The American Geophysical Union Sept. 13 that five 91探花 faculty members have been elected as new fellows, representing the departments of astronomy, Earth and space sciences, oceanography, global health, and environmental and occupational health sciences.

The Fellows program recognizes AGU members who have made exceptional contributions to Earth and space sciences through a breakthrough, discovery or innovation in their field. The five 91探花honorees are among 54 people from around the world in the 2023 Class of Fellows. AGU, the world’s largest Earth and space sciences association, annually recognizes a select number of individuals nominated by their peers for its highest honors. Since 1962, the AGU Union Fellows Committee has selected less than 0.1% of members as new fellows.

Also honored by AGU this year are three 91探花faculty members, from the departments of Earth and space sciences and atmospheric sciences, who have received other awards.

Here are the UW鈥檚 five new AGU Fellows:

, professor of Earth and space sciences, studies which characteristics of Earth help this planet support life, and whether life might be found on other planets. His work spans astronomy, biology and geology, on planetary environments including Earth, Mars, Venus and icy moons, as well as planets outside this solar system. He is the author of 鈥淎strobiology: A Very Short Introduction鈥� for the layperson and 鈥淎tmospheric Evolution on Inhabited and Lifeless Worlds鈥� for researchers.

, who holds the Karl M. Banse Endowed Professorship in oceanography, explores the limits and ecological contributions of microbial life in deep ocean and polar regions, focusing in recent years on how microbes adapt to the extreme conditions of Arctic sea ice. In addition to a research and teaching career, Deming founded what is now the 91探花Center for Environmental Genomics and helped establish the nation鈥檚 first graduate training program in astrobiology.

, professor of global health and of environmental and occupational health sciences, has been conducting research on the health risks of climate variability and change for nearly 30 years. She focuses on estimating current and future health risks of climate change, designing adaptation policies and measures to reduce risks in multi-stressor environments, and estimating the health co-benefits of mitigation policies. Ebi is also founding director of the 91探花, or CHanGE.

, professor of astronomy, is an astrobiologist and planetary astronomer whose research focuses on聽predicting, acquiring and analyzing observations of planetary atmospheres and surfaces. In addition to studying planets within our solar system, she is interested in exoplanets 鈥� those outside the solar system 鈥� and聽how they might reveal the presence of life. With the UW鈥檚 Virtual Planetary Laboratory, she uses models of planets and planet-star interactions to generate plausible planetary environments and spectra for extrasolar terrestrial planets and the early Earth.

, professor and chair of Earth and space sciences, is a geochemist and glaciologist whose research focuses on polar climate and ice sheets in the Arctic and in Antarctica. He is best known for his analyses of Antarctic ice cores using measurements of oxygen and hydrogen in the ice to better understand how climate has varied in the past, over hundreds to thousands of years.

In addition to the newly elected fellows, 91探花faculty members are also recognized in several subject-specific awards and lectures:

, professor of atmospheric sciences, will deliver the in December at the AGU鈥檚 fall meeting. Alexander studies the relationship between climate change and the chemical composition of the atmosphere. She looks at the pathways by which atmospheric pollutants form, how those chemical pathways can vary, and what that means both for present-day air quality and for the future of climate change.

, research assistant professor of Earth and space sciences, has received the for his research modeling natural disasters using geodesy, or the shape of the Earth鈥檚 surface, and seismology. Crowell pioneered ways to use GPS and related data in earthquake and tsunami early warning systems. He is currently using this data to better understand natural disasters as they unfold and develop a risk-mitigation framework for coastal hazards such as tsunamis.

, research assistant professor of Earth and space sciences, has received the . Journaux uses modeling and experiments to explore the conditions in extreme environments on other planets, and how that might affect their ability to harbor life. He is a member of the science team for NASA鈥檚 upcoming Dragonfly mission, which will characterize the chemistry and habitability of Saturn鈥檚 largest moon, Titan.

, a researcher at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory with an affiliate 91探花faculty position in oceanography, has received the .

All honorees will be recognized in December at the AGU鈥檚 fall meeting in San Francisco.

The 91探花 is a lead partner on a new multi-institution earthquake research center based at the University of Oregon that the National Science Foundation announced Sept. 8 will receive $15 million over five years to study the Cascadia subduction zone and bolster earthquake preparedness in the Pacific Northwest and beyond.

