AGU Fall Meeting
The College of Geosciences was well represented at the 46th annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union, Dec. 9-13, in San Francisco. More than 22,000 geoscientists attended and approximately 100 faculty, staff and students from the college were in attendance.
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Joey Durkin '14 (GEPL) represented Aggie geoscientists at AGU 2013.
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Special presentation
Dr. Mark T. Lemmon (ATMO) and Keri M. Bean* (ATMO) were among Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Science Team authors of six Science Express papers released in tandem with the AGU press conference: Volatile and Organic Compositions of Sedimentary Rocks in Yellowknife Bay, Gale Crater, Mars, Ming et al.; Elemental Geochemistry of Sedimentary Rocks at Yellowknife Bay, Gale Crater, Mars, Mclennan et al.; A Habitable Fluvio-Lacustrine Environment at Yellowknife Bay, Gale Crater, Mars, Grotzinger et al.; In Situ Radiometric and Exposure Age Dating of the Martian Surface, Farley et al.; Mineralogy of a Mudstone at Yellowknife Bay, Gale Crater, Mars, Vaniman et al.; Mars' Surface Radiation Environment Measured with the Mars Science Laboratory's Curiosity Rover, Hassler et al.
AGU Poster Presentations
"An Evaluation of CMIP5 Precipitation Variability for China Relative to Observations and CMIP3," Oliver Frauenfeld (GEOG) and Liang Chen* (GEOG)
"Baseflow separation in a premontane transitional rainforest using stable isotope techniques," Gretchen Miller, Andrea DuMont, E. Brendan Roark (GEOG), Anthony Cahill, and James Brumbelow
"CaCO3 dissolution in the Eastern Equatorial Pacific during the Mid-Miocene: A study using IODP PEAT cores," Julia K. Shackford* (OCNG), Mitchell W. Lyle (OCNG)
"Can homogeneous stress states reproduce the 2008 Mw 7.9 Wenchuan earthquake rupture, S13A-2399," Ben Duan (GEPL)
"Canopy Influence on Throughfall in a Transitional Cloud Forest," Sarah Bleakney, Natalie Teale* (GEOG), Amelie Berger** (ENVP), Hayden Mahan, Anita D. Rapp (ATMO), Oliver W. Frauenfeld (GEOG), Steven M. Quiring (GEOG), and Brendan Roark (GEOG)
"Combining δ18O, δD, and conductivity to trace water sources and quantify evaporation in the Brazos River, central Texas," a project representing the dissertation research of Alex Van Plantinga that began as a joint project in Stable Isotope Geology (GEOL 648: Alex Van Plantinga* (GEPL), Lindsey Hunt* (GEPL), and Ethan L. Grossman (GEPL) and Environmental Programs (GEOS 405: Destiny Winning** (ENVP), Elizabeth Stockert** (ENVP), Jessica Robertson** (ENVP), and E. Brendan Roark (GEOG).
"Constraints on Phanerozoic paleotemperature and seawater oxygen isotope evolution from the carbonate clumped isotope compositions of Late Paleozoic marine fossils," Gregory A. Henkes* (GEPL), Benjamin H. Passey, Ethan L. Grossman (GEPL), Alberto Perez-Huerta, Brock Shenton* (GEPL), and Thomas E. Yancey (GEPL)
"Does rain fall preferentially over dry soils (or wet soils)?" Jessica Wang** (ATMO), Steven Quiring (GEOG) and Trent Ford* (GEOG)
"Differences in Preferential Sorting of Fine Particles in the Panama Basin Over the Past 25 kyr: Effects on 230Th-derived Focusing Factors" Matthew R. Loveley*, Franco Marcantonio (GEPL), Mitchell W. Lyle (OCNG), Jessica K. Wang (ATMO)**
"Estimating root zone soil moisture using near-surface observations from SMOS," Trent Ford* (GEOG), Liza Harris, and Steven Quiring (GEOG)
"Evaluation of Historical and Projected Surface Air Temperature Simulations over China in CMIP5," Liang Chen* (GEOG) and Oliver W. Frauenfeld (GEOG)
"Filtering and Gridding Satellite Observations of Cloud Variables to Compare with Climate Model Output," Katherine Pitts* (ATMO), Shaima L. Nasiri (ATMO), and Nadia Smith.
