Nothing to apologize for...

Scientists Defend Warning After Tsunami Nonevent

The full Moon tonight...

is known by Native Americans as the Snow Moon because it occurs in late winter. Enjoy!

Signs along the trail...

encountered above Liberty Lake, Washington this afternoon, during a fantastic hike in spring-like sunny weather. Always a good thing.

UPDATE: Here's a map of the trail (7.05 mi, 1,195 ft elevation gain/loss) I made with my trusty GPS.

Mistakes do happen...

Paleontologists: 'We've Been Looking At Dinosaurs Upside Down'

Snapshot of Chilean earthquake...

and aftershocks as caught on the seismometer at EWU (click to enlarge). See related post below.

UPDATE: This mag 8.8 temblor appears to rank as the 5th or 6th largest earthquake recorded since 1900.

I am saddened to learn...

that M. Gordon "Reds" Wolman, an eminent geomorphologist, has passed away this week.

As a graduate student studying fluvial geomorphology I read many of his publications, as well as the classic book Fluvial Processes in Geomorphology that he co-authored in 1964. His obituary indicates he taught for 51 years (!) at Johns Hopkins University, and until last year, he was still accompanying students on local field trips. His contributions and devotion to the geosciences rank him among only a very few peers.

Bats hit their target...

by not aiming at it. Interestingly, Egyptian fruit bats (shown above, click to enlarge), along with other species in the genus Rousettus, are the only megachiropterid bats to use echolocation.

Remember, bats need friends.

Wise words...

It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data.

-- Arthur Conan Doyle

Massive mag 8.8 earthquake...

occurs in subduction zone between Nazca and South American plates, ~200 mi south of Santiago, Chile. News report here and a tsunami warning has been issued for Hawaii. Here's a slide show of some of the damage.

USGS details and summary: "A large vigorous aftershock sequence can be expected from this earthquake." The graphic above shows that this has already begun (click to enlarge) and here's a list of aftershock events.

Well, experts say a lot of things...

WEATHER: HOTTEST JANUARY EVER SAY CLIMATE EXPERTS

UPDATE: Unprecedented snow fall and frigid temperatures in Great Britain.

Amazing spherical panoramas...

in and around Utah. Stunning, actually.

Mind-bending optical illusions...

in an image gallery. Indeed, this is an interesting array of 12 illusory graphics. Take a peek, people who like to take peeks.

"Settled science" update...

ANALYSIS-Scientists examine causes for lull in warming

Sounds like a good idea.

Pleistocene flood watch...

Geologists Find a Way to Simulate the Great Missoula Floods

UPDATE: The basis for this visualization will be published in the Geological Society of America Bulletin this year.

Image credit: OregonLive.com.

And then there were four...

NASA Prepares Shuttle Discovery for April Launch

Liftoff of STS-131, one of the final four space shuttle missions, is set for 6:27 am EDT on April 5.

Plethora of plumes...

and hot spots on Enceladus.

Previous related post.

Breathtaking images of Earth...

made available: The Most Accurate, Highest Resolution Earth View to Date. Be sure to click on the image for the high res version.

Wise words...

The wonder of a single snowflake outweighs the wisdom of a million meteorologists.

-- Unknown

I need all the help...

I can get: The Internet Will Make You Smarter, Claims Study.

And make note of this good news: Taking a Nap Makes You Brainier. I think I'll build that into my daily schedule, right after lunch and before office hours.

Window on the world...

on board the International Space Station attached to the Tranquility module (click to enlarge). Wow - I can only imagine the views.

Image credit: NASA.

Major retraction...

of "settled science:" Climate scientists withdraw journal claims of rising sea levels. In sum:

"Scientists have been forced to withdraw a study on projected sea level rise due to global warming after finding mistakes that undermined the findings."

Hmm. And from the journal Nature Geoscience no less.

An image of Earth...

from space showing two simultaneously erupting volcanoes on Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula (click to enlarge) on 13 February 2010. Plumes are spewing from Klyuchevskaya Volcano in the north and Bezymianny Volcano in the south, seen in darker contrast to the surrounding snow-draped landscape.

Klyuchevskaya is both the tallest and most active volcano on Kamchatka, reaching a height of 4,835 m (15,860 ft). Bezymianny reaches 2,882 m (9,455 ft) above sea level.

