VOL. 96 • NO. 9 • 15 MAY 2015

Multinational Research in the Highest Mountains

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climateride.agu.org Earth & Space Science News Contents

15 MAY 2015 NEWS VOLUME 96, ISSUE 9

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U.S. Goals for Arctic Council Include Focus on Climate Change As chair of the Arctic Council, the United States is prioritizing climate change and ocean issues and improving the conditions for Arctic communities.

MEETING REPORT

Advancing Multinational 9Research in the Highest Mountain Regions

RESEARCH SPOTLIGHT

12 25 COVER How Much Carbon Dioxide Hubble Turns 25 Does Sunlight Release from Lakes? Breathtaking images, groundbreaking science, and a demonstration of A study of more than 1000 lakes in Sweden humankind’s ability to work in space have made Hubble a cultural icon helps model sunlight’s ability to drive for a quarter of a century. greenhouse gas emissions.

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 [email protected]​ .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 Xin-Zhong Liang, Global Science Informatics Environmental Change Lora S. Armstrong, Volcanology, Jian Lin, Tectonophysics Geochemistry, and Petrology Figen Mekik, Paleoceanography Michael A. Ellis, Earth and Planetary and Paleoclimatology Surface Processes Jerry L. Miller, Ocean Sciences 27 Arlene M. Fiore, Atmospheric Sciences Michael A. Mischna, Planetary Nicola J. Fox, Space Physics Sciences and Aeronomy Thomas H. Painter, Cryosphere 19–24 AGU News Steve Frolking, Biogeosciences Sciences Edward J. Garnero, Study of the Roger A. Pielke Sr., Natural Hazards AGU Sections and Focus Groups Earth’s Deep Interior Michael Poland, Geodesy Michael N. Gooseff, Hydrology Eric M. Riggs, Education Announce 2014 Awardees. Kristine C. Harper, History Adrian Tuck, Nonlinear Geophysics of Geophysics Sergio Vinciguerra, Mineral Keith D. Koper, Seismology and Rock Physics 25–28 Research Spotlight Robert E. Kopp, Geomagnetism Earle Williams, Atmospheric and Paleomagnetism and Space Electricity How Much Carbon Dioxide Does John W. Lane, Near-Surface Mary Lou Zoback, Societal Impacts Sunlight Release from Lakes?; When Geophysics and Policy Sciences Predicting Drought Risk, Do Not Staff Overlook Temperature; Dry Minerals Production: Faith A. Ishii, Production Manager; Melissa A. Tribur, Senior Production in the Lower Mantle; Tipping Point Specialist; Liz Castenson, Editor’s Assistant; Yael Fitzpatrick, Manager, Branding and 4 Design; Valerie Bassett and Travis Frazier, Electronic Graphics Specialists for Nuisance Coastal Flooding May Editorial: Randy Showstack, Senior Writer; Mohi Kumar, Science Writer/Editor; Come by 2050; Water Beneath JoAnna Wendel, Writer 3–7 News the Surface of Mars, Bound Up in Marketing: Angelo Bouselli and Mirelle Moscovitch, Marketing Analysts Sulfates; Conquering Uncertainties Advertising: Christy Hanson, Manager; Tel: +1-202-777-7536; Email: advertising@ U.S. Goals for Arctic Council Include agu.org in Tropical Climate Forecasts; Do Focus on Climate Change; Finding All These Weather Satellites Really ©2015. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved. Material in this issue may Debris Clouds Around Asteroids Improve Forecasts? be photocopied by individual scientists for research or classroom use. Permission Headed Our Way; Science Journalists is also granted to use short quotes, figures, and tables for publication in scientific books and journals. For permission for any other uses, contact the AGU Publications Face Government Roadblocks, Survey Office. Finds; Renewable Energy Trend Could 30 Positions Available Eos (ISSN 0096-3941) is published semi-monthly, on the 1st and 15th of the month Help with Climate Mitigation. Current job openings in the Earth except the 1st of January 2015 by the American Geophysical Union, 2000 Florida and space sciences. Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20009, USA. Periodical Class postage paid at Washington, D. C., and at additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to 8–9 Meeting Reports 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; Climate and Ocean Dynamics 32 Postcards from the Field Fax: +1-202-328-0566; Tel. orders in U.S.: 1-800-966-2481; Email: [email protected]. During the Cretaceous; Advancing Hutton’s Unconformity, on Use AGU’s Geophysical Electronic Manuscript Submissions system to submit a Multinational Research in the ­Scotland’s island of Arran. manuscript: http://eos-submit.agu.org. Highest Mountain Regions. Views expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect official positions of the American Geophysical Union unless expressly stated. On the Cover Christine W. McEntee, Executive Director/CEO 10–11 Opinion NASA, ESA, the Hubble Heritage Is the Shale Boom Reversing Team (STScI/AURA), A. Nota (ESA/ Progress in Curbing Ozone STScI), and the Westerlund 2 Pollution? Science Team.

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science tells us,” Kerry said. “Despite all of U.S. Goals for Arctic Council this, incomprehensibly, ocean acidification is Include Focus on Climate Change often an overlooked impact of climate change.” Sustainable Development in a Fragile Region Kerry applauded the council’s efforts on enhancing preparedness for oil spills and sim- States, he stated, also ilar potential disasters, as well as its work to will build on progress develop a pan-Arctic network of marine pro- made on environ- tected areas. He also expressed support for the mental, economic, Arctic Economic Council and efforts to help and other regional native communities. issues during the “We’re very well aware that the retreat of just-concluded Cana- sea ice in the region brings with it a lot of dian chairmanship. opportunities, though not everybody sees The council, which is them in the same context as opportunities. an intergovernmental Shipping lanes are already beginning to open, forum to address Arc- providing jobs and new possibilities for com- tic regional issues, mercial enterprise,” he said. “It is imperative has eight member that the development that we pursue is sensi- states, includes six tive to the lifestyle and the history that people indigenous organiza- want to hold onto.” Kerry added that efforts tions as permanent should ensure that development “is sustain-

Government of Canada participants, and has able, that it doesn’t exacerbate other chal- U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry (right) speaks with Adm. Robert Papp Jr. (retired), U.S. more than lenges in the Arctic and around the world.” special representative for the Arctic. 30 observer parties. He continued, “We believe the private sector Officials at the has a huge role to play in ensuring that we find meeting approved the the right balance, and we have an enormous he United States assumed the rotating council’s “Iqaluit role to play with the private sector in making 2-year chairmanship of the Arctic Declaration 2015,” which acknowledges that sure that they adopt that role and live it out.” T Council on 24 April with a pledge to reducing greenhouse gas emissions “contin- address climate change. ues to be the most important contribution to Geopolitical Tensions U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry vowed addressing global and Arctic climate change During separate press briefings following the that during its chairmanship, the United and to the long-term conservation and sus- meeting, Kerry and Canadian officials States “will work every single day with mem- tainability of the unique Arctic environment.” responded to questions about Russian military bers of this council to help prepare Arctic exercises in the Arctic, the hostilities in communities for the impacts of [climate] Action on Black Carbon and Methane Ukraine, and whether these concerns could change, and we’ll do everything we can to pre- The declaration implements a Framework for diminish the cooperative nature of the Arctic vent even worse impacts in years to come.” He Action on Enhanced Black Carbon and Meth- Council. Kerry said that military issues in the spoke at the council’s meeting in Nunavut ane Emissions Reductions in the Arctic (see Arctic are legitimate concerns that need to be Iqaluit, Canada, as the United States assumed http://bit.ly/ACFramework). It also encourages addressed at some point. However, he stressed the chairmanship of the organization. the creation of an enhanced elevation map of that it is better to deal with them through Climate change in the Arctic “is not a future the Arctic “to provide improved information NATO, the United Nations Security Council, or challenge. This is happening right now,” Kerry for use in scientific analysis and sustainable other forums rather than through the Arctic said. Temperatures in the Arctic “are increas- development.” In addition, the declaration Council. ing at more than twice the rate of the global calls for more awareness about ocean acidifi- He said that during a conversation a few average. What these rising temperatures mean cation, approves a strategic plan that provides days earlier, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey is that the resilience of our communities and a framework to protect ecosystems and pro- Lavrov “made it crystal clear to me that Russia our ecosystems, the ability of future genera- mote sustainable development, and encour- wants the council to be successful, that they tions to be able to adapt and live and prosper ages efforts to sustain Arctic communities and want this to be a cooperative entity that is in the Arctic the way people have for thou- build a stronger Arctic Council. geared towards peaceful purposes, and that sands of years, is tragically but actually in Kerry expressed U.S. support for these and it’s their intent to cooperate with us on the jeopardy.” other measures, stating that the United States protection of the environment on the agenda “intends to press for the full implementation that we have set forth.” Focus on Climate Change of the framework on black carbon and meth- Nonetheless, tensions remain high. Cana- and Other Key Issues ane.” He also urged all Arctic Council members dian Foreign Minister Robert Nicholson The U.S. chairmanship will focus on address- and observer nations to join the Global Ocean remarked, “We condemn the Russian aggres- ing climate change and its impacts; promoting Acidification Observer Network, an interna- sion against Ukraine.” ocean safety, security, and stewardship; and tional effort to better understand acidification. improving economic and living conditions for “The cold temperatures of the Arctic Ocean Arctic communities, Kerry said. The United make it particularly vulnerable to acidification, By Randy Showstack, Staff Writer

Earth & Space Science News Eos.org // 3 NEWS

Asteroid Day, Eos reported late last year (see Finding Debris Clouds Around http://bit.ly/​ EosAsteroid).​ NASA claims that it has detected and is Asteroids Headed Our Way tracking the majority of NEOs larger than 1 kilometer in diameter. In addition, it aims to detect 90% of objects down to 140 meters. Objects smaller than that are probably much more common than earlier estimates, accord- ing to a slew of new studies last year (see http://bit​ .ly/​ NEOStudies).​ The studies indicate that these small NEOs can still cause major damage.

Seeing into the Shadows Today’s detection efforts rely on radar and optical telescopes. However, optical methods depend on light reflected from very dark objects, and for radar and optical instruments the smaller targets are more difficult to detect. Russell pointed out during his talk that known NEOs may be co-­orbited by debris large enough to cause damage on Earth even if the host objects miss Earth. For example, one estimate put the Chelyabinsk meteor at only 17 meters in diameter. An object that size could be difficult to detect via conventional methods if it is hiding in the shadow of a much larger asteroid. However, because such objects are likely the result of recent collisions, Russell says they are likely to be accompanied by smaller debris and fine dust. This dust may be the key to identifying these small objects co-­orbiting

­ Caltech NASA/JPL- with NEOs.

An artist’s rendition of a fragmented asteroid. A New Method Russell argued during his presentation that mall spikes in the magnetic field in our “The dust is sort of a warning signal. It’s the nanoscale particles from such collisions pick solar system may reveal dust and smoke telling you where the fire is,” he told Eos. up charges and interact in a detectable way S debris, including some on a collision with the solar wind. Earlier this year his team path with Earth, according to a researcher at A Focus on Near-­Earth Objects published a paper in Geophysical Research Let- the European Geosciences Union (EGU) Gen- The explosion of a meteor in the sky near the ters that used magnetometer data from five eral Assembly in Vienna, Austria. city of Chelyabinsk, Russia, in 2013 focused spacecraft to document momentum transfer The solar wind, which consists of charged attention on the need for such signals. The from the solar wind to a dust cloud (see http://​ particles flowing event shook bit.ly/​GRLHRLai). The multiple perspectives at high speed Objects smaller than that are buildings, broke from all those spacecraft made it possible to from the Sun, cre- windows, and triangulate the location of the IFEs and put ates a magnetic probably much more common caused minor some boundaries on their three-dimensional­ field detectable injuries, includ- structure. from interplane- than earlier estimates, according ing cuts and At the EGU meeting, Russell reported that tary space probes. to a slew of new studies last year. sunburns, the team has associated two specific IFEs with Planetary scientist according to a two different objects: asteroid 2201 Oljato and Christopher Rus- report in Science the potentially hazardous asteroid 138175. sell of the Univer- (see http://bit​ ​ Asteroid 2201 Oljato does not threaten Earth sity of California, Los Angeles and his col- .ly/­ MeteoriteRussia).​­ yet, but asteroid 138175 is on NASA’s watch list. leagues have been examining small wrinkles in In response, the U.S. Congress doubled “We want to quantify the size of the cloud that magnetic field called interplanetary field NASA’s near-Earth­ object (NEO) search bud- of dust,” Russell says. Getting a handle on the enhancements (IFEs) since the 1980s. At an get to roughly $40 million a year. In addition, dust cloud size will help researchers predict EGU session on 13 April, Russell presented the the private B612 Foundation in Menlo Park, the mass and distribution of matter within latest evidence that it might be possible to use Calif., is also planning its own mission, and surrounding NEOs. That could help guide IFEs to detect asteroid-orbiting­ clouds of dust dubbed Sentinel, to detect more NEOs. The targeted observations with higher-­resolution and rock, including some that threaten Earth. Sentinel team is promoting 30 June 2015 as optical telescopes to determine whether the

