THE CRITICAL ZONE This Study of Where Rock Meets Life Is Ready for New Growth
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
VOL. 101 | NO. 10 This Ice Smells Like Us OCTOBER 2020 Larger Waves in Our Future Brazil’s Birds Are Losing Land THE CRITICAL ZONE This study of where rock meets life is ready for new growth. FROM THE EDITOR Editor in Chief Heather Goss, AGU, Washington, D.C., USA; [email protected] AGU Staff Next Steps for the Critical Zone Vice President, Communications, Amy Storey Marketing,and Media Relations uring a phone call to discuss article ideas back in Jan- Editorial Manager, News and Features Editor Caryl-Sue Micalizio uary, Andrew Wilcox told me: We really should do some Science Editor Timothy Oleson coverage of the critical zone. Wilcox is Eos’s science News and Features Writer Kimberly M. S. Cartier D Jenessa Duncombe adviser representing AGU’s Earth and Planetary Surface Pro- News and Features Writer cesses section, as well as a professor of geomorphology at the Production & Design University of Montana and, yes, a critical zone scientist. Manager, Production and Operations Faith A. Ishii The motivation wasn’t any single research project—though, Senior Production Specialist Melissa A. Tribur of course, there is a ton of fascinating work in this field, as Production and Analytics Specialist Anaise Aristide you’ll see inside this issue—it was more a matter of recogni- Assistant Director, Design & Branding Beth Bagley Senior Graphic Designer Valerie Friedman tion. The term critical zone is still new. Most geoscience pro- Senior Graphic Designer J. Henry Pereira grams don’t offer a critical zone focus or even a class on the Marketing topic. The critical zone is, in simplest terms, the area of our Communications Specialist Maria Muekalia planet stretching from the treetops down to the bottom of the Assistant Director, Marketing & Advertising Liz Zipse groundwater. Critical zone scientists study everything and every interaction within it. (Read more in our introductory article on page 18.) “Framing Earth processes in the context of crit- Advertising ical zone science is a way to underscore multiple dimensions of connectivity in terms of how Display Advertising Dan Nicholas [email protected] water, sediment, nutrients, and biota move across landscapes; between scientific disciplines; Recruitment Advertising Kristin McCarthy and between humans and the environment,” said Wilcox. [email protected] Our first step in planning the issue was a call with Adam Ward, one of our science advisers Science Advisers representing AGU’s Hydrology section and an associate professor at Indiana University, who Geomagnetism, Paleomagnetism, Julie Bowles pointed us to the Critical Zone Research Coordination Network. This National Science Foun- and Electromagnetism dation (NSF)–funded project aims to bridge the gap between scientists working in the varied Space Physics and Aeronomy Christina M. S. Cohen Cryosphere Ellyn Enderlin fields across the critical zone by creating inclusive language, reaching out to minoritized geo- Study of the Earth’s Deep Interior Edward J. Garnero scientist networks, and coaching senior scientists on how to reach out. “If we are to do our Geodesy Brian C. Gunter research successfully, diverse alliances are important,” write Kamini Singha and her coauthors History of Geophysics Kristine C. Harper Planetary Sciences Sarah M. Hörst on page 15. Natural Hazards Michelle Hummel If you’ve heard the term critical zone, it’s likely due to NSF’s Critical Zone Observatories. Volcanology, Geochemistry, and Petrology Emily R. Johnson The nine remaining observatories, launched over the past 13 years, will reach the end of their Societal Impacts and Policy Sciences Christine Kirchhoff Seismology Keith D. Koper successful run next year, when program funding expires. Research initiated at those facilities Tectonophysics Jian Lin now stretches far past them—there are critical zone sites around the world, and NSF recently Near-Surface Geophysics Juan Lorenzo announced funding for nine new critical zone collaborative networks to take the baton, as well Earth and Space Science Informatics Kirk Martinez Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology Figen Mekik as a hub to coordinate critical zone research. Check out our features on pages 24 and 30, and Mineral and Rock Physics Sébastien Merkel read more in our exclusive digital coverage at eos . org/ critical -zone. Ocean Sciences Jerry L. Miller Speaking of handing off projects to the next generation, flip to page 36 to read about the Global Environmental Change Hansi Singh teams that are figuring out how to plan a space mission knowing it will have to be passed down Education Eric M. Riggs Hydrology Kerstin Stahl to, quite literally, the next generation. With the Voyager spacecraft traveling beyond our solar Tectonophysics Carol A. Stein system, the stars seem perhaps within our reach, but not on any time frame a single career Atmospheric Sciences Mika Tosca would allow. People behind the proposed Interstellar Probe are creating a model