PMEL in the News
Island County least sunny locale of lower 48 states
It’s not your imagination, it’s really gloomy around here. In fact, we’re No. 1 in glum. Island County is the least sunniest county in the lower 48, according to a federal study that measures solar radiation — the rays of energy emitted by the sun that hit the earth.
Geophysics society hopes to define sexual harassment as scientific misconduct
A major U.S.-based scientific society is on the verge of expanding its definition of research misconduct to include sexual harassment. The American Geophysical Union (AGU) is making the change to emphasize the serious threat that harassment and other forms of discrimination pose to the scientific enterprise, say society officials.
Listening to Icebergs’ Loud and Mournful Breakup Songs
In March 2000, the iceberg B-15 broke off from the Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica. It was the largest iceberg ever documented, with a surface area of more than 4,200 square miles—more than twice the size of the state of Delaware. After it started breaking up, the largest of its pieces, B-15a, drifted along the coast of Antarctica, lingered on a shallow seamount, and collided with an ice tongue, before running aground and breaking again.
Everett breaks record for amount of rainfall
A climatologist says record-breaking rains aren’t so bad. The lettuce and spinach sprouts in his garden are growing. Slugs hiding in the underbrush are laughing and waiting to feast, he said. Everett broke a 1999 record for the most rain in February and March, said Nick Bond, a climatologist with the state and a research scientist with the University of Washington.
The Hunt for Undiscovered Drugs at the Bottom of the Sea
In 2009, Kerry McPhail descended Jacques Cousteau-style towards the Axial Volcano, inside the cramped, 30-year-old little submarine DSV Alvin, with a pilot and another scientist. Three hundred miles off the coast of Oregon, they were collecting tubeworms, bacterial mats and bivalves living near a deep sea volcanic vent.