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6 June 2023
The 4 June 2023 landslide at Yongsheng Township in Sichuan Province, China
The 4 June 2023 landslide at Yongsheng Township in Sichuan Province, China, which killed 19 people near to a mine site.
5 June 2023
Pyramid and Van Trump Glacier, Mount Rainier No Longer Glaciers-Thresholds Leading to Glacier Loss
Van Trump (VT) and Pyramid (P) Snowfields Oct. 19, 2022 false color Sentinel image. VT1 and P1 are the largest at ~0.046 and 0.048 km² respectively. Beason et al (2023) provide an excellent record of glacier extent change on Mount Rainier Glaciers for the 1896-2021 period. They note a 41.6% reduction in Mount Rainier glacier area during this 125 year period. This study identified Stevens Glacier as no longer existing …
Tales from the Deep: Stories of Scientific Ocean Drilling
Do you have a story related to scientific ocean drilling? Consider adding your voice to our StoryCorps community! Community participation is needed for a strong community archive.
Landslides associated with rapid snowmelt in western North America in May 2023
Several significant landslides associated with rapid snowmelt in western North America in May 2023, driven by exceptional temperatures.
2 June 2023
What makes a river a river?
Close your eyes and picture a river…go on, do it!
What did you see? Did you picture a clear, deep mountain stream? A raging river in a steep gorge? A creek with grassy banks and forest? Whatever you pictured, it probably included water.
Solving for climate: The silent killer in your urban backyard
Cities are hotter due to concrete and asphalt absorbing and retaining heat, less tree cover, AC units pumping out hot air, and more. Most worrying is how hot it remains at night, when bodies are trying to cool down and recover from hot daytime temps.
1 June 2023
National Ocean Month 2023 – NOAA, NASA, and a Presidential Proclamation
“During National Ocean Month, we recommit to protecting and conserving our precious ocean and to harnessing its power to shape a more sustainable planet.”
El Molino: a valley-blocking landslide breach event in Colombia
Satellite images from Planet show that the landslide lake at El Molino in Colombia has breached, releasing a large debris flow.
31 May 2023
Accelerating movement at Brienz/Brinzauls
The rockslope at Brienz/Brinzauls in Switzerland is accelerating, although forecasting future behaviour remains difficult.
26 May 2023
Solving for climate: Earth’s next top (climate) model
We all know the saying “history repeats itself” but to what extent is that true when it comes to Earth’s climate? In order to understand and even predict future climates, transitions from one historical climate state to another can be mathematically modeled by atmospheric scientists like Dr. Matthew Huber.
25 May 2023
Sawyer Glacier, Tracy Arm Alaska Retreats from Tidewater
Sawyer Glacier Alaska in False Color Sentinel images from Sept. 12, 2022 and May 23, 2023. Note the the calving face in 2022 between the yellows arrows has become bare ground by May 23, 2023. TA=Tracy Arm Sawyer Glacier in May 19, 2023, taken by Steve Backus (Lindblad Expeditions Naturalist), not touching tidewater. Sawyer Glacier, is an Alaskan glacier where the retreat has long been viewed by many visitors. It …
The 14 May 2023 debris flow at Johnston Ridge Observatory Access Road, Mount Saint Helens
The 14 May 2023 debris flow at Johnston Ridge Observatory Access Road, Mount Saint Helens, in Washington State, USA
23 May 2023
Planet images of the landslide at Draper in Utah
Planet has collected high resolution satellite images of the 22 April 2023 urban landslide at Draper in Utah.
22 May 2023
Lidar highlights impressive landslide density on the southern Appalachian Blue Ridge Escarpment, western North Carolina
With a high quality (0.5-meter resolution) lidar dataset, it’s hard to examine much of the Blue Ridge Escarpment without seeing a few landslide features. Some slopes have more than others, however, and I think the McDowell County slope shown below probably has the greatest density of slides I have seen in the last 3 years of mapping. The most likely explanation is an extreme precipitation event. This area was heavily impacted in both 1916 and 1940 by extreme rainfall events, and the clustering of slides and their lack of damage to mid-20th century road grades would fit a connection to either of the storms nicely. These McDowell County slopes also resemble slopes in the headwaters of the Moorman’s River west of Charlottesville, Virginia, which experienced numerous slides due to an exceptional thunderstorm event in 1995.
19 May 2023
Solving for climate: (Health and safety) in (climate) numbers
We’ve all probably heard about how climate change is affecting the ice sheets and polar bears, but what about human health? More severe and numerous floods, droughts, and heat waves impact a wide range of health outcomes, and shifting biomes may spread diseases to new places. How do scientists understand which portions of health effects are caused by climate change, and how can health organizations be prepared?
18 May 2023
Thorthormi Glacier Retreat and Rapid Lake Expansion 2019-2023
Thorthormi Glacier terminus lake in false color Sentinel images from October 2022 and May 2023. Red arrow=terminus locaiton in August, 2019, Orange arrow=terminus location October 2021, Yellow arrow terminus location in October 2022. Lake area in October 2022 is 4.3 km². Thorthormi Glacier drains south from the border with China into the Pho Chu River, Bhutan. Osti et al (2012) reported in detail on the nature of potential Glacier lake …
16 May 2023
Mount Baker Glaciers, Washington Snowpack Recession and Evolution May 2022-May 2023
Sholes Glacier snowcover extent change from 8-8-2022 to 10-17-2022. Snowcover declined from 98% of glacier to 10% of glacier during this period. Black dots are measurement sites, yellow dots the transient snowline, purple contour= 1.5 m, green contour= 2 m, brown contour= 2.5 m, and orange contour= 3 m snow depths on 8-8-2022. The 2022 melt season for Mount Baker glaciers was one for the record books, with a slow …
Planet images of the Lake Kivu landslides in the DRC
Planet has been able to collect a set of SkySat images of the Lake Kivu landslides in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
15 May 2023
Student creativity through Sciku (science haiku)
I could tell this semester’s course content was weighing heavily on my students emotionally, despite my efforts each week to discussion solutions to our global challenges. So I decided to lighten the mood at the end by challenging students to write and share their own “sciku”. I was completely amazed with their creativity, their passion, and the clear investment of themselves in writing the haiku and supporting description.
14 May 2023
Sharing NOAA’s key focus areas – via quilt
World Oceans Day and National Ocean Month are coming up in June – are you ready to share your ocean science knowledge? Think about some creative approaches – such as using quilts to share the key focus areas of NOAA!
