Now this is interesting...

department: No Rise of Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide Fraction in Past 160 Years, New Research Finds. Here's the technical abstract in Geophysical Research Letters.

Hmm.

What a difference...

a year makes. I captured this image of the entrance to my driveway one year ago after record snows in December 2008 (click to enlarge). For comparison, there is less than an inch of snow on the ground today.

By the way, my spray painted editorial elicited a lot of response from local drivers.

A rare Blue Moon...

occurs this evening, the second full Moon during the month of December. Rarer still, a Blue Moon on New Year's Eve occurs only once every 20 years. Learn more here. And, um, don't expect the Moon to be blue.

So, party on as we begin another lap around the Sun. Happy New Year.

Good to know...

how to do: Find North Without a Compass.

Don't necessarily always depend on your GPS.

Is the Gregorian calendar...

obsolete? An interesting take: Time and Again, the Calendar Comes Up Short.

Pets teach science...

Aerial views of eolian systems...

in a photogallery at Wired.com: Sublime Sand: Desert Dunes Seen from Space.

The high resolution images are, well, sublime.

Evolution going great,...

reports trilobite.

E-books outsell real books...

at Amazon.com on Christmas day, attributed to the record number of Kindle readers being given as gifts.

Here's the official press release which includes an interesting insight into what people were buying this commercial holiday season.

Don't be a sucker...

but use wet adhesion instead: Sucker-Footed Bats Actually Don’t Use Suction. Unlike most bats the diminutive Myzopoda aurita, shown above (click to enlarge), roosts with its head oriented upward.

Remember: bats need friends.

Compilation of stunning satellite images...

of Earth from Landsat 7. Most of these images are from the USGS/NASA web site Our Earth as Art.

Christmas Tree Cluster...

in the constellation Monoceros is shown in this image captured by the National Science Foundation's 0.9-meter telescope on Kitt Peak with the NOAO Mosaic CCD camera (click to enlarge). Collectively, the four astronomical objects in this image are referred to as NGC 2264.

Image credit: NRAO/AUI/NSF and NOAO/AURA/NSF.

This well-monitored field site...

located near Castle Valley, Utah is part of a USGS-directed program in assessing the impact and change to microbiotic soils. And here's an excellent document on biological soil crusts (303 MB .pdf file).

Saturnian moon ballet...

Video credit: NASA/JPL.

Happy Festivus everyone!

What? You haven't heard of Festivus, nor do you celebrate it?

UPDATE: More about the holiday can be found here.

Fremont's mahonia...

(Mahonia fremontii) is arguably the most Christmas-y looking desert plant there is, somewhat resembling holly (click to enlarge).

Friends I met on the trail...

today during a walkabout in the valley (click to enlarge). These two mule deer bucks were among a herd of about nine healthy animals.

Winter commences today...

at 17:47 Universal Time (12:47 pm EST) when the Sun reaches its southernmost point below the celestial equator. The shortest day. And the longest night. (In the northern hemisphere, that is.) Learn more about the winter solstice.

So, have a happy solstice, everyone. The days are only going to start to get longer. Cheers.

Really, Smokey?

Gee, I didn't realize that sandstone and snow were so combustible.

The raw, unmanipulated data...

from nearly eight years of groundwater monitoring of five wells in the Rathdrum Prairie, Idaho (click to enlarge). The gaps represent points of time when the wells were being used for summer irrigation, or inaccessible due to snow, or I was traveling. Note, since 2004, the significant rising trend in the surface of the water table in all of the wells.

[Perhaps global climate change since 2004 is the cause for the increase. Heh.]

End of the world on standby...

as the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) temporarily shuts down after initial testing and calibration runs.

That will, at least, allow everyone to enjoy the holidays.

Ice jam on the Colorado River...

shown above is evocative of the icy surface of Europa, one of the many moons of Jupiter, as shown below.

(Click each image to enlarge.) Note, in both cases, the larger blocks of ice that have separated and rotated, then frozen within a slushy matrix.

Excellent technical paper: Evidence for a subsurface ocean on Europa (.pdf file).

The corrrelation between geology...

and beer explained at Wired.com: Why Geologists Love Beer.

Alas, I must be an outlier, as I prefer a good single malt Scotch (or blue agave tequila) or a fine red wine (especially a nice Rioja Gran Reserva). Dang, it's too early in the day to tip a drink.

UPDATE: And this bit of advice: Don't be uncouth by adding ice to a good single malt.

Tear-pants weathering...

is the informal term given to this sharply-pinnacled surface texture found on carbonates in arid climates (it's actually a form of micro-karst; click to enlarge). And it's appropriately named, too. I sure wouldn't want to take a tumble on this surface, especially in shorts and t-shirt.

Wise words...

The whole of science is nothing more than a refinement of everyday thinking.

-- Albert Einstein

Commanding view of Moab...

from the Portal trail (click to enlarge). I hiked the dip slope of the Kayenta Formation today and examined countless sedimentary structures while enjoying both the solitude and the winter sun on this south-facing exposure. Priceless.

Free McWi-Fi...

with your cheeseburger: McDonald’s To Offer Free Wi-Fi At Most Locations.

Bravo! More businesses should follow this example.

Spokane's "unusual water supply"...

was mentioned in a 1930 article in the short-lived The Spokane Woman newspaper (click to enlarge), a relict accidentally discovered by a former student of mine. Here's his account of this interesting find:

"So I was sledge hammering my basement apart today and found an entire intact copy of an old local publication called "The Spokane Woman" that was being used as a shim for framing a door opening. The first page had a caption about the mysterious source of Spokane's water.

