007869), and NSF Experi- Xin-Zhong Liang Global Environmental Change photos of paddy rice fields and use the down- Although there are currently no quality con- mental Program to Simulate Competitive Jung-Fu “Afu” Lin Mineral and Rock Physics loaded data along with Google Earth to select trol measures in place, except for irregular Research (NSF-0919466). specific rice fields as regions of interest, which visual inspection of publicly shared photos, Stephen Macko Education are then used as an input data layer for image it is hoped that because scientists and edu- References Stefan Maus Geomagnetism classification or evaluation of regional and cators contribute to the site the vast major- and Paleomagnetism global land cover maps from various research ity of photos are applicable to many research Biradar, C. M., et al. (2009), A global map of rainfed Jerry L. Miller Ocean Sciences groups (see Figure 1). Such use of field pho- endeavors. The Field Photo Library’s data por- cropland areas (GMRCA) at the end of last mil- Peter Olson Study of the Earth’s Deep Interior tos and remote sensing data is common, for tal also differs from commercial sites in that lennium using remote sensing, Int. J. Appl. Earth example, in the Geo-Wiki Project (http://www. funding is not related to advertising or the Obs. Geoinf., 11(2), 114–129, doi:10.1016/​j.jag​.2008​ Thomas H. Painter Cryosphere Sciences .11.002. geo-wiki.org), a global network of volunteers whims of the Internet market. Elith, J., et al. (2006), Novel methods improve pre- Roger A. Pielke Sr. Natural Hazards who seek to help improve the quality of global The Field Photo Library was established diction of species’ distributions from occurrence Len Pietrafesa Societal Impacts land cover maps. Integration of the Field Photo using funds from NASA, the National Institutes and Policy Sciences data, Ecography, 29(2), 129 –151, doi:10.1111/ Library in research workflow provides a fast of (NIH), and the National Science Foun- j.2006.0906-7590.04596.x. Michael Poland Geodesy and effective means of developing and eval- dation (NSF) and will be maintained through Xiao, X., S. Boles, S. Frolking, C. Li, J. Y. Babu, Paul R. Renne Volcanology, Geochemistry, uating satellite-based land data products at new research grants. Continued funding will W. Salas, and B. Moore III (2006), Mapping paddy and Petrology regional and global scales [e.g., Biradar et al., depend on whether the site is widely used by rice agriculture in South and Sarah L. Shafer Paleoceanography 2009; Xiao et al., 2006]. scientists. All scientists are encouraged to con- using multi-temporal MODIS images, Remote and Paleoclimatology The Field Photo Library can host various tribute photos; the continued success of this Sens. Environ., 100(1), 95–113, doi:10.1016/​j.rse​ .2005​.10.004. Adrian Tuck Nonlinear Geophysics types of georeferenced field photos, which project will provide a means of documenting are also used to support location-based how Earth changes with unprecedented detail, Jeffrey M. Welker Biogeosciences research activities. For example, cryologists accuracy, spatial extent, and temporal scope. Earle Williams Atmospheric can use georeferenced field photos to docu- —Xiangming Xiao, Pavel Dorovskoy, Chan- and Space Electricity ment the spatial distribution and dynamics Acknowledgments drashekhar Biradar, and Eli Bridge, Center for Staff of glaciers. Hydrologists use georeferenced Spatial Analysis, Department of Botany and Micro- field photos to record and map water bod- The Field Photo Library is developed and biology, University of Oklahoma, Norman; E-mail: Editorial and Production: Randy Showstack, supported by research grants from NASA chandra.biradar@​ou​.edu Senior Writer; Mohi Kumar, Science Writer/­ ies, wells, and irrigation. In addition, geore- Editor; Ernie Balcerak, Writer/Editor; Colin ferenced field photos that depict wildlife or Schultz, ­Writer; Melissa A.­ Corso and Faith A. Ishii, plants provide basic data on species occur- ­Program Managers;­ Liz Castenson, Editor’s Assis- rence, which can be analyzed in conjunc- tant; Don Hendrickson, Copy Editor tion with spatially explicit environmental Advertising: Christy Hanson, Marketing and data to generate ecological niche models Advertising Manager; Tel: +1-202-777-7536; E-mail: [email protected] that predict species distributions [Elith et al., 2006]. Archived field photos can also aid in Creative Services: Brian Kelm, Manager; the synthesis of other widespread citizen sci- Valerie Bassett, Marisa Grotte, and Nancy Sims, Electronic ­Graphics Specialists ence data sets (e.g., eBird, which allows watchers to geospatially track the birds they ©2011 American Geophysical Union. Material in this issue may be photocopied by individual have observed; Project Monarch Health, scientists for research or classroom use. Permis- which recruits citizen scientists to sample sion is also granted to use short quotes, figures, wild monarch butterflies for surveillance of and tables for publication in scientific books a protozoan parasite; and Project BudBurst, and journals. For permission for any other uses, contact the AGU Publications Office. which encourages citizen scientists to moni- tor plant phenology as the seasons change) Eos, Transactions, American Geophysical Union by providing links between habitat types (ISSN 0096-3941) is published weekly except the last week of December by the American and observations made within them. In addi- Geophysical Union, 2000 Florida Ave., NW, Wash- tion, the Field Photo Library provides add-on ington, DC 20009, USA. Periodical Class postage Web services that can, for instance, link indi- paid at Washington, D. C., and at additional mail- vidual field photos with time series satellite ing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Member Service Center, 2000 Florida Ave., images from the Moderate Resolution Imag- NW, Washington, DC 20009, USA. Member Service ing Spectroradiometer (MODIS) sensors on Center: 8:00 A.M.–6:00 P.M. Eastern time; Tel: board the Terra and Aqua satellites from the +1-202-462-6900; Fax: +1-202-328-0566; Tel. orders NASA Earth Observing System (EOS). in U.S.: 1-800-966-2481; E-mail: [email protected]. Information on institutional subscriptions is available from the Member Service Center. Use Project Status and Future Opportunities AGU’s Geophysical Electronic Manuscript Sub- missions system to submit a manuscript: http:​// Through the efforts of just a few scientists, eos-submit.agu.org. the Field Photo Library already houses tens Views expressed in this publication do not neces- of thousands of photos from five sarily reflect official positions of the American Geophysical Union unless expressly stated. (35,404 public photos as of 1 October 2011; see Figure 1). Several companies offer free Christine W. McEntee, Executive Director/CEO photo sharing and archiving (e.g., Flickr and http://www.agu.org/pubs/eos Picasa). However, these Web services are designed for personal use, and it is a daunt- ing task to filter through millions of personal photos in search of georeferenced photos that 454