EOS - Nov Dec20 1

VOL. 101 | NO.
11 Did Ancient Mayan
Reimagining the
NOV–DEC 2020 Foresee Meteor Showers?
Geosciences
Legacy of the 1992
Nicaragua Tsunami
A Grand Tour
How? Adaptable models
of Ocean can
Basins
light our way
Headline
Can Go
Here
Subhead line can go here
FROM THE EDITOR
Editor in Chief
Heather Goss, AGU, Washington, D.C., USA; Eos_EIC@agu.org
Shaping the Future of Science AGU Staff

Vice President, Communications, Amy Storey
Marketing,and Media Relations
E
very community around the world has weathered Editorial
Manager, News and Features Editor Caryl-Sue Micalizio
extreme changes this year. The geosciences are no
Science Editor Timothy Oleson
different. As the AGU community gathers for its first News and Features Writer Kimberly M. S. Cartier
all-online Fall Meeting (#AGU20) this December, we offer News and Features Writer Jenessa Duncombe
you this special double issue of Eos as an introduction and,
Production & Design
we hope, inspiration. Eos science advisers Lisa White
Manager, Production and Operations Faith A. Ishii
(Diversity and Inclusion) and Eric Riggs (Education) worked Production and Analytics Specialist Anaise Aristide
with us to design an issue that embraced the #AGU20 Assistant Director, Design & Branding Beth Bagley
Senior Graphic Designer Valerie Friedman
theme: Shaping the Future of Science.
Graphic Designer J. Henry Pereira
“This issue highlights novel diversity, equity, and inclu-
sion practices, direct recommendations from underrepre- Marketing
sented scholars, and creative strategies—many rooted in Communications Specialist Maria Muekalia
Assistant Director, Marketing & Advertising Liz Zipse
activism—that have the potential to shift long-held, his-
torically exclusive traditions in Earth science,” said White, director of education at the Advertising
University of California Museum of Paleontology in Berkeley. Display Advertising Steve West, steve
Our slate of expert Opinions are primers for implementing this kind of progress. You’ll @mediawestinc.com
Recruitment Advertising recruitmentsales
find incisive recommendations for adapting fieldwork to draw in—and keep safe—Black, @wiley.com
Indigenous, and People of Color (page 30) and LGBTQ+ scholars (page 22); stories from
Science Advisers
scientists juggling parenthood and careers and a global pandemic (page 27); and how to
Geomagnetism, Paleomagnetism, Julie Bowles
develop resourceful STEM learning ecosystems in your own community (page 24). and Electromagnetism
In our feature articles, we look at institutions that are already accelerating ahead. Who Space Physics and Aeronomy Christina M. S. Cohen
Cryosphere Ellyn Enderlin
better to show us how to mentor students from a distance than a seafaring organization?
Study of the Earth’s Deep Interior Edward J. Garnero
Learn from STEMSEAS’ experience on page 32. Then read about a community college– Geodesy Brian C. Gunter
university partnership that is drawing students to the geosciences—and retaining them— History of Geophysics Kristine C. Harper
Planetary Sciences Sarah M. Hörst
on page 51. It’s not a model that can be airlifted onto every institution, but it offers import-
Natural Hazards Michelle Hummel
ant lessons on intentional design that many educators are focused on right now. Volcanology, Geochemistry, and Petrology Emily R. Johnson
“I have seen the geoscience community look inward to see how systemic racism and Societal Impacts and Policy Sciences Christine Kirchhoff
gendered behavior may be embedded in our current practices as educators,” said Riggs, a Seismology Keith D. Koper
Tectonophysics Jian Lin
professor of geoscience education at Texas A&M University. “Department leaders need to Near-Surface Geophysics Juan Lorenzo
meet with students at all levels, as well as with faculty, to find out where people are thriv- Earth and Space Science Informatics Kirk Martinez
ing, and where they are not. Without sincere information gathering and introspection, we Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology Figen Mekik
Mineral and Rock Physics Sébastien Merkel
risk changing everything too fast or, worse, changing the things that are working.” Ocean Sciences Jerry L. Miller
We also report on what the practice of science should look like in a world where respect Global Environmental Change Hansi Singh
and empathy for one another are paramount. Julie Maldonado and colleagues reframe the Education Eric M. Riggs
Hydrology Kerstin Stahl
issue of managed retreat so that communities can retain agency when they are forced to Tectonophysics Carol A. Stein
relocate due to climate change (page 38). We also look at where geoscientists aren’t. More Atmospheric Sciences Mika Tosca
than 2 million people are incarcerated in the United States in facilities that are often delib- Nonlinear Geophysics Adrian Tuck
Biogeosciences Merritt Turetsky
erately placed in polluted areas or are ill-equipped to deal with climate change. On page 56,
Hydrology Adam S. Ward
read about this environmental justice movement and how geoscientists can be a part of it. Diversity and Inclusion Lisa D. White
“This special issue offers a road map of where we might go from here,” said White. The Earth and Planetary Surface Processes Andrew C. Wilcox
Atmospheric and Space Electricity Yoav Yair
scientists and institutional models featured in this issue are remarkable examples for those
GeoHealth Ben Zaitchik
who support AGU’s vision of a thriving, sustainable, and equitable future supported by
scientific discovery, innovation, and action. We should remember, said Riggs, “that efforts
©2020. AGU. All Rights Reserved. Material in this issue may be photocopied by
to help lower barriers and enhance the access and success for communities facing the individual scientists for research or classroom use. Permission is also granted
to use short quotes, figures, and tables for publication in scientific books and
greatest challenges will improve the environment for all communities.” journals. For permission for any other uses, contact the AGU Publications Office.
Illustrator Carlos Basabe was thinking about the future—in particular, his daughters’ Eos (ISSN 0096-3941) is published monthly by AGU, 2000 Florida Ave., NW,
future—when he designed our wonderful cover. We hope his artwork and the reporting in Washington, DC 20009, USA. Periodical Class postage paid at Washington, D.C.,
and at additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Member
this special issue offer you motivation for the unique role you’ll play in creating the best Service Center, 2000 Florida Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20009, USA
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inclusion in the geosciences truly lies in all of us.”
Submit your article proposal or suggest a news story to Eos at bit.ly/Eos-proposal.
Read the rest of our special issue on Shaping the Future of Science at eos.org/special
Views expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect official positions
-topics#future. of AGU unless expressly stated.
Randy Fiser, Executive Director/CEO
Heather Goss, Editor in Chief
SCIENCE NEWS BY AGU // Eos.org 1

CONTENT
38
44
Features
32 Mentorship at a Distance
By Richard J. Sima
On the Cover How to build close professional relationships when a
“Working on this cover forced me to be mindful of the rays pandemic forces you apart.
of light peeking through the darkness. Seeing the energy of
young people, using every civic tool at their disposal to fight
for their future, has given me hope that our kids will have the 38 Reframing the Language
strength to rise to the challenges of the world they inherit of Retreat
from us,” said Carlos Basabe, who created the cover of this
special issue of Eos. Basabe, born and raised in Cuba, is an By Julie Maldonado et al.
editorial and portrait illustrator currently living in Maryland. As waters rise, who gets a say in relocation planning
See his work at foursixsix.com. is crucial.
44 A Lost Haven for

Early Modern Humans
By Kerstin Braun
Archaeology and geology reveal a 200,000-year-old
story in South Africa.
2 Eos // NOVEMBER–DECEMBER 2020

CONTENT
Columns
1 From the Editor

4 News
22 Opinion
Surveying the Challenges of Fieldwork for LGBTQ+
51
Geoscientists
STEM Learning Ecosystems Engage Communities
in the Geosciences
Perspectives on Parenting While Researching
(During a Pandemic)
Ten Steps to Protect BIPOC Scholars in the Field
70 Research Spotlight
76 Editors’ Highlights
78 Positions Available
56 Current job openings in the Earth and space
sciences
79 Crossword Puzzle
51 The Two-Year On-ramp 80 Postcards from the Field
By Jenessa Duncombe At the annual Girls’ Science Day camp in Malawi,
participants learn how to overcome a lack of piped
Tapping into the overlooked pipeline water with a low-cost hand-washing station.
of community colleges.
56 An Unfought
Geoscience Battle
in U.S. Prisons
By Kimberly M. S. Cartier
Environmental justice is the next frontier
for geoscientists.
64 Exploring by Boring
By Teresa Jordan et al.
A university digs down for heat.
AmericanGeophysicalUnion @AGU_Eos company/american-geophysical-union AGUvideos americangeophysicalunion americangeophysicalunion

NEWS
Have We Got Dust All Wrong?

unraveling the great dust particle alignment
mystery.
“Our first measurements point to a ver-
tical alignment of dust particles,” said Alex-
andra Tsekeri, an environmental engineer
and member of the ReACT team. Tsekeri,
along with scientists from Raymetrics (a
Greek company specializing in systems used
in atmospheric, meteorological, and air pol-
lution applications) and Ludwig Maximilian
University of Munich, has designed and con-
structed lidar systems to monitor particle
orientation in the atmosphere.
“We will have definitive results in about
a year from now, when our systems will be
put to test in Cape Verde in an experiment
that would have taken place this summer
had COVID not shut down everything,” said
Tsekeri. Meanwhile, she and the rest of the
team are putting the final touches on their
lidar systems, which they call WALL-E and
EVE after the robotic couple in the 2008
movie WALL·E.
This 3
-meter astronomical dome with S
un-tracking capabilities hosts the solar polarimeter (SolPol) instrument The Devil in the Details
of the Panhellenic Geophysical Observatory of Antikythera (PANGEA). Credit: Stav Dimitropoulos But what’s all the fuss about the orientation
of dust particles?
“Probably everything we’ve so far
hypothesized about the impact of dust on
T
he “Godzilla” Saharan dust plume dom and Macquarie University in Australia the atmosphere might be misplaced,” said
that clouded over parts of the United used optical polarimetry observations Amiridis.
States in June generated a lot of talk during a Saharan dust episode and found For a start, dust may be accelerating the
and a lot of magnificent sunsets. Dust is an evidence of vertically aligned dust particles greenhouse effect instead of cooling the
intriguing type of matter, vital for the for- in the atmosphere. planet. A vertical particle orientation may
mation of clouds and precipitation. We also Amiridis recently received a European create a type of “Venetian blind” effect,
know that if enough dust gathers in the Research Council consolidator grant to allowing more radiation to sneak through
atmosphere, it can block solar radiation. But the atmosphere—as much as 10%–20%
what if some of these dust-related assump- more radiation in dust episodes like God
tions were slightly dusty—or completely zilla, said Amiridis.
wrong? In addition, whether dust particles are
Members of the Remote Sensing of Aero- “Probably everything randomly or vertically aligned might be of
sols, Clouds and Trace Gases (ReACT) team
are trying to find out. The team, a group of
we’ve so far hypothesized paramount importance for satellite obser-
vations: “Remote sensing retrievals are
atmospheric and climate scientists operat- about the impact of dust affected by the assumption of particle shape
ing under the umbrella of the National
Observatory of Athens (NOA), said the main
on the atmosphere might and orientation,” said Amiridis. Some of the
satellite observations we get over a given
reason for this “dust misconstruction” may be misplaced.” area during dust storms may not be entirely
be that we have failed to grasp the correct accurate.
dust particle orientation in the first place. “A vertical dust orientation is certainly a
“Dust particles might be vertically possibility,” said Stephen Holler, a physicist
aligned,” said Vassilis Amiridis, a climate at Fordham University who is not a part of
scientist and team leader of ReACT, as well spearhead the development of the Panhel- the ReACT project. He said there are many
as director of research at NOA. Amiridis lenic Geophysical Observatory of Anti uncertainties in terms of the effect of aero-
is resuming what a research project in kythera (PANGEA). As part of the project, sols on climate.
La Palma, Canary Islands, proposed in 2007. Antikythera, a tiny island situated between Holler explained that most of his col-
In that instance, researchers from the Uni- the Peloponnese and Crete, will be outfit- leagues do calculations on the basis of ori-
versity of Hertfordshire in the United King- ted with avant-garde equipment to start entational averaging: “Because we don’t

NEWS
Kabuki Actor’s Manuscript Yields

Clues About 1855 Quake in Japan
I
n 1855, a powerful earthquake struck the woodblock prints of the day that depict a
Japanese city of Edo (today’s Tokyo), kill- giant underground catfish (Namazu) that
ing thousands. The region sits atop mul- was believed to have caused earthquakes
tiple tectonic plates that have caused innu- when it thrashed about.
merable quakes over the centuries, and
because the greater metropolitan area is The Forgotten Manuscript
now home to more than 30 million people, ast-forward to 2020, and researchers at the
F
it’s critical to mitigate the threat. Japanese University of Tokyo have found another way
scientists have been examining historical to use art to scientifically evaluate the 1855
records to better understand past quakes calamity. Scientists analyzed a manuscript
and have found that the autobiography of a written by Kabuki actor Nakamura Nakazo III
Kabuki actor can shed light on the 1855 tem- to infer the depth of the earthquake. In a
blor. poster presented at a joint conference of the
Japan Geoscience Union and AGU ( JpGU-
A Time of Turmoil AGU Joint Meeting 2020) in July, they noted
PANGEA scientists stand with EVE, one of their The 1855 Ansei Edo quake, named for the that later editions of the manuscript had
lidar instruments in Antikythera, Greece. Credit: Ansei imperial era of 1854–1860, came at a already been the basis for varying estimates
NOA and Raymetrics time of upheaval in Japan, both literally and of the quake’s hypocenter from relatively
figuratively. There were three great Ansei shallow in the crust to deep in the Philippine
earthquakes: the Tokai and Nankai quakes, Sea plate (bit.ly/earthquake-poster). How-
both in 1854 and both magnitude 8.4, and ever, when the team analyzed Nakamura’s
know the orientation of particles in space, the Edo quake the following year, magni- original handwritten manuscript of the
we’ll just average over all orientations.” tude 7.0. Meanwhile, Japanese society was autobiographical work Temae Miso (Self-
Most also think particles in the atmosphere facing its greatest challenge in centuries. P raise), recently acquired by Tokyo’s
behave much in the same way particles in Having been under the hegemony of the National Diet Library, it found a significant
liquids behave. “Much as particles in liquids Tokugawa shogunate, which implemented a difference compared with later editions (bit
tumble around and move all over the place, policy of national seclusion for over 230 .ly/quake-hypocenter).
we expect particles in the atmosphere to years, Japan was finally forced to open its “A strong rumble occurred,” Nakamura
tumble all over the place likewise.” doors to ships and trade by American gun- wrote. “The women and children were sur-
boat diplomacy in 1854. prised and screamed. I said, ‘Calm down, it’s
When Edo was hit on 11 November 1855, a big earthquake.’ Omitu Bando said to me,
as many as 10,000 people lost their lives, ‘You should stand up rather than sit.’ I stood
and over 50,000 structures were destroyed up. Then the strong shaking started, and I
“We have had a clear big by the temblor and in subsequent fires. could not walk normally.” Instead of the
picture on climate change Some of the devastation can be seen in first sentence, one later edition read, “a
for years, but as they say,

the devil is in the details.”
Holler is optimistic that the Greek scien-

tists will help the scientific community bet-
ter understand aerosol dynamics and its
influence on radiative forcing. “The work of
the ReACT team will reduce some of the
uncertainties that are associated with the
effects of airborne particles,” Holler said.
“We have had a clear big picture on climate
change for years, but as they say, the devil is
in the details.”
As many as 10,000 people lost their lives in the 1855 Edo earthquake, depicted here in the Edo Oojishin no zu
By Stav Dimitropoulos, Science Writer picture scroll. Credit: Historiographical Institute, University of Tokyo

NEWS
involved in the research, believes the

poster conclusions agree with other find-
ings.
“Seismologists have debated [the quake’s
depth] for more than a century,” said Ells-
worth. “The plates colliding beneath Tokyo
provide a wide range of possibilities, both
deep and shallow. The recent paper by
Nakamura et al.…makes clever use of
reports of the shaking to argue for a rela-
tively shallow depth. Their work supports
the conclusion of William Bakun, who used
other historical accounts of the earthquake
shaking to determine its magnitude, loca-
tion, and depth.”
The poster is part of a greater interdisci-
plinary effort at the University of Tokyo.
Seismologists teamed up with historians
from the Historiographical Institute in an
effort called the Collaborative Research
Organization for Historical Materials on
Courtesans from Edo’s Yoshiwara pleasure district attack a mythical giant catfish, which was believed to have Earthquakes and Volcanoes. Inaugurated
caused earthquakes, in this 1855 woodblock print. Credit: Earthquake Research Institute Library of the Univer- years after the catastrophic magnitude 9
sity of Tokyo Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011, its aim
is to improve seismic understanding by
compiling a long-term database of events
based on historical materials. That means
strong upward movement came from the alties, according to poster coauthor Kenji analyzing obscure records like Nakamura’s
ground,” and where the writer describes Satake, director of the University of Tokyo’s manuscript, written in a highly cursive hand
standing, the later edition reads, “I stood Earthquake Research Institute. “Since the that only experts can decipher.
up and walked. Then the strong shaking typical recurrence interval of large earth- “Different kinds of materials provide
started….” quakes is several decades to centuries,” different kinds of information on earth-
Researchers concluded that because the Satake added, “we have to use other meth- quakes,” said poster coauthor Reiko Sugi-
shaking began when Nakamura stood up ods and data to study such large earth- mori, an associate professor in the His
instead of after he began walking, there was quakes in the past and the potential for the toriographical Institute and the only team
a relatively short period between the arrival future.” member who was able to read the Kabuki
of different seismic waves from the quake— actor’s manuscript. “Earthquake casualties
in this case, the rumble and the shaking. or damage in each village were summarized
Longitudinal, or P, waves are fastest and as reports, which are useful to estimate the
correspond to the rumble described by distribution of seismic intensity, from
Nakamura. Transverse, or S, waves travel at
“Seismologists have which earthquake location and size can be
about half the speed and correspond to the debated [the quake’s estimated. On the other hand, daily records
shaking. Just as the distance to a thunder- or personal diaries, written by the same
storm can be estimated by the lag between
depth] for more than person in the same location, can provide
a lightning flash and the sound of thunder, a century. homogeneous daily records of seismicity,
the S–P interval can suggest the distance to including foreshocks or aftershocks. Pic-
an earthquake’s epicenter. tures are also useful because they provide
The team concluded that the 1855 quake visual records of earthquake damage.”
had an S –P time of 5 –10 seconds and, Researchers plan to continue adding
because of the thick sedimentary layers of “Ground shaking and earthquake damage details from historical materials to their
the Kanto region surrounding Tokyo, a rel- are larger for shorter hypocentral distances,” historical seismic event database, and their
atively shallow depth of about 20 kilome- said coauthor Ryoichi Nakamura, another work highlights the importance of long-
ters, which would place the rupture in the member of the institute. “Because the 1855 t erm seismic knowledge. Seismological
subducting Philippine Sea plate. Many earthquake occurred right beneath Tokyo, Research Letters also published a focus sec-
researchers have estimated the depth at the depth strongly affects ground shaking tion coauthored by Satake on historical
over 30 kilometers. and damage.” seismology in September (b it.l y/ f ocus
Such details are critical because the Jap- -section).
anese government believes there’s a 70% Interdisciplinary Teamwork
chance of another 1855-type quake in the William Ellsworth, a professor of geophys-
next 30 years with as many as 23,000 casu- ics at Stanford University who was not By Tim Hornyak (@robotopia), Science Writer

NEWS
Scientists Support Local Activities to Rescue

the Mesoamerican Reef
E
arlier this year, Healthy Reefs for
Healthy People published its sixth
report card on the status of the Meso-
american Reef system (bit.ly/h
ealthy-reefs).
After an analysis of 286 sites in Belize, Gua-
temala, Honduras, and Mexico, the report
concluded that the health of the system is
poor, with an index of 2.5 out of 5. This con-
clusion was based on the status of the reef’s
coral and fleshy macroalgal cover, as well as
the biomass of herbivorous fish and com-
mercial fisheries in the region.
“There is poor fishing regulation in all
four countries,” said Ian Drysdale, coordi-
nator of Healthy Reefs for Healthy People in
Honduras. “The decline in coral health that
we experience is due to fishing, both indus-
trial and artisanal.”
On top of overfishing, the Mesoamerican
Reef suffers from coral bleaching events, in
which corals expel the algae that provide
most of their food and characteristic color. Cayos Cochinos, Honduras, is part of the Mesoamerican Reef, which was recently given a poor score in eco-
Stony coral tissue loss disease (SCTLD), also system health. Credit: Ian Drysdale
known as white syndrome, also plagues the
reef. White syndrome is a condition that
weakens the coral tissues, causing their
death. which is enhanced by poor water quality. parrotfish to its national registry of pro-
In the region of the Mesoamerican Reef “Some banks, south of [the Mexican state tected species. In February, Guatemala did
near the Yucatan Peninsula, SCTLD has of] Quintana Roo, still did not show signs of the same and also included the butterflyfish,
caused the death of up to 98% of some coral disease, perhaps because of their remote- angelfish, and surgeonfish. These herbivo-
species. “When we approach the loss of 90% ness from the coast. This reinforces the rous fish consume macroalgae, which com-
to 98% of the individuals of a particular spe- hypothesis of the relationship of wastewater pete with corals for the reefs. Protecting the
cies, we could well speak of the definitive and pollution from the coast to the sea with fish encourages corals to thrive.
disappearance of this species,” said Nallely the disease,” Hernandez added. Hernandez supports c ommunity-
Hernandez, regional deputy director of the oriented approaches and reduced consump-
National Commission of Natural Protected tion. “The solutions rest in the way we all
Areas (CONANP) and cocreator of the “White behave in our everyday routines,” he said.
Syndrome Action Plan in the Caribbean “We need to make adjustments throughout
Reefs of Mexico.”
In the region of the the system, in order to understand the pos-
In 2019, the National Autonomous Uni Mesoamerican Reef, itive impact that we can generate with
versity of Mexico and Florida State Univer- changes in our consumption habits.”
sity partnered with CONANP to carry out an
stony coral tissue loss Drysdale, however, said that overfishing
experiment to understand the behavior of disease has caused limits the efficacy of both federal protec-
SCTLD. Although coral bleaching spreads tions and individual consumption habits.
systematically because of warming waters,
the death of up to 98% “We are not just fishing efficiently, but we
white syndrome spreads without a specific of some coral species. are also destroying critical habitats, such as
pattern. “At first, [the disease] behaved radi- mangroves and seagrasses,” he said.
ally, on the edges of the colony. But later, “Unfortunately, the fishing industry has
we realized that it could appear in isolated a lot of political and economic power, and its
points, without warning, or, in some cases, interference makes it difficult for us to work
everywhere in the colony,” Hernandez said. Water Treatment and Community to protect our marine ecosystems,” Drysdale
Besides documenting this erratic behav- Involvement said.
ior, the results of the experiment have been Local and federal government agencies are
inconclusive. Scientists suspect that the taking action to protect the Mesoamerican
cause of SCTLD may be a virus or bacteria, Reef. In 2018, Mexico added 10 species of By Jorge Rodriguez, Science Writer

NEWS
Decrease in Lightning Recorded

over the Continental United States
L
ightning research is a burgeoning field why this down-
that spans not only meteorology and turn occurred and
atmospheric science but also public whether it’s a rare
policy and personal safety. As in all scientific phenomenon, he
fields, however, mysteries sometimes arise: said. “What we’re
In May and June of this year, a network of lacking right now
lightning detectors recorded distinctly lower is some context.”
than average lightning counts across the
continental United States. The cause of this A Ridge
downturn isn’t well understood, but a ridge of High Pressure
of high pressure in the atmosphere might Vagasky and his
have played a role, researchers suggest. It’s colleagues have
also possible that the decline is linked to some ideas. Using
decreased levels of pollution associated with data from the Na-
the ongoing C OVID-19 pandemic, other sci- tional Centers for
entists propose. Environmental
Prediction, they
A Midyear Checkup measured a ridge
Meteorologist Chris Vagasky and his col- of high pressure Lightning flashes over El Paso, Texas. Credit: iStock.com/mdesigner125
leagues mined data from the National Light- over the Southern
ning Detection Network (NLDN), which uses Plains, eastern
roughly 120 sensors to monitor lightning Colorado, and the
over the continental United States. (Vagas- Gulf Coast region in May and June. Vagasky’s findings, Holzworth acknowl-
ky’s employer, Vaisala, runs the NLDN.) The “We saw that there was an anomalously edged.
researchers compiled data from January strong area of high pressure over the main
through July 2020 to take a midyear look at region where you’d get severe weather,” A Potential Virus Link
lightning statistics. said Vagasky. This high pressure would have The idea that a localized region might have
“We’ve passed the peak of lightning sig- prevented air from rising, a necessary ingre- experienced a decrease in lightning in the
nals in the United States, so we wanted to dient for a thunderstorm. (Upward move- spring of 2020 isn’t completely out of the
see where we were at this year compared to ment allows air to cool and condense into blue, said Holzworth. Researchers have
previous years,” said Vagasky. clouds, which is where supercooled water, speculated that the C OVID-19 pandemic
The scientists found significantly lower ice crystals, and graupel collide and transfer might have inadvertently triggered a down-
than average lightning counts in May and electrons. That sets up the charge separation turn in lightning, he said. That’s because
June. During those months, the NLDN necessary for lightning.) with the economy on hold, there’s less air
recorded just over 51 million instances of So far, other lightning networks haven’t pollution and therefore likely fewer aero-
in-cloud and cloud-to-ground lightning. reported similar results. Robert Holzworth, sols. The presence of aerosols has been
That’s a 32% decrease compared with the an atmospheric and space physicist at the linked to enhanced lightning activity, at
roughly 76 million lightning events recorded University of Washington and the director least over the ocean.
on average for May and June from 2015 to of the World Wide Lightning Location Net- Vagasky and his colleagues are continu-
2019. That difference is far more than the work (WWLLN), analyzed unpublished ing to collect data, and they’ve seen that the
expected interannual variability, which is on WWLLN data and found a statistically insig- lightning counts for July and August have
the order of 5%–10%, said Vagasky. “We nificant decrease in lightning counts world- been closer to average. They hope to have
were kind of surprised.” wide in 2020 compared with the year prior more answers by the end of the year. “We’ll
These results appeared in a blog post that (see bit.ly/world-wide-lightning). prepare our annual lightning report in
Vagasky published last month (b it. l y/ “The overall decrease in 2020 compared December,” said Vagasky. “We’ll be able to
V agasky- l ightning). “It’s an intriguing to 2019 is just 0.4%, or an order of magnitude compare to a much broader data set in the
finding,” said Joel Thornton, an atmo- smaller than the expected daily variation,” coming months.”
spheric scientist at the University of Wash- he said. However, it’d be worth analyzing
ington who was not involved in the WWLLN data just over the continental United
research. But it’s still not well understood States to make a direct comparison with By Katherine Kornei (@KatherineKornei),
Science Writer
Eos thanks Robert Holzworth, who generously

u Read our May 2020 special issue on lightning: bit.ly/Eos- lightning provided the analysis of unpublished WWLLN
data.

