Narrow atmospheric streams of water vapor that deliver heavy rains are more commonly associated with floods and debris flows in northern California than with flash floods in southern California.
Sarah Stanley
Sarah Stanley, a freelance writer for Eos, has a background in environmental microbiology but covers a wide range of science stories for a variety of audiences. She has also written for PLOS, the University of Washington, Kaiser Permanente, Stanford Medicine, Gladstone Institutes, and Cancer Commons, a nonprofit that works with cancer patients.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
A New Baseline to Monitor Earth’s Dynamic Surface
Researchers devise a new mathematical approach to combine space- and ground-based observations into an alternative reference frame for monitoring the changing positions of Earth’s features.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Lightning Strikes May Leave Traces Like Those of Meteorites
Scientists have long interpreted shocked quartz as definitive evidence of a past meteorite impact, but the shock wave caused by lightning striking granite also produces this distinctive feature.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Quiet Volcanic Activity Changes Speed of Ambient Seismic Waves
Seismic data collected continuously for 4 years could improve understanding of geological structures that underlie Japan’s Izu Oshima volcanic island.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Federal Space Weather Research Could Improve Hazard Preparation
Researchers outline the history of the U.S. government’s involvement in space weather research, from before World War II, through the Space Race, and beyond.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Microbes May Thrive in Subsea Permafrost Long After Flooding
Two cores from the East Siberian Arctic Shelf reveal how microbial communities develop over thousands of years as submarine permafrost slowly thaws.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
What Controls the Shape of Steep Mountain Streams?
The shape of steep river streams changes systematically with channel slope, but field data and theoretical analysis reveal that slope is not the sole factor in setting a channel’s form.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
New Evidence Challenges Prevailing Views on Marine Carbon Flux
Small, slow-sinking organic particles may play a bigger role than previously thought in the transport of carbon below the surface ocean.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Follow Earthworm Tracks to Better Simulate Water Flow in Soils
Incorporating paths carved by the critters and by tree roots helps scientists align simulations of tropical soils more closely with real-world data.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Tsunami Records Show Increased Hazards for Chile’s Central Coast
Simulations of the historical quake raise new concerns: A similar event in the future could cause a devastating tsunami in Chile’s most populated coastal region.