From the Headlines...

Paka

Prosperity & Peril

In a study published in this month’s issue of Geology co-authors Dr. Juliet Biggs (UM) and Cindy Ebinger (Univ. of Rochester) used Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) images compiled over a decade to study volcanic activity in the African Rift. Volcanoes in Kenya are close to metropolitan areas and might pose challenges — large volcanic events or opportunities — geothermal energy. Read more…

El Nino

Global Warming May Dent El Niño’s Protective Shield from Atlantic Hurricanes, Increase Droughts Elsewhere

El Niño, the periodic phenomenon often credited with shielding the U.S. and Caribbean from severe hurricane seasons, may soon be overshadowed by its brother in the central Pacific due to global warming, according to a paper in Nature. The eastern El Niño increases wind sheer in the Atlantic that can hamper the development of hurricanes there. The central Pacific El Niño, however, has been blamed for worsening drought conditions in Australia and India as well as minimizing the effects of its beneficial brother to the east. Read more…