NEWS
Leaded Soil Endangers Residents

of New York City Neighborhoods
“Condemned to Being Lead Poisoned”
Lead in soil comes mostly from legacy
uses in paint, industry, or transportation.
Between 1926 and 1985, motorists burned
7 million tons of tetraethyl lead in gasoline.
Although leaded gasoline has been nearly
phased out, the lead persists today, having
stuck to vertical surfaces such as build-
ings and trees and then been washed into
the soil. During dry summer months, wind
and construction activity resuspend lead-
containing soil in the air as dust. Lead levels
in the blood of children living nearby rise
during these months and fall again each
winter.
“People think if there is lead in the soil,
the kid has to go to the park and ingest it
somehow, but you don’t even have to use
Long Island City, above, has seen a population growth of more than 20% over the past decade, and soil sam- that park or outdoor space—that lead gets
ples from local parks range from 26 to 6,300 milligrams of lead per kilogram of soil. Credit: iStock.com/ into the air and then it’s inhaled,” Pavilonis
Auseklis said.
“Lead paint has certainly been a horren-
dous problem,” said Howard Mielke of
Tulane University, who was not involved in
C
ity parks can be a haven for home- of soil. “We confirmed our initial hypothe- the new study. “But the immediate lead in
bound residents looking to escape sis, that [lead] levels in these areas would be the atmosphere has been the source that has
the quarantine blues this year, but very, very high,” Pavilonis said, “but I was really just condemned us to being lead poi-
these play areas offer another kind of haz- surprised to see samples in the thousands of soned.”
ard. A new study describes dangerously high milligrams, especially in a park.” The median lead concentration in soil,
levels of lead in the soil of several parks in The study was published in the Interna- according to a 2013 U.S. Geological Survey
New York City. Researchers found that lead tional Journal of Hygiene and Environmental report describing 4,841 soil samples from
levels are highest in areas undergoing rapid Health (bit.ly/NY-lead). nonurban locations in the United States, was
growth and redevelopment.
“We have over 36,000 people moving into
these areas—and lead contamination in the
soil,” said study coauthor Brian Pavilonis, a
professor at the Graduate School of Public
Health and Health Policy at the City Univer-
sity of New York (CUNY). “That’s a lot of
people who could all be exposed.”
Pavilonis and his colleagues at CUNY and
Brooklyn College analyzed hundreds of
samples from 34 parks in six different geo-
graphic areas throughout the city. Many of
the results far exceeded the Environmental
Protection Agency’s soil cleanup value of
400 milligrams of lead per kilogram of soil.
In Long Island City, for example, aban-
doned factories and parking lots have given
way to glittering apartment towers with
waterfront views and short commutes to
Manhattan. The population has grown by This map shows the approximate locations of the six geographic areas examined by the study, along with the
more than 20% in the past 10 years. Soil median lead level observed (red numbers indicate a concentration above the EPA’s soil cleanup value of 400
samples from parks in the area ranged from milligrams of lead per kilogram of soil), recent population growth, and the proportion of new construction.
26 to 6,300 milligrams of lead per kilogram Credit: Matthew Stonecash, adapted from Copernicus Sentinel-2, ESA; CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO (bit.ly/ccbysaigo3-0)

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only 18 milligrams of lead per kilogram of

soil. This figure led some experts to suggest
Severe CyclonesMay Have Played
that the EPA cleanup value (400) is far too
high. Among them is Mielke, who said that
a Role in the Maya Collapse
in areas where children have low levels of
lead in their blood, lead levels in the soil are
below 40 milligrams of lead per kilogram of
soil.
According to the Centers for Disease Con-
trol and Prevention (CDC), there is no safe
level of lead in the bloodstream. The disas-
trous effects of lead on brain development
in children are the most alarming and well
known, but the CDC’s toxicological profile
for lead describes health effects on every
organ system.
Research by Mielke and others suggests
that combating these effects may be as sim-
ple as covering contaminated soil with clean
soil and grass. Toward this aim, New York
City’s Office of Environmental Remediation
established the PUREsoil NYC program in
2018. Using soil excavated from deep under-
ground at construction sites, the program Sediments recovered from the Great Blue Hole (seen here), off the coast of Belize, hint at extremely severe
distributes free, clean soil to community storms during the late Classic period in Maya history. Credit: iStock.com/Mlenny
organizations for use in gardens and other
open spaces.
Meanwhile, Pavilonis plans to continue
W
exploring how soils differ from neighbor- hy the once great Maya civiliza- Historical or instrumental records of hur-
hood to neighborhood. Researchers are now tion withered away is still a mat- ricanes and tropical storms go back only a
collecting samples from all of the parks in ter of debate among historians, little more than a century. To peer further
Brooklyn for use in an ecological study of the archaeologists, and geoscientists. The lead- back in time, scientists often decipher tell-
relationship between lead in the soil and ing theory is that the Maya suffered a series tale signatures left in sand and mud depos-
of severe droughts around 800–1100. New ited by ancient storms.
evidence suggests there may have been One source for finding undisturbed sedi-
another reason: severe tropical storms. ments is blue holes, marine sinkholes into
Researchers studying climate records in which sediments are continually deposited.
According to the Centers the Caribbean found that storm activity was Generally, the sediments in deposition
for Disease Control and weak and predictable up to about 900. At layers are smooth. But when a large storm
that point, storms became more intense and passes by, it rakes up and deposits coarse
Prevention (CDC), there is unpredictable. The stress of dealing with the particles. Because of the structure of a blue
no safe level of lead in the highly variable and intense storms, in addi- hole, material can be deposited but cannot
tion to battling drought, may have pushed get out, allowing the feature to act as a near-
bloodstream. the Maya over the edge, according to perfect record of ancient storms.
research published in Scientific Reports (bit Sediment cores from blue holes like those
.ly/Maya-storms). near Great Abaco Island and Thatch Point
(both in the Bahamas) have already provided
blood lead levels of children living in the Reconstructing Past Climate records of hurricanes in the Caribbean going
area. “We’re much more concerned with the Atlantic hurricane activity, which includes back about 1,500 years.
effects on children,” Pavilonis said. “The the Caribbean, and how it varies over the Now Dominik Schmitt of Goethe Univer-
problem with lead is, once it impacts the long term are often attributed to the behav- sity in Frankfurt, Germany, and colleagues
developing brain, that’s permanent.” ior of ocean and atmospheric systems like have reconstructed past storms in the region
the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO) going back 2,000 years. The researchers
and the El N iño–Southern Oscillation recovered and studied an 8.5-meter-long
By Matthew Stonecash (@mattstonecash), (ENSO). “But without long-term observa- sediment core from the Great Blue Hole on
Science Writer tions of storm behavior, it’s hard to speak to Lighthouse Reef off the coast of Belize.
these relationships conclusively,” said Rich- Upon analyzing the results, Schmitt’s
This piece was produced with support from the ard Sullivan, who studies paleoclimatology team found evidence of the AMO going back
National Association of Science Writers’ David at Texas A&M University at Galveston and to 300. According to Schmitt, this provides
Perlman Virtual Mentoring Program. was not part of the new study. statistical proof that the AMO, along with

NEWS
ENSO, modulates hurricane activity in the predictable Carib- structure, caused coastal flooding and crop
southwestern Caribbean. bean cyclones. The failures, and added to the environmen-
Great Blue Hole tal stress of the intensive drought phases.
When the Weather Changed sediment core The increased storm activity around 900
The sediments also revealed something else. showed five ex is similar to what Sullivan found in his study
“The tropical cyclone activity of the south- ceptionally thick of sediment cores from a sinkhole south
western Caribbean generally shifted from l a y e r s — 1 5 – 3 0 of Tulum, Mexico, near the Maya site of
a less active to a more active state,” said centimeters—de- Muyil (bit .ly/Yucatan -hurricanes). Still,
Schmitt. The shift, around 900 CE, occurred posited between he is cautious in interpreting the results,
right around the time when the Maya civili- 700 and 1150. saying they do not necessarily mean that
zation was in decline. These layers sug- an increase in storm frequency defi-
The Classic Maya civilization, which once gest extremely in- nitely contributed to the Classic Maya col-
occupied most of the Yucatán Peninsula, tense cyclones; for lapse.
began to wane starting in the late 800s. comparison, the However, “it’s not hard to imagine that
During the next century, great Maya cities deposition layer Deposits line the 8.5- a culture contending with severe drought
like Copán (in what is now Honduras) and left by Hurricane meter-long sediment and already in decline would have been
Tikal (in what is now Guatemala) were aban- Hattie, a Category 5 core recovered by stressed further by persistent, devastating
doned. h u rr i c a n e t h a t researchers from the storms,” Sullivan added. “It is certainly
Climate change is thought to have been a passed over the Great Blue Hole off possible that increasing hurricane frequency
primary driver of this collapse. The leading same area in 1961, Belize. Credit: factored in to the collapse of the Mayan
theory suggests that a series of severe and was just 4 centi- Dominik Schmitt empire, but the extent of that contribution
prolonged droughts plagued the Yucatán meters thick. is something we may never know conclu-
Peninsula, which may have reduced the Two of the an- sively.”
availability of fresh water and decreased cient cyclones struck during drought peri-
agricultural productivity. ods, and the o thers struck just before and
In addition to drought, the Maya may have after severe droughts. It’s likely these By Lakshmi Supriya (rlsupriya@gmail.com),
had to contend with increased and more un- cyclone landfalls destroyed Maya infra Science Writer
Read it first on
Articles are published on Eos.org before they appear in the magazine. Visit Eos.org
daily for the latest news and perspectives.
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Under Ice
bit.ly/Eos-chill-algae
The Bay of Bengal and the Curious Case of the
Missing Rift
bit.ly/Eos-missing-rift
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of Predicting Solar Flares
bit.ly/Eos-solar-flares
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bit.ly/Eos-pandemic-communication
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Knowledges with Geomorphology
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Using Dirt to Clean Up Construction
C
oncrete ranks as the most popular That idea came from both nature and his-
construction material in the world. tory. In nature, termites make impressive
But its key ingredient, cement, is use of soil, building intricate and durable
responsible for 8% of global carbon dioxide mounds. “That was one of our motivations,
emissions each year. Scientists want to and the second one was ancient times,” said
replace concrete with a more environmen- Bajpayee. “In ancient Rome and India, there
tally friendly material, and one candidate is are a lot of places [where people used] soil.”
soil. In one of the most recent iterations of The difference between ancient earthen
these efforts, the Banerjee Research Group structures and a soil-based concrete alter-
at Texas A&M University has created a tool native is that in ancient times, the main
kit for using local soil to make construction instinct for such construction was survival,
materials. said Bajpayee. “Now our main instinct is
Concrete production, especially of its sustainability.”
binding agent, cement, releases massive Banerjee and Bajpayee used clay soil from Scientists and engineers are developing soil-based
amounts of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ). “If a colleague’s backyard in College Station, concrete replacements like this prototype struc-
[cement production] were a country, it Texas. They combined the clay, a water- ture. Credit: Aayushi Bajpayee
would be the third-largest emitter in the repelling additive derived from beets, and
world,” said Gaurav Sant, a professor of civil sodium silicate to bind everything together.
and environmental engineering and mate-
rials science and engineering at the Univer- areas, on the basis of the current work, Sant
sity of California, Los Angeles. doesn’t think these materials are viable for
“We need to go carbon neutral by 2050 larger structures.
and carbon negative thereafter,” Sant said.
They hope that their
To do that, the construction industry needs method can serve as a Expanding Possibilities
to drastically change or replace concrete. Gnanli Landrou, cofounder of Oxara, a sus-
“We’re talking about disrupting and trans- chemical tool kit to be tainable construction material start-up, said
forming our entire basis of society as a used at any construction his group uses a process similar to Baner-
whole in the next 30 years.” jee’s to make a s
oil-based building material.
The modern form of concrete, a mixture site, particularly in remote “The goal is not to replace concrete but to
of sand and gravel bonded by cement and or hostile environments. efficiently use concrete where needed,” he
water, has been used for only the past 150 wrote in an email. He and his group want to
or so years. The development of modern use their product, Cleancrete, for housing
concrete reinforced with steel has allowed or nonstructural pieces of larger buildings.
builders to erect massive structures, giving “Overall, we want to enable access to sus-
us city skylines dominated by skyscrapers. A 3D printer then extruded this material tainable and affordable building materials
With the growth of additive manufacturing, according to the desired design, forming a and homes.”
a process in which layers of concrete are 3D model a few inches tall. More robust replacements for concrete
printed one on top of the other in a prede- They hope that their method, presented are in the works. Sant, for example, has
termined design, more complex building at the meeting and published in Frontiers in developed CO2Concrete, a cementless con-
parts can be created more efficiently. Materials, can serve as a chemical tool kit to crete in which CO2 from industrial waste gas
“A lot of emerging economies are going be used at any construction site, particularly reacts with calcium hydroxide to bind every-
through a massive construction boom, and in remote or hostile environments (bit.ly/ thing together. “You get structural cemen-
if we do this all in concrete, the conse- frontiers). Once a construction team ana- tation with limestone in a seashell,” said
quences for the environment are going to lyzes the local soil, it can tweak the ingredi- Sant, which is exactly how CO 2Concrete
be catastrophic,” said Sarbajit Banerjee, a ents in the tool kit, mix the material, and forms. It’s similar in cost and function to
chemistry professor at Texas A&M Univer- start printing. concrete, he said, but with half the carbon
sity, at the 2020 meeting of the American By cutting out the energy-intensive pro- footprint.
Chemical Society in August. duction steps, using local resources, and “Concrete is still the gorilla in the room
eliminating transport concerns, Banerjee because it’s been the norm for many years,”
Building with Backyard Soil predicts that their material will have a much said Banerjee. “There are costs involved that
Banerjee and Aayushi Bajpayee, a Ph.D. lower emissions profile than concrete, but are not cheap, rising CO2 emissions that are
candidate in Banerjee’s group, wanted to they’re still running simulations to nail tremendously large. We can do better than
develop a sustainable material that could down the figures. “I think the numbers are that.”
work with existing building codes and going to be significant,” he said.
concrete-based construction methods. For But s
oil-based replacements have limited
their source material, the team settled on applications. Although they could prove By Jackie Rocheleau (@JackieRocheleau),
soil. valuable for building housing in remote Science Writer

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Groundwater Crisis in Zimbabwe
Lovemore Muradzikwa, a farmer in
Mafuke, a farming community on the out-
skirts of Mutare, said water shortages in his
area have now reached critical levels.
“We are now strictly rationing the little
water still available. Each household is get-
ting only 20 liters of water per day for cook-
ing and other household uses regardless of
the size of a family,” Muradzikwa said.
Across Zimbabwe, more than 38% of the
population depends on groundwater for
household, agricultural, and industrial use.
Use Water Resources Sustainably

Washington Zhakata, director of climate
change management in Zimbabwe’s Minis-
try of Lands, Agriculture, Water, Climate and
Rural Resettlement, explained that under-
ground water is recharged by normal sea-
sonal rains, and Zimbabwe is getting less
seasonal rainfall. The country has suffered
severe recurrent droughts since 1992.
“In long periods of droughts, there is a
Kudzai Mungazi (far right), a traditional leader of a small village in Manicaland Province, Zimbabwe, closely higher risk of depletion of aquifers, espe-
monitors a w
ater-rationing exercise at a local borehole during a severe drought in 2016. Credit: Andrew Mam- cially in cases of small and shallow aquifers.
bondiyani People in water-scarce areas will increas-
ingly depend on groundwater because of its
buffer capacity,” said Zhakata. “And when
it rains these days, it’s so intense [as] not to
I
n parched Zimbabwe, farmers—along report identified groundwater as an allow gradual seepage of the water to lower
with water experts and policy makers— important and climate-resilient source of depths. Water is then lost as runoff into the
are apprehensive because groundwater freshwater (bit.ly/groundwater-report). streams and straight to the nearby ocean.”
is being depleted rapidly by d rawn-out Depletion of groundwater is especially rel- Seasonal rainfall has also not been con-
droughts. evant for tropical countries like Zimbabwe. sistent across the country, Zhakata said. The
Many hand-pumped boreholes and wells “As the world warms, amplification of provinces of Manicaland, Masvingo, Mata-
have dried up this year, forcing thousands rainfall extremes and its consequences will beleland North, and Matabeleland South
of people in rural areas to crowd for drink- be most pronounced in the tropics where, have been hardest hit by shortages of intra-
ing water at the few sources where water is by 2050, over half of the world’s population seasonal rainfall. “Some other areas experi-
still available. Annual rainfall in Zimbabwe is projected to live. Yet it is here where sub- encing this problem [of groundwater short-
is no longer sufficient to replenish the stantial increases in freshwater withdraw- ages] are those areas close to urban areas
aquifers that nourish these boreholes. als are required to achieve United Nations where consumption of water is very high and
Anna Brazier, an independent climate Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of a lot of boreholes have been sunk,” he added.
change researcher and consultant based in enhancing food security through irriga- Intensification of human activity (includ-
Zimbabwe, said that although drought tion,” Taylor wrote in the report. ing agriculture and industry) and land use
years are part of the normal climate cycle Amid the current prolonged drought in changes (including industrial agriculture
in this part of Africa—often associated with Zimbabwe, which started in 2018, fears and urbanization) increase the demand for
the well-known El Niño–Southern Oscilla- abound that the boreholes that still have groundwater.
tion—global warming is causing droughts water will dry up before the start of the next “Strategic use of groundwater for food
to become more frequent, more intense, rainy season in November or December. security in a changing climate is becoming
and less predictable. “Models predict an “Water shortages are getting worse with more and more important. It is important
average rainfall decline across Zimbabwe each passing day,” said Danai Mutoro, a for farmers to utilize water resources sus-
of between 5% and 18% by the end of the farmer in Chitora, a small farming village tainably to allow water seepage to greater
century. The range is large because differ- about 50 kilometers south of Zimbabwe’s depths,” Zhakata said.
ent models give different results,” Brazier eastern border city of Mutare. “We were
said. expecting better rainfall during the 2019–
Richard Taylor, a professor of hydroge- 2020 summer season; instead, the season By Andrew Mambondiyani (@mambondiyani),
ology at University College London, in a was even worse than before.” Science Writer

NEWS
Typhoons Getting Stronger, Making Landfall More Often
T
yphoons and hurricanes are two driv- results show that the warming ocean, espe- at seven, with nine in 2015, second only to
ers of intensifying natural disasters, cially the warming northern South China 11 in both 1965 and 1997.
which in 2019 caused some $150 bil- Sea, benefits typhoon enhancement before “The increasing strength of typhoons in
lion in damages around the world, accord- landfall.” the Northwest Pacific Basin in recent years
ing to the insurer Munich Re. Typhoon Hagi Because of the complexity of the various is in response to global warming,” study
bis, 2019’s costliest event, cost $17 billion in interacting systems at play, Xiao said that coauthors Yuei-An Liou, a professor at the
Japan alone. it’s very difficult to make predictions that Center for Space and Remote Sensing
The growing threat from typhoons as the could result in better policy making to mit- Research at Taiwan’s National Central Uni-
planet heats up, a topic of critical impor- igate storm impact and suggested that com- versity, and Ravi Shankar Pandey, a Ph.D.
tance to East Asia, was discussed at a joint puter simulations using deep learning student, said in an email. “This issue needs
conference of the Japan Geoscience Union techniques could be more effective than tra- proper attention to mitigate the risk involv-
and AGU ( JpGU-AGU Joint Meeting 2020). ditional prediction methods. ing them in the region.”
More Storms Landing in China Rising Super Typhoons Autumn Threat

In a long-term study that was the basis for Researchers in Taiwan, meanwhile, looked Scientists in South Korea also called for fur-
a poster submitted to the conference, sci- at how super typhoons, which have average ther research to cushion typhoon blows,
entists found that severe typhoons making maximum wind speeds of over 209 kilome- particularly for storms that come relatively
landfall have increased abruptly in China ters per hour, or 113 knots, are increasing in late in the season. In a conference poster
since 2004 (bit.ly/severe-typhoons). The the northwestern Pacific. In a study sub based on 65 years’ worth of data, research-
mitted to the conference as a poster, the ers at Inje University in South Korea
researchers used satellite infrared imagery reported finding that the frequency and
and wind vector plots for each typhoon and intensity of typhoons affecting the Korean
considered environmental factors that can Peninsula in September and October, known
“The warming ocean, strengthen such storms (b it.l y/ p oster as autumn typhoons, have been increasing
especially the warming -typhoon). (bit.ly/korea-typhoon). A study of typhoons
They found that southwest airflows and from 1954 to 2019 using statistical analysis
northern South China Sea, northwest cold air masses play crucial roles and numerical modeling showed that five of
benefits typhoon in strengthening super typhoons in sum- the eight October typhoons to affect the
mer and winter, respectively; southwest air peninsula since 1954 occurred from 2011 to
enhancement before flows boost most winter super typhoons as 2019; three of Korea’s seven typhoons in
landfall.” well, making them more intense than their 2019 occurred in September and caused sig-
summer counterparts. The scientists noted nificant damage.
that the period 2013–2016 had the highest Typhoons’ maximum instantaneous wind
average number of super typhoons per year, speeds, a driver of wind damage, were also
researchers analyzed tropical cyclone data

from the China Meteorological Administra-
tion’s Shanghai Typhoon Institute for the
July–September period from 1973 to 2017.
They showed that about 9.7% of landfall
typhoons in southern China underwent
a rapid intensification in the 24 hours
before coming ashore during the 2 004–
2017 period, more than double the 1.6% and
3.1% intensification over the previous peri-
ods. Citing previous research exploring the
relationship between more intense
typhoons and global warming (b it. l y/
climate-typhoons), the scientists noted
that overall, warmer oceans are driving
such storms, whereas warmer land sur-
faces in southern China are helping attract
them.
“The intensifying typhoons are controlled
by several factors,” said study coauthor
Zhixiang Xiao of the Guangxi Institute of Typhoon Hagibis, above, tore through Japan in 2019, causing nearly 100 deaths and more than $15 billion in
Meteorological Sciences. “However, our damage. Credit: NASA Worldview, Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS)

NEWS
up. The researchers attribute this increase

to rising sea surface temperatures (SSTs) in
Chicago Wetlands Shrank by 40%
the northwestern Pacific, noting that
regional SSTs are increasing faster than the
During the 20th Century
global average and that SSTs remain high
A
around Korea in September and October. s Chicago’s industries and popu and environmental sciences at the Univer-
But≈they also said a hypothetical storm lation boomed in the late 1800s, city sity of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). Overall, the
approaching the peninsula in October will officials decided to reverse the region lost 85% of its swamp and marsh
not weaken, which was the case in the past, course of the Chicago River so that it flowed area during the 20th century, the team
because while the land begins to cool, the away from Lake Michigan. The river’s found.
sea remains warmer longer. reversal in 1900 carried industrial pollution “The thing that struck me the most was
“This will develop into a powerful away from population centers and increased how clear the connection was between what
typhoon due to the greater temperature dif- shipping opportunities from the Great Lakes was wetland and what now is lake,” Paster-
ference around the Korean Peninsula, which to the Mississippi River. It also began drain- ski said. When walking or biking around
lies on the border between the cold conti- ing the extensive network of wetlands that the city, he added, it’s easy to notice a small
nent and the hot sea,” said study coauthor had covered most of the Chicago area after isolated lake here and there, but the
Woo-Sik Jung of Inje University’s Depart- the last ice age. Industrial and residential research revealed how widespread the phe-
developments further altered the wetlands’ nomenon is across Cook County. “When
reach. you look at the map, it’s unmistakable.”
All told, Cook County, Illinois, which “This whole area was wetlands” that have
“The increasing strength encompasses Chicago, has lost 40% of its
wetland area from the time of the reversal to
since been transformed by human develop-
ment, Pasterski said. “Now every time it
of typhoons in the today, according to research published in rains and the park outside my house floods,
Urban Ecosystems (bit.ly/urban-eco). Wet-
Northwest Pacific Basin in lands such as rivers, streams, marshes,
I reflect on the idea that, yeah, it should
flood. It should always be flooded.”
recent years is in response swamps, and lakes remove pollutants, man- “We’ve changed the hydrology of the
age groundwater, cycle nutrients, and sup- entire area, and that’s going to be true of any
to global warming.” port biodiversity comparable to tropical for- city,” especially in the wetland-rich Mid-
ests and coral reefs. west, said coauthor and UIC paleontologist
“Wetlands are not only the kidneys of the
region, absorbing and cleaning a whole lot
ment of Atmospheric Environment Infor- of water, but they are vital habitats for many
mation Engineering. “In other words, the birds and insects,” said Iza Redlinski, a
larger the temperature difference, the conservation ecologist at Chicago’s Field
stronger the wind, the more powerful the Museum of Natural History who was not
autumn typhoon around the Korean Pen involved with the research. “Monitoring
insula can be compared to the summer wetlands and other habitats is important to
typhoon.” knowing how we’re progressing and what
One scientist based in Japan who was not actions can be undertaken to preserve them
involved in these studies said there are con- on both the large and small scale.”
flicting findings from research about
whether the number of typhoons is increas- Draining Swamps
ing or decreasing amid climate change. to Make Lakes Instead
“However, most studies have shown that The researchers analyzed historic and mod-
the typhoon intensities in terms of wind and ern maps of Cook County. They counted the
rainfall would increase under global warm- numbers and types of distinct wetland fea-
ing,” said Sridhara Nayak of the Disaster tures and measured the individual and total
Prevention Research Institute at Kyoto Uni- area covered by wetlands.
versity, who participated as a convener of a They found that from the historic period
session on extreme weather events at J pGU- (1890–1910) to the modern period (1997
AGU Joint Meeting 2020. “So the super or –2017), the total area of Cook County wet- The Lake Calumet area of Cook County was the
severe typhoons are expected to occur in the lands shrank from 73 to 44 square kilome- center of extensive wetlands until the late 1800s.
future warming climate, which would bring ters (–40%). The number of wetland loca- Calumet lost significant wetland area between the
much stronger winds compared to present tions increased roughly tenfold over that early 20th century (blue) and the present day (pink
typhoons and heavy rains to the landfall time, but the average size of each location and red) as it was developed into a hub for the
region and would be a more severe threat to is about 10 times smaller today than it was shipping, rail, and steel industries. The original
human life and property.” in 1900. This shrinkage was led by the con- footprint of the Calumet wetlands now encom-
version of sprawling marshes to small passes both an Important Bird Area of Illinois for
lakes and retention ponds, said lead author three bird species and also a Superfund site.
By Tim Hornyak (@robotopia), Science Writer Joey Pasterski, a graduate student in Earth Credit: Wesley Tucker

NEWS
Roy Plotnick. “The connectivity of the land-

scape has changed significantly as a result
of [metropolitan expansion], and that’s
something that needs to be thought about
going forward as we think about conserva-
tion and restoration of the land.”
“Intact wetlands are of critical impor-
tance for native wildlife in general,” said
Field Museum conservation ecologist Mark
Johnston, who was not involved with the
project. “When protected in urban areas,
they can also serve as connective corridors,
which are super important in fragmented
landscapes, particularly with the increased
pressures of climate change.”
Native Biodiversity Lost

Both the loss of total wetland area and the
transition from swamps to lakes affected
Cook County’s wetland-reliant species. The
team gathered information on historic and
modern species of mollusks, fishes, birds,
reptiles, amphibians, and mammals by
scouring publicly available resources like
museum collections, online databases and
catalogs, and even apps used by wildlife
spotting communities.
The researchers found that w etland-
reliant reptiles, amphibians, and mammals
experienced little to no biodiversity loss
during the 20th century. Mollusk species,
however, changed significantly: Of the 107
native mollusk species present 100 years
ago, 53 remain today, and 26 nonnative mol-
lusk species were introduced into wetland
habitats intentionally or accidentally. And
although the numbers of fish and bird spe-
cies have increased over time, the increased
biodiversity is largely due to nonnative spe-
cies replacing native ones. Some of the non-
native species, like silver carp, have been The Calumet Quadrangle boasted extensive wetland areas in 1902 as Chicago faced rapid industrial expan-
deemed invasive and injurious to local eco- sion. Credit: USGS/W. C. Alden
systems.
This research will aid conservationists,
Redlinski said, and can also help developers
plan projects that will have minimal impact available public resources. The graduate areas as well using similar resources,” he
on the remaining wetland ecology. “Know- researchers have moved on to other projects said. “Anywhere you have a museum collec-
ing what species have disappeared or which since the course ended last spring, but Pas- tion over a 100-year time span or more you
ones are on the decline can allow managers terski hoped similar projects would spring can do a similar study in the classroom in
either to prepare sites for reintroductions, if up in other metropolitan areas. the span of a year.”
that is possible, or to adjust the site in such “The fact that we were able to do this as
a way to allow for that organism’s life cycle a class project using just resources from the
to be completed,” for example, keeping city that were free…to me reflects the abil- By Kimberly M. S. Cartier (@AstroKimCartier),
the land wet long enough for native frogs ity for this study to be repeated in other Staff Writer
to complete all the stages of their develop-
ment.
This research was conducted by graduate
students enrolled in a course on species
u Read the latest news at Eos.org
extinction taught by Plotnick, developed out
of a class project, and relied solely on freely

NEWS
Will COVID’s Cleaner Skies Muddy Climate Models?
A climate simulation showing possible temperature forecasts by 2100. Simulations like these will remain accurate despite a sudden drop in carbon dioxide emissions
associated with the C
OVID-19 pandemic. S
hort-term models, however, might be affected. Credit: NASA
T
he year 2020 is an anomaly for many stratosphere to the deepest reaches of the but now a new timeline has emerged: emis-
reasons, but the COVID-19 pandemic ocean. These data include air temperatures, sions during a pandemic.
that has slowed normal day-to-day wind speed and direction, cloud proper- For long-term models, like those fore-
activities to nearly a halt stands out. ties, concentrations of aerosols and green- casting the outcomes over the next century
Earth’s atmosphere has noticed. house gases (like carbon dioxide and meth- of anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse
In May, a team of international research- ane), sea ice cover, glacier extent, sea surface gases and aerosols, the reduction this year
ers published a paper showing that carbon temperatures and salinity, current, nutrient probably won’t make a difference, said
dioxide emissions had dropped nearly 8% in cycling, and more. Qiang Fu, a professor of atmospheric sci-
March and April (bit.l y/COVID-CO2). And But what happens to the models if one ence at the University of Washington in
even as the world began to relax stay-at- year is thrown off by an event that causes an Seattle who is not involved in the UCAR
home measures and emissions rose once unprecedented drop in a major variable like project.
more, the team suggested that the cumula- carbon emissions? If the difference in carbon emissions
tive emissions for this year would remain A team at the University Corporation for between this year and last year—due to the
4%–7% lower than usual. Atmospheric Research (UCAR) in Boulder, pandemic—is statistically significant,
In terms of slowing the effects of climate Colo., is trying to answer that question. Lamarque said, then that might affect how
change itself, this year won’t make much Although the drop in emissions has been scientists forecast shorter-term phenom-
of a difference, scientists say. The effects relatively small, it is still significant, Jean- ena, like a hurricane season.
of climate change, like higher sea surface François Lamarque, director of the Climate But the UCAR team doesn’t have the
temperatures, more intense rainfall, and and Global Dynamics (CGD) Laboratory at answer yet. The team has only just begun
retreating glaciers, have more to do with the UCAR, said. Over the next year or so, “how asking the questions and designing experi-
amount of carbon dioxide that has accumu- will it translate into a climate signal that ments.
lated in the atmosphere over decades, and we can observe? That’s a real question [the One thing is for certain. “Maybe this very
one anomalous year won’t affect that. answer to which] we just don’t know.” unfortunate event is giving us the opportu-
But will this anomalous year affect the nity to gain an understanding of how the
sophisticated models that scientists use to Diverging Timelines [climate] system responds” to sudden
study potential future outcomes of our cur- Basically, the team wants to know how dif- changes in carbon dioxide emissions,
rent levels of greenhouse gas emissions? ferent climate projections will be as a result Lamarque said.
of the pandemic. It’s like seeing a timeline
How We Model Climate suddenly split, said Gokhan Danabasoglu,
Scientists feed climate models an enormous a senior scientist in the CGD Laboratory. By JoAnna Wendel (@JoAnnaScience),
amount of data from the very top of the There exists a set of emissions “as usual,” Science Writer