The Cascadia Region Earthquake Science Center, or CRESCENT, will be the first center of its kind in the nation focused on earthquakes at subduction zones, where one tectonic plate slides beneath another.

The center will unite scientists studying the possible impacts of a major earthquake along the Cascadia subduction zone, an offshore tectonic plate boundary that stretches more than 600 miles (1,000 kilometers) from southern British Columbia to Northern California. The center will advance earthquake research, foster community partnerships, and diversify and train the next generation geosciences work force.

鈥淭he main goal of the center is to bring together the large group of geoscientists working in Cascadia to march together to the beat of a singular drum,鈥� said center director at the University of Oregon. 鈥淭he center organizes us, focuses collaboration and identifies key priorities, rather than these institutions competing.鈥�

CRESCENT includes researchers from 16 institutions around the United States in the Pacific Northwest and beyond. The leadership team includes investigators from the UW, Oregon State University and Central Washington University.

The Cascadia subduction zone has a long history of spurring large earthquakes, but scientists have only started to realize its power within the last few decades. Research shows that the fault is capable of producing an earthquake of magnitude-9.0 or greater 鈥� and communities along the U.S. West Coast are ill-prepared for a quake this powerful.

Such an event would set off a cascade of deadly natural hazards in the Cascadia region, from tsunamis to landslides. It could cause buildings and bridges to collapse, disrupt power and gas lines, and leave water supplies inaccessible for months.

CRESCENT鈥檚 work can help mitigate that damage. Scientists will use the latest technology 鈥� including high-performance computing and artificial intelligence 鈥� to understand the complex dynamics of a major subduction zone earthquake. They will gather data and develop tools to better forecast specific local and regional impacts from a quake. That knowledge will help communities to better prepare, by improving infrastructure and nailing down more informed emergency plans.

Valerie Sahakian and Amanda Thomas are co-lead investigators at the University of Oregon.

鈥淢odeling the shaking from California to Canada is a gigantic endeavor,鈥� Sahakian said. 鈥淭he center enables us to make bigger strides in models, products, and lines of research, to work with engineers to create better building codes and actionable societal outcomes.鈥�

Subduction zones in the U.S. are understudied compared to other kinds of faults, and create distinctive earthquake dynamics that still aren鈥檛 fully understood, Melgar said. So the lessons learned from CRESCENT鈥檚 work could also be applied to subduction zones in Alaska, the Caribbean and around the world.

Community collaboration will be a major part of the center鈥檚 work. The CRESCENT team will work with communities impacted by hazards, regularly soliciting their input to guide research priorities. And they鈥檒l build connections with public agencies, tribal groups, and private industry, so that scientific advances from the center will get translated into community action and policy.

The center will also work to increase diversity in geosciences and train the next generation of geoscientists in the latest technologies. For example, it will engage with minority-serving and tribal high schools to raise interest in and create pathways to geoscience careers, and provide fieldwork stipends and year-round paid research assistantships to support undergraduate students.

, a professor of Earth and space sciences at the 91探花and director of the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network, leads the effort at the UW.

鈥淭his NSF Center will be a game-changer for earthquake research in the Pacific Northwest; it will have direct, real-world public safety consequences for policy and planning,鈥� said Tobin, who holds the Paros Endowed Chair in Seismology and Geohazards and serves as Washington’s state seismologist.

鈥淚nitial CRESCENT efforts include identifying key faults 鈥� both on land and under the sea 鈥� that present earthquake and tsunami hazard, measuring and modeling movements of the crust that could show us where earthquake strain is building, and much more.鈥�

, a research assistant professor of Earth and space sciences at the UW, will lead the working group studying seismic activity and , the more gradual movements along a fault.

鈥淭he end goal is to have a community-driven model that describes all of the tectonic structures of Cascadia,鈥� Crowell said. 鈥淭he objective of CRESCENT is about creating systematic and foundational community science, adapting the best techniques and methods available for use by the seismic community in our region. It will change the process of how we do this science.鈥�

Also initially involved from the 91探花are , an assistant professor of Earth and space sciences; , a 91探花professor of Earth and space sciences; and , a professor of oceanography who holds the Jerome M. Paros Endowed Chair in Sensor Networks.