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dust cloud is hosting any potentially hazard- ous co-orbiting­ objects, Russell explained. Science Journalists Face If the researchers can establish the rela- tionship between the strength of magnetic Government Roadblocks, Survey Finds disturbances and dust cloud size, the magne- tometer data already pouring back from many interplanetary missions could be a rich source of information for fine-tuning­ Earth’s plane- cience, environment, and health jour- multi­fold. It includes muddling of under- tary defense. nalists struggle to get information from standing needed to solve problems, even S governmental agencies for their stories among scientists themselves; manipulation More Perspectives on IFEs’ Link and often need to go through public informa- of the public for various motivations; and the to Asteroids tion offices to reach experts. That is a key indefinite veiling of problems and malfea- Geraint H. Jones of Imperial College London finding from a 9 April report issued by the sance. Both the science and the journalism in the United Kingdom has also examined Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) and communities may want to consider issues the IFEs in data from the Ulysses spacecraft. In the Union of Concerned Scientists. current situation presents in light of these 2003, he and colleagues reported in Icarus The report, based on a new survey, found findings” (see http://​bit​.ly/​SPJUCSsurvey). that IFEs trailed comets, not asteroids (see that science agencies “may be more open and Other findings are that 46.1% of science http://​bit​.ly/​IcarusJones). The charges that less controlling than other types of govern- journalists reported that they had been pre- modified the solar wind’s magnetic field ment agencies probably came from ions the comet emitted, surveyed in earlier Jones says. studies.” However, If IFEs only trail comets—which are larger, a result from the easier to detect, and cross Earth’s path less new survey “shows frequently than asteroids—they may be less that there are still useful for planetary defense. However, in the extensive case that Russell and colleagues reported, restraints on “charged dust essentially behaves like a very, experts and jour- very heavy ion,” Jones told Eos. nalists communi- Jones said Russell’s study with “the multi- cating with each ple points of view from five spacecraft: that’s other,” the report made a big difference. It does appear that dust states. has an effect on the solar wind and it’s, I A majority of think, larger than people would have expected science journalists otherwise.” That said, he says he would next surveyed, 56.8%, like to see a model of the physics of asteroid agreed with the SPJ impacts, dust clouds, and IFEs that predicts statement that Responses to one of the questions asked in a recent survey of science writers. the observations. “the public is not Russell says he wants to obtain multiple getting all the detections of an IFE associated with an asteroid information it needs because of barriers agen- vented from interviewing agency employees to conclude that the signal is coming from dust cies are imposing on journalists’ reporting in a timely manner at least some of the time, activity and to repeat the observation for mul- practices.” That figure is less than that in ear- which was higher than education journalists tiple objects. He says the team is now selecting lier SPJ surveys, in which 85% of journalists (32.6%) but lower than federal agency report- likely targets for observation on the basis of who report on federal agencies and 76.1% of ers (69%). Science journalists reported being their paths and orbital periods. Then they will education reporters agreed with that state- more successful (32.2%) at getting interviews conduct simulations of how such debris clouds ment. without involving an agency’s public infor- form around NEOs in the first place. mation office (PIO) than other groups sur- The method is also limited by the fact that Media Access to Earth Science Agencies veyed earlier, including education reporters detecting IFEs is possible only when the object At a briefing in Washington, D. C., to release at 21.3% and federal agency reporters at 15%. passes between the Sun and a space-­based the report, panelists acknowledged that some Also, 63.8% of science journalists reported magnetometer. Because most asteroids orbit agencies involved with the Earth and space having a positive working relationship with beyond Mars, surveying them would require sciences have generally good media policies. PIOs. very far-flung­ spacecraft. The agencies they specifically cited include The survey, conducted by SPJ in January However, if Russell’s team can make a con- the National Oceanic and Atmospheric and February, elicited 254 responses from vincing link between IFEs and the halos of Administration (NOAA), the U.S. Geological journalists covering science, environment, debris around NEOs, the next logical step, Survey (USGS), and NASA. However, panelists health, and medicine. The margin of error is Russell says, is “just going down the list of said there is room for improvement at some ±5.7%. The report draws some conclusions asteroids” to see which known NEOs have other agencies, including the U.S. Environ- from the findings, but it does not make rec- potentially dangerous orbiting debris clouds. mental Protection Agency (EPA). ommendations, said report author Carolyn According to the report, Mediated Access: Carlson, a member of the SPJ Freedom of Science Writers’ Perceptions of Public Information Information Committee. The committee is a By Lucas Laursen, Freelance Writer; Twitter: Officers’ Media Control Efforts, “the hazard of watchdog of press freedoms across the United @lucaslaursen­ suppression of information and ideas is States.

Earth & Space Science News Eos.org // 5 NEWS

Concern About Hampering speak to the media and the public about sci- on those who can put meaning to that data the Information Flow entific and technological matters based on and interpret it and put it in the proper con- At the briefing, SPJ released a statement say- their official work, with appropriate coordi- text.” ing the new survey shows that “the restric- nation with their immediate supervisor and He said that some agencies, including tions specifically hamper the flow of scien- their public affairs office.” NOAA and USGS, have relatively open policies tific information to the public—which means Foxhall told Eos that the language “was in working with the media and are setting the they also hamper the movement of informa- exactly the opposite of what we had been standards that other agencies should be able tion to the rest of the community. The orga- working for, and what we had told the admin- to follow. “Halpern noted that media access nization istration has been “a sticking point” with EPA. He said asked U.S. “It is accepted around Washington needed to be that although the agency has made strides in president done. To my other areas, “access to scientists is not one of Barack Obama that a reporter cannot speak to knowledge, it those areas where there has been a lot of “to end was the first progress.” restrictions on anyone in an agency without going time in his- “Scientists should be able to speak to the reporters through the public affairs office.” tory that this public and the press without having to ask for communicat- policy of peo- permission,” Halpern stated. He noted that ing with staff ple being for- scientists should be clear about when they are about the bidden to speaking as an agency representative and public’s business.” speak to each other, except when they were when they are speaking as an individual, to Kathryn Foxhall, a member of the SPJ Free- under surveillance, had actually been put in avoid confusion. dom of Information Committee, said, “Over written policy, by an administration.” “The assumption should be openness about 20 years, there has been a surge in agen- “The administration has entrenched this unless there is a compelling reason” for not cies and other entities requiring reporters to culture, these constraints that have been doing so, Halpern said. Further, he said that always go through PIOs before speaking to growing up over about three administra- agencies should be looking at successful employees. On an historical basis, the con- tions,” she added. “And now, it is accepted examples within government for best prac- straints are new and they are radical.” She around Washington that a reporter cannot tices to replicate, so that as much informa- added that “when reporters are required to go speak to anyone in an agency without going tion as possible can emerge “without com- through PIOs to talk to anyone, the source peo- through the public affairs office. That is mes- promising things like the scientific process or ple know they [are] under surveillance by the sage control.” proprietary information or other things that official structure and that changes everything.” rightly should be more private and more In an interview with Eos, Foxhall said that Transparency Efforts deliberative.” she and others were disappointed in the and the Obama Administration Panelist Kate Sheppard, senior reporter White House Office of Science and Technol- Michael Halpern, program manager of the and environment and energy editor at the ogy Policy’s guidance to federal executive Union of Concerned Scientists’ Center for Huffington Post, added, “Journalism benefits departments and agencies on public commu- Science and Democracy, said that since Presi- when reporters have access to experts, and nications that is included in a 17 December dent Obama took office, the administration society benefits because they have a better 2010 memorandum on scientific integrity has “talked about wanting to put a premium understanding of the issues when reporters (see http://bit.ly/​­OSTPmemo). That memo on transparency, with mixed results.” have access to experts and not just the states, in part, that “federal scientists may Halpern said that although the administra- PIO.” tion has put a lot of effort into access to data, “there has been a lot less attention By Randy Showstack, Staff Writer

Correction

In the 1 May 2015 issue, a format- “The total heat production is esti- ting error in the feature “Why Does mated to be up to 1016 joules, which is the Aurora Flare Up?” by Syun-Ichi dissipated at a rate of about 5 × 1011 Akasofu caused numbers that watts during the expansion phase.” should have been represented in “What is unclear—and very con- scientific notation not to have troversial—is where the magneto- superscripts. sphere can stably store as much as The affected sentences on pages 1016 joules.” 18–19 should read as follows: “In fact, it is likely that the main “When the power becomes strong body may not even be able to store enough (at about 1011 watts, roughly more than 1016 joules; the magneto- equivalent to the total power of the sphere may become unstable before thousand largest power plants in the stored energy reaches this the world), the Earth’s magneto- threshold.” sphere responds.” Eos regrets these errors.

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for power sector dollars” in most of the Renewable Energy Trend Could world. “Wind and solar sectors should be able to Help with Climate Mitigation carry on flourishing, particularly if they con- tinue to cut costs” per megawatt hour, the report adds.

Outlook on Renewables United Nations secretary-general­ Ban Ki-­ moon wrote in the foreword that the report “increases our confidence that a low-­carbon world is obtainable and that we are on the right path to reach our objective, even though there is still much to accomplish.” Ban cau- tioned that “policy uncertainty and other bar- riers to investment need to be abolished.” He said that a further mobilization of finan- cial markets to support low-­carbon growth 0) could come out of the Paris climate summit. “We need more private and public investment incentives—including putting a price on carbon to provide markets with the right policy signals to move them to invest in climate solutions.” At a 1 April speech in Washington, D. C.,

SA 2.0 (http://bit.ly/ccbyncsa2- ­ 2.0 SA UNEP executive director Achim Steiner said

NC- ­ the increase in renewable energy “is the most significant shift of any source of energy ever in the history of modern energy systems.” The levels of investment show that renew- ables are “not some niche market that is com- ing to maturity,” he added. Rather, the world

­ International Rivers, CC BY- is seeing “technology coinciding with a public Solar thermal collectors in the California desert. policy challenge and an economic transforma- tion challenge unprecedented in modern industrialized development.” largely positive new report on renew- Effects of 2014’s Renewable Energy Steiner said that although the 2014 invest- able energy trends could provide a shot Trends on Climate ment numbers did not set a record, the decline A in the arm for the upcoming climate Findings include the fact that a record-­ in prices in renewable technology “buys you a negotiations set for Paris, France, at the end of breaking 95 gigawatts of wind and solar lot more in installed capacity than in 2011.” the year. photo­voltaic power systems were installed in The global investment in renewable power 2014 compared with 74 gigawatts in 2013. In More Work Needed and fuels increased 17% in 2014 to $270 bil- addition, renewable energy technologies to Limit Greenhouse Emissions lion, according to the United Nations Envi- made up 48% of net power capacity added At a 31 March briefing in Geneva, Switzerland, ronment Programme’s (UNEP) 31 March worldwide in 2014, and the proportion of to release the report, several speakers cau- report, Global Trends in Renewable Energy electricity generated from cumulative tioned that although the report has much good Investment 2015 (see http://​bit.ly/​ installed renewable power capacity increased news regarding renewables, a lot of work is ­UNEPRenewables). UNEP notes that this fig- to 9.1% in 2014 compared with 8.5% in 2013. required to limit greenhouse gas emissions ure does not include large-­scale hydropower These trends “prevented the emission of and to speed the shift to renewables. projects exceeding 50 megawatts because an estimated 1.3 gigatonnes” of carbon diox- “We do seem to be in a slightly more opti- that technology has been mature for ide, the report states. “However, at the recent mistic mood at the moment,” said Angus decades. rate of increase, it will take until 2030 for McCrone, chief editor of Bloomberg New The level of investment was higher than renewables excluding large hydro to reach Energy Finance and a lead author of the in any year except for the record $278.8 bil- 20% of global generation,” according to the report. He said, however, “One should not lion in 2011 and represents the first increase report. underestimate the challenges there.” in investment in 3 years. The high level in Specifically, “there really is a lot to do to get 2014 is largely due to a $74.9 billion boom in The Impact of Lower Oil Prices a credible signal to the investor that a really solar installations in China and Japan and a The recent plunge in the price of crude oil will high fraction of renewables has a long-­term record $18.6 billion in final investment deci- “dampen investor confidence” in parts of the place in the electricity mix,” McCrone sions for European offshore wind projects, renewable energy sector, including in devel- explained. according to the report, which was prepared oping countries that burn oil for power and in by the Frankfurt School–UNEP Collaborating the biofuel market, according to the report. Center and Bloomberg New Energy Finance. However, oil and renewables “do not compete By Randy Showstack, Staff Writer

Earth & Space Science News Eos.org // 7 MEETING REPORT

Climate and Ocean Dynamics During the Cretaceous Exploring the Cretaceous World with Data and Numerical Models Capo Granitola, 2–4 October 2014

ignificant efforts have been under- shop last October in Sicily, Italy. Participants to the limited availability of radiometric dated taken to improve scientists’ under- included 28 scientists of different nationalities records, precise integrated stratigraphy, and S standing of the time scales and pro- with expertise in astronomy, paleontology, reliable and accurate orbital tuning of sedi- cesses affecting the climate and ocean sedimentary geology, stratigraphy, geochro- mentary sequences. dynamics roughly 66–145 million years ago nology, geochemistry, and climate and ocean Working group sessions formed the core of during the Cretaceous. Often described as modeling. the workshop. One working group provided a Earth’s “greenhouse” time, the Cretaceous Seven keynote lectures given by experts in road map for future investigation in stratig- featured plate configurations, ocean circu- the different fields provided insight into the raphy and the development of accurate and lation, carbon dioxide concentrations, sea state-of-­ the-­ art­ research into the entire Cre- reliable age models based on astrochronology surface temperatures, and salinity that dif- taceous Earth system, with particular focus on combined with other stratigraphic methods. fered considerably from modern-day­ condi- • climate dynamics and evolution of Another working group focused on aspects of tions. marine and terrestrial biota at times of chang- physical, chemical, and biological oceanogra- Widespread deposition of organic carbon-­ ing climate phy at times when Earth’s orbital configura- rich sediments during oceanic anoxic events • exploration of new tools providing more tion changed during Cretaceous greenhouse (OAEs; times of total depletion of dissolved reliable calibration of the Cretaceous sedi- and icehouse intervals. oceanic oxygen) reflects peculiar oceanogra- mentary records, including astrochronology A third working group identified future phy and biogeochemistry. These OAEs were • analysis of climate and ocean dynamics research themes in the field of paleoceanog- marked by large equatorial upwelling zones during the Cretaceous OAEs raphy at times of OAEs, which are seen as in the Pacific, Atlantic, and Tethys oceans, Speakers summarized developments in the global oceanic expression of major car- coupled with widespread anoxia in the recording Cretaceous stratigraphy and bon cycle perturbations. This group also dis- Atlantic and western Tethys oceans. assessed and discussed gaps in the knowledge cussed questions concerning possible links Paleoceanographic and paleoclimatic topics of the fine details of the geological time scale between the carbon cycle and changes in of the Cretaceous were the focus of a work- within the Cretaceous, which are mainly due carbon dioxide concentrations, as well as related temperature trends. A fourth working group discussed future needs regarding the modeling of physical and bio- geochemical parameters using improved empiric data. For more details on specific sessions and working groups, visit http://bit.ly/Eos​_­Cretaceous.

Acknowledgments The workshop was supported by the European Science Founda- tion’s Research Networking Program, under the umbrella of the European Union’s Earthtime program. We thank E. Erba, S. Flögel, and H. Weissert for their crucial contributions to this report and all the workshop participants for their construc- tive and enthusiastic input.

