Terri Cook

Terri Cook is an award-winning freelance writer whose career has focused on exploring and explaining the 4.5-billion-year-history of the remarkable planet we live on. Cook, who has an M.S. degree in Earth science from the University of California, Santa Cruz, writes about geology, ecology, and the environment—as well as wine, tea, hiking, and biking—for a diverse group of publications, including Eos, Scientific American, NOVA Next, Science News, and EARTH magazine, as well as Avalon Travel and numerous other travel-related publications. Her reporting has taken her to 25 states and 20 countries scattered across 5 continents, from the depths of the Grand Canyon to the sandy Australian Outback to the mist-shrouded summit of Bali’s Mount Batur. As the coauthor of three popular guidebooks, including Hiking the Grand Canyon’s Geology and Geology Underfoot Along Colorado’s Front Range, Cook gives frequent presentations about geology and science communication. She is the recipient of a 2016 European Geosciences Union Science Journalism Fellowship and is based in beautiful Boulder, Colo.

Research Spotlights

Dating Lava Domes in California's Salton Trough

by Terri Cook 10 November 20154 October 2021

Scientists use a trio of techniques to resolve the age and duration of rhyolite volcanism of the Salton Buttes.

Research Spotlights

Birthplace of Pacific Tropical Cyclones on the Move

by Terri Cook 2 November 20152 November 2015

A study says the point of origin for cyclones in the western North Pacific is moving closer to land because of warming of the tropical troposphere.

Research Spotlights

Near-Surface Aquifer Discovered on Svalbard Glacier

by Terri Cook 9 October 20159 October 2015

Arctic glacier aquifer may respond more rapidly to climate change than larger aquifers found on the Greenland ice sheet.

Research Spotlights

Large Variability Measured in Kuroshio Current East of Taiwan

by Terri Cook 21 September 201521 September 2015

Ship surveys show that the "Gulf Stream" of the Pacific is not a stable boundary current.

Research Spotlights

Circulation Models Cannot Simulate Organized Tropical Convection

by Terri Cook 16 September 201516 September 2015

Challenges in predicting and simulating the Madden-Julian Oscillation indicate a lack of understanding of the atmospheric circulation pattern's fundamental physics.