Enjoy,
Deacon"

We know today - 80 years later - that Spokane is indeed fortunate, with a bountiful water supply provided by the sole-source Spokane aquifer.

Thanks, DB, for sharing this with me, and the readers of this blog.

What I'm reading...

right now: The Arctic Grail by Pierre Berton. This tome is a historical recount of the period 1818-1909 during the quest for the elusive North West Passage through the Arctic Ocean.

The book is a gift from colleague RQ who attended my Sigma Xi talk last month about my travels above the Arctic Circle and who shares a similar interest in the polar north. Thanks, Bob!

A worthwhile essay...

at The Scientist: Promises, Promises. "Ill-judged predictions and projections can be embarrassing at best and, at worst, damaging to the authority of science and science policy."

And know this: computer models are not facts.

Seasoned greetings from southern Utah...

It's so easy...

even a cave man can do it: Start a Blog.

There he goes again...

exaggerating global climate change: Inconvenient truth for Al Gore as his North Pole sums don't add up. To wit:

In his speech, Mr Gore told the conference: “These figures are fresh. Some of the models suggest to Dr [Wieslav] Maslowski that there is a 75 per cent chance that the entire north polar ice cap, during the summer months, could be completely ice-free within five to seven years.”

To which Dr. Maslowski had this to say:

“It’s unclear to me how this figure was arrived at,” Dr Maslowski said. “I would never try to estimate likelihood at anything as exact as this.”

Hey, facts never seem to have gotten in the way of Gore's spinning. Here's yet another recent example. And let's not forget this gem either.

Magma conduit beneath Yellowstone...

presented as a three-dimensional model by researchers at the University of Utah (click to enlarge). Here are general articles, here and here, that describe this recent work performed by the Seismology and Active Tectonics Research Group that used seismic and gravimetric data to create the plume model.

Amazingly, the conduit appears to be plumbed as deeply as 410 miles. The research also reveals this surprise:

"The study's of Yellowstone's plume also suggests the same "hotspot" that feeds Yellowstone volcanism also triggered the Columbia River "flood basalts" that buried parts of Oregon, Washington state and Idaho with lava starting 17 million years ago."

Image credit: UUSATRG.

Natural ventilation of caves...

may affect speleothem growth rates according to a recent study. Link to technical abstract.

EWU administration feathers own nest...

during a statewide budget crisis that has resulted in numerous faculty layoffs. What am I talking about? Here's a list of administrative exempt positions that have been "reassigned" and have resulted in the listed monthly salary increases:

• Vice Provost, Academic Affairs $820.00
• Assistant Men's Basketball Coach $931.58
• Assistant Director CDSUA $ 317.00
• Magazine Editor $ 212.44
• Director, Marketing $ 946.20
• Associate Athletic Director $1,208.94
• Assistant Football Coach $1,275.00
• Interim Senior Admissions Advisor $ 533.34
• Interim Vice President Institutional Research $1,052.66
• Assistant Director, Academic Support Center $ 207.16
• EHS Center Services Manager $ 533.72
• Director, International Programs $1,431.10
• On-line Development Manager $ 499.98
• Senior Director, ITDS Chair $ 781.74
• Associate Vice President, Undergraduate Education $ 499.98

How does this benefit the average tuition paying student at EWU? Hard to say. Why don't you call EWU President Arevalo and ask him?

Personally, I vote no confidence in this academically destructive administration, the worst I've experienced in my 26 years at EWU.

Alpenglow in the high La Sals...

makes for a great end to a wintry and blustery day. The presently established El Nino weather pattern has draped the southern Rockies in abundant quantities of snow that makes me wish I brought my cross-country skis with me.

Another lousy winter day...

in Castle Valley, Utah (click to enlarge). The recent wave of snowstorms have dusted the slopes of the Chinle and Moenkopi Formations creating this beautiful winter panorama. Enjoy.

Geothermal project in California...

shuts down due to a link to increased earthquake frequency. That's unfortunate since "millions of degrees of heat" will now go untapped as a virtually unlimited natural energy resource.

Three tall cold ones...

presented themselves during my flight from GEG to PDX and ultimately onto SLC (click to enlarge). From left to right, Mount Saint Helens, Mount Rainier, and Mount Adams. Off the wingtip (which is a free advertisement for my chosen airline), lies the escarpment from the Bonneville landslide, and if one looks closely, you can see the runout in the Columbia River gorge in the lower right of the image. Boy, this lousy image (3.2 Mp with my LG phone) just drips of geology.

So, as a geologist, it's an important consideration as to where you sit during a flight. One must factor the time of day (lighting) with the geology/geomorphology of the over flown terrain. In addition, I typically carry my GPS (Garmin's MAP60 CSx) when flying, with 1:100,000 scale maps loaded on the internal micro SD card, as I enjoy watching the detail of the topography scroll by on the display, with named peaks, towns and drainages.

Moreover, it's interesting to note some of the flight information using the GPS as well. For example, from PDX to SLC we were flying at ~41,000 ft (confirmed by the captain at mid-flight) at an airspeed of 553 mph, while the cabin was pressurized to ~8,200 ft.

I would add that on interminably long international flights it's best to get an aisle set (for the legroom and ease of access) in my opinion.

Wise words...

It is only by introducing the young to great literature, drama and music, and to the excitement of great science that we open to them the possibilities that lie within the human spirit - enable them to see visions and dream dreams.

-- Eric Anderson

World's tiniest snowman...

is just 0.01 mm wide, about one-fifth the width of a human hair. "It was assembled using tools designed to manipulate nano-particles, and welded together with tiny deposits of platinum. A focused ion beam was used to carve the eyes and smile, and to place the platinum nose."

