The future of phytoplankton at the top of the world
Since late June, the research vessel Sikuliaq has been churning through ice in the Chukchi Sea, carrying 20 scientists and students on a mission to understand how a warming Arctic will transform the ocean’s ability to sequester carbon.
Two scientists, two oil spills, and many reasons for hope
Rebecca Miller and Josheena Naggea studied the differences in the emergency responses to oil spills in places where each had a personal connection: Pointe d'Esny, Mauritius and Huntington Beach, California.
An AI solution to climate models’ gravity wave problem
Stanford scientists are among a growing number of researchers harnessing artificial intelligence techniques to bring more realistic representations of ubiquitous atmospheric ripples into global climate models.
Stanford Earth’s summer reading list inspires critical thinking about sustainability
Whether you’re ready for a memoir of science in action, an ode to coral reefs, or a firsthand account of how scientists came to understand the processes behind global warming, faculty and scholars associated with the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability have recommendations.
In the nation’s biggest oil field, faults that lay dormant for millennia are being activated by the underground disposal of wastewater from fossil fuel production, according to two Stanford studies.
Atilla Aydin, geologist, musician, chef, and devoted Cardinal fan, has died
Aydin was a field geologist who loved nothing more than leading teams of researchers and students into remote locations – the Valley of Fire, Point Reyes, Zion National Park, a Hawaiian volcano, Sicily – to study prehistoric rock formations.
New research shows how the impact that created the moon’s South Pole-Aitken basin is linked to the stark contrast in composition and appearance between the two sides of the moon.
Snowpack changes how a California volcano ‘breathes’
A Stanford University study suggests the weight of snow and ice atop the Sierra Nevada affects a California volcano’s carbon dioxide emissions, one of the main signs of volcanic unrest.
David Lobell honored with 2022 NAS Prize in Food and Agriculture Sciences
The award recognizes research by a mid-career scientist who has made an extraordinary contribution to agriculture or to the understanding of the biology of a species fundamentally important to agriculture or food production.
David Lobell receives 2022 NAS Prize in Food and Agriculture Sciences
The award recognizes research by a mid-career scientist who has made an extraordinary contribution to agriculture or to the understanding of the biology of a species fundamentally important to agriculture or food production.
Geologists have long assumed that the evolution of land plants enabled rivers to form snakelike meanders, but a review of recent research overturns that classic theory – and it calls for a reinterpretation of the rock record.
The 2021 Stanford Earth Photo Contest yielded evidence that despite another difficult year, faculty, students and staff kept their academics, research and engagement with nature going. Two undergraduates and three graduate students won the top prizes.
New research reveals that after its initial formation 100 million years ago, the Sierra Nevada “died” during volcanic eruptions that blasted lava across much of the American West 40 million to 20 million years ago. Then, tens of millions of years later, the Sierra Nevada mountain range as we know it today was “reborn.”
Learn more about the gas at the center of initiatives proposed at the U.N. climate change summit in this collection of research on methane emissions and climate change.
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Malory Brown awarded by European geochemistry society
The Earth system science PhD candidate has been awarded by the European Association of Organic Geochemists for her innovative and groundbreaking research on ancient bacteria.
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Plants evolved complexity in two bursts – with a 250-million-year hiatus
A new method for quantifying plant evolution reveals that after the onset of early seed plants, complexity halted for 250 million years until the diversification of flowering plants about 100 million years ago.
Solar radio signals could be used to monitor melting ice sheets
A new method for seeing through ice sheets using radio signals from the sun could enable cheap, low-power and widespread monitoring of ice sheet evolution and contribution to sea-level rise.
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Ji-In Jung receives NASA award
A research project led by Ji-In Jung, a PhD student in geophysics, has been selected amongst 835 proposals to the 2021 Future Investigators in NASA Earth and Space Science and Technology (FINESST) competition. The FINESST program supports graduate student-designed and performed research projects that contribute to the Science Mission Directorate’s science, technology and exploration goals.
Downstream of hydroelectric dams and Alberta’s oil sands, one of the world’s largest freshwater deltas is drying out. New Stanford University research suggests long-term drying is making it harder for muskrats to recover from massive die-offs. It’s a sign of threats to come for many other species.
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Rosemary Knight honored by Society of Exploration Geophysicists
Geophysics professor Rosemary Knight has received the highest honor of the Society of Exploration Geophysicists (SEG), the Maurice Ewing Medal, for her contributions to the advancement of the science and profession of exploration geophysics.
Floods may be nearly as important as droughts for future carbon accounting
In a 34-year global analysis, researchers found that photosynthesis – an important process for removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and storing it in soil – was controlled by extreme wet events nearly as often as droughts in certain locations.
Much about Earth’s closest planetary neighbor, Venus, remains a mystery. Algorithms and techniques pioneered by Stanford Professor Howard Zebker’s research group will help to guide a search for active volcanoes and tectonic plate movements as part of a recently announced NASA mission to Venus.
This year’s informal survey of faculty and senior staff at Stanford’s School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences yielded 29 suggestions for summer reading that may inspire new reflections on the living world, spark conversations about environmental justice, or fuel critical thinking about sustainability.
Because foreshocks precede larger quakes, they have long presented the tantalizing prospect of warning of potentially damaging earthquakes. But to date, they have only been recognized in hindsight, and scientists for decades have sought to understand the physical processes that drive them. Computer modeling by Stanford geophysicists finds answers in the complex geometry of faults.
