Lamont Weekly Report, July 16, 2021

     Hello Friends,  This will be a short and sweet summer missive.  First, it was so fun and inspiring to hear John Cook’s first Summer Stars lecture yesterday and learn about how one can inoculate oneself against fake news.  So cool to see the dozens of places across the nation, and indeed world, where his cartoons and gamification of cognitive science are being used in classrooms to combat mis-information about climate change.  If you missed the lecture, the recording will be available shortly.

     Second, the campus celebrated two “big deal” scholarly achievements this week.  Carlos Martinez successfully defended his thesis on “Seasonal Climatology, Variability, Characteristics, and Prediction of the Caribbean Rainfall Cycle”. Carlos will be going to the National Center for Atmospheric Research beginning this fall to join the prestigious NCAR Advanced Study Postdoctoral Program. Jordan Abell also successfully defended his thesis “Earth, Wind, and Water: Plio-Pleistocene Climate Evolution in East Asia and the North Pacific".  Jordan’s thesis covers a variety of timescales, from the Pliocene to the modern, and stretches from the windiest place on Earth (the stony Hami desert) to sediments of the deep Pacific Ocean. Jordan's work showed that the westerlies, globally, were weaker and more poleward in the warmer world of the Pliocene, an analogue for present and future climate change. Jordan was awarded a prestigious NSF postdoctoral fellowship and he will join the University of Arizona in September.

     Also this week—a big shout-out to Senior Research Scientist Vicki Ferrini who has agreed to serve as our first ever Associate Director for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI).  Reporting to the LDEO Director, the AD for DEI is responsible for promoting visionary DEI initiatives across the Observatory. Vicki will work closely with the Assistant Director of Academic Affairs and Diversity, as well as the community at large, to ensure a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive environment at Lamont.   

     More news you can use, especially if you have young children and live near Piermont—our  Lamont Hudson River Field Station is back up and running their summer programming.  Margie Turrin and Laurel Zaima would love the Lamont community's help in sharing the word. Each summer weekend they are running Science Saturdays from 11-3PM outside on the end of the Piermont pier. This is a chance to engage the public with science and Lamont. Over the coming weeks they will be seining for fish and talking about Hudson River biology, collecting short push cores and talking about the stories in the sediments, and running some nature scavenger hunts to connect the public and children with the ecology and history of the pier.  Saturday July 31st will be a particularly special day as the Lamont team joins in an annual estuary-wide event, The Hudson River Fish Count.  Note that all events are being held outside so thunderstorms will cancel. And if you have not personally weighed in on topics to include for our planned interactive wall display of Hudson River stewards use this link to do so!  We are collecting feedback throughout July and would love your input.   

     After a month and a half at sea, last Sunday Suzanne Carbotte, Brian Boston and their colleagues aboard Langseth arrived in Seattle, concluding their investigation of the Cascadia Subduction Zone.  During their study, Suzanne and her team used the Langseth’s advanced seismic imaging capability in an ambitious study to provide a regional-scale characterization of the structure and properties of the Cascadia megathrust fault and accretionary wedge, spanning nearly the full length of the subduction zone. While they were surveying, an extensive array of 760 land seismometers and 114 ocean bottom seismometers were deployed to record the Langseth’s soundings and enable an integrated off-shore-onshore high-resolution characterization of the deeper parts of the subduction zone beneath North America. The study was an epic success and will support improved understanding of earthquake and tsunami hazards in the Pacific Northwest.  Suzanne, this was also a logistical and organizational tour de force—you are amazing!

     At the opposite side of the Pacific, a complementary study on the behavior of subduction zones, “Fluid-rich subducting topography generates anomalous forearc porosity, was just published by Christine Chesley.  I mention it because it is a significant accomplishment for a number of reasons: first, Christine is a graduate student; second, the paper was published in Nature (woot woot!); and third, an accompanying News and Views article discussed the paper’s significance.  Congrats Christine!  I’m not sure what it is about your paper title above, but I really like it.

     With that I will sign off for the weekend.  It must be July because I ate my first campus raspberries today—get them before the deer.  I remember when I was a graduate student there were giant blackberry bushes at the bottom of the hill behind Lamont Hall—we would collect pints and pints of berries and whip up summer daiquiris.  There were a lot fewer deer around back then.  

     Please read the Federal Science Partners report I will circulate separately.  Lots of good info about what is coming out of the funding agencies in D.C.  And of course, don’t forget the many more news updates below!

     Have a peaceful weekend.  Mo

 

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LAMONT IN THE MEDIA: 

 

FEATURED NEWS

 

As Hurricane Season Worsens, Where Do We Go Next?

PBS Peril & Promise

July 15, 2021

Interview with Lamont climate scientist Suzana Camargo (begins at 25:55).

 

Toxic Mercury May Be Deposited in Forests in Much Greater Quantities

Tech Explorist

July 12, 2021

Article on study by Lamont atmospheric scientist Róisín Commane and colleagues.

 

Flash Flooding, Other Recent Rough Weather Underscores Vulnerability of NYC Infrastructure

WPIX TV

July 12, 2021

Interview with Lamont scientist Klaus Jacob.

