As an idea that began as a joke, critter-driven ocean mixing has long been controversial. Now scientists have caught spawning anchovies causing turbulence and stirring the sea.
fieldwork
Playing It Safe in Field Science
Researchers face many risks when working in the field. Documenting past and future accidents and safety incidents can help identify patterns and practices to keep scientists out of harm’s way.
Rock Music in Utah
Three-dimensional models could help forecast rock tower frequencies—and seismic impacts—around the globe.
Hot Springs Suggest How the Tibetan Plateau Became the Roof of the World
Helium isotopes found in water samples provide a snapshot of what lies beneath the plateau and stimulate debate within the geosciences community.
Trees Wearing Accelerometers Help Track Snowstorms
This device allows scientists to measure how much snow is trapped in canopies and predict changes to snowpack—a critical factor in annual water availability.
Striking Out into the Field to Track Slip on the Sumatran Fault
An international team overcame many challenges, including from the COVID-19 pandemic, to deploy a dense seismic network along an understudied fault system that poses hazards to millions in Indonesia.
Sensing Iceland’s Most Active Volcano with a “Buried Hair”
Distributed acoustic sensing offered researchers a means to measure ground deformation from atop ice-clad Grímsvötn volcano with unprecedented spatial and temporal resolutions.
Arctic Unicorns and the Secret Sounds of a Glacial Fjord
The successful deployment of a seafloor seismometer near the calving front of a Greenland glacier has opened a new avenue to study hidden glacial processes and the behavior of fjord-dwelling wildlife.
Undertaking Adventure to Make Sense of Subglacial Plumes
Novel observations and inventive analyses of glacial discharge in Greenland have revealed new insights into the irregular and chaotic nature of ice-ocean interactions at glacial calving fronts.
Seafloor Seismometers Look for Clues to North Atlantic Volcanism
Did the mantle plume that fuels Iceland’s volcanoes today cause eruptions in Ireland and Great Britain long ago? A new project investigates, while also inspiring students and recording whale songs.