By Mario Sprovieri, Institute for Coastal Marine Environment,

Helmut J. Weissert Helmut J. National Research Council, Capo A remnant of submarine sediments from the eastern Tethys Ocean preserved in the Al Hajar Mountains in Oman features chert Granitola, Italy; email: mario​ underlying the basin (foreground) and carbonates from an adjacent plateau (background). [email protected]​

8 // Eos 15 May 2015 MEETING REPORT

Advancing Multinational Research in the Highest Mountain Regions 5th Third Pole Environment Workshop Berlin, Germany, 8–9 December 2014

he vast region encompassing Earth’s highest mountain T ranges, part of the great Asian mountain system, goes by many names. One is the “Roof of the World.” Another is “Asia’s Water Tower” because of the region’s char- acteristic high altitudes, positioned directly upriver from the world’s

most densely populated countries. 0) Scientists racing to study its extensive, yet changing, glacial mass have dubbed the region the “Third Pole.” Largely because of the inhospitable physical landscape and geopolitical barriers, this trans- BY 2.0 (http://bit.ly/ccby2- ­ 2.0 BY boundary mountain region posed a significant challenge to cooperative, multinational research. As a result, the area has remained relatively reurinkjan, CC- ­ understudied within the realms of The Tibetan Plateau, source of the Mekong, Yangtze, Indus, Brahmaputra, and other major Asian rivers. Earth and environmental science, despite its importance in the liveli- hood of billions of people. Given the complexities of the region, the the TPE program as a platform for heightened, To advance research and increase coordi- opportunity for multidisciplinary, multina- coordinated research efforts was stressed. nated field campaigns in the region, scientists tional information sharing and discussion is Although the TPE program has supported and stakeholders representing 13 coun- an invaluable component of the TPE pro- more than a dozen field campaigns in the tries gathered in December 2014 in Berlin, Ger- gram’s research. Common threads in the pre- past 2 years, undertaking expeditions in many, to discuss progress and future plans for sentations were the Asian monsoon system, China, Nepal, Pakistan, and Tajikistan, par- the Third Pole Environment (TPE) program. improving the accuracy and spatial coverage of ticipants concluded that there is an urgent Participants shared their unique and diverse environmental reconstructions, advancing need for additional research focus and fund- portfolios of environmental research on topics data availability, and data-­sharing platforms. ing and expanded aerial coverage of both including cli- Participants field data and remotely sensed data. Attend- mate and Research highlights included the eagerly dis- ees agreed that the TPE program’s newly cryosphere cussed ways to established international research center in dynamics, study of black carbon in snow and increase coor- Kathmandu, Nepal, should serve not only as geologic pro- dinated field a local office and student training center but cesses, geo- the extensive remote sensing campaigns, also as a base to support scientific field hazards, land-­ efforts to document glacier with a focus on activities on the southern slope of the Hima- atmosphere transboundary layas. interactions, changes in the Third Pole region. research tran- The TPE program is cochaired by Lonnie lakes and riv- sects, an ongo- Thompson (Ohio State University), Tandong Yao ers, and bio- ing effort that (ITPCAS), and Volker Mosbrugger (Senckenberg logic and bio- may provide a Research Center for Nature Study, Germany). diversity studies. Research highlights included more complete picture of the Third Pole. More information about the TPE program can be the study of black carbon in snow by Baiqing Xu Participants also emphasized how the lack found at http://www.tpe.ac.cn/. (Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese of long-term­ data and sparse coverage in the Academy of Sciences (ITPCAS)) and the exten- expansive geographic area that encompasses sive remote sensing efforts to document glacier the Third Pole have led to increased uncer- By Daniel Joswiak, Meri Joswiak, and Tandong changes in the Third Pole region by Tobias tainty and disagreement about past environ- Yao, Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Bolch (University of Zurich/Dresden University mental events and regional future projections. Academy of Sciences (ITPCAS), Beijing, China; of Technology). Throughout the meeting, the importance of email: [email protected]​

Earth & Space Science News Eos.org // 9 OPINION

and may therefore become a significant source Is the Shale Boom Reversing of air pollutants, particularly soot and VOCs, adding to any fugitive emissions of hydrocar- Progress in Curbing Ozone Pollution? bons during drilling, well operation, and oil and gas distribution [Brandt et al., 2014]. Aerial views of the Eagle Ford at night allow for easy detection of flares. These views show that the number of flares has increased rapidly in recent years, largely because of a recent shift from shale gas to shale oil extraction for economic reasons.

Unregulated Emissions Because governments do not always regulate flaring effectively and because until recently emissions per flare were presumed small, according to the U.S. Environmental Protec- tion Agency (EPA), few scientific efforts have gone into related air quality assessments in shale exploration areas [e.g., Thompson et al., 2014]. Several recent studies, however, show that EPA surveys likely underestimate meth- ane emissions from oil and gas extraction activities [Howarth, 2014], and fewer studies have placed an emphasis on flaring or coemit-

© iStock.com/01Smith ted hydrocarbon emissions as sources of air Gas flaring from an oil well in the Eagle Ford Shale field in southern Texas. pollution. Although unburned fugitive hydrocarbon emissions are expected to contribute little, s highlighted in an Eos opinion Flares in the Eagle Ford VOCs formed in flares, specifically unsatu- piece last year [Alley et al., 2014], In the Eagle Ford, annual drilling permit rated hydrocarbons and aldehydes such as A environmental impacts of the U.S. oil counts have increased dramatically since the ethene and formaldehyde, are potent precur- and gas boom are “hotly debated.” However, development of the shale, with 26 permits sors of local and regional ozone formation. a lack of environmental data concerning the issued in 2008 versus 4416 permits issued in largely unregulated but rapidly developing 2013 [Railroad Commission of Texas, 2014]. With Incomplete Studies shale industry hampers clarity in this debate. 17,685 wells permitted or completed as of Ozone mixing ratios in the San Antonio met- As a result, scientists, public officials, and the 4 December 2014 [Railroad Commission of Texas, ropolitan area, typically downwind of the public regularly describe effects, such as 2014], drilling has out- those on public health, with only anecdotal paced the growth of the evidence. pipeline network in this One such shale region is the Eagle Ford part of Texas, resulting Shale (Figure 1). As one of the most productive in large amounts of shale oil and gas regions in the United States, near-permanent­ flaring the Eagle Ford has transformed the economies of associated gas at oil of the mostly rural communities it underlies wells, as well as tempo- since 2008. rary flaring at new gas However, fugitive hydrocarbon emissions wells. from various sources during drilling, comple- Flaring replaces vent- tion, and production, as well as gas flares lit to ing and is intended to dispose of so-called­ associated gas—gas­ that reduce the direct emis- comes out of solution when produced oil sions of methane and depressurizes—affect­ the air quality of the other associated gas. communities in the region. In particular, the Controlled flaring, rise in volatile organic compounds (VOCs)—­ where flares act to dis- precursors to ground-level­ ozone formation—­ pose of chemicals safely, worry some local governments. Over the past is typically more than several decades, the United States has made 98% effective and oper-

significant strides in reducing summer smog ates only for limited Google Earth, 2014 produced primarily from car exhaust [Parrish periods of time. How- Fig. 1. Outline of the Eagle Ford Shale and selected monitoring locations for volatile et al., 2011]. Unfortunately, new observations ever, flaring at individ- organic compounds administered by the Texas Commission on Environmental lead us to suspect that the shale boom may be ual oil and gas extraction Quality. threatening that progress. wells is rarely controlled

10 // Eos 15 May 2015 OPINION

Eagle Ford, have increased in parallel to oil During the early years production and associated flaring (Figure 2a). of Eagle Ford Shale Concerned by the increasing ozone mixing development (2008 to ratios, the Alamo Area Council of Govern- 2011), ethane mixing ments (AACOG) developed an emissions ratios in San Antonio inventory and scenario for the shale area and were less than 2 parts studied the potential effects on regional per billion (ppb) higher ozone formation [AACOG Natural Resources/­ than those in Corpus Transportation Department, 2013, 2014]. Christi. However, in The findings included VOC emissions likely 2012 and 2013, the exceeding metropolitan emissions in San enhancement of ethane Antonio and significant ozone formation between Corpus Christi from shale area VOC and nitrogen oxide (NOx) and San Antonio emissions but possibly no future ozone stan- increased to 4–5 ppb on dard violations. average, a highly statis- We question the latter because it is based tically significant on conservative and outdated assumptions (p < 0.0002) increase. about flaring emissions. The AACOG study When the new Flores- worked with approximately half the NOx and ville monitor data are VOC emissions listed in newer estimates and analyzed as a function of did not account for less efficient flares and wind direction (example more reactive VOC emissions, such as form- in Figure 2c), two direc- aldehyde. Field-based­ results from Canada tions stand out: south- using VOC measurements affected by flares west to west and east to [Simpson et al., 2013; Strosher, 2000] strongly southeast, directions for Fig. 2. (a) A comparison of daily crude oil and natural gas production in the Eagle suggest that both reactive VOC emissions, which the approaching Ford in thousand barrels of oil equivalent (kBOE) per day and maximum observed such as ethene, and air toxics, such as ben- air masses spend more fourth-highest­ 8-hour­ ozone mixing ratios in San Antonio. Note the apparent cor- zene, are among the emissions. time in the shale area relation between oil and gas production rates in the Eagle Ford and ozone mixing and pass over large flar- ratios in San Antonio. (b) Distribution of ethane mixing ratios in parts per billion Toward a Clearer Picture of Air Quality ing sources. Ethane (ppb) at various sites in Texas for days with wind trajectories passing near coastal The Texas Commission on Environmental mixing ratios from both sites, through the Eagle Ford, and ending in San Antonio. Floresville ethane data Quality (TCEQ) monitors VOCs at various of these directions are span a period of approximately 1 year from July 2013 to July 2014. Ethane mixing locations throughout the state, including the statistically significantly ratios in San Antonio increase significantly between the early years of the Eagle Barnett Shale dry gas production area close to greater than mixing Ford and recent years; there is no noticeable trend at the coastal sites. (c) Depen- the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex, where little ratios from the south- dence of ethane mixing ratios on wind direction at the Floresville monitor. Ethane flaring occurs. To address growing concerns east to southwest direc- mixing ratios are elevated when winds are blowing along the axis of the shale—­ in central Texas, TCEQ installed a new VOC tion (p < 0.0001). southwest to west and east to southeast. monitor north of the Eagle Ford in summer 2013 and another recently in Karnes City, the Shale Oil and Gas: Brandt, A. R., et al. (2014), Methane leaks from North American heart of the Eagle Ford. There is thus no A Major Source of Air Pollution natural gas systems, Science, 343(6172), 733–735, doi:10.1126/ long-­term history on local air quality as Although we continue to analyze the data, science.1247045. Howarth, R. W. (2014), A bridge to nowhere: Methane emissions and affected by oil and gas exploration in the these snapshots clearly show that the boom the greenhouse gas footprint of natural gas, Energy Sci. Eng., 2(2), Eagle Ford. of unconventional oil and gas exploration is 47–60, doi:10.1002/ese3.35. Nonetheless, using TCEQ data, we analyzed developing into a major source of air pollu- Parrish, D. D., H. B. Singh, L. Molina, and S. Madronich (2011), Air quality progress in North American megacities: A review, Atmos. VOC monitor data from western San Antonio tion in this area. Air quality modeling should Environ., 45(39), 7015–7025, doi:10.1016/j.atmosenv.2011.09.039. (Old Highway 90), the Gulf Coast (Corpus provide further confirmation of these pre- Railroad Commission of Texas (2014), Eagle Ford Shale information, report, Austin, Tex. [Available at http://www.rrc.state.tx.us/oil-­gas/ Christi and Clute), and the monitor near the liminary findings. major-­oil-­gas-­formations/eagle-­ford-­shale/.] Eagle Ford in southeast Floresville. Data at Nonetheless, we suggest that these rapid Simpson, I. J., J. E. Marrero, S. Batterman, S. Meinardi, B. Barletta, Floresville are collected once per hour using changes to air quality have begun to counter and D. R. Blake (2013), Air quality in the industrial heartland of Alberta, Canada and potential impacts on human health, Atmos. an automated gas chromatograph–­flame ion- the EPA-­documented progress made in Environ., 81, 702–709, doi:10.1016/j.atmosenv.2013.09.017. ization detection system. VOC data from all reducing ozone pollution in the past several Strosher, M. T. (2000), Characterization of emissions from diffusion other sites are collected over 24 hours once decades. flare systems, J. Air Waste Manage. Assoc., 50(10), 1723–1733, doi: 10.1080/10473289.2000.10464218. every 6 days; mixing ratios are assessed using Thompson, C. R., J. Hueber, and D. Helmig (2014), Influence of oil gas chromatography–mass­ spectrometry. References and gas emissions on ambient atmospheric non-­methane hydro- carbons in residential areas of northeastern Colorado, Elementa, We restricted our analysis­ to air mass ori- Alamo Area Council of Governments (AACOG) Natural Resources/ Transportation Department (2013), Development of the extended 2(1), 000035, doi:10.12952/journal.elemanta.000035. gins in the Gulf of Mexico and focused on the June 2006 photochemical modeling episode, report, 260 pp., development of ethane as a marker of oil and Alamo Area Counc. of Gov., San Antonio, Tex. gas exploration. As shown in Figure 2b, eth- Alamo Area Council of Governments (AACOG) Natural Resources/ Transportation Department (2014), Oil and gas emission inventory, ane mixing ratios along the coast have Eagle Ford Shale, report, 260 pp., Alamo Area Counc. of Gov., San By Gunnar W. Schade and Geoffrey S. Roest, remained relatively constant since 2007, but Antonio, Tex. Department of Atmospheric Sciences, Texas A&M Alley, W. M., J. A. Cherry, B. L. Parker, and M. C. Ryan (2014), Nuclear inland mixing ratios have been steadily waste disposal: A cautionary tale for shale gas development, Eos University, College Station; email: gws@geos​ increasing since 2009. Trans. AGU, 95(29), 264, doi:10.1002/2014eo290005. .tamu.edu​

Earth & Space Science News Eos.org // 11 12 // Eos 15 May 2015 Hubble Turns

25By Ron Cowen n 24 April 1990, the space shuttle Discovery rumbled into space car- rying a school bus–sized payload: the largest astronomical tele- scope ever to fly above the haze of Earth’s atmosphere. Named for Edwin Hubble, the American Oastronomer who proved that the universe is expanding and that there are galaxies beyond ours, the Hubble Space Telescope has peered deeper into space and with greater clarity than any telescope before it. Its images have given astronomers the first photo album of galaxies, charting their evolution from surprisingly massive blobs in the infant uni- verse to the majestic spiral and elliptical galaxies of today. Hubble, funded by NASA and the Euro- pean Space Agency, has pinned down the age of the universe and discovered compelling evidence NASA

Earth & Space Science News Eos.org // 13 the heels of the Columbia space shuttle disaster on 1 February 2003, a NASA administrator declared that it was too dangerous to allow another shuttle mission ever to service Hubble. Failure and redemption, breathtaking images, and a demonstration of humankind’s ability to work in space—­“all of these factors working together” have made Hubble a cultural icon, says Williams.

