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14 October 2020
A double tragedy: two landslides close to the construction site of the Rao Trang 3 hydropower plant in Vietnam
A double tragedy: two landslides close to the construction site of the Rao Trang 3 hydroelectric plant in Vietnam
13 October 2020
The role of mycorrhizal fungi in preventing landslides
An interesting short article points out that mycorrhizal fungi may play a key in reducing the susceptibility to landslides
12 October 2020
How faculty can help increase STEM student voter turnout (and turnout across all disciplines)
by Samantha Perlman, Civic Engagement Manager, Scholars Strategy Network & Melissa Varga, Science Network Community Manager & Partnerships Coordinator With U.S. elections right around the corner, we are all wondering how this unprecedented election will play out. As a deadly pandemic disrupts voting, and rampant and viral misinformation spreads throughout the country, concerns among the public about the integrity of our voting systems are understandably heightened. During this difficult …
1 October 2020
Remote student collaboration via Google Jamboard
Check out Google Jamboard for connection, creation, and collaboration among students in remote synchronous classrooms – useful for icebreakers, laboratory exercises, and more
25 September 2020
The Most Important Thing You Can Do About Climate Change
There is a LOT of evidence from psychologists that how we discuss climate change is very important. It turns out that it’s very easy to reinforce wrong beliefs. You can end up leaving someone who is uncertain about how serious the issue is with an even stronger opinion that is not based on facts. How can we do better? Dr.Katherine Hayhoe at Texas Tech University is IMHO the expert in …
23 September 2020
Honoring June Bacon-Bercey and her AGU scholarship for women in atmospheric sciences
It started with contest winnings, and the June Bacon-Bercey Scholarship in Atmospheric Sciences for Women is restarting to “support women students with a demonstrated interest in atmospheric sciences and intersections with meteorology as they establish their studies and build careers in the field.” Learn more about June Bacon-Bercey’s professional achievements and passion for increasing participation in STEM.
21 September 2020
Elections and Science: Climate Science Legal Defense Fund is here to help scientists prepare to participate in 2020 elections
Climate Science Legal Defense Fund attorneys are teaming up with the American Geophysical Union to host two free webinars on September 28th and October 13th. This webinar series will help scientists from all disciplines participate in electoral politics or engage directly with their legislators as private citizens fully, confidently, and effectively. The first webinar in the series on 28 September from 2-3pm ET, entitled “How scientists can be involved in …
7 September 2020
The Koidern landslide: a long runout event in Canada
On Saturday Brent Ward tweeted a fantastic set of aerial images of the Koidern landslide, in the Yukon of Canada.
25 August 2020
Current event literacy with science news stories
Sharing current event news stories with students in class can take little time and help them connect to the discipline and the world around them. There is individual, personal learning that can happen with each student if there is an assignment with an article provided to them or found on their own. And in this present state where the news is focused on medical, social, and political stories, helping students find the Earth science stories could help guide students to improved scientific literacy.
21 August 2020
COVID-19 recovery must include environmental justice
Caroline Gleason is AGU’s spring 2020 public affairs intern and a graduate student studying climate and society at Columbia University. She is passionate about climate communication, STEM education and protecting public lands. Find her on Twitter @cgleas19. The COVID-19 pandemic has shone a light on many unaddressed inequities in our society. In many cases, it has compounded the disproportionate health and safety outcomes of Black, Indigenous and people of color …
17 August 2020
Did We Break the Planetary Temperature Record Sunday? Probably So!
We may have broken the Earth’s high-temperature record today. Furnace Creek, California in Death Valley reached 130 degrees(F) today at 3:41PM PDT. This is the first time since 1913 that it’s gotten that hot in Death Valley, and it may NEVER have gotten that hot there. The World Meteorological Organisation still lists the 134F degrees in Death Valley in July 1913 as the hottest temperature recorded on Earth, but most …
15 August 2020
NWS Office Issues First Ever Fire Tornado Warning
Pyrocumulonimbus. That’s the term for a cumulonimbus cloud that develops when a large wildfire heats the air up so much that a giant cloud develops. They can develop even if the atmosphere is stable since the forcing is all from the heat of the fire below. If there is wind shear in the atmosphere, they can rotate and sometimes produce a tornado. We’ve seen quite a few of these over …
13 August 2020
Stonehaven: landslides on the UK railway network
Yesterday a rail accident near to Stonehaven in Scotland killed three people. There is speculation that it was caused by a landslide. This shines a light on the challenges of managing ageing earthworks on the UK rail system.
12 August 2020
Severe Crop Damage From Midwest Derecho Visible from Space
The damage from the severe derecho in the Midwest Tuesday is visible from space. Early estimates are that the damage may exceed a billion dollars. Click on the image above for a larger view. It’s not uncommon for the paths of large tornadoes to be visible from weather satellites but the crop damage over such a wide swatch is not something you see every day. The corn crops across this …
11 August 2020
Disease Experts Are Now Getting The Climate Science Treatment
I have to feel sorry for Dr. Anthony Fauci. He has received several death threats and had to hire security for his family. So have other disease experts and the simple reason is that their science conflicts with the political worldview of some politicians and their supporters. The science does not care about your political party, it cares about what you can test and what you can show. If …
10 August 2020
Revisiting the continua of undergraduate research
Does your institution have a definition of undergraduate research? How narrow or broad is the definition? Perhaps revisit that definition and think about how to be more inclusive in the practices, components, and students that engage in these experiences.
31 July 2020
Hurricane Isaias Will Be Wetter and Stronger Because of Climate Change
Hurricane Warnings were just posted for much of Central/South Florida, from the Kennedy Space Center southward to Boca Raton and it looks more and more likely that Isaias will track near the coastline as far north as Delaware. Make no mistake about it, the storm will be worse because of climate change in a myriad of ways. The storm surge and any coastal flooding will be higher because the sea …
30 July 2020
Congressional Visits Days with a Virtual Twist: A DEI Virtual Advocacy Days Recap
Each year, AGU hosts and co-hosts several Congressional Visits Day events, which provide scientists from the Earth and space science community an opportunity to build relationships with their policymakers and further science policy through in-person meetings on Capitol Hill. However, with the current public health crisis limiting travel and face-to-face interactions, holding such events this year in person is not possible. Instead, we took the opportunity to reimagine Congressional Visits …
Online is a good time to start calling the “office hour” by another name
Now, with social distancing in place and some university programs fully online, will even fewer students come to the office hours? And does calling it an office hour for incoming freshmen even make sense? There is alot to think about as we prepare for the fall semester – and we should not forget to think about office hours and what we will name them, how we will promote them, and how we will utilize them in a virtual environment.
21 July 2020
It’s Time to Pay Attention to the Tropics
The NHC started advisories on Tropical Depression 7 in the mid-Atlantic this evening and there is an area of disturbed weather south of Florida as well. Sometimes, it seems like a switch flips and the Atlantic basin starts to bubble. The switch has flipped. In spite of some big outbreaks of dust a few weeks ago, the waters in the main development region (MDR) are well above average and any …
