VOL. 97 NO. 15 1 AUG 2016 Pinatubo 25 Years Later Tsunamis on Ancient Mars Earth & Space Science News Economic Frontiers in the Ocean STUDYING INTERMITTENT RIVERS Give Your Research the Visibility it Deserves Abstract Submission Deadline: 3 August Submit Your Abstract Now fallmeeting.agu.org Earth & Space Science News Contents 1 AUG 2016 NEWS FEATURE VOLUME 97, ISSUE 15 Pinatubo 25 Years Later: 16 Eight Ways the Eruption Broke Ground From the first rapid assessment of a volcano’s history to insights on geoengineering, the 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo changed the way we approach and learn from volcanic hazards. NEWS 5 El Niño Will Increase Atmospheric Carbon to Record Levels Tropical fires and drought-stricken ecosystems that normally serve as sinks will release carbon, contributing to high atmospheric concentrations through 2016 and beyond. OPINION 12 COVER 10 One for All, All for One: A Global River Research Network The New Blue Economy: A Vast Oceanic Frontier Intermittent rivers are an increasing share of the world’s river Now is an opportune time to reflect on the network, but current models don’t include them. One research network realizable potential for investing in, and is gathering knowledge about these rivers from around the world. building, a new blue economy. Earth & Space Science News Eos.org // 1 Contents DEPARTMENTS Editor in Chief Barbara T. Richman: AGU, Washington, D. C., USA; eos_ [email protected] Editors Christina M. S. Cohen Wendy S. Gordon Carol A. Stein California Institute Ecologia Consulting, Department of Earth and of Technology, Pasadena, Austin, Texas, USA; Environmental Sciences, Calif., USA; wendy@ecologiaconsulting University of Illinois at cohen@srl .caltech.edu .com Chicago, Chicago, Ill., USA; [email protected] José D. 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Expands Coastal Ocean Research. Views expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect official On the Cover positions of the American Geophysical Union unless expressly stated. The Fish River in southern Namibia Christine W. McEntee, Executive Director/CEO 10–11 Opinion floods in late summer, but dries into The New Blue Economy: A Vast a series of pools the rest of the year. Oceanic Frontier. Credit: Teagan Cunniffe. facebook.com/AmericanGeophysicalUnion @AGU_Eos linkedin.com/company/american-geophysical-union youtube.com/user/AGUvideos 2 // Eos 1 August 2016 NEWS Tsunamis Splashed Ancient Mars Mighty Waves Resculpted Ocean Shore The team used three data sets— visible images, altimeter data, and thermal images—from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and the Mars Global Surveyor to probe a small section of the northern plains. The images show two different populations of semicircular sedimentary deposits called lobes, one of which is associated with backwash channels, and massive boulders aligned within those channels. From the features, Rodriguez and his colleagues have been able to piece together a detailed story of what transpired to cre- ate those landforms long ago. The first tsunami swept past the shoreline, the team con- Alexis Rodriguez, NASA, JPL-Caltech, Arizona State University JPL-Caltech, Arizona State NASA, Alexis Rodriguez, tends, entraining with it boul- ders as wide as 10 meters, until it This thermal image shows elevated ice-rich lobes likely deposited by the second of two tsunamis suspected to have inundated Mar- hit surrounding highlands. There tian shorelines billions of years ago. The lobes, outlined in yellow and marked with arrows indicating flow direction at the time they the water rolled uphill and left formed, each extend approximately 250 kilometers, roughly the distance from Baltimore to New York City. sediments behind until it retreated into the ocean. As the waters washed inward, they he northern hemisphere of Mars hosts “It is difficult to imagine summer Califor- gouged enormous backwash channels along a vast, smooth basin that looks as nian beaches on early Mars, but try picturing the shore and aligned boulders within those T though it could have once held an Norwegian iced fjords during a particularly channels. ocean. However, the basin lacks topographic cold winter and maybe you’ll get a more features of an obvious and complete ancient accurate picture,” said Alberto Fairén of the Big Chill shoreline, so planetary scientists have Center of Astrobiology in Madrid, Spain, who During the thousands of millennia between debated this tantalizing possibility for that tsunami and the next, Mars underwent decades. Signs of a Martian ocean serious global cooling, the team asserts. Now a team of researchers has given During this time, the ocean partially froze extraordinary new scrutiny to these land- sustained for millions of and much of it evaporated, causing its sea forms. As a result, the scientists have identi- level to drop by about 300 meters and the fied huge deposits of rocks and sediments, years between meteorite shorelines to retreat. backwash gullies, and other topographic fea- impacts bolster the When a second projectile eventually tures on the edges of the basin. They report smacked into the smaller, ice-rich ocean, a that these features were likely produced possibility that the Red second tsunami washed ashore. Unlike the when tsunamis raced through an ocean in the previous event, this tsunami didn’t realign basin and scarred shorelines roughly 3.4 bil- Planet offered a tolerable boulders or even leave backwash channels. lion years ago. “You can imagine that if you have water and The evidence suggests that two separate environment for life. you spill it over a frozen surface, it will freeze tsunamis stormed through the ocean—which over very fast because it’s thin,” said Rodri- encircled the north pole and could have been guez. “So the tsunami basically freezes in situ one third the size of the entire globe—some participated in the research