I. Climate Change

1. Environmental Ratings Lowest Ever for Congressional Republicans

Senate Republicans averaged 1%, while House GOP members averaged 5%, the worst showing since the League of Conservation Voters scorecard began in 1970.

https://eos.org/articles/environmental-ratings-lowest-ever-for-congressional-republicans

2. Around the World in 84 Days

In the Stratéole 2 program, set to launch in November 2018, instruments will ride balloons into the stratosphere and circle the world, observing properties of the air and winds in fine detail.

https://eos.org/project-updates/around-the-world-in-84-days

II. Hazards & Disasters

1. Measuring Hurricane Wind Speed from Space

A new technique based on GPS signals could provide better wind speed measurements during hurricanes and cyclones.

https://eos.org/research-spotlights/measuring-hurricane-wind-speed-from-space

III. Ocean Sciences

1. How Do Deep-Sea Gravity Currents Transport Sediment So Far?

The first field measurements of turbidity currents flowing around submarine channel bends indicate spiral flow plays a key role in keeping sediment suspended for hundreds of kilometers.

https://eos.org/research-spotlights/how-do-deep-sea-gravity-currents-transport-sediment-so-far

IV. Biogeosciences

1. A Powerful New Tool to Analyze and Calibrate Earth System Models

Polynomial chaos and Bayesian compressive sensing are applied to a land surface model to understand how large numbers of tunable parameters interact and may be optimized.

https://eos.org/editor-highlights/a-powerful-new-tool-to-analyze-and-calibrate-earth-system-models

2. Toward a Satellite-Based Monitoring System for Water Quality

Water Quality Workshop for End Users; Greenbelt, Maryland, 27 September 2017

https://eos.org/meeting-reports/toward-a-satellite-based-monitoring-system-for-water-quality

3. Urban Agriculture Could Provide Billions in Ecosystem Services

Expanding agriculture efforts in cities could improve food security, ecosystem health, and more.

https://eos.org/research-spotlights/urban-agriculture-could-provide-billions-in-ecosystem-services

V. Geology & Geophysics

1. Virtual Poster Showcase Experienced Steady Growth in 2017

A pilot project for high schools and a geographic information system map, as well as other embellishments, have enhanced a program that enables students to present research electronically.

https://eos.org/agu-news/virtual-poster-showcase-experienced-steady-growth-in-2017

VI. Geophysical Research Letters

1. GIA Model Statistics for GRACE Hydrology, Cryosphere, and Ocean Science

We provide a new analysis of glacial isostatic adjustment (GIA) with the goal of assembling the model uncertainty statistics required for rigorously extracting trends in surface mass from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) mission. Such statistics are essential for deciphering sea level, ocean mass, and hydrological changes because the latter signals can be relatively small (≤2 mm/yr water height equivalent) over very large regions, such as major ocean basins and watersheds. With abundant new >7 year continuous measurements of vertical land motion (VLM) reported by Global Positioning System stations on bedrock and new relative sea level records, our new statistical evaluation of GIA uncertainties incorporates Bayesian methodologies. A unique aspect of the method is that both the ice history and 1-D Earth structure vary through a total of 128,000 forward models. We find that best fit models poorly capture the statistical inferences needed to correctly invert for lower mantle viscosity and that GIA uncertainty exceeds the uncertainty ascribed to trends from 14 years of GRACE data in polar regions.

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/2017GL076644/full

2. Radiation Belt “Dropouts” and Drift-Bounce Resonances in Broadband Electromagnetic Waves

Observations during the main phase of geomagnetic storms reveal an anticorrelation between the occurrence of broadband low-frequency electromagnetic waves and outer radiation belt electron flux. We show that the drift-bounce motion of electrons in the magnetic field of these waves leads to rapid electron transport. For observed spectral energy densities it is demonstrated that the wave magnetic field can drive radial diffusion via drift-bounce resonance on time scales less than a drift orbit. This process may provide outward transport sufficient to account for electron “dropouts” during storm main phase and more generally modulate the outer radiation belt during geomagnetic storms.

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/2017GL076362/full

3. The 21 August 2017 Ischia (Italy) Earthquake Source Model Inferred From Seismological, GPS, and DInSAR Measurements

The causative source of the first damaging earthquake instrumentally recorded in the Island of Ischia, occurred on 21 August 2017, has been studied through a multiparametric geophysical approach. In order to investigate the source geometry and kinematics we exploit seismological, Global Positioning System, and Sentinel-1 and COSMO-SkyMed differential interferometric synthetic aperture radar coseismic measurements. Our results indicate that the retrieved solutions from the geodetic data modeling and the seismological data are plausible; in particular, the best fit solution consists of an E-W striking, south dipping normal fault, with its center located at a depth of 800 m. Moreover, the retrieved causative fault is consistent with the rheological stratification of the crust in this zone. This study allows us to improve the knowledge of the volcano-tectonic processes occurring on the Island, which is crucial for a better assessment of the seismic risk in the area.

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/2017GL076336/full

VII. AGU Blogs

1. Ice-age echoes affect present-day sea level

A new study has, for the first time, cut a clear path through a nettlesome problem: accurately measuring a powerful effect on global sea level that lingers from the last ice age.

https://blogs.agu.org/geospace/2018/03/06/ice-age-echoes-affect-present-day-sea-level/

2. 2017 North American wildfire pollution comparable to moderate volcanic eruption

A new study finds the fires that spread throughout North America last summer burned so powerfully their smoke pushed all the way into the stratosphere, circled the globe in roughly two weeks and remained in the stratosphere at measurable levels for several months.

https://blogs.agu.org/geospace/2018/03/05/2017-north-american-wildfire-pollution-comparable-moderate-volcanic-eruption/

3. Landslide weirdness – a landslide as a “crashed UFO”

Occasionally I like to feature items of landslide weirdness, such as face of Jesus in a landslide scars or landslides being caused by poleward shifts.  Today I think I may have found one that tops them all to date – a landslide that is interpreted as being a crashed UFO.  The source is a Youtube video that appears to have gone viral.  Posted on Youtube by “Secureteam10”, the video purports to show a crashed UFO on the island of South Georgia. At the time of writing it has been viewed over 700,000 times.

https://blogs.agu.org/landslideblog/2018/03/05/landslide-weirdness-ufo/

4. More detail on the Papua New Guinea landslide dams

Information remains sketchy about the Papua New Guinea landslide dams that I have highlighted over the last few days, not least because the area remains cloud-affected, which is rendering the collation of satellite imagery difficult.  The best image that I have been able to track down is a Sentinel 2 image that was collected on 27th February 2018, and available via the EO Sentinel Viewer tool.  This image does not capture the entirety of the earthquake affected area, so we remain unsure as to what might be lurking under the cloud.  It does however capture a series of landslide dams in the epicentral area.  This is an overview image of the sites that I describe below; I believe that this area covers the Tagari River, a tributary of the Heggio River [corrected 2nd March in light of comment below.

https://blogs.agu.org/landslideblog/2018/03/02/papua-new-guinea-landslide-dams/

5. Planet Labs imagery of the Pasir Panjang landslide in Indonesia

Planet Labs have now managed to capture good quality satellite imagery of the Pasir Panjang landslide in Brebes, Indonesia, which killed 18 people last week.  Drone footage had indicated that the landslide had a channelised component, but the source was unclear.  This Planet Labs image was captured at 02:29 UTC on 27th February.  It includes the entirety of the landslide.

https://blogs.agu.org/landslideblog/2018/03/01/planet-labs-pasir-panjang-landslide-1/