Welcome to the wonderful world of geomorphology

Wednesday, October 31, 2012

USGS predicts coastal change from Hurricane Sandy

The USGS has already released a series of maps predicting how Hurricane Sandy will have caused rapid coastal change along sensitive sections of the USA East Coast.  Look at the maps on their website and see how the predictions correlate as they release the actual datasets:

http://coastal.er.usgs.gov/hurricanes/sandy/coastal-change/

According to the USGS well over 90% of key parts of the coast will very likely suffer from dune erosion as a result of the Hurricane.

Percentage of sandy coast very likely (probability > 90%) to experience coastal change during Hurricane Sandy landfall.
Collision
(dune erosion)
OverwashInundation
Long Island, NY93124
New Jersey98549
Delmarva915522

Geomorphology has reached Mars!

The arrival and successful deployment of the Curiosity rover on Mars marks a key step in the advancement of geomorphological science.  The sophisticated equipment that Curiosity carries is already making observations of the Mars surface (which extend the records sent back from other areas on Mar by the Spirit and Opportunity rovers on a previous mission).




Geomorphological observations are vital to the interpretation of the Martian surface and whether it has ever contained enough water to support life.  An early story on the mission with a good video is reported in the Guardian:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/sep/28/mars-rover-curiosity-evidence-water?newsfeed=true

Today the BBC report on the latest findings on the make-up of Martian soils at the landing site http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-20151789

Just like Hawaii apparently...