2012 News Archives
Switzer Environmental Fellowship awarded to UCSC grad student
October 25, 2012
Priya Ganguli, a Ph.D. candidate in the Earth and Planetary Sciences Department, has received a Switzer Environmental Fellowship.
ARCS Foundation scholarships support UCSC graduate students
October 23, 2012
Eight UC Santa Cruz graduate students have received scholarships worth a total of $80,000 from the ARCS Foundation this year.
Giant impact scenario may explain the unusual moons of Saturn
October 17, 2012
The middle-sized moons of Saturn may have been spawned during giant impacts in which several major satellites merged to form Titan.
White shark diets vary with age and among individuals
September 28, 2012
Many white sharks shift from fish to marine mammals as they mature, but individual sharks show surprising variability in a study by UCSC researchers.
Moore Foundation grant funds study of Tohoku earthquake fault
September 27, 2012
New grant funds seismologist Emily Brodsky's research on the devastating Tohoku earthquake that struck Japan in March 2011.
Study reveals complex rupture process in surprising 2012 Sumatra quake
September 26, 2012
The April 2012 great earthquake near Sumatra involved a complicated faulting process unlike anything seen before.
Study suggests large methane reservoirs beneath Antarctic ice sheet
August 29, 2012
The Antarctic Ice Sheet could be an overlooked but important source of methane, a potent greenhouse gas.
Report studies how groundwater is affected by extreme drought
August 13, 2012
Prof. Andy Fisher and grad students Andrew Racz, Bruce Daniels contribute to state report on groundwater responses to extreme drought.
New observatory installed beneath seafloor at site of Tohoku earthquake
July 24, 2012
UCSC seismologist Emily Brodsky was part of an international team that installed an observatory on the Tohoku earthquake fault.
California sea level projected to rise at higher rate than global average
June 22, 2012
The sea level off most of California is expected to rise about 36 inches over the next century, an amount slightly higher than projected for global sea levels, according to a new report.
Reign of the giant insects ended with the evolution of birds
June 04, 2012
Giant insects once ruled the prehistoric skies, but the evolution of birds ended their reign.
Lemur extinctions and ecological retreat followed arrival of humans in Madagascar
May 23, 2012
A study of lemurs in Madagascar suggests that factors driving lemur extinctions have also sparked an ongoing "ecological retreat" by surviving species.
Ancient extinctions provide parallels to modern ocean acidification
May 22, 2012
UCSC paleontologist Matthew Clapham discusses the Permian mass extinction, which killed 95% of marine species, with the NY Times. The extinction, and others like it, may be analogues for ongoing global warming and ocean acidification.
Group taps technology to solve P.V. groundwater deficit
May 16, 2012
UC Santa Cruz hydrogeology professor Andy Fisher and collaborators help farmers to recharge more groundwater in the Pajaro Valley.
UCSC scientist reports stormy start to JFAST expedition
April 09, 2012
Typhoon-strength winds and 30-foot waves greeted the JFAST expedition off the coast of Japan on April 4.
Gary Griggs discusses California coastal erosion with the NY Times
March 28, 2012
With California officials expecting climate change to raise sea levels here by 14 inches by 2050, should herculean efforts be made to preserve the beach, the pipe and the plant, or should the community simply bow to nature?
International drilling expedition to probe Japanese fault zone
March 26, 2012
UC Santa Cruz scientists are involved in an ambitious drilling project to measure properties of the fault that caused the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami.
Seismologist Thorne Lay reflects on anniversary of Tohoku earthquake
March 08, 2012
A spate of huge earthquakes in the past seven years has provided humbling lessons for seismologists, according to UCSC prof Thorne Lay.
Professor Paul Koch discusses ancient little horses with NY Times
February 23, 2012
Paul L. Koch, head of the department of earth and planetary sciences at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and a specialist in reconstructing ecosystems and climates from many millions of years ago, said, “The paper lets us see the effect of warming on mammals where the climate change is really large.”
Professor Erik Asphaug describes the lunar far-side in Popular Mechanics
February 21, 2012
"The far side is a place we only vaguely understand. It’s one of the only places in the universe you can’t regularly see from Earth," planetary scientist Erik Asphaug of the University of California, Santa Cruz says.
Science News features Andy Fisher drilling for life near the Juan de Fuca ridge.
February 11, 2012
“We can do active experiments there that we can’t do anywhere else in the ocean,” says Andrew Fisher, a hydrogeologist at the University of California, Santa Cruz who helped set up much of the instrumentation.
Professors Thorne Lay and Erik Asphaug talk about doomsday type natural disasters in Wired magazine.
January 17, 2012
The chances of an earthquake unzipping the world’s fault system are negligible, says seismologist Thorne Lay of the University of California, Santa Cruz.
Professor Noah Finnegan monitors planet's fastest inflating volcano
January 17, 2012
Finnegan is a member of the PLUTONS project, an international effort funded by the National Science Foundation to study Uturuncu, a 6,000-meter-tall stratovolcano in southern Bolivia. Uturuncu hasn’t erupted recently — the last eruption was about 300,000 years ago — but it’s far from dead.