NEWS
Wildfires Trigger L
ong-Term Permafrost Thawing
When that insulating layer is lost, the
ground heats up more readily, causing per-
mafrost to thaw.
Using microwave data collected by two
satellites—S entinel-1 and the Japanese
Advanced Land Observing Satellite-2—the
team traced how the ground subsided in the
burned region between October 2015 and
June 2019 to centimeter-level precision.
This time-resolved look at how permafrost
thawing proceeds after a fire is novel, said
Yanagiya. “The detailed time series of defor-
mation is very new.”
A Bulkier Layer to the Rescue

Subsidence proceeded the fastest in 2015
and 2016, Yanagiya and Furuya found. That’s
probably because of a negative feedback
loop, the authors propose: Initial permafrost
thawing bulked up the active layer—the
layer above permafrost that freezes and
thaws seasonally—which in turn provided
additional thermal insulation against fur-
ther thawing.
Wildfires kick-start permafrost thawing, observations of eastern Siberia reveal. Credit: Kazuki Yanagiya The researchers also found that east fac-
ing slopes tended to experience the most
subsidence. That’s consistent with previous
research and makes sense because these
P
ermafrost underlies much of the far there’s no sign of the fires abating. “With areas receive less intense sunlight, Yana
north, but this amalgam of ice and climate change, wildfire frequency and giya and Furuya suggested. Their active lay-
frozen soil is far from stable—it’s severity are expected to increase.” ers are therefore thinner to begin with and
thawing as temperatures rise worldwide. accordingly provide less insulation, the sci-
That’s bad news, because permafrost is a entists proposed.
significant repository of carbon that can
be readily converted into carbon dioxide, A New Megaslump?
a major greenhouse gas. Now researchers
The team traced how In total, the fire-scarred region lost roughly
have used satellite remote sensing to mon- the ground subsided 3.5 million cubic meters of permafrost, the
itor one signature of permafrost thawing— scientists calculated. For comparison, that’s
ground subsidence—after a wildfire in east-
in the burned region to about an order of magnitude less than
ern Siberia. The team found that parts of centimeter-level precision. the thawed volume of the nearby Batagaika
Earth’s surface subsided more than others megaslump, an enormous craterlike depres-
despite the relative homogeneity of the fire. sion formed by thawing permafrost. In Sep-
This variation is likely due to differences in tember 2019, Yanagiya and Furuya did field-
the thickness of the insulating active layer work in Siberia and flew a drone over the
directly above the permafrost, the scientists Maps of Sinking Ground Batagaika megaslump. “It’s huge,” said
suggested. The researchers used a remote sensing Furuya.
Kazuki Yanagiya and Masato Furuya, both technique called interferometric synthetic It’s possible that the burned area they
geophysicists at Hokkaido University in aperture radar to generate maps of ground studied might one day come to look like
Japan, focused on a 3,600-hectare swath of subsidence following the fire. Subsidence Batagaika, the researchers hypothesized.
permafrost in eastern Siberia, Russia. The is a common outcome of thawing perma- “We are kind of expecting it,” said Furuya.
region, composed of low shrubs dotted with frost and can wreak havoc on built struc- These results were published in the Jour-
3- to 5-meter-tall larch trees, burned in July tures. nal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface (bit
2014 in a wildfire of unknown cause. Wildfire triggered the measured subsid- .ly/wildfire-permafrost).
Siberia has been plagued by many blazes ence but only in an indirect way, said Furuya.
recently, said Roger Michaelides, a geo “The fire itself doesn’t melt permafrost
physicist at the Colorado School of Mines in directly.” Rather, a blaze eradicates vegeta- By Katherine Kornei (@KatherineKornei),
Golden not involved in the research, and tion, which reflects and absorbs sunlight. Science Writer

NEWS
Restored Tropical Forests Recover Faster

Than Those Left Alone
University of Québec, Canada, explained
that “tropical forest management can be an
effective way to mitigate climate change
considering that they are the most produc-
tive forests on Earth.”
Study authors noted that protection of
existing forests, even those that have been
degraded or previously exploited, is para-
mount for retaining aboveground carbon
density, as well as for maintaining biodi-
versity and other critical ecosystem ser-
vices.
Researchers used a restoration approach
called “assisted natural regeneration” at
Malaysia’s Ulu Segama Forest Reserve and
Danum Valley Conservation Area. In this
case, assisted natural regeneration involved
planting tree seedlings and cutting climbing
Researchers found that actively restored tropical forests, like Malaysia’s Danum Valley Conservation Area, plants that compete with young trees for
above, recovered 50% faster than those left to regenerate naturally. Credit: Gido, CC BY 2.0 (bit.ly/ccby2-0) access to light and nutrients. The open areas
created for the tree seedlings were main-
tained free of competing plants by cutting
them back for several years after the seed-
A
ctively restored forests recover cial sustainability, thus enabling much lings were planted. This process gave the
aboveground biomass faster than larger areas of forest to be restored.” seedlings a head start in the race to form a
areas left to regenerate naturally “The paper raises an important issue new forest canopy. These restoration treat-
after being logged. According to a new study regarding the effectiveness of carbon pric- ments were applied annually to different
on tropical forests in Sabah, Malaysia, areas ing if it is to serve as a financial incentive places in the study areas.
that have undergone active restoration for restoring logged forests,” said Robin Chazdon noted that this study is an excel-
recovered 50% faster, increasing from 2.9 to Chazdon, a professor emerita at the Univer- lent application of assisted natural regener-
4.4 metric tons of aboveground carbon per sity of Connecticut and a research professor ation measures to hasten the recovery of
hectare per year (bit.ly/Malaysia-forests). at the University of the Sunshine Coast in heavily logged forests, but it considers only
The findings suggest that the reduction Queensland, Australia. Chazdon was not one dimension of forest recovery: above
in carbon associated with a single logging involved in the study. “Several other papers ground carbon density. This dimension can
event would be recovered to the same level have also noted that high potential for car- be assessed through making routine mea-
as unlogged forest after 40 years with active bon storage during forest restoration is not surements of tree diameter and height on
restoration, as opposed to about 60 years if being matched by an adequate price on the the ground as well as through remote sens-
the forest is left to regenerate naturally. voluntary carbon market.” ing and airborne approaches.
In addition to demonstrating the value in Researchers estimated the current cost to “Further experiments are needed to guide
protecting previously logged forests, the offset 1 metric ton of carbon dioxide equiva- cost-effective practices,” she explained.
study engages with the efficacy of carbon lent (CO2e) in voluntary carbon offsetting “Collecting seed and growing seedlings in
pricing, said coauthor Mark Cutler, profes- schemes to be around $2–$10. Carbon prices nurseries and planting them out is much
sor of geography and environmental science required to fulfill the 2016 Paris Agreement more expensive than merely cutting climb-
at the University of Dundee in Scotland. ($40–$80 per metric ton CO2e) would pro- ers.”
Cutler explained that “the costs associ- vide an economic justification for tropical Moreover, Chazdon said, it is “important
ated with the most intensive forms of active forest restoration, according to the paper. to note that these results cannot be gener-
restoration, if to be recovered through the alized outside of the Sabah, Malaysia, con-
voluntary carbon market, require a higher Restoring the “Most Productive text, as the scale and intensity of logging in
carbon price than has been seen in recent Forests on Earth” forests there are much greater than in other
times.” Tropical forests contain 55% of global stores tropical regions based on selective logging
“However,” he added, “varying the type of aboveground forest carbon, but stocks are with less timber removed.”
and intensity of restoration treatments declining because of forest loss and degra-
according to the residual amount of carbon dation.
in the forest stand has the potential to Pierre Taillardat, a postdoctoral researcher By Mohammed El-S
aid (@MOHAMMED2SAID),
reduce net costs and bridge the gap to finan- on coastal and terrestrial wetlands at the Science Writer

agu.org/Give-to-AGU/Giving
Underrepresented
students and women:
Apply for the AGU
Bridge Program
The AGU Bridge Program provides underrepresented
students and women a free common geosciences
graduate school application that is shared with our
partner institutions across the U.S.
Students accepted to the program are provided

additional resources, from career development to
peer support to faculty mentoring.
By providing additional support, we aim to help more

students from underrepresented populations successfully
obtain advanced degrees in the geo sciences.
Hurry to apply by 1 April!

agu.org/bridge-program

OPINION
Surveying the Challenges of Fieldwork

for LGBTQ+ Geoscientists
F
ieldwork is often framed as central to approach. For instance, in the seminal study community. Individual geologists have
geoscience research. What fieldwork on harassment in the field [Clancy et al., shared their stories in places like 500 Queer
comprises varies across geoscience dis- 2014], the authors noted that “our results Scientists or in the media, which is a crucial
ciplines and can encompass everything from cannot adequately speak to the experiences way of increasing visibility, but storytelling
wilderness treks, oceanographic cruises, and of people of color or [LGBTQ+] individuals does not help assess the needs and chal-
class field trips to museum and laboratory because they are under-represented in our lenges of the community as a whole.
visits, trips to research centers, and attend- fields and therefore our dataset, but the This lack of information is not limited to
ing conferences around the world. What var- experiences reported by our respondents are the geosciences. Every 2 years the National
ies just as widely, unfortunately, is how safe Science Foundation publishes reports on the
field research and work-related travel are to state of “women, minorities and persons
the geoscientists who must perform it. with disabilities” in science and engineering
There is increasing awareness of the haz- but has not yet collected information on
ards of sexual harassment and assault in the There has not been a LGBTQ+ scientists. There have been some
field-based sciences and a growing under- deliberate focus on efforts to collect data about LGBTQ+ scien-
standing that fieldwork is not always acces- tists in physics and chemistry, as well as
sible for geoscientists with varying physical challenges faced by the across all science, technology, engineering,
abilities or young families. However, there LGBTQ+ community in the and mathematics (STEM) fields. One 2016
has not been a deliberate focus on chal- study surveyed 1,603 LGBTQA STEM profes-
lenges faced by the lesbian, gay, bisexual, geosciences with respect sionals, including 108 geoscientists,
transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) commu- to fieldwork. although the data were published only in
nity in the geosciences with respect to field- aggregate [Yoder and Mattheis, 2016].
work.
This is not to say that interventions for First, Quantify the Community
other discrete groups cannot help members To better understand the needs and strug-
of the LGBTQ+ community. People are com- likely reflective of a broader climate for gles of LGBTQ+ geoscientists, we launched a
plex, and their identities intersect many members of various minority groups.” survey in fall 2019 that grew out of one
realms—there are, of course, LGBTQ+ geo- But without data, this widely held author’s (M.R.D.) attempt earlier that year
scientists with disabilities and those with assumption cannot be assessed. One of the to connect with his own community. As part
young children. However, it is often biggest barriers to supporting the LGBTQ+ of a presentation to an o n-campus branch
assumed that interventions intended to help geoscientist community is that to date, of the organization Out in STEM, he tweeted
one minoritized group will help all such there have not been many systematic an informal survey trying to understand the
groups—an “a rising tide lifts all boats” attempts to describe and understand this concerns of other LGBTQ+ paleontologists.
The results revealed that many of these sci-
entists felt unseen, unheard, and unsup-
ported in their field. The responses to the
informal survey prompted us to conduct an
official survey of geoscientists, modeling
ours on that of Yoder and Mattheis [2016].
Once we were granted permission from the
human subjects board at our university, we
conducted the survey online, as studies have
shown that this is the best way to collect
information related to identity [McInroy,
2016].
On the basis of 261 responses, we found
that the geosciences contain a diverse
LGBTQ+ community. Most participants
identified as cisgender women (47%) or as
transgender (an umbrella term that includes
transgender man, transgender woman,
nonbinary, genderqueer/genderfluid, agen-
der, and other identifiers for people whose
gender does not strictly match the gender
they were assigned at birth; 31%), with 22%
identifying as cisgender men. Diverse sex-

OPINION
ualities are also represented, dominated by

bisexual/pansexual/queer identities (52%),
followed by gay/lesbian identities (34%),
and then asexual/demisexual/romantic-
spectrum identities (14%).
These results also revealed that the com-
position of the LGBTQ+ community in the
geosciences is different from that found in
STEM in aggregate, as well as in physics in
the United States and the United Kingdom.
By comparison, there are fewer gay men and
a higher proportion of women and nonbi-
nary/genderqueer and bisexual people in
the geosciences. The racial demographics of
LGBTQ+ participants in our survey were
similar to those of the geosciences as a
whole, as 83% of the respondents were Fig. 1. This map shows areas in the world where lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, plus (LGBTQ+) sta-
white, 8% were Asian, and 7% were His- tus is criminalized or not legally protected, as well as countries in which residents do not believe the country
panic/Latinx, while the remaining 3% were is a hospitable place for LGBTQ+ people. (Individuals in Antarctica are each covered by the laws of their own
Black, Native American, or Pacific Islander. country.) Credit: Alison N. Olcott
Then Quantify the Problem

Although the survey asked about many
experiences in the geosciences track, we group that reported feeling more unsafe was It’s clear that existing
were particularly struck by the data we col- cisgender women of color (75%). Cisgender
lected on fieldwork and remote research. women of all races and transgender people interventions to make the
When asked about experiences with field- of color reported the highest rates of refus- geosciences more
work or remote research, almost 55% of ing to do fieldwork because of safety issues
respondents indicated that they had been in (50% and 46%, respectively). inclusive are not sufficient
an area where they did not feel safe because
for LGBTQ+ geoscientists.
of their identity, expression, or presentation. Support Is Lacking
Furthermore, about a third of the respon- for Graduate Students
dents indicated that they have refused to do Another troubling finding of our survey is
fieldwork because of concerns for personal that LGBTQ+ graduate students (29%) are
safety related to their identity. The need for significantly less likely than professors Compounding the lack of available sup-
these concerns becomes clear when looking (57%) to have opted out of fieldwork in a port, the overwhelming majority (85%) of
at a world map highlighting where LGBTQ+ specific locality because of safety fears. This respondents felt that other LGBTQ+ people
identities are not protected or are even crim- is not surprising given the power imbalances in geology were not visible during their time
inalized (Figure 1). Even in places where present in graduate programs; a graduate as a student, presenting a challenge to them
these identities are not categorized as student’s research is often done in consul- to even seek out and solicit mentorship. An
unlawful, the dominant culture may not be tation with faculty advisers as part of a even greater majority (91%) expressed that
LGBTQ+ friendly. larger research agenda, which means that greater visibility and representation of
These findings are striking, both in their relative to faculty, students typically have LGBTQ+ people in geology would have been
scale and in how widespread they are. For far less control over their field site selection. helpful during their time as a student, both
instance, Clancy et al. [2017] conducted a This power imbalance speaks to the need in the field and at their home institution.
methodologically similar study of astrono- for graduate programs to develop adequate
mers and planetary scientists identifying support and mentorship for LGBTQ+ grad- Using Data to Support
those likely to feel unsafe in their work- uate students, a need that is echoed in the LGBTQ+ Geoscientists
places because of gender (women, 35%; survey responses. Most respondents (87%) Given that almost all respondents wished for
men, 1%) and race (women of color, 28%; reported that increased LGBTQ+ mentorship visible representation and that individuals
men of color, 1.5%; white men and would have been helpful during their time in all demographic groups have felt unsafe
women, <1%). Our data show that a majority as a student. Responses indicated that fac- doing fieldwork or remote research, it’s clear
of individuals in all demographic groups ulty support for the LGBTQ+ community was that existing interventions to make the geo-
identified by Clancy et al. who also identify low both inside and outside the classroom, sciences more inclusive are not sufficient for
Opposite: iStock.com/helovi
as LGBTQ+ have felt unsafe with fieldwork with 85% and 69% of respondents, respec- LGBTQ+ geoscientists. These findings are key
or remote research experiences, and 34% tively, reporting rarely or never experienc- for developing solutions for challenges faced
refuse to do fieldwork over fears related to ing such support. These two metrics are cor- by the LGBTQ+ geoscientist community.
their identity. In fact, 62% of cisgender related: A student who experiences in-class Advisers, employers, and institutions need
white men reported feeling unsafe in the support is likely also to have experienced to be aware of safety issues associated with
field due to their LGBTQ+ identity; the only out-of-class support. fieldwork and to educate themselves about

OPINION
potential dangers to LGBTQ+ geoscientists at

field sites. However, the need for support
STEM Learning Ecosystems Engage
and mentorship goes beyond the field
[Mulcahy et al., 2016]. In the classroom, sup-
Communities in the Geosciences
port for LGBTQ+ students starts with pro-
fessors confronting homophobia, using
inclusive language, and using students’
preferred pronouns. Out of the classroom,
faculty and staff can engage in supportive
academic advising, visible allyship, and
diversity training. Such gestures may seem
small but are, in fact, tremendously mean-
ingful. LGBTQ+ students report that a cru-
cial part of their overall success is having a
mentor to whom they are comfortable dis-
closing their identity.
Over the past few years, the geosciences
community has been trying to broaden par-
ticipation by making fieldwork and confer-
ences more accessible and welcoming. Our
survey makes clear that we need to reach
out further to explicitly support the LGBTQ+
community. An important place to start is
with education and awareness that allow
our LGBTQ+ colleagues to be safe and feel
supported in the field.
Acknowledgments Students participate in an outdoor geoscience class. Credit: Donna Charlevoix (UNAVCO), CC BY-NC-SA 3.0
The authors thank Patrick Getty, T. K. Mor- (bit.ly/ccbyncsa3-0)
ton, Khye Blue, and Colleen Wynn for feed-
back on the initial survey and A. Bradley for
providing additional data. We received
G
approval from the Human Research Protec- eoscience expertise is required to unique to the local people, cultures, land-
tion Program at the University of Kansas solve societal problems like seismic scapes, and ecology [Apple et al., 2014].
(IRB ID: STUDY00144586) for human subject hazards, coastal erosion, and ensur- One way to achieve sustainable local solu-
testing for the survey. ing adequate clean water supplies. These tions is to invest in community geoscience
problems, which are often local in scale and education that integrates science, technol-
References impact, are most likely to be solved when the ogy, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).
Clancy, K. B. H., et al. (2014), Survey of academic field experiences sources of geoscience expertise consulted Collaborations that adopt this approach,
(SAFE): Trainees report harassment and assault, PloS One, 9(7),
e102172, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0102172. are also local (and thus highly invested in known as Geo-STEM learning ecosystems,
Clancy, K. B. H., et al. (2017), Double jeopardy in astronomy and finding solutions) and when they work involve partnerships among diverse organi-
planetary science: Women of color face greater risks of gen- collaboratively with the community. An zations throughout a community—from
dered and racial harassment, J. Geophys. Res. Planets, 122(7),
1,610–1,623, https://doi.org/10.1002/2017JE005256. example of science-community collabora- K–12 schools and higher education institu-
McInroy, L. B. (2016), Pitfalls, potentials, and ethics of online tion was demonstrated in September 2013, tions to museums, local businesses, and gov-
survey research: LGBTQ and other marginalized and hard-to-
access youths, Social Work Res., 40(2), 83–94, https://doi.org/ when Denver, Colo.–area geoscientists ernment organizations—that join together
10.1093/swr/svw005. responded quickly to community concerns to address a local issue and to engage more
Mulcahy, M., et al. (2016), Informal mentoring for lesbian, gay, about nearby flash flooding. The scientists young people in the geosciences. Any com-
bisexual, and transgender students, J. Educ. Res., 109(4),
405–412, https://doi.org/10.1080/00220671.2014.979907. assessed flood effects on the landscape, munity can create Geo-STEM learning eco-
Yoder, J. B., and A. Mattheis (2016), Queer in STEM: Workplace soils, and water and air quality and commu- systems to cultivate community literacy and
experiences reported in a national survey of LGBTQA individ- nicated critical information to the public. motivate sustainable and transformative
uals in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics
careers, J. Homosexuality, 63(1), 1–27, https://doi.org/10.1080/ Geoscientists tend to be concentrated in solutions. More such programs are certainly
00918369.2015.1078632. regions rich in natural resources and geo- needed. Maybe your community can build
logic hazards. However, areas outside these the next one.
regions are still faced with numerous envi-
By Alison N. Olcott (olcott@ku.edu) and ronmental and natural resource–related A History of STEM Learning Ecosystems
Matthew R. Downen, University of Kansas, challenges, which will likely persist without In a seminal 2014 report, Kathleen Trapha-
Lawrence local geoscience expertise and community gen and Saskia Traill defined STEM learning
awareness. As communities work to become ecosystems (Figure 1) and emphasized that
u Read the article at bit .ly/Eos more resilient and sustainable, they need developing these systemic collaborations
-LGBTQ access to place-based education that’s requires buy-in from a variety of community

OPINION
organizations [Traphagen and Traill, 2014]. globally, with approximately 20 new proj- (Inclusion across the Nation of Communities
That same year, the National Academies ects beginning soon. In these collaborations, of Learners of Underrepresented Discoverers
held a convocation on building learning scientists, community leaders, and sponsors in Engineering and Science) program. Earth-
ecosystems at which participants explored work together—typically without the same Connections, a 2016 INCLUDES pilot project,
challenges and developed recommenda- explicit focus on students that STEMCoP created 11 alliances that supported the devel-
tions. In December 2018, the National Sci- has—to solve local challenges related to cli- opment of pathways by which precollege
ence and Technology Council’s Committee mate change, water quality and availability, students can access geoscience learning
on STEM Education issued a 5 -year strategic natural hazards, natural resources, ecolog- opportunities. Each alliance engaged multi-
plan that charged government agencies with ical systems, and healthy communities. To ple parts of a community and helped partic-
fostering STEM learning ecosystems to unite date, 10 of the existing and many of the new ipants explore career tracks by addressing
communities around STEM education. collaborations have specific educational local geoscience-related challenges. Earth
Several examples of STEM learning eco- components that either created materials Connections is currently seeking support to
systems have demonstrated success by for local schools or engaged K–12 students sustain ongoing activities.
engaging and educating people of all ages in geoscience-related investigations and The SEAS Islands Alliance establishes
about new innovations and garnering sus- problem solving. community networks focused on coastal
tained community support. The most recog- Another program, Educational Partner- geosciences in U.S. and affiliated island
nized of these are the Burroughs Wellcome’s ships for Innovation in C ommunities– jurisdictions, including in the U.S. Virgin
STEM Learning Ecosystems Communities Network (EPIC-N), connects undergraduate Islands, where the SEAS Your Tomorrow
of Practice (STEMCoP), which consist of and graduate students with local community program “fosters curiosity, instills steward-
89 ongoing and sustainable projects around leaders to investigate and develop sustain- ship, and forges and strengthens educational
the world that teach young people S TEM- able solutions and to improve community pathways for Virgin Island youth to explore
related ways of thinking, content, and skills. well-being through urban planning. Proj- and secure careers in marine science”
STEMCoP encourages K–12 students’ inter- ects address traffic and mass transit, home- through culturally relevant, place-based
est in STEM fields, especially within the lessness, waste management, and gentrifi- learning opportunities, according to the
health sciences, computer technology, and cation. Students engage in service learning program’s website. Funding from various
robotics. Few of the STEMCoP efforts involve and conduct research through place-based NSF programs—INCLUDES, EPSCoR (Estab-
students in place-based investigations of projects that elevate geoscience concepts lished Program to Stimulate Competitive
local ecosystems, however, and none related to water quality, erosion, and land Research), and HBCU-UP (Historically Black
emphasizes the geosciences. use. Of the 29 EPIC-N programs to date, only Colleges and Universities–Undergraduate
two addressed community education explic- Program)—enables professional societies,
Geo-STEM Takes Off itly, and these have concluded. formal and informal education entities, local
More recently, three programs that foster EarthConnections and the Supporting governmental and nongovernmental orga-
geoscience-focused STEM learning ecosys- Emerging Aquatic Scientists (SEAS) Islands nizations, and universities and colleges on
tems have emerged. As of the time of this Alliance are two STEM learning ecosystems the islands and in the mainland United
writing, AGU’s Thriving Earth Exchange has that have been supported by the National States to collaborate to achieve social change
facilitated 153 place-based collaborations Science Foundation’s (NSF) INCLUDES around geoscience problems.
Fig. 1. This conceptual model of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) learning ecosystems shows how community organizations develop systemic
collaborations that engage learners from all walks of life, facilitate enduring and effective STEM learning opportunities, elevate community literacy and innovation,
improve networks, and activate sustainable and transformative solutions for the broader community.

OPINION
Of the projects noted above, 112 function options.) Once you have narrowed the list of ecosystems focus young people on solving
as STEM learning ecosystems; 73% of these collaborators, work with them to identify local geoscience issues related to water
encourage and facilitate STEM learning in goals that maximize learning opportunities quality, pollution, soil erosion, natural
urban communities, with 69% engaging for the target audience—such as engaging resource management, and hazard mitiga-
youth from urban communities that have learners to understand local seismicity, tion—all issues that pose significant ongo-
been traditionally underrepresented. The coastal erosion, or pollution—and to create ing challenges for many communities and
concentration of learning ecosystems in accessible, robust, and connected learning can engage young people with their local
urban communities is to be expected, as the experiences for the audience. Examples of natural landscapes and with their neighbors.
ecosystems are often associated with urban such learning experiences include multi- For geoscientists, these programs are
colleges, universities, and organizations like stage bridge programs that help middle and both self-serving and altruistic. To diversify
museums that provide out-of-school learn- high school students see themselves as geo- the geoscience community and expand our
ing opportunities. Of the urban STEM learn- scientists, encourage undergraduates to scientific capabilities, we can attract young
ing ecosystems that engage precollege participate in research, and facilitate post- people who might not otherwise have seri-
learners, however, only eight programs cur- graduate professional opportunities. ously considered geoscience careers. Giving
rently address any geoscience concepts. Then you’ll need to secure funding to students intriguing and relevant local geo-
Thirty-four percent of the 112 STEM learn- meet your goals—it is likely you will need science problems to solve is an effective way
ing ecosystems address the needs of rural start-up funding and sustained long-term to cultivate their interest and create a sense
communities, with a handful of these eco- funding. In addition to the INCLUDES proof belonging. Ultimately, however, these
systems having a specific objective to address gram, another potential route to secure programs educate and serve local commu-
the needs of Indigenous learners. Within this start-up funding is through NSF’s Improving nities by addressing local problems.
34%, only Thriving Earth Exchange, Earth- Undergraduate STEM Education GEOPAths
Connections, and SEAS learning ecosystems (Pathways into the Earth, Ocean, Polar and Creating New Pathways
have addressed geoscience content areas to Geoscience
specifically. Learners in rural and remote Geo-STEM learning ecosystems offer
communities would benefit from stronger researchers, professionals, and educators
connections to Geo-STEM learning ecosys- opportunities to broaden geoscience partic-
tems because these communities are heavily Giving students intriguing ipation by activating local formal and infor-
affected by issues of water quality and avail-
ability, soil health and erosion, climate
and relevant local mal education networks, supporting K –12
Earth system science learning, and building
change, natural resource extraction, and food geoscience problems to a strongly skilled local workforce. Geoscien-
security. tists in all domains can work together to
solve is an effective way help frame community needs, to collaborate
Opportunities for New Geo-STEM to cultivate their interest with educational providers to reach K–12
Learning Ecosystems audiences directly, and to host professional
Creating Geo-STEM learning ecosystems
and create a sense of learning opportunities for teachers.
that address the needs of different commu- belonging. The greatest opportunities lie in develop-
nities presents both challenges and oppor- ing these ecosystems to include K–12 edu-
tunities. There is no one right way to set up cation in urban, rural, and Indigenous com-
a Geo-STEM learning ecosystem because munities. Successful existing STEM learning
each one is unique to its location, engaged ecosystems suggest that Geo-STEM learn-
partners, and target audience. Sustainable Atmospheric & Geospace Sciences) program. ing ecosystems are worth serious invest-
programs will require strong and flexible The goal of GEOPAths is to increase the num- ment and have considerable potential to
organizations, sound infrastructure, dedi- ber of students pursuing undergraduate and capture students’ imaginations and moti-
cated personnel, and long-term funding. postgraduate geoscience degrees by pro- vate them to develop the skills needed to
Should individuals or organizations wish to moting the design and testing of novel identify and solve a host of g eoscience-
cultivate a Geo-STEM learning ecosystem, approaches that engage students in authen- related problems affecting communities
here are some suggested steps. tic, career-relevant experiences. Multiple around the world.
First, find a credible and engaged lead GEOPAths funding tracks support geosci-
organization, such as a museum or outreach ence learning for broad audiences in infor- References
center, that is committed to collaborating mal settings (e.g., museums, nature centers) Apple, J., J. Lemus, and S. Semken (2014), Teaching geoscience
in the context of culture and place, J. Geosci. Educ., 62(1), 1–4,
with schools, educational organizations, and for undergraduates and graduate stu- https://doi.org/10.5408/1089-9995-62.1.1.
academic institutions, industry, utilities, dents in academic settings. Traphagen, K., and S. Traill (2014), How c ross-sector collabora-
local governments, and other nontraditional Each Geo-STEM learning ecosystem will tions are advancing STEM learning, Noyce Found., Los Altos,
Calif., informalscience.org/working-paper-how-cross-sector
partners. These diverse partnering organi- have its own unique goals, but the overar- -collaborations-are-advancing-stem-learning.
zations should reflect community demo- ching goal should be to engage more young
graphics and demonstrate respect for each people in the geosciences and promote geo-
other’s expertise. science literacy for generations to come. By Cheryl L. B. Manning (c manning4@ n iu
Next, identify and reach out to potential Unlike more general STEM learning ecosys- .edu), Northern Illinois University, DeKalb
partners. (Don’t worry if the list is long to tems in which students build robots or do
start; that just means you have a lot of cool science experiments, these Geo-STEM u Read the article at bit.ly/Eos-STEM

