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5 February 2011
Archival Gold: National Resources Conservation Service Photo Gallery
Following up on my last post, in which I mentioned volcanic soils (and the plants that can be found in volcanic settings), I thought I’d feature a photo gallery that highlights some of those same things. The National Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) is part of the Department of Agriculture, and is responsible for helping to improve, protect, and conserve natural resources on private lands through a cooperative partnership with local and state agencies. (It used to be known as the Soil Conservation Service, but its mission has expanded beyond soil to other natural resources.) The NRCS Photo Gallery features photos of natural resources and conservation activities in the United States, as well as images of NRCS activities and employees
12 January 2011
Archival Gold: The NOAA Photo Library
The next feature for “Archival Gold”, posts featuring public-domain Earth science images, is the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)’s Photo Library. Here’s a bit about it from their site:
The NOAA Photo Library has been built so as to capture the work, observations, and studies that are carried on by the scientists, engineers, commissioned officers, and administrative personnel that make up this complex and scientifically diverse agency. It also has been built in an attempt to capture NOAA’s scientific heritage, which is in fact a heritage shared by much of the physical and environmental science communities in the United States today.
2 January 2011
Geolutions and reflections for 2011
Happy New Year!
I tend not to make traditional resolutions (get fit, eat healthy, etc. etc.) because I know I’ll eventually forget about them, but I do like to make geolutions, or geologically-oriented plans for the new year. I thought I might list a few, as well as a few grad-school-related thoughts I’ve been mulling over in the past few weeks.
9 December 2010
Archival Gold: Earth science photos you may not have seen
While I was working at the American Geological Institute, I helped with a lot of projects that required photo research. To keep costs down, we usually tried to find non-copyrighted images (i.e., from websites with a .gov address). As it turns out, there are a lot of really useful places besides Wikipedia to get images, and they’re ones I still use when I want to illustrate a concept (and I’m not sure about using someone else’s images on the blog). Since I seem to have a little trouble finding a weekly feature that someone else in the geoblogosphere isn’t already doing, I thought I’d make it my task to share “forgotten” photos from my research sources.
29 July 2010
Role and impacts of the geoblogosphere (July Accretionary Wedge)
Not that kind of impact! Courtesy NASA/Don Davis. David Bressan over at History of Geology poses the questions du mois: How can geoblogging impact society and “real geology”? Should and can we promote the “geoblogosphere”? Are blogs private “business” or public affairs? Are institutions undervaluing the possibilities given by this new method of communication? To avoid a really long post in response to all of the questions – though they’re …
3 June 2010
Perception of volcanic hazards in Iceland
The eruption may be subsiding a bit, but there is still a lot of discussion (and arguing) centered around the Eyafyallajökull event. It’s not entirely surprising; most people in Europe don’t have to deal with active volcanoes, and the last time an Icelandic one caused widespread trouble was in the 18th century. But what about the Icelandic response? One might assume, given the prevalence of volcanic and geothermal activity in Iceland, …
26 March 2010
Accretionary Wedge # 23: What are you working on?
The latest installment of the Accretionary Wedge is being hosted by Ed at Geology Happens, and here’s the question of interest: This AW is to share your latest discovery with all of us. Please let us in on your thoughts about your current work. What you are finding, what you are looking for. Any problems? Anything working out well? My current work is a bit varied for a volcanologist, I’ll …
Jessica Ball is a volcanologist at the U.S. Geological Survey, researching volcanic hydrothermal systems and stability, and doing science communication for the California Volcano Observatory. She previously worked at the Geological Society of America's Washington DC Policy Office, learning about the intersection of Earth science and legislative affairs. Her Mendenhall postdoc and PhD focused on how water affects the stability of volcanoes, and involved both field investigations and numerical modeling applications. Her blogging covers a range of topics, from her experiences in academic geosciences to science outreach and communication to her field and lab work in volcanology.