Recent News

Staudigel's exploration of Antarctic underwater world featured in the San Diego Union Tribune

IGPP Researcher Hubert Staudigel and his colleagues have been exploring the most extreme environments of Antartica to research the microbes that thrive there to better understand the origins of life on Earth.  The team has both traversed the 12,448-foot  volcano Mt. Erubus as well as performed dry-suit dives beneath Antartica's glowing blue ice to study this remarkable ecosystem. For the full article, click here.

Bock's upgraded sensors provide warning time for seismic and weather events

IGPP's Yehuda Bock, director of California Spatial Reference Center, spoke to San Diego's Channel 10 News about the addition of "small, inexpensive seismic and meteorological sensors" to exisitng GPS sensors in San Diego and surrounding Southern California counties.  The sensors, which transmit data in real-time, can detect initial seismic waves.

"Based on that information, we can very quickly, within seconds, determine what the magnitude of the earthquake is going to be," said Bock.

These sensors will give the public and local safety agencies 30 seconds to two minutes warning time. For more information, click here.

Jean-Bernard Minster named AAAS Fellow

IGPP is thrilled to announce that Distinguished Professor of Geophysics Jean-Bernard Minster has been elected a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science “for distinguished contributions in the areas of plate motion, crustal deformation, and satellite geodesy, as well as for community leadership and teaching the next generation of geophysicists.” Minster will be inaugurated during a meeting in Chicago in February 2014. Minster is in good company at UCSD, where this year, there were five other recipeints of the honor: http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2013/Nov/28/ucsd-aaas-fellows/?#article-copy. Congratulations Professor Minster! 

Yehuda Bock featured in Scientific American blog

The Earth's coordinates are not at all fixed and can be greatly altered by geologic activity. IGPP's Yehuda Bock, director of California Spatial Reference Center, helps Scientific American's George Musser better understand how to best track and update the Earth's geographic coordinates in "What Happens to Google Maps When Tectonic Plates Move?" 

IGPP Researchers co-author Nature article on the Chelyabinsk meteor

Michael Hedlin, Catherine deGroot-Hedlin, Luciana Astiz and Gabi Laske have co-authored—with a larger group of researchers from other institutions—the 6 November 2013 Nature article, "A 500-kiloton airburst over Chelyabinsk and an enhanced hazard from small impactors," on the Chelyabinsk meteor and the probability of large asteroid strikes. 

 

Professor Catherine Constable to receive 2013 William Gilbert Award

IGPP congratulates Professor of Geophysics Cathy Constable  for her receipt of the 2013 William Gilbert Award.  Per nominator, Rick Blakely, this award recognizes Constable for  "…her fundamental contributions to our understanding of secular variation of the geomagnetic field and exemplary service to the geomagnetism and paleomagnetism community."

The Gilbert Award recognizes excellence in scientific rigor, originality, and impact; leadership and service to the GP research community; and development of cross-disciplinary research areas and methods.

Yehuda Bock featured in "The Machine Shop of Science"

Yehuda Bock, director of IGPP's California Spatial Reference Center is among several Scripps researchers featured in the UT's article: The Machine Shop of Science.  Bock's seismic sensor and GPS sensor duo are designed to speed the relay of quake size and earth movement information.

IGPP Researchers Samer Naif, Kerry Key and Steve Constable Discover 'Lubricant' for Earth's Tectonic Plates

Hidden magma layer could play a role in earthquakes and other aspects shaping the geological face of the planet. Read their Nature paper "Melt-rich channel observed at the lithosphere-asthenosphere boundary" to learn more about their discovery. click here

Prof. Cathy Constable Appointed Interim SIO Director

IGPP's Professor Catherine Constable will serve as the Acting Vice Chancellor for Marine Sciences, Director of Scripps Institution of Oceanography, and Dean of the Graduate School of Marine Sciences effective Oct. 1, 2012, through June 30, 2013. Scripps Director Tony Haymet is taking a sabbatical and will continue his research program, accept an excellence award as Visiting Professor of the Petersen Foundation in Kiel, Germany, and chair the World Economic Forum's Ocean Council.

IGPP Researchers Pinpoint Hot Spots as Earthquake Trigger Points

Professors Kevin Brown and Yuri Fialko describe new information gleaned from laboratory experiments mimicking earthquake processes. The researchers discovered how fault zones weaken in select locations shortly after a fault reaches an earthquake tipping point.

The details of the study, which was funded by the National Science Foundation, were published in the September 30 issue of the journal Nature.
http://scrippsnews.ucsd.edu/Releases/?releaseID=1286