The center will include staff at the U.S. Geological Survey, including affiliate 91探花faculty members , and , and members of the UW-based Pacific Northwest Seismic Network, which will continue to perform real-time monitoring and communication of seismic risks in the region.

For more information, contact Tobin at htobin@uw.edu or 206-543-6790, Crowell at crowellb@uw.edu and Melgar at dmelgarm@uoregon.edu or 541-346-3488.

Adapted from a University of Oregon press release.

Other CRESCENT participating institutions are:

Cal Poly Humboldt

Cedar Lake Research Group

EarthScope Consortium

Portland State University

Purdue University

Smith College

Stanford University

University of California – San Diego鈥檚 Scripps Institution of Oceanography

University of North Carolina-Wilmington

Virginia Tech

Washington State University

Western Washington University

Research from the 91探花 shows that signals from the upper atmosphere could improve tsunami forecasting and, someday, help track ash plumes and other impacts after a volcanic eruption.

A new study analyzed the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha鈥檃pai eruption in the South Pacific earlier this year. The Jan. 15, 2022, volcanic eruption was the . Ash blanketed the region. A tsunami wave caused damage and killed at least three people on the island of Tonga. It also had unexpected distant effects.

No volcanic eruption in more than a century has produced a global-scale tsunami. The from the underwater eruption was first predicted as only a regional hazard. Instead, the wave reached as far as Peru, where two people .

Results of the new , published this fall in Geophysical Research Letters, uses evidence from the ionosphere to help explain why the tsunami wave grew larger and traveled faster than models predicted.

鈥淭his was the most powerful volcanic eruption since the 1883 eruption of Krakatau, and a lot of aspects of it were unexpected,鈥� said lead author , a 91探花doctoral student in Earth and space sciences. 鈥淲e used a new monitoring technique to understand what happened here and learn how we could monitor future natural hazards.鈥�

She will present the work in a Wednesday, Dec. 14, at the American Geophysical Union annual meeting in Chicago and she will the work at the meeting that afternoon.

Tsunamis are rare enough occurrences that forecast models, relying on a limited number of tide gauges and ocean sensors, are still being perfected. This study is part of an emerging area of research exploring the use of GPS signals traveling through the atmosphere to track events on the ground.

A big earthquake, or in this case a huge volcanic eruption, generates pressure waves in the atmosphere. As these pressure waves pass through the zone from about 50 to 400 miles altitude where electrons and ions float freely, known as the , the particles are disturbed. GPS satellites beaming coordinates back down to Earth transmit a slightly altered radio signal that tracks the disturbance.

鈥淥ther groups have been looking at the ionosphere to monitor tsunamis. We are interested in applying it for volcanology,鈥� said co-author , a 91探花research scientist in Earth and space sciences. 鈥淭his Tonga eruption kicked our research into overdrive. There was a big volcanic eruption and a tsunami 鈥� normally you鈥檇 study one or the other.鈥�

For the new study, the researchers analyzed 818 ground stations in the Global Navigation Satellite System, the global network that include GPS and other satellites, around the South Pacific to measure the atmospheric disturbance in the hours following the eruption. Results support the hypothesis that the sonic boom generated by the volcanic explosion made the . The ocean wave got an extra push from the atmospheric pressure wave created by the eruption. This extra push wasn鈥檛 included in the initial tsunami forecasts, researchers said, because volcano-triggered tsunamis are so rare.

鈥淭sunamis typically can travel in the open ocean at 220 meters per second, or 500 miles per hour. Based on our data, this tsunami wave was moving at 310 meters per second, or 700 miles per hour,鈥� Ghent said.

The authors were able to separate out different aspects of the eruption 鈥� the acoustic sound wave, the ocean wave and other types of pressure waves 鈥� and check their accuracy against ground-based observation stations.

鈥淭he separation of these signals, from the acoustic sound wave to the tsunami, was what we had set out to find,鈥� Ghent said. 鈥淔rom a hazards-monitoring perspective, it validates our hope for what we can use the ionosphere for. This unusual event gives us confidence that we might someday use the ionosphere to monitor hazards in real time.鈥�

While the Tonga eruption didn鈥檛 eject much ash for the size of the event, Ghent and Crowell say the Global Navigation Satellite System signals could be used in other ways to accurately track volcanic ash plumes.

