Satellite image of Hurricane Dorian stationary over marked outlines of Grand Bahama
Catastrophic Hurricane Dorian slowed to a crawl over Grand Bahama Island before slowly making its way up the East Coast of the United States. Credit: NOAA Satellites

Altered Forecasts and Threatened Firings at the National Weather Service.

Of all the bizarre news cycles we’ve been through recently, the president doctoring a hurricane forecast map—and the false claims, pressured scientists, and threats that followed—is one of the strangest, and certainly one of the most dangerous to our trust in experts during times of crises. Three former NOAA chief administrators—D. James Baker, Kathryn Sullivan, and Jane Lubchenco—aren’t standing idly by while scientific integrity gets hammered.
—Heather Goss, Editor in Chief

Geologists Uncover History of Lost Continent Buried Beneath Europe. Although Atlantis is a myth, Earth apparently does have a history of swallowing up landmasses; scientists have painstakingly compiled evidence of a lost continent, Greater Adria, beneath Europe.
—Tshawna Byerly, Copy Editor

We’re Barely Listening to the U.S.’s Most Dangerous Volcanoes.

Mount Hood in Oregon is an active volcano that is inadequately monitored, but placing instruments on its flanks would violate the Wilderness Act. Credit: Jeffhollett, CC BY SA 4.0

The lack of adequate monitoring on many of the most potentially hazardous volcanoes in the United States is staggering, especially compared with how countries like Chile and Japan, which face similar dangers, “smother their high-threat volcanoes in scientific instruments.” This is an important and thought-provoking piece about efforts to address this inadequacy—and the somewhat surprising resistance that could still stymie these efforts.
—Timothy Oleson, Science Editor

Seven of the 10 most dangerous volcanoes in the United States are part of the Cascade Range, and six of those are not adequately monitored. The article gives you lingering, troubling thoughts about the demographics defining public safety and conservation policies and on what we have and have not learned from the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens.
—Caryl-Sue, Managing Editor

Last Day of the Dinosaurs’ Reign Captured in Stunning Detail. A gripping account of the day the dinosaurs died. I’m a big fan of Maya Wei-Haas’s writing here, especially her description of the “nightmarish sequence of events” that followed the big asteroid strike.
—Jenessa Duncombe, Staff Writer

Achievement Unlocked.


This ambitious stone rolled superfar on Mars, so NASA’s InSight lander named it Rolling Stones Rock…and got an entire stadium of Rolling Stones fans and RDJ to cheer for it.
—Kimberly Cartier, Staff Writer

Ages for the Navajo Sandstone.

The Navajo Sandstone extends throughout the southwestern United States, including into Moab, Utah, above. Credit: Stephen T. Hasiotis

The petrified sand dunes in Utah are older than we knew!
—Liz Castenson, Editorial and Production Coordinator

A Mountain Top Called “Little Man” Falls in Norway, and Residents Weep.

Read this emotional tale of a community waiting for a landslide that geologists predicted would sweep away their town.
—Heather Goss, Editor in Chief

Nuclear Bomb or Earthquake? Explosions Reveal the Differences.

Yucca Flat, part of the Nevada National Security Site, is pockmarked with subsidence craters left by underground nuclear tests. Credit: U.S. Department of Energy

This quirky experiment sounds like a blast.
—Jenessa Duncombe, Staff Writer

Perijove 11: Passing Jupiter.

Swoop down and skim above Jupiter’s clouds with this 2018 flyby video from the Juno mission. The swirling storms are so beautiful!
—Kimberly Cartier, Staff Writer

Citation:

(2019), Altered forecasts, unmonitored volcanoes, and other good reads, Eos, 100, https://doi.org/10.1029/2019EO132845. Published on 12 September 2019.

Text © 2019. AGU. CC BY-NC-ND 3.0
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