Geology News - Earth Science Current Events

NASA Giant Water Reservoir Discovered Near the South Polar Area of Mars March 17 | NASA This water accumulation near the South Polar Region contains enough frozen water to cover the whole planet in a liquid layer approximately 11 meters (36 feet) deep.

Oklahoma ConocoPhillips Gives $6M to Oklahoma Geology March 17 | News Examiner-Enterprise ConocoPhillips gave the Oklahoma University School of Geophysics and Geology the third largest gift in the history of the University. The money will be used for scholarships, fellowships, a visitor professorship and building upgrades.

Controversial Method for Stopping Indonesian Mud Volcanoes March 15 | Yahoo! News Mud volcanoes in Indonesia have been erupting 100,000 cubic meters of noxious mud which have displaced thousands of residents. A controversial approach which includes dropping concrete balls down their throats is being tried.

NASA Cassini Finds Seas of Liquid Methane or Ethane on Saturn's Moon Titan March 14 | NASA The Cassini spacecraft finds evidences of these giant seas in the high northern latitudes of Saturn's moon Titan. One lake is larger than Lake Superior!

energy.gov Possible Funding Cuts for Geothermal Research March 14 | Yahoo! News At the same time that we are trying to cut greenhouse gas emissions, funding cuts might occur in this clean energy sector. DOE has requested no appropriation for geothermal energy research.

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Photo of the Gulkana Glacier by USGS

The United States Geological Survey has three glaciers that they are closely monitoring in an effort to understand hydrologic processes and climate change. These are the Gulkana and Wolverine Glaciers in Alaska and the South Cascade Glacier in Washington. At each of these glaciers, mass balance, runoff, temperature, ice thickness, weather and other data are being accumulated along with photographic documentation.

An example of one of the mass balance charts for the Gulkana Glacier is shown below. This chart clearly shows the seasonal changes in mass balance along with a steep decline indicating a wasting of this glacier in response to climate change.

You can learn more about these "Benchmark Glaciers" by visiting the USGS website.


Image by USGS

Labels: Glaciers, Global-Warming

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Section of the UN Atlas index map.

The United Nations Environmental Programme has a website that presents satellite images from the Atlas of Our Changing Environment in an easy-to-access format. This atlas documents environmental change at numerous locations worldwide using satellite image pairs from the Landsat Geocover series. The website uses a Google Map (see screen capture at right) to provide easy browsing of the satellite image collection. Users click one of the map icons for more detailed information about that location.

The screenshot below shows the Atlas case study for the Everglades. This case includes a written description of the changing Everglades environment along with a matched pair of satellite images compiled from data collected on different dates. In this case the images are from March 1973 (left) and January 2002 (right). Both of these images are clickable to more detailed views.

The UN Atlas website is a place where you can see how changing climate and human activity have altered the environment. Visit the UN Atlas of Our Changing Environment website.


Screenshot of the Everglades location from the UN Atlas.

Labels: Books-Publications, Satellite-Images

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