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Editor's picks: Top 10 stories of 2020
Our list includes a mix of favorites, high-impact stories and some of our most-read research coverage from a tumultuous year.
Crystals may help reveal hidden Kilauea Volcano behavior
Stanford researchers used millimeter-sized crystals from the 1959 eruption of Hawaii’s Kilauea Volcano to test models that offer insights about flow conditions prior to and during an eruption.
Combining light and sound to see underwater
The “Photoacoustic Airborne Sonar System” could be installed beneath drones to enable aerial underwater surveys and high-resolution mapping of the deep ocean.
Undersea origins of Earth's mysterious Love waves
Supercomputer simulations of planetary-scale interactions show how ocean storms and the structure of Earth’s upper layers together generate much of the world’s seismic waves. Decoding the faint but ubiquitous vibrations known as Love waves could yield insights about Earth’s storm history, changing climate and interior.
The science behind earthquakes
A collection of research and insights from Stanford experts on where and how earthquakes happen, why prediction remains elusive, advances in detection and monitoring, links to human activities, how to prepare for "The Big One," and more.
AI detects hidden earthquakes
Tiny movements in Earth’s outermost layer may provide a Rosetta Stone for deciphering the physics and warning signs of big quakes. New algorithms that work a little like human vision are now detecting these long-hidden microquakes in the growing mountain of seismic data.
How earthquake swarms arise
A new fault simulator maps out how interactions between pressure, friction and fluids rising through a fault zone can lead to slow-motion quakes and seismic swarms.
Seismic data explains continental collision beneath Tibet
New imagery reveals the causes of seismic activity deep beneath the Himalaya region, contributing to an ongoing debate over the continental collision process when two tectonic plates crash into each other.
Gravity wave insights from internet-beaming balloons
A better understanding of how gravity waves in the upper atmosphere interact with the jet stream, polar vortex and other phenomena could be key to improved weather predictions and climate models.
New soil models may ease atmospheric CO2, climate change
An international, interdisciplinary group of scientists propose the creation of new soil carbon-persistence models through the lens of “functional complexity” – the interplay between time and space in soil carbon’s changing molecular structure that drives carbon sequestration.
Predicting the unpredictable
Researchers combined avalanche physics with ecosystem data to create a computational method for predicting extreme ecological events. The method may also have applications in economics and politics.
Summer reading: Illuminating our planet and paths toward sustainability
Faculty at Stanford's School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences recommend these 24 books for your summer reading.
A steaming cauldron follows the dinosaurs’ demise
The Chicxulub impact crater that is linked to the extinction of the dinosaurs hosted a hydrothermal system that chemically and mineralogically modified more than 100,000 cubic kilometers of Earth’s crust, according to new research.
Hunting down clues to Earth's early molten days
Scientists are still trying to piece together how Earth transformed from a molten planet to one with living creatures walking around on its silicate mantle and crust. Hints lie in the strange ways materials behave under extreme temperatures and pressures.
Seismic map of North America reveals geologic clues, earthquake hazards
A new stress map that reveals the forces acting on the planet’s crust will contribute to safer energy exploration, updated seismic hazard maps and improved knowledge about the Earth.
What other planets can teach us about Earth
Scientists exploring space are bringing back insights about Earth’s deep past, its complicated relationship with life and our planet’s future.
A better way to build diamonds
With the right amount of pressure and surprisingly little heat, a substance found in fossil fuels can transform into pure diamond.
Where in the world can plants best soak up carbon emissions?
Plants around the world are growing at a slower than expected. Researchers say insufficient nutrients in the soil may be the culprit. A new world nutrient map provides a framework for predicting what areas around the world will be successful carbon sinks in the future.
Microbial DNA can reveal water’s underground origins
Stanford researchers have sequenced microbial communities in samples of reservoir fluids to identify where water traveled through underground networks and pathways.