Early Days Hubble’s roots go back to 1946—­12 years before NASA was founded—when­ astronomer Lyman Spitzer suggested that scientists build, launch, and operate an observatory in space. Flying above Earth’s atmosphere solves a problem that has plagued astronomers since the time of Galileo: As the pristine light from stars and galaxies travels through our planet’s atmo- sphere, it becomes distorted by the layers of turbulent gases, limiting the ability of tele- scopes on the ground to produce clear images. The atmosphere also blocks or obscures several

Jeff Hester and Paul Scowen, ASU; NASA/ESA Paul Scowen, Jeff Hester and bands of wavelengths in the electromagnetic Iconic image of star birth in the Eagle Nebula, recorded by Hubble in 1995. Newborn spectrum, including those in the ultraviolet, stars are emerging from pockets of interstellar gas. The stars lie at the tips of giant col- preventing ground-based­ telescopes from umns of gas and dust, which are the cocoons in which the newborns are incubated. making a full portrait of the cosmos. Spitzer’s idea for a space telescope didn’t take off until 1962, when the U.S. National for the existence of supermassive black holes. The tele- Academy of Sciences recommended that NASA begin plan- scope’s observations of distant exploding stars helped con- ning for a large orbiting observatory. vince astronomers that the universe is being ripped apart, The telescope was finally ready for launch by the mid-­ expanding at an ever-­faster rate. That accelerated expan- 1980s, but the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger sion has been called one of the greatest mysteries in all of during liftoff on 28 January 1986 delayed the telescope’s physics. debut. At the time of its launch in 1990, Hubble carried Closer to home, Hubble has examined the atmospheres equipment that had been built in the 1970s. of alien worlds that lie relatively nearby—­planets orbiting Two months after Hubble entered orbit, NASA discov- stars from a few tens to a few hundreds of light-years­ from ered that the observatory’s 2.4-meter-­ wide­ mirror was the Sun. It has also given new insight into the processes misshapen, with its outer edge ground too flat by that govern the formation and evolution of our own solar 4 micrometers, about one fiftieth the diameter of a human system. hair. The tiny flaw was enough to blur the observatory’s “Hubble is the most important piece of scientific hard- image: Only the central 20% of each picture was in focus. ware that’s ever Hubble and NASA been built by became objects of humans and has Hubble is the most important piece ridicule. returned more sci- By December entific information of scientific hardware that’s ever 1993, when NASA about the physical launched a space world than any other been built by humans. shuttle mission to device in human fix the telescope, history,” says astro- blurry vision was naut Drew Feustel, who helped repair and upgrade Hubble only one of Hubble’s problems. Failing gyroscopes pre- during the observatory’s final servicing mission in 2009. vented the observatory from staying fixed on celestial tar- Hubble is also a story of bouncing back from cata- gets. In addition, the transition from searing sunlight to strophic failures, according to Robert Williams, an astron- frigid darkness during each 90-­minute Earth orbit had omer and former director of the Space Telescope Science caused the telescope’s aging solar arrays to oscillate, liter- Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, Md., which operates Hubble. ally giving the observatory a case of the jitters. First, astronomers had to find a way for the telescope to “The situation was terrible,” recalls former astronaut recover from its notoriously flawed primary mirror, which Jeffrey Hoffman, now a professor at the Massachusetts blurred the vision of the observatory, causing some people Institute of Technology (MIT). to brand the $1.6 billion telescope a “techno-­turkey.” A Among other tasks, Hoffman and a crew of five other decade later, the telescope got another death sentence: On astronauts inserted tiny corrective mirrors in front of the

14 // Eos 15 May 2015 Hubble observations also showed that monster black holes grow in lockstep with the central distribution of stars in their home galaxy.

observatory’s detectors, exactly compensating for Hubble’s At a press conference at STScI on 16 July, the Shoemakers misshapen mirror. and Levy were cautioning reporters that there might not be Three weeks after the mission to correct the lens ended, much to see. In the basement, huddled around a computer on New Year’s Eve 1993, Hoffman received a call from a screen, Hammel; Melissa McGrath, a planetary scientist then senior STScI official. After wishing Hoffman a happy new working at STScI; and other planetary scientists scrutinized year, the official asked Hoffman if he had a bottle of cham- Hubble images of Jupiter as they were relayed to Earth. pagne handy. Images had just come down from the refur- One of the first pictures showed a black dot on Jupiter. bished Hubble, he told Hoffman, and they were crystal clear. Hammel thought the mark might merely be the shadow of Jupiter’s moon Io. Then another image showed a big black First Compelling Evidence for Supermassive Black Holes plume rising above the planet. Astronomers immediately began reaping the benefits of McGrath grabbed a bottle of champagne that she had the repaired Hubble. With Hubble’s Faint Object Spectro- brought, and Hammel hastily printed out a picture of the graph, Holland Ford of Johns Hopkins University and his plume. Then they raced upstairs and interrupted the press colleagues homed in on the suspected site of a supermas- conference. “It was so obvious that this was a major event, sive black hole: the center of the giant elliptical galaxy even on this ratty little computer printout,” says Hammel. M87, some 50 million light-­years from Earth. The team “We had to break in.” clocked the speed at which a disk of hot gas near the gal- Gene Shoemaker stopped what he was saying while axy’s center whipped around the core. Hammel waved the photo from the podium. Then Shoe- The speed of the gas, about 550 kilometers per second, maker took a swig of champagne. along with its central location, suggested that the spinning disk was being tugged by a massive, compact object—­an object as heavy as 3 billion suns confined to a region no larger than our solar system. Only a supermassive black hole, an object whose gravity is so strong that not even light can escape its grasp, could fill the bill, the researchers concluded. The finding was the first definitive confirmation for the existence of a giant black hole beyond the Milky Way galaxy. Soon Hubble, along with other telescopes, would find that the core of nearly every large galaxy houses such a gravita- tional beast. Hubble observations also showed that monster black holes grow in lockstep with the central distribution of stars in their home galaxy. Astronomers speculate that the jets and winds associated with black holes disrupt or expel star-forming­ gas, regulating galaxy growth.

A Comet Hits Jupiter One of Hubble’s earliest claims to fame came from obser- vations in our own solar system. In 1993, planetary scientists Gene and Carolyn Shoe- maker and amateur astronomer David Levy discovered a comet called Shoemaker-Levy 9,­ which had been torn into pieces by a close gravitational encounter with Jupiter. Studies of the comet’s orbit revealed that in July 1994, the fragments would smash into the gas giant. At MIT, planetary scientist Heidi Hammel was unim- pressed when a graduate student breathlessly relayed the news. “My reaction was ‘Oh, please; Jupiter is huge, com- ets are tiny; nothing is going to happen.’” Nonetheless, when a colleague calculated that the colli- sions could create dark plumes big enough to be seen in Jupiter’s atmosphere, Hammel agreed to write a proposal

to request Hubble time. Only a few weeks later, a still NASA/ESA H. Hammel, MIT; skeptical Hammel was told not only that her proposal was Impact sites moments after fragments of the comet Shoemaker-Levy­ 9 accepted but that she would coordinate other Hubble hit Jupiter in 1994. observations of the weeklong event.

Earth & Space Science News Eos.org // 15 NASA

Astronaut Jeffrey Hoffman removes the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 1 during the first Hubble repair mission, which corrected for the telescope’s flawed mirror, in December 1993.

The Jovian collisions “were a sort of perfect physics field creates strong electric fields at Jupiter’s magnetic experiment that normally can’t be done in astronomy and poles, which accelerate the charged particles and generate planetary science,” says Hammel. “The dark material the auroral ovals of light. deposited by the comet fragments [was] akin to injecting Joint observations of Saturn with Hubble and NASA’s ink into the atmosphere of Jupiter and then watching it Cassini spacecraft revealed where the auroras heat the trace out the atmospheric motion of the planet.” planet’s upper atmosphere, accounting for the warmer-­ The impacts enabled scientists to directly measure Jupi- than-expected­ temperatures of the outer atmospheres of ter’s wind speeds in the planet’s troposphere and strato- the giant planets despite their great distance from the Sun. sphere, Hammel says. The suite of small, medium, and large explosions created by the Shoemaker-­Levy 9 impacts The Search for Exoplanets “also provided deep insight into multimegaton catastro- Hubble has discerned the composition of planetary atmo- phes on Earth like the dinosaurs experienced, and we spheres beyond the solar system. To do that, Hubble (and humans may yet expe- other telescopes) rience,” adds Hammel. relied on a rare align- A team used Hubble’s newfound ment of parent star, An Eye on the Outer planet, and the obser- Solar System acuity to determine the size and vatory. In that config- More recently, Hubble uration, light from the uncovered four addi- age of the universe. star filters through tional moons of Pluto the atmosphere of the (the moons Nix and Hydra in 2006 and two additional orbiting planet before it reaches the telescope. Atoms and small moons in 2011 and 2012). Before Hubble’s launch, molecules in the planet’s atmosphere absorb specific planetary scientists knew about only one moon, Pluto’s wavelengths of light, providing a spectroscopic fingerprint large satellite Charon. The surprising complexity of the for the constituents of the gases shrouding the planet. Pluto system revealed by Hubble will be explored close up The fingerprints are extraordinarily faint, but the obser- when NASA’s New Horizons mission flies past the dwarf vatory was the first, in 2001, to find sodium and water planet this July. vapor in the atmospheres of exoplanets. Ultimately, the The observatory also used its ultraviolet sensitivity to technique will be used to search for biomarkers—­signs of observe auroras on Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus beginning life—in­ the atmospheres of these planets. in the early 1990s. Auroras, like Earth’s northern lights, are generated when energetic charged particles, racing Expanding Views along a planet’s magnetic field lines, crash onto a planet’s On a more cosmic scale, a team led by Wendy Freedman of the upper atmosphere and cause the gases there to fluoresce. Carnegie Observatories in Pasadena, Calif., used Hubble’s Although the charged particles that cause the auroras on newfound acuity to determine the size and age of the universe. Earth, Uranus, and Saturn come from the solar wind, those The team relied on Hubble to find a group of bright yellowish on Jupiter have a different origin. Io, Jupiter’s volcanically stars, known as Cepheid variables, in the distant galaxy M100. active moon, supplies most of the particles for the Jovian Cepheid variables have a unique property, periodically aurora. Charged particles spewed by the moon’s volcanoes expanding and contracting, which changes their bright- become trapped by Jupiter’s magnetic field, which rotates ness in a regular pattern. In fact, the rate at which they in synchronicity with the planet. The rotating magnetic pulsate or flicker is closely linked to their intrinsic bright-

16 // Eos 15 May 2015 ness: The slower they pulsate, the brighter they are. That tug and cosmic expansion was still decelerating. In chart- makes Cepheid variables cosmic mile markers. By compar- ing the brightness of the nearby type 1a supernovas and ing their true brightness, as measured by their pulsation the newfound, faraway ones, astronomers confirmed that period, to their apparent brightness as observed in the sky, the expansion rate had indeed slowed at earlier times. researchers could determine the distance to the galaxy in The 2011 Nobel Prize in physics was awarded to three of which the stars reside. the discoverers of dark energy: Saul Perlmutter of the Law- Obtaining accurate distances to ever more remote galax- rence Berkeley National Laboratory in California, Brian ies is a key to measuring the expansion rate and age of the Schmidt of the Australian National University in Weston universe. Freedman’s team ultimately determined that the Creek, and Adam Riess of the Johns Hopkins University in universe was about 13 billion years old. Previously, astron- Baltimore and STScI. omers had pegged the age at somewhere between 10 billion and 20 billion years, with acrimonious debate about what Delving into the Past number was correct. Hubble’s strong suit remains its ability to peer into the extremely distant past. Like all telescopes, Hubble acts like Dark Energy a time machine. Because it takes time for light to journey Nearly a decade later, in 2001, Hubble used another type of from a distant object to Earth, telescopes record an image mile marker to corroborate one of the most astonishing of a galaxy not as it appears now but as it looked long ago, discoveries ever made in cosmology. when the light left that galaxy. “Astronomy is the only sci- Something was causing the expansion rate of the uni- ence in which you can witness the past,” says STScI verse to speed up. That contradicted the prevailing view astronomer Williams. that the expansion rate had been continually slowing ever He ought to know. In 1995, as STScI director, he com- since the big bang because of the mutual gravitational tug manded Hubble to stare at a tiny, seemingly blank patch of of all the objects in the cosmos. sky for 10 days. That patch, known as the Hubble Deep The unexpected finding, from ground-­based telescopes, Field, turned out to be chock-­full of galaxies, some so dis- relied on a type of exploding star called a type 1a super- tant that light left those starlit bodies when the 13.7-​ nova. Because all type 1a supernovas have about the same ­­billion-year-­ old­ universe was only a few billion years old. intrinsic brightness, their appearance in the sky can be “The story of Hubble’s deep fields is really the history of used to gauge the distance to their home galaxy. the universe over the last 90 percent of its lifetime,” says However, the supernovas studied appeared about 20% STScI astronomer Jennifer Lotz. dimmer than would be expected if the universe was slow- Bucking traditional NASA policy, Williams decided to ing its expansion. It meant, astronomers said, that cosmic make the Deep Field data immediately available to all expansion had recently sped up and that the space between researchers, not just those who gathered the information. Earth and the supernovas had stretched out much more The data sharing became a new model for astronomers. than anticipated. “There’s much more collaboration now…and it’s much Scientists did not know what caused the revved-­up easier to get those discoveries out to the public because the expansion, but they attributed it to something they call information is not proprietary,” says Williams. “dark energy”—a­ mysterious entity that pervades the entire universe and exerts a cosmic push, counteracting the Now and the Future pull of ordinary gravity. Some astronomers, however, were The Hubble Deep Field spawned several other ultradeep not convinced by the data. They worried that researchers portraits that have collectively examined the evolution of might have been fooled by cosmic dust that made the supernovas look dimmer. But there was a way to convince the skeptics. For more articles relating to the Hubble If dark energy proponents were correct, the expansion rate began to rev up about 5 billion Space Telescope and the images it years ago. Before that time, the universe was captures, visit https://eos.org/articles. smaller, and its density was greater—large­ enough that gravity’s pull inward was much stronger than dark energy’s push outward. At those earlier times, therefore, gravity’s brake would have slowed down the expansion rate. In other words, before cosmic expansion sped up, there ought to have been a slowdown. Cosmic dust cannot mimic such a pattern. Hubble found the type 1a supernovas that were distant enough to test this idea. These supernovas are so distant that the light now reaching Hubble was emitted by the explosion billions of light-­years ago, revealing how the universe looked far back in time. In that early era, if the dark energy proponents were right,

dark energy had not yet overwhelmed gravity’s and NOAO/AURA/NSF N. Smith (University of California, Berkeley)

