Happy New Year! 2 free articles from January issue of EARTH

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January 2017 cover of EARTH Magazine
Is your New Year's resolution to read more about science? The January 2017 issue of EARTH Magazine is now available, including two stories that you can read online without a subscription:
 
Life-saving diplomacy: the Volcano Disaster Assistance Program at thirty. On Nov. 13, 1985, the eruption of the Nevado del Ruiz volcano in Colombia killed more than 23,000 people. Geoscientists at the U.S. Geological Survey’s Cascades Volcano Observatory in Vancouver, Wash., moved to action. Having studied the warning signs and responded to the eruption of Mount St. Helens five years earlier, they knew from experience that the Nevado del Ruiz disaster could have been prevented. Their advocacy paved the way for the formation of the Volcano Disaster Assistance Program (VDAP) in 1986. VDAP is the world’s first and only international volcano response team. VDAP’s growth and evolution over 30 years are chronicled, highlighting the team’s past successes and goals for the future.
 
Slow-moving slides may be triggered by cold temperatures. Slow-moving landslides, while not as dramatic as their faster-moving counterparts, can damage infrastructure and cause headaches for the communities they affect. Slow-moving slides are generally associated with rainfall or snowmelt, but a new study in Japan has shown that some of these slides may occur when a certain kind of clay is exposed to cold temperatures. The link between ground temperature and slow slides is explored, including implications for the science of predicting similar landslides around the world.
 
The January issue of EARTH Magazine is now available. It includes stories about how and when the first humans arrived in America — casting a skeptical eye on the popular land-bridge theory — and about an unexpected disruption in Earth’s largest jet stream, with the potential for such disruptions to increase in a changing climate. For these stories and more, subscribe to EARTH Magazine.

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