I. Atmospheric Sciences
1. Searching for Lightning's Signature on Venus
How energetic would lightning on Venus have to be to be detected by sensors? A new model sheds light.
II. Geology & Geophysics
1. The Quest to Understand Reversals in Earth's Magnetic Field
A review of the major features of the geomagnetic reversals preserved in Earth's rock record helps to answer the question, Which data could advance our understanding of these poorly described events?
2. AGU Journals: More Content and More Context
As journal submissions rise, the American Geophysical Union is reducing first-decision times and assembling an ever richer context of news, opinion, and other content related to each published paper.
3. New Insights into North America's Midcontinent Rift
The Midcontinent Rift has characteristics of a large igneous province, causing geologists to rethink some long-standing assumptions about how this giant feature formed.
4. AGU Student Travel Grants Help Underrepresented Groups
Financial support from the American Geophysical Union's travel grants programs increases opportunities for women, underrepresented minorities, and international students to attend Fall Meeting.
III.Hydrology, Cryosphere & Earth Surface
1. Cold Temperatures Set Off Slow-Moving Landslides
Falling ground temperatures in the cold season are found to trigger shallow, slow-moving landslides on slopes with clayey soil.
2. What Happens to Methane That Leaks from Abandoned Wells?
Three-dimensional simulations suggest that some aquifers may be more vulnerable to contamination from leaky oil wells than others.
3. Evidence Found for China’s Ancient Origin Story
New geological findings suggest that an ancient flood in a popular legend about the birth of China's civilization might have actually occurred, but some 150 years later than historians thought.
IV.Ocean Sciences
1. Submarine Cable Systems for Future Societal Needs
5th Workshop on SMART Cable Systems: Latest Developments and Designing the Wet Demonstrator Project; Dubai, United Arab Emirates, 17–18 April 2016
2. Submarine Cable Systems for Future Societal Needs
5th Workshop on SMART Cable Systems: Latest Developments and Designing the Wet Demonstrator Project; Dubai, United Arab Emirates, 17–18 April 2016
3. Government OK's Moon Express Mission to the Moon
The company envisions the mission as a first step in bringing resources from the Moon back to the Earth.
V. Space Science & Space Physics
1. Even the Magnetosphere Has Problems
In a new conference and collection of papers, international space physicists narrow down the enigmas that puzzle magnetospheric science.
2. Predicting Space Weather, Protecting Satellites
A new model predicts electron and ion fluxes at geosynchronous orbit an hour ahead of time, allowing satellite operators to protect their instruments.
VI. Science Policy & Funding
1. Communicating Arctic Science Creatively for Diverse Audiences
Revealing the New Arctic: A Climate Change Communication Workshop; San Francisco, California, 16 December 2015
VII.AGU news
1. MELTING ICE SHEET COULD RELEASE FROZEN COLD WAR-ERA WASTE
WASHINGTON, DC — Climate change could remobilize abandoned hazardous waste thought to be buried forever beneath the Greenland Ice Sheet, new research finds.
2. 1967 SOLAR STORM NEARLY TOOK US TO BRINK OF WAR
WASHINGTON, DC — A solar storm that jammed radar and radio communications at the height of the Cold War could have led to a disastrous military conflict if not for the U.S. Air Force’s budding efforts to monitor the sun’s activity, a new study finds.
3. METHANE-FILLED CANYONS LINE TITAN’S SURFACE, STUDY FINDS
WASHINGTON, DC — Liquid methane-filled canyons hundreds of meters deep with walls as steep as ski slopes etch the surface of Titan, researchers report in a new study. The new findings provide the first direct evidence of these features on Saturn’s largest moon, and could give scientists insights into Titan’s origins and similar geologic processes on Earth, according to the study’s authors.
VIII. Earth and Space Science
1. Earlier snowmelt carries drastic consequences for forests
The findings, which were recently published in Geophysical Research Letters, a journal of the American Geophysical Union, predict that this shift in the timing of the snowmelt could result in a 45 percent reduction of snowmelt period forest carbon uptake by mid-century.
2. The Geoscience Papers of the Future: a modern publication strategy for data management and scientific publication
In the early decades of 20th century, punch cards were used in data storage and processing. For youngsters out there, a punch card is a piece of stiff paper that contains digital information represented by the presence or absence of holes in predefined positions (Figure 1). Nowadays, cloud storage and cloud computing occupy scientific research, even in our daily lives—many scientific and personal data are stored on cloud storage repositories.
3. Study quantifies impact of oil and gas emissions on Denver’s ozone problem
The first peer-reviewed study to directly quantify how emissions from oil and gas activities influence summertime ozone pollution in the Colorado Front Range confirms that chemical vapors from oil and gas activities are a significant contributor to the region’s chronic ozone problem.
