The first statistical study of STEVE events suggests that the appearance of these narrow ribbons of light is closely correlated with violent disturbances in Earth’s magnetosphere.

Terri Cook
Terri Cook is an award-winning freelance writer whose career has focused on exploring and explaining the 4.5-billion-year-history of the remarkable planet we live on. Cook, who has an M.S. degree in Earth science from the University of California, Santa Cruz, writes about geology, ecology, and the environment—as well as wine, tea, hiking, and biking—for a diverse group of publications, including Eos, Scientific American, NOVA Next, Science News, and EARTH magazine, as well as Avalon Travel and numerous other travel-related publications. Her reporting has taken her to 25 states and 20 countries scattered across 5 continents, from the depths of the Grand Canyon to the sandy Australian Outback to the mist-shrouded summit of Bali’s Mount Batur. As the coauthor of three popular guidebooks, including Hiking the Grand Canyon’s Geology and Geology Underfoot Along Colorado’s Front Range, Cook gives frequent presentations about geology and science communication. She is the recipient of a 2016 European Geosciences Union Science Journalism Fellowship and is based in beautiful Boulder, Colo.
Local Heat Source Needed to Form Liquid Water Lake on Mars
Thermal modeling suggests that active magmatism in the past few hundred thousand years could account for the presence of a large lake previously hypothesized beneath the Red Planet’s southern ice cap.
Explaining the Genesis of Superdeep Diamonds
Real-time tracking during diamond anvil cell experiments indicates reaction rates may control the unusual depth distribution of the extremely rare diamonds that form deep within Earth’s mantle.
Forecasting Seismicity from Wastewater Disposal in Oklahoma
Mandated wastewater injection reductions in effect since 2016 are inadequate for preventing future, large-magnitude earthquakes in the state, according to a new induced seismicity model.
What Do People Drink When They Think Their Tap Water Isn’t Safe?
An analysis of nationwide housing data shows that minority households disproportionately bear the multibillion-dollar economic burden that comes from believing their water is unsafe.
Improving Estimates of Long-Term Climate Sensitivity
New modeling casts doubt on the suitability of running experiments with fixed sea surface temperatures to understand the effects of cloud aggregation on Earth’s climate.
Extending the Record of Surface Melt on the Larsen C Ice Shelf
The first use of Advanced Scatterometer radar data to determine melt duration on an Antarctic ice shelf shows the season has decreased by up to 2 days per year during the extended 21st century record.
Humming Ice Shelf Changes Its Seismic Tune with the Weather
Seismic waves resonating within the upper layers of the Ross ice shelf could help scientists monitor the Antarctic melt season and understand factors that could lead to sudden ice shelf collapse.
Reframing Sensitivity Analysis in Earth System Models
According to a new study, the performance metric–based methods currently used to evaluate dynamical model sensitivity are based upon faulty reasoning and need to be reenvisioned.
How Long Can Celestial Bodies Retain Ice?
A new model suggests that many objects in the outer asteroid belt may still harbor deposits that formed around the time of their accretion.