Earth & Space Science News Eos.org // 17 galaxies as far back in time as 700,000 years after the big ing it with state-­of-the-­ art­ cameras and spectrographs bang, or about 7% of the age of the universe. Now astrono- that extended Hubble’s sight to the infrared and increased mers want to go back farther, approaching what scientists its sensitivity at ultraviolet and visible light wavelengths. call the cosmic Dark Ages—­the era just before galaxies The servicing missions “have kept Hubble at the forefront flooded the universe with light. of astrophysics for all these years,” she says. To do so, Lotz and her colleagues are making use of With the space shuttle retired, there are no planned mis- nature’s own lenses—massive­ clusters of galaxies whose sions to repair the telescope ever again. So the primary task gravity bends the path of light rays from background gal- of astronomers such as Ken Sembach, head of Hubble oper- axies that lie behind the clusters. As described by Ein- ations at STScI, is to maintain the health of the telescope stein’s general theory of relativity, the background light long enough to examine the heavens in concert with JWST. is magnified and brightened by the clusters, enabling The new telescope has only infrared capabilities, whereas Hubble to see distant galaxies 10 to 20 times fainter than Hubble primarily studies the cosmos at visible and ultravio- it could otherwise detect. let wavelengths, discerning structures JWST cannot detect. Selecting six “frontier fields,” each containing a massive Sembach is working with engineers to keep the observatory’s galaxy cluster, Lotz’s team has begun peering back to ear- electronics in the best shape possible. Although not every lier times and detecting smaller baby galaxies than had instrument on Hubble may still be working as time passes, “I’m been possible to observe before. The findings promise to very confident that we’ll be able to operate until 2020,” he says. give a sneak peak of what Hubble’s successor, the James What’s more, each year that the telescope continues to Webb Space Telescope (JWST) , will routinely accomplish operate, it will take an annual portrait of the solar system, with its much larger, 6.4-­meter hexagonal mirror. JWST is looking for changes in the planets that might otherwise go scheduled for launch in late 2018. unnoticed, says Hammel. The discoveries Hubble may make during the next 5 years An Enduring Legacy are anybody’s guess. The observatory, says Williams, has Hubble’s enduring success stems from the ability of scien- taught astronomers a valuable lesson. “The universe is not tists to adapt the instrument to answer new questions, only stranger than we think; it’s stranger than we can think.” notes NASA’s Hubble project scientist Jennifer Wiseman. During five visits to the telescope between 1993 and 2009, Author Information astronauts essentially reinvented the observatory, updat- Ron Cowen, Freelance Writer

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AGU Sections and Focus Groups Announce 2014 Awardees

Horton Receives 2014 Ocean Sciences Voyager Award undergraduate students, most notably Andy Kemp and Simon Engelhart. These interactions were pivotal in shaping Benjamin Horton received the 2014 Ocean Sciences Voyager Award at the 2014 AGU Fall Meeting, held the research questions we ask in the sea level research com- 15–19 December in San Francisco, Calif. The award is given to a midcareer scientist (10–20 years post- munity. My career has benefited enormously from field meet- degree) in recognition of significant contributions and expanding leadership in ocean sciences. ings and workshops through the International Geoscience Programme and the Paleo-constraints on Sea-­ level​­ rise Citation nary Science but were also patient men, allowing me to (PALsea)­ working group, by generating open debate and dif- It gives me great pleasure to intro- find my way as I began to understand the theory of sea ferent perspectives on observations, analyses, and interpre- duce Dr. Benjamin Horton as the level change. A decade ago, I moved the United States, tations. I am also indebted to colleagues who have helped recipient of the inaugural AGU where I met a new set of wonderful colleagues. These me become actively engaged at the interface between sci- Ocean Sciences Voyager Award. include Steve Culver, Jeff Donnelly, Alan Nelson, Daria ence and society. Ben’s research focuses on the Nikitina, Dick Peltier, and Tor Tornqvist. I also wish to But I would not have received this award if I had not had mechanisms and nature of past make a special mention of the late Fred Scatena and the support of my family, who remind me every day what sea level changes, including those Orson van de Plassche, whose influence on my scientific matters in life. The final mention goes to my dad, Professor associated with earthquakes, tsu- career lives on. Peter Horton FRS, who is my inspiration. Benjamin Horton namis, and storms, to understand I have been very fortunate to work with a number of —Benjamin P. Horton, Rutgers University, New how these processes will impact young, motivated postdoctoral scientists and graduate and Brunswick, N.J. future coastal environments. Ben has rapidly distinguished himself as a leader both within and beyond his discipline. Certainly, the impact and quality of Ben’s publication record Neish Receives 2014 Ronald Greeley Early Career Award alone qualifies him for the Voyager Award. Beyond the high in Planetary Science quality and sheer number of his scholarly contributions, Ben exemplifies many additional qualities that speak to his promise Catherine Neish received the 2014 Ronald Greeley Early Career Award in Planetary Science at the 2014 for continued leadership in ocean sciences, including his talent AGU Fall Meeting, held 15–19 December in San Francisco, Calif. The award recognizes significant early as an educator—both within academia and beyond—and as a career contributions to planetary science. leader in interdisciplinary science teams. Ben has built a highly successful research group, and he did so at an impressive Citation But not all of Catherine’s work is remote sensing based. speed. There is no doubt that Ben already has had a significant The Greeley Early Career Award is Her Ph.D. thesis had three ­doctor-​­fathers: Ralph Lorenz, impact on coastal science in the United States in terms of train- named for pioneering planetary Jonathan Lunine, and Mark Smith. Her papers with them on ing sea level scientists of the future. Ben is also a very talented scientist Ronald Greeley. During the astrobiological potential of Titan and the lab work that public speaker, and despite his intense research activity, he his lifetime, Ron was involved in went into them are notable. The relative ease in which bio- devotes an impressive amount of time to outreach, which is an nearly every major planetary mis- logical molecules such as amino acids can form in increasingly important role for climate scientists of our genera- sion and was extraordinarily active ammonia-­infused “Titan primordial soup” suggests (as if we tion. Ben has also developed a very strong network of interdis- in service to the community. Ron’s needed reminding) that life may be ubiquitous in the uni- ciplinary collaborators and is particularly effective in designing greatest legacies, however, are verse. One suspects such work will have ­long-​­lasting and implementing collaborative research programs that go Catherine Neish those he mentored, and it is young impact. well beyond his personal areas of expertise and extend world- scientists whose work and promise Congratulations to Catherine D. Neish, the 2014 recipient wide. we seek to recognize. This year’s Greeley award winner is of the Ronald Greeley Early Career Award in Planetary I would like to conclude by saying that Ben has emerged as Catherine Neish, an assistant professor at the Florida Insti- Science. one of the most energetic and productive Quaternary scientists tute of Technology. Catherine received her Ph.D. from the —William B. McKinnon, Washington University, of his generation. His accomplishments as a scholar, as an edu- University of Arizona in 2008 and, after a postdoctoral stint St. Louis, Mo. cator, and as a citizen of the ocean sciences community make at NASA Goddard, joined the faculty at Melbourne in the him more than deserving to receive the Voyager Award. Please Department of Physics and Space Sciences. Response join me in congratulating Ben on his accomplishments. Catherine specializes in planetary surface properties, and I have always greatly admired the curiosity that Ron Greeley —Andrea Dutton, University of Florida, Gainesville she is ecumenical in choice of target, having written papers showed for all the many wonders of the solar system. I that incorporate data from eight different planetary bodies: work in many diverse fields, and every time I start a new Response Mercury, Venus, Earth, the Moon, Europa, Ganymede, Titan, project, I see Ron’s influence there. His willingness to study Thank you very much, Andrea, and my most sincere thanks and Triton. This certainly embraces the spirit of the Greeley new processes on a range of planetary objects makes him to AGU and the Ocean Sciences section for the Voyager award; award, as Ron was someone who was interested in the the type of planetary scientist that I endeavor to be. I hope I am deeply honored. This award recognizes the students, col- whole of planetary science, not just a single planetary body. to continue to follow in his footsteps as I progress in my leagues, and mentors who have always been supportive of Catherine is expert in the use of orbital radar observations career and am deeply honored to receive this award that me, both professionally and personally, throughout my career. and has used these with optical imaging and topography to bears his name. I would particularly like to thank Andy Plater, who thoroughly revise our understanding of impact melt flows. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank all of saw my potential as an undergraduate at Liverpool Uni- She has also proposed that craters at high latitudes and low those who have supported me throughout my career. Science versity, and my graduate advisors, Ian Shennan and Ant- elevations on Titan are not simply buried by later sediments is not a solitary enterprise, and I have benefited greatly from ony Long at Durham University, who not only had the but form flattish to begin with, in a manner similar to craters the advice and wisdom of a great many people. Thanks to most amazing knowledge and understanding of Quater- formed on Earth in soft, oceanic sediments. Ellen Howell and Mike Nolan for introducing me to planetary

Earth & Space Science News Eos.org // 19 AGU NEWS

radar, a passion that has guided my career. Thanks to the Jonathan Lunine, Mark Smith, and Árpád Somogyi for guiding their unwavering support and my husband, Shawn, for con- entire community of graduate students, postdocs, and faculty my Ph.D. research. Thanks also to my colleagues at the stantly pushing me to be my best. I share this award with at the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory for fostering my curios- Applied Physics Laboratory and Goddard Space Flight Center them. ity for planetary science. I would especially like to thank the for helping an inexperienced postdoc transform into a confi- —Catherine Neish, Florida Institute of Technology, incoming class of 2004 for their friendship and Ralph Lorenz, dent scientist. Finally, I would like to thank my parents for Melbourne

Soderblom Receives 2014 Whipple Award When the Voyager missions were started, our vision of what lay ahead in our adventure to explore the outer plan- Laurence A. Soderblom received the 2014 Whipple Award at the 2014 AGU Fall Meeting, held 15–19 ets and satellites of our solar system was primitive and December in San Francisco, Calif. The award recognizes an individual who has made an outstanding unimaginative. Most expected the moons of the giant plan- contribution in the field of planetary science. ets to be battered, lifeless, and geologically dead. But over the last 45 years, our view of these worlds has exploded Citation Response with a panoply of unimaginably beautiful and complex The Whipple Award is the high- I am most grateful to all of my scientific friends and col- activity. Plumes, geysers, molten calderas, rain, rivers, est honor given by the AGU leagues, to be recognized with this year’s Whipple Award. lakes, and seas popped up from Mars to comets to Io to Planetary Sciences section and Through my career I have been so fortunate to participate in Enceladus to Titan to Triton. What lessons can we take from is named for Fred Whipple, a an eye-­ opening​­ journey of exploration across our solar sys- these active places into the next phase of exploration? famed space scientist and the tem—a journey that began for me in the late 1960s. I am When the Voyagers were launched, our naiveté allowed preeminent cometary scientist deeply indebted to my two Ph.D. thesis advisers, Bruce Mur- that only planet Earth was dynamically active. But explor- of the ­mid-20th century. This ray and Gene Shoemaker, for encouraging me and for setting ing our solar system, our cosmic backyard, has awed us year’s Whipple Award goes to me onto this mind-­ bending​­ path. I have been truly privileged with unforeseen complexity, scientific beauty, and rich Laurence A. Larry Soderblom of the U.S. to participate in the first stage of exploration of the outer activity. We are now far better poised for our nascent explo- Soderblom Geological Survey Astrogeology solar system and witness firsthand the explosion in our ration of the worlds beyond that backyard. Science Center in Flagstaff. understanding of planets and planetary processes, as it has —Laurence A. Soderblom, U.S. Geological Survey, Larry is the consummate planetary scientist. A geophysi- so rapidly unfolded. Flagstaff, Ariz. cist by training and a geologist by inclination, his work is of extraordinary breadth. Over a more than ­4-decade career in planetary science, he has participated in more than a dozen planetary missions ranging spatially from Venus out to Nep- McLaskey Receives 2014 Keiiti Aki Young Scientist Award tune and all the planets (and several minor bodies) in between. Scientifically, he is a generalist, but more pre- Gregory C. McLaskey received the 2014 Keiiti Aki Young Scientist Award at the 2014 AGU Fall Meeting, cisely, he is better thought of as a specialist in dozens of held 15–19 December in San Francisco, Calif. The award recognizes the scientific accomplishments of a subfields. His work is rigorous, quantitative, mindful of young scientist who makes outstanding contributions to the advancement of seismology. complexities yet always strives to maximize the science. Notably, only in his thirties, Larry was deputy Imaging Citation ters of high-­ frequency​­ foreshocks can occur in a slowly slip- Team leader for the Voyager mission, overseeing that first Gregory C. McLaskey earned his ping patch of the experimental fault if the rate of applied scientific exploration of the satellites of the outer solar sys- B.S., magna cum laude, in civil local shear stress is high enough, suggesting that the transi- tem; today, he is interdisciplinary scientist for satellites for engineering from Cornell Univer- tion between aseismic and seismic slip is modulated by the Cassini-­Huygens. And there is a direct connection to Fred sity and his master’s and Ph.D. local stress field (McLaskey and Kilgore, Journal of Geophysi- Whipple’s work: Larry led the development of the camera/­ ​ degrees from the University of Cal- cal Research, 2013). Another striking result is that popula- ­spectrometer for the experimental Deep Space 1 mission. ifornia, Berkeley, the latter in 2011. tions of tiny seismic events (magnitudes of −6 to −7) have The images returned of comet Borrelly were our first clues In grad school he was awarded a stress drops that are comparable to larger natural earth- to the geologic complexity of comets now gloriously National Science Foundation Grad- quakes (McLaskey et al., Pure and Applied Geophysics, revealed by Rosetta. Gregory C. McLaskey uate Research Fellowship. He then 2014). This result indicates that stress drop is independent of Larry’s exceptional abilities have made him a target for spent 3 years at the U.S. Geologi- seismic moment, a concept proposed by Keiiti Aki. leadership positions, and he has done extraordinary service cal Survey (USGS) in Menlo Park on a Mendenhall Postdoc- Greg is now building an experimental lab at Cornell, and for the community. He served twice as branch chief in Flag- toral Fellowship. This fall he began a faculty position at Cor- his unique blend of seismology and rock friction studies has staff and chaired expertly and effectively various working nell in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering. great potential to further our understanding of the physics of groups, subcommittees, and committees for NASA. And Greg has derived new insights on earthquake physics earthquake faulting. most recently, he was vice-chair of the Planetary Science through a series of innovative experimental studies. Using a —Karen M. Fischer, Brown University, Providence, R.I. Decadal Survey for the National Academy. direct shear apparatus that he designed and built, including Finally, Larry is exceptional for his humanity and his will- transducers that are calibrated with Green’s functions for the Response ingness to mentor younger scientists. Larry is a model of experimental geometry, he found that laboratory-generated I am deeply honored to receive this year’s Aki award. I would unselfish cooperation in research, indeed, an exemplar of earthquakes with longer recurrence intervals generate more like to thank my graduate adviser, Steve Glaser, for creating wisdom and humor in the midst of scientific discovery and its high-­ frequency​­ energy (McLaskey et al., Nature, 2012). This such a great experimental laboratory and for the freedom to inevitable controversies. relationship is also seen for small natural earthquakes and “play” with seismology in that lab. It was by experimenting Congratulations to Laurence A. Soderblom for a lifetime of suggests that fault healing time plays a role in determining with different materials, sensors, and laboratory seismic outstanding contributions to planetary science. earthquake spectra. sources such as ball impact and fracture that I was able to —William B. McKinnon, Washington University in St. Louis, In his postdoctoral work on the large-scale rock friction build my intuition about the way seismic waves are generated St. Louis, Mo. apparatus at the USGS in Menlo Park, Greg found that clus- and propagated. I would also like to thank Roland Bürgmann