Here's more about how these geeky scientists celebrate the holidays with a neato video.

Image credit: David Cox,Quantum Detection group, National Physical Laboratory, UK.

Migrating south during the winter break...

to my red rock retreat in southern Utah. Though the days are short, it's reliably sunny there this time of year, with lots of south-facing canyons beckoning for exploration. Will resume desert blogging upon arrival.

Excited that the term is over...

That's been my strategy...

all along: Coffee Consumption Associated With Reduced Risk of Advanced Prostate Cancer. Hey, it's early, and I think I'll have another cup.

The myth...

of clean coal. You can't claim to be an environmentalist if you don't acknowledge the benefits of nuclear energy.

It's big!

How Huge Is the Internet on an Average Day?

UPDATE: Somewhat related story: US residents gorging on data bytes.

Hubble's deepest view...

of the universe unveils never before seen galaxies (click on image for full resolution version). This new image was acquired in late August 2009 by the Wide Field Camera 3 on the recently refurbished Hubble Space Telescope (HST) in the same region of space as the Hubble Ultra Deep Field in 2004.

Amazing bit: the cumulative exposure time for this image is 173,000 seconds over a four day period of time. And this:

"The faintest and reddest objects in the image are galaxies that formed 600 million years after the Big Bang."

Wise words...

Man lives for science as well as bread.

-- William James

Santa delivers a big wooden crate...

containing a brand spanking new ICP-OES to our smiling geochemist, Dr. C. Nezat (click to enlarge). She can hardly contain herself in anticipation of the joy to be experienced from the first whiff of that new instrument smell.

Given the season, it should have arrived with a big red bow tied to the box.

What I'm reading...

right now: Strange Maps by Frank Jacobs.

If you're a map lover then you'll appreciate this recently published and lavishly illustrated (full color) book. But beware, this is no conventional atlas. This description describes it best: "Brimming with trivia, deadpan humor, and idiosyncratic lore, Strange Maps is a fascinating tour of all things weird and wonderful in the world of cartography."

The author also writes a related blog. Check it out, especially if you love maps.

Thanks, RT, for the perfect gift!

Geology Club holiday party...

will be held this Friday (11 December) evening at 6:30 pm at a student residence in Cheney. Consult the announcements posted in the hallways for more information as I don't want to publicly post a personal address here.

/end public service announcement

Alas, I won't be able to attend the end-of-year get together. I'll be at my desert hacienda for the holidays, but I'll promise a distant toast to all that evening.

The future of WiFi...

includes gigabyte speeds and more.

And check this out too: Printable, Moldable Batteries Made From Paper and Nanotubes.

Faster, please.

Dinosaurs were broiled...

but not burned after the Chicxulub event according to a recent study. Here's the technical abstract.

Yum. That's just how I like my dinosaur. Accompanied with a wild rice pilaf. And a nice Zinfandel.

Image credit: NASA.

Al Gore doubles down...

in Copenhagen despite the growing Climategate scandal, saying that proposed targets for cutting CO2 emissions aren't tough enough. Why no comment on Climategate? Oh yeah, that's right, the science is settled and there is no debate.

One must balance anything Al Gore says with this bit from an earlier interview (emphasis in italics is mine):

"Question: There's a lot of debate right now over the best way to communicate about global warming and get people motivated. Do you scare people or give them hope? What's the right mix?

Al Gore: I think the answer to that depends on where your audience's head is. In the United States of America, unfortunately we still live in a bubble of unreality. And the Category 5 denial is an enormous obstacle to any discussion of solutions. Nobody is interested in solutions if they don't think there's a problem. Given that starting point, I believe it is appropriate to have an over-representation of factual presentations on how dangerous it is, as a predicate for opening up the audience to listen to what the solutions are, and how hopeful it is that we are going to solve this crisis.

Over time that mix will change. As the country comes to more accept the reality of the crisis, there's going to be much more receptivity to a full-blown discussion of the solutions."

So, according to Gore, it's OK to exaggerate issues and misrepresent facts. His words, not mine. In context.

I certainly don't believe anything this man says. How can anyone?

Could life exist on Mars...

in watery micro-environments at the poles? Some suggest the possibility: Watery niche may foster life on Mars. Here's the technical abstract.

Final exam in sed/strat...

is scheduled for Thursday, 10 December, from 10 am to noon. Don't fret, my budding sedimentologists, the end of the term is near. As always, good luck.

Crisis? What crisis?

At the so-called climate change summit in Copenhagen:

• 1,200 Limos, 140 Private Planes and Caviar Wedges
• Al Gore Cancels $1,200 Per Handshake Event In Copenhagen

When the people who say there's a crisis begin to act like there's a crisis then maybe, just maybe, they'd gain some credibility with me.

UPDATE: Copenhagen = Carbonhagen: "Attendees will generate a carbon footprint equal to all of Morocco's for 2006." Heh.

UPDATED UPDATE: One wonders why those who believe in anthropogenically-driven global warming don't support projects like this: In Uranium We Trust.

How to photograph sunsets...

explained in a short article at Wired.com. This topic inspired me to post the image above, showing the Japanese Subaru Telescope and the American Keck I & II Observatories on the summit of Mauna Kea, Hawaii during a magnificent sunset (click to enlarge).

Image notes: August 2007, Canon EOS 30D with Canon EF 28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS zoom lens.

It's the last field work Friday...

on the Rathdrum Prairie this calendar year. I'm making my usual rounds measuring groundwater levels, and I'll post an updated year-end graph as soon as I am able.