OPINION
Perspectives on Parenting While Researching

(During a Pandemic)
scientific professionals in the United States.
The novel coronavirus has brought the chal-
lenging realities of balancing work and per-
sonal life to the fore in households and
workplaces where such issues were not even
topics of conversation a few months earlier.
But the challenges of parenting and
working simultaneously have always
existed. When I asked my female colleagues
for their thoughts on the topic prior to the
Fall Meeting panel discussion, they uni-
formly rolled their eyes and sadly shook
their heads. We know. The reality is that if
we want our children to be advocates for
learning and to be empathic, curious, and
joyful, it takes time and effort from us—a
lot of time and a lot of effort that would oth-
erwise be spent on career.
Roughly 20 years ago, a pregnant col-
league was reassured by her department
An attendee at AGU’s Fall Meeting 2015 spends time with his son at an interactive exhibit during the confer- head that he could secure her the requested
ence. Credit: Karna Kurata extra year for her tenure clock from their
university: “I’ll say you got a slow start on
your research. We won’t even need to men-
tion the baby!”
T
he Centennial gathering of AGU last sonal lives—which has been catastrophic for Fortunately, most academic institutional
year was significant in the milestone some and highly challenging for nearly all— policies have evolved since the times when
it represented for the organization has clarified how inescapable these issues an academic’s family was generally dis-
and members and because it was the first are. We do not know when or how these missed as, at best, a weekend activity and,
Fall Meeting at which the challenges of par- conditions will end, and we cannot yet know at worst, an impediment to career growth.
enthood within academia were formally the lasting impacts this extraordinary time For example, family leave and tenure pro-
raised. At a moderated session, four invited will have on our lives. cess extensions are becoming standard ben-
panelists shared stories of obstacles they Below, the panelists from the Fall Meet- efits, and these policies are percolating
had confronted and how their experiences ing discussion reflect on how our present down into training and e arly-career posi-
shaped their career paths and their families. era emphasizes the need for open and hon- tions. However, cultural change—in aca-
Relative to other professional societies, est conversations within AGU and the academia as in society—usually occurs slowly,
AGU has been an early advocate and adopter demic community. Through open discus- and undercurrents of disbelief, resentment,
of f amily-friendly accommodations at its sion, we join in the cathartic exercise of and unrealistic expectations remain perva-
meetings, including offering subsidized sharing experiences and learning from our sive.
childcare. The parental–professional tra- respective journeys, and by combining such It is time to bust the myth that maternity
peze act does not start on the Monday dialogue with purposeful action and empa- leave (or other family caregiving) is a secret
morning of Fall Meeting, however, nor does thy, we can effect meaningful structural and opportunity to conduct research free of the
it end after the Friday evening poster ses- cultural change. demands of teaching and to recognize it for
sion. For decades, what academics could talk what it is: selfless emotional work that ben-
about in the workplace did not include the We’ve Had This Conversation Before efits personal, family, and societal well-
substantial personal challenges associated being. Likewise, it is important to recognize
Tanya Furman, Professor of geosciences,
with balancing a demanding career in aca- that working full-time at home while caring
Pennsylvania State University, University Park;
demia and research with parenthood. full-time for small children is just not pos-
and president-elect, Education section, AGU
Thankfully, that’s changing, and conversa- sible. Something has to give. And there’s the
Children: age 25
tions about managing parenthood and aca- rub: Someone—indeed, many someones—
Current situation: Working full-time at home
demic research careers have never been so must raise the next generation. That is our
indefinitely
vigorous. job and our joy as parents, but we still don’t
The COVID-19 pandemic has made these This is a particularly interesting time for talk about it openly. The AGU session was
conversations only more urgent. The nec- dialogue about structural and cultural influ- an attempt to start this conversation; sus-
essary fusion of our professional and per- ences on the timing of child-rearing among taining it is our collective responsibility.

OPINION
The Balancing—and Rebalancing—Act you achieve at one time will necessarily have tion defense. My experience having children
to be rebalanced in the future as both during my academic training was similar, I
Amy Clement, Professor of atmospheric sci-
domains of your life evolve. imagine, to having children anytime during
ence at Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmo-
an academic career. It involved bringing my
spheric Science, University of Miami, Miami,
infant to conferences across the country,
Fla.
pumping between classes and seminars, and
Children: ages 16 and 12
Current situation: Worked full-time at home My experience having squeezing work into the margins: during
naps and after bedtime.
from March through July; began teaching in per- children during my Prior to COVID-19, David and I worked
son in August; spouse working full-time at
home; children are largely self-sufficient academic training involved full-time outside our home and paid for
full-time preschool. Six months into the
When I first read Anne-Marie Slaughter’s bringing my infant to COVID-19 era, we are still trying to find a
2012 Atlantic article “Why women still can’t conferences across the rhythm amid so many uncertainties. Early in
have it all,” my boys were 5 and 9 years old the pandemic, we took childcare shifts—and
and more or less independent (i.e., the country, pumping between were lucky if we each were able to work half-
probability of spontaneous home combus-
tion was decreasing). As they grew and
classes and seminars, and time. We could write emails and address
administrative tasks, but focused writing was
matured, I felt more energy to put back squeezing work into the nearly impossible. As we quickly found this
into work. But Slaughter’s article reminded
me that the career–parenting arc is not a
margins. unsustainable, we sought help from grand-
parents for a few months, which allowed us
linear progression toward freedom (Halle- to increase our productivity to 75%, though
lujah! ), in which time spent on family it came at the expense of substantial physical
during the burning-d own-t he-h
ouse years strain on our aging parents. In July, our des-
is miraculously returned when toddlers A Need for Knowledge peration for childcare outweighed our
become teenagers, and becomes available “infection guilt” over opening our home to
Ni Sun-Suslow, Postdoctoral fellow in clinical
for new professional challenges and someone else, and we were fortunate to be
neuropsychology, Department of Psychiatry,
opportunities. able to hire a nanny.
University of California, San Diego
I have since realized that the more com- Now that the school year has begun, we
Children: ages 4, 2, and pregnant with third
plex needs of a teenager require my hus- are faced with a host of new challenges—
Current situation: Working full-time at home
band’s and my attention in new ways, and attempting virtual transitional kindergarten
(90% clinical research, 10% seeing patients vir-
things like sitting down together around with a 4-year-old and assessing the risks
tually); spouse also working full-time at home;
the dinner table are even more critical now. and benefits of possible in-person instruc-
attempting to balance childcare and virtual
Career opportunities that would take me tion, for example—all the while attempting
school with husband and nanny
out of the house on weeknights or on the impossible task of being 100% produc-
extensive travel just have to wait—these When I was a graduate student, I googled: tive with our own careers.
are choices every parent must make at “When is the best time to have children in In November 2019, David and I received
times. academia?” The search results were full of support from AGU to release a survey
COVID-19 has changed the conversation. opinion articles and advice columns. assessing AGU members’ perspectives on
As I write this, I am quarantining at home Although it was reassuring to see I was not parenthood during academic training. About
with my family, watching the parenting arc alone in pondering the topic, there were few 1.4% of AGU’s membership (726 individu-
playing out within my living room. Early in empirical data sets, especially within the als) participated in our study, with respon-
the COVID-19 era, I was struck with a feel- science, technology, engineering, and dents equally distributed between those in
ing familiar from my early days of parent- mathematics (STEM) fields, to shed light on training and those who had completed
ing: exhaustion and inadequacy on all fronts the subject. I was left wondering, At what training. About half (48%) reported having
(teaching, research, and family). As we have age do most academics have children? Do at least one child, revealing that this topic
settled into our new routine, in which we people even want to have children? How is important to many AGU members, with
are each tucked away in four corners of the many people leave or stay in academia after or without children, throughout their career
house and rejoin each other at the end of the having children? trajectories. These data will help academic
day for bike rides or jogs or walks, my hus- After seeking advice from a number of and research institutions make informed
band and I are faced with the challenge of women f aculty-parents, I learned that and evidence-based policy decisions and
dealing with problems for which none of us women who had children early in their will also help transition conversations about
has answers. training often did not regret their decision, parenting and research out of the margins
There is more than one correct way to and some of those who had children later and into open forums.
raise a child; and I believe that the roles of felt they could have had them earlier. This Motherhood and my career are both at
parents in shaping children for success can was all anecdotal, but because being a mom the top of my priority list; at times, each
be overstated. With that in mind, I think we was a high life priority for me, David and I must give ground to make space for the
can all put less pressure on ourselves to find got pregnant in my third year of graduate other. Although this can seem impossible
a perfect equilibrium between our personal school. I worked on my degree through two at times, I am grateful I pursued both
and professional lives. Just like a career, pregnancies and was very pregnant during simultaneously and that I started early.
parenthood is a marathon, and the balance both my qualifying exam and my disserta- Now that I am finishing my training, I am

OPINION
finding that the flexibility I enjoyed during Early evidence suggests that C OVID- parenting and research balance into a
my training years, which was so helpful r elated disruptions, especially to p
re-K–12 new—and harsher—light. Although some
when I was a new parent, has been gradually school programs, will have substantial have found a semblance of equilibrium, the
dissipating as I accumulate more critical impacts on the career trajectories of aca- persistent strain caused by the impossible
professional responsibilities. But my expe- demics with children as compared with col- duality of being a full-time worker and a
rience has shown me that it is possible both leagues who are not parents. These impacts full-time child caregiver is taking a heavy
to raise well-adjusted children during aca- are already being felt disproportionately by toll on others. Donning r ose-colored
demic training and to train successfully. Of women [Staniscuaski et al., 2020], and time glasses in an attempt to obscure our dis-
course, this was my own experience, which will reveal the lasting effects of the COVID comfort with this COVID era is not helpful
reemphasizes the need to collect empirical era on the demographics of academia for or adaptable. For now, it is completely
data. years, or possibly decades, to come. acceptable to hold on to hope and to
Although academics willingly accept acknowledge that this era of C OVID-19 is
Stress on a System Reveals Tension added responsibilities when becoming par- fundamentally, and negatively, affecting
ents, the strain is no less significant when many of us, including parent-academics;
Henry Potter, Assistant professor of oceanog-
individuals silently navigate these chal- and it may continue for a long time. The
raphy, Texas A&M University, College Station
lenges. Perhaps the shared challenges and full ramifications on our lives and the aca-
Children: ages 3 and 1
experiences of the pandemic can motivate demic community are yet unknown.
Current situation: Working full-time at
academics to unmute this topic. We are in Enduring the present and mitigating long-
home; spouse also working full-time at home;
a narrow window of time in which the dif- term impacts of this pandemic will require
no childcare
ficult balance between careers and caregiv- empathy and our communal effort to
With two young children and being one of ing, and unavoidable professional hiccups maintain open and meaningful dialogue,
two full-time working parents at home and productivity declines, are on the minds even after the “new normal” returns to the
during the pandemic, I find about 25 hours of many people and are affecting every “old normal.”
per week for my job as an assistant profes- professional sector. And yet we know that
sor. I squeeze in a few hours of work after tensions between parenthood and profes- Acknowledgments
my children’s bedtime or sacrifice a few sional domains will not be inoculated by a We thank AGU for its support of the Fall
hours of sleep to stay afloat, yet papers and SARS-CoV-2 vaccine. For now, though, I’d Meeting 2019 session and for encouraging
proposals remain unwritten. In the latter like to have the time and mental energy to this dialogue. D.O.-S. and N.S.-S. specifi-
half of the semester this past spring, when work on submitting my NASA proposal for cally thank AGU for its support of the Par-
classes were in session remotely, I barely the fast approaching deadline, and like enthood in Academic Research Environ-
had enough time to finish my daily duties everyone else, I hope to just “get through ments during Training (PARENT) survey
in teaching, grading, emails, and meet- this.” project. We are all deeply thankful and
ings—much of which does not advantage appreciative of our families’ love and sup-
my tenure review. port throughout our respective careers and,
Over the summer, I didn’t teach, but my most important, for their patience.
productivity remained disappointing. I still
Early evidence suggests
sacrifice my evenings and weekends, split- References
ting the workweek with my spouse, and that COVID-related Staniscuaski, F., et al. (2020), Impact of C
OVID-19 on academic
mothers, Science, 368(6492), 724, https://doi.org/10.1126/
being frequently interrupted means papers
and proposals stay on the to-do pile. I am
disruptions will have science.abc2740.
fortunate that my university allowed me to substantial impacts on David G. O rtiz-Suslow contributed to the
pause my tenure clock this year, but I still authoring of this article in his personal capacity.
feel I am lagging my nonparent peers. Rou-
the career trajectories The opinions and views expressed herein are the
tinely stuffing work into the margins just to of zacademics with authors’ own and do not necessarily represent
keep up is the norm of parenting as an aca- the views of the Naval Postgraduate School, the
demic, an already difficult scenario that has
children as compared with Department of the Navy, the Department of
been significantly exacerbated by the pan- colleagues who are not Defense, or the U.S. government.
demic.
The COVID-19 era has uncovered the stark
parents.
contrasts between the realities of nonpar- By David G. O rtiz- S uslow (d ortizsu@ n ps
ents and parents in academic research envi- .e du), Naval Postgraduate School, Monte-
ronments (and elsewhere). When a parent rey, Calif.; Tanya Furman, Pennsylvania State
misses work to care for a dependent, c areer- Looking Forward University, University Park; A my Clement,
building activities are inevitably sacrificed With the tumult and anxiety of 2020, con- University of Miami, Miami, Fla.; Henry Potter,
for insistent daily responsibilities. This sit- versations of how to manage parenthood Texas A&M University, College Station; and
uation engenders perceptions of a lack of simultaneously with academic or research Ni Sun-Suslow, University of California, San
productivity that have a detrimental impact careers are moving closer to the profes- Diego
on long-term career growth and success by sional and cultural zeitgeist. Yes, this con-
affecting competitiveness for advancement, versation is not new, but the disruptions u Read the article at bit .ly/Eos
job opportunities, and funding. wrought by the pandemic have thrown the -parenting

OPINION
Ten Steps to Protect BIPOC Scholars in the Field

at least the same diligence carried out to pro-
tect students from ticks, falls, or snakebites.
Many institutions already have good on-
campus policies but often do not extend or
enforce those policies during activities tak-
ing place off campus.
Risk assessment is an integral part of
geoscience fieldwork. It is imperative that
these assessments include race-related
risks associated with field trips. The racism
and other forms of discrimination experi-
enced by BIPOC students in the field are
exacerbated because these spaces are out-
side of the campus environment, sometimes
in a community of people who may or may
not have had prior interactions with minori-
tized students. The only experience that
white people in these communities may
sometimes have had with BIPOC students is
through the media, where, often, a negative
Mammoth Hot Springs at Yellowstone National Park. Credit: Hendratta Ali story of the BIPOC community is presented.
For inclusion to take root in the geosci-
ences, institutions must actively listen and
T
he geosciences are not diverse. Dis- by the time they join their white peers to
cussions attempting to address this study geoscience in undergraduate pro-
lack of diversity often center around grams, BIPOC students lack equivalent We, as Black geoscientists,
voyeuristic accounts of traumatic experi-
ences, which, although accurate, have
exposure to the types of environments in
which fieldwork takes place. These factors
want to equip the
clearly not caused the needed institutional make it hard for BIPOC scholars new to the community with
change for diversity to take root. Rather geosciences to fully participate in and enjoy
than relive our trauma, we, as Black geosci- field camp or other field-based research and
actionable steps to create
entists, want to equip the community with educational outings. accepting and supportive
actionable steps to create accepting and Once they do begin to participate in field-
supportive spaces for BIPOC (Black, Indige- work, BIPOC students often face racism and
spaces for BIPOC
nous, and People of Color) students. Specif- prejudice in these outdoor spaces. Field- students.
ically, we’ll address one area in which work usually happens in remote, nonurban,
geoscience institutions have failed under- racially homogeneous places—places that
represented students: fieldwork safety. can be dangerous to minoritized students,
Fieldwork has long been core to the iden- who may face hostility, distrust, and disre- take substantive steps to protect BIPOC
tity of the geoscience community. That spect. scholars from harm in the field. On our cam-
impression reigns despite the fact that most puses, white faculty and staff can use their
geoscience work happens away from the The Need for a Culture Shift privilege to minimize the chances of racist
field, in laboratories and offices. Yet field- Negative field experiences are common for and other discriminatory actions toward the
work still underpins geoscience curricula at BIPOC scholars. One might argue that it is BIPOC students on their teams. Here are our
undergraduate and graduate levels; it is fre- not the job of institutions to protect students recommendations:
quently viewed not only as a necessary rite of from the world, but this mindset can result 1. Institutions that run field programs
passage but also as a prerequisite for employ- in the inadvertent exclusion of BIPOC stu- should have a mandatory racial risk assessment
ment. Geoscientists who lack field experi- dents who feel they must remove them- requirement as part of pretravel protocols.
ence may be at a competitive disadvantage selves from potentially dangerous situations. This assessment requires faculty to consider
when applying for jobs or promotions. An attitude that BIPOC students’ prob- the experiences of their BIPOC students.
For BIPOC students, fieldwork continues lems are not the research team’s problems 2. To perform those assessments appro-
to be a barrier. Studies on this topic have also discourages the types of planning that priately, faculty should take antidiscrimina-
shown that some BIPOC students are born can foster a safe environment for everyone tion training to help them identify and learn
and raised in urban areas and may come when practicing fieldwork. A proactive strat- ways to address potential discriminatory
from families that lack the financial ability egy would consider protection from racial attitudes (nonverbal, verbal, and physical
to take extended outdoor trips. Therefore, discrimination and racialized violence with threats) that BIPOC students experience in

OPINION
field locations. For example, faculty can cre- accounting is particularly important to This article centers the
ate and have plans in place to d e-escalate address microaggressions faced by BIPOC
racial tension and protect students from individuals. Microaggressions, which rou- experiences of BIPOC
violence.
3. Before traveling, faculty should lead
tinely go unacknowledged or are minimized,
wear down morale over time and have
students in outdoor field
collaborative discussions to identify dis- adverse impacts on mental health. For stu- spaces, but we must
criminatory or race-related incidents with
team members that could occur in the field
dents, this impact can lead to their eventual
exit from the geosciences.
acknowledge that the lack
and then encourage bystander interventions. 10. Team leaders should address incidents of equity in field access is
4. Before field trips, team leaders should of discrimination when they happen. Team
reach out to local authorities, businesses, members should practice and use the 5D
a much bigger issue in the
and community leaders, especially in white strategy for bystander interventions: direct, geosciences.
communities, to provide early notice of the distract, delegate, delay, document (see bit
diverse nature of their teams. .ly/5D-s
trategy). The team should have a
5. Institutions should identify and share plan to exit dangerous scenes or to relocate
cultural norms, expectations, jargon, poli- the field party to a place of safety if other lack of equity in field access is a much bigger
cies, and rules practiced in field communi- strategies fail. issue in the geosciences. Access to fieldwork
ties that may be unfamiliar to the fieldwork and field trips has traditionally been designed
team. A Field for All for able-bodied, cisgender individuals within
6. Institutions should provide allyship When students and scholars feel that their the geosciences who have, in Western com-
training to educate and empower non-BIPOC experiences and concerns are considered munities, historically been white men. And
members of the team. BIPOC students could valid, they are more likely to speak with fac- globally, able-bodied cisgender men are still
be paired with white field allies. These part- ulty or team leaders as issues arise. This dis- the primary group for whom field access is
nerships would help build trust within field course, in turn, fosters a sense of belonging. planned. We need the geoscience community
parties, as well as help interactions with Without this sense of belonging, BIPOC stu- to create outdoor experiences that are wel-
local communities. dents and scholars internalize negative coming to everyone, including people with
7. Team leaders should interrogate and experiences and risk further traumas that disabilities, LGBTQ+ people, and women.
identify blind spots in team members from the drive them from the geosciences and STEM
majority racial group. Self-awareness of (science, technology, engineering, and
one’s own privilege can be a good impetus mathematics) fields in general. By Joshua Anadu ( j osh.a nadu@ o kstate
to becoming a strong ally. There has been a growing recognition of .edu), Oklahoma State University, Stillwater;
8. Team leaders should be present in the the unacceptable state of inequity, lack of H endratta Ali, Fort Hays State University,
field to introduce all of their team members to diversity, and challenges with the inclusion Hays, Kans.; and Christopher Jackson, Impe-
the host community and other stakeholders. of people from minoritized groups in the rial College London.
9. Team leaders should document hostile geosciences. This article centers the experi-
encounters that team members face during ences of BIPOC students in outdoor field u Read the article at bit .ly/Eos
field visits regardless of severity. This spaces, but we must acknowledge that the -BIPOC-scholars
Submit an abstract for AbSciCon 2021, the largest

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In addition to an engaging scientiﬁc program, AbSciCon 2021 will feature four
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Abstract Deadline: 13 January 2021 agu.org/abscicon

MENTORSHIP
AT A
DISTANCE
Three geoscience programs offer case studies
on how to form meaningful connections during
a time of social distancing.
By Richard J. Sima
With the COVID pandemic limiting academic opportunities at sea and in the field, mentors
and mentees are getting onboard with virtual strategies. Credit: Ocean Networks Canada;
IconFlat/Depositphotos.com (laptop graphic)
EOS_ND2020.indd 32 10/21/20 3:34 PM

Opposite Page: XXXXXX; This Page: Top Right: XXXX
EOS_ND2020.indd 33 10/21/20 3:34 PM

T
he summer of 2020 was supposed to be one of exploration, [such] a one-of-a-kind, transformative experience that you virtu-
discovery, and mentorship for students in the geosci- ally can’t do it virtually.”
ences. Though the onboard experience cannot be replicated, Lewis and
But then the pandemic happened. Cooper are building out the mentorship aspect of STEMSEAS and
Laboratories shuttered their doors; research vessels working to connect their students to resources, opportunities, and
stayed docked. mentors virtually.
Many of the mentorship programs to which students applied are Other programs are in a similar boat.
now navigating the still-uncharted waters of the “new normal” The Nautilus Live science and engineering internship program
and working to provide quality, albeit remote, mentorship. of the Ocean Exploration Trust also did not go to sea. Program
STEMSEAS—short for Science, Technology, Engineering and leaders decided to defer all would-be participants for the ship-
Math Student Experiences Aboard Ships—is one such program. based program to next year and instead provide opportunities to
Run out of the L amont-Doherty Earth Observa- participate virtually from shore.
tory at Columbia University, the National Sci- “It’s such a hard decision because we know
ence Foundation–funded initiative has been a how important and how timely these experi-
gateway for more than 125 students to experi-
ence ocean science up close every summer “It took us actually ences can be in the career track of students,”
said Megan Cook, manager of Education
since 2016. In a normal year, STEMSEAS gives
undergraduates the opportunity to spend 6–10 until a couple of Partnerships and Programs at the Ocean
Exploration Trust. “That’s the thing really in
days aboard a U.S. Academic Research Fleet our hearts and minds.”
research vessel with experienced faculty men- weeks ago to finally Many of the GEO Research Experiences for
tors as the ship makes transits between expe- Undergraduates (REU) programs, usually
ditions. admit defeat, that hosted by laboratories at different research
“Going to sea is really quite life changing the institutes throughout the United States,
first time one goes, I think regardless of your we weren’t going to were either canceled or moved to virtual
stage in life,” said Jon Lewis, a professor of research internships and professional devel-
geoscience at Indiana University of Pennsylva- be able to do this.” opment workshops in 2020. This pivot,
nia and co–principal investigator of STEMSEAS. forced by social distancing concerns,
“It is very powerful.” affected student engagement in geoscience
Of course, 2020 has not been a normal year. education and career preparation. Regardless,
“It took us actually until a couple of weeks ago to it was apparent that “the students were very hungry for some-
finally admit defeat, that we weren’t going to be able thing,” said Valerie Sloan, director of the GEO REU network and
to do this,” said Sharon Cooper, a senior staff associate at Lamont an internship specialist at the National Center for Atmospheric
and STEMSEAS Research.
co–principal These three programs—STEMSEAS, Nautilus, and GEO REU—
investigator, in may serve as case studies for creating remote mentoring networks
July. “We want to that can still develop meaningful connections and professional
go to sea! We’re development for students in a time of social distancing.
kicking and
screaming.” Serendipity and Intentional Mentoring
“These are As an undergraduate student at Iowa State University, Chanel Vidal
unique times, and took part in the 2018 STEMSEAS cruise on the R/V Endeavor as it
we really should sailed from Rhode Island to Barbados.
just step up and With Vidal hailing from landlocked Iowa, the program was life
try to keep main- changing in more ways than one. “It was the best experience I had
taining engage- in college. The idea of being able to just go to sea for a week and
ment and get only see ocean was mind-blowing,” she said. “It’s not something
people excited,” that I ever thought that I would be able to do.”
said Lewis, who, Interacting with professors, graduate students, and other men-
with Cooper, tees while working on her research project shifted Vidal’s aca-
originally demic trajectory by showing her how interdisciplinary ocean sci-
sketched out the ences research worked and that it was something she herself could
concept of do.
STEMSEAS over “[STEMSEAS] definitely formed what I want to study for the rest
coffee. “The irony of my life,” Vidal said. “I had interest in it [before], but they
is, the entire helped me prove to myself that it’s realistic and I can do it and it’s
project is based possible.”
Ashley Smith, a biology major from Rensselaer on something The relationships she formed are still strong and influential
Polytechnic Institute, pipettes dye for gel electro- that is truly a sui years later; she still keeps in touch with her cohort and mentors.
phoresis during the 2019 BIOS REU program. generis experi- “The teamwork and the relationships and just the beauty of it all
Credit: BIOS ence. It’s really were so memorable and have resonated with me even though I’ve

Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) programs, such as this one at the Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS), provide opportunities for stu-
dents to physically experience what it’s like to conduct research. Credit: Michael Hubenthal of IRIS
been in landlocked Iowa for 2 more years,” said Vidal. “I still think enough that I felt like I was connecting with them, and I hope they
about it every day.” felt that as well,” she said.
One of her project mentors, Joseph Montoya, a professor of bio-
logical sciences at the Georgia Institute of Technology, recently Pivoting and Finding the Silver Linings
helped with Vidal’s application to the Nautilus internship pro- There are physical limits to the number of people who can fit on a
gram. ship or in a research lab. But mentorship and programming this
Montoya is an example of a chance mentor brought on board by year are not subject to such physical constraints, which may be an
the program: He was on the ship in preparation for a follow-on opportunity: Though the virtual programs may have less depth of
expedition and not originally part of STEMSEAS. Today he has impact, they could have considerably more reach.
become one the program’s biggest contributors.
That happenstance is the beauty of the program, said Cooper.
“We like to work with anybody else who might be on the transit.”
These kinds of serendipitous connections may be one of the
more challenging aspects to emulate in a remote program.
“The difference between mentoring and just supervision is that
you’re helping [students] to talk about their professional goals,”
said GEO REU’s Sloan.
The goal of the GEO REU program is to give students experience
doing geosciences research for 6–10 weeks during the summer so
they understand how science works and whether it appeals to
them, said Sloan. “And the things that distinguish REU programs
from, let’s just say, being a student assistant in a lab would be that
in an REU program, you have intentional mentoring” and profes-
sional development, both of which are particularly important for
students from historically underrepresented backgrounds.
This means, in part, nurturing an environment for informal
mentoring stemming from spontaneous interactions in the cafete-
ria to introductions to faculty or invitations to lab meetings.
In a typical year, approximately 65 GEO REU sites would provide
800 students with hands-on research experiences and mentor-
ship. Moving programs online this year made introducing students
to people more difficult by far, Sloan said.
To help bridge the gap this past summer, Sloan developed the
2020 National Science Foundation Ocean Sciences REU, a virtual
professional development workshop series, to bring together
45 undergraduates hosted by different REU programs around the
United States in weekly Zoom meetings with faculty facilitators on
a variety of topics ranging from career exploration to research eth-
ics to resumé building.
Before the workshops began, Sloan held more intimate sessions As part of an REU program, Chanel Vidal (left) helps build a flex cam aboard the
with four students at a time to get to know them. “It was small R/V Endeavor. Credit: Chanel Vidal