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Dr. Debbie Thomas, Oceanography department head, was at AGU.
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"How dusty was the Early Paleogene greenhouse world?" Dillon Amaya (ATMO)** and Deborah Thomas (OCNG)
"How to better link regional monsoon circulation to local hydroclimate for interpreting tree-ring chronologies in Southeast Asia," Manuel Hernandez* (ATMO), Caroline Ummenhofer, and Kevin J. Anchukaitis
"Impacts of soil moisture in different layers on soil moisture-evapotranspiration interactions over the U.S. Great Plains," Shanshui Yuan* (GEOG)
"Impacts of Vegetation and Precipitation on Throughfall Heterogeneity in a Tropical Pre-Montane Transitional Cloud Forest," Natalie Teale* (GEOG), Hayden Mahan, Sarah Bleakney, Amelie Berger** (ENVP), Oliver W. Frauenfeld (GEOG), Anita D. Rapp (ATMO), Steven Quiring (GEOG), and E. Brendan Roark (GEOG)
"Influence of nucleation parameters and initial stress on forbidden zone rupture propagation, S51B-2358," Ryan Payne* (GEPL) and Ben Duan (GEPL)
"Investigating Land-Atmosphere Interactions using the North American Soil Moisture (NASM) Database," Steven Quiring (GEOG) and Trent Ford* (GEOG)
"Investigating the Link Between Dansgaard-Oeschger Cycles and Ocean Circulation Changes," Matthew Schmidt (OCNG), Theodore R. Them II* (OCNG), Jean Lynch-Stieglitz
"Martian dust aerosols in the North Polar summer: scattering properties and shape," Emily L Mason* (ATMO), Mark T. Lemmon (ATMO) "Mid-late Holocene North Pacific trade winds as inferred from deep-sea coral skeletal δ15N and δ13C biogeochemistry," Thomas Guilderson, Matthew Mccarthy, Robert Dunbar, Amy Englebrecht, and E. Brendan Roark (GEOG)
"Middle Miocene climate cooling linked to intensification of eastern equatorial Pacific upwelling," Ann E. Holbourn, Wolfgang Kuhnt, Mitchell W. Lyle (OCNG), Leah J. Schneider, Oscar E. Romero, Nils Andersen "Neodymium isotope provenance of eolian dust in the South Pacific from 70-30 Ma," Michael Rencurrel (ATMO) ** and Deborah Thomas (OCNG)
"Past Asian monsoon circulation from multiple tree-ring proxies and models," Kevin J. Anchukaitis, Mariel Herzog, Manuel Hernandez* (GEOG), Dario Martin-Benito, Mary Gagen, Allegra LeGrande, Caroline Ummenhofer, Brendan Buckley, and Edward Cook
"P/Ca in gastropod shells as a nutrient proxy in tropical marine environments," Ethan L. Grossman (GEPL), Kai Tao* (GEPL), John Robbins, and Aaron O'Dea
"Preferential Redistribution of Fine-Grained Particles in the Panama Basin and Potential Errors in 230Th-Derived Focusing Factors," Franco Marcantonio (GEPL), Mitchell W. Lyle (OCNG), Rami Ibrahim* (GEPL)
"Preliminary Results from MCS and MSL Atmospheric Joint Observations," David M. Kass, Mark T. Lemmon (ATMO), Michael A. Mischna, Manuel de la Torre Juarez, Armin Kleinboehl, Daniel J. McCleese, John T. Schofield "Record of eolian dust provenance in the North Pacific from 65-35 Ma," Juanmanuel Hernandez (ATMO)** and Deborah Thomas (OCNG) "Secular Climate Change on Mars: An Update Using MSL Pressure Data," Mark T. Lemmon (ATMO), et al. "The Gulf of Mexico Coastal Ocean Observing System: A Gulf Science Portal," Matthew Howard (OCNG), Felimon Gayanilo, Shinichi Kobara, Ann E. Jochens (OCNG) "Thermal history of the global stratotype section and point for the Mississippian-Pennsylvanian boundary at Arrow Canyon, NV, USA: Insights from fluid inclusion microthermometry and carbonate clumped isotopes," Brock Shenton* (GEPL), Ethan L. Grossman (GEPL), Benjamin H. Passey, Gregory A. Henkes* (GEPL), Steven P. Becker, and R.J. Pottorf