Image credit: NASA Earth Observatory.

The perfect Olympic sport...

for geologists: Curling Strategy, by the Numbers. Good question:

"What is it about sliding big granite rocks that can be so compelling?"

The glue that binds rubbly asteroids...

isn't gravity: Small Asteroids Are Held Together by Van Der Waals Forces.

Kitty vs. robot...

Tenured earth science faculty...

at Florida State University are being laid off. Hmm.

UPDATE: After some thought it seems to me the administration has to declare fiscal exigency, or there are issues of moral turpitude involved, to take this action. Neither is mentioned in the article, and why are "junior faculty" referred to as tenured (sometimes it happens)? So perhaps these are "tenure track" faculty?

Doing the math...

Cold days, hot nights: Olympic Village secrets (14:1)

Antarctica base gets 16,500 condoms before darkness (132:1)

UPDATE: Emergency shipment of condoms headed to Olympic athletes

It's field work Friday...

once again on the Rathdrum Prairie as I go about my monthly rounds of acquiring groundwater level measurements. I had difficulties with a sounder last month and have since repaired the device. Hope it works better this time around.

Happy birthday to...

Nicolaus Copernicus, born on this date in 1473. Thanks for your heliocentric theory!

It gets curiouser and curiouser...

What happens at absolute zero?

What's a geologist doing...

addressing a bunch of botanists at a meeting of the Northeast Chapter of the Washington Native Plant Society? Well, talking about the recent geological processes that have shaped eastern Washington and deposited sediment from which pretty flowers (and wine grapes) can grow.

This coming Tuesday, 23 February, your humble correspondent has been invited to present:

“Pleistocene Flood Geology of Eastern Washington”

This illustrated lecture will explore the geologic story of the catastrophic outburst floods from glacial Lake Missoula that repeatedly scoured the landscape of eastern Washington. These enormous floods eroded the Channeled Scablands and created canyons and megaripples of tremendous scale.

Location: Meeting room at Manito Gardens in building east of Gaiser Conservatory Greenhouses. Link to Manito Park map.

Speaker time: 7:00 pm

The lecture is free and open to the general public.

If you love bugs...

then you'll go crazy over these: HEXBUG Micro Robotic Creatures.

UPDATE: I ordered a Nano.

Extraterrestrials appear to enjoy chocolate...

Britain Releases New UFO Files

Happy birthday Pluto...

discovered 80 years ago on this date. Earlier this month NASA released the most detailed images of the distant and diminutive body ever acquired (click to enlarge).

While it's no longer classified as a planet, it is the largest object in the Kuiper belt. Learn more about Pluto here. And here's a previous related post.

Image credit: Hubble Space Telescope (HST).

Not likely a good solution...

Can We Dispose of Radioactive Waste in Volcanoes?

Vigorous eruption from vent...

in Halema`uma`u crater on Kilauea in October 2008, showing the roiling ejection of incandescent ash at 3X normal speed. This video was shown last night during an excellent lecture by Don Swanson of the USGS and I am sharing it here with readers of this blog.

A rolling stone...

gathers no moss, destroys outbuildings and shoots through a house in eponymously named Rockville, Utah. Despite considerable property damage it appears that nobody was injured. Here's a good news report and a description of the event from the Utah Geological Survey.

A local witness reportedly commented: "Gravity pulls them [boulders] down, not up."

Yep. It's hard not to agree with that.

Arriving in the mail...

yesterday was a copy of Arches National Park Geology Tour by Ragland and Tasa. It consists of a small, very well illustrated color booklet and an accompanying CD. The diagrams and images are excellent, but the simplified geologic map is much too small and should have been placed on a full page.

Additionally, one minor contradiction presents itself upon first glance. Balanced Rock is suggested as an example of the old age stage of arch development, and the scattered blocks of rock at its base are speculatively attributed to a fallen arch. Yet in a subsequent discussion of the same feature, the historic collapse of Chip Off the Old Block (a small pinnacle) in the mid-1970s is mentioned, which is the source of many of the fallen blocks. (See my post related to the missing Chip.)

In sum, my first impression is that this is a nice introductory guide to the unique geology of this gem of a park, targeted to the curious tourist.

You can't have it both ways...

Good: Obama to announce financing for two nuclear reactors.