Rebecca Ju, an environmental studies major from Yale University, participates in the 2018 Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences (BIOS) REU program. Credit: BIOS
“A major challenge was the frameshift for us when you haven’t sailed on a ship yet, you
to recognize that if you can’t go to sea, you think of the ship captain as some very intim-
shouldn’t just assume we can’t do anything,” “We’re going to reach idating, grizzled old guy, right? But most of
said Lewis of STEMSEAS. “And I think once we the ship captains we’ve sailed with have
got over that, [we] said what we really need to
do is meet the moment and pivot and figure out
more people in a very been super hip and fun and crazy people with
interesting stories. If we can have a captain
a way to connect.”
Normally, STEMSEAS receives several hun-
different way than talk to the students, I think that’s really
cool.”
dred applicants each year, and only 40 students
can sail. This year, those applicants who would
we would have Similarly, the Nautilus internship pro-
gram is taking advantage of the resources it
not have had an opportunity to participate
could stay engaged, Lewis said. “So that’s kind
normally, so it’s a has already built to offer students opportu-
nities to stay engaged. The program was
of a plus. We’re going to reach more people in a
very different way than we would have nor-
little bit of a silver designed to train undergraduate and gradu-
ate students working aboard the E/V Nautilus,
mally, so it’s a little bit of a silver lining.”
In charting out its new remote programming,
lining.” which explores the deep sea with remote-
controlled vehicles. For 2–5 weeks, interns
STEMSEAS called upon its built-in network of would get hands-on experience working as
30-odd instructors and even more alumni who seafloor mappers, data loggers, pilots of
were eager to pitch in by connecting with a student or remotely operated vehicles, or video engineers.
giving a lecture or webinar, things that could have “We try to target students who we really think will benefit from
happened almost as easily on a ship as on a computer. The the opportunity of getting to sea,” said Nicole Raineault, the chief
STEMSEAS Facebook alumni page has fostered continued interac- scientist and vice president of exploration and science operations
tion and conversations, and alumni have made conscious efforts to at Ocean Exploration Trust.
connect their students with upcoming opportunities and intern- The entire internship program cohort has been deferred this
ships. year because of limitations on how many can safely crew the ship.
STEMSEAS online programming also tried to bring some of the As an alternative, the students are encouraged to participate in the
ship experiences to their students by connecting them to the ship Scientists Ashore Program, another Nautilus initiative that allows
operators, who may have more time now that there is not much scientists to participate in expeditions via live video and data feeds
sailing, Cooper said. with text dialogues with shipboard scientists.
“We can arrange for them to talk to the students in a way that “For 10 years, we’ve pioneered telepresence and pushed that
probably wouldn’t have been available,” she said. “You know, technology forward, and now we’re kind of being asked to put our

money where our mouth is and flex that tele But remote programs come with their own,
presence at a new level,” Cook said. “We’ve often technical, challenges. “Every week,
always said you can come to the seafloor using “This is such a wild something would go wrong in a pretty big,
technology—now let’s actually take you to the frustrating way,” so some trial and error was
seafloor.” year. I think it’s necessary, Sloan said.
During its delayed expedition season “Keep things simple until you’re more com-
from October to December, Nautilus also
plans to host career panels and student back-
forcing us all to be fortable,” she advised.
GEO REU also provided resources to mentors
ground talks about their experiences in ocean
science, drawing from some of the program’s
really willing to be and program directors for moving REUs online
with tips on engaging virtually to help ease the
almost 140 intern alumni. “We really look
to position everyone as role models,” Cook
on our toes. And I transition.
As with any successful mentorship program,
said.
These events, available on the Nautilus Live
think that’s a good communication and time were key. In the GEO
REU mailing listserv, program directors and
website, will be open to students as well as the
general public.
lesson for students.” mentors from around the country shared their
experiences and emphasized the importance of
“This is such a wild year,” Cook said. “And I using different means of communication like
think it’s forcing us all to be really willing to be texting, videoconferencing (e.g., Zoom), and
on our toes. And I think that’s a good lesson for stu- online chatting (e.g., Slack) to maintain contact
dents.” between students and mentors.
However, Sloan noted, giving time to students was doubly
Lessons Learned for an Uncertain Future important when mentoring remotely. “We knew we don’t want to
This past summer may not be the last time these virtual programs have them on Zoom all the time,” she said. “Because that’s death.”
are needed. Despite the challenges inherent in building connections in a new
“Incidentally, two students that I know of got COVID,” Sloan remote format, the experiment seems to have worked. In surveys
said. “They are recovering okay. If they had been on campus, it she sent out after her virtual professional development workshop
would have been complicated for everyone involved—the cohort, series ended, Sloan found that most of the students had had a posi-
the lab staff, and so on. We had questions at the summer’s outset tive experience and found the program valuable for their develop-
about how we would deal with a sick student—who would provide ment.
care? How would they get home, if they had one to go to?” “I think the takeaway for me was that it was successful, and I
“I bet you’ll see a kind of mishmash next year” between in- didn’t know if it would be,” Sloan said. “It was more successful
person and virtual mentorship programs, Sloan continued. “It’s than I expected.”
wait and see [and] play by ear, but I would not be surprised to see a
continuation of it.” Author Information
Even after the pandemic, remote mentorship networks can be Richard J. Sima (@richardsima), Science Writer
valuable for their wide reach, especially to underrepresented
groups that might otherwise not find these programs accessible. u Read the article at bit.ly/Eos-mentorship
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Reuters/Infobae.com/Handout
EOS_ND2020.indd 38 10/21/20 3:35 PM

With so many
communities facing
relocation from the
coasts amid rising seas,
reframing the discussion
on managed retreat can
give them real agency.
BY JULIE MALDONADO,
ELIZABETH MARINO,
AND LESLEY IAUKEA
EOS_ND2020.indd 39 10/21/20 3:35 PM

W
hen faced with the looming effects of cli- used largely to describe the physical move-
mate change along coasts—larger storms, ment of built infrastructure, and it only
rising seas, flooding, and eroding shore- subsequently has included the physical
lines—arguing to promote linguistic fram- movement of people. Also encompassed in
ing of climate change–driven migration the term are the policies that facilitate
may seem like a fool’s errand. Does anyone these movements. Recent scientific and
care what it’s called if hundreds of millions policy research has tried to reconceptualize
of people globally—up to 13.1 million peo- the idea of managed retreat so that it is
ple in the United States alone [Hauer et al., more inclusive of social consequences—
2016]—relocate from coastlines en masse such as the cultural and psychological risks
before 2100? Should anyone spend time that accompany retreat—or has suggested
considering how to title the newest report actions such as reparations to address risk
about climate-driven migrations when that has accumulated over time for specific
what are needed are data, analysis, policy disenfranchised populations [Siders et al.,
changes, and cultural shifts that will safe- 2019].
guard the lives, livelihoods, infrastructure, However, within the managed retreat
and economies forced to deal with that framework—with its focus on buildings,
migration? Does it really matter whether property, city infrastructure, zoning, prop-
people are “retreating” or “relocating” erty rights, and the strategic planning and
when it’s still unclear how to deal realisti- political will necessary to coordinate all of
cally with the ocean rising up to 1.8 meters these—scientists use data to help govern-
above the ground on which our homes are ing authorities and businesses make plans
sitting? and policies to entice municipalities, prop-
We think it does matter. erty owners, and developers away from
How and, especially, by whom relocation plans are

developed will have substantial impacts on affected
people’s lives.
Implicit in terms like managed retreat, coasts. Those making the plans and poli-
forced migration, community relocation, cies often suggest that such a mechanism
and others are assumptions about who is saves people from both sea level rise and
deciding what is appropriate adaptation “their own bad decisions.” At first blush,
and how those decisions influence, sug- this is an enticing way to think about cli-
gest, or require compliance. How and, mate change adaptation, offering a “best
especially, by whom these plans are devel- solution”—and it is accurately titled as
oped will have substantial impacts on managing retreat. But the emerging use of
affected or relocated people’s lives. These eminent domain to remove people from
impacts are particularly critical for indi- coastal locations, such as along the U.S.
viduals in marginalized communities in East and Gulf Coasts, is an example of how
the United States, who will likely endure managed retreat sometimes leads to plans
disproportionate hardship from climate of action that are enacted upon a citizenry
and environmental risks and who have instead of in partnership with a citizenry.
historically suffered under decisions made There are three critical flaws in this
by people outside their communities. framework.
We want to start a discussion about the First, affected people are often missing
assumptions and implications conveyed by altogether from policy and planning dis-
the various terms used to describe the cussions about managed retreat, and when
anticipated large-scale movements of they are present, they are abstracted and
people and communities away from coasts. homogenized. It is as though they do not
have unique lives or histories, differences
MANAGED RETREAT in bank balances, varying access to child-
The most common term used to describe care, valid opinions, ancestral knowledge
the movement of people away from coasts of place, or varying perspectives about
is managed retreat, a concept that emerged what success looks like in their own lives
from coastal engineers. The term has been and relocations. In some cases, people

have been described as being part of the
problem—obstacles to achieving the goals
of managed retreat.
As social scientists who study
community-led relocation, we can attest
to the number of researchers, disaster
response professionals, and journalists
who have asked us about communities’
“unwillingness to move,” about the “stub-
bornness of some people,” and about the
onus of financing relocations “being on
the individual.” If managed retreat works
against people’s own assessments of risk,
desires, and d ecision-making, it is not an
inclusive adaptation plan, and it can fur-
ther marginalize the very communities it is The Isle de Jean Charles Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw Tribe, whose community in
supposedly designed to support. What the Mississippi Delta is shown here, has experienced land loss resulting from ris-
people think of their own lives, place, and ing seas; increased hurricane intensity and frequency (and being cut out of
culture matters. state-led hurricane protection plans); extractive industries; river mismanage-
For example, Indigenous Peoples, whose ment; and hydrological, meteorological, and environmental disasters. The tribe
lands settlers stole and now inhabit—and has been working on community-led relocation for nearly 2 decades. Credit:
who are on the front lines of climate dis- Babs Bagwell, 2012
placement—are connected to the land
through Indigenous worldviews that hold
the land to be their ancestor. When dis-
placed from the land, people become health devastation and injustices. Consider
displaced from their culture. Indigenous how the damming of the Amazon dis-
Peoples understand this dynamic and can placed more than a dozen Indigenous
be resistant to moving for this very reason. groups and how Andrew Jackson’s pur-
Second, the normative assumptions chase of Georgia led to the Trail of Tears
about “the best solution for the greatest death march for an estimated 60,000
number of people” wrapped up in the Native Americans from east of the Missis-
managed retreat language often leave out sippi River to what is now Oklahoma.
Affected people are often missing altogether from policy

and planning discussions about managed retreat, and
when they are present, they are abstracted and
homogenized.
the very people who bear the most extreme Today a number of tribal communities
burdens of the climate crisis. In a process and Indigenous Peoples live on the Missis-
managed by outside entities—especially sippi Delta lowlands, which are sinking as
powerful ones such as scientific institu- seas are rising. There are also Indigenous
tions, governments, and corporations— communities on low-lying islands all

speaking and acting for the people who are across the South Pacific. With a new era of
actually moving run the risk of continuing relocation linked to climate change, we can
and expanding the historical oppression of anticipate these and similar communities
rural, minoritized, Indigenous, and undoc- bearing the burden of picking up their cul-
umented communities. tures and moving again. It is critical to
Consider the sacrifices of Indigenous allow these communities to create, invent,
communities on Bikini Atoll, who were and decide their own futures.
moved repeatedly by the U.S. government Third, by not focusing on the lived expe-
for nuclear testing on the island and who riences of people being relocated and on
today continue to experience effects of dis- the differences among communities who
placement and severe environmental and need to move, there is a greater likelihood

Residents of Shishmaref on Sarichef Island in Alaska, as seen above, have been working for years on relocation plans because of growing
threats to the community from storm surge, shoreline erosion, and thawing permafrost. Credit: Bering Land Bridge National Preserve,
CC BY 2.0 (bit.ly/ccby2-0)
that resources will be disproportionately “Community led” also highlights the

allocated away from politically marginal- importance of community engagement,
ized and economically poor communities input, and leadership in d ecision-making,
[Siders et al., 2019; Marino, 2018] or that the visioning, planning, and implementation
provision of resources will stop once peo- [Marino et al., 2019].
ple are relocated. Unlike with “managed retreat,”
When scientists, policy makers, and “community-led relocation” encourages
planners say managed retreat, their sights us to see that success means helping peo-
are trained on putting physical space ple to stay safe and healthy and feel satis-
between encroaching waters and commu- fied in a new location. The term also
nities—on retreating. To the point that encourages us to foster plans of action that
people and infrastructure do leave, such emphasize the logistics of perpetuating
efforts succeed. But there is so much that culture after resettlement, such as consid-
can be done better. ering how houses are constructed and how
people physically dwell in relation to one
MORE INCLUSIVE LANGUAGE another, as well as establishing community
Shifting from “managed retreat” to lan- gathering spaces for cultural and ceremo-
guage that is more inclusive of who and nial practices and ways to maintain food
what is included in “community” and that sovereignty and access to traditional foods,
upholds the varying voices, opinions, medicines, and subsistence practices.
knowledges, and lived experiences of those Social scientists know that simply using
physically moving is more than a seman- the word community does not mean every-
tics issue; it also involves logistic and pol- one within that designation agrees to a
icy elements that can incite changes in single or simple solution [Faas and Marino,
practices related to people moving from 2020]. But framing sea level rise–driven
coastal regions. migration as taking place within a com-
The term community-led relocation, munity instead of as involving retreat from
for example, includes consideration of the a territory allows space for dialogue to
complex tapestry of people who leave a address solutions that make sense to the
place they have inhabited to settle in people moving as opposed to focusing on
another, as well as the fact that these com- terminology originally meant to describe
munity tapestries are bound not by geog- infrastructures and assets. If the people
raphy but by relationships and practice. most affected by relocation are not

involved in the planning process, their preventive actions. It is also critical to build
needs—physical and cultural—are unlikely flexibility into the relocation process to
to be met. Their communities will be moved allow a community to decide for itself how
to places that are not set up for or prepared best to enable its own physical and cultural
to accommodate their cultures, which is continuity. In addition, as part of reloca-
how cultural affirmations like Native lan- tion planning, there needs to be an evalua-
guages, traditions, foundations, and ties to tive process to determine whether and how
land and sustainability can be erased. a community group was involved in
decision-making at every step, from initial
AN OPEN CONVERSATION visions to planning to implementation.
A critical question to consider is, How do The risks and challenges borne by com-
people relocate with their cultures intact? munities at risk of displacement often are
If intact means immutable and unchanged, founded on centuries of injustices. The least
then it is impossible. However, Indigenous that planners, engineers, scientists, and
Dignity and s elf-governance in movement as a response

to changing coasts are certainly possible—but only if
local authority is central to the conversation.
Alaskans and many communities through- others involved in researching and imple-
out the Pacific, for example, have long tra- menting community relocation plans can
ditions of migration. These communities do, collectively, is to create inclusive lan-
show that dignity and self-governance in guage and frameworks that promote just
movement as a response to changing coasts community relocations and resettlements.
are certainly possible—but only if local
authority is central to the conversation. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Our intent here is not to prescriptively We express deep gratitude to our friends
determine the language to associate with and relatives who have provided wisdom
climate-driven relocation. Even with and guidance over the years on the pro-
“community” attached to them, words like cesses discussed in this article and so
relocation can have deep-rooted negative much more.
connotations. Rather, we want to invite an
open conversation to shift the framing REFERENCES
from one of managed retreat to one that is Faas, A. J., and E. K. Marino (2020), Mythopolitics of “com-
munity”: An unstable but necessary category, Disaster Prev.
more inclusive of people, cultures, and Manage., https://doi.org/10.1108/DPM-04-2020-0101.
lifeways. If people do not see themselves Hauer, M. E., J. M. Evans, and D. R. Mishra (2016), Millions
in the framing, if it is being done for them projected to be at risk from s ea-level rise in the continental
United States, Nat. Clim. Change, 6, 691–695, https://doi.org/
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Perspectives on ethnocentrism in sea level rise relocation and
lematic best solution. retreat policies in the US, Global Environ. Change, 49, 10–13,
As we’ve described, the best solution in https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2018.01.002.
the current framing of managed retreat is Marino, E., A. Jerolleman, and J. Maldonado (2019), Law and
Policy for Adaptation and Relocation Meeting, meeting sum-
based predominantly on economic mea- mary report, Natl. Cent. for Atmos. Res., Boulder, Colo.
sures while discounting nonmaterial con- Siders, A. R., M. Hino, and K. J. Mach (2019), The case for stra-
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siderations like histories, practices, affec-

https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aax8346.
tive experiences, and ways of life that are
essential in thriving communities. AUTHOR INFORMATION
We recognize that no single framing will Julie Maldonado ( jmaldonado@
work for everyone. In determining how likenknowledge.org), Livelihoods Knowledge
such framing can be more inclusive, it is Exchange Network, Lexington, Ky.; Elizabeth
critical for planners, engineers, scientists, Marino, Oregon State University–Cascades,
policy and decision makers, and other pro- Bend; and Lesley Iaukea, University of
fessionals involved to engage in open and Hawai‘i at Mānoa, Honolulu
ongoing dialogue with community leaders
and organizers who have long been work- u Read the article at bit.ly/Eos
ing on and advocating for community-led, -relocation

Researchers gather in a cave entrance at one of the archaeological sites they studied near Mossel Bay on the central southern
coast of South Africa. When sea levels were lower, this cave would have looked out over a wide grassland. Credit: Kerstin Braun

Sea level changes have repeatedly
reshaped the Paleo-Agulhas Plain, a now
submerged region off the coast of South
Africa that once teemed with plants,
animals, and human hunter-gatherers.
A LOST
HAVEN
FOR
EARLY
MODERN
HUMANS
BY KERSTIN BRAUN

S
outhern South Africa is well These sites sit along the northern edge coastline advanced and retreated over
known for its scenic coast- of the Paleo-Agulhas Plain, a piece of many millennia.
line of rugged cliffs and continental shelf the size of Ireland that
long, sandy beaches and for was repeatedly exposed and submerged Revealing Ancient Vistas
its fynbos, an extraordinarily as sea levels changed through the Pleisto- The highest sea levels were about 6 meters
diverse, Mediterranean-type cene and that today lies beneath the above the present level during the last
assemblage of shrubs and other vegeta- waves south of Africa. Scientists have long interglacial phase, about 125,000 years
tion, most of which are endemic to the recognized that the Paleo-Agulhas Plain ago, whereas the lowest were 129 meters
area. The region is also known for its long was an important part of the glacial land- below present levels during the penulti-
legacy of human inhabitation. Today it is scapes—and one that shaped human pop- mate glacial period, roughly 137,000 years
home to numerous coastal communities ulations—in southern Africa, but the ago. For much of the past 200,000 years,
interspersed among large population environment and ecology of the plain the ocean was substantially lower than it
centers like Cape Town and Port Eliza- have been largely unknown. That’s is today, and the view from the caves and
beth, but the present-day coastline is changing, however, as researchers apply rock shelters that once hosted humans
also dotted with archaeological sites doc- advanced methods and reveal archaeolog- would have been quite different.
umenting 200,000 years of human activ- ical and geological records that tell tales Near the caves, inhabitants would have
ity. of feast, famine, and migration as the looked out over a wide, mostly flat plain
resembling the grasslands of modern
eastern Africa more than the fynbos
shrublands of the current coastal low-
lands. The ancient grasslands were dis-
For much of the past 200,000 years, sected by rivers that flowed south from
the mountains of the Cape Fold Belt and
the ocean was substantially lower than it had wide floodplains covered in wood-
lands and lush wetland vegetation [Cowl-
is today, and the view from the caves and ing et al., 2020].
Diverse herbivores roamed the grass-
rock shelters that once hosted humans lands, woodlands, and wetlands in large
herds [Marean et al., 2020]. Large grazers,
would have been quite different. like the now extinct giant buffalo, whose
curving horns protruded a meter from
either side of its head, remained in the
open grasslands, whereas zebra, wilde-
beest, blue antelope, and hartebeest took
advantage of the open grasslands and tall
wetland grasses. Browsers like giraffe,
black rhino, bushbuck, and kudu, as well as
mixed b rowser–grazers like springbok and
eland, preferred the more closed habitats
of the floodplains. The wetlands and rivers
provided a home for reedbucks, hippos,
and Nile crocodiles.
On the P aleo-Agulhas Plain, fynbos
shrublands were found mostly on the outer
shelf at the height of glacial periods when
sea levels were more than 100 meters
below where they are today. These plant
communities were specifically adapted to
the limestone substrate of what’s now the
deeper continental shelf. The repeated
flooding and exposure of the Paleo-
Agulhas Plain left a legacy of coastal dune
deposits scattered across the landscape.
Outcrops of these dunes cemented by car-
bonates were interspersed with the grass-
lands on the plain and covered by mosaics
of fynbos and subtropical thicket vegeta-
tion. These vegetation types supported the
A community of early modern humans living amid the grasslands of the P aleo-Agulhas Plain, off the coast of less diverse and less numerous large mam-
present-day South Africa, is shown in this artist’s depiction. Credit: Maggie Newman mal communities that are also present on

The giant buffalo Pelorovis antiquus had a 2
-meter horn span. This fossil skull is on display at Kenya’s Nairobi National Museum. Credit: Bjørn Christian Tørrissen,
CC BY-SA 3.0 (bit.ly/ccbysa3-0)
the current coastal lowlands, namely, ronment of this region: its geology, soils, coastal habitat type [De Vynck et al., 2016].
grysbok and bush duiker [Marean et al., and climate and the dynamic effects of sea Plant foraging experiments showed that
2020]. Elephants moved between the dif- level changes. Collaborators then mapped food resources were unevenly distributed
ferent habitats on the plain and farther vegetation distributions and large mam- and that h
unter–gatherers would have
inland, where today’s coast is. mal habitats on the basis of the physical profited from detailed knowledge of the
Revealing the environments of the environment. locations of calorie-dense resource “hot
Paleo-Agulhas Plain is part of an ongoing Local scientists recruited descendants of spots” [Botha et al., 2020].
transdisciplinary collaboration including ancestral coastal Khoisan tribes for mod- We integrated these results with knowl-
researchers from South Africa, the United ern foraging experiments because of their edge about the distributions of vegetation
States, and Australia [Cleghorn et al., 2020]. experience in marine foraging for personal and other resources, such as raw materials
The effort began with scientists, including consumption. In these experiments, the for stone tools, to produce a resource land-
myself, reconstructing the physical envi- tribespeople harvested shellfish and plant scape that informs computational model-
foods in previ- ing efforts to simulate the behaviors of
ously defined people on the landscape.
coastal marine
habitats and fyn- Modeling Climate
bos plant com- and Mapping Vegetation
munities. By Environmental changes during and
recording the between glacial and interglacial periods
amount of food had profound impacts on the Paleo-
harvested by each Agulhas Plain and its surroundings. The
person in a most significant were from sea level varia-
defined amount tions, which exposed and submerged the
of time, each plain twice in the past 200,000 years
shellfish habitat [Fisher et al., 2010].
and plant com- The climate, on the other hand, seems
munity could be to have remained stable along the present-
assigned an aver- day southern coast compared with cli-
age “return rate.” mates in the southern African interior.
For marine forag- Paleoclimate modeling of conditions at
ing, the main the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), roughly
Phytoliths extracted from elephant grass are seen in this electron micrograph. driving factors of 21,000 years ago, suggests only mild tem-
Similar phytoliths were found in archaeological sites studied as part of an inter- return rates were perature decreases over the Paleo-Agulhas
national collaboration to understand the P aleo-Agulhas Plain. Credit: Benjamin tides, weather Plain and along the present-day southern
Gadet, CC BY-SA 3.0 (bit.ly/ccbysa3-0) conditions, and coast [Engelbrecht et al., 2019].

Fynbos vegetation grows on South Africa’s central southern coast near the city of George. Fynbos plant communities on the p
resent-day coastal lowlands have not
changed much since the Last Glacial Maximum. Credit: Kerstin Braun
This modeling also showed only small considerably since the LGM. The grass- served over millennia in stalactites and
changes in annual rainfall amounts along lands and floodplain vegetation on the stalagmites from coastal caves to track
the southern coast, although the seasonal- exposed Paleo-Agulhas Plain, however, changes of rainfall seasonality from
ity of rainfall has varied considerably. Most comprised a set of habitats that are now 113,000 to 19,000 years ago [Braun et al.,
of South Africa and the Paleo-Agulhas almost completely absent from the region 2020].
Plain received more winter rainfall during [Marean et al., 2020]. Carbon stable isotope ratios (12C and 13C )
the last glacial period than they do today from the same stalactites and stalagmites,
because of a northward shift of the westerly Reconstruction by Proxy as well as in fossil mammal teeth and
wind belt [Engelbrecht et al., 2019]. The pre- A range of proxy methods provides inde- ostrich eggshells, can yield information
vailing westerly and northwesterly winds pendent reconstructions of past climate about the abundance of tropical grasses
brought about by this shift led to down- and vegetation in the region, with results (which use the C4, or Hatch-Slack, carbon
wind effects along the southern flanks of that can be compared with model outputs dioxide fixation cycle) versus shrubs, trees,
the Cape Fold Mountains and the present- and map projections. For example, col- and t emperate-region herbs and grasses
day central southern coast that reduced leagues and I determined ratios of the sta- (which use the C3, or Calvin, cycle) growing
winter rainfall [Engelbrecht et al., 2019]. ble isotopes of oxygen (16O and 18O) pre- in the soil above the coastal caves and in
Researchers mapped the vegetation
from 26,000–19,000 years ago, around the
time of the LGM, using field data on the
distributions of geological and soil sub- The grasslands and floodplain vegetation
strates combined with paleoclimate mod-
eling [Cowling et al., 2020]. Because the on the exposed Paleo-Agulhas Plain
vegetation that grows in an area depends
strongly on the underlying bedrock and comprised a set of habitats that are now
soil, which typically remain stable over
long periods of time, the vegetation on the almost completely absent from the region.
present coastal lowlands has not changed

the animals’ diets. Phytoliths, microscopic
silica particles produced in different char-
acteristic shapes and sizes in plant cells,
are also useful as a proxy for the abun-
dance of tropical C4 grasses compared with
C3 trees, shrubs, and temperate-region
grasses [Esteban et al., 2017]. They are com-
monly found in the sedimentary sequences
of archaeological sites.
Stable carbon isotope analyses of large
mammal teeth from the LGM indicate
that at Nelson Bay Cave, near Plettenberg
Bay on the current southeastern coast,
grazers mainly ate C3 grasses that grew
there when winter rainfall was prevalent
[Sealy et al., 2020]. This observation is
supported by the paleoclimate model,
which predicts that winter rainfall domi-
nated the Paleo-Agulhas Plain near Nel-
son Bay Cave at this time [Engelbrecht
et al., 2019].
Several proxy records gathered along
the central southern coast in the area sur-
rounding Pinnacle Point near Mossel Bay
offer information about an earlier cool
phase known as marine isotope stage
(MIS) 4, which lasted from about 72,000 to
59,000 years ago. Oxygen and carbon sta-
ble isotopic ratios measured in stalactites
and stalagmites suggest that summer
rainfall increased and more C4 grasses
grew during this cool phase than during
warmer periods [Braun et al., 2020]. Carbon
isotopic ratios in large grazer teeth and
ostrich eggshells, as well as phytolith A path wends through Fynbos vegetation near the Nelson Bay Cave archaeological site on the Robberg
assemblages, support the hypothesis that Peninsula. This vegetation tends to be rich in plants that produce bulbs and tubers, some of which are edible.
C4 grasses were more common during Credit: Kerstin Braun
MIS 4, although ratios detected in small
mammals (mostly vlei rats) suggest that
C3 plants were also still abundant in the
vicinity of Pinnacle Point. groundwater seeps [Marean et al., 2020]. Fynbos plant communities near the
The proxy results suggest that condi- Locating food resources in the region resent-day coast have not changed much
p
tions downwind of the Cape Fold Belt were would have mainly involved foraging for since the LGM, but the Paleo-Agulhas
similar during MIS 4 to those indicated by plant foods, gathering shellfish, and Plain, when it was exposed, offered sub-
paleoclimate modeling for the LGM. This hunting large mammals, but the avail- stantial areas with mosaics of fynbos and
work thus highlights that the archaeologi- ability of each of these changed through thicket vegetation [Cowling et al., 2020],
cal sites where humans dwelt long ago time. which can be especially productive for for-
were positioned in a transition zone Fynbos vegetation is very rich in plants aging, in part because of the softer soil,
between two ecological realms: the fynbos that produce bulbs and tubers, but not all which makes it easier to dig up bulbs
farther onshore, which was dominated by of them are palatable, and some are even [Botha et al., 2020]. Although fynbos vege-
C3 plants, and the grasslands of the Paleo- poisonous. Food resources amid the fynbos tation was widespread during the LGM, the
Agulhas Plain, with their high abundances are clustered in specific vegetation types efficiency of plant foraging may have been
of C4 grasses. and in areas recently affected by wildfires limited compared with foraging during
[Botha et al., 2020], which trigger seed interglacials because individual bulbs
Changes to the Menu sprouting in some plants. Skilled gatherers would have been smaller with the lower
Finding food and water would have occu- with knowledge of edible plants and where concentrations of carbon dioxide in the air
pied much of the time for hunter- and when they cluster would have been (a minimum of about 180 parts per million,
gatherers. Water was readily available on able to gather plenty of food, and they may compared with about 290 before the
the Paleo-Agulhas Plain in the closely even have set wildfires to increase supplies Industrial Revolution and 400 today) [Fal-
spaced rivers and wetlands and from [Botha et al., 2020]. tein et al., 2020].