"The Neogene equatorial Pacific: A view from 2009 IODP drilling on Expedition 320/321," Mitchell W. Lyle (OCNG), Julia Shackford* (OCNG), Ann E. Holbourn, Jun Tian, Isabella Raffi, Heiko P�like, Hiroshi Nishi "Transient increase in proto-Indian Ocean upwelling during the Cenomanian/Turonian OAE2," Deborah Thomas (OCNG) and David Tilghman* (GEPL) "Tropical North Atlantic subsurface temperature anomalies: evidence for AMOC variability across Dansgaard-Oscheger events?" Andrew Parker* (OCNG), Matthew Schmidt (OCNG), Ping Chang (ATMO/OCNG) "Transfer and Joint programs - do they work?" Piers Chapman (OCNG), Ping Chang (ATMO/OCNG), Dexing Wu* (OCNG) "Trends in Tropical Cyclone Precipitation and Discharge in Watersheds near Houston, Texas," Laiyin Zhu* (GEOG), Steven Quiring (GEOG), Inci Guneralp (GEOG), and Walter Peacock Presentations "Aerosol and CCN Concentrations under Extremely High DMS Levels over the North Atlantic Ocean" Chunhua Deng*, Sarah D. Brooks (ATMO), Daniel C. Thornton (OCNG), Tom G. Bell, Eric S. Saltzman, Warren J. De Bruyn "Processes Driving Natural Acidification of Western Pacific Coral Reef Waters," Katie Shamberger (OCNG), Anne L. Cohen, Yimnang Golbuu, Daniel C. McCorkle, Steven J. Lentz, Hannah C. Barkley "TEX86 temperatures and multi-species foraminiferal Mg/Ca temperatures and 13C reflect changes in glacial nutrient dynamics and upper water column hydrography of the Eastern Equatorial Pacific," Jennifer Hertzberg* (OCNG), Matthew Schmidt (OCNG), Thomas S. Bianchi, Richard K. Smith, Michael R. Shields* (OCNG), and Noura J. Randle* (OCNG)
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Dr. Matthew Schmidt, associate professor of Oceanography, and his graduate students Jennifer Hertzberg and Michael Shields presented at AGU 2013.
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Sessions "Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology General Contributions," Matthew Schmidt (OCNG), Petra Dekens "The Carbonate System Chemistry of Coastal Ecosystems: Physical, Chemical and Biological Drivers," Katie Shamberger (OCNG), Aleck Wang
*graduate student; **undergraduate student
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STUDENTS
The Student Geosciences' Council, with support from the College of Geosciences and the TAMU Career Center, will be hosting a Geosciences Career Fair for all students on Monday, February 10, 2014 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the MSC Bethancourt Ballroom (room 2300). This will be the first student-led, geosciences-tailored career fair hosted at Texas A&M. To view a list of companies who will attend, please visit their website.
Congratulations to the Geology and Geophysics Society and the Student Geosciences' Council on their new websites. The G&G Society is now utilizing the free web services offered to all registered student organizations through the Office of Student Activities. As we transition our old websites to the new site, we encourage all geoscience student organizations to utilize the web services offered by Student Activities.