Bad: DOE to withdraw application for Yucca Mountain and Obama's nuclear power push faces obstacle: Waste.

Mudslide in southern Italy...

apparently triggered by heavy rainfall. Cool video and nobody was hurt.

E-mail spam filter at EWU...

is being switched tonight from the so-called PreciseMail system to Microsoft Forefront. Good luck with that.

The former system has an oxymoronic name for sure, as there was nothing at all "precise" about it - student messages only occasionally got through while loads (and loads) of spam was allowed to pass. The new system certainly can't be any worse. (I hope.)

UPDATE: I like this solution. And it's free.

Signs along the road...

I am embarrassed to admit that this is a sign at the university, ostensibly an institution of higher education. Sheesh.

Doh...

Climber tumbles into crater at Mount St. Helens. More here.

UPDATE: The search and rescue effort has unfortunately turned into a body recovery.

Post mortem to be conducted...

on Naches slide that occurred in October 2009: Geologists search massive Eastern Washington slide for clues.

Previous related posts here and here.

Frozen Wasteland...

More performances by Minnesotans for Global Warming can be found here, here and here.

Listen to your mother...

Mother Bats Expert at Saving Energy: Study Shows Wild Female Bats’ Temperature Regulation Strategy Is Flexible

Remember, bats need friends.

Geek love displayed...

in the form of "The World's Smallest Spontaneous Atomic Valentine."

Wise words...

No science is immune to the infection of politics and the corruption of power.

-- Jacob Bronowski

Startling admission...

of bad science: Climategate U-turn as scientist at centre of row admits: There has been no global warming since 1995. Interesting moment of candor:

"Professor Jones also conceded the possibility that the world was warmer in medieval times than now – suggesting global warming may not be a man-made phenomenon.

And he said that for the past 15 years there has been no ‘statistically significant’ warming."

And here's a related interview with the BBC.

Hmm. So much for "settled science" I guess. Too bad Al Gore is unwilling/unable/unavailable for comment.

What could possibly express love...

on Valentine's Day more than an image of the Heart Nebula?

And be sure to check out the close convergence of Jupiter, Venus and the slender crescent Moon right after sunset, low on the western horizon. Here's the sky map, courtesy Spaceweather.com.

RELATED: Last year it was a heart-shaped graben on Mars.

Image credit: Wikipedia, with no attribution of original source.

ISO is the new megapixel...

in digital photography. I wholeheartedly agree, and won't upgrade my camera until better sensitivity under low light conditions is incorporated, rather than chasing ever increasing megapixels.

Sea level varied erratically...

during latest Ice Age according to a new study. More here, and in the technical abstract.

Indeed, it seems pretty clear that there needs to be some significant revision to our understanding of glacial/interglacial cycling and the associated changes in sea level during the Pleistocene.

Do it yourself...

group sends $25 balloon to 70,000 feet. Cool.

Previous related post.

First place goes to the cake...

entitled "3-D Darwin with Evolution on His Mind" by student BL (click to enlarge). Second place went to students CC and JB and features "Darwin's Coleoptera Collection" as seen below:

Sadly, there were no geology entries this year. Nevertheless, congratulations to all those that took the time to express their creative side and honor a great scientist.

Happy birthday...

to the great naturalist Charles Darwin, his 201st. We'll certainly be celebrating here at EWU.

I'm judging the birthday cake competition and will post a roundup, with some pics of the winners, later today.

Wise words...

It is curious how there seems to be an instinctive disgust in Man for his nearest ancestors and relations. If only Darwin could conscientiously have traced man back to the Elephant or the Lion or the Antelope, how much ridicule and prejudice would have been spared to the doctrine of Evolution.

-- Havelock Ellis

A stratigraphic section...

twice the depth of the Grand Canyon: Layers In Mars Crater Record A History Of Changes.

Still waiting for comment...

from Al Gore: Is it time to overhaul the IPCC?

Perhaps it's, um, inconvenient for him?

UPDATE: Previous related post.

Russian customs officials...

know their geology by golly: Russia nabs meteorite smuggling ring. Priceless quote:

"But our officials could see it was clearly not granite!"

Good job. See, some education in earth science eventually is useful.

