Pam Frost Gorder » Earth Science

Grid Computing Yields Earthquake Forecast

Pam — Fri, 19 Jan 2007 16:22:01 +0000

The idea of linking supercomputers into a computational grid to confront big problems isn’t a new one, but an earthquake researcher and his colleagues are doing something different. They’re linking grids together—effectively, using grids of grids—thanks to a software movement that takes its name from the musical phenomenon known as the mashup. Full story (PDF)

Channeling, via Fire and Ice

Pam — Thu, 19 Jan 2006 05:00:38 +0000

When Sicily’s Mount Etna erupted in 2001, rivers of super-hot lava scoured the mountainside, leaving channels up to 6 meters deep in their wake. A volcanologist who observed one of those channels has now published results that contradict conventional wisdom about how volcanoes sculpt the earth. Full story (link)

Modeling a Magnetic Moon

Pam — Thu, 01 May 2003 05:00:13 +0000

Using an innovative computer model, scientists might have solved a decades-old mystery about the moon’s geology. A giant plume of hot rock, they say, might have burst out from the lunar core four billion years ago, kicking off a series of events that endowed the moon with a temporary magnetic field. Full story (PDF)