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LATEST FROM THE GEOBLOGOSPHERE:

After two landfalls in Mexico, Hurricane Polo’s rainmaking journey has just begun

Eye On the Storm | 29 September, 2026
Moisture from Polo and ex-hurricane Odalys is helping spawn heavy rain and potential flooding from northwest Mexico into the southwest and central U.S....
Categories: Eye on the Storm; Feature Article; Bob Henson; drought; flood; hurricane; Irene Sans; Jeff Masters;

The Monthly Orchid—a Letter to the Earth

... its broad extremity is folded over and backwards in a peculiar manner, so as to form a sort of shoe ... Hence arises the English name of Lady's Slipper. (photo by Matt Lavin).Let me start by explaining how honored I was when Ms. Plantsandrocks a...
Categories: Charles Darwin; Cypripedium; evolution; history of botany; Lady Slippers; orchids; pollination;

Columbia Climate School Hosts City Leaders to Address Energy Affordability and Climate Action

State of the Planet | 29 September, 2026
Sustainability leaders from Ann Arbor, Atlanta and NYC shared the ways they are working at the local level to improve energy efficiency and reduce costs, while also reflecting on the challenges they face....
Categories: Climate; Energy; Poverty / Development; Alexis Abramson; cities; climate; cs highlights; cs impacts; education news; energy independence; Sheila Foster; sustainable energy; utilities;

Geology in Pop Culture - Taylor Swift's "Opalite"

The Geology P.A.G.E | 28 September, 2026
Taylor Swift's "Opalite"Released on October 3rd, of 2025 on The Life of a Showgirl album, "Opalite" is the third track on the album and was later released as a single on January 12th, 2026. Discussing the album on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fa...
Categories: Geology in Pop Culture; Minerals;

Hurricane Nolo takes another turn, Polo to bring deep tropical moisture to Southwest desert

Eye On the Storm | 28 September, 2026
Polo aims for Baja California, Nolo flirts with Category 5 strength, and Rachel intensifies as the Pacific's relentless late-September storm train rolls on. Meanwhile, Hanna is born in the Atlantic....
Categories: Eye on the Storm; Feature Article; Weather Extremes; Bob Henson; Hawaii; hurricane; Irene Sans; Jeff Masters; Mexico;

The training wall saga

Oakland Geology | 28 September, 2026
Oakland has performed many large feats of civic strength on its way to greatness. I think the largest one was turning a shallow slough into a world-class harbor. It began with a pair of big stone walls.
Categories: Deep Oakland; Geoheritage; Oakland stone;

The jigsaw puzzle of the continents

Earth Learning Idea | 28 September, 2026
We are continuing our plate tectonics theme with "The continental jigsaw puzzle; can you reassemble a super-continent from a 'jigsaw puzzle'?"
Categories: Earth energy / processes;

A tale of two university museums: there is still time to save the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia and the Sternberg Museum

The Coastal Paleontologist | 27 September, 2026
September 2026 has been a pretty dispiriting month for American paleontologists. In early September, Drexel University gave a surprise announcement that the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia (ANSP) would be closing its doors at the end of the month - now just a few days away. And, just this week, news leaked that the Sternberg Museum of Natural History at Fort Hays State University in Hays, Kansas, would be closing sometime in the next 3-8 months. These are both important museums, and the ANSP is one of the oldest museums in the country - founded in the early 19th century. You may be asking yourself the following questions: 1) What the hell is going on? and 2) What can I do about it? I will address each of these below.
Categories: None

Hurricane Polo approaches Mexico as coastal storm grips Northeast, New England

Eye On the Storm | 27 September, 2026
Noteworthy storms, tropical and otherwise, continued to pepper the Eastern and Central Pacific and North Atlantic on Sunday. The big landfall threat is Hurricane Polo (see below), but several other systems were making news this weekend - including...
Categories: Eye on the Storm; Feature Article; Weather Extremes; Bob Henson;

Dry Gulch Pass

Inkstain (John Fleck) | 27 September, 2026
Albuquerque's South Valley, September 2026. I took advantage of the break between Storm 2 and Storm 3 to wander the South Valley this morning. It was a great ride - lots of ditch banks, some weird urbanity (the Walmart parking lot where Frank H...
Categories: Albuquerque; Ribbons of Green; Value of Water; water;

Taking a break - no post this week

Resource Insights | 27 September, 2026
I am taking a break this week and plan to post again on Sunday, October 4....
Categories: None

Nolo to bring flood, surf, and wind to Hawaii; Gonzalo develops in the Atlantic

Eye On the Storm | 25 September, 2026
Atlantic storms will be short-lived, while powerful Pacific hurricanes persist and the Northeast battles a potent nor'easter....
Categories: Eye on the Storm; Feature Article; Weather Extremes; Bob Henson; Irene Sans; Jeff Masters;

Amoebas and anniversaries

Planetary Society Weblog | 25 September, 2026
A new crater on the Moon, super-hot amoebas, and Hubble marks an orbital milestone as well as one of your own....
Categories: None

Book review: Our Frozen Planet

AntarcticGlaciers.org | 25 September, 2026
The post Book review: Our Frozen Planet appeared first on AntarcticGlaciers.org.
Categories: Uncategorized; book review;

On Ancient Madagascar, Large Native Herbivores Paid the Price as Introduced Livestock Spread

State of the Planet | 25 September, 2026
New analyses of ancient cattle, sheep and goat bones suggest that the rapid spread of introduced livestock 1,200 years ago coincided with forest loss and population declines among large native herbivores....
Categories: Earth Sciences; Ecology; Press Release; archaeology; Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory; Madagascar; olo be taloha; research;