Archaeological assemblages suggest that habitat loss did not
cause local extinctions of grassland species; rather, they
survived as refugee species in decreased numbers.
Hunting expeditions likely would have A Picture of the Past sustain them for tens of thousands of
been more productive on the Paleo- The resource landscape developed for years.
Agulhas Plain than on the present coastal hunter-gatherers provides the natural
lowlands because populations of large boundary conditions for an agent-based References
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the Cape south coast: Understanding early human economies,
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the fynbos. Sea level changes, however, An initial model representing interglacial .2019.106129.
considerably affected the size of large- conditions suggests that in the absence of Braun, K., et al. (2020), Comparison of climate and environment
on the edge of the P alaeo-Agulhas Plain to the Little Karoo
mammal habitats, with only small rem- the abundant large-mammal fauna on the (South Africa) in marine isotope stages 5–3 as indicated by
nants of grasslands remaining during full Paleo-Agulhas Plain, people were heavily speleothems, Quat. Sci. Rev., 235, 105803, https://doi.org/
10.1016/j.quascirev.2019.06.025.
interglacials when sea levels were high. dependent on plant foraging and exploited Cleghorn, N., A. J. Potts, and H. C. Cawthra (2020), The P alaeo-
Archaeological records from the Holo- marine resources when possible. Overall, Agulhas Plain: A lost world and extinct ecosystem, Quat.
Sci. Rev., 235, 106308, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev
cene—an interglacial beginning about the viable population density was only two .2020.106308.
12,000 years ago—across the region sug- people per 100 square kilometers, similar Cowling, R. M., et al. (2020), Describing a drowned ecosystem:
gest that people did, in fact, hunt fewer of to that of today’s Montana or Wyoming Last Glacial Maximum vegetation reconstruction of the P alaeo-
Agulhas Plain, Quat. Sci. Rev., 235, 105866, https://doi.org/
the animals associated with the habitats [Wren et al., 2020]. 10.1016/j.quascirev.2019.105866.
on the Paleo-Agulhas Plain, probably During intermediate conditions and De Vynck, J. C., et al. (2016), Return rates from intertidal forag-
because these species were less abundant glacials, the resource landscape would ing from Blombos Cave to Pinnacle Point: Understanding early
human economies, J. Hum. Evol., 92, 101–115, https://doi.org/
or went extinct. Archaeological assem- have looked quite different. At intermedi- 10.1016/j.jhevol.2016.01.008.
blages from interglacial MIS 5 (~128,000– ate sea levels, people were still able to Engelbrecht, F. A., et al. (2019), Downscaling Last Gla-
cial Maximum climate over southern Africa, Quat. Sci.
72,000 years ago), however, suggest that access coastal resources and forage for Rev., 226, 105879, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev
habitat loss did not cause local extinctions fynbos plants, while the Paleo-Agulhas .2019.105879.
of grassland species; rather, they survived Plain provided more game for hunting. In Esteban, I., et al. (2017), Phytoliths in plants from the south coast
of the Greater Cape Floristic Region (South Africa), Rev. Palae-
as refugee species in decreased numbers. glacial phases, marine resources would obot. Palynol., 245, 69–84, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.revpalbo
These assemblages also show that shell- have been out of reach for people living on .2017.05.001.
Faltein, Z., et al. (2020), Atmospheric CO2 concentrations
fish like mussels and snails were a reliable the present-day coast. During these peri- restrict the growth of Oxalis pes-caprae bulbs used by human
and productive source of protein for ods, fynbos plant communities, although inhabitants of the P aleo-Agulhas Plain during the Pleistocene
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are more perishable than larger animals, food. It is thus likely that during these Fisher, E. C., et al. (2010), Middle and late Pleistocene paleo
so early humans probably gathered only times, people relied heavily on hunting scape modeling along the southern coast of South Africa,
Quat. Sci. Rev., 29, 1,382–1,398, https://doi.org/10.1016/
what they could eat the same day. The large mammals of the Paleo-Agulhas j.quascirev.2010.01.015.
coast was within the 10-kilometer daily Plain. Marean, C. W., R. M. Cowling, and J. Franklin (2020), The
foraging radius from the cave dwellings on As a result of the collection of research Palaeo-Agulhas Plain: Temporal and spatial variation in an
extraordinary extinct ecosystem of the Pleistocene of the
what is now the central southern coast described here—and of the large, trans- Cape Floristic Region, Quat. Sci. Rev., 235, 106161, https://doi
when the sea level was less than 60 meters disciplinary collaboration, which has .org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2019.106161.
Sealy, J. C., et al. (2020), Climate and ecology of the P alaeo-
below the present level [Fisher et al., 2010]. allowed us to resolve far-reaching and Agulhas Plain from stable carbon and oxygen isotopes in
Lower-than-present sea levels meant comprehensive questions—we now know bovid tooth enamel from Nelson Bay Cave, South Africa,
Quat. Sci. Rev., 235, 105974, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev
that rocky shores were absent and sandy that the Paleo-Agulhas Plain was far more .2019.105974.
beaches, interspersed with reefs of than an extension of the coastal lowlands Wren, C. D., et al. (2020), The foraging potential of the Holo-
cemented dunes, were much more com- of today’s southern African coast. Rather, cene Cape south coast of South Africa without the P alaeo-
Agulhas Plain, Quat. Sci. Rev., 235, 105789, https://doi.org/
mon. In the p resent-day foraging experi- the plain was its own unique ecosystem, 10.1016/j.quascirev.2019.06.012.
ments, these reefs yielded high returns of affected by exceptional dynamic changes
shellfish when tides and weather were of climate and exposure on glacial– Author Information
favorable, but returns were very low on interglacial timescales. These dynamics, Kerstin Braun (kbraun2@asu.edu), Institute
beaches [De Vynck et al., 2016]. The common in turn, shaped habitats for vegetation, of Human Origins, Arizona State University,
occurrence of sand mussels in archaeolog- animals, and our human hunter–gatherer Tempe
ical shell middens, however, suggests that ancestors, for whom the plain represented
Pleistocene hunter-gatherers foraged the most productive foraging environ- uRead the article at bit.ly/Eos- Paleo
effectively on beaches nonetheless. ment in the region—and one that helped -Agulhas

THE This community
college in Texas
TWO-YEAR has figured out
how to guide
ON-RAMP its students into
geoscience careers.
Fernie Garcia
By Jenessa Duncombe

M
arissa E. Cameron was according to the American Geosciences lights. Lectures on mineralogy ended with
always fascinated by Institute’s (AGI) 2018 workforce report— information on mineralogists, sediment
science and dreamed yet students have a growing interest in the lectures concluded with sedimentologists,
of becoming an astro- discipline, and the workforce needs new and so on. Students were even tested on
naut, but after her first personnel. By 2026, AGI estimates a sur- scientific career paths. Learning about
year studying at the plus of 118,000 geoscience jobs due to professions “really opened up the possi-
University of Texas at El Paso, nothing felt retirements. bility” that geoscience could be a real
right. She left school to try the workforce Villalobos also realized that community career, said Cameron.
for a few years, landing in a job in retail. college students could be a critical popula- Villalobos also disseminated career and
“There were people that told me that I tion to recruit into the geosciences, partic- salary information to student advisers and
made a big mistake,” Cameron said. ularly given that the discipline is the least displayed it prominently at the top of the
Now Cameron works as a planetary sci- racially and ethnically diverse STEM field. school’s online degree plan.
entist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Hispanic, Black, and Native American stu- Advice on careers in physical sciences
performing landing site reconnaissance for dents are overrepresented at community can be key to students’ desire to earn a
future mission concepts for Jupiter’s moon colleges compared with 4-year institutions. baccalaureate. In a survey of 708 commu-
Europa. What made the difference? Com- “As the United States’ population nity college geoscience students in the
munity college. begins to change, we need to have a geo-
The geosciences recruit far fewer com- science community that’s reflective of that
munity college students into 4-year
degrees than other science, technology,
population,” said Villalobos.
Villalobos, along with a team of faculty,
In each lecture,
engineering, and math (STEM) fields. But deans, and advisers, built a new pipeline Villalobos dedicated
some schools are changing that. for community college students in El Paso.
El Paso Community College (EPCC) is Could their model be a template for others? the final slide to
one such school and has emerged as a
model for other 2-year institutions looking Getting a (Booted) Foot in the Door career spotlights.
to recruit and prepare the next generation Cameron took her first geology class with
of geoscientists. At its peak 2 years ago, Villalobos on a whim to fulfill her general
the El Paso program produced 8% of geoscience requirement. She’d started taking Journal of Geoscience Education, career dis-
science associate’s degrees awarded annu- early-morning and night classes at EPCC cussions with students positively cor-
ally nationwide. Cameron credits her time while working full-time and wasn’t sure related with higher intent to transfer to
at EPCC with her career success. what she wanted to do but knew that she a 4-year school in the geosciences.
One of the champions of the program is needed a change. In addition to a lack of career informa-
Joshua Villalobos, a dean of instructional She had always liked the Earth and space tion, Villalobos said that community col-
programs and the campus dean of EPCC’s sciences: Her father took her rock collect- lege students can face another hurdle: cul-
Mission del Paso campus. Villalobos grew ing as a child and would set up a telescope tural perceptions of a “successful” career.
up in El Paso and attended both EPCC and to peer at the stars. But she didn’t know “For most minority families, if you have
the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP). what career options, if any, existed in the the opportunity to send one of your chil-
When Villalobos first joined the EPCC fac- discipline. She’d never met a geologist. dren to college, you’re going to want them
ulty, the geology program was defunct Often, learning about careers takes place to be a doctor or a lawyer, things that are
because of a lack of students. outside of the classroom, which can leave within the cultural mental framework of
Villalobos knew that students wanted a students with a hazy picture of their future what success is,” Villalobos said. Three in
chance to be geoscientists. They simply careers. To counter that, Villalobos dedi- 10 community college students are the first
needed a path. Only a few community col- cated the final slide of each lecture in his in their families to pursue higher educa-
leges have dedicated geoscience majors, introductory geology class to career spot- tion.

Geology and geophysics students from El Paso Community College gather around a ground-penetrating radar to survey a dried reservoir in El Paso, Texas. Credit:
Joshua Villalobos
Language can be another barrier and can “That proper gear is like your uniform,” save money if they want to transfer to a
lead to misconceptions about geoscience. Villalobos said. “It’s your symbol of being a 4-year institution.
Researchers use the term fieldwork to geologist.” Villalobos knew that coursework was
describe research conducted in an outdoor only the first step, however, and that a vital
environment, for instance, but in Hispanic Pointing the Arrow part of learning happened in the labora-
cultures, “the term ‘doing fieldwork’ At community colleges, students can fall tory. Villalobos recalls washing beakers as
means that you are…getting a job literally prey to “cafeteria-style learning,” said an undergraduate in a geochemistry lab at
in the field, like picking crops or digging Nikki Edgecombe, a senior research UTEP and how much of a joy it was. Over-
ditches,” Villalobos said. scholar at the Community College hearing conversations between professors
The majority of students at EPCC and Research Center at Teachers College, and graduate students introduced Villalobos
UTEP are Hispanic, and the campus Vil- Columbia University. to a new language and scientific world. Even
lalobos calls home is in an agricultural Students take a random mix of classes though the work was menial to start, soon
area. Parents of students started showing that don’t necessarily lead to a degree, Villalobos was learning to operate scientific
up at Villalobos’s office asking whether often basing their decisions on peers or instruments and flying to Stanford Univer-
their child could even get a job in geology. scheduling, as opposed to the end result of sity to run h igh-powered equipment.
And why were their children working in graduation. The experience “cemented my desire to
the field? EPCC’s program uses a different be a geologist,” said Villalobos, and there
Villalobos quelled parents’ fears by lis- approach: The college offers a degree plan was no reason EPCC students shouldn’t
tening to their concerns and explaining with seven geology and environmental have that chance too.
Opposite: Fernie García
that studying the geosciences does lead to courses and labs, as well as freshman- and “High-impact learning experiences”
career opportunities. When doing outdoor sophomore-level math and science can have a powerful effect on students, but
work, Villalobos requires that students classes. This guided pathway harnesses community colleges generally don’t have
“dress like a scientist,” with a notebook, students’ excitement after their first geol- the resources to supply them. Grants are
hiking boots, and protective clothing. ogy class into a focused track and lets them scarce, and faculty are up to their eyeballs

grams in 2008, enrollment in UTEP’s geol-
ogy degree program quadrupled over
7 years, and the number in the environ-
mental science degree program nearly
doubled as EPCC students transferred to
UTEP.
Building the Bridge

As an EPCC student, Cameron wanted to
transfer to UTEP but wasn’t sure she could
afford it. She would be the first in her fam-
ily to get a bachelor’s degree.
She’d done everything right: finished
her geology classes, completed research,
and checked off her prerequisites. But
when she thought about the higher tuition
cost, “I was like, man, I got all this way, and
I’m not going to be able to continue on.”
The average annual 4-year public
in-state college tuition was nearly 3 times
as expensive as that of community college
in 2019. And the cost is going up: Between
2008 and 2018, the price for undergraduate
EPCC geology major Joshua Peterson studies his Brunton compass for a strike and dip measurement in the education rose 31%.
Franklin Mountains, Texas. Credit: Joshua Villalobos Fortunately, UTEP had a program called
Pathways that paid undergraduates to con-
duct research. The money would just barely
cover tuition. Because Cameron had
teaching classes, sometimes six per land each week, taking soil and water sam- already done research at UTEP through
semester. ples, and developed a hypothesis that the SOLARIS, she decided to take the leap into
Villalobos knew it was time to ask for wetlands are partly fed by previously a bachelor’s program.
help. The first step was applying for out- unidentified springs. Other than navigating costs, community
of-state funding from the University of Using the small grants as a proof of con- college students eyeing a bachelor’s degree
Arizona for $2,000–$3,000 grants to cept, Villalobos secured a $200,000 grant must transfer their credits.
increase the number of minoritized stu- from the National Science Foundation to Transferring credit in the U.S. educa-
dents in STEM. Villalobos used the money build a research program. In the Student tion system can be a headache. The Gov-
to pay two students to study a nearby wet- Opportunities for Learning Advanced ernment Accountability Office investi-
land using simple field kits. The students Research in the Geosciences (SOLARIS) gated college transferring in 2017 and
enthusiastically trudged through the wet- program, EPCC students completed one- concluded that the process is a mess.
or two-semester Between 2004 and 2009, students lost an
research projects, estimated 43% of their credits when they
sometimes at the transferred, the report found, which
college and other wasted students’ money, time, and finan-
times at UTEP. cial aid.
During the heyday Part of the issue is that schools fail to
of SOLARIS in disclose transfer agreements, called artic-
2017, EPCC had ulation agreements, online. The Depart-
70 students in its ment of Education does not require them
geology major, a to do so. Some schools don’t have articula-
large number tion agreements at all.
even compared EPCC and UTEP have such an agree-
with 4-year insti- ment. The geoscience associate’s degree at
tutions. EPCC counts directly for 2 years at UTEP.
The connection This two-plus-two program makes a _
between EPCC bachelor’s degree that much faster and
and UTEP turned cheaper, said Villalobos.
out to be key. Even better, by working together proac-
After the start of tively, road bumps can be avoided.
The geology classroom at EPCC has more than a few maps. Credit: Joshua Villalobos’s pilot For example, transfer students could
Villalobos research pro- lose a whole year if they start at UTEP

without having taken chemistry. Geosci-
ence students must enroll in a course that
requires chemistry (mineralogy) in the fall
of their junior year, and spring classes
build on that knowledge. Therefore, EPCC
students must take chemistry before
transferring. To avoid pitfalls, advisers
from both schools meet to coordinate their
curricula, and they give each other a
heads-up when changes occur, said UTEP
geology professor Diane Doser.
One Model Among Many

The success at El Paso inspired faculty at
Texas A&M University to invest in their
own program for transfer students.
About 5 years ago, the university eased
its coursework requirements for transfer
students. The changes increased admis-
sions of community college transfer stu- EPCC geology professor Joshua Villalobos (bottom left) and students explore paleo-karsts on a sunny day in
dents to Texas A&M by 107% in the first the Franklin Mountains. Credit: Joshua Villalobos
year. “We saw that we were missing a large
demographic,” said former Texas A&M
associate dean Chris Houser.
But there is no one-size-fits-all Second, Texas has streamlined the ble,” said Doser, because “you don’t
approach. transfer process by regulating which always get funding to do the same thing
For one, El Paso is a bit of an anomaly. courses can be offered by community col- over and over again.”
It’s isolated from the rest of the state’s leges. That isn’t the case nationwide; some “We’re continuously searching for sup-
education system in an “education desert,” states allow community colleges to set port,” she added.
with EPCC and UTEP being the only public their own course offerings. That doesn’t mean that change is
institutions of higher education in that cor- Community college faculty member impossible. It takes time, said Villalobos.
ner of the state. By contrast, there are Eric Baer said that he would love to “A lot of people just want to jump right in
32 community colleges near Texas A&M. re-create the El Paso model, but his home and solve it within a semester or two.
But the issue wasn’t insurmountable: institution of Highline College near Seat- That’s just not going to happen.”
Texas A&M accepts introductory courses tle exists in a completely different educa- Start by understanding your students
from surrounding community colleges and your institution, learn how to collect
without an articulation agreement, said data, and identify your community part-
Texas A&M dean Christian Brannstrom. Texas A&M increased ners, Villalobos advised. “Once you get a
Instead, the university offers a handout grasp on all of those, then you can start
with recommended courses that commu- admissions of laying down the groundwork for some-
nity college students can take over a 2-year thing truly spectacular.”
span to prepare them for university. The transfer community For Cameron, the bridge from EPCC and
sheet declares “your degree at A&M starts
at your community college.” This year the
college students UTEP came at exactly the right time. After
dropping out of premed, she wasn’t sure
incoming class has 40% community col- by 107% in the what she’d do. Now she dreams up space
lege students, said Brannstrom. mission concepts for a faraway icy world.
Still, could this approach work outside of first year. “Even now, thinking back on it, Joshua
Texas? There are three big challenges. [Villalobos] and EPCC were the things that
For one, Texas is a minority-majority really set that path in motion.”
state, and both EPCC and UTEP are tional ecosystem, with unique course Community college also taught her that
Hispanic-serving institutions; the major- offerings and countless 4-year options a second chance is always possible. “It
ity of El Paso’s population is Hispanic or nearby. He said that while standardizing doesn’t matter what’s happened to you,”
Latino. As research has shown, equitable course offerings makes for a clearer path, Cameron said. “If you want to make things
and inclusive workplaces require more educators risk creating cookie-cutter stu- happen now, you still can.”
than simply increasing the representation dents.
of racially minoritized groups. People Third, the El Paso model relied heavily Author Information
working in predominantly non-Hispanic on one-time grants. The SOLARIS program Jenessa Duncombe (@jrdscience), Staff Writer
white institutions must actively change that led Cameron into space science is no
the culture in those spaces to be inclusive longer around, although spinoffs are. u Read the article at bit.ly/Eos
and equitable. “We’re trying to be as creative as possi- -community-college

An
Unfought
Geoscience Battle
in U.S. Prisons By Kimberly M. S. Cartier

Prisoners, activists, and lawyers are fighting to protect
incarcerated people from pollution and the dangers
of climate change. There’s a place for geoscientists
in the fight too.
Floods in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey submerge

a guard tower at a Texas state prison in Rosharon,
Texas, in 2017. Credit: AP Photo/Charlie Riedel

T
he health and safety of incarcer- research, argued Fushcia-Ann Hoover.
ated people in the United States “Those relationships exist whether we
are one front of the environmen- acknowledge them or not. All of these
tal justice movement, which rec- things are always connected. And some of
ognizes that the structural it is hidden, and some of it is not.” Hoover
inequalities built into society, is an urban hydrologist whose research is
particularly those based on race and socio- informed by environmental justice. She is
economic status, are statistically con- a postdoctoral researcher at the National
nected to a person’s access to a clean and Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center in
healthful environment. Environmental Annapolis, Md.
justice affirms that all people have the Although much of the current work
right to clean land, water, air, and food. It related to prison ecology and health is
demands environmental policy free of dis- done by people who work outside tradi-
crimination and bias and is based on tional geoscience channels—in sociology,
mutual respect and justice for all people. criminology, environmental health, and
Incarcerated people have long spoken law—their work shows that there is
out and fought against unsafe and, at “absolutely” a place for geoscientists in
times, inhumane environmental condi- establishing safe and humane conditions
tions they’ve experienced inside detention for incarcerated people, Mosley said.
facilities. They and those who advocate for For example, he said, SCI Fayette and
them from outside lead that front of the many other prisons lack systematic moni-
environmental justice movement. Richard toring of water, air, and soil quality. Such
Mosley, for example, started experiencing monitoring practices are familiar to geo-
health problems almost immediately after scientists across many specialties. Any and
starting his sentence at State Correctional all quantitative data can help support a
Institution (SCI) Fayette, located in legal case for prisoners’ rights, Mosley
LaBelle, Pa., south of Pittsburgh. added.
“Maybe the first or second day, my nose Beyond the need for data, scientists can
just closed up,” Mosley said. “While I was also testify as expert witnesses in lawsuits
there, I was noticing everybody was on challenging existing conditions, said Paul
allergy-type medicine. But I could barely Wright, executive director of the Human
breathe.” Soon, respiratory problems Rights Defense Center in Lake Worth, Fla.,
started affecting his sleep, and he devel- and editor of Prison Legal News. So far, he
There is
oped digestive issues. “My situation pro- added, they’ve been reluctant to do so:
gressively just got worse.… It was just a “Scientists have been largely absent from
nightmare.” any discussions on criminal justice issues
“absolutely”
Many other people incarcerated at Fay- in general.”
ette have reported similar and more severe “As researchers within the geoscience
health problems that developed after they community,” Hoover said, “especially now
a place for
arrived on site: headaches, severe conges- we really need to be asking ourselves,
tion, nosebleeds, rashes, hives, gastroin- ‘What are the other connections within our
testinal problems. Cancer. After he got out, work and within our research? And how is
geoscientists
Mosley started fighting to close SCI Fay- what I am doing affecting disenfranchised
ette. As a lead organizer for Put People communities?’”
First! Pennsylvania, he works with groups
in establishing
like the Abolitionist Law Center, the Prison Nationwide Problem
Ecology Project, and the Campaign to Fight The United States incarcerates more peo-
Toxic Prisons to bring this widespread ple, and more people per capita, than any
safe and humane

environmental and racial justice issue into other country. The country has 7,147 pris-
the public eye. ons, jails, detention centers, and correc-
This recognition is needed, Mosley tional facilities that incarcerate 2.3 million
conditions for
explained, because having deplorable con- people [Sawyer and Wagner, 2020].
ditions inside detention facilities is an Black, Latino, and Native and Indige-
environmental justice issue that isn’t nous people are overrepresented in this
incarcerated
unique to just one prison or one state. carceral system, a legacy of slavery and
“We’re finding that this is what is going on structural racism. After 1865, when the
around the country. It’s not just limited to 13th Amendment banned slavery except
Fayette,” he said. for people convicted of crimes, southern
people. Geoscientists should think about envi-

ronmental justice in connection with their
governments created laws targeting Black
people, incarcerated them en masse, and

then sold their labor for profit. The south- environmental studies at the University of
ern Black Codes evolved into various California, Santa Barbara and director of
vagrancy laws and then Jim Crow laws. the Global Environmental Justice Project.
Modern policing carried echoes of this “It’s rare to find a prison with healthy
structural racism into the post–civil rights water…but it is exceedingly routine and
era, for example, in “tough on crime” pol- normal to find prisons where the water is
icies and the domestic “war on drugs.” visibly, I mean to the human eye, visibly
The effect of these policies is that people contaminated.”
of color are arrested and incarcerated at “In Fayette they call it tea water ’cause
significantly higher rates than white peo- it’s brown,” said Mosley. “The water is
ple despite committing crimes at the same bad, the air is bad, and the ground is bad.
or a lower rate [The Sentencing Project, The soil is just sitting on top of…an excess
2020]. One in every three Black boys and of 50 million tons of toxic waste.”
one in six Latino boys born today can Fayette’s inmates, including Morgen-
expect to go to jail in his lifetime, com- stern, were getting sick from the contami-
pared with one in 17 white boys. Black, nation, while the staff, the guards, and the
Native American, and poor women are guard dogs were given bottled water to
overrepresented in incarcerated popula- drink [McDaniel et al., 2014].
tions compared with U.S. demographics. Monitoring contaminant levels in and
The population of people incarcerated in around SCI Fayette would help the activ-
the United States also includes asylum ists’ case against the prison: “Our goal is to
seekers and people who enter the United get the prison shut down and get every-
States without documentation. body out,” Mosley said. “Not just the pris-
The environmental conditions inside oners. We want the guards out of harm’s
U.S. correctional facilities, therefore, have way, the staff out of harm’s way, the guard
a significant health impact on already dis- dogs out of harm’s way, because the site is
enfranchised communities. This is an issue toxic.”
“that I know many, many men and women
face throughout this country each and Something in the Water
every day,” said Matthew Morgenstern. The U.S. EPA collects and publicly releases
“But because they’re incarcerated, most data on many invisible contaminants
voices or opinions aren’t heard or people found in water nationwide. It wasn’t until
feel [they] don’t matter.”
Morgenstern detailed some of his expe-
riences while serving time at SCI Fayette.
He described being out in the yard and
watching dump trucks carrying coal ash up
a large hill across from the compound.
When the vehicles weren’t covered, “you’d
be able to see dust coming off the backs of
these dump trucks. Eventually, this dust
would end up in the compound at Fayette.
It was a daily occurrence to see a light film
of a gray dust, especially in our cells.”
At Fayette, many of the health issues
inmates experience stem from that large
hill. It’s been a 2-square kilometer (500-
acre) coal ash dump site since 1998 and
was a coal processing waste site before
that. The prison, built in 2003, lies 152
meters (500 feet) away.
Fly ash—the gray dust inside Fayette’s
cells—carries toxins into the air and is
associated with heart and lung problems.
The coal waste leeches toxic metals like
lead, arsenic, mercury, and nickel into the
ground and water. State Correctional Institution Fayette was built next to an existing coal ash and waste dump in LaBelle, Pa.
“Water quality in prison, I think, is LaBelle residents are pursuing a lawsuit against the owners of the dump site, and prisoners’ rights groups
probably the leading environmental are doing the same on behalf of those incarcerated. Credit: Robin Rombach/Copyright ©, Pittsburgh Post-
issue,” said David N. Pellow, a professor of Gazette, 2020, all rights reserved. Reprinted with permission.

