Earth & Planetary Sciences
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Two UCSC geophysicists honored by Royal Astronomical Society
Thorne Lay and Emily Brodsky, both professors of Earth and planetary sciences, are receiving the Gold Medal for Geophysics and the Price Medal, respectively.
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Geologist David Rubin elected fellow of the American Geophysical Union
David Rubin, a researcher in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, has been elected a fellow of the American Geophysical Union.
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UC Santa Cruz leads interdisciplinary consortium for astrobiology research
With funding from NASA, the UCSC-led team will lay the foundation for detecting the signatures of life in the atmospheres of other planets.
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Radioactive elements may be crucial to the habitability of rocky planets
Earth-size planets can have varying amounts of radioactive elements, which generate internal heat that drives a planet’s geological activity and magnetism.
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Wildfire brings destruction and opportunity to researcher’s field site
Hydrologist Margaret Zimmer has received NSF funding to study the impact of wildfire on the site where she has been studying how water moves through the landscape.
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High-fidelity record of Earth’s climate history puts current changes in context
A continuous record of the past 66 million years shows natural climate variability due to changes in Earth’s orbit around the sun is much smaller than projected future warming due to greenhouse gas emissions.
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In the line of fire
Alumnus Adam Lowdermilk had built a career as a musician, but the tragic 2018 Camp Fire prompted a change of heart and a leap into firefighting.
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Research buildings saved as wildfire sweeps across Big Creek Natural Reserve
Fire preparedness and hard work by fast-moving fire crews and UC Santa Cruz staff is being credited for saving research and residential buildings at the Landels-Hill Big Creek Natural Reserve on the Big Sur coast.
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New study shows retreat of East Antarctic Ice Sheet during previous warm periods
Evidence of glacial retreat in the Wilkes Basin 400,000 years ago suggests ice loss in this region could add 10 to 13 feet (3 to 4 meters) to future global sea level rise.
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Evidence supports ‘hot start’ scenario and early ocean formation on Pluto
A new study suggests that Pluto and other large Kuiper belt objects started out with liquid oceans which have been slowly freezing over time.
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Watching the flow of water through oak woodlands at Arbor Creek Experimental Watershed
To understand how California’s beloved oak woodlands will fare in a rapidly warming climate, UCSC researchers are putting a headwaters stream in the Diablo Range under a hydrological microscope.
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Planetary scientist Francis Nimmo elected to National Academy of Sciences
Francis Nimmo, professor of Earth and planetary sciences, has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences in recognition of his distinguished and continuing achievements in original research.