(There's no hidden, manipulated, modified nor discarded data in my projects!)

Dino park north of Moab...

one step closer to being built: County approves zone change on north U.S. 191. Previous related post.

Now there's an idea...

that EWU should emulate: Hofstra University to End Intercollegiate Football Program to Invest in Academic Initiatives.

Previous related post.

Hat tip: RO.

Sandtrapped Mars rover...

makes a big discovery. Quick bite:

"Sulfates are minerals just beneath the surface that shout to us that they were formed in steam vents, since steam has sulfur in it. Steam is associated with hydrothermal activity – evidence of water-charged explosive volcanism. Such areas could have once supported life."

Previous related post on the stuck Spirit rover.

Very patiently...

I'd imagine: How do prokaryotes survive in fluid inclusions in halite for 30 k.y.?

Wise words...

Science knows only one commandment: contribute to science.

-- Bertolt Brecht

Certainly a first...

for the web: a live streaming video - for about the next 50 hours - of the dissection of a human brain into extraordinarily thin slices (using a Microtome) for research purposes at The Brain Observatory.

At the time of this post they were slicing the frontal lobe. Interesting and bizarre.

WARNING: Although the brain is encapsulated in ice for the slicing, it is nonetheless rather graphic. Not for the squeamish!

Deep solar minimum continues...

according to Spaceweather.com:

"The sun is in the pits of a very deep solar minimum. Many researchers thought the sunspot cycle had hit bottom in 2008 when the sun was blank 73% of the time. Not so. 2009 is on the verge of going even lower. So far this year, the sun has been blank 75% of the time, and only a serious outbreak of sunspots over the next few weeks will prevent 2009 from becoming the quietest year in a century."

An image of Earth...

from space showing snow in the Rocky Mountains on 17 November 2009 (click to enlarge). The expanded image is fun to explore, especially if you know your western geography.

Image credit: MODIS on the Terra satellite.

A gigabyte doesn't go...

quite as far as it used to: an infographic showing the evolution of digital storage for music, images and data.

I remember when I upgraded my first computer (on which I wrote my doctoral dissertation), from 48k to 64k RAM, and thought that was hot stuff. Heh.

Surprised kitty...

New recommendations for indoor radon...

below the current Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) guidelines made by the Health Physics Society (HPS). Key bit:

"At levels of 4 pCi/L or more, EPA encourages members of the public to take steps to reduce the radon concentrations and to consider action at levels above 2 pCi/L. The HPS concurs with the EPA’s guideline of 4 pCi/L. However, because 4 pCi/L is not a definite line between “safe” and “unsafe,” the HPS also recommends that the public consider action at levels below 4 pCi/L. Recent residential epidemiological studies have demonstrated that there is a statistically significant increased risk of lung cancer at concentrations as low as 2.7 pCi/L."

Geology club talk this week...

on Thursday, 3 December, at noon in SCI 135 will feature Professor E. Gilmour. He will speak on "Visit to Uncle Yasha in Balycova - Contrast Between the Old and the New in Russia."

/end public service announcement

Today's poster session in sed/strat...

was a huge success, with 21 senior geology students displaying their final projects at the end of the term. The assignment required them to conduct library research (literature review) on some aspect of sedimentology and/or stratigraphy that aroused their interest, and to present summary material - in their own words - as a mix of graphics and text. In addition, as seen here (click to enlarge), each student engaged in a peer review of their fellow classmates in the final lab session of the class.

UPDATE: The consensus among the student reviewers is that the "Best in Show" award goes to student JF for his presentation on Paleozoic transgressive/regressive sequences.

The fastest computers...

in the world, in an image gallery at NewScientist.com. Interesting factoid: "Oak Ridge, Tennessee houses more computing power than anywhere else on the planet."

I'm amused by the names given to these powerful machines.

Tonight's full Moon...

is known as the Long Night's Moon, and it is the first of two full lunar apparitions this month. The second, known as a Blue Moon, occurs on 31 December (an event that occurs on average every 2.7 years).

Go ahead. It's permissible to howl. Both times.

New granite countertops...

were installed in the kitchen yesterday at my cottage in the pine forest (click to enlarge), and they provide an excellent opportunity to teach basic mineralogy and igneous petrology to guests during dinner parties. How geeky is that?

Oh, yeah. They also look fabulous.

It was dumb in the 70s...

and it's still dumb today despite the technological upgrade: USB Pet Rock. Yeah, that's right, it doesn't do a darn thing. Nada. Zip.

I wonder if it comes with a phone number for technical support?

Spinning its wheels...

and going nowhere fast, the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit, that is. The view above (click to enlarge) is captured by the navigation camera, and looks back at its tracks made in April of this year, the last time the robotic explorer made any forward progress. Here's the latest from NASA/JPL on attempts to free the stuck rover.

Perhaps most significantly, the rocks scattered about appear to be laminated/bedded, and perhaps sedimentary in origin.

World record set...

by the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) as it ramps up to higher energies:

"The LHC pushed protons to 1.18 TeV (trillion electron volts), surpassing the previous record of 0.98 TeV held by Fermilab’s Tevatron."

So far so good, I guess. We're still here.

Microscopic organism portraiture...

in an image gallery at the Micropolitan Museum. Daphnia and Caprella are particularly cute.

Get your ticket to ride...

to the edge of space: Virgin Galactic’s Space-Grazing Aircraft Is Ready for Liftoff. The cost? A mere $200,000 will get you a seat on a sub-orbital flight where you will float weightless at the edge of space for several minutes.

Yeah, if you have to ask you can't afford it.