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for broadening my view of Earth science, for his encourage- Qin Receives the 2014 Fred L. Scarf Award ment, and for welcoming me in his lab meetings. Finally, I would not be where I am today without my fantastic col- Jianqi Qin has been awarded the formally presented with the award at the 2014 AGU Fall leagues and mentors at the earthquake science center at the Fred L. Scarf Award. This award is Meeting, held 15–19 December in San Francisco, Calif. USGS in Menlo Park. In particular, Nick Beeler was supportive given to an honoree in recognition Jianqi received his B.S. and M.Sc. in physics from Nanjing of me from day one. Brian Kilgore: thanks for not letting any- of an outstanding dissertation that University in 2006 and 2009, respectively, and received a one retire that 2-meter­ apparatus and for dedicating so much contributes directly to solar-­ ​ Ph.D. in electrical engineering from the Pennsylvania State time to it. Dave Lockner: it has been so exciting to work with ­planetary science. Qin’s thesis is University in 2013. He is currently working as a postdoctoral you and to write papers together. I look forward to continuing entitled “Numerical modeling of scholar in electrical engineering under the supervision of Vic- laboratory earthquake experiments that explore more closely the inception, morphology and tor P. Pasko at the Pennsylvania State University in University their physics, mechanics, and scaling relationships. radio signals of sprites produced Park. His research interests include computational plasma —Gregory C. McLaskey, Cornell University, Jianqi Qin by lightning discharges with posi- physics, atmospheric and space electricity, and gas discharge Ithaca, N.Y. tive and negative polarity.” He was physics.

Scherrer Receives 2014 Space Physics my wonderful and supportive husband, Phil Scherrer, I and Aeronomy Richard Carrington Award quit my ­high-​­paying high-tech job in Silicon Valley and moved to Stanford to develop solar science education Deborah Scherrer received the 2014 Space Physics and Aeronomy Richard Carrington Award at the programs for NASA. 2014 AGU Fall Meeting, held 15–19 December in San Francisco, Calif. The award is given in recognition Never have I been happier or more rewarded—working of significant and outstanding impact on students’ and the public’s understanding of our science with underserved teachers and students all over the world through education and/or outreach activities. who just want a chance to learn, to participate in science. I am so thankful to have had these opportunities. I’ve been Citation SID monitors are now deployed at over 900 sites around mentored by the best, including Cherilynn Morrow and Pat Deborah Scherrer is the finest the planet where high school students and teachers are using Reiff, two other SPARC award winners, and I’ve worked with example of a professional deserv- them as the centerpiece of authentic research experiences outstanding scientists, educators, and students whose enthu- ing of the Space Physics and Aeron- that develop new capacities and awareness in space physics siasm for science is boundless. I am humbled and proud to omy Richard Carrington (SPARC) and aeronomy science. The program is being sustained as be among them and to have had the opportunities in this Award. She is a long-time AGU part of the United Nation’s (UN’s) International Space amazing career. member who has had (and contin- Weather Initiative where it supports UN aims to cultivate new I am especially here for the students, the ones like me, ues to have) a significant andfar- ­ ​ space science capacities and interests in developing regions who didn’t get the chances. I believe every child has the ­reaching impact on public and stu- of the world. birthright of access to science knowledge and understand- Deborah Scherrer dent understanding of space —Cherilynn A. Morrow, Aspen Global Change Institute, ing the universe we live in. Thank you, dear friends, for rec- physics and aeronomy on a local, Basalt, Colo. ognizing me with this award and for giving me these glori- national, and global scale. There is no one in the field today ous opportunities to share the joy and excitement of solar who can match the sustainable worldwide impact of her Response and space science! achievements. Many of you were passionate about science as a child. —Deborah Scherrer, Stanford University, Stanford, I have known Deborah professionally for over 15 years and You probably had tremendous parental support and the Calif. have enjoyed the privilege of serving with her on pioneering proj- encouragement of teach- ects to embed successful education programs in scientific ers, family, and friends research environments, to provide support for scientists contribut- who bought you tele- ing to education, and to bring the wonders of solar and space scopes and tools. You went physics to underserved teachers and students in the United States to the “right” schools, got and around the world. your Ph.D., and here you Deborah is the founder of the Stanford SOLAR Center and are. That is not my story. director of its highly successful educational programs and award-­ ​ As a kid, I was passionate ­winning website, in association with NASA solar spacecraft mis- about astronomy. But there sions. From my perspective as a cocreator of NASA’s (then) pro- were no role models, no gressive Education and Public Outreach (E/PO) policy for space mentors, no supportive missions, Deborah’s vision in developing the SOLAR Center’s inno- parent, no resources, no vative framework helped to operationalize and exemplify what a encouragement from successful space mission education program could be. teachers, and the college I Especially notable among Deborah’s many accomplish- wanted to attend (the Cali- ments is her leadership of a project to distribute scientific fornia Institute of Technol- instrumentation (sudden ionospheric disturbance (SID) moni- ogy) didn’t accept women tors) to high school students worldwide. The monitors are very at the time. I did go to col- low frequency receivers that detect solar influences on the lege and graduate school Earth’s ionosphere. The project to distribute and support the and had a fine career in use of SID monitors was greatly enhanced as part of her cata- computer science, but my lytic role in developing the education program of the Interna- passion for astronomy lin- tional Heliophysical Year (IHY). gered. One day, thanks to

Earth & Space Science News Eos.org // 21 AGU NEWS

Bosco Receives 2014 Basu Early Career Award Schaeffer Receives 2014 Study of in Sun-Earth Systems Science the Earth’s Deep Interior Focus Group Graduate Research Award

John Bosco has been John Bosco received his B.S. in physics and mathemat- Andrew Schaeffer received the awarded the Sunanda and ics with education from Mbarara University of Science and 2014 Study of the Earth’s Deep Santimay Basu Early Career Technology, Uganda, in 2004, B.S. Honors in astrophysics Interior Focus Group Graduate Award in Sun-Earth Systems and space science at the University of Cape Town, South Research Award at the 2014 AGU Science. The award recog- Africa, in 2005, and a M.Sc. in space physics from Rhodes Fall Meeting, held 15–19 Decem- nizes an individual scientist University, South Africa, in 2008 under the supervision of ber in San Francisco, Calif. from a developing nation for Lee-Anne McKinnell and Pierre Cilliers. He received a Andrew Schaeffer received his making outstanding contribu- Ph.D. in space physics from Rhodes University, South B.Sc. in geophysics from the Uni- tions to research in Sun-Earth Africa, in 2011 under the supervision of Lee-Anne McKin- versity of British Columbia in 2006 John Bosco systems science that further nell and Ben Opperman. Andrew Schaeffer and a M.Sc. in seismology from the the understanding of both He is currently working as a researcher within the University of British Columbia in plasma physical processes space science and applications group at the South Afri- 2009. He recently completely his Ph.D. in global surface and their applications for the benefit of society. can National Space Agency, Hermanus, South Africa. His wave tomography under the supervision of Sergei Lebedev Bosco’s thesis is entitled “A contribution to TEC research interests include ionospheric modeling and and Chris Bean jointly at the Dublin Institute for Advanced modelling over southern Africa using GPS data.” He characterization, ionospheric electrodynamics, observa- Studies and University College Dublin in Dublin, Ireland. His presented a talk and was formally presented with tional data analysis on traveling ionospheric distur- research focuses on the structure and dynamics of the Earth’s the award at the 2014 AGU Fall Meeting, held 15–19 bances (including mapping), and other space weather– upper mantle and transition zone, imaged using surface wave December in San Francisco, Calif. related studies. tomography, receiver functions, and geodynamic modeling.

Evans Receives 2014 Basu United States Early Career Award for Research Excellence in Sun-Earth Systems Science Get Eos highlights in your inbox Rebekah Evans received the 2014 Basu systems science that further the understanding of both every Friday. To sign up for the United States Early Career Award for plasma physical processes and their applications for the Research Excellence in Sun-Earth Sys- benefit of society. Eos Buzz newsletter, simply tems Science at the 2014 AGU Fall Rebekah Evans received her B.S. in physics from the Uni- go to publications.agu.org, Meeting, held 15–19 December in San versity of Delaware in 2006 and a M.Sc. and Ph.D. in physics Francisco, Calif. This award is given from George Mason University in 2011 under the supervision scroll down, and enter your annually to one early career scientist of Merav Opher. From 2011 to 2014 she participated in the (no more than 3 years post-degree) NASA Postdoctoral Program in the Heliophysics Science information in the “SIGN-UP from the United States in recognition of Division of Goddard Space Flight Center. She is currently FOR EOS BUZZ NEWSLETTER” Rebekah Evans significant work that shows the focus working as a physics teacher in Fort Worth, Texas. Her and promise of making outstanding research interests include the heating and acceleration of section. contributions to research in Sun-Earth the solar wind and the evolution of solar eruptions.

lead in the temperature observatory for the International Fulton Receives 2014 Jason Morgan Early Career Award Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) Japan Trench rapid response drilling (JFAST) project. The results have, for the first time, Patrick Fulton received the 2014 Jason Morgan Early Career Award at the 2014 AGU Fall Meeting, held resolved the coseismic friction on a major fault and show that it 15–19 December in San Francisco, Calif. The award is for significant early career contributions in is much lower than previously thought. tectonophysics.­ As is evidenced in all of his work, Patrick attacks complicated numerical problems efficiently and with keen foresight and iden- Citation Patrick’s success can be traced in large part to his extraordi- tifies connections between his results and the broader geologi- The AGU Tectonophysics section is narily broad and deep expertise in numerical modeling, field cal context that have not been obvious to others. We look for- pleased to present the 2014 Jason data collection, and analysis of laboratory data. In his Ph.D. ward to his continued success at solving major geophysical Morgan Early Career Award to Pat- research focused on the San Andreas heat flow paradox, Pat- problems with his unique and thoroughly modern toolkit. rick Fulton for his fundamental con- rick conducted a series of numerical modeling experiments to —Demian Saffer, Pennsylvania State University, Uni- tributions in the fields of fault clarify arguments for a low friction fault and to rigorously inves- versity Park; and Emily Brodsky, University of California, mechanics and earthquake ener- tigate the role of fluid overpressures in fault weakening. As a Santa Cruz getics. In the time since his Ph.D., postdoc with Rob Harris at Oregon State University and then Patrick has amassed an exceptional with Peter Flemings at the University of Texas, Patrick brought Response Patrick Fulton research record and has estab- his considerable quantitative skills to analyses of laboratory I am deeply honored to receive this award. The kind citation lished himself internationally as a friction experiments, vitrinite reflectance data as indicators of reminds me of how grateful I am to have so many great men- leader in measuring the frictional dynamics of faults. He has frictional heating, gas hydrate dynamics, and geodetic and tors. I would particularly like to thank and acknowledge also emerged as a leader and statesman for a cohort of early marine heat flow data. Most recently, as a research scientist at Demian Saffer, Rob Harris, Peter Flemings, and Emily career scientists and as an effective and accomplished mentor. the University of California, Santa Cruz, Patrick has taken the Brodsky. Their encouragement and support have given me a

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great freedom to develop into the scientist that I am today; I Likewise, I would also like to thank my other colleagues Lastly, I would like to thank my family and friends, who continue to look up to them in many ways. and collaborators, including the rest of the JFAST team both have made this life of science and exploration fulfilling even I would also like to thank Fred Chester and Jim Mori, the offshore and on and the others with whom I have had great when times are hard and stressful. This award further cochiefs of the Japan Trench Fast Drilling Project. They suc- joy working with over the years and have learned from con- stokes my desire to do good work. It also inspires me to ceeded in the tremendously difficult job of leading a tremen- siderably. continue to help other upcoming scientists and students dously difficult project, and I am thankful for their belief in I am also grateful to have had the opportunity to work feel as welcome and encouraged within this community as I our ability to do impossible things and the encouragement with a number of great students. Their hard work and inquisi- do. that they, and the IODP program in general, have provided to tiveness keep me on my feet and continually remind me of Thank you very much. so many early career scientists such as myself. how wonderful a field of science it is that we explore. —Patrick Fulton, University of California, Santa Cruz