IN THE NEWS
Dean Kate Miller was featured as one of eight specialty covers for the fall 2013 edition of the Texas A&M Foundation Spirit magazine. The eight covers represented various women and minorities across campus to celebrate 50 years of inclusivity at Texas A&M. In the article, "50 Years of Inclusion," Miller discusses the growth of minority enrollment in the College.
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Dean Kate Miller, featured as one of eight specialty covers for the fall 2013 edition of the Spirit Magazine.
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Tony Reisinger (TXSG), coastal and marine resources agent for Cameron County, is featured in a short video designed to promote Gulf seafood. The video series is being produced by the Gulf Coast Seafood Coalition, which was formed by the Gulf and South Atlantic Fisheries Foundation with funding from NOAA. The profile of marine biologist and "fish painting" artist Reisinger is available on YouTube.
Dr. Andrew Dessler was quoted extensively in worldwide media after NOAA issued a report naming 2013 as the fourth hottest year on record: "The fact that a year with no El Nino was so hot tells me that the climate really is shifting," said Andrew Dessler, a Texas A&M University climate scientist, who was not part of either the NOAA or NASA teams.
The effect of Asian pollution on worldwide climate, from an article by Drs. Renyi Zhang and R. Saravanan, was picked up by media outlets worldwide, including Smithsonian Online, Science Daily, Wired, Earthweek, Discovery News, and Futurity.
The research article on coral reefs by Dr. Katie Shamberger (OCNG) was featured in Futurity, NBC and MSNBC, Live Science and other media outlets.
Slate Magazine reviewed the exhibit at the Smithsonian and featured one of the Mars rover photos credited to Dr. Mark Lemmon (ATMO).
The Nature Geoscience journal article, with contributions from Drs. Matthew Schmidt and Ping Chang, appeared in Science Daily, Futurity and other media sources.
Dr. Eric Riggs (Dean's Office and GEPL) was featured in the February 2014 issue of Earth Magazine, "Down to Earth with Eric Riggs." In the interview, Riggs discusses becoming a geologist, increasing diversity in the geosciences, and describing his research in geocognition. Riggs is president-elect of the American Geosciences Institute (AGI).
PUBLICATIONS
Atmospheric Sciences
Yuan Wang, Renyi Zhang, R. Saravanan, "Asian pollution climatically modulates mid-latitude cyclones following hierarchical modelling and observational analysis," Nature Communications 5: 3098
doi:10.1038/ncomms4098
GERG
Malone, T.C., DiGiacomo, P.M., Goncalves, G., Knap, A.H., Talaue-McManus, L. and De Mora, S. (2014) A Global Ocean
Observing Framework for sustainable development. Marine Policy. 43:262-272
Oceanography
Karageorgis, A.P., Gardner, W.D., Mikkelsen, O.A., Georgopoulos, D., Ogston, A.S., Assimakopoulou, G., Krasakopoulou, E., Oaie, Gh., Secrieru, D., Kanellopoulos, Th.D., Pagou, K., Anagnostou, Ch., Papathanassiou, E., Particle sources over the Danube River Delta, Black Sea based on distribution, composition and size using optics, imaging and bulk analyses, Journal of Marine Systems S0924796313002820
Jean Lynch-Stieglitz, Matthew W. Schmidt, L. Gene Henry, William B. Curry, Luke C. Skinner, Stefan Mulitza, Rong Zhang and Ping Chang, "Muted Change in Atlantic Overturning Circulation over some glacial-aged Heinrich Events," Nature Geoscience (2014): doi:10.1038/ngeo2045
Shamberger, K. E. F., A. L. Cohen, Y. Golbuu, D. C. McCorkle, S. J. Lentz, and H. C. Barkley (2014), "Diverse coral communities in naturally acidified waters of a Western Pacific Reef," Geophys. Res. Lett., 41, doi:10.1002/2013GL058489.