Climate research scientists...

behaving badly: Climate Change Data Dumped. This story just keeps getting worse.

In addition, in response to an ABC news piece on the scandal, there is the following post from respected geologist and Pleistocene climate expert Dr. Don Easterbrook:

"I've spent 4 decades studying global climate change and as a scientist I am appalled at Krugman's cavalier shrugging off the Hadley email scandal as 'just the way scientists talk among themselves.' That's like saying it's alright for politicians to be corrupt because that's the way they are. Legitimate scientists do not doctor data, delete data they don't like, hide data they don't want seen, hijack the peer review process, personally attack other scientists whose views differ from theirs, send fraudulent data to the IPCC that is used to perpetuate the greatest hoax in the history science, provide false data to further legislation on climate change that will result in huge profits for corrupt lobbyists and politicians, and tell outright lies about scientific data.

Posted by: Don Easterbrook | Nov 29, 2009 1:57:05 PM"

I couldn't have said it better myself.

A waterproof camera and perfect sense...

of timing is manifest in this amazing photography: Inside the Tube - Incredible Wave Photography.

Early winter arrives...

in the majestic Purcell Mountains, seen here across Kootenay Lake near Kaslo, British Columbia (click to enlarge). Fortunately, nearby hot springs provided an opportunity to warm chilled bones during my holiday visit to the wintry high country. And, for my geo-readers, this area is also host to a historically significant Ag-Zn-Pb deposit.

Fresh look at ALH 84001...

seems to dismiss the non-biologic argument for the origin of previously discovered worm-like structures in the famous Martian meteorite. Here's the technical abstract.

Previous related post on this controversial space rock.

Micro-poop...

is the basis for some cave mineral deposits: Lava Cave Minerals Actually Microbe Poop.

Bat migration...

has been mathematically modeled: The Evolution Of Bat Migration. Here's the related technical abstract and article: Evidence for Repeated Independent Evolution of Migration in the Largest Family of Bats.

Remember: bats need friends.

Heading north of the border...

to the Kaslo, British Columbia area to spend the extended holiday weekend in a foreign country. I'll try to access Kokanee Glacier Provincial Park as well as Cody Caves Provincial Park (weather permitting) in addition to soaking in hot springs.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Tickle me, and don't ever stop...

"Climategate" scandal...

is slowly drawing increased scrutiny from the press and government agencies that funded the now suspect climate change research. Some updates on the developing story can be found here and here, and so far no one has denied the documents are genuine. One gem found in the published emails that goes beyond scientific dishonesty:

“We need to show some left to cover the costs of the trip Roger didn’t make and also the fees/equipment/computer money we haven’t spent otherwise NOAA will be suspicious.”

So not only is there collusion to influence the peer review process, apparent fudging or manipulation of data, use of erroneous and flawed software code, intentional and coordinated deletion of documents in order to frustrate FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) requests, now there may be accounting fraud to add to all that. Don't believe it? Read the documents for yourself, or consult this summary.

The contempt for scientific objectivity that is revealed here is staggering. Unfortunately, this growing scandal is going to make science (in general) and scientists (specifically) lose credibility with the public.

However, on the lighter side, get your "Hide the Decline" t-shirts and merchandise. And enjoy the hilarious "Hide the Decline" video by Minnesotans For Global Warming.

Solar tsunami has been imaged...

by NASA's STEREO (Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory) spacecraft, and consists of a wave of hot plasma and magnetism that races across the Sun's surface, generated by a coronal mass ejection. The scale is humongous:

"The technical name is "fast-mode magnetohydrodynamical wave"—or "MHD wave" for short. The one STEREO saw reared up about 100,000 km high, and raced outward at 250 km/s (560,000 mph)."

Fortunately the phenomenon is no hazard for Earth.

Cascadia subduction zone quakes...

could hit inland, striking large urban areas as far as 60 km from the coast with high magnitude events.

Animation of recent Casinni flyby...

of Enceladus shows the spacecraft approaching the backlit geyser-like fountains that spew from fractures in the icy crust near the south polar region of this tiny moon of Saturn. Check out the previous related post that describes this flyby that occurred on 21 November 2009 and provides links to other stunning images.

Very cooool.

Image credit: four-frame animation by Gordan Ugarkovic via The Planetary Society.

Good advice...

on how to choose a strong password. Remember: practice safe computing.

An example EWU should follow...

Game Over: Northeastern U. Spikes Its Football Program

World's largest volcanic lake...

is Lake Toba in Sumatra, spanning an area of 100 km by 30 km (click to enlarge). Recent research suggests that the lake occupies an edifice created by a super eruption: Supervolcano Eruption In Sumatra Deforested India 73,000 Years Ago.

Baby steps toward armageddon...

occurred early today as the Large Hadron Collider initiated collisions between protons at 900 billion electron volts of energy (900 GeV; 0.9 TeV), a level that is merely 1/15 of its full potential.

"CERN hopes to boost the energy to 1.2 TeV per beam – exceeding the world's current top collision energies of 1 TeV per beam at the Tevatron accelerator in Batavia, Illinois.

In early 2010, physicists will attempt to ramp up the energy to 3.5 TeV per beam, collect data for a few months at that energy, then push towards 5 TeV per beam in the second half of the year."

Note that:

"The LHC is designed to allow collisions at much higher energies – all the way up to 14,000 GeV (14 TeV), or 7 TeV per beam."

Clearly we're in for some astounding science, that is, if the world survives.

Abyssal depths are teeming...

with bizarre marine life: Thousands of Strange Sea Creatures Discovered. More on this story here.

See even more images of these interesting creatures at the Census of Marine Life image gallery.