Looking upward to monitor volcanoes and tsunamis is appealing because ground-based monitoring has challenges in the Pacific Northwest and other areas. Sensors must be maintained and repaired, snow and ice can block signals or cause damage, accessing the monitoring stations may be difficult.

What鈥檚 more, 鈥渢he wild mountain goats can eat the cables of the ground instruments because the goats like salt,鈥� Ghent said.

鈥淚f you have a way to monitor an area without actually being there, you鈥檙e really opening the door to being able to monitor it all year long and help keep people safe around the world.鈥�

This research was funded by NASA and the National Science Foundation.

For more information, contact Ghent at jghent@uw.edu and Crowell at crowellb@uw.edu.

A new 91探花 study finds that the same technique can be used to detect gradual movement of tectonic plates, what are called “” earthquakes. These movements do not unleash damaging amounts of seismic energy, but scientists are just beginning to understand how they may be linked to the Big One.

A new technique can quickly pinpoint slow slips from a single Global Positioning System station. It borrows the financial industry’s , a measure of how quickly a stock’s price is changing, to detect slow slips within a string of GPS observations.

The was published in December in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth.

“I’ve always had an interest in finance, and if you go to any stock ticker website there’s all these different indicators,” said lead author , a 91探花research scientist in Earth and space sciences. “This particular index stood out in its ease of use, but also that it needed no information 鈥� like stock volume, volatility or other terms 鈥� besides the single line of data that it analyzes for unusual behavior.”

The study tests the method on more than 200 GPS stations that recorded slow slips between 2005 and 2016 along the Cascadia fault zone, which runs from northern California up to northern Vancouver Island.

“Looking at the Cascadia Subduction Zone 鈥� which is the most-studied slow slip area in the world 鈥� was a good way to validate the methodology,” Crowell said.

The results show that this simple technique’s estimates for the size, duration and travel distance for major slow slip events match the results of more exhaustive analyses of observations along the fault.

Discovered in the early 2000s, slow slips are a type of silent earthquake in which two . In Cascadia the slipping from the typical motion along the fault. A slow slip slightly increases the chance of a larger earthquake. It also may be providing clues, which scientists don’t yet know how to decipher, to what is happening in the physics at the plate boundary.

Regular earthquake monitoring relies on seismometers to track the shaking of the ground. That doesn’t work for slow slips, which do not release enough energy to send waves of energy through the Earth’s crust to reach seismometers.

Instead, detection of slow slips relies on GPS data.

“If you don’t have much seismic energy, you need to measure what’s happening with something else. GPS is directly measuring the displacement of the Earth,” Crowell said.

At GPS stations, the same type of sensors used in smartphones are secured to steel pipes that are cemented at least 35 feet (about 10 meters, or three stories) into solid rock. By minimizing the noise, these stations can detect millimeter-scale changes in position at the surface, which can be used to infer movement deep underground.

Using these data to detect slow slips currently means comparing different GPS stations with complex data processing. But thanks to the efforts of stock traders who want to know quickly whether to buy or sell, the new paper shows that the relative strength index can detect a slow slip from a single one of the 213 GPS stations along the Cascadia Subduction Zone.

The initial success suggests the method could have other geological applications.

“I want to be able to use this for things beyond slow slip,” Crowell said. “We might use the method to look at the seismic effects of groundwater extraction, volcanic inflation and all kinds of other things that we may not be detecting in the GPS data.”

The technique could be applied in places that are not as well studied as the Pacific Northwest, where geologic activity is already being closely monitored.

“This works for stations all over the world 鈥� on islands, or areas that are pretty sparsely populated and don’t have a lot of GPS stations,” Crowell said.

In related research, Crowell has used an Amazon Catalyst to integrate GPS, or geodetic, data into the ShakeAlert earthquake alert system. For really big earthquakes, detecting the large, slow shaking is not as accurate for pinpointing the source and size of the quake. It’s more accurate to use GPS to detect how much the ground has actually moved. Tracking ground motion also improves tsunami warnings. Crowell has used the grant to integrate the GPS data into the network’s real-time alerts, which are now in limited beta testing.

Co-authors of the new paper are Yehuda Bock at Scripps Institution of Oceanography and Zhen Liu at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The research was funded by NASA and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.

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For more information, contact Crowell at crowellb@uw.edu.

NASA: NNX09AI67G, NNX12AK24G, NNX13AI45A,

Moore Foundation: 663450