CONFERENCES AND PRESENTATIONS
Dr. Christian Brannstrom (GEOG) co-organized an international geography conference in Panama City, Panama, Jan. 7-8, for the Conference of Latin Americanist Geographers (CLAG). The conference attracted approximately 190 participants and included four field trips. Brannstrom serves as chair of CLAG, 2012-14. The next CLAG meeting is May 2015 in Fortaleza, Brazil.
The Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum new exhibit, "Spirit and Opportunity: 10 Years Roving Across Mars," Jan. 9 - Sept. 14, 2014 features 55 images from Mars rovers and celebrates the ongoing mission. Two pictures are credited to Texas A&M and to Dr. Mark Lemmon (ATMO).
Dr. Mark Lemmon (ATMO) presented at the 5th International Workshop on the Mars Atmosphere: Modeling and Observation, Oxford, UK, Jan. 13-16:
"Dust, Clouds, and the Atmospheric Optical Depth Record over Five Mars Years of the Mars Exploration Rover Mission," M. T. Lemmon, M. J. Wolff, J. F. Bell III, M. D. Smith, B. Cantor and P. H. Smith
"Large Water Ice Aerosols in Martian North Polar Clouds," M. T. Lemmon
SERVICE
Dr. Andrew Dessler (ATMO) testified Jan. 16 before the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works at a hearing to review President Obama's Climate Action plan. He was on the panel comprising climate science and policy experts.
Dr. John Nielsen-Gammon (ATMO) was one of two scientists chosen by UCAR to participate in Climate Science Day, Jan. 29, in Washington, D.C. He visited offices of senators and representatives to make them aware of the value of climate research and the existence of resources of climate information within their districts or states.
Gary Graham (TXSG), senior research associate and marine fisheries specialist, has been reappointed to the World Wildlife Fund International Smart Gear Competition. WWF launched the competition in 2004 to promote innovations in fishing gear that reduce the catch of non-target species. Graham will serve as a judge in Newfoundland.
Dr. Mona Behl (TXSG), research coordinator, led an all-day workshop on the "Culture of Science" January 25 as part of the TAMU Regional Collaborative for Science.
Heather Wade (TXSG), coastal planning specialist, held and participated in the Training and Planning Program advisory committee December 4 at the Port Aransas Mission-Aransas Natural Estuarine Research Reserve. Wade also participated in several other meetings in January, including the EPA National Ports teleconference Jan. 14, the National Environmental Justice Advisory Committee Public Input Meeting Jan. 15, the South Texas Environmental Professionals' Meeting Jan. 15, and the Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA) Gulf Restoration Public Input Meeting Jan. 23.
Typical participants in the Texas Sea Grant's Floating Classroom Program, coordinated by Russ Miget (TXSG), are grade 4-12 students, but recent cruises aboard the R/V Karma scheduled by the Rockport Aquarium served more than 300 adults, mostly retirees who are spending the winter in the Rockport area.
Rhonda Patterson (TXSG), outreach specialist, conducted an ocean awareness-focused tour of Aglantis, Texas Sea Grant's 300-gallon saltwater aquarium Memorial Student Center, and the smaller tanks in the Texas Sea Grant offices in the TAES Annex for a local homeschool group on Jan. 17.
AWARDS AND HONORS
Tony Reisinger (TXSG), coastal and marine resources agent for Cameron County, received the Texas Master Naturalist Adviser of the Year Award for 2013. He also received two 2013 District 12 AgriLife Extension Service awards for excellence in programming in emergency management and for trade adjustment assistance for the shrimp industry.
Dr. Brad Clement (IODP) was appointed to a four-year term on the Review and Advisory Committee of the Institute for Rock Magnetism at the University of Minnesota.
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Dr. Brendan Roark (GEOG) participated in the Mid-Atlantic Canyons project with the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM). The Department of the Interior has recognized the project with its "Partners in Conservation Award," which recognizes the accomplishments of those who are innovating and collaborating to address today's complex conservation and stewardship challenges. Congratulations Brendan!
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