Thwaites, a notoriously unstable glacier in western Antarctica, is cracking and disintegrating, spelling bad news for sea level rise across the globe. Efforts are afoot to understand the geometry and chemistry of Thwaites, which is about the size of Florida, in order to gauge the impact that warming waters and climate change may have on it. An 11-foot tube-like underwater robot called Icefin — first developed at Georgia Tech — is offering us a detailed look deep under the ice at how the vulnerable ice shelf in Antarctica is melting. By way of two papers published this week in the journal Nature, Icefin has been providing pertinent details regarding the conditions beneath the freezing waters. Justin Lawrence, a graduate student in the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, is one of the co-authors of the papers. (This research is also covered in Wired, BBC.com, and at NYU.edu. Alexander Robel, assistant professor in the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences who leads the Ice and Climate Group, is quoted in the Wired article.)
A torpedo-like robot named Icefin is giving us the full tour of the ‘Doomsday’ glacier
February 17, 2023In early February, Isaiah Bolden (B.A. Bowdoin '15) moderated a discussion on climate change with Vice President Kamala Harris at Georgia Tech, where he is an assistant professor at the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences. Addressing a venue "filled to the brim," Harris emphasized the importance of creating an equitable clean-energy economy as we transition away from fossil fuels. “In order for us to truly achieve that, it’s going to require all to be involved"--scientists, researchers, and academics, she said. Bolden described being greatly affected by witnessing a terrible flood displace whole communities in Nashville, Tennessee, his hometown. “I had this passion burgeoning right then and there as someone who has this aptitude for science, this aptitude for math, but then seeing that the science is not reaching the public in a way that it should,” he said. “What can I then do with my career as an environmental scientist to generate data and get that data into the hands of people who could do something with it?”
Oceanographer Isaiah Bolden ’15 Discusses Climate Change with Top White House Official
February 17, 2023Marshall Shepard, Georgia Athletic Association Distinguished Professor and director of the University of Georgia's Atmospheric Sciences Program, wrote this article on the experience of sharing a Ferst Center for the Arts stage February 8 with Vice President Kamala Harris and oceanographer Isaiah Bolden, assistant professor in the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences. The topic was climate change from an economic and racial justice viewpoint, but Shepard writes about the impact of the event happening during Black History Month. While Shepard writes that more work is needed diversifying the atmospheric and ocean sciences, "this moment in Black History cannot be overlooked. In February 2023 two black scholars and a black woman, who just happens to be the Vice President of the United States, sat on a stage discussing climate, environmental policy, and why it matters to all communities, but particularly those with people that look like them." (The climate conversation at Georgia Tech was also covered by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Fox5 Atlanta, Georgia Public Broadcasting, E&E News, and the Technique. A White House transcript of the event is found here.)
A U.S. Vice President, Atmospheric Scientist, And Oceanographer - That’s Black History
February 15, 2023The sheer speed of temperature increases in the climate crisis era, combined with the fragmentation of landscapes by human activity, is making it harder for trees and other plants to follow their preferred climate conditions. These changes are disrupting a millennia-old process of plant migration, and it could pose a major challenge to global efforts to protect wildlife and reforest land to fight climate change. A study published Feb. 6 by Georgia Tech researchers found that 75% of the dominant plant groups in North America, including trees like pines and oaks, have migrated across the region over the last 18,000 years to track the movement of their ideal growing conditions. That plant migration will be harder to pull off over the coming decades, according to Jenny McGuire, assistant professor in the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences and the School of Biological Sciences, and a co-author of the study. “There’s so many barriers and filters to plant movement now. That could prevent them from shifting in some places,” she says.
Plants Must Migrate to Survive Climate Change. But They Need Our Help
February 15, 2023Beginning this upcoming summer term, Georgia Tech’s School of Earth & Atmospheric Sciences (EAS) will offer three new Bachelor of Science degrees. These undergraduate opportunities will expand the breadth of the EAS program while simultaneously allowing students in the program to develop a more specialized plan of study in a field that aligns with their interests. The University System of Georgia (USG) has approved two new degrees within the school: Atmospheric and Ocean Sciences (AOS) and Solid Earth and Planetary Sciences (SEP). They also approved a new bachelor’s degree in Environmental Sciences (ENVS) that will be an interdisciplinary degree between EAS and the School of Biological Sciences (BIOS). (More information is available here.)
EAS school unveils three new major programs
February 13, 2023Lithos Carbon, a US-based startup transforming farmland into carbon removal centers using the power of volcanic rocks, aims to capture 10,000 tons of carbon this year. Lithos accelerates mineral weathering by spreading basalt on croplands to increase dissolved inorganic carbon with eventual storage as ocean carbonates. Its technology uses novel soil models and machine learning to maximize carbon dioxide (CO₂) removal while boosting crop growth. Chris Reinhard, associate professor in the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, is one of the three co-founders of Lithos Carbon.
This startup aims to capture 10,000 tons carbon from farmland this year using volcanic rock dusts
February 10, 2023Coral reef conservation is a steppingstone to protect marine biodiversity and life in the ocean as we know it. The health of coral also has huge societal implications: reef ecosystems provide sustenance and livelihoods for millions of people around the world. In the face of climate change, Annalisa Bracco, professor in the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, and Lyuba Novi, a postdoctoral fellow, offer a new methodology that could revolutionize how conservationists monitor coral. The researchers applied machine learning tools to study how climate impacts connectivity and biodiversity in the Pacific Ocean’s Coral Triangle — the most diverse and biologically complex marine ecosystem on the planet.
Machine learning predicts biodiversity and resilience in the Coral Triangle
February 9, 2023Florida State University climate scientists and others were recently granted $3.2 million from the U.S. Department of Energy to investigate carbon storage in the peatlands environment. Peatlands can be found across the globe, covering almost every continent. The largest area of peatlands can be found towards the Northern and Southern hemispheres and closest to the equator. In Florida, the greatest example of a peatland environment is the Everglades. FSU will work with Georgia Tech researchers on the DOE grant, including Joel Kostka, professor in the School of Biological Sciences and the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences.
Department of Energy funds peatlands greenhouse gas study conducted by FSU Scientists
February 9, 2023Without conservation-based understanding and intervention, plant and animal species across the globe face rapidly changing ecosystems that will require dynamic adaptation or lead them toward extinction. A special feature titled “The past as a lens for biodiversity conservation on a dynamically changing planet” in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and the overview article of the same name delves into how recent work in conservation biology, ecology and paleontology reveals how plants and animals respond to rapid and dynamic environmental changes. Jenny McGuire, assistant professor in the School of Earth and Atmospheric Science and the School of Biological Sciences, is a co-author of the study.
Special feature looks at history for biodiversity conservation
February 8, 2023More than 2,300 people have died and rescuers are racing to pull survivors from beneath the rubble after a devastating earthquake ripped through Turkey and Syria, leaving destruction and debris on each side of the border. One of the strongest earthquakes to hit the region in a century shook residents from their beds at around 4 a.m. on Monday, sending tremors as far away as Lebanon and Israel. Karl Lang, an assistant professor in the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, told CNN the area hit by the quake Monday is prone to seismic activity. “It’s a very large fault zone, but this is a larger earthquake than they’ve experienced any time in recent memory,” Lang said. (Lang's comments also appeared at Kake.com, ABC7 Chicago, The Hindu, and Newsweek.)
More than 2,300 dead as powerful quake hits southern Turkey and Syria
February 6, 2023- ‹ previous
- 11 of 28
- next ›
