2020 News Archives
Geologist David Rubin elected fellow of the American Geophysical Union
November 18, 2020
David Rubin, a researcher in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, has been elected a fellow of the American Geophysical Union.
UC Santa Cruz leads interdisciplinary consortium for astrobiology research
November 16, 2020
With funding from NASA, the UCSC-led team will lay the foundation for detecting the signatures of life in the atmospheres of other planets.
Radioactive elements may be crucial to the habitability of rocky planets
November 10, 2020
Earth-size planets can have varying amounts of radioactive elements, which generate internal heat that drives a planet’s geological activity and magnetism.
Wildfire brings destruction and opportunity to researcher’s field site
November 02, 2020
Hydrologist Margaret Zimmer has received NSF funding to study the impact of wildfire on the site where she has been studying how water moves through the landscape.
High-fidelity record of Earth’s climate history puts current changes in context
September 10, 2020
A continuous record of the past 66 million years shows natural climate variability due to changes in Earth’s orbit around the sun is much smaller than projected future warming due to greenhouse gas emissions.
Research buildings saved as wildfire sweeps across Big Creek Natural Reserve
August 22, 2020
Fire preparedness and hard work by fast-moving fire crews and UC Santa Cruz staff is being credited for saving research and residential buildings at the Landels-Hill Big Creek Natural Reserve on the Big Sur coast.
New study shows retreat of East Antarctic Ice Sheet during previous warm periods
July 22, 2020
Evidence of glacial retreat in the Wilkes Basin 400,000 years ago suggests ice loss in this region could add 10 to 13 feet (3 to 4 meters) to future global sea level rise.
Evidence supports ‘hot start’ scenario and early ocean formation on Pluto
June 22, 2020
A new study suggests that Pluto and other large Kuiper belt objects started out with liquid oceans which have been slowly freezing over time.
Alumna Kathy Sullivan embarks on another first, this time to the ocean’s depths
June 02, 2020
The first American woman to walk in space, Sullivan is now aiming to be the first woman to visit the deepest spot in the oceans.
Watching the flow of water through oak woodlands at Arbor Creek Experimental Watershed
April 28, 2020
To understand how California's beloved oak woodlands will fare in a rapidly warming climate, UCSC researchers are putting a headwaters stream in the Diablo Range under a hydrological microscope.
Planetary scientist Francis Nimmo elected to National Academy of Sciences
April 27, 2020
Francis Nimmo, professor of Earth and planetary sciences, has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences in recognition of his distinguished and continuing achievements in original research.
Planetary scientist Myriam Telus wins NASA Early Career Award
April 14, 2020
Myriam Telus, assistant professor of Earth and planetary sciences, has received funding from NASA through the Planetary Science Early Career Award program to support her research in cosmochemistry, the chemical analysis of extraterrestrial materials.
In Memoriam: J. Casey Moore (1945–2020)
March 16, 2020
Casey Moore, professor emeritus of Earth and planetary sciences, died on Wednesday, March 11.
Bringing new perspectives to astronomy
February 11, 2020
An array of grants from the Heising-Simons Foundation is helping UC Santa Cruz accelerate astrophysics and other sciences while changing what we think an astrophysicist looks like
Seismic biomarkers in Japan Trench fault zone reveal history of large earthquakes
January 27, 2020
Researchers found multiple faults with evidence of more than 10 meters of slip during past large earthquakes in the region hit by the 2011 Tohoku-Oki earthquake and tsunami.
In death of dinosaurs, it was all about the asteroid — not volcanoes
January 16, 2020
Volcanic activity did not play a direct role in the mass extinction event that killed the dinosaurs, according to an international team of researchers.
