Geobulletin alpha

Our short paper on moral dimensions of open 

Back in mid-April, when I (Mike) was at the OSI2016 conference, I was involved in the “Moral Dimensions of Open” group. (It was in preparation for this that wrote the Moral Dimensions series of posts here on SV-POW!.) Like all the other groups, ours was tasked with making a presentation to the plenary session, taking questions and

Airliner Chronicles: When Disaster Arrived from the Heavens 

I thought briefly of making this one of those "What is it?" kind of posts, but it seemed kind of obvious. We were flying home from our weekend in St. Louis, and without a GPS, I was trying to get myself situated correctly into the geography that was drifting by slowly far beneath us. I was not too particularly successful at orienting myself while over the "flyover" states of Oklahoma, Kansas

Pele is a Capricious Goddess...Part Three, a Precious Gift from a Mysterious Woman 

One of the most awe-inspiring moments of my life I've been celebrating my impending return to the Hawaiian Islands by revising and expanded a few posts I did in 2009 about the volcano goddess Pele, and my experiences with the ongoing eruption of Kilauea.  My third chance to see Pele's beauty came about in 2006 as a result of a family reunion that included a cruise of four of the

The Diversity of Echinoderm Anuses! 

This week, in the category of "one of those posts only Echinoblog could write"! Let us explore the vibrant diversity of echinoderm anal structures!! Perfectly SAFE for Work! even though it contains the word "anal" and "anuses" several times! WOO!! Echinoderms are pentaradial (aka pentameral). That is they show a form of radial symmetry wherein their body always occurs around a

Monday Geology Picture: Folded Mountains in Hermanus, South Africa 

Over the weekend I participated in a kayak race that was held in the lovely little coastal town Hermanus, South Africa. The race was held on a lagoon with a beautiful background of mountains that are part of the Cape Fold Belt. You’ve seen pictures of this fold belt before here on Georneys. For example, here the belt is featured in one of Callan’s “Friday Fold” posts. However, these mountains

Nenana Ice Classic 2016 

Just a quick note since I’ve been tracking this statistic for a few years, but the Nenana Ice Classic tripod went down this afternoon (Apr 23, 3:39 Alaska Standard Time). See the earlier post for what this is and why it says something about the climate (see posts on 2014 and 2015 results). With this

What is 4D seismics? 

4D seismics is hype. It’s the new stuff. But 4D is also somewhat obscure, so when I started telling people telling that I had landed a job in 4D seismics, the most common question was: So, Jesper, what’s the fourth dimension. The answer always causes some disappointment. “It’s time.” They were hoping for some obscure […] The post What is 4D seismics? appeared first on The Way of the Geophysicist. Related posts: Seismics Introduction Cascading Earthquakes – Seismic waves [...]

On the road again … but where? (geo-challenge) 

Where on Google Earth? (click on image to view)Here’s a special deal to celebrate the start of 2016 geo-tripping: three geo-challenges for the price of one! I visited all in a period of five days, traveling by car. Where was I?Ordered by increasing age of strata:#1 Darker brown is caused by seepage from the base of a super important aquifer.#2 Thousands of immigrants passed by—did anybody notice the white ash layers and curious wavy contact? #3 This rock is gray when fresh, [...]

Scientific Conferences on a Budget 

Conferences are an important part of the world of science and technology. We get to publish preliminary results and bounce them off of our colleagues (or sometimes strongest competitors). It’s time for networking and also helps to take a break from the lab grind. But conferences take a huge burden on our budget. We have […] The post Scientific Conferences on a Budget appeared first on The Way of the Geophysicist. Related posts: Today I want to be Canadian Got geophysics? It [...]

