houck2040/artisci huggingface dataset:
additionally the distance between the brazos and trinity river valleys and nws radar sites in houston fort worth temple-killeen and shreveport can cause problems with radar coverage of the lower levels of the atmosphere limiting the reliability of the data used to declare storm warnings the aggie doppler radar (adrad) atop the eller o&m building on the texas a&m campus was used to cover the region during the outbreak and helped provide the nws in houston with vital radar information helping save lives the april 22 storm did in fact result in a tornado data from the adrad helped the nws issue severe thunderstorm and tornado warnings for a strong supercell thunderstorm that passed over east texas near trinity around 7 pm that night preliminary surveys of the onalaska tornado from nws houston-galveston and the polk county office of emergency management reported an ef-3 tornado with estimated peak winds of 140 mph that touched the ground for 33 miles and large hail with a max-measured diameter of 2 inches tragically resulting in 33 injuries and 3 deaths making it the deadliest tornado to hit the area since 1987 that particular storm was sustained long after leaving the brazos valley producing tornadoes in louisiana until it finally dissipated in mississippi over 6 hours later nowotarski is planning on taking the upper-air and adrad data from the storm to investigate how the storm persisted for such a long period of time and continued to produce tornadoes well after sunset a graduating meteorology senior brandon gale safely followed the storm to collect and report hail samples normally undergraduates would be heavily involved in both radar and weather balloon observations but that day they were not able to assist due to pandemic protocols the significance of the event shows the necessity of observations during the course of the weather outbreak and how texas a&m is afforded the opportunity to coordinate with the local nws offices to help forecasters protect the lives of the people who live here "the texas a&m radar provided important detail on the storm structure as it crossed brazos and grimes counties that was not evident on the more distant nws radars said dan reilly warning coordination meteorologist for the nws houston/galveston office given its proximity to the storm it was able to see features with higher resolution and closer to the ground than could be seen by other radars this information was critical for nws warning decision-making for the storm
upper-air sounding from may 20 2019 suggesting conditions were favorable for supercell thunderstorms and significant hail that afternoon this sounding was requested by wns fort worth
not the first time this is not the first time that texas a&m atmospheric sciences students have aided with collecting data for severe weather on may 20 2019 during a forecasted high-risk day from the storm prediction center nws fort worth requested an upper-air sounding to aid their diagnosis for severe weather for eastern texas and the student operational upper-air program (soup) carried out the requested sounding like the april 22 2020 sounding conditions then indicated the potential for supercells and significant hail adrad operations also helped keep local communities safe earlier this year on march 4 when the kgrk nws radar in temple-killeen was unavailable the nws in fort worth made use of adrad data to make warnings on storms moving through central texas and communicate the potential danger of those storms to local emergency managers and news media those storms produced winds over 60 mph and hailstones larger than 1 inch in diameter in brazos and robertson counties early in the morning in addition to using adrad and launching upper-air soundings texas a&m students also help local nws offices through the skywarn spotter training program last year students reported a tornado touched down on april 24 during a thunderstorm that was not well-sampled through nws radar though adrad was not operating that day students were able to identify the storm and those students were able to help nws identify the threat for thunderstorms in spite of the lack of radar data by david coates
iodp travel team honored with texas a&m president's meritorious service awardthe awards recognize outstanding texas a&m university staffmay 26 2020 the joides resolution at the pier in punta arenas chile before iodp expedition 382 in march 2019 (photo credit: thomas ronge and iodp) the international ocean discovery program (iodp) travel team kathy bass diane mcdonald and beverly wilson was recently awarded a president's meritorious service award from texas a&m university the presidents meritorious service awards recognize and reward staff for their commendable service to texas a&m and texas a&m president michael k young announced this years recipients may 5 recipients of this highly prestigious award have demonstrated their commitment to the aggie core values of excellence integrity leadership loyalty respect and selfless service president young said to each of them i extend my most sincere congratulations and deep appreciation for their tremendous efforts that make texas a&m such a great place to live and work iodp expeditions sail aboard the joides resolution research vessel and texas a&m serves as the joides resolution science operator (jrso) based in the texas a&m college of geosciences and one of the three iodp ocean sediment core repositories is housed at texas a&m iodp is funded by the national science foundation and other participating countries dean of the college of geosciences dr debbie thomas said that the teams exemplary work benefits not only the university but the entire international science community the jrso travel team diane mcdonald kathy bass and beverly wilson truly is a group of heroes that showcase to the world the best of our university thomas said thousands of scientists from around the world have benefited and continue to benefit from their efforts to ensure that everyone arrives at the drillship and cruise-related meetings safely and without incident