Icy hydrocarbon lakes...

on Titan "are loaded with acetylene, a chemical some scientists say could serve as food for cold-resistant organisms" according to a new study.

Raw images of Enceladus...

from the recent flyby by the Cassini spacecraft on 21 November show a fresh, non-cratered, icy surface with countless pressure ridges (click to enlarge).

Here's the link to more raw images: Enceladus Rev 121 Flyby Raw Preview.

World's largest earthquake-safe building...

is now open at Instanbul's airport:

"Stretching across more than 2 million square feet, the terminal doesn’t sit directly on the soil, but rather on more than 300 isolators, bearings that can move side-to-side during an earthquake. The whole building moves as a single unit, which prevents damage from uneven forces acting on the structure."

Western hemisphere weather...

visualization showing clouds using the Goddard Earth Observing System Model, Verison 5 (GEOS-5) at 7 km resolution for the period from 17 August through 21 August 2009 (click on image for 3 MB MPEG-4 video). This visualization was designed to closely match a GOES satellite image for comparison purposes.

Mesmerizing.

Climate change debate heats up...

with hacked e-mails from the Climate Research Unit (at the University of East Anglia) posted on-line by skeptics. The 61 MB document dump purportedly reveals the dark underbelly of how science is done by global warming proponents, including alleged falsification and manipulation of data, along with priorities being driven by political motivations and desire for career advancement.

Human beings behaving like, well, human beings. Just like a soap opera except that these shenanigans have serious implications and can influence international policy.

UPDATE: Here's a convenient summary of some of the content of the e-mails exchanged between global warming proponents. If these documents are real it's pretty dishonorable behavior, and argues in favor of greater transparency (and accountability) in science.

This has all the makings of a serious scandal.

UPDATED UPDATE: It may be a whistleblower, and not a hacker, that resulted in the release of ~172 MB of information.

Enjoy the upcoming holiday...

as the countdown to the end of all things has commenced: Large Hadron Collider back online. At present, the gargantuan physics experiment is circulating protons along its 17 mi-long track, with low-energy collisions scheduled for later in the week.

So, enjoy Thanksgiving! It may be your last.

UPDATE: Here's a look at those who will destroy us.

Revisions to the solar system...

explained in an image gallery. Yep, this isn't the same neighborhood that I grew up with in grade school.

Distribution of water...

on Earth summarized in an infographic at Wired.com.

Diminishing dung fungus...

and increasing amounts of pollen from broad-leaved floras reveal the timing of the die off of North American megafaunas according to a new paleoecological study.

Grazing patterns of mastodons, camels and giant sloths that modified the habitat, coupled with human hunting, may have caused the extinction of these large animals, and not climate change nor a comet impact.

Or, maybe a combination of all these factors is the cause as one of the study's authors states:

“In North America, there’s a lot of confusion because everything was happening all at once.”

Breaking news...

"One killer gear deal,...

one item at a time until it's gone" is the tag line of Steep and Cheap, an on-line retailer of name brand outdoor products. Indeed, you have to click into the web site often in order to take advantage of tremendously discounted but high-quality recreational gear that is randomly presented until it's sold out.

Give it a go. Highly recommended.

Hat tip: RO'Q.

Bolide explodes over western US...

last night and the event was captured by security cameras: videos at KSL.com and at KREM.com. A bit more information about this event is here.

City of Cheney municipal well #8...

has been on-line for several months and is capable of yielding ~850 gallons/minute of groundwater from confined aquifers in the Columbia River Basalt Group, specifically the Grande Ronde Basalt.

I was retained as a consultant to the City for this project. Here's a link to the test well log (.pdf format) and to the production well log (.pdf format).

Wise words...

“I believe in evidence. I believe in observation, measurement, and reasoning, confirmed by independent observers. I’ll believe anything, no matter how wild and ridiculous, if there is evidence for it. The wilder and more ridiculous something is, however, the firmer and more solid the evidence will have to be.”

— Isaac Asimov

Al Gore on geothermal energy...

demonstrates how absolutely little he knows about science and technology. I guess I've been teaching my students incorrect information about the geothermal gradient.

Is there any doubt whatsoever that this guy is a blowhard and a charlatan? Sheesh.

UPDATE: Link to a history of geothermal energy development at the U.S. Department of Energy.

Queen Charlotte Island earthquakes...

early this morning determined to be an initial M 6.6 at 15:30:46 UTC followed about seven minutes later by a M 5.7 at 15:37:43 UTC.

UPDATE: The events have rattled our departmental seismometer - image posted above (click to enlarge).

Second sed/strat exam...

is scheduled for this Thursday, 19 November. Note to my budding stratigraphers: study hard, don't hardly study.

Confounded dataset shows...

that record highs outpace record lows during the last decade. Balance that report with the information included in this previous post about the extraordinarily flawed nature of the temperature monitoring network established in the US, while also reading this rebuttal.

Mark Twain said it best: "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics."

Sold! Auctioned T. Rex...

finally has a buyer. But who it is, and where the skeleton will ultimately reside, has yet to be announced.

Previous related post.

Geology Club talk this week...

on Thursday, 19 November, at 12 noon in SCI 118, that features your very excitable correspondent's adventure in the Arctic earlier this summer. If you like birds, whales, polar bears, walrus and rocks, you won't be disappointed. Be there or be squared.

Note: This will be a reprise of a presentation I have been invited to deliver tonight, to the EWU-Spokane chapter of Sigma Xi, where I will be the annual banquet speaker. Wish me luck.

Wise words...

I have yet to see any problem, however complicated, which, when you looked at it in the right way, did not become still more complicated.