Jackson Receives 2014 Hisashi Kuno Award more supportive graduate adviser. Rounding out the geo- chemical “dream team” were Nobu Shimizu and Mark Kurz, Matthew Jackson received the 2014 Hisashi Kuno Award at the 2014 AGU Fall Meeting, held and a lot of really neat ideas were born during conversations 15–19 December in San Francisco, Calif. The award recognizes “accomplishments of junior scientists in their offices. who make outstanding contributions to the fields of volcanology, geochemistry, and petrology.” Al Hofmann seemed to be ever present and was not shy about keeping me in line! Citation Response My postdoc at Carnegie continued the fun started at Matt Jackson was a student of Thank you, Rick, for your kind words, and for all of your sup- WHOI. Rick Carlson was supportive of exploring a lot of neat Stan Hart at Massachusetts Insti- port. And thanks to the Kuno committee and to my nomina- ideas, and I consider myself lucky to have his mentorship. tute of Technology (MIT)/Woods tors for this truly unexpected award. This is an auspicious Steve Shirey and Erik Hauri completed the ideal trio of men- Hole Oceanographic Institution way to start my career with a terrific bunch of colleagues at tors and created a fantastic postdoc experience. (WHOI) who pioneered the use of the University of California, Santa Barbara. Now I have students of my own, and they are teaching intraplate volcanism to investi- I want to thank a few of the people that have inspired me me how to have even more fun: Rita Cabra, Ellie Price, gate the structure and causes of to pursue geochemistry and have fun doing so. Phil Ihinger Julie Klath, and Floyd Jaggy. I am lucky to work with each mantle chemical heterogeneity. and the late Karl Turekian inspired me to pursue research at of you. Matthew Jackson Matt’s work has well shown how Yale, and after working in Phil’s lab, I was “fired up” about My family has been incredibly supportive, and I am here much fundamental information studying hot spot volcanism in graduate school. today because of my family’s role in my life. My wife, Anna, remains to be extracted from the compositional variations So I signed up for 5 years with Stan Hart at the WHOI-MIT has been my closest ally and friend and my strongest sup- in intraplate volcanism. His thesis involved very fine scale Joint Program, and working with Stan was a lot of fun. In fact, porter. None of this would have been possible without you. laser ablation isotope analysis of melt inclusions from Stan often described doing geochemistry as “having fun,” —Matthew Jackson, University of California, Santa Samoa and confirmed that the radiogenic signature and the philosophy stuck. I cannot imagine working with a Barbara derives from recycled crust in the mantle source of these lavas. Matt and student Rita Cabral recently again used ­micron-​scale measurements to detect processes operat- Ghiorso and Sack Receive 2014 Norman L. Bowen Award ing over gigayear timescales and ­whole-​­mantle circulation when they found ­mass-​­independently fractionated sulfur, Mark Ghiorso and Richard O. Sack received 2014 Norman L. Bowen Awards at the 2014 AGU Fall which had once been in the Archean atmosphere, in mod- ­Meeting, held 15–19 December in San Francisco, Calif. The award recognizes outstanding contributions ern igneous sulfides. In between these discoveries, he to volcanology, geochemistry, or petrology. stepped back in scale to use whole-rock compositional variations to document that some large igneous provinces Citation for Mark Ghiorso more than 6000 citations. These are not empty metrics; they derive from a mantle source formed within <200 million Ms. President, thank you. First of all, are a clear demonstration that MELTS has become part of the years of Earth formation. In work with a previous Kuno Mark, thanks for inviting me to be modus operandi of petrology and geochemistry and of the Award winner, Raj Dasgupta, Matt showed that the mantle part of this night when we celebrate tremendous influence of his work. compositional reservoirs defined by Stan Hart using trace your career and the use of quantita- But Mark is much bigger than MELTS. Mark is an incredible elements and isotopes are expressed as well in major ele- tive thermodynamic models to teacher, as you could see this morning in full display. Mark is a ment composition, which has critical consequences for the understand magmatic processes. It fabulous mentor. I cannot overstate his influence in my own dynamic behavior of the different components during their is a great pleasure to be here. career. His students include two former Bowen awardees and circulation through the mantle. Matt showed that the bipo- Mark is part of a generation of a Macelwane awardee, one of whom is about to also receive lar Kea-Loa chemical signature seen in Hawaii is common petrologists who worked with Ian the Mineralogical Society of America’s Dana Medal. Such a to many other hot spot traces, with implications for the Mark Ghiorso Carmichael at Berkeley. From that track record of mentorship is worthy of an award by itself. way that hot spots sample the deepest parts of the man- amazing nursery of talent, Mark Mark has always had the clarity and vision to understand tle. Matt’s success reflects his energy and enthusiasm, a emerged as the leading force in the development of thermo- that computational thermodynamics is just a tool to address ­well-​­developed ability to converse, impressive analytical dynamic models of magmas and coexisting minerals. Mark important scientific questions. From partial melting in the mid- talents, and, perhaps most importantly, his ability to see proceeded to develop a comprehensive description of the ocean ridges, to the phase relations in the deep mantle, to the in, and extract from, complex data sets the answers that phase relations between minerals and melt in magmas, an evolution of silicic magmas in the shallowest crust, Mark has they contain to fundamental questions in solid Earth sci- effort that took some 15 years to yield its first version. That been involved in work that has greatly influenced our thinking. ence. His research focus and magnitude of achievement Mark pursued this is a testament to his vision and persever- It could not be more fitting for Mark to receive the Bowen make him a most deserving recipient of an award named ance. Albeit imperfect, MELTS allows us to rigorously model Award. First, Mark’s work builds directly on the legacy of in honor of Hisashi Kuno. the evolution of magmas and the associated mineral and vol- experimental petrology mastered by Bowen. Secondly, Mark —Rick Carlson, Carnegie Institution for Science, atile assemblages. The 1995 paper alone has drawn more has been a fundamental contributor to the effort of putting ­Washington, D. C. than 1500 citations, and altogether, Mark’s work has drawn such experimental work onto solid theoretical footing.

Earth & Space Science News Eos.org // 23 AGU NEWS

Finally, Mark has managed to create the tools that allow do what I do even if I could not get it funded. In addition, I It is my great pleasure and honor to present to you my every petrologist to perform calculations that are unfathom- thank my extraordinary students Peter Kelemen and Marc friend and colleague, the 2014 Norman Bowen Award core- able to most of us. And he has done so while addressing fun- Hirschmann for their gifted insights and my consummate cipient, Dr. Richard Sack. damental problems in petrology and geochemistry. experimental colleague Victor Kress. I have since 2005 had the —Attila Kilinc, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio I wish Mark had dedicated some of his time to the cloning great fortune of working with Guil Gualda, who introduced me business because we could use a few more copies of him. But this evening. That collaboration has been so much fun that I Response he is not looking back at his career; he’s looking forward, cre- hope it never ends. I want to thank him for nudging me to work Thank you, Attila! I am pleased to accept this Norman ating unbelievably clever and powerful methods to address on silicic magmas that I never thought would be so fascinating. Bowen Award on behalf of all the individuals who helped me petrologic problems, as he says, at the speed of thought. We It is a wonderful thing to receive the Bowen Award, and I achieve this recognition. My parents, Bernhard and Mary, and have been incredibly fortunate to have Mark devote his time sincerely thank the committee and the VGP membership for brother, John, are high on this list, as are Ron Brown and Leo and energy to petrology and geochemistry, and we can be selecting me for this magnificent honor. Matthew Hall, who introduced me to chemistry and mineral- assured of many more productive years in his career. —Mark Ghiorso, OFM Research, Redman, Wash. ogy, and Philip R. Whitney, who introduced me to coronas in Members of the Volcanology, Geochemistry, and Petrol- Adirondack mafic granulites and persuaded me to continue my ogy (VGP) section, it fills me with tremendous joy to call all of Citation for Richard O. Sack studies in metamorphic petrology with James B. Thompson Jr. you to join me in congratulating Master Ghiorso as he I am very pleased and honored to During these studies I met many interesting characters, includ- receives a 2014 Norman L. Bowen Award. introduce Richard Sack, the corecipi- ing Tim Grove, Mike Mottl, Barbara Luedtke, Nicolas DarBois, —Guilherme A. R. Gualda, Vanderbilt University, ent of this year’s Norman L. Bowen Steve Bushnell, Ed Stolper, and Dave Walker. I am forever in the Nashville, Tenn. Award of the AGU. This award is debt of Dave, Ian Carmichael, and Jim Thompson for arranging given annually to individuals who for the postdoc that enabled me to meet Hal Helgeson, Peter Response have made outstanding contribu- Lichtner, and the MELTS architect, my colleague at OFM It is both exhilarating and humbling to be awarded an honor tions to volcanology, geochemistry, Research and long-term collaborator, Mark Ghiorso. named after Norman L. Bowen. I can’t help but ask, “What or petrology. Richard Sack is cer- I also thank Attila Kilinc, Atilla Aydin, Cliff Kubiak, Dave would Bowen think about this choice?” Would he be Richard O. Sack tainly one of those unique scientists. Gaskell, Arvid Johnson, Tom Tharp, Mark Ghiorso, Marc appalled, indifferent, or intrigued? I hope that his response His work on the thermochemis- Hirschmann, Bruce Nelson, Nick Hayman, John Fitzpatrick, would be the last. try of sulfides proved that experiment and theory have rele- and Bill and Betty Clinkenbeard, Scott Kuehner, Carl Hager, I was both an undergraduate and graduate student at vance to studying ore deposits. After a decade of sulfide Dave McDougall, Ed Mulligan, Jamie Allan, and Victor Kress the University of California, Berkeley, during the 1970s. I work, Richard returned to solid solutions found in meteorites, for their sage advice, friendship, assistance, and collabora- went to Berkeley because it was the local school, because most recently, to those relevant to the petrogenesis of calci- tion. I am grateful to Phil Goodell and Lisa Hardy for introduc- tuition was essentially free, and because I was fascinated um-aluminum inclusions in carbonaceous chondrites, defect ing me to practical mining geology, Peter Lichtner for helping as a high school student with hot springs, volcanos, and, in spinels, and now fassaites. In addition, Richard Sack’s and me keep my signs straight, and my former graduate students particular, the work of Howell Williams and Arthur L. Day. Mark Ghiorso’s publications on thermodynamics of multicom- Ken Raabe, Roy Hill, Mike O’Leary, Lauren Gee Carroll, Wil- Day was no longer living, but Williams was still alive and at ponent pyroxenes have provided new understanding of the liam Azeredo, Denton Ebel, Daniel Harlov, Shuvo Ghosal, Berkeley. I got to Berkeley and began to take courses from phase relations of these complicated but extremely important Irfan Yolcubal, Alexey Balabin, and Nathan Chutas for doing Garnis Curtiss and Charles Gilbert and this young guy with a mineral systems. the hard work that makes all this possible. I thank my family, funny cockney accent named Ian Carmichael. Then, as a Richard has been an affiliate faculty member of the Depart- Odee, Filo, Milo, and O’Win, and their predecessors Olde, junior I took a class from Hal Helgeson. That changed my ment of Earth and Space Sciences of the University of Washington Fidelity, and Morgan, for always racing to my side. And, life because I discovered in Hal the style of scientific pursuit since 1993, and he founded the not-­ for-​­ profit​­ OFM Research Cor- finally, I want to thank the Volcanology, Geochemistry, and that I wanted to spend the rest of my life doing. I stayed at poration with Mark Ghiorso in 2005. Richard provided experimen- Petrology section of AGU for this honor. Berkeley for graduate school, deciding to work with Ian. It tal data and constructed solution models for minerals to calibrate —Richard O. Sack, OFM Research, Redmond, Wash. has always been important to me to work with people who the SILCAL model, predeces- have a sense of humor. Carmichael had a brilliant mind, an sor of MELTS. Mark and Rich- uncanny ability to motivate and mentor students, but most ard collaborated to produce of all he had a great sense of humor. thermodynamically viable At Berkeley my fellow graduate students included Char- models for minerals, which lie Bacon, Wes Hildreth, Frank Spera, Gail Mahood, Jim led to the calibration of the Luhr, Jon Stebbins, and Mark Rivers. I thought it was normal original MELTS software. Mark to be surrounded by intellect of this caliber, and I did not Ghiorso and his coworkers realize how lucky I was. I took courses from Leo Brewer, afterward produced many Ken Pitzer, and Jon Prausnitz, and I was able to hover about variants and improvements in Helgeson as he completed his seminal synthesis of the ther- models for silicate melts in the modynamic properties of aqueous solutions and the code. This is truly a significant rock-forming minerals. scientific contribution to a Ian Carmichael ignited my interest in the thermodynam- quantitative understanding of ics of silicate melts, and he shared with and encouraged the mineral-­ melt​­ systems. More work which has occupied me since that time. Ian introduced than a quarter of a million vis- me to Richard Sack, from whom I learned all about the ther- its in 2014 alone show the modynamics of solid solutions. That was another extraordi- global interest in this soft- nary stroke of luck, as was working with Ed Stolper, whose ware. Norman Bowen would generosity of spirit stands out as a high point in my career. doubtless have loved to check I want to thank the faculty at the University of Washing- his experimental results ton, where I worked for 23 years, especially my first two against the output of the chairs, John Adams and Tom Dunne, for encouraging me to MELTS.

24 // Eos 15 May 2015 RESEARCH SPOTLIGHT

How Much Carbon Dioxide Does Sunlight Release from Lakes? 0) SA 2.0 (http://bit.ly/ccbyncsa2- ­ 2.0 SA NC- ­ ­ O Eriksson, CC BY- J- ­ Water lilies along the shore of a lake in Sweden.

umans are not the only ones who release carbon dioxide into revealed the extent to which photons break down the matter dissolved the atmosphere. Inland waters, full of carbon-rich­ plant and in the water. H soil material, are among the natural sources of the greenhouse After modeling the amount of carbon dioxide emissions from lakes gas. In recent years, scientists have found that the amount of carbon in Sweden—­countrywide, about 150 kilotons of carbon per year—­they dioxide emanating from inland waters is substantial enough to war- extrapolated the result to come up with a number for lakes and reser- rant inclusion in the global carbon cycle—­it is about a quarter of the voirs worldwide. They calculated that annual sunlight-induced­ carbon amount pumped out yearly by fossil fuel burning. dioxide emissions were between 13 megatons of carbon under overcast Koehler et al. wanted to know how much of this carbon dioxide is the sky and 35 megatons of carbon under clear sky. product of sunlight breaking down the carbon-­rich material dissolved That means that sunlight is responsible for up to 10% of the total in the water. Their study is the first to look at this question on a large carbon dioxide that comes from lakes and reservoirs worldwide. The scale. study contributes to the growing body of evidence that lake-­dwelling A data set of 1086 lakes across Sweden served as the basis for the microbes contribute to the aquatic carbon cycle more substantially study. Satellite data of cloud cover over the lakes provided insight into than previously thought, the authors say. (Global Biogeochemical Cycles, the amount of sunlight reaching the lakes. Model simulations doi:10.1002/2014GB004850, 2014) —­Shannon Palus, Freelance Writer

Earth & Space Science News Eos.org // 25 RESEARCH SPOTLIGHT

When Predicting Drought Risk, Dry Minerals in Do Not Overlook Temperature the Lower Mantle

ater may play an important role in the inner workings of our planet; by W some estimates there could be as much water dissolved within the mantle as there is on the Earth’s surface. The discovery of an ultradeep diamond last year hinted that the transition zone between the upper and lower mantle—some­ 500 kilometers deep—­ might be composed of 1% water. Furthermore, scientists have known for decades that the upper mantle contains some water, up to 500 parts per million. In a laboratory, Panero et al. simulated the hot and harsh conditions of the Earth’s interior to create and investigate perovskite, a common mineral of our planet’s deep reaches. Curious about how much water might be locked up in

0) the Earth’s perovskite-rich­ lower mantle, the authors looked at the conditions in the region to determine if water could be dissolved within the mineral in the form of hydrogen monoxide. In a laser-heated­ diamond anvil cell, at pres- sures similar to those found in the lower man- tle, they synthesized perovskite. They peered into the mineral using X-­ray diffraction, infra- red spectroscopy, and electron microscopy to determine if Don DeBold, CC BY 2.0 (http://bit.ly/ccby2- ­ 2.0 Don DeBold, CC BY and where California’s Sandy Wool Lake and exposed lakebed on 31 August 2014. water could bond within the rock. Addi- tionally, the s the Earth gets warmer, the risk of technique based only on precipitation or authors did concurrent droughts and heat waves, temperature alone, then using another theoretical such as those seen in California approach that combined both variables. calculations

