The drones are coming! With 2.5 million drones sold in the U.S. in 2016 and annual drone sales expected to reach 7 million by 2020, the laws and rules that govern unmanned aerial systems (UAS) could one day be as important to know as your local tax code. In the July issue of EARTH, University of Kansas Professor William C. Johnson and graduate student Dakota J. Burt write an introduction to drone regulations, highlighting the ever-shifting legal landscape, which has implications for hobbyists, commercial drone pilots, and geoscientists. [Read More]

Could plate tectonics be tied to the development of life on Earth? Earth is the only planet known to sustain life. It is also the only planet with active plate tectonics. Coincidence? Most geoscientists think not. In part two of EARTH Magazine’s feature on plate tectonics, EARTH correspondent Mary Caperton Morton examines the links between two phenomena that are unique to our planet. Although other planets in our solar system possess active volcanoes, faults, and other evidence of surface deformation, Earth’s global plate tectonics is “a very rare animal,” according to Chris Hawkesworth, a geochemist at the University of Bristol in England. [Read More]

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The American Geosciences Institute was pleased to recognize three outstanding projects by pre-college students at this year’s Intel International Science & Engineering Fair (Intel ISEF) on May 19, 2017, in Los Angeles, Calif. This year’s award recipients showcased a broad range of exciting geoscience topics including geothermal vents, paleontology, soil contamination, and volcanic eruptions. In support of Intel ISEF, AGI sponsors a first place award of $1,250; a second award of $1,000; and a third award of $500. [Read More]

Carbon capture and storage (CCS) has been an energy industry practice for decades, originating as a mechanism to enhance oil and gas recovery. But carbon dioxide gas is tricky to capture, and even trickier to store: Without airtight seals and careful monitoring, the gas seeps up through cracks in the subsurface and quickly reenters the atmosphere. But what if the carbon dioxide could be turned into rock? Two projects - one in Iceland, the other in eastern Washington state - are taking advantage of their common underlying geology to do just that. [Read More]

Alexandria, Va. — The American Geosciences Institute congratulates Mary Schultz on her recent selection as the 2017-2018 William L. Fisher Congressional Geoscience Fellow. Schultz will begin her Fellowship in Washington, D.C., on September 1, 2017, after receiving her Ph.D. in Geological Sciences from Arizona State University in Tempe, Ariz., on June 14, 2017. Schultz’s doctoral research focuses on understanding the past 20-million-year climatic and tectonic evolution of the Mount Everest region in the central Himalayan Mountains using a combination of fieldwork, thermochronological dating of minerals, and numerical modeling methods. [Read More]

The first in a two-part EARTH series explores the timeline of a planetary process that is literally earth-shattering. Plate tectonics has been a centerpiece of earth science for decades, but Earth didn’t always have tectonic plates. As the planet coalesced from cosmic dust approximately 4.6 billion years ago, it had a single, unbroken lithosphere. So how and when did the plates break apart and begin their seemingly never-ending round of musical chairs? [Read More]

Alexandria, VA - As we approach the beginning of the Eastern Pacific and Atlantic hurricane seasons on May 15 and June 1, respectively, a group of pilots, meteorologists, and other hurricane experts have been jetting down the East Coast this week to boost public awareness of these hazardous storms. The hurricane experts - from the National Hurricane Center (NHC), the National Weather Service, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and other partner groups - have traveled over 2200 miles with a fleet of hurricane hunter aircraft for NOAA’s annual Hurricane Awareness Tour. [Read More]

Collecting weather data can be hazardous, but with wind speeds exceeding 200 miles per hour, flying debris, and steep gradients in both air pressure and temperature, the inside of a tornado might just be the ultimate extreme. A team of research engineers led by Georgios Vatistas at Concordia University in Montreal is exploring this harsh environment from a safe distance by using computer models to estimate temperature changes inside tornadoes. [Read More]

Leading up to Earth Science Week 2017, the American Geosciences Institute (AGI) invites you to enter its new “Earth Connections” contest. Submit a 30- to 90-second original video that tells viewers about how people have an impact on Earth systems, or how Earth systems have an impact on people, in your part of the world. Earth Science Week 2017 (October 8-14) is engaging young people and others in exploring the relationship between human activity and Earth systems, including the geosphere (earth), hydrosphere (water), atmosphere (air), and biosphere (life). [Read More]

The American Geosciences Institute is pleased to announce the release of the Directory of Geoscience Departments, 52nd Edition. The Directory of Geoscience Departments is the premier guide to geoscience organizations worldwide and is a vital resource for thousands of scientists, policymakers, publishers, students, and the general public. The 52nd Edition provides listings of nearly 2,000 university departments, museums, federal agencies, geological surveys, and research institutes. For this new edition, individual faculty and staff members were able to edit their personal information and provide more specificity regarding their research and teaching specialties. [Read More]