-- Paul Anderson

Visualizing body waves...

propagating through the Earth's interior in three-dimensions (click to enlarge).

Image courtesy the graphic wizards at Wired.com.

NASA clears space shuttle Atlantis...

to launch on Monday on another mission to nowhere to resupply the ISS.

Click into the on-line NASA-TV feed at 11:28 am PST on 16 November to catch the lift-off from Launch Pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida.

UPDATE: It was a successful launch.

End of days is upon us...

as the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) ramps up for it's restart according to the CERN Bulletin:

"Six of the eight sectors of the LHC have now been hardware commissioned to allow the passage of beams at 1.2 TeV. The remaining two (Sectors 3-4 and 8-1) will be powered up in the coming week.

If all goes well, in just over one week from now, the beams could circulate in both pipes of the LHC. The first low-energy collisions should follow shortly after."

It's been nice knowin' ya.

This pup needs a hand up...

"Significant amount" of water...

found on the Moon in the debris plume generated by the LCROSS impact last month. Although the event was a visual fizzle, it is clear that the mission is returning huge scientific results. How much water was liberated in the impact?

"Based on the measurements, the team estimated about 100 kilograms of water in the view of their [two spectrographic] instruments — the equivalent of about a dozen 2-gallon buckets — in the area of the impact crater (about 80 feet, or 20 meters across) and the ejecta blanket (about 60 to 80 meters across), Colaprete said."

This is particularly amazing: the water ice volatilized in the ejecta may be billions of years old.

Field work Friday...

occurs today during the first winter storm of the season, while I engage in my monthly acquisition of groundwater levels for monitoring wells in the Rathdrum Prairie, Idaho. Oh well, no hardship is too difficult to endure in the pursuit of science.

It's been a tough year...

for paraskavedekatriaphobics. This is the third and final Friday the 13th this year, and you have a while to relax until its next occurrence in August 2010.

Previous related posts for February and March.

Not a computer generated graphic...

from a recent sci-fi flick but an actual image of Earth acquired by the Rosetta spacecraft (click to enlarge). The European Space Agency mission is on its way to intercept comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko where it will place a lander on the comet’s surface in 2014.

Stunning and ethereal.

Credit: ESA ©2009 MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/RSSD/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA.

Wise words...

If you want a certain thing, you must first be a certain person. Once you are that certain person, obtaining that certain thing will no longer be a concern of yours.

-- Zen proverb

Biggest bat in Europe...

survived the Ice Age and persists to this day: Largest Bat In Europe Inhabited Northeastern Spain More Than 10,000 Years Ago. The subject of the article, shown above (click to enlarge), is the Greater Noctule bat (Nyctalus lasiopterus).

Remember: bats need friends.

Um, never mind...

10 Failed Doomsday Predictions

An image of Earth...

from space showing the northeastern United States in true-color during summer (click to enlarge). Lake Erie barely extends into the image from the western edge, and Lake Ontario appears in the enlarged image in the upper left.

The Appalachian Mountain fold belt is the dominant geologic structure in the image, but Pleistocene glacial deposits - terminal moraines - on Long Island, Nantucket and Marth's Vineyard are also evident. Various near shore features can also be observed, including barrier islands along the Atlantic coast, and the very obvious sand spit on Cape Cod.

Image credit: MODIS team; NASA.

October 2009 was third coolest...

on record, with an "average temperature of 50.8°F which was 4.0°F below the 20^th Century average." Link to State of the Climate report at NOAA.

Comment, Mr. Gore?

Now this should be interesting...

department: Plan to Pierce Heart of Urban Monster Volcano. Starting next month, an Italian volcanologist will direct the Campi Flegrei Deep Drilling Project that is planning to drill seven holes in the region of a giant caldera that dwarfs the size of nearby Vesuvius.

While I don't believe this activity will trigger an eruption, it is not without significant risk as similar projects have discovered. We'll just have to watch and wait, watch and waiters.

Toss in an asteroid...

and agitate the ocean, thereby adding oxygen: Asteroid impact could have stirred the ocean. Key bit:

"The Sudbury impact ... happened around 1.85 billion years ago. The event fundamentally affected the concentrations of dissolved oxygen in the deep sea — enough to almost instantly shut down the accumulation of marine sediments known as banded iron formations."

Arachnophobics keep scrolling by...

because this will freak you out: Arachnid Hall of Fame image gallery at Wired.com. I think spiders are fascinating and beneficial creatures, and avoid killing them, even in the house.

Exploration strategies for life...

in our solar system beyond Earth: Extraterrestrial Rafting - Hunting Off-World Sea Life.

Faster, please.

Following its seasonal schedule...

my Christmas Cactus (genus Schlumbergera) is starting to blossom as the days grow shorter (click to enlarge).

Enjoy!

Wind energy not so green...

after all, that is, if you care about bats and birds: Wind Energy: A Scare for Bats and Birds.

Previous related post on bat mortality related to wind farms.

Remember, bats need friends.

Meet the geeks at Mozilla Foundation...

and join them in celebration of the five year anniversary of the Firefox web browser, now on version 3.5.5. It is certainly my browser of choice, both at home and at work, and for the majority of readers of this blog.

Congrats, and keep up the good work.

Link to Mozilla.org where you can download the Firefox web browser and show your support for open source software.

Emerging from the blue...

are "Islands Seen From Space" in an image gallery from Wired.com.

