Registration is now open for the Association for Women (AWG) Geoscientists 2014 Canadian Rockies Geology Field Trip. All registration information and associated forms are posted on the AWG website at: AWG 2014 Field Trip. The AWG 2014 Canadian Rockies field trip is scheduled for August 28 to September 7, 2014, and will be the field trip…
Rising Seas and Carbon Footprint Visualizations
New sets of interactive maps help to visualize both the impact of rising seas on the world’s coastlines and U.S household carbon footprints.National Geographic has posted a set of world-wide interactive maps that show new coastal outlines resulting from the premise of all ice melting and thus raising sea level approximately 216 feet. As noted…
Top Five 2014 Energy/Environmental Priorities of the EU
I thought that it’s instructive for anyone interested in US energy/environmental policy to look at what the EU has on its 2014 agenda. Environmental journalist Sonja van Renssen outlines the top 5 EU energy/environmental issues. The issue priorities are: The biggest issue on the agenda will be the climate and energy package to be unveiled by the European…
Dead Mud Encroaches On To Maine’s Shellfish Flats
“Dead mud” is not a geologic term that I had heard before. But it well describes a geologic event that may have catastrophic implications for coastal areas as oceans continue to acidify. The Maine coastal areas are being particularly hard hit with dead mud: The spread of “dead mud” among Maine’s shellfish flats could have…
Montana Energy News Roundup
During the last week, several significant energy-related events that peaked my interest occurred. Here’s a brief summary of those that I think are worth noting: – Northwestern Energy (NWE) formally requested a withdrawal of the Mountain States Transmission Intertie (MSTI) Right-of-Way application from the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. NWE submitted the request for right-of-way…
Sagan 2013 Lecture: Terra Sapiens -The Role of Science in Fostering a Wisely Managed Earth
So you couldn’t go to the 2013 American Geophysical Union’s Fall meeting in San Francisco? Now at least we can listen to the Carl Sagan Lecture by Dr. David Grinspoon, entitled “Terra Sapiens: The Role of Science in Fostering a Wisely Managed Earth” that is now posted on YouTube. It’s well worth the hour’s time: [embedplusvideo…
SenseFly Drone aerobatics and oblique aerial photos
In all the bad press about drones, there are some good and exciting applications of this technology with the smaller, civilian-type drones. One application of interest to earth scientists is the ability to acquire high-resolution oblique aerial photos. One company, SenseFly, just released technology for this kind of drone application: SenseFly, a Parrot company, releases…
Between the Lines with Map Legends
In her continuing blog series, “The Hidden Meanings of Maps”, Anne-Laure Freant’s new posting focuses on map legends. As noted in her blog: Most cartographers neglect map legends. They put a lot of effort in the projection and scale choice, data and pretty colors selection, but then they just want to add a powerful title and press the “share” button. That…
Yellowstone and Super-Eruptions
I give much thought to supervolcanoes – mainly because I live next to Yellowstone National Park and consequently spend much time in the Park. So when I saw today’s Nature publications about the cause of super-eruptions, naturally I wanted to read them. I’ll first start with a definition for a supervolcano, and for that I’ll use…
A Snafu for US Gas Exports and US Energy Policy
A cost-overrun dispute on the expanded Panama Canal construction could be a big snafu for exporting US liquefied natural gas. Keith Johnson of the Seattle Times notes that: The project is the expansion of the Panama Canal to allow more and bigger ships to pass through – for instance, the large tankers that carry liquefied…
How Do You See Our Earth?
How do we actually visualize the earth? The Vsauce channel has posted an intriguing video that explores this question, ranging from discussions on human color perception to map projections. And much thanks to Anne-Laure Freant, who is fast becoming my favorite geographer, for posting a blog on the video, thus bringing it to my attention….
Paleontology Podcasts
Palaeocast hosts podcasts on varied aspects of paleontology, including podcasts on mass extinctions, early vertebrate evolution, trilobites, trace fossils, and the fossil forests of Gilboa – just to name a few. Currently there are 24 podcasts posted on the Palaeocast website, with today’s podcast focusing on marsupial evolution. In this latest podcast, Laura Sol does…
The Hidden Intent of Map Makers?
The blog series, The Hidden Meanings of Maps posted by Anne-Laure Freant, is well worth reading for all who make and use maps. The main theme to the blog set is basically – how well does a map carry its meaning to viewers? The map making blog series includes the following topics: – The Projection Choice – Why Scale Matters…
Whose Land Is It Anyways?
The development of energy resources is typically dependent upon the availability of infrastructure such as hydrocarbon pipelines and transmission lines. Many of the issues concerning energy development and consequently infrastructure construction focus on the impact of climate change generated by a particular energy resource. The continuing controversy over the permitting of TransCanada’s Keystone XL pipeline…
Cuba Geology Via the Cuban Digital Geoscience Library
The Cuban Digital Geoscience Library, compiled by Yasmani Ceballos Izquierdo and Manuel Iturralde-Vinet, is now available at www.redciencia.cu/geobiblio/inicio.html. This is an extremely complete compendium of resources on Cuban geology – one that I wish I had access to before I went on geology/”people to people” tour to Cuba last March…