Geology lecture in Spokane...

this coming Tuesday evening:

Historic and Cataclysmic Eruptions
of Kilauea Volcano

Dr. Don Swanson, USGS,
Hawaii Volcanoes Observatory

Date: 16 February 2010

Location: Spokane Community College
Lair Auditorium, Building 6

Time: 7 pm

The lecture is free and open to the public.

Mad goose attacks...

A visual encyclopedia...

of Enceladus, one of the most intriguing moons in the solar system, in an image gallery at Wired.com.

Let's start with woolly mammoths first...

so they'll have something to hunt: Should We Clone Neanderthals?

RELATED: Researchers Reconstruct Genome Of Extinct Human.

Orion Nebula in infrared...

and visible wavelengths as captured by the VISTA telescope in Paranal, Chile (click to enlarge). This bright and beautiful object, also known as M42, lies in the sword of of its famous namesake constellation and can be seen with the naked eye. This enormous cloud of glowing gas and dust lies about 1,350 light years from Earth and is a region of massive star formation, about 24 light years across.

Image credit: ESO.

Rare earthquake shakes...

northern Illinois early this morning, with an epicenter located about 50 miles northwest of Chicago. Here's the USGS report on the 3.8 mag event and the community intensity map.

No damage or injuries have been reported. Claims of some nearby residents being "tossed out of bed" seem exaggerated.

UPDATE: Here's a follow-up article.

Water on Enceladus confirmed...

by Cassini: Cassini detection adds to Enceladus liquid water story.

Previous related post.

Right on target...

If you're going to do good science, release the computer code too. The bottom line:

"This is how science works: by openness, by publishing minute details of an experiment, some mathematical equations or a simulation; by doing this you embrace deniability. This does not seem to have happened in climate research. Many researchers have refused to release their computer programs — even though they are still in existence and not subject to commercial agreements."

Free the code!

Solar Dynamics Observatory...

(SDO) is scheduled to launch on Wednesday, 10 February, from Kennedy Space Center at ~10:30 am EST. Information about its mission can be found on the official NASA web page, while a general description of the science can be found here.

UPDATE: Launch stalled by weather. The next attempt will be Thursday, 11 February, at 10:23 am EST.

Float-through tour of the ISS...

Advances in food technology you can use...

Heinz' New Ketchup Packet Dips, Squeezes and Scores

I actually prefer mustard on my fries.

Diving kingfisher...

caught in the act. Here's how it was done by photographer Adrian Groves (click to enlarge).

Absolutely fantastic.

Graphene is the new silicon...

IBM Demonstrates 100GHz Graphene-Based Transistors. Why is this important? Here's why:

"The transistor prototypes were made from sheets of carbon just one atom thick that could switch on and off at 100 billion times per second. The 100-gigahertz speed is about 10 times faster than any silicon equivalents."

Wow, transistors the size of molecules. Faster, please.

Weather forces NASA...

to scrub Endeavour launch. Low clouds foiled today's launch, and the next attempt is Monday at 4:14 am EST.

Here's a previous related post about its mission to the ISS, and a link to a high-res image of Endeavour sitting on the launch pad.

UPDATE: Endeavour successfully lifted off early Monday morning.

Commercial jet caught in flight...

over the red rock desert in southern Utah and frozen in aerial images on Google Earth (click to enlarge). I was perusing imagery in an area northwest of Moab, planning field work for the coming spring, and this caught my eye. One can clearly see the aircraft and its contrail, as well as their respective shadows on the ground.

Apparently I'm not the first to spot various aircraft in flight in GE.

Oh yeah, that's the Slick Rock Member of the Entrada Sandstone and the overlying members of the Morrison Formation in outcrop, and some modern eolian dunes.

The changeover from satellite Internet...

to DSL service went well late yesterday afternoon. Here's the back-story:

I had become increasingly frustrated with the so-called high speed HughesNet satellite service during the last year, noticing a significant decrease in connection speeds well below that which was promised in my package (1 Mbps download, 128 Kbps upload). After attempting to troubleshoot potential technical issues with the hardware with a technical support staff that seemed intent on being non-responsive, I pulled the plug.

