Jackson School Makes Strong Showing at World's Largest Geophysical Meeting

December 21, 2006

AUSTIN, Texas—According to Tim Killeen, president of the American Geophysical Union, it was the largest geophysical meeting ever held on the planet. He estimated about 14,000 scientists, students and news media attended AGU's six-day annual conference in San Francisco beginning on December 10.

The Jackson School of Geosciences played an active role in the meeting. Bridget Scanlon was a member of the meeting's program committee. Rob Scott, Paul Mann and J.P. Nicot presided over sessions in ocean sciences, tectonophysics and hydrology, respectively.

The work of approximately 82 researchers, students and educators from the school was presented in talks and posters. With so many people represented, it is impossible to do justice to them all, but below is a sampling of Jackson School research presented at the conference:

Cliff Frohlich and Yosio Nakamura used seismic data from sensors left on the moon during the Apollo missions to better understand what causes moonquakes. When they plotted the geographic distributions of different types of moonquakes, they found distinct patterns. Frohlich hopes this approach will eventually eliminate some competing theories for the origin of moonquakes. The sensors only collected data from 1969 to 1977. "But with modern computer analysis, we can still do new science," said Frohlich. That's led to what he calls a "lunar renaissance." Read more about moonquake research at the Jackson School.

Ian Dalziel developed an alternative theory for how subglacial lakes in Antarctica such as Lake Vostok formed. Over 140 such lakes have been discovered so far. The dominant theory holds that they were formed primarily through tectonic processes. Dalziel thinks they were instead gouged out by water and ice, in a way similar to North America's Lake Superior. If correct, it might mean the lakes are relatively inactive tectonically. And that could have big implications for the search for life in extreme environments on Earth and elsewhere in the solar system. If Antarctic lakes are not active, hot fluid and nutrients might not be welling up inside them and they might not support bacterial life. Scientists previously suggested these lakes might provide an earthly analog to the subglacial lakes on moons around other planets such as Titan and Europa.

Charles Jackson, Mrinal Sen, Yi Deng and Gabriel Huerta used statistical analysis to study the uncertainties in climate models that currently lead to a wide range of predictions. Specifically, they looked at six parameters that determine how models represent clouds and convection, two notoriously difficult features to represent. Jackson and his colleagues developed a technique for estimating the upper bound for prediction skill—in other words, the most accurate results you can expect—for a specific climate model. "Our work shows for the first time the prospect of significantly reducing systematic errors in climate models," said Jackson. "The work has generated considerable excitement because our approach can move the climate model community away from talking about uncertainties that arise by chance from the range of predictions that come from the spread from different modeling centers into a more statistically based approach to quantifying sources of uncertainty and their observational constraints."

Patty Ganey-Curry and Lisa Gahagan at the Jackson School booth. Photo by P. Guerrero.

Lorena Moscardelli and Lesli Wood used 3D seismic data from the hydrocarbon industry to study "mass transport complexes"—the physical remains of ancient submarine landslides—off the coast of Trinidad. Some were large enough to generate tsunamis, a few of which struck Venezuela in the 1700s to 1900s. The researchers categorized the submarine landslides, one of which covered 10,000 square kilometers of sea floor, into three different types: slope attached, shelf attached and detached. This work might eventually lead to a better understanding of the causes of submarine landslides. They also estimated that an upper slope failure in the modern sea floor near Trinidad might trigger tsunami waves on the order of 3 meters (10 feet) high, threatening coastal communities.

J.P. Nicot, Susan Hovorka and Srivatsan Lakshminarasimhan used computer models to study the impacts of carbon sequestration—pumping carbon dioxide underground to reduce greenhouse gas emissions—on shallow groundwater. They wondered how easy it would be to contaminate groundwater with displaced brine. The researchers modeled the effects of large scale injection near the Texas Gulf Coast. Preliminary results suggest that, in some circumstances (for example, where there are springs along fault lines focusing the flow), ground water will be impacted relatively early after regional injection.

Rob Scott, Brian Arbic and Christine Holland mentored two students—one an undergraduate, the other a high school student—on a research project using satellite data to study patterns in sea surface flow fields. Ayon Sen, high school student from Round Rock and son of Institute for Geophysics researcher Mrinal Sen, used MATLAB software to convert satellite data into sea surface heights. Elizabeth Logan, an undergraduate student at Columbia University, used another data set from multiple satellites to validate Sen's results.

Former Vice President Al Gore spoke to an overflow crowd at the AGU's annual meeting in San Francisco. Photo by M. Airhart

Gil Strassberg, Bridget Scanlon, Zong-Liang Yang, Guo-Yue Niu, and Matthew Rodell compared terrestrial water storage measurements from the GRACE satellite system to ground-based measurements in part of the central U.S. known as the High Plains. The researchers found good correspondence between the two data sets. "This is the first study of this type," said Scanlon. "And it demonstrates the potential utility of GRACE data to monitor aquifer depletion in semiarid regions caused by irrigation, such as the North China Plain and western India."

See complete list of Jackson School talks and posters from this year's AGU meeting.

The meeting's keynote speaker was former Vice President Al Gore, one of the first U.S. politicians to raise the alarm about the potential dangers of climate change. According to Gore, modern American life lacks truly honest and democratic discourse. He urged scientists to become more active in communicating their work to the public and decision makers.

Community

Scientific meetings are not only about the science. They are also about building community.

Throughout the conference, several staff members ran an exhibit booth, speaking to prospective students about opportunities at the Jackson School.

About 95 alumni, students and staff attended a friends and alumni lunch at the Thirsty Bear restaurant.

Jackson School Friends & Alumni Lunch at the Thirsty Bear, San Francisco. Photo by P. Guerrero.

"It's a great time to mingle," said Patty Ganey-Curry, chairperson of the Jackson School's Exhibits Committee. "Everyone gets to catch up, to find out what their former students or faculty are doing." She added, "The alums are thankful that we're having these gatherings and showing our appreciation for them. They get a sense of home while they're away at a meeting."

For some, it was a chance to meet the new dean, Eric Barron. Speaking to the group, he laid out his vision for the future of the school, which includes a new student center. He also urged alumni to continue their support of the school's field programs with their donations.

by Marc Airhart

For more information about the Jackson School, contact J.B. Bird at jbird@jsg.utexas.edu, 512-232-9623.