Recent News

Costable's EM Lab, blogging from Alaska

Follow along as IGPP Director Steven Constable and his team travel to the Alaska Peninsula to collect data about how the regional transport and release of water impacts seismic activity. The first instruments were deployed last Sunday: https://marineemlab.ucsd.edu/Projects/Megathrust/.

HPWREN workshop highlights ALERTWildfire and "Virtual Fire Towers"

The ALERTWildfire network of cameras, some of which are hosted by HPWREN, proved effective in pinpointing remote, forested regions of Southern California fire locations in the summer of 2018. This success has fostered plans to broaden the network by creating "virtual fire towers."This success has fostered plans to broaden the network by creating "virtual fire towers." On April 24th, HPWREN co-founders Hans-Werner Braun (SDSC) and Frank Vernon (IGPP) workshopped with stakeholders and first responders at Palomar Obervatory to discuss the network deterimine its future growth.

Walter Munk: October 19, 1917 - February 8, 2019

It is with heavy hearts that we share the loss of IGPP's founder and first director, Walter Munk, who passed away Friday, February 8th.

Born October 19, 1917, Walter was an intellectual giant, and his pioneering research into surf forecasting, swell propagation, ocean currents, tides, time series analysis, ocean acoustics, and ocean temperature, along with his abundant prizes and accolades, will be remembered by many.  However, all those of us who frequented the halls of the Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics La Jolla will have a special memory of him.   

Pommier, Roberts web app SIGMELTS 2.0 featured in EOS highlights

The SIGMELTS app, created and built by Anne Pommier and Jeff Roberts, has been featured in on EOS highlights! SIGMELTS is a software for geophysicists and petrologists that aims to improve the interpretation of detected magnetotelluric anomalies in Earth’s crust and mantle and track the sources of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.

Orcutt appointed new Chair of MSROC

Congratulations to John Orcutt who is the newly appointed Chair for the ‘Marine Seismic Research Oversight Committee’ or MSROC.  

Fricker, ICESat 2 interview on NPR's Here and Now

Helen Fricker was interviewed on NPR's Here and Now today to discuss the recent launch of NASA's Ice, Cloud and Land Elevation Satellite, ICESat-2. ICESat-2’s launch represents the culimination of 10 years of work by Fricker and her collegues.  From orbit, the satellite will measure tiny changes in the ice sheets and better help climate researchers understand, in real-time, the speed of melt in Antarctica.

Congratulations to Pommier, NSF CAREER award will enable K-12 outreach to SDUSD

IGPP's Anne Pommier has recently been awarded the highly competiitve NSF CAREER award for Experimental Investigation of the Transport Properties of Sulfide Melts at Upper Mantle Conditions. Earning this award will allow Pommier share the outcomes, of her experiments studying the behavior of sulfide melts in the Earth's interior, with K12 teachers in the San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD).

Pommier to serve as a Distinguished Lecturer for COMPRES

COMPRES, the Consortium for Materials Properties Research in Earth Sciences supported by the National Science Foundation Division of Earth Sciences, has announced speakers for its 2018-2019 Distinguished Lecturer series in the field of Mineral Physics.  IGPP's Anne Pommier has been selected for this honor and she will be joined Bin Chen (University of Hawaii).

Sandwell 2018 Charles A. Whitten Medal recipient

Congratulations to IGPP's David Sandwell the American Geophysical Union's 2018 Charles A. Whitten Medal recipient!  Sandwell, a Professor of Geophysics, was awarded this biennial medal for “outstanding achievement in research on the form and dynamics of the Earth and planets.” To learn more, visit https://eos.org/agu-news/2018-agu-union-medal-award-and-prize-recipients-announced.

Fricker, collaborators discuss Antarctica in "The Conversation"

Helen Fricker, graduate student Susheel Adusumilli and former IGPP graduate students Fernando Paolo and Matthew Siegfriend join "The Conversation" to discuss the accelerating melt rate of Antarctic ice shelves, the compounding global problems that will arise as this melting continues its trajectory, and the vital role satellites play to track the balance of ice flows and melting. For more information, click here.