for the kind Nonlinear Geophysics Adrian Tuck Biogeosciences Merritt Turetsky of- long lasting spacefaring missions that may not even launch until their own grandkids are Hydrology Adam S. Ward retiring. Diversity and Inclusion Lisa D. White One last piece of exciting news! As we look forward to hosting you virtually during #AGU20 Earth and Planetary Surface Processes Andrew C. Wilcox Atmospheric and Space Electricity Yoav Yair Fall Meeting this December, Eos wanted to contribute something unique to the event. Watch GeoHealth Ben Zaitchik for our combined No vember–December special double issue, packed with news and fea- ©2020. AGU. All Rights Reserved. Material in this issue may be photocopied by tures looking at how the geoscience community adapted to the major challenges of 2020. Check individual scientists for research or classroom use. Permission is also granted your mailboxes in mid-November for this exciting issue of Eos. to use short quotes, figures, and tables for publication in scientific books and journals. For permission for any other uses, contact the AGU Publications Office. Eos (ISSN 0096-3941) is published monthly by AGU, 2000 Florida Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20009, USA. Periodical Class postage paid at Washington, D.C., and at additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Member Service Center, 2000 Florida Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20009, USA Member Service Center: 8:00 a.m.–6:00 p.m. Eastern time; Tel: +1-202-462-6900; Fax: +1-202-328-0566; Tel. orders in U.S.: 1-800-966-2481; [email protected]. Submit your article proposal or suggest a news story to Eos at bit.ly/Eos-proposal. Views expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect official positions Heather Goss, Editor in Chief of AGU unless expressly stated. Randy Fiser, Executive Director/CEO SCIENCE NEWS BY AGU // Eos.org 1 CONTENT 18 30 24 36 Features 18 Critical Zone Science 30 Life Teems Below Comes of Age the Surface By Patricia Waldron By Jon Chorover et al. A brief history of how scientists came together to study How the biosphere “breathes” can impact the Earth this boundary layer—and what the future holds. surprisingly far beneath our feet. 24 Soil Signals Tell of 36 Preparing for a Handoff Landscape Disturbances By Damond Benningfield By Kathleen A. Lohse et al. As we send spacecraft further out to the stars, how can we prepare our great-great-grandchildren to helm The way we’re disturbing the land—from farming mission control? to fires—has more lingering affects than previously realized. Cover: iStock.com/bugphai 2 Eos // OCTOBER 2020 CONTENT 7 9 10 44 Columns From the Editor Research Spotlight 1 Next Steps for the Critical Zone 41 “Mushballs” May Drive Ammonia Transport on Jupiter | In Vegetation Growth Studies, What You News Measure Matters 42 Corals Make Reliable Recorders of El Niño 4 Canada’s Rocky Mountain Forests Are on the Move Fluctuations | Modeling Water Stress for Shared 6 Fragrances in an Ice Core Tell a Story of Human Water Resources Activity 43 Glacial Contributions to 21st-Century Sea Level Rise | 7 Larger Waves in Store as the Planet Warms Great Plains Plants Bounce Back After Large Wildfires 8 Deep-Sea Mining May Have Deep Economic, 44 Land Motion Offers Insights into Cascadia Earthquake Environmental Impacts Cycle | Electron Density near Enceladus Shows Orbital 9 Thinking Zinc: Mitigating Uranium Exposure on Variation Navajo Land 10 India’s Food Bowl Heads Toward Desertification Positions Available 11 Scientists Tune In to Krill 12 Experiments Reveal How Permafrost Carbon Becomes 45 Current job openings in the Earth and space sciences Carbon Dioxide 13 The Seismic Hush of the Coronavirus Postcards from the Field 14 Birds Are Getting Caged In at Brazil’s Savanna 48 A view from the critical zone summer school at Gran Paradiso National Park in Italy during July 2019 Opinion 15 Demystifying Critical Zone Science to Make It More Inclusive AmericanGeophysicalUnion @AGU_Eos company/american-geophysical-union AGUvideos americangeophysicalunion americangeophysicalunion SCIENCE NEWS BY AGU // Eos.org 3 NEWS Canada’s Rocky Mountain Forests Are on the Move n an overcast day in 1927, surveyors Morrison Parsons Bridgland and OArthur Oliver Wheeler trekked up from the Owen Creek drainage in what is now Banff National Park to take a series of photos of the mountains along the North Saskatch- ewan River. They aimed to make the first accurate topographical maps of the region but in the process created something much more robust than they could have imagined. Outwardly, the black-and-white photo- graphs Bridgland and Wheeler took look like timeless shots of the Canadian Rockies. But new research using these old images is allow- ing a group of scientists with the Mountain Legacy Project to quantify nearly a century of change in the landscape. Across the Canadian Rockies, forests are on the march. The most recent results, published in the journal Scientific Reports, found tree lines extending higher and thicker than at the turn of the 20th century (bit .