A Panero Wendy during 2014, could rise substantially. Precip- The 2014 California drought has a 24-­year and thermo- itation is generally the only variable that return period based on precipitation data dynamic model- Perovskite formed in the diamond scientists use to estimate how often alone and a 120-­year return period based on ing of the min- anvil cell at high pressure by droughts of a certain severity might occur. temperature data alone, the researchers eral’s structure. heating natural enstatite with an However, because this method ignores tem- found. However, when the researchers con- The authors infrared laser. Each lobe of the perature, which can influence drought sever- sidered the effects of precipitation and tem- found that per- “cloverleaf” is about 25 microme- ity, it could inaccurately calculate the actual perature together, the number rose to a 200-­ ovskite in the ters across. risk. AghaKouchak et al. analyzed how unique year event. lower mantle the 2014 California drought actually was, on The findings suggest that modeling can hold only a the basis of not just precipitation or tempera- droughts’ return periods based on precipita- very small amount of water, less than 40 parts ture alone but also those variables combined. tion alone could inaccurately convey their per million at temperatures of over 1500°C. The authors obtained monthly precipita- risks. The authors argue for further research Colder regions might be able to hold 3 or tion and temperature data for California into this multivariate approach, which they 4 times that amount. According to the between 1896 and 2014 from the National suggest could help policy makers and fore- authors, if the lower mantle really is less suit- Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s casters better prepare the public for future able for water storage, the lack of the liquid U.S. Climate Divisional Database. With these droughts. The method, the authors add, may explain why the region is an order of data, the authors could model the California could be adapted for assessing the risks magnitude more viscous than the adjacent drought’s return period—the­ number of of different combinations of extremes. upper mantle. (Journal of Geophysical years, on average, for a drought as severe as (Geophysical Research Letters, doi:10.1002/​ Research: Solid Earth, doi:10.1002/​ the 2014 drought to recur. The authors cal- 2014GL062308, 2014) —­Puneet Kollipara, 2014JB011397, 2015) —­Shannon Palus, Freelance culated this quantity, first using a statistical ­Freelance Writer Writer

26 // Eos 15 May 2015 RESEARCH SPOTLIGHT

Tipping Point for Nuisance Coastal Flooding May Come by 2050

ea levels have been rising for thousands of years, but today they are swelling at an unprecedented S rate. By the end of the century, modest projec- tions predict that seas will rise at least another 0.5 meter—the­ same amount as over the last two mil- lennia. The year 2100 is often perceived as a tipping point for when rising seas will set a “new normal” where frequent floods occur along coasts. However, 0) according to the work of Sweet and Park, that tipping point may arrive even sooner. As rising waters swallow up more and more land, flooding has become a significant problem in coastal communities. Nuisance flooding—­floods between 0.3 and 0.6 meter—is­ 5 to 10 times more likely today than it was 50 years ago. The authors combined climate pro- jections of global sea level rise, based on data from

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration tidal (http://bit.ly/ccby2- ­ 2.0 CC BY DVIDSHUB, stations with at least 60 years of records, with regional Future floods may not all be as devastating as this one in Long Island, New York, caused by Hurricane factors such as land subsidence and interannual vari- Sandy, but new projections suggest that small-scale­ events may become a daily issue for some coastal ability in El Niño to show that the frequency of nui- communities by the end of the century. sance flooding events in the United States is rising much faster than average sea levels. If the trend continues, the authors say that by 2050, major implications for local governments and organizations many cities along the Mid-­Atlantic, Gulf, and West coasts will responsible for building resilient coastal communities. The pro- experience 30 or more days with nuisance flooding a year. By the jected minor nuisance floods may not be catastrophic, but they can end of the century, nearly all the locations the study examined may still be damaging and costly. (Earth’s Future, doi:10.1002/​ face minor flood events on a daily basis. This “new normal” has 2014EF000272, 2014) —­Kate Wheeling, Freelance Writer Water Beneath the Surface of Mars, Bound Up in Sulfates

e know that water lurks within the importance of sulfates to storing water in Hydrous sulfates on Earth can form in brine Martian soil. But in what form? the soil of southern Mars pools as they desiccate. Iron sulfates in partic- W According to measurements by The orbiter’s gamma ray spectrometer ular can also allow brines to exist at tempera- Mars landers and rovers, Martian soil may senses the energy and number of photons— tures much lower than those of many chlo- store water in clays, unusual silica such as far more energetic than X-rays—coming rides. Thus, the widespread possibility of the opal, and hydrous sulfates such as gypsum from the Martian surface and thus the rela- hydrated minerals suggests that sometime in and even as ground ice. Hydrous sulfates, also tive amounts of various periodic table ele- Mars’s past, brines may have diffused through found on Earth, tantalize researchers because ments needed to generate them. Analyzing its bulk soil in processes that parallel the they offer vital clues to the nature of soil peaks in the spectroscopic data that indicated efflorescence that forms white fuzzy crystal- habitability. Characteristics of this habitabil- the presence of sulfur and hydrogen, the line deposits in many a basement wall. Volca- ity include the acidity and concentration of authors estimate the molar ratio of water to nic exhalations may have also contributed to brines that may occur, with possible rele- sulfur to be between 2.4 and 4.0 for the the pervasiveness of hydrous soil sulfates. vance to seasonally observed flow features of majority of the planet’s southern hemi- Further, with the presence of such activity soil within southern craters. sphere, at depths approaching half a meter. come the questions of a still-active water Data supporting the widespread presence Meanwhile, the spatial association between cycle, of fleeting pockets of brines across the of hydrous sulfates have been geographically hydrogen and sulfur at these regional scales Martian seasons, of a shallow reservoir of limited: rovers and landers do not travel far. suggests the possibility of sulfates binding water extractable water for human explorers, and A new study widens the view. Taking advan- in bulk soil. Secondarily, the ratios are consis- maybe even of habitability for the hardiest tage of years of data from the 2001 Mars tent with those expected for many iron sulfates. forms of life (Geophysical Research Letters, Odyssey orbiter, Karunatillake et al. present Alternatively, mixtures of calcium and magne- doi:10.1002/2014GL061136, 2014). —Shannon maps of hydrogen and sulfur that may reveal sium sulfates could also yield the signature. Palus, Freelance Writer

Earth & Space Science News Eos.org // 27 RESEARCH SPOTLIGHT

Conquering Uncertainties in Tropical Climate Forecasts

bservation and numerical climate model prediction do not spheric Research’s Community Earth System Model (CESM) and found always match when it comes to atmospheric temperature that sea surface temperature trends are the biggest driver of O trends in Earth’s tropics. Some skeptics have focused on the uncertainty—more­ important even than which model was used. mismatch, and the question of a systematic problem in the models The group discovered that several years around 1982/1983 were par- has been raised. Recently, Flannaghan et al. set out to find the ticularly problematic in the data, but the main problem is that

source of the problem. iogp2/MODIS Aq the two sea surface temperature data sets show the Giorg ua, CC BY -­SA 3. 0 (ht The researchers studied the impact of two tp:// largest trend differences right in the regions bit. ly/c commonly used, but subtly different, cb where they matter most for the atmo- ys a3 data sets of sea surface temperature on -­0 sphere, namely, in the regions that form )

multiple climate models—the­ tropical convective storms. Trend dif- ­HadISST1 and the Hurrell data sets. ferences there are about a factor of 3 Both are based on measurements from larger than for the tropical average, ships and buoys as part of the Compre- leading to a 50% difference in the models’ hensive Ocean-­Atmosphere Data Set proj- atmospheric temperature trends for the ect, but after 1981 the data sets diverge fol- period 1984–2008. The team concludes lowing the onset of including measurements that unraveling the discrepancies will be from satellite instruments using different crucial to understanding recent tropical algorithms. The team plugged both data sets climate trends. (Journal of Geophysical into the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Labora- Errors in sea surface temperature data may be to blame for the Research: Atmospheres, doi:10.1002/​ tory’s High Resolution Atmospheric Model disconnect between prediction and observation in atmospheric 2014JD022365, 2014) —­Eric Betz, ­Freelance (HiRAM) and the National Center for Atmo- temperature trends in the tropics. Writer

Do All These Weather Satellites Really Improve Forecasts?

odern weather forecasting relies on measure- ments of current conditions to project what will M happen in the future. The accuracy of these pre- dictions is only as precise as observational data. Cur- rently, about 90% of that information comes from satel- lites. According to Singh et al., spacecraft data have been rev- olutionary for weather prediction in the Southern Hemi- sphere, where ground measurements are sparse. How- ever, as the suite of orbiting instruments grows, it is unclear if all these new observations result in better pre- dictions. The authors decided to test the impact of a broad array of observing systems on weather forecasting models over India. The team carried out 21 experiments through July—the summer monsoon season—in­ 2012. Their analysis shows that wind observations have a large impact on the accuracy of a forecast, especially in the NASA short term. Removing wind observations reduced the Artist’s concept of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Geostationary Opera- accuracy of a forecast’s rainfall estimates by as much as tional Environmental Satellite (GOES-R)­ weather satellite. GOES-R­ is scheduled to launch in 2016. 30%. Unfortunately, current space-based­ weather instru- ments are heavily biased in favor of measuring atmo- spheric mass instead of wind, the authors say. That will change, the have used regularly for close to a century: radiosondes. The expend- authors say, when the European Space Agency’s Atmospheric Dynam- able instrument packages, mounted to small weather balloons, relay ics Mission (ADM-­Aeolus)—the­ first spacecraft to acquire global wind pressure profiles, temperature, and relative humidity. The instru- profiles—­launches in 2015. ments also measure wind speed and direction. (Journal of Geophysical The instrument that played the largest role in reducing forecasting Research: Atmospheres, doi:10.1002/2014JD021890, 2014) —­Eric Betz, errors, including rainfall predictions, is one that weather agencies Freelance Writer

28 // Eos 15 May 2015 Which Chapman Will You Be Attending in 2015?

Evolution of the Asian Monsoon and its Impact on Landscape, Environment and Society: Using the Past as the Key to the Future Hong Kong SAR, China 14–18 June

The Width of the Tropics: Climate Variations and Their Impacts Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA 27–31 July

Magnetospheric Dynamics Fairbanks, Alaska, USA 27 September–2 October

The MADE Challenge for Groundwater Transport in Highly Heterogeneous Aquifers: Insights from 30 Years of Modeling and Characterization at the Field Scale and Promising Future Directions Valencia, Spain 5–8 October

Earth & Space Science News chapman.agu.org Eos.org // 29 POSITIONS AVAILABLE

Ocean Sciences AGU’s Career Center is the main resource for recruitment PHYSICAL OCEANOGRAPHER/ advertising. MARINE GEOPHYSICIST Experimen- All Positions Available and tal Ocean Electrodynamics additional job postings can be The University of Washington viewed at Eos.org at Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) https://eos.org/jobs-support. seeks a sea-going experimental phys- ical oceanographer or marine geo- Eos is published semi-monthly on physicist to lead a program in ocean the 1st and 15th of every month. electrodynamics. The successful can- Deadlines for ads in each issue are didate will be expected to develop an observational/experimental ocean or published at http://sites.agu.org/ coastal research program with an media-kits/eos-advertising- emphasis on innovative sensor devel-

deadlines/. opment and use. Present activities include theory, modeling, instrumen- Eos accepts employment, tation, and field programs spanning internship, student opportunity, basic research to applied and classi- and other open position fied efforts. Historically, this pro- advertisements from governments, gram has implemented motionally individuals, organizations, and induced voltage sensors on many academic institutions. We reserve platforms (e.g., ships, profilers, glid- the right to accept or reject ads at ers, floats, drifters, landers and sub- our discretion. marine cables) to study oceanic flows and turbulence. Newer topics include Eos is not responsible for adding turbulence sensors to typographical errors. EM-APEX floats, EM remote salinity For more information or to reserve profiling in marine estuaries, observ- an employment ad in Eos, contact ing the global electric circuit and installing EM sensors on NSF’s OOI [email protected] 202-777-7536 submarine cable. Several measure- ment systems are available for imme- diate use for both ocean velocity and Geochemistry magnetotelluric studies. Candidates should have a demon- The Geosciences Research and Appli- strated record of research and devel- cations Group at Sandia National opment in the ocean. A senior candi- Laboratories (Albuquerque, New date should have existing funded Mexico) has openings for multiple projects. A junior candidate should postdoctoral researchers. Depending have strong potential to fund inde- on the applicant’s background, the pendent projects. APL will provide research could involve 1) computational bridge salary and support for engi- fracture mechanics, 2) constitutive neering services. Candidates who can hydro-mechanical-chemical models, obtain a US security clearance are 3) integration of multiscale-multiphys- preferred. The Seattle area has an ics models, 4) classical molecular active oceanographic community with dynamics, 5) quantum methods, a variety of strong institutions and 6) experimental geomechanics, and/or active colleagues. 8) experimental geochemistry. To apply For more information and to apply visit www.sandia.gov/careers and access for this position, visit: http://www. the full posting using ID# 649428. apl.washington.edu/jobs/jobs.php

30 // Eos 15 May 2015 POSITIONS AVAILABLE

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Earth & Space Science News Eos.org // 31 Postcards from the Field

Hello, all,

Greetings from Hutton’s Unconformity, on the island of Arran, Scotland. It’s where James Hutton first saw evidence for huge gaps in time in the rock record, leading him to declare that there was “no vestige of a beginning, no prospect of an end.” Today we take students there as part of their first geology field trip. They find Precambrian Dalradian rocks sitting unconformably beneath late Devonian sediments of the Kinnesswood formation.

Wish you were here! Simon

View more postcards at http://americangeophysicalunion.tumblr .com/ tagged/postcards-from-the-fi eld.

32 // Eos 15 May 2015 Postcards from the Field

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Five Reasons to Attend

The Best Value Registration for the 2015 Fall Meeting includes all general and breakout sessions; ABSTRACT communication, educational outreach, and career workshops; and access to all presentations. SUBMISSION OPENS: Visibility for Your Science Fall Meeting draws both luminaries in their fields and up-and-coming talent. More 10 JUNE than 200 members of the press attended the 2014 Fall Meeting, resulting in more than 4,500 news stories about the research showcased during the week.

Learn about Cutting-edge Research Gain insights about the latest science and enhance your knowledge beyond your scientific field of interest. Fall Meeting has a robust scientific program, with more than ABSTRACT 23,000 presentations spanning the geophysical sciences. SUBMISSION Connect With Your Colleagues Network with your peers at the opening ice breaker reception and during AGU DEADLINE: section and focus group events and daily networking breaks (free refreshments 5 AUGUST included!). Advance Your Career Boasting more than 25 career-related events, the Fall Meeting can help advance your career and increase your worth to potential employers.

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