2017, however, that EPA included prisons “Water systems that exclusively serve
as a category in its Environmental Justice correctional facilities in the southwestern
Screening and Mapping Tool. U.S. had average 6-year arsenic concen
“One of our greatest accomplishments trations that were twice as high as those
was a data victory with the EPA’s Office of reported for other community water sys-
Environmental Justice,” said Panagioti tems” in the region, she said. The ground-
Tsolkas, cofounder of the Prison Ecology water that supplies most water systems in
Project and the Campaign to Fight Toxic the region has naturally occurring elevated
Prisons, two of the groups that fought for arsenic levels because of the geochemical
the EPA change. “Our hope is that scien- conditions in the aquifers. That’s the lead-
tists will take data tools like this and run ing source of arsenic contamination in the
with them, to better document conditions region, Nigra said, and it’s relatively easy
surrounding prisons.” to filter out.
However, despite data being available, Despite this, “the odds of exceeding
“the health of U.S. incarcerated popula- 10 micrograms per liter, [EPA’s] maxi-
tions has been really largely ignored,” said mum contaminant level, were also signifi-
Anne Nigra, a postdoctoral researcher in cantly higher for the correctional facili-
environmental health sciences at Colum- ties, versus water systems that did not
bia University in New York. Nigra is lead exclusively serve correctional facilities,”
author on the first nationwide research she added.
study of arsenic levels in community water
systems [Nigra and Navas-Acien, 2020]. Aging, Crumbling Infrastructure
There are few “systematic, peer- The age of a detention facility can deter-
reviewed studies about environmental mine the type of pollution to which pris-
injustice and environmental health oners are exposed. Roughly two thirds of
impacts on incarcerated communities at federal and state prison facilities were built
all,” she said, “whether it’s drinking less than 40 years ago, which reflects the
water, whether it’s air quality, whether it’s start of modern mass incarceration poli-
potential for allergens, or nutritional qual- cies. The remaining facilities were built at
ity of the food.” a roughly steady rate over the past 120
For their study, the researchers gathered years, and there are nearly 100 currently
EPA data for about 37,000 community operating facilities more than 100 years old
water systems serving the same popula- (see bit.ly/prison-ages). Many compounds
tion year-round. They compared arsenic have old and failing structures with mold,
concentrations of systems that supply only asbestos, lead pipes, and other environ-
correctional facilities with those of sys- mental issues common to older buildings
tems that also supply residential commu- [Tsolkas, 2019].
nities. “With drinking water, one of the big-
gest concerns is always lead,” Hoover
explained. Lead pipes can be eroded by
water sources that contain acidic or car-
cinogenic material. Unlined or untreated
pipes can then bleed lead into the water
supply, which is what happened at Gene-
see County Jail and in residential areas in
Flint, Mich., she said.
In addition, aging facilities are being
pushed past their capacity: The number of
people incarcerated in the United States
grew 500% in the past 4 decades, driven by
mass incarceration at state and local levels
of people of color [The Sentencing Project,
2020].
“The old prisons and jails keep getting
older, with inadequate and overburdened
Arsenic that enters drinking water is more likely to come from a natural groundwater source than contamina- water and sewage systems that appear to
tion from pipes. Groundwater in the United States is most likely (warm colors) to exceed the Environmental be failing much faster than they are
Protection Agency maximum safe limit of 10 micrograms per liter in the southwestern states and in Maine. In repaired,” Tsolkas said. And just as climate
those areas, water systems that serve only detention facilities report significantly higher arsenic levels than change magnifies other preexisting prob-
do nearby residential water systems. Credit: Ayotte et al., 2017, Fig. 2, https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.7b02881 lems in communities around the world,

“Particularly
limate-induced extreme weather events
c Center for Climate Change Law. He cur-
will likely overwhelm many prisons’ water rently teaches history and law at a New
management systems. York City high school. “And the notion of
with climate
“Particularly with climate change and the climate change, particularly as a public
increase in intense storms, it becomes more health issue for both inmates and staff,
difficult for the system to handle [stormwa- was pretty much just not on the radar of
change and
ter] and process it,” Hoover said. Stormwa- people working in corrections, either from
ter “can back up into basements of old a prisoners’ rights standpoint or from a
homes or basements of buildings like pris- correctional administration standpoint.”
the increase in
ons, perhaps, depending on what their In addition to more intense storms,
infrastructure looks like, whether or not carceral facilities will have to reckon with
they have sump pumps or some type of more extreme temperatures in summer
intense storms,
containment system to keep the water out.” and winter. Those in coastal areas must
“With flooding, where there are people, prepare for rising sea levels, and those in
there is always a serious health hazard,” as floodplains must prepare for flooding
it becomes more
floodwaters can sweep up toxic chemicals, events. “The very first step is acknowledg-
she added. “And in some cases, if you’re ing that we have a problem,” Holt said.
operating under a combined sewer system, “And the second step is to do a careful and
difficult for the

you have the addition of sewage that is comprehensive assessment of the problem
mixed with the rainwater.” in a detailed and localized way.”
For example, at Parchman Farm (for-
system to handle
mally Mississippi State Penitentiary) the Preexisting Pollution
water “runs dark brown, dark red, has a lot On-site pollution predates many detention
of heavy particulate matter in it,” said facilities. Colocation of prisons and preex-
[stormwater]
Paloma Wu, deputy director of Impact Liti- isting pollution—including landfills and
gation at the Mississippi Center for Justice, waste sites—“is almost so commonplace,
a nonprofit focused on civil rights advocacy and usually in rural areas with limited
and process it.”
and litigation that represents Mississippi media attention, that it often goes unno-
prisoners in civil rights cases. “People will ticed,” Tsolkas said.
say, very consistently, that it smells like “Environmental justice historically has
sewage. And that’s been going on for a focused on residential location and resi-
really long time.” dential exposure,” said graduate student
Maggie León-Corwin. “Incarcerated popu-
Inmates, Too, Face Climate Change
Although the U.S. carceral system costs at
least $182 billion per year, funding gener-
ally isn’t going toward preparing facilities
for climate change. In recent years, local, Recommended Resources
state, and federal correctional systems Environmental justice advocates have gathered personal stories, case studies, and legal
have spent a combined annual average of cases that demonstrate how environmental injustice, mass incarceration, and systemic
$3.3 billion (1.8%) on construction-related racism are connected in the United States. Here are a few resources we recommend to learn
expenditures, including new facilities as more about America’s toxic prisons.
well as renovations and repairs to existing
ones [Holt, 2015]. Bernd, C., Z. Loftus-Farren, and M. N. Mitra (2017), Santa Barbara, gejp.es.ucsb.edu/sites/secure.lsit
Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) policy America’s toxic prisons: The environmental injustices .ucsb.edu.envs.d7_gejp-2/files/sitefiles/publication/
does encourage its facility managers to of mass incarceration, Earth Island J., earthisland (PEJP%20Annual%20Report%202018.pdf.
.org/journal/americas-toxic-prisons/. Put People First! Pennsylvania (2019), The Key-
maximize water and energy conservation
Bogado, A., Andrews, E., and D. Penner (2016), stone: Fayette Health Justice Issue, winter,
and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Environmental justice, explained, Grist, 26 January, putpeoplefirstpa.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/
However, policies regulating state and youtu.be/dREtXUij6_c. PPF-Keystone_-Fayette-Justice-Issue-Winter-2019-1
local detention facilities vary as widely as Opsal, T., and S. A. Malin (2019), Prisons as LULUs: .pdf?x92736.
the politics of each state and municipality, Understanding the parallels between prison prolif- Vazin, J., and D. Pellow (2019), Toxic detention: The
explained Dustin McDaniel, the Abolition- eration and environmental injustices, Sociol. Inquiry, trend of contamination in the American immigration
90(3), 579–602, https://doi.org/10.1111/soin.12290. system, special report, Global Environ. Justice Proj.,
ist Law Center’s director of operations.
Pellow, D. (2019), The disturbing link between environ- Univ. of Calif., Santa Barbara, gejp.es.ucsb.edu/sites/
While studying the intersection of cli- default/files/sitefiles/publication/GEJP%20Special
mental racism and criminalization, Environ. Health
mate law and criminal law, “it became very News, 9 December, ehn.org/environmental-racism %20Report%202019_0.pdf.
quickly clear the folks working on climate -and-the-criminal-justice-system-2641465977.html. Waters, M. (2018), How prisons are poisoning their
change weren’t thinking about corrections Pellow, D., et al. (2018), Environmental injustice behind inmates, Outline, 23 July, theoutline.com/post/5410/
at all,” said Daniel Holt, who studied heat bars: Toxic imprisonment in America, annual report, toxic-prisons-fayette-tacoma-contaminated?zd
in U.S. prisons and jails as a visiting
Global Environ. Justice Proj., Univ. of California, =NaN&zi=xdu2agrm.
scholar at Columbia University’s Sabin

of TRI emissions than zip codes without
prisons [Leon-Corwin et al., 2020].
Not by chance, areas of high emissions
were also poorer and more rural. Wealthier
communities reject having a prison or pol-
luter built in their neighborhoods. And
poorer communities sometimes welcome
the facility for the jobs it provides, or they
simply lack the political clout to stop it.
“It’s simultaneously ‘not in my backyard’
but also ‘please, in my backyard,’ both of
which are tailored to placing prisons and
facilities that release TRI emissions in eco-
nomically disadvantaged communities,”
said Jericho McElroy, a graduate student in
sociology and criminal justice at OSU and a
coauthor of the study.
“There are still certainly issues of rele-
gating those who are disenfranchised in our
communities into similar spaces,” Hoover
said. Letcher County, Kentucky, is a prime
example. Its economy plummeted after the
end of mountaintop removal mining. The
practice is associated with locally elevated
rates of cancer, cardiovascular disease, and
pulmonary disease. Letcher would have
been the site of the most expensive federal
prison in U.S. history, built atop a former
coal mine and next to an active mine and
coal sludge pond.
The location was no coincidence: “This
is a business model across the country,”
Mosley said. “After the land has been
depleted and resources have been removed,
they sell it to the Department of Correc-
tions or a landfill.”
The site’s approval prompted an exten-
sive 3-year environmental impact review
that led to a lawsuit filed by 21 federal pris-
Water quality and water management are two of the most pressing problems in old and aging detention facili- oners from across the country, with support
ties, including 1 19-year-old Parchman Farm in Mississippi. Insufficient, unmaintained, or damaged drainage from groups like the Abolitionist Law Center
pipes cause water to pool in and around the buildings (top, left and right). Pipes leading indoors or that bring and the Campaign to Fight Toxic Prisons.
water in (bottom, left and right) can get backed up, which leads to contamination. Credit: Mississippi State In 2019, the prisoners won their case, and
Department of Health the Federal Bureau of Prisons withdrew its
intent to build a penitentiary at Letcher.
Prisoners and prisoners’ rights activists
won a major victory there, according to Pel-
lations are easy to overlook” but still feel low. “Prisoners could have been subjected
the effects of pollution. to exposure to a whole host of hazards had
León-Corwin is lead author of a study this facility been built.… It’s not just people
examining colocation of prisons in Okla- living in residential communities who are
homa with EPA-reported Toxics Release fighting for environmental justice. Prison-
Inventory (TRI) emissions. She is a Ph.D. ers are really leading an important new
student studying environmental sociology front in the struggle for environmental jus-
and social inequality at Oklahoma State tice. Seeing them as leaders in that cause is
University (OSU) in Stillwater. really important.”
Oklahoma incarcerates more people per
capita than any other U.S. state. The team Ongoing Fight
found that Oklahoma zip codes encompass- Prisons, jails, and other government deten-
ing prisons have statistically higher levels tion facilities are regulated by the Safe

Drinking Water Act, the Clean Air Act, and
other federal environmental regulations,
but case studies demonstrate that compli-
“Fighting structural racism at every
level is the tide that raises all boats,” said
Wu. “No institution is immune from per-
“We can all do
ance and enforcement are lacking at facili-
ties spanning the country. In a statement
provided to Eos, the BOP refuted allegations
petuating structural racism, and that’s not
something to make us feel bad about our-
selves. It means that every one of us can
better in our own
of a lack of enforcement of environmental
and health regulations: “BOP takes seri-
ously our duty to protect staff and inmates
improve the situation by fighting for the
world we want to live in, in our own work-
places.… We can all do better in our own
institutions to
help dismantle
in our facilities as well as surrounding institutions to help dismantle structural
communities. The BOP coordinates with racism. Including scientists.”
federal, state and local environmental reg-
structural
ulatory agencies with respect to environ- References
mental compliance, environmental studies, Holt, D. W. E. (2015), Heat in U.S. Prisons and Jails: Corrections
and the Challenge of Climate Change, Sabin Cent. for Clim.
and water quality for our facility operations Change Law, Columbia Law Sch., New York, https://doi.org/
racism. Including
and inmate population.” The agency stated 10.2139/ssrn.2667260.
that BOP policy “discusses temperature set Leon-Corwin, L., et al. (2020), Polluting our prisons? An exam-
ination of Oklahoma prison locations and toxic releases,
points, ventilation, and cooling and heat- 2011–2017, Punishment Soc., 22(4), 413–438, https://doi.org/
scientists.”
ing systems. Additionally, BOP regularly 10.1177/1462474519899949.
McDaniel, D. S., et al. (2014), No escape: Exposure to toxic
reviews and takes steps to address envi- coal waste at State Correctional Institution Fayette, Aboli-
ronmental, health, and safety concerns in tionist Law Cent., Pittsburgh, Pa., abolitionistlawcenter.org/
wp-content/uploads/2014/09/no-escape-3-3mb.pdf.
all of the BOP’s correctional institutions.”
Nigra, A. E., and A. Navas-Acien (2020), Arsenic in US correc-
What complicates matters, Tsolkas said, tional facility drinking water, 2006–2011, Environ. Res., 188,
is that a large fraction of incarcerated peo- 109768, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2020.109768.
ple are held in county facilities that are Sawyer, W., and P. Wagner (2020), Mass incarceration: The
whole pie 2020, Prison Policy Initiative, Northampton, Mass.,
controlled at local levels, not state or fed- prisonpolicy.org/reports/pie2020._html.
eral. That makes their conditions hard to The Sentencing Project (2020), Fact sheet: Trends in U.S. cor-
rections, 8 pp., August, Washington, D.C., sentencingproject
track and target with litigation. .org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Trends-in-US-Corrections
“If I would have told you this story a .pdf.
couple years ago,” Mosley said, “you might Tsolkas, P. (2019), “It Smelled Like Death”: Reports of Mold
Contamination in Prisons and Jails, Prison Legal News,
have gone, ‘Hmm, wow, wild story.’ But 2 April, prisonlegalnews.org/news/2019/apr/2/it-smelled
nowadays, when you can turn on the news -death-reports-mold-contamination-prisons-and-jails/.
and see how people are being treated every
day by government, by police, it’s not a Author Information
far-fetched story.” Incarcerated popula- Kimberly M. S. Cartier (@AstroKimCartier),
tions have been disproportionately Staff Writer
affected by racial injustice and the corona-
virus pandemic. u Read the article at bit.ly/Eos-prisons
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Exploring
by
Boring
Geothermally heated water may someday help warm buildings on the Ithaca, N.Y.,
campus of Cornell University, seen here. Credit: Cornell University
EOS_ND2020.indd 64 10/21/20 3:36 PM

As part of an effort to develop a geothermal
g
energy source beneath its campus, Cornell
University is planning to probe the “boring” old
continental crust upon which many people live.
By Teresa Jordan, Patrick Fulton, Jefferson Tester,

Hiroshi Asanuma, and David Bruhn
EOS_ND2020.indd 65 10/21/20 3:37 PM

I
n 2013, Cornell University adopted a target to maximize extraction of heat from the geothermal
for its Ithaca, N.Y., campus operations to resource, and returning the water to below ground
become carbon-neutral by 2035. New York through another set of wells (Figure 1).
State followed suit in 2019, pledging to zero At a scientific borehole planning workshop spon-
out net carbon emissions by 2050. How- sored by the International Continental Scientific Drill-
ever, when they adopted these targets, nei- ing Program (ICDP) convened at Cornell University last
ther Cornell nor New York had a plan for January, attendees considered a plan to drill a pair of
removing carbon-based energy sources test wells to evaluate the potential of heating Cornell’s
from what they used to heat residential and campus buildings with geothermal heat extracted from
commercial buildings (which accounts for 31% of total a depth exceeding 2 kilometers. That pragmatic test
energy consumption in the state). plan also offers the opportunity to piggyback basic
One possible approach, tapping geothermal energy, research studying the workings of continental crust
could help replace fossil fuels for direct use (as distinct onto the drilling operation. The ICDP-sponsored work-
from electrical power generation) for heating not only shop allowed Earth scientists to explore how to turn
the Cornell campus but also the northern United this opportunity into an experiment of wide-ranging
States, Canada, and much of northern Europe and Asia. value.
Such increased deployment of geothermal district We anticipate finding Paleozoic sedimentary and
heating—for example, providing a centralized supply Precambrian metamorphic basement rocks that lie
of geothermal heat to multiple buildings via insulated below Cornell. These rocks, like those at numerous
pipes—could significantly lower global carbon emis- other locations, are complex, heterogeneous, and
sions. anisotropic (Figure 1). Counterintuitively, the lack of
At Cornell, the Earth Source Heat (ESH) approach anything geologically “special” about central New
evolved to meet the need for carbon-fuel alternatives. York—where levels of natural seismicity are also low—
ESH involves extracting water from hot rock using one is a compelling attribute of this borehole project. To
set of wells, transferring the heat into an existing cam- date, continental scientific drilling sites have been
pus district heating loop, using industrial heat pumps selected to investigate active tectonic or volcanic fea-
Fig. 1. Developmental stages of the Earth Source Heat (ESH) project are depicted here. In July, the U.S. Department of Energy announced
funding for Cornell to drill a narrow test hole about 100 meters into the basement rock (bottom layer in the illustrations) (left). That hole will
provide access to sample rocks and fluids and to study properties such as temperature. Tests to be conducted in the borehole (center) will
permit analyses of geo-mechanical, hydrogeologic, and thermal properties and conditions. The goal for the ESH project is to extract geo-
thermal heat (right) by pumping high-temperature fluids (red) from one borehole, transferring the heat into a campus heating loop, and
returning cooler fluids (blue) to the subsurface via an injection borehole. Credit: Cornell University

tures, rare events like meteorite impacts, or climate borehole design considerations rather than on individ-
history. Hence, there is uncommon value in investigat- ual presentations.
ing a “boring” (i.e., ordinary) location, whose results
will be widely applicable. A New Generation of Geological Investigation
Five broad research themes that an Ithaca borehole
Practical Problems with Geothermal Energy would facilitate emerged from the workshop discus-
Depth itself is not a major technical problem for the sions:
ESH project—across most stable North American con-
tinental crust, subsurface temperatures in the range of • fluids and elemental cycling
50°C–100°C occur less than 3 kilometers below the sur- • scales

poromechanical behavior across a range of length
face, shallow enough to be reached economically with

conventional drilling technology. However, geother- • controlling subsurface fractures and fluid flow
mally heated water is used for district heating at only a • deep life
few locations currently. Boise, Idaho, on the Snake • basement.

subsurface evolution of the Appalachian basin and its
River Plain, and some locations in Iceland are geologi-

cally unusual, with hot water situated near the surface. The first three themes are
A few more thermally mundane places, like the Paris tightly coupled, and because
sedimentary basin in France, have rock structures at improved knowledge is
Cornell is positioned
suitable depths through which fluid flows easily [Lopez needed for societally critical
et al., 2010]. activities including energy
to advance an initial
Even though the rocks at suitable depths beneath production and seismic risk
most of New York are sedimentary (and thus relatively assessment, they are likely to
demonstration
porous), low permeability is unfortunately still an be at the core of successful
obstacle to implementing geothermal technology for efforts to raise funds for
project for extracting

district heating [Camp et al., 2018]. In theory, the rocks multimillion-dollar drilling
can be stimulated to transmit fluids by interconnecting projects. Exploration of the
100 gigawatt hours

pores along natural networks of preexisting microfrac- latter two themes would be
tures, through the use of fluid pressure to slightly dis- enabled by accessing subsur-
of geothermal heat
turb those fractures. However, such engineering face fluid and rock samples
approaches involve high financial risks because they from a borehole, and findings
per year.
may fail to produce adequate permeability to achieve in these themes might influ-
energy extraction targets. Furthermore, drilling, artifi- ence the other topics.
cial permeability construction, and fluid cycling all The common root of the
cause perturbations in the subsurface that may be first three themes is complex
associated with seismic risk. Overall, the lack of funda- hydrologic, thermal, chemical,
mental scientific and engineering understanding of the and mechanical relationships and processes—natural
rocks and the coupled risks result in high costs and and h uman-induced—acting over timescales ranging
slow progress. from very short (days) to geological. Workshop partici-
Following years of economic and technical feasibil- pants focused on describing the experiments, mea-
ity analysis of its ESH approach, Cornell is positioned surements, and samples needed to underpin scientific
to advance an initial demonstration project for extract- advances in understanding the hydrogeology of old,
ing 100 gigawatt hours of geothermal heat per year, tectonically inactive crust and of the physical controls
enough to satisfy about 20% of campus needs. How- affecting seismic hazard within continental plate inte-
ever, until deep boreholes can access the subsurface, riors.
we lack key data needed to design a geothermal sys- One hypothesis posits that the continental crust is
tem and to assess financial, technical, and seismic at critical failure condition everywhere [e.g., Townend
risks. and Zoback, 2000]—that rocks underground are always
As a research-focused land grant university, Cor- close to failure by fracturing. This scenario can keep
nell has three integrated motivations for drilling test certain fractures open as permeable pathways, but it
boreholes: to achieve its carbon neutrality goal, to also means that the rocks are highly susceptible to
demonstrate and lower the risks of a technology with small stress perturbations. Having a kilometers-deep
potential for wide deployment, and to foster basic borehole that provides vertically continuous data about
research. stress magnitudes and orientations, pore fluid pres-
The ICDP workshop assembled 35 visitors and sures, and temperatures in the context of lithologic
26 Cornell faculty, technical staff, and students from and fracture properties would allow scientists to probe
diverse specialties (but with little shared background this hypothesis.
knowledge), including borehole engineering, regional Workshop attendees were very interested in the pos-
geology, induced earthquakes, geothermal engineer- sibility of gaining a better understanding of porome-
ing, and hydrology. About 90% of the workshop was chanical behavior and the processes affecting stress
spent in group discussions of key science questions and and strain near the interface between the Paleozoic

Current and envisioned future energy sources to help Cornell University meet its goal to become carbon neutral by 2035, including geo-
thermal heat from the ESH project, are illustrated in this campus diagram. Credit: Cornell University
sedimentary rocks and the Precambrian crystalline or greater depth will cost several million dollars.
basement. Fiber-optic sensing along the length of the Because a wide-diameter borehole down to an explor-
borehole, along with measurements of the physical atory target depth of 4–5 kilometers could serve later as
properties of rock samples, could provide insights into an operational well accommodating a higher flow than
the mechanical behavior of the subsurface at multiple a narrow hole, a case can be made for such a hole,
scales. These insights are important for understanding which could also facilitate extensive testing and sam-
induced seismicity and mitigating hazards. pling. An alternative strategy is to drill an initial nar-
Attendees were also enthusiastic about the opportu- row borehole that would allow studies of geologic con-
nity to retrieve core samples that could spur a new gen- text and in situ characterization. Later, this borehole
eration of geological investigation into the thermal could serve as an observatory for downhole monitoring
history of the rocks beneath upstate New York. This of such things as temperature, pressure, seismic activ-
investigation could fill knowledge gaps about what ity, and fluid chemistry.
happened to the rocks from the end of deposition in The risks of these two alternatives are markedly dif-
the Devonian (420–360 million years ago); through the ferent. A w ide-diameter borehole intended to be used
burial, fluid flow, diagenesis, and fracturing of the later for energy production would require much of its
Alleghanian orogeny; to the mid-Mesozoic emplace- length to be cased with cement. However, some critical
ment of kimberlites and the topographic readjust- rock properties and conditions should be measured or
ments and denudation of the Cenozoic (66 million sampled in an uncased borehole, and much of the
years ago to present). equipment for permanent monitoring would need to be
Although no geobiologists participated, the work- installed prior to casing. Moreover, several borehole
shop participants agreed that sampling could enable experts foresaw this scenario leading to high costs and
study of life-forms found amid the lithologies and con- the high technical risk of losing the operational well if
ditions that a borehole would traverse. Discussions at wall rock collapsed and refilled the hole.
the workshop revealed that the Cornell site offers even Drilling a narrow hole to 4–5 kilometers also comes
higher research value if the vertical profile of the ther- with significant practical, costly challenges. One such
mal, hydrological, mechanical, and chemical properties challenge is the limited availability of companies and
of the subsurface could be determined at a pristine equipment capable of drilling and coring such a hole at
location not yet subjected to subsurface manipulation, ac ost-effective rate. Discussions about the back and
and then monitored through time as the geothermal forth between science goals and borehole operational
project progresses. goals revealed scenarios that may translate to signifi-
cantly higher borehole costs and to compromised plans
Where Science and Engineering Challenges that reduce the scientific scope.
Intersect Another alternative emerged from these discussions:
A major question about a Cornell borehole, one where A narrow borehole that reaches only 100 meters into the
science and engineering considerations intersect, is basement would have lower costs and risks than a deep
whether it should have a narrow or wide diameter. hole. This narrow-hole design would still allow seismo-
Regardless of diameter, each borehole to 3 kilometers logical and hydrological experiments to document sub-

surface conditions before and after artificial permeabil- broad and rapid public dissemination of all data
ity construction in a neighboring well, and after a extracted from the borehole.
geothermal field begins production. With this The I CDP-supported borehole planning workshop,
approach, the reduced risk to the integrity of a wide- which assembled interested parties with diverse back-
diameter borehole, which could then be cased immedi- grounds and broad expertise, has helped jump-start
ately to protect against collapse, could plausibly lower progress toward using geothermal energy to meet the
expenses enough to enable a three-borehole setup. This university’s carbon neutrality goals. The initial idea
setup, incorporating one narrow, intermediate-depth was to use a geothermal energy borehole as a chance
hole and two wide (and cased) full-depth boreholes, to piggyback some fascinating scientific research onto
might not cost much more than two wide boreholes dug a practical project. The ICDP workshop revealed that it
with numerous workarounds and compromises. is also an opportunity to increase the probability that
the ESH project itself will be successful because of the
A Promising Start to the Work Ahead “boring” companion science.
Following the ICDP workshop, Cornell University
sought funds from the U.S. Department of Energy References
(DOE) to drill a narrow borehole through the sedimen- Camp, E. R., et al. (2018), A probabilistic application of oil and gas data for explora-
tion stage geothermal reservoir assessment in the Appalachian Basin, Geother-
tary rocks and about 100 meters into the crystalline mics, 71, 187–199, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geothermics.2017.09.001.
basement. And at the end of July, DOE announced Lopez, S., et al. (2010), 40 years of Dogger aquifer management in Ile-de-
selection of Cornell’s project for funding. The funds France, Paris Basin, France, Geothermics, 39, 339–356, https://doi.org/10.1016/
j.geothermics.2010.09.005.
awarded should be sufficient to bore the hole; to obtain
Smith, J. D. (2019), Exploratory spatial data analysis and uncertainty propaga-
several hundred meters of continuous core and spot tion for geothermal resource assessment and reservoir models, Ph.D. thesis,
cores; to analyze pressure, stress, strain, and hydrolog- 255 pp., Cornell Univ., Ithaca, N.Y.
ical and rock properties; and to install permanent Townend, J., and M. D. Zoback (2000), How faulting keeps the crust strong, Geol-
ogy, 28(5), 399–402, https://doi.org/101130/0091-7613(2000)28<399:HFKTCS
monitoring systems. >2.0.CO;2.
With this foundation, Cornell and experts like those
who participated in the workshop can address many of Author Information
the scientific and engineering challenges laid out Teresa Jordan (tej1@cornell.edu) and Patrick Fulton,
above. Yet some of the fascinating questions articu- Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Cornell
lated at the workshop will require companion proj- University, Ithaca, N.Y.; Jefferson Tester, Smith School of
ects. We will need to obtain additional samples, install Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Cornell Univer-
other types of sensors, extract and analyze data sity, Ithaca, N.Y.; Hiroshi Asanuma, Fukushima Renewable
shortly after drilling and during years of observation, Energy Institute, National Institute of Advanced Industrial
and conduct complementary experiments and geo- Science and Technology, Koriyama, Japan; and David
physical surveys. Those added-value projects will Bruhn, Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences, Delft
require that experts lead efforts to seek, in collabora- University of Technology, Delft, Netherlands
tion with Cornell, funds for the worthy, complemen-
tary projects. The university is also committed to u Read the article at bit.ly/Eos-boring
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RESEARCH SPOTLIGHT
How Forest Degradation Affects

Carbon and Water Cycles
Forest degradation, including the kind of logging pictured here on Pirititi Indigenous land in the Brazilian Amazon, can significantly affect energy, water, and carbon
fluxes in forests. Credit: Felipe Werneck/IBAMA, CC BY 2.0 (bit.ly/ccby2-0)
T
ropical rain forests provide ecosystem services well beyond regions in the eastern Amazon (one in French Guiana and the rest in
their bounds. The Amazon, for example, acts as both a sink for Brazil), each with different precipitation patterns and histories of land
carbon dioxide and a fountain of water vapor into the atmo- use change, to capture the diversity of degraded forests.
sphere that later falls as rain or snow, sometimes thousands of kilo- The model indicated that during a typical dry season, evapotrans-
meters away. But human activities and climate change are major piration and gross primary production were 34% and 35% lower,
threats to these services. respectively, in degraded forests than in intact forests, whereas day-
Many studies have sought to understand how deforestation, which time surface temperatures were 6.5°C higher on average. However,
has soared again in many parts of the Amazon, affects carbon seques- during extreme droughts, the effect of degradation on these fluxes
tration and evapotranspiration. Meanwhile, forest degradation, which was much less apparent. In other words, intact and degraded forests
includes logging, understory fires, and forest fragmentation, may behaved similarly when facing extreme water and heat stress.
affect as large an area as deforestation does, yet its effects on water, The same pattern held true for fire risk: In a typical year, degraded
energy, and carbon cycles in tropical forests are less well understood. forests were drier, warmer, and more susceptible to fire, but during
That’s at least in part because forest degradation is heterogeneous droughts, intact forests were just as prone to fire, highlighting the
and because many degraded plots are in remote regions and on pri- critical role of climate variability in flammability.
vately owned land, making field data difficult to gather. But in a new Although the model had limitations—for example, it didn’t consider
study, Longo et al. used h
igh-resolution lidar data collected by aircraft variations in soil depth and composition, which can markedly affect
to overcome some of these accessibility challenges. these fluxes—the study advances the use of remote sensing technology
The researchers fed both lidar data and ground observations into for tracking structural change in degraded forests as well as our under-
an ecosystem demography model to compare water, energy, and car- standing of how human disturbances beyond deforestation impact
bon fluxes between the forest and the atmosphere in both degraded energy and carbon balances in the Amazon. ( Journal of Geophysical
and intact regions of the Amazon forest spanning precipitation gra- Research: Biogeosciences, https://doi.org/10.1029/2020JG005677, 2020)
dients. The lidar data revealed forest structure variability across five —Kate Wheeling, Science Writer