GeoTalk: meet Luigi Bianco, geophysicist and GI Early Career Scientist representative

EGU Geolog | 25 September, 2026
Hello Luigi! Thank you for agreeing to this GeoTalk interview. Could you briefly introduce yourself and your background to our readers?
Categories: Early Career Scientists; GeoTalk; Interview; Open Access; Early Career Scientist; Education; Geosciences Instrumentation and Data Systems; GI Division; machine learning; modelling; science communication;

Genesis: One Satellite to Bring Four Geodetic Techniques Together

EGU Geodesy Division | 25 September, 2026
What if we brought all four major space-geodetic techniques together on a single spacecraft for the first time? ESA's Genesis mission, expected to launch in 2028, will do just that, combining Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), Satellite Laser Ranging (SLR), DORIS and Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) on one carefully calibrated platform. Well before launch, scientists are investigating how this unprecedented configuration could strengthen the terrestrial reference frame and improve our understanding of the changing Earth.
Categories: Guest post; co-location; Genesis; gnss; SLR; VLBI;

A Career Spent Collecting Earth’s Seismic Clues

State of the Planet | 24 September, 2026
Göran Ekström tracks incidents like landslides and glacier collapse using tools once used only to monitor earthquakes....
Categories: Earth Sciences; Natural Disasters; climate; climate science; Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences; Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory; tsunami; tsunamis;

Pacific’s cyclone factory is working overtime as multiple hurricanes roar across the basin

Eye On the Storm | 24 September, 2026
Nolo threatens Hawaii with flooding rain and dangerous surf, while powerful Hurricane Polo could make another impact to México and more tropical systems take shape....
Categories: Eye on the Storm; Feature Article; Weather Extremes; Bob Henson; hurricane; Irene Sans; Jeff Masters;

Robot Sailboats Will Spend Five Years Measuring Carbon in the Southern Ocean

State of the Planet | 24 September, 2026
Led by researchers at NOAA and Columbia University, the Constraining Ocean Carbon with Optimized Observing (COCO2) project will use uncrewed surface vehicles to reduce uncertainty in estimates of the ocean carbon sink....
Categories: Climate; Earth Sciences; Press Release; carbon; Galen McKinley; Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory; NOAA; ocean carbon; ocean carbon uptake; research;

The Breath of Forests, Cities, and Everything in Between: Eva Pfannerstill and the Air We Cannot See

There is a slow-moving silver shape drifting over the forests and cities of North Rhine-Westphalia. From the ground, it looks almost ceremonial -- a Zeppelin NT gliding through the air as though time had reversed by a century. Inside, sensors are humming. And Eva Pfannerstill is watching the data appear.
Categories: Academic career; Atmospheric Science; air pollution; airborne measurements; Atmospheric Chemistry; VOCs; Zeppelin;

Powerful Hurricane Polo threatens Mexico with torrential rain as Pacific tropics erupt

Eye On the Storm | 23 September, 2026
Polo churns off Mexico with up to eight inches of rain and 46-foot seas, while another strengthening tropical system threatens eastern Hawaii with dangerous surf and rainfall of 10 to 30-plus inches....
Categories: Eye on the Storm; Feature Article; Weather Extremes; Bob Henson; Hawaii; hurricane; Irene Sans; Jeff Masters; Mexico; United States;

Future global glacier extinction

AntarcticGlaciers.org | 23 September, 2026
The post Future global glacier extinction appeared first on AntarcticGlaciers.org.
Categories: glacier recession;

The Body Temperature Of Tyrannosaurus Rex

Reporting on a Revolution | 23 September, 2026
A creature's internal temperature plays a big role in its behavior. Over the past decades our understanding of the behavior of various dinosaur groups has evolved. A combination of bone histology (patterns of bone growth as an individual develops from juvenile to adult), energetics gleaned from anatomy and ecology, and fossil geographic distribution all suggest that at least some dinosaur groups evolved an ability to regulate their internal temperature (endothermy).There is evidence from isotope work that some species within Theropod, Sauropod, and Ornithician dinosaur groups maintained a high body temperature. In contrast, specific biomolecules and inference of ecologic preference suggests that many other dinosaur lineages did not maintain endothermic metabolism. Dinosaur physiology and thermal regulation continues to be studied and debated.What has been missing is a consistent and reliable method for ascertaining their body temperature.Recently Randon J. Flores and coworkers applied a technique known as carbonate clumped isotopes to fossil teeth (enamel) of specimens of Tyrannosaurus rex to determine its body temperature. The sample was from the Cretaceous age Hell Creek Formation, North America. This technique measures the abundance of C13-O18 bonds in carbonate minerals that make up the enamel. These bonds of the heavier isotopes of carbon and oxygen are more common at lower temperatures. They are not affected by the isotope composition of the reacting fluids and is a direct indicator of the temperature of mineral formation.
Categories: dinosaurs; fossils; geochemistry; palaeontology;

Beyond ‘black and white’: rethinking continental drift and land bridges through plate tectonics and orogenic bridges

EGU Geodynamics Division | 23 September, 2026
In this essay, Jean-Baptiste Koehl reflects on the origin of a 100-year-old divide within the geoscience community and explores how tectonics and paleontology may be brought closer together through the concept of orogenic bridges.
Categories: Geekology; Geodynamics 101; Wit & Wisdom; bias; Biogeodynamics; Continental Drift; Land Bridge Theory; orogen; Orogenic Bridge Theory; plate tectonics; psychology; rifting; transform fault;

Latest: Are “steady-state” systems ahistorical?

Latest: Sabrina Koetter is defending her MS thesis: “Clarity for Lakes and Communities: Understanding the Communication Practices and Role Perceptions of Volunteer Lake Monitors”

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