Simulations of the historical quake raise new concerns: A similar event in the future could cause a devastating tsunami in Chile’s most populated coastal region.
Research Spotlights
Research spotlights are plain-language summaries of recent articles published in AGU’s suite of 24 journals.
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Natural Resource Exploitation Could Reach New Depths
The deep seafloor could provide humans with supplies of valuable metals, but opinion is divided as to whether sustainable exploitation is possible and worth the ecological and economic risk.
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Antarctic Microbes Shape Nutrient Content of Snowmelt
As temperatures continue to rise, snow-dwelling microbes could accelerate melting and influence downstream ecosystems.
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Testing Models of Near-Space Electrical Currents
Modeling Earth’s near-space environment and its electrical currents is challenging. A new study compares how four different models stack up against observations.
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A Powerful New Tool for Research
A novel interface allows users of MATLAB and GMT, two software packages widely used by the geoscience community, to simultaneously harness the capabilities of both products.
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How Geomagnetic Storms Light Up the Geocorona
After geomagnetic storms, Earth’s corona abruptly increases in hydrogen density. For the first time, serendipitous observations have allowed researchers to investigate why.
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New Technique Could Help Scientists Track Nitrous Oxide Sources
A long-term study in Switzerland reveals the promise of a new method to determine isotopic composition of the potent greenhouse gas.
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Modeling Ocean Waves over Rocky Reefs
A field survey in Australia links rugged seafloor terrain to erosion-causing waves.
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Can Water Vapor Help Forecast When a Volcano Will Blow?
A widely used technique to monitor sulfur dioxide was tweaked to focus on water vapor at Peru’s Sabancaya Volcano. Results show that the volcano steamed up prior to its 2016 eruption.
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Where Are the Electrical Currents in the Enceladus Plume?
A plume of water ice that escapes Saturn’s moon Enceladus should be coursing with electrical currents, but data are mixed. Now simulations suggest that a sticky dust cloud may shield signals.