January 2011 on EARTH Magazine

Energy Notes: September 2009-2010

Wed, 20 Jun 2018 15:09:33 -0400

Credit: The American Geosciences Institute

U.S. Oil & Petroleum Imports (millions of barrels per day)

Oil and petroleum imports data are preliminary numbers taken from the American Petroleum Institute’s Monthly Statistical Report. For more information visit www.api.org.

Mineral Resource of the Month: Molybdenum

Thu, 14 Jun 2018 11:50:16 -0400

Désirée E. Polyak, a mineral commodity specialist for the U.S. Geological Survey, compiled the following information on molybdenum, an extremely versatile metal used most as an alloying agent in cast iron, steel and superalloys.

In Boeing's new 787 Dreamliner, molybdenum plays a role not only in the alloys of the engine but also in the landing gear, in the lubrication of the engine's rotating parts, and in multiple aspects of the electronics and power generation of the plane. Credit: ©Boeing

Molybdenum is a silvery-white, malleable metal that does not occur in metallic form in nature. Although a number of molybdenum-bearing minerals have been identified, only one has commercial significance: molybdenite, a natural molybdenum sulfide. Molybdenite concentrate is converted to molybdic oxide, which in turn is used to produce intermediate products, such as ferromolybdenum, metal powder and various chemicals.

Travels in Geology: Mallorca set in stone

Wed, 06 Jun 2018 13:51:15 -0400

This cloverleaf turn on the winding road down to the mouth of Mallorca's Torrent de Pareis is empty in the off-season. During the tourist season, the road is clogged with visitors who are eager to explore the island's geological history. Credit: Naomi Lubick

Credit: AGI/NASA

A spring walk along Mallorca’s northern coast yields views of sawgrass, peppered with tiny flowers just beginning to bloom in mauve and white. The stunning blue of the Mediterranean stretches to the horizon, away from the steeply rolling slopes of grass and craggy outcrops. The shore lies several hundred meters below the well-groomed walking trail, and if there is sun shining through coastal clouds, it promises a warmer afternoon after crisp, cool evenings and chilly nights.

Getting There and Getting Around Mallorca

Wed, 06 Jun 2018 13:32:32 -0400

A view of Palma de Mallorca's coast. Credit: Naomi Lubick

To get to Mallorca, you can fly from many major airports in Europe on a one- to two-hour flight. If you have the time (and perhaps already plan to have a car during a trip in mainland Spain), you can also take a ferry. Going from Barcelona to Palma de Mallorca with your car can cost the same as a plane ticket on an average airline carrier, about $350 — but it’s a seven-hour trip to cover a few hundred kilometers.

Down to Earth With: Hope Jahren

Tue, 22 May 2018 11:43:43 -0400

Courtesy of Hope Jahren

Hope Jahren is often described as a biogeologist, but that seems too narrow a description. Currently a professor at the University of Hawaii in Manoa, Jahren has studied everything from fossils and french fries to paleoclimate and plants. After graduating from the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis in 1991 with a degree in geology, Jahren studied stream chemistry in Norway as a Fulbright scholar. She completed a doctorate in soil science at the University of California at Berkeley in 1996 and taught at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Md., before moving to Hawaii in 2008. Jahren talked with freelance writer Sam Lemonick about her diverse interests and her return this year to Norway, where she has another Fulbright grant, this time to study how climate affects the growth patterns of plants.

Benchmarks: April 9, 1895: James Edward Keeler confirms Saturn's rings not solid

Tue, 21 Jun 2016 15:57:56 -0400

James Edward Keeler designed a spectroscope for the Lick Observatory's 36-inch (91-centimeter) refracting telescope. Credit: ©Naotake Murayama, Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic.

On April 9 and 10, 1895, astronomer James Edward Keeler snapped the most important photographs of his life. With a 13-inch (33-centimeter) refracting telescope, Keeler captured proof that Saturn’s rings were not solid disks, but instead a collection of particles revolving around the planet. The discovery put to rest a question that astronomers had been pondering for more than two centuries.

Benchmarks: January 23, 1960: Humans reach the deepest point on Earth

Mon, 20 Jun 2016 14:40:15 -0400

Jacques Piccard and Don Walsh in the crew cabin as the Trieste descends to Challenger Deep. Credit: NOAA.

More than 9,000 meters underwater, a window buckles, sending a spider web of cracks across the glass. The entire submersible shakes, but no water rushes into the Trieste. Out of vocal contact with the main ship on the surface above them, Swiss oceanographer and engineer Jacques Piccard and U.S. Navy Lt. Don Walsh decide to continue their descent despite the new danger. After all, at more than nine kilometers below the sea surface, the explorers were too close to their goal to turn around. They were only 2,000 meters away from the deepest spot on Earth: Challenger Deep. On Jan. 23, 1960, they reached that fabled point 10,916 meters below the surface of the Pacific Ocean.

A Dirty Secret - China's greatest import: Carbon emissions

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 03:51:09 -0500

A factory along the Yangtze River in China. High Contrast, Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Germany

The U.S. and much of the Western world have a dirty secret.

Voices: Does all scientific work deserve public attention?

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 03:51:09 -0500

Last September, I read a thoughtful post about science blogging and communication on The Guardian’s science blog by David Dobbs. Many scientists seem to think that their work is done once they’ve published a paper, Dobbs said. He argued that scientists have grown over-reliant on the scientific paper to get the word out about their findings and instead — or really, in addition — they need to communicate the importance of their work to an audience larger than the readership of peer-reviewed papers.

Voices: Humans at high temperatures

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 03:51:09 -0500

Reconsidering the economic implications of climate change

How much will it cost to implement plans to mitigate climate change? And if we don’t implement changes, what will the cost of climate change be?

Economists tend to examine questions like these with cost-benefit analyses. For example, in the climate change debate, if a climate change policy will produce more gains to society than it will cost to implement, a cost-benefit analysis might suggest we should embrace the policy. To date, virtually all cost-benefit analyses of greenhouse gas reductions have suggested that mitigation policies cost more than the benefits they produce, at least in the short run. But most of these analyses have probably dramatically underestimated the economic impacts of a warming climate by not factoring in an important process: what happens to humans when temperatures rise.

Voices: Log off and get outside again

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 03:51:09 -0500

I began this column while meandering across the West just after Labor Day last year. We drove from Telluride, Colo., to Zion National Park in Utah, to Lake Powell on the Utah-Arizona border, and finally to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon in Arizona.

Blogging on EARTH: South Sudan secedes - what does that mean for its oil?