hundreds of texas a&m employees at the jrso have been shepherded safely to ports in far-flung locations most of the time we would never know how hard or expertly they work because travel logistics are executed seamlessly and smoothly she said but travel logistics proceed smoothly because of the travel team team recipients of the award are recognized with a plaque for departmental display and each member of each of the team will receive an award of $200 a framed certificate of recognition and a lapel pin each recipient of the supervisor award will receive a $1 500 award a commemorative plaque and a lapel pin the presidents meritorious service awards program is sponsored by the office of the president and the association of former students and coordinated by the division of human resources and organizational effectiveness the college of geosciences congratulates the iodp travel team on their president meritorious service award and for their selfless service to texas a&m by leslie lee 09
the joides resolution at the pier in punta arenas chile before iodp expedition 382 in march 2019 (photo credit: thomas ronge and iodp)
the international ocean discovery program (iodp) travel team kathy bass diane mcdonald and beverly wilson was recently awarded a president's meritorious service award from texas a&m university the presidents meritorious service awards recognize and reward staff for their commendable service to texas a&m and texas a&m president michael k young announced this years recipients may 5 recipients of this highly prestigious award have demonstrated their commitment to the aggie core values of excellence integrity leadership loyalty respect and selfless service president young said to each of them i extend my most sincere congratulations and deep appreciation for their tremendous efforts that make texas a&m such a great place to live and work iodp expeditions sail aboard the joides resolution research vessel and texas a&m serves as the joides resolution science operator (jrso) based in the texas a&m college of geosciences and one of the three iodp ocean sediment core repositories is housed at texas a&m iodp is funded by the national science foundation and other participating countries dean of the college of geosciences dr debbie thomas said that the teams exemplary work benefits not only the university but the entire international science community the jrso travel team diane mcdonald kathy bass and beverly wilson truly is a group of heroes that showcase to the world the best of our university thomas said thousands of scientists from around the world have benefited and continue to benefit from their efforts to ensure that everyone arrives at the drillship and cruise-related meetings safely and without incident hundreds of texas a&m employees at the jrso have been shepherded safely to ports in far-flung locations most of the time we would never know how hard or expertly they work because travel logistics are executed seamlessly and smoothly she said but travel logistics proceed smoothly because of the travel team team recipients of the award are recognized with a plaque for departmental display and each member of each of the team will receive an award of $200 a framed certificate of recognition and a lapel pin each recipient of the supervisor award will receive a $1 500 award a commemorative plaque and a lapel pin the presidents meritorious service awards program is sponsored by the office of the president and the association of former students and coordinated by the division of human resources and organizational effectiveness the college of geosciences congratulates the iodp travel team on their president meritorious service award and for their selfless service to texas a&m by leslie lee 09
a sediment core on a research cruise led by marcantonio aboard the r/v melville in 2010 (photos courtesy of marcantonio)deep ocean floor sediment cores hold chemical clues to earth's past
why do carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere wax and wane in conjunction with the warm and cold periods of earths past scientists have been trying to answer this question for many years and thanks to chemical clues left in sediment cores extracted from deep in the ocean floor they are starting to put together pieces of that puzzle recent research suggests that there was enhanced storage of respired carbon in the deep ocean when levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations were lower than todays levels but now new research led by a texas a&m scientist has reached back even further in time for the first time revealing insights into atmospheric carbon dioxide levels in the 50 000 years before the last ice age one of the biggest unknowns about past climate is the cause of atmospheric carbon dioxide variability over global warm-cold cycles said dr franco marcantonio lead author of the study and professor and jane and ken r williams 45 chair in the department of geology and geophysics at texas a&m here we investigated the ‘how of varying carbon dioxide with the ‘where namely the eastern equatorial pacific ocean which is an important region of the world ocean where today significant carbon dioxide is exhaled into the atmosphere and the greatest rates phytoplankton growth are found the national science foundation-funded research was recently published in scientific reports a nature research journal how to reach back in time to examine ancient carbon dioxide levels marcantonio and a team of researchers analyzed an ocean floor sediment core extracted from the deep eastern equatorial pacific ocean the ten-meter long core spans about 180 000 years and the chemistry of the layers of sediment provide scientists with a window into past climates the chemical measurements they make serve as a proxy for oxygen levels of the deep sea measuring minute traces of uranium and thorium isotopes the team was able to associate periods of increased storage of respired carbon (and low deep-sea oxygen levels) with periods of decreased global atmospheric carbon dioxide levels during the past 70 000 years