DSL service to my rural address was not available three years ago, but it is now. So, I've switched to a faster DSL service (1.5 Mbps) that's $30 per month less expensive. Plus, there are no 'fair access policy' limitations, nor is there a several second-long latency between clicking on a link and receiving content, as there was with satellite. The local phone company provided the wireless modem/router, installation and configuration took about 30 minutes, and things are humming along quite nicely at my digital cottage in the forest.

Zoom zoom. Speed is good. Happy now.

[Side note: the Bu bro switched from HughesNet to WildBlue (another satellite provider) earlier last year because of similar customer service difficulties. He seems pretty pleased so far.]

Carbon crystals harder than diamond...

found in a Finnish meteorite. Read more here.

Perhaps we'll have to add '11' to Mohs hardness scale?

The last night launch...

of a space shuttle will occur this Sunday, 7 February, at 4:39 am EST: Space Shuttle Endeavour 'Go' for Sunday Launch. The STS-130 mission will deliver the final module of the U.S. portion of the International Space Station (ISS). I gave serious thought to traveling to Florida in order to witness this launch.

That leaves only four more shuttle missions - all to the ISS - and then the United States will be without the capability of human spaceflight for the first time since 1961. Sad, really. I may indeed have to watch, in person, one of these final launches.

I'll drink to that...

Shackleton's Booze Found In The Antarctic

“To our amazement we found five crates, three labeled as containing whiskey and two labeled as containing brandy,” Al Fastier, of the New Zealand Antarctic Heritage Trust, told AFP. The real bonus was the unexpected discovery of the contents of the brandy crates, one labeled Chas McKinlay & Co and the other labeled The Hunter Valley Distillery Limited Allandale, he added.

Ernest Shackleton is one of my explorer heroes, and if you haven't read this epic tale of survival then be sure to put it on your reading list: Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing. Simply amazing.

Life on Earth would be impossible...

without it: First Breath: Earth's Billion-Year Struggle for Oxygen.

Wise words...

If we long to believe that the stars rise and set for us, that we are the reason there is a Universe, does science do us a disservice in deflating our conceits?

— Carl Sagan

Cassini to continue...

its explorations to 2017: NASA Extends Cassini's Tour of Saturn. (Click image to enlarge to a stunning high resolution version.)

Isn't that why it was built?

Scientists Hope LHC Will Answer Big Questions.

Perhaps if it doesn't detect the elusive Higgs boson it may provide the "Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything."

It tasted weird anyway...

New Research Rejects 80-Year Theory of 'Primordial Soup' as the Origin of Life

On the road this afternoon...

traveling to Central Washington University in order to present an invited talk on "The Geology of Mars and the Scablands Connection" to the Ellensburg Chapter of the Ice Age Floods Institute.

I sure hope I don't disappoint.

Get your junk out of my space...

Ownership of satellites, junk and debris in Earth orbit, segregated by country, visualized in a dramatic infographic (click to enlarge). Read the related article at PopSci.com.

Up close and personal...

with the most famous rodent in America: Punxsutawney Phil: The Groundhog Behind the Myth. And, unfortunately, Phil saw his shadow this morning.

RELATED: Here's my post on Groundhog Day 2009 and its real astronomical significance.

Drip, drip, drip...

Leaked climate change emails scientist 'hid' data flaws

Strange case of moving weather posts and a scientist under siege

One wonders why the American media aren't covering any of this alleged scientific misconduct?

Grossly oversimplified explanation...

of river meanders, or lack thereof on the early Earth, attributed to the absence of terrestrial plants, in a Scientific American podcast: Plants Put the Bend in Rivers. In sum:

"...co-evolution of flora and flow led to the meandering rivers we know today..."

Hmm. I respectfully disagree. Strongly.

One need only to look at Mars, which is, as far as I know, completely devoid of plant life throughout its history, yet shows river meanders quite clearly in exhumed deposits in Eberswalde Crater as seen below (click to enlarge):
And take a look at these meandering stream courses on Titan, not created by flowing water but by liquid hydrocarbons:No plants on Titan (a moon of Saturn), either, as it's impossibly cold there.

In other words, stream gradient and sediment particle size and total sediment load are considerably more important controls on river meandering than the establishment of plants (although certainly a stabilizing influence on the floodplain) that is the premise of the linked podcast.

Signs along the road...

at Artist's Point in Yellowstone National Park (click to enlarge). Perhaps this guy is a candidate-in-training for the Darwin Awards?