Wildflowers of the Negev, 2016 version 

MITZPE RAMON, ISRAEL — One of my last posts from a trip into the Negev is a selection of flower images. (Here is the previous wildflower post. None of the blooms are the same.) I don’t know any of their names, so I depend on commentators to help me add them. Above is a nice

Death Valley Trip, Part 2: More of the Badwater Turtleback Fault 

If you remember from a couple days ago, toward the end of the first of, hopefully, a few more posts about our trip to Death Valley and vicinity, we had walked up an alluvial fan down near Badwater and were looking at the Badwater Turtleback fault, which is essentially the entire range front above. Specifically, we were at the smooth, olive-brown surface on the far right edge of this first

Science bloggers – join the 2016 General Assembly blogroll! 

Will you be blogging at the 2016 General Assembly? If so, sign up here and we’ll add you to our official blogroll. We will be compiling a list of blogs that feature posts about the EGU General Assembly and making it available on GeoLog, the official blog of the European Geosciences Union. We’d ask you to write posts that relate directly to the Assembly during the conference in Vienna (17 – 22 April). The content of each blog on this list is the responsibility of the authors and is not [...]

My (Dinosaur Related) Board Game Exploits 

As I've mentioned in posts before, I've gone quiet on the palaeo-art front for the past three-ish years as I delved into free lance (and one semi-pro) board game design.I find this is no longer holding my interest like it did, and that prehistory is starting to beckon (all be it in a new form... aka my upcoming animated project).Still I thought it'd be worth a post on here to show off some of my prehistoric themed game productions.You'll note not all these are solely based on my own 3D [...]

What's New in Sea Star Wasting Disease? 

image by Jonathan Martin So, my apologies for the delay between my last post and this one. Between traveling from the west coast, the blizzard and my laptop experiencing..."difficulty" I've missed one or two posts... But! here's what I have been up to... So about two weeks ago I was in Seattle at the Sea Star Wasting Summit, hosted by the Seattle Aquarium! This was an informal gathering

Flying through the Aurora Borealis 

Horacio Llorens and Red Bull take us on a breathtaking journey. Flying here is different. It’s dark, It’s cold, And the sky is on fire. Watch it yourself: The post Flying through the Aurora Borealis appeared first on The Way of the Geophysicist. Related posts: Earth timelapse by Alexander Gerst Melting drones on Vanuatu – Amazing footage from an active volcano Volcano lightning in Chile

Understanding the 2015–16 El Niño and its impact on phytoplankton 

This is part of a new series of posts that highlight the importance of Earth and space science data and its contributions to society. Posts in this series showcase data facilities and data scientists; explain how Earth and space science data is collected, managed and used; explore what this data tells us about the planet; and delve into the challenges and issues involved in managing and using data. This series

Monday Geology Picture: Diamond Reading List 

Since I started working for De Beers a little over two years ago, I’ve slowly but surely been learning all about diamonds and diamond geology. I’ve also been learning about the history of diamond mining in southern Africa and elsewhere in the world. In some other posts, I’ll have to share a little about the books on diamonds that I’ve already read. However, for this week’s “Monday Geology Picture” I

On Twitter, Oceanographers Show Deep Appreciation for Data-Collection Device 

This is part of a new series of posts that highlight the importance of Earth and space science data and its contributions to society. Posts in this series showcase data facilities and data scientists; explain how Earth and space science data is collected, managed and used; explore what this data tells us about the planet; and delve into the challenges and issues involved in managing and using data. This series is intended to demystify Earth and space science data, and share how this data shapes [...]

Dreams of Summer: This is Where and When...Wait, They Made a National Park Out of This? 

Why, yes. Yes they did. About two posts ago, I pointed out that there are some places where the geology is kind of...monotonous. One of those places is the vast sage plain east of Grand Canyon and Flagstaff, around the towns of Holbrook and Winslow (yes, that Winslow). The land is flat, windy and barren, hardly looking like a place of geological inspiration. And yet it is. In the last

Data Management Isn’t Optional; It’s Essential to Being Successful 

This is part of a new series of posts that highlight the importance of Earth and space science data and its contributions to society. Posts in this series showcase data facilities and data scientists; explain how Earth and space science data is collected, managed and used; explore what this data tells us about the planet; and delve into the challenges and issues involved in managing and using data. This series is intended to demystify Earth and space science data, and share how this data shapes [...]