the sediment core analyzed in this study was extracted by marcantonio and colleagues on an nsf-funded research cruise aboard the r/v melville in 2010 (photo courtesy of marcantonio)
by comparing our high-resolution sediment record of deep-sea oxygenation in the eastern equatorial pacific with other areas of the pacific and southern ocean we find that the pacific ocean like the southern ocean is a location for deep-ocean respired carbon storage during periods of decreased global atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations he said importantly we put constraints on the location in the water column of the extent of the respired stored carbon pool during cold periods understanding the past dynamics of earth's carbon cycle is of fundamental importance to informing and guiding societal policy-making in a warming world with increasing levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide co-authors of the study were ryan hostak a former texas a&m graduate student who earned his masters degree in geology in 2019; dr jennifer e hertzberg who received her phd in oceanography from texas a&m in 2015 and is now a postdoctoral researcher in the department of earth ocean and atmospheric sciences at old dominion university; and dr matthew w schmidt associate professor of ocean earth and atmospheric sciences at old dominion marcantonio and his colleagues designed the study he and hostak performed the isotope analyses and the team interpreted the data by performing similar studies in sediment covering a wider swath of the deep pacific ocean well be able to spatially map the extent of this past deep pool of respired carbon marcantonio said looking forward to future research the studys radiogenic and trace element analyses were conducted in the college of geosciences r ken williams radiogenic isotope facility the sediment core was extracted by marcantonio and colleagues on an nsf-funded research cruise aboard the r/v melville in 2010 read the full study here by leslie lee '09
view from the study sample site in eastern cordillera of southern peru sample site is located at approximately 4800 meters or approximately 15 750 feet in elevation (photo courtesy of dr nick perez)
dr nick perez and kristina levine ‘20 a senior in the department of geology and geophysics at texas a&m university investigated the tectonics of the andes peru kristina was named the second author of the publication in earth and planetary science letters "participating in undergraduate research has given me more confidence and purpose in geology levine said i have invaluable experiences that are helping me make better career decisions and i have friends now from my team that i wouldn't trade for the world" the paper diagnosing an ancient shallow-angle subduction event from cenozoic depositional and deformational records in the central andes of southern peru investigates tectonic processes impacting the andes mountains in southern peru undergraduate research is really important to me because i personally benefited from research experiences both in the lab and in the field perez said since starting at texas a&m one of my main goals has been to continue that legacy which was so impactful to me and develop a research program that fosters and sustains undergraduate research opportunities
kristina levine ‘20 conducting field work during her internship with geo-watersheds scientific levine is using duct tape to mark water levels along the shore of caddo lake tx to create a hydrologic cross section of the shoreline (photo courtesy of kristina levine)minor traffic alpacas from local farmers on the way to the sample area (photo courtesy of dr nick perez)
their study was inspired by a 2018 white paper emphasizing a persistent problem highlighted by the 2018 community vision document submitted to the us national science foundation challenges and opportunities for research in tectonics: understanding deformation and the processes that link earth systems from geologic time to human time they used multiple datasets to constrain how different processes active at the earths surface such as erosion sediment transport subsidence and rock uplift may or may not have responded to a major tectonic event that occurred in the eocene to oligocene the andes are formed above an ocean-continent subduction zone that has been active since at least the mesozoic typically in the andes the oceanic plate subducts down into the earths mantle at a dip of roughly 20-30º or perhaps more however from time to time segments of the subduction zone along the andes have experienced subduction at shallower angles or even completely flat
landscape in the eastern cordillera of the andes southern peru showing folded permian carbonates cut by a normal fault (dipping to the left) the snow-covered peaks (left background) were carried over rocks in the foreground by a reverse fault during cenozoic shortening and construction of the andes (photo courtesy of dr nick perez)
these changes in subduction zone dip are spatially restricted and do not persist eventually the subduction zone returns to a more typical dip after perhaps 10-20 million years in southern peru during the eocene to oligocene one of these shallow-angle events has been previously proposed this provided perez and levine with the perfect location to test how earth-surface processes on the upper south american tectonic plate responded to changing tectonic conditions perez and levine found that during shallow subduction the style of basin development changed the style of deformation in the upper plate changed and the magnitude of measured subsidence was less than would be predicted they also found that after the subduction zone began returning to normal the earth surface processes affecting the upper plate immediately responded this study emphasizes the spectrum of possible behaviors that upper plates may exhibit in subduction zones that the andes a 7000+ km mountain range actually developed with more segmented and varied mountain building style from north to south and provides an example of the dynamic links between the earths surface processes and plate tectonics