 

A Lake in Antarctica Suddenly Drains

Labroots

July 11, 2021

Article on study by Lamont glaciologist Jonathan Kingslake, PhD student Julian Spergel, and colleagues.

 

The Science of Heat Domes and How Drought and Climate Change Make Them Worse

Washington Post

July 10, 2021

Article quotes Lamont postdoc Jane W. Baldwin.

 

In Antarctica, a Lake’s Disappearance Might Offer Clues About Melting Ice Shelves

Washington Post

July 10, 2021

Article on study by Lamont glaciologist Jonathan Kingslake, PhD student Julian Spergel, and colleagues.

 

Thursday’s Downpour Could Have Been Worse for the Subway System

Gothamist

July 10, 2021

Article quotes Lamont geophysicist Klaus Jacob.

 

As Rising Seas Erode Buildings, It's Getting Riskier to Live on the Coast

USA Today

July 9, 2021

Article quotes Lamont geophysicist Klaus Jacob and climate scientist Adam Sobel.

 

'A Default Sewer System': Subway Flooding Is Bigger Than Just the MTA

The City

July 9, 2021

Article quotes Lamont geophysicist Klaus Jacob.

 

Why the New York Subway Has a Water Problem

The New York Times

July 9, 2021

Article quotes Lamont geophysicist Klaus Jacob.

 

These Videos of New York Subway and Apartment Floods Will Fill You with a Medium Amount of Existential Dread

Esquire

July 9, 2021

Article quotes Lamont climate scientist Adam Sobel.

 

Episode 52. Tropical Cyclones

The Sweaty Penguin

July 9, 2021

Interview with Lamont climate scientist Suzana Camargo (begins at 25:55).

 

Big Oil's Lies About Climate Change—A Climate Scientist's Take

Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

July 9, 2021

Opinion piece by Lamont climate scientist Adam Sobel.

 

The Link Between Silent Earthquakes and Undersea Mountains Sliding Beneath the Earth's Crust

Stuff

July 8, 2021

Article on research by Lamont PhD student Christine Chesley, geophysicist Kerry Key, former Lamont postdoc Samer Naif, and colleague.

 

Subduction Zone Mystery: Do Mountains Beneath the Sea Fuel Silent Earthquakes?

New Zealand Herald

July 8, 2021

Article on research by Lamont PhD student Christine Chesley, geophysicist Kerry Key, former Lamont postdoc Samer Naif, and colleague.

 

Scientists Now Racing to Study Heat Conditions that Spontaneously Kill Humans

The Hill

July 8, 2021

Article quotes Lamont climate scientist Radley Horton and cites research co-authored with Lamont PhD Colin Raymond and colleague.

 

The Trace of a Giant Tsunami as High as 243 Meters Gives Researchers Goosebumps

World Today News

July 8, 2021

Article on study by former Lamont postdoc Ricardo Ramalho, climate scientist Gisela Winckler, geochemist Joerg Schaefer, and colleagues.

 

Families Living Near Notre Dame Are Suing Paris for Allegedly Downplaying Lead Pollution that Resulted from the 2019 Blaze

Art News

July 7, 2021

Article cites study led by Lamont geochemist Lex van Geen.

 

Top Climate Scientists Aren't Too Hot on Fox's Weather Channel

Daily Beast

July 7, 2021

Article quotes Lamont climate scientist Richard Seager.

 

New Study Helps Explain 'Silent Earthquakes' Along New Zealand's North Island

ScienceDaily

July 7, 2021

Article on research by Lamont PhD student Christine Chesley, geophysicist Kerry Key, former Lamont postdoc Samer Naif, and colleague

 

Surfacing New Clues: Water’s Impact in Undersea Earthquakes

Georgia Tech Research Horizons

July 7, 2021

Article on research by Lamont PhD student Christine Chesley, geophysicist Kerry Key, former Lamont postdoc Samer Naif, and colleague.

 

Families Living Near Notre Dame Are Suing Paris for Allegedly Downplaying Lead Pollution that Resulted from the 2019 Blaze

Art News

July 7, 2021

Article cites study led by Lamont geochemist Lex van Geen.

 

Top Climate Scientists Aren't Too Hot on Fox's Weather Channel

Daily Beast

July 7, 2021

Article quotes Lamont climate scientist Richard Seager.

 

BLOGS

 

Study Shows Forests May Take in Far More Toxic Mercury Than Thought

July 12, 2021

Atmospheric mercury in gaseous form appears to be adding heavily to the load.

 

Searching for Faults from Afar

July 12, 2021

Researchers are using ocean-bottom and land-based seismometers to record the R/V Marcus Langseth’s soundings from afar, to better understand the potential impacts of large earthquakes in the Cascadia region.

 

Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory: Milestones in Climate Science

July 09, 2021

Much of the modern understanding of climate change is underpinned by pioneering studies done at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. Here’s a timeline of significant studies.

 

Collecting More Than Just Seismic Data Along the Cascadia Fault

July 08, 2021

While researchers search for a megathrust fault off the Pacific Northwest coast, they are also helping to map the seafloor in high resolution and detect underwater methane seeps.