RESEARCH SPOTLIGHT
Interpreting Neural Networks’ Reasoning
N
eural networks are everywhere in vance propagation (LRP). Both methods help sonal temperatures. They trained the network
modern science, providing insights researchers identify which inputs are most on data from 1950 to 2000, tested it on data
into such complex topics as facial influential in a neural network’s d ecision- from 2000 to 2018, and found that the neural
recognition, cancer research, and risk man- making process, which could make the tech- network approaches were more accurate than
agement, among others. The machine nique more applicable to the geosciences, a traditional, regression-based approach.
learning technique uses networks of com- where understanding a network’s reasoning Machine learning studies are becoming
putational nodes working together to find may be critical for validating its predictions. more common in the geosciences, but this
patterns in massive data sets and make pre- The team first applied both methods to a one was the first to apply an LRP technique
dictions on the basis of those data. simple task: identifying whether a specific to the field. The authors show that the
Neural networks may be useful in iden sea surface temperature (SST) pattern was machine learning techniques can provide
tifying meaningful relationships in the indicative of a positive or negative phase of valid predictions, confirming that their out-
increasingly large and h igh-quality data sets the well-studied El Niño–Southern Oscilla- put matches our understanding of the phys-
available in the geosciences. But their appli- tion (ENSO). Team members trained the neu- ical processes driving Earth systems and
cation in those fields has been limited so far ral network on SST data from 1880 to 1990 setting the stage for future studies that
by the fact that the internal reasoning the and tested it using data from 1990 to 2017. could use these techniques to identify as yet
networks use to make decisions and predic- The network identified the ENSO phase accu- unknown relationships hiding in geoscience
tions is not always apparent. rately 100% of the time. data. ( Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth
In a new study, Toms et al. apply two new Next the team applied the methods to a Systems (JAMES), https://doi.org/10.1029/
methods for interpreting neural networks: more complex task: predicting how sea sur- 2019MS002002, 2020) —Kate Wheeling, Sci-
backward optimization and layerwise rele- face temperature anomalies will impact sea- ence Writer
A GOLDen Way to Study Space Weather
O
ne of NASA’s newest missions, called Global-scale Observa-
tions of the Limb and Disk (GOLD), is revealing how the upper
fringes of Earth’s atmosphere affect space weather by observ-
ing atmospheric airglow in unprecedented detail. In a new study,
Eastes et al. report early data from the mission, including observations
of how neutral gases in the thermosphere interact with charged par-
ticles in Earth’s ionosphere and how these interactions respond to
disturbances in Earth’s magnetic field caused by solar storms.
GOLD was launched into geostationary orbit in 2018 aboard a com-
munications satellite and began making routine observations in Octo-
ber of that year. The instrument measures wavelengths of ultraviolet
light emitted by excited atoms and molecules at altitudes of 100 kilo-
meters or higher when they relax to lower energy levels. These emis-
sions phenomena include aurorae as well as much fainter yet steady
airglow across the night sky.
From its vantage over the western Atlantic, GOLD observes airglow
across the full disk of Earth every 30 minutes, as well as in the thin
ribbon of atmosphere, called the limb, surrounding it. Occasionally,
when a star passes behind Earth, the instrument takes advantage of The Global-scale Observations of the Limb and Disk instrument (circled) appears
the starlight passing through the atmosphere to measure the density at the bottom of the SES-14 communications satellite in this artist’s illustration.
of oxygen in the air at different altitudes based on the light it absorbs. Credit: NASA/CIL/Chris Meaney
GOLD also collects valuable temperature readings and observations
of the ratio of oxygen to molecular nitrogen, as well as of how these
characteristics change during geomagnetic storms.
Early observations of Earth’s nightside from the mission have The authors suggest that all told, GOLD’s observations should
yielded surprising discoveries about airglow over the equatorial help scientists develop better models of the t hermosphere-
region, where large, c ontinent-spanning stripes of emissions tend to ionosphere system and advance our understanding of space weather
form. This “equatorial anomaly” is far more dynamic than expected, effects on Earth. ( Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics,
with its brightness and appearance changing rapidly even during quiet https://d 020JA027823, 2020) —Mark Zastrow, Science
oi.org/1 0.1029/2
periods between geomagnetic storms. Writer

RESEARCH SPOTLIGHT
Steadying Mid-Ocean Ridge Spreading Rates
E
very so often, Earth’s geomagnetic field reverses, with magnetic over time, sometimes erratically, creating uncertainty in the GPTS.
north and south swapping places over the course of a few millen- Here the researchers used u p-to-date magnetic anomaly data collected
nia. Researchers have tracked these reversals, which occur every during 154 ship tracks across the North and South Pacific, South Atlan-
few tens of thousands to millions of years, at mid-ocean ridges, where tic, and Indian Oceans, as well as Monte Carlo computational methods,
tectonic plates are pulling apart. As lava erupts at these ridges and solid- to smooth out spreading rates across all the ocean basins, thereby min-
ifies to form new ocean crust, it records the orientation of the planet’s imizing spreading rate variations and reducing uncertainty in the GPTS.
magnetic field, creating alternating blocks of rock that are magnetized The findings contribute to researchers’ understanding of the history
in opposite directions and that generate magnetic anomalies that can of ocean spreading. In particular, the study revealed a major global
be measured by ship surveys. Combining these magnetic signatures change in spreading rates between 50 million and 45 million years ago.
with radioisotopic dating of the magnetized rocks has provided time- Around that time, the Indian subcontinent slammed into the Eurasian
lines for past reversals called geomagnetic polarity timescales (GPTSs). plate, slowing tectonic spreading in the Indian Ocean. At the same time,
Malinverno et al. update the GPTS for a period stretching from late in spreading rates roughly doubled in the South Atlantic and North Pacific,
the Cretaceous, roughly 84 million years ago, until the end of the coinciding with the timing of a bend in the Hawaii-Emperor seamount
Eocene, 33 million years ago. chain. The results could also help resolve timescale inconsistencies in
Previous GPTSs assumed that ocean spreading rates in the South astrochronology studies, the authors note. ( Journal of Geophysical
Atlantic were constant or smoothly varying over time. But in data col- Research: Solid Earth, https://doi.org/10.1029/2020JB020034, 2020)
lected at other mid-ocean ridges, spreading rates appeared to change —Kate Wheeling, Science Writer
Ancient Sea Levels in South Africa

May Offer Modern Analogues
T
he concentration of carbon dioxide in Earth’s atmosphere as of
June 2020 exceeded 416 parts per million, a level not seen since
the mid-Pliocene warm period approximately 3 million years
ago. Indeed, the entire Pliocene (5.33–2.58 million years ago) serves
as a potential analogue for our present and future climate.
Scientists often turn to the stratigraphic record to understand
Earth’s history. Geological proxies like fossilized flora and fauna indi-
cate that temperatures during the Pliocene were about 2.7°C–4.0°C
hotter than those in the preindustrial era. Coastal rocks and sedi-
ments can also help identify the Pliocene’s elevated sea levels from
a time when polar ice extents were drastically smaller than today.
In a new study, Hearty et al. delved into the stratigraphic record
to determine how high the ocean rose the last time carbon dioxide
levels eclipsed 400 parts per million, investigating ancient coastal This location near the Olifants River on the Atlantic coast of South Africa exhibits
deposits along the western and southern coastlines of the Republic some of the most detailed stratigraphy of a Pliocene sea level stand from
of South Africa. The South African coast was comparatively stable roughly 4.5 million years ago that was more than 25 meters above modern sea
during the Pliocene and subsequent Pleistocene, so the unjostled level. The water at that time rose above the white rocks seen in the foreground
rocks there offer optimal marine exposures and clear indicators of and in the haze farther down the coast. Credit: Paul Hearty
past sea levels. However, elevations measured in the field must be
corrected to account for past vertical land motion.
The team scoured the coastlines for sites where geologic records of
past sea levels have been preserved and analyzed marine shells col- imately 4.5 million to 3 million years ago. The second zone is 15–20
lected from these deposits using strontium dating. Once the authors meters above modern sea level and represents sea level about 1 mil-
identified optimal exposures, they collected high-accuracy GPS data lion years ago, during the Pleistocene.
to measure the 3D coordinates of key geological features to within a The authors note that ice sheets are highly vulnerable during warm-
few centimeters. ing climates. Their findings suggest that global sea levels are likely to
Three of the 17 surveyed sites provided reliable age data, establish- undergo dynamic changes in the future because of rising carbon diox-
ing that average sea levels during the Pliocene were between 15 and ide concentrations. The researchers also point out that their data set
30 meters higher than the present waterline. The results revealed two can serve as a baseline against which to compare future studies of
prominent topographic zones. The first zone is about 25–35 meters global mean sea level. (Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology, https://
above current sea level and corresponds to conditions from approx- doi.org/10.1029/2019PA003835, 2020) —Aaron Sidder, Science Writer

RESEARCH SPOTLIGHT
Air Temperatures More Warming Means Worse

Ideal for Impacts from Runoff and Drought
Carbon Uptake
by Subtropical
Plants
M
ore green on Earth means less car-
bon in the atmosphere. A photo-
synthesizing plant captures carbon
in the air, in the form of carbon dioxide
(CO2), and converts it into plant matter. As
CO2 levels rise, ecosystems generally grow
more efficient at capturing carbon. However,
as temperatures rise, that efficiency wanes.
This feedback between the efficiency of
plant carbon sequestration and air tempera-
ture has been demonstrated in the tropics, in A campground floods at Christina Lake in British Columbia, Canada. Credit: Thomas_H_foto, CC BY-ND 2.0
models, and in studies at leaf level. McGowan (bit.ly/ccbynd2-0)
et al. investigated this relationship on Bribie
Island, a barrier island off the east coast of
Australia near Brisbane, setting up sensors
S
in three subtropical ecosystem types: a wet- cientists have shown that warming glo Plain as likely candidates to experience
land, a swamp, and a pine plantation. The bal temperatures can lead to increases increased droughts with the added warming.
researchers recorded an array of environ- in extreme precipitation events—and Meanwhile, Alaska, northern Canada, and
mental data, from weather and radiation lev- therefore to increased surface runoff from much of Asia are expected to experience
els to soil temperature and water content. soils unable to absorb heavy rainfall and increased flooding hazards.
From these data, the scientists calculated snowmelt—as well as to aggravated droughts The researchers extended their analysis
that the optimum temperature range for resulting from decreased precipitation and to determine how many more people would
photosynthesis, and thus for CO2 uptake, in increased evapotranspiration. Understand be affected under 2°C versus 1.5°C warming,
these environments is 24.1°C–27.4°C. And ing the likely timing and locations of future as well as the added burden on gross domes-
they found that when temperatures exceed floods and droughts will be imperative in tic product (GDP). They calculated that glob-
this optimum window, which they often did protecting people and managing risk. ally, droughts would affect an additional
during the study, an ecosystem’s ability to In a new study, Zhai et al. use an estab- 0.5% of the population; floods, an additional
capture CO2 drops sharply. This trend was lished surface runoff model, called variable 4.9%; and droughts and floods, an additional
especially visible during dry periods. The infiltration capacity, in combination with the 4.9% under 2°C warming relative to under
monoculture of the pine plantation did not latest climate projections from global circu- 1.5°C warming. The scientists also found that
handle hot or dry conditions well. The natural lation models to forecast global surface run- the changes in runoff with 2°C warming ver-
wetland ecosystem, in contrast, was the most off and droughts and to compare differences sus 1.5°C warming would have widespread
productive of the three sites and responded in these forecasts between 1.5°C and 2°C impacts on the affected economies, with
best to changing conditions, likely because of warming scenarios, the targets for maximum droughts affecting an additional 4.6% of
its natural diversity and dense vegetation, the warming established in the Paris Agreement. GDP globally, floods affecting an additional
authors note. The team reports that outcomes in their 2.4%, and both droughts and floods affecting
Earth’s temperature continues to climb, modeling are worse across the board for the an additional 5.7%.
and experts predict that the subtropics will 2°C scenario: Annual runoff is expected to be Considering the severity of these pro-
experience less rain as the climate warms. higher, water retention in terrestrial ecosys- jected human and economic impacts, the
In the face of these changes, the ability of tems is expected to be lower, and droughts researchers point out the importance of try-
plants in subtropical ecosystems to scrub and floods are expected to increase in fre- ing to limit further warming of Earth’s cli-
carbon from the air will decline, the authors quency. The scientists identify Mexico, the mate. (Earth’s Future, https://doi .org/10
say. They suggest that similar research is western United States, western Europe, .1029/2019EF001398, 2020) —David Shultz,
needed in other climate zones and ecosys- southeastern China, and the West Siberian Science Writer
tems to develop a more complete picture of
plant-climate feedbacks. ( Journal of Geophys-
ical Research: Biogeosciences, https://doi.o
rg/
10.1029/2020JG005678, 2020) —Elizabeth u Read the latest news at Eos.org
Thompson, Science Writer

RESEARCH SPOTLIGHT
Tracking Air Pollution from Ghana’s E-Waste Site
People burn wires, cables, circuit boards, and other discarded items to recover copper at the Agbogbloshie electronic waste site in Ghana. Credit: Muntaka Chasant,
CC BY-SA 4.0 (bit.ly/ccbysa4-0)
P
lumes of black smoke are often seen (PM10) in diameter for the waste site’s thou- 57 µg/m3 higher than the average back-
rising from the Agbogbloshie elec- sands of employees and the densely popu- ground level of 31 µg/m3; the authors note
tronic waste (e-waste) site in Accra, lated communities nearby. The team mea- that background levels were largely attribut-
Ghana. The acrid clouds contain particulate sured upwind, on-site, and downwind PM able to biomass burning and traffic emis-
matter and other pollutants that pour into concentrations using gravimetric and opti- sions. Downwind of the e-waste site, PM2.5
the air above the capital city from two waste- cal instrumentation to sample both upwind levels were 57 µg/m3 (or 26 µg/m3 higher
burning areas at the site. But air pollution background levels of air pollution and con- than background). World Health Organiza-
data to track these plumes and their effects tributions of the waste site while also tion and Ghanaian EPA exposure guidelines
are limited in Ghana and throughout Africa; accounting for local meteorological condi- for 2 4-hour PM 2.5 are 25 and 30 µg/m 3,
only six of the continent’s 47 sub-Saharan tions. respectively.
countries report levels of airborne particulate PM2.5 and PM10 levels were both signifi- According to the authors, the study dem
matter—the inhalable pieces of pollution cantly higher at the waste site than back- onstrates that an approach combining grav-
that can wreak havoc on the human body. ground levels, and 24-hour PM2.5 levels con- imetric and optical measurements can pro-
Kwarteng et al. look to augment Ghana’s siderably exceeded both World Health vide a relatively low cost way for countries
limited air pollution data by using moderate- Organization and Ghanaian EPA exposure to monitor pollution levels in complex
cost sampling methods to quantify exposure guidelines. The team found that 24-hour urban environments. (GeoHealth, h ttps://d
oi
to particulate matter less than 2.5 microm- PM2.5 levels at the e -waste site averaged .org/10.1029/2020GH000247, 2020) —Kate
eters (PM2.5 ) and less than 10 micrometers 88 micrograms per cubic meter (µg/m3), or Wheeling, Science Writer

RESEARCH SPOTLIGHT
Sudden Oak Death Taking a Toll on U.S. West Coast
N
early half of forest ecosystems around the world face “stand- species: California bay laurel, tanoak, coast live oak, and California
replacing disturbances”—hazards that threaten to kill all of black oak.
the trees in a localized region, such as fires, extreme weather, The team monitored more than 10,000 stems across several hun-
and disease. The spread of nonnative insects and pathogens has also dred plots in California and Oregon, tracking infections, climate, and
reshaped North American forests, and today a disease outbreak is topography to determine how various factors influenced disease pro-
sweeping along the U.S. West Coast. gression in all four species. As of 2012, some 166.2 million stems
Sudden oak death, caused by the plant pathogen Phytophthora within the study plots were infected. The majority (95.2 million) were
ramorum, has reached epidemic proportions in California and Ore- bay laurel stems, which can typically survive P. ramorum infections,
gon since it first arrived in the San Francisco Bay Area in about 1990. making the species a major source of infection for other trees.
But the regional extent of both the disease and related tree mortal- Given the mortality rates for the other three species, the authors
ity is not clear, hampering forest managers’ responses to the epi- estimate that the disease has killed nearly 48 million stems in the past
demic and to other threats, as d ie-offs can increase fuel loads and 20 years, including nearly 39 million tanoak stems alone. That’s a mor-
fire severity, reduce forest productivity, and convert forests from tality rate on par with other mass tree die-offs in the western United
carbon sinks to carbon sources. States due to drought and insect outbreaks, the authors note. Invasive
Cobb et al. modeled the infection and mortality rate in forests fac- pathogens tend to grow exponentially, meaning that these problems
ing P. ramorum invasions by combining observations from plot net- are likely to compound in the coming decades. But prevention and treat-
works on the ground, geospatial data, and existing data sets describ- ment programs in Oregon involving culling infected trees could serve
ing tree cover and pathogen distribution. The pathogen can infect the as an inexpensive and effective model for the region to keep the plant
leaves and stems of more than 130 species of trees, shrubs, and ferns, pathogen in check, according to the authors. (Earth’s Future, https://doi
but in the new study, the authors focus on the four most affected tree .org/10.1029/2020EF001500, 2020) —Kate Wheeling, Science Writer
The Lasting Legacy of Phosphorus Buried in Lakes
P
hosphorus is one of the most biolog- as well as the elements with which it had
ically important elements for life on formed complexes.
Earth and is thus ubiquitous in many Prior to eutrophication of Lake 227, most
crop fertilizers. Following heavy rain, par- of the phosphorus existed in an organic
ticulate phosphorus often runs off field form in the lake sediment. As the lake tran-
crops into nearby bodies of water, where it sitioned to eutrophic conditions, the rate of
can dramatically alter the health of aquatic phosphorus burial increased overall, with
ecosystems over time. much of the increase attributable to phos-
Environmental regulations have reduced phorus bound to humus, the dark-colored
phosphorus discharges to some aquatic soil fraction that’s rich in organic matter.
ecosystems to improve water quality, but The researchers found that the humic phos-
despite the reductions, many systems have phorus was usually bound in iron-humic
not experienced water quality improvement. complexes, especially with ferric iron (Fe3+).
This may be because of the internal release They note that the large quantity of Fe3+
of accumulated, or legacy, phosphorus in Lake 227 at the International Institute for Sustain- found in the sediment suggests that the
sediments, which can drive eutrophic con- able Development (IISD) Experimental Lakes Area organic carbon–rich sediment stabilizes this
ditions—with low oxygen levels and excess in Ontario, Canada, seen here, is the site of a long- oxidation state of iron, preventing it from
nutrients—which are often hazardous to running controlled eutrophication experiment. being reduced to other forms even in highly
native aquatic animals. Credit: IISD Experimental Lakes Area reducing conditions.
To better understand how and in what The researchers also observed that much
forms phosphorus accumulates in lakes, sci- of the phosphorus added to Lake 227 is
entists have conducted studies in which they stored in reactive forms, meaning that the
artificially add the nutrient to a controlled In new research, O’Connell et al. used a lake could remain eutrophic for years even
experimental lake. In one such lake in Ontario, combination of sediment cores and labora- without external phosphorus loading. They
Canada, known as Lake 227, in the Interna- tory analyses to track changes in sedimentary conclude that eutrophication may thus have
tional Institute for Sustainable Development phosphorus forms during and after the tran- far-reaching consequences in the future
Experimental Lakes Area, researchers have sition. The sediment cores represented a nat- because of legacy phosphorus. ( Journal of
used phosphorus to transition the aquatic ural history of the lake’s relationship with Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences, https://
environment from oligotrophic, or relatively phosphorus, showing the rates at which the doi.org/10.1029/2020JG005713, 2020) —David
oxygen rich and low in nutrients, to eutrophic. element had been buried in the sediment Shultz, Science Writer

EDITORS' HIGHLIGHTS // AGU ADVANCES EDITORS PRESENT THE LATEST RESEARCH
The Perils of Computing Too Much and Thinking Too Little
E
manuel, one of the most recognized and accomplished scientists ingly broad spectrum of activities—also in the educational sphere—
in the field, reflects on the importance of theory for atmo- there is danger that inattention to theory will produce researchers who
spheric, oceanic, and climate science. In so doing, he sounds an use these vast resources ineffectively and that the opportunity for true
alarm about the perils the neglect of theory pose for the advancement breakthroughs, which come from new ideas, will be diminished.
of our science. As h
igh-performance computing dominates an increas- (https://doi.org/10.1029/2019AV000129, 2020) —Bjorn Stevens
What the Upper Ocean Can We Observe How

Looks Like During Cloud Clustering Affects
a Hurricane and Why the Radiation Budget?
It Matters
U
nderstanding what controls the tropical radiation budget is of
great importance, as it offers guidance on estimating climate
sensitivity to greenhouse gas increases. Both observations and
climate models have well established that the tropical radiation bud-
get is significantly influenced by l ower-atmospheric stability. More
recently, modeling studies have suggested that the degree of cloud
clustering could also influence the radiation budget. Bony et al. pres-
ent the first observational study that confirms the influence of con-
vective clustering on the radiation budget at the scale of the tropics.
More clustered deep convection is associated with enhanced radiative
cooling, as the free troposphere is drier and more heat is emitted to
space. The observations reveal that lower-atmospheric stability and
convective clustering are complementary and equally important for
modulating the tropical radiation budget. This emphasizes the impor-
tance of determining how the stability and cloud clustering will
change with future warming. (https://doi.org/10.1029/2019AV000155,
2020) —Sarah Kang
Locations of Air Launched Autonomous Micro Observer (ALAMO) floats relative

to the tracks of Hurricanes Irma (2017, black circles) and Florence (2018, black
triangles) and prestorm s atellite-derived sea surface temperatures ( °C, shaded)
below and above white line, respectively. Locations of inset satellite infrared
brightness temperatures (K) are indicated (black squares), as are the ALAMO
positions when Irma (red circles) and Florence (blue triangles) crossed the float
array. TC = tropical cyclone; kt = knots. Credit: Sanabia and Jayne, 2020
T
ropical cyclones leave cooler surface ocean temperatures in
their wake, as a result of intense mixing of the upper ocean.
Details of this upper ocean structure under two hurricanes are
revealed in high-resolution measurements presented by Sanabia and
Jayne. These unique measurements, derived from a variety of sensors
deployed on floats, capture the space and time variability in the
across-path asymmetry in ocean mixed layer properties and show the
importance of salinity in controlling this structure. The view of the
upper ocean provided by these measurements allows improved Variations in (a) midtropospheric relative humidity (in %) and (b) clear-sky net
understanding of that layer’s influence on the intensity of the hurri- radiation (in watts per square meter) congruent with the degree of cloud cluster-
cane, which in turn contributes to better forecasts of hurricane inten- ing. Enhanced organization of convection is associated with drying and radiative
sity. (https://doi.org/10.1029/2019AV000161, 2020) —Eileen Hofmann cooling over most of the tropics. Credit: Bony et al., 2020

AGU ADVANCES EDITORS PRESENT THE LATEST RESEARCH // EDITORS’ HIGHLIGHTS
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CROSSWORD
Geology Wordplay By Russ Colson, Minnesota State University Moorhead
Find the answers at bit.ly/Eos-answers 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
ACROSS 12 13 14
1 Sandy deposits in bends of rivers
5 They might be apple or cherry 15 16 17
9 A way of handling coordinates in GIS
12 Includes the Himalayan, Ural, and Altai 18 19 20
mountains
13 Of Green Gables, e.g. 21 22
14 What’s left after an oxygen-starved
prairie fire, perhaps
23 24 25 26 27
15 A volcano from the deep—or a device
for draining diamonds?
28 29
18 Rain, but not the sea, chemical-wise
19 You may fail, but you _______
30 31 32 33 34 35
21 Another option, for short
22 Sallied forth
23 Something unusual 36 37
27 Just old dirt—or an ancient planetary

system star? 38 39 40 41 42
28 What rivers do to a mountain or valley

29 What good intentions did to the road 43 44
to hell?
30 With 32 across, a rock that doesn’t 45 46 47 48 49 50
belong
31 Sharpened 51 52
32 With 30 across, a rock that doesn’t
belong 53 54 55
36 Members of a Pueblo tribe
37 Fla. dino relative 56 57 58
38 All wet underground—or an upper
room for no extra charge?
42 _______ and forever
43 A dinosaur (formerly) or lizard
44 Prefix for -active or -ton 7 Oklahoma hometown of former astro- 32 An observable and predictable pat-
45 Objects like the Ring Nebula and tree naut Owen Garriott tern of behavior in nature
rings 8 A collection of data 33 You might fail, but give _______ go
46 Mineral luster typical of opaque oxides 9 Enter 34 A mouse to a cat?
51 They start out on top—or places with 10 Using the letters from elems. 16, 35 Units of time (abbr.)
heroic powers? 27, 53, and 78, the genus of gold- 36 Shout-out for Earth Science (abbr.)
53 Chooses thread 37 Exhibit smug pleasure
54 Complement to sciences 11 Sound system term from Greek for 38 Public service announcement (abbr.)
55 Surface feature typical of divergent “three-dimensional” 39 Inventor of a two-wheeled horse-
plate boundaries 14 Did not destroy drawn carriage of the same name
56 Unpubl. novels, e.g. 16 Delight 40 Sharp escalations, as of prices
57 A place for oviraptor eggs, e.g. 17 Motivated by a spirit of conscientious 41 Something a volcano does
58 Elems. 68 and 76, or sensual love environmentalism? 42 Writer, architect, or musician, e.g.
20 Alpine music form, without vowels 44 Like mosquitos and roaches
DOWN 22 The wise computer user does this 46 A greater amount
1 Caspian Sea port important for oil frequently 47 Elem. 3 and 75, or pre-euro money
production 23 Tyrannosaurus or Oedipus in Italy
2 An inverse trig. function 24 Were, but in the present 48 Yazoo tributary to a better known river
3 Edges of impact craters 25 Actor/director Howard with nearly the same name in western
4 Dutch island and stratovolcano of the 26 A promise of fidelity France
West Indies 27 Don’t do it when the storm hits 49 Facts and such, briefly
5 Not completely 29 “If I need your help, I may just _____” 50 Complement to bnfts
6 A narrow embayment along a shoreline 31 It rises 52 Do it for gold

POSTCARDS FROM THE FIELD
Monile from Malawi!
That greeting means “hello” in Chitumbuka, the local language spo- -liter bottle and sprinkle the water over hands; and (3) soap on a rope
2
ken here in northern Malawi. Since 2012, I have worked with Mzuzu surrounded by the top portion of a 5 00-milliliter plastic bottle so the
University as the manager of the Centre of Excellence in Water and goats don’t eat our soap!
Sanitation.
We use our yearly camp at Mzuzu University to focus on local science
Where do we wash our hands? Many areas of Malawi are still lacking a that affects the communities the girls live in and to encourage these
piped water supply, which makes hand washing much more difficult. girls to develop new and better science, technology, engineering, and
mathematics (STEM) solutions, for hand washing and beyond.
The photo shows our awesome Girls’ Science Day camp with area high
school girls sponsored by an AGU Celebrate 100 grant for the 2020 Rochelle H. Holm, Mzuzu University, Mzuzu, Malawi
International Day of Women and Girls in Science. We learned how to
overcome this hurdle by making a three-part, low-cost h and-washing
station. It consists of (1) the bottom portion of a 2-liter plastic bottle
holding water; (2) the bottom portion of a 500-milliliter plastic bot- View more postcards at bit.ly/Eos-postcard
tle with holes punched into the bottom, used to “dip” water from the
80 Eos // NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2020

See you at AGU
Fall Meeting 2021!
13–17 December 2021
New Orleans, La., and online everywhere

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VOL. 101 | NO.

11 Did Ancient Mayan

Shaping the Future of Science AGU Staff

Heather Goss, Editor in Chief

SCIENCE NEWS BY AGU // Eos.org 1

44 A Lost Haven for

2 Eos // NOVEMBER–DECEMBER 2020

1 From the Editor

AmericanGeophysicalUnion @AGU_Eos company/american-geophysical-union AGUvideos americangeophysicalunion americangeophysicalunion

SCIENCE NEWS BY AGU // Eos.org 3

Have We Got Dust All Wrong?

4 Eos // NOVEMBER–DECEMBER 2020

Kabuki Actor’s Manuscript Yields

for years, but as they say,

Holler is optimistic that the Greek scien-

SCIENCE NEWS BY AGU // Eos.org 5

involved in the research, believes the

6 Eos // NOVEMBER–DECEMBER 2020

Scientists Support Local Activities to Rescue

SCIENCE NEWS BY AGU // Eos.org 7

Decrease in Lightning Recorded

Eos thanks Robert Holzworth, who generously

8 Eos // NOVEMBER–DECEMBER 2020

Leaded Soil Endangers Residents

SCIENCE NEWS BY AGU // Eos.org 9

only 18 milligrams of lead per kilogram of

10 Eos // NOVEMBER–DECEMBER 2020

SCIENCE NEWS BY AGU // Eos.org 11

Using Dirt to Clean Up Construction

12 Eos // NOVEMBER–DECEMBER 2020

SCIENCE NEWS BY AGU // Eos.org 13

Use Water Resources Sustainably

14 Eos // NOVEMBER–DECEMBER 2020

Typhoons Getting Stronger, Making Landfall More Often

More Storms Landing in China Rising Super Typhoons Autumn Threat

researchers analyzed tropical cyclone data

SCIENCE NEWS BY AGU // Eos.org 15

up. The researchers attribute this increase

16 Eos // NOVEMBER–DECEMBER 2020

Roy Plotnick. “The connectivity of the land-

Native Biodiversity Lost

SCIENCE NEWS BY AGU // Eos.org 17

Will COVID’s Cleaner Skies Muddy Climate Models?

18 Eos // NOVEMBER–DECEMBER 2020

A Bulkier Layer to the Rescue

SCIENCE NEWS BY AGU // Eos.org 19

Restored Tropical Forests Recover Faster

20 Eos // NOVEMBER–DECEMBER 2020

Students accepted to the program are provided

By providing additional support, we aim to help more

Hurry to apply by 1 April!

SCIENCE NEWS BY AGU // Eos.org 21

Surveying the Challenges of Fieldwork

22 Eos // NOVEMBER–DECEMBER 2020

ualities are also represented, dominated by

Then Quantify the Problem

SCIENCE NEWS BY AGU // Eos.org 23

potential dangers to LGBTQ+ geoscientists at

24 Eos // NOVEMBER–DECEMBER 2020

tions, governments, and corporations— communities on low-lying islands all

Dignity and s elf-governance in movement as a response