a stratigraphic section in southern peru this unstudied section may preserve the cretaceous/tertiary boundary and likely archives the stratigraphic record of the onset of andean mountain building (photo courtesy of dr nick perez)the andes of southern peru has an active volcanic arc perez observed a minor eruption during a scouting field season in 2017 (photo courtesy of dr nick perez)
i have been fortunate to work with a number of our brightest and most motivated students perez said kristina has been in my group for 3 years now and has contributed so much she is curious intelligent a self-starter a good communicator and works great as part of a team or individually she did an impressive amount of work for this project which was enough to turn an incomplete manuscript beforehand into a complete story he noted that levine has not just focused on this project but also other significant work she has also contributed to detrital zircon geochronology tectonic geomorphology work using gis tools and matlab and outreach to high school students through the geo-x program he said i am proud of her work and quite pleased that it was accepted for publication by ali snell
may 2020 graduates recognized with awards and honorsthe college of geosciences virtual graduation celebration was held may 7may 8 2020the texas a&m university college of geosciences would like to congratulate its may 2020 graduates graduating seniors families and friends faculty and staff joined together in an online graduation celebration may 7 to celebrate and recognize the students accomplishments dean of the college of geosciences dr debbie thomas led the event and congratulated the graduates on their significant achievements aggies now please draw from your courage strength and discipline to lead by example stay safe and empower those around you to protect themselves and others your knowledge and skills as geoscientists are critical to the current and future challenges facing society geoscientists are the very foundation of sustainability in addition to meeting todays needs while enhancing the prosperity and security of future generations sustainability requires a society that trusts science lead us there aggie geoscientists the following students were honored with awards at the event outstanding student award these students started their last semester with a cumulative grade point average of 375 or higher alexi allen caroline cameron camille carter brendan christensen catherin franklin lori garcia keller herrin benjamin longbottom samantha longridge ryan marrero-vila liam norris erin parker abigail pettett jonathan rollings jillian sanders kristen sarna evan schaff justin spotts connor wichterich college of geosciences medallion milestone scholars the medallion milestone scholars program identifies those who have excelled within and beyond the classroom recipients have demonstrated leadership professionalism citizenship and/or research skills while building collaborative relationships in the academic local or global community gold maryam cheta catherin franklin brandon gale xiao ming matthew ooi robin pierce carlee schnee justin spotts silver alexi allen kristen koppel alexis lemos samuel marquardt daniel mathewson liam norris brooke salisbury kristen sarna bronze john carlo garcia leah hirtriter lucky marchelino ailsa robson maria rodriguez watch the college of geosciences may 2020 graduation celebration view the official texas a&m conferral of degrees video this celebration and the texas a&m online graduation celebration are not replacements for graduates in-person commencement texas a&m is planning to hold a commencement ceremony for graduates at a time in the future when it is safe to do so
the texas a&m university college of geosciences would like to congratulate its may 2020 graduates graduating seniors families and friends faculty and staff joined together in an online graduation celebration may 7 to celebrate and recognize the students accomplishments dean of the college of geosciences dr debbie thomas led the event and congratulated the graduates on their significant achievements aggies now please draw from your courage strength and discipline to lead by example stay safe and empower those around you to protect themselves and others your knowledge and skills as geoscientists are critical to the current and future challenges facing society geoscientists are the very foundation of sustainability in addition to meeting todays needs while enhancing the prosperity and security of future generations sustainability requires a society that trusts science lead us there aggie geoscientists the following students were honored with awards at the event outstanding student award these students started their last semester with a cumulative grade point average of 375 or higher alexi allen caroline cameron camille carter brendan christensen catherin franklin lori garcia keller herrin benjamin longbottom samantha longridge ryan marrero-vila liam norris erin parker abigail pettett jonathan rollings jillian sanders kristen sarna evan schaff justin spotts connor wichterich college of geosciences medallion milestone scholars the medallion milestone scholars program identifies those who have excelled within and beyond the classroom recipients have demonstrated leadership professionalism citizenship and/or research skills while building collaborative relationships in the academic local or global community gold maryam cheta catherin franklin brandon gale xiao ming matthew ooi robin pierce carlee schnee justin spotts silver alexi allen kristen koppel alexis lemos samuel marquardt daniel mathewson liam norris brooke salisbury kristen sarna bronze john carlo garcia leah hirtriter lucky marchelino ailsa robson maria rodriguez watch the college of geosciences may 2020 graduation celebration view the official texas a&m conferral of degrees video this celebration and the texas a&m online graduation celebration are not replacements for graduates in-person commencement texas a&m is planning to hold a commencement ceremony for graduates at a time in the future when it is safe to do so