Upgrading to Windows 7...

on my home desktop computer took about three full hours this morning, not counting backing up the system prior to the actual upgrade. The changeover seemed to work well with no problems encountered during the transition to the new operating system. Here's my experience:

1.) Back up critical files: I overdid this a bit, creating two backup copies of files to a 500 GB network drive and a 320 GB portable USB drive. I've got a lot of important documents and a load of images, and this took about four hours to accomplish (I let the PC churn on this through the night.)

2.) Rebooted the desktop PC that is running MS Vista Home Premium and turned off the McAfee antivirus program per recommendation. Then another reboot. Time: about 7:00 am.

3.) Placed the MS Windows 7 upgrade DVD in the optical drive and started the process, giving the program permission to first check for updates on-line prior to executing the actual upgrade. Time into upgrade process: 0:00 (hrs:mins).

4.) At 1:00 into the process the PC shut down and rebooted, but the display remained blank for about 25 mins. A new splash screen appeared at 1:30 into the process.

5.) Another reboot at 2:20 with a blank screen for about 10 mins. The new operating system was available for first use at 2:40, prompting for the upgrade key code, then at 2:45 it allowed me to log in under my former username and password.

6.) Several minutes later my old desktop wallpaper appeared at the proper screen resolution, gadgets appeared along the right side of the desktop, and all previous icons were in their usual places. No errors reported. Turned on the antivirus program, and the conversion was finished. Voila.

In sum, the upgrade to Win 7 seems to have worked. I'll post updates as I run some programs and get familiar with the new system.

This elevator going up...

to space: Seattle Team Wins $900,000 in Space Elevator Contest. Despite their sci-fi attributes, space elevators may very well be the most cost effective way of getting heavy payloads into Earth orbit.

Faster, and higher, please.

Near earth object 2009 VA...

(a small asteroid) zipped by Earth yesterday ~14,000 km from the surface, well within the orbits of geosynchronous satellites. Here's the scoop from Spaceweather.com:

"If it had hit, the ~6-meter wide space rock would have disintegrated in the atmosphere as a spectacular fireball, causing no significant damage to the ground. 2009 VA was discovered just 15 hours before closest approach by astronomers working at the Catalina Sky Survey."

Close shave.

You can't make this stuff up...

department: Baguette Dropped From Bird's Beak Shuts Down The Large Hadron Collider (Really).

The upside of this event is that the life of the universe as we know it has been extended a while longer.

Wise words...

Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.

-- Albert Einstein

Star birth in M83...

as imaged by the powerful new Wide Field Camera 3 on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). The brightly glowing red regions in the spiral arms of the Southern Pinwheel Galaxy are dense bubbles of hydrogen gas in which fledgling stars are developing. This article describes some of the details:

"Gradually, the young stars' fierce winds (streams of charged particles) blow away the gas, revealing bright blue star clusters. These stars are about 1 million to 10 million years old. The older populations of stars are not as blue."

Link to more information and related images at the Space Telescope Science Institute.

Sell crazy someplace else...

Massive Earthquake Predicted for California Within a Month.

OK, the so-called prediction has been made. Let's start the clock. I'll go out on a limb and suggest nothing of any significance will occur, nor will Yellowstone blow its top, during the next 30 days.

Open-air dinosaur tracks museum...

has been proposed north of Moab, Utah. The project, tentatively called "Moab Giants," is located at the turn-off to Dead Horse Point State Park and the Island in the Sky District of Canyonlands National Park.

"The proposal identifies a path winding through displays of casts of dinosaur tracks and replicas of animals from the early Jurassic through the late Cretaceous geologic periods. Participants would be allowed to “dig” for bone replicas."

The proposal has been tabled by the Grand County Planning and Zoning Commission, however, in order to give staff more time to review information provided by the applicant.

Icy plumes of Enceladus...

are seen backlit by the Sun in a recent flyby that occurred on 2 November 2009 (click to enlarge to full resolution). This image was taken while the spacecraft was ~190,000 km from the moon, but at its closest approach it flew merely ~100 km (62 mi) above the surface.

The misty fountains jetting from the south polar region of the diminutive Saturnian moon are believed to be water ice and contain significant amounts of ammonia and sodium. The purpose of this flyby (the seventh) was to gauge the size, mass, charge, velocity and composition of the particles within the geyser-like plume.

This odd world - allowing for the temperature difference - is Yellowstone on steroids.

Image credit: NASA/Cassini team.

Perfect gift for the geek...

in your life for the upcoming holidays: GIANT microbes. News flash: swine flu (H1N1) is now available!

EWU Geology Club...

is meeting on Monday, 16 November, at 2:15 pm in SCI 113. But this Friday, 6 November, members are getting together for pizza at Rosa's Pizza in Cheney at 6:30 pm.

/end public service announcement

An image of Earth...

from space showing the Heiltskuk Icefield in the southern Coast Mountains of British Columbia (click to enlarge). Geomorphology students should be able to pick out a wide variety of alpine glacial features - including valley glaciers, horns, aretes, cirques, moraines - in the enlarged view.

Image credit: Astronaut photograph acquired on 6 August 2009.

Wise words...

If it's green, it's biology. If it stinks, it's chemistry. If it has numbers, it's math. If it doesn't work, it's technology.

-- Unknown

New high-res panorama...

of the Milky Way galaxy has been compiled from 3,000 images acquired over 22 months by Axel Mellinger. Here's the link to his All-Sky Milky Way Panorama 2.0 web site to view the full image.

Quite the project. When I look at stuff like this I feel really, really small.

Water use in the United States...

is lower today than 35 years ago according to the U.S. Geological Survey:

"Despite a 30 percent population increase during the past 25 years, overall water use has remained fairly stable according to a new U.S. Geological Survey report."

Hmm. Maybe I can take that long, hot shower after all.