Mark B. Moldwin received the 2016 Waldo E. Smith Award at the American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting Honors Ceremony, held on 14 December 2016 in San Francisco, Calif. The award honors an individual for "extraordinary service to geophysics."
geophysics
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Reading Raindrops: Microphysics in Typhoon Matmo
Quantitative predictions about tropical storms require an understanding of even their smallest physical processes. A new study observes unusual microphysics in 2014's Typhoon Matmo.
Posted inNews
Whiskers on Familiar Crystal Revealed as New Mineral
A 14-year-old girl's chance encounter with a random sample of tanzanite led scientists to find an entirely new mineral.
Posted inEditors' Vox
Even the Magnetosphere Has Problems
In a new conference and collection of papers, international space physicists narrow down the enigmas that puzzle magnetospheric science.
Posted inNews
Robert L. "Bob" Carovillano (1932–2015)
As a theoretical physicist, he contributed strongly to magnetospheric and space physics since the 1960s, both in research and as a program leader at Boston College and NASA.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Permafrost Area Is Sensitive to Key Soil and Snow Physics
Accounting for key soil and snow variables shows a much higher impact on simulated permafrost area than uncertainties in land cover and climate data.
Posted inNews
Seeing the Gravitational Waves, Despite the Seismic Waves
For detectors to sense the minute jolt of a gravitational wave announced last week, savvy geophysicists and engineers had to keep Earth's tiniest jiggles from reaching ultrasensitive instruments.
Posted inAGU News
Chappell, Jones, and McBean Receive 2015 Ambassador Award
Charles R. Chappell, Lucile Jones, and Gordon McBean were awarded the 2015 Ambassador Award at the American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting Honors Ceremony, held on 16 December 2015 in San Francisco, Calif. The award is in recognition for "outstanding contributions to the following area(s): societal impact, service to the Earth and space community, scientific leadership, and promotion of talent/career pool."
Posted inResearch Spotlights
What Makes Jupiter's Aurora Pulse?
The aurora crowning Jupiter's poles—the most powerful in the solar system—flares up when plasma is injected into its magnetic field.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
The Curious Case of the Halloween Ghost Electrons
When solar storms pounded Earth during Halloween in 2003, scientists were eager to measure their effects. But new research shows one satellite was seeing "ghost" particles that probably weren't real.