Fellow seismologists, we're going to get a lot of mileage out of the latest @xkcd.com

At the empty USGS booth at GSA. More out of view on both sides

Envious of the neighbors' lawn service

In Oakland at the UC Office of the President for a meeting, and the chances are good that we will be shaking out later on...

OK, so who turned all the power off? Holding office hours in the dark ain't all that much fun (not that anyone is here of course).

A lot of comments on Mars rovers or Moon landings, but it's important to remember that the planet NASA studies most is Earth. This is less about cutting flashy things like moonwalks and more about keeping communities in the dark on climate, weather, agriculture, pollution, natural hazards, and more.

Pomona, what's up? (Very excited about this one!)

The following is REAL footage from Portland, 2025. Viewer discretion is advised.

EarthScope is excited to be undertaking operations of the NSF National Geophysical Facility, as of October 1. Curious what this means in terms of geophysical research and education support? Check out these helpful FAQs. ⬇️ https://ngf.earthscope.org/

Since kyanite made it to the final of Mineral Cup, I decided to contribute. Vote kyanite! Not only is kyanite gorgeous, it's also a key metamorphic index mineral and thus one of my favourite minerals to find. Here are a few examples I've come across. See alt text for details #MinCup25 #kyanite

I’m voting for the indicator mineral #Kyanite and the information it provides about metamorphic temperature and pressure, shown here with its pseudomorphs, Sillimanite and Andalusite. #MinCup25

As a founder member of the Campaign for Real Minerals (CAMRM), there can only be one winner – the one I've actually heard of. Kyanite all the way. #VoteBlue

Kyanite has fought long and hard these many years! Let’s get that win so it can retire with honour!

Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA), top Democrat on Senate Commerce Cmte, is out with a Democratic staff report: "The Destruction of NASA's Mission: Whistleblowers Reveal OMB's Unconstitutional Plot to Gut the Agency." www.commerce.senate.gov/services/fil...

It's gotta be the metamorphic mineral for me, Clive. Forms under mountains, pressure/temperature indicator, high grade. Also, it's blue. #VoteBlueNoMatterWho #VoteKyanite

Since I love Spiritualized, and since Pure Phase was the first album of theirs I bought, and since it's a perfect title for someone who does InSAR and GNSS, and since they are here in LA, and since Jen got us tickets...

NSF today released instructions for the next round of applicants to its Graduate Research Fellowship Program. A key group—second-year Ph.D. students—is no longer eligible, and students who are still able to apply will face an unusually narrow timeframe. https://scim.ag/3KlQkQk

Pulp: "Do you remember the first time?" Me: "I think it was 1996! Fuck I'm old."

This is amazing.

If this is Thursday, I must be in... Boston?

This is a fantastic affirmation of the high-quality work that the EarthScope staff have been doing for years, and the vision and mission that they and their leaders communicated in the proposal! Congratulations to all involved! Proud to be a part of it!

In June 2024, EarthScope Consortium submitted a proposal to the National Science Foundation to operate the National Geophysical Facility (NGF). We are thrilled to announce that EarthScope has been selected as the operator of NSF NGF. ➡️ https://loom.ly/gfaXxQ8

❤️❤️❤️ these posters in the Geology building at UC Riverside ❤️❤️❤️ Seriously, why aren't we putting messages like these everywhere? I'd happily chip in some pro-NSF and pro-NIH billboards? 🧪

Surely "fluids" is the explanation for everything we don't understand in geoscience?

The Alaska Division of Geological & Geophysical Surveys is hiring a volcanologist who would work with the Alaska Volcano Observatory. A fantastic opportunity to work with great people and study very active volcanoes. Details in link below. Applications close on Oct. 1. ⚒️🌋🧪 bit.ly/3IkqN9n

Jen saw me looking on StubHub and asked if I was thinking of buying Oasis tickets for Saturday night? I said mayyyybeee...

Serpentine, always. #VoteChrysotile

Rock Looked Way Cooler Wet

Day 3 of the ISCE+ #InSAR course, and we are heading into time series territory. Besides presentations from Ann Chen and Eric Fielding on atmospheric noise and interferogram stacks, today saw Scott Staniewicz's instructor debut, presenting on PS/DS methods in InSAR time series! Welcome!

Day 2 of #InSAR fest, and we spent most of today's session being guided through Sentinel-1 TOPS processing by @ericfielding.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy – from SAR data all the way to this unwrapped interferogram! And then (not pictured) I talked about line-of-sight, downsampling and inverse modeling!

The 2025 InSAR Processing and Analysis (ISCE+) short course is officially underway! Graduate students, postdocs, and early career scientists are working side-by-side with instructors to master InSAR processing and analysis, from mitigating noise to building time series for research.

It's Day 1 proper of this year's EarthScope #InSAR Processing and Analysis short course (the "ISCE+" course)! Here, Franz Meyer is leading participants through a simple Mogi source modeling exercise using InSAR data from Okmok volcano! Real data and real models on an interactive online platform!

Went out downtown tonight and got leathered with my friend Gordon. (No reason, except Friday.) On the way home, my Uber driver asked me lots of fun questions about earthquakes. And now I'm home and learning that NISAR successfully deployed its reflector?! What a great evening!

I'm trying to explore Google DeepMind's AlphaEarth. It seems like it has a lot of potential, previous models from them, like AlphaFold rocked their scientific fields so what can this one do for us? A thread of what I've managed to figure out. 🧪🌏

For those interested in the Tracy Arm Landslide in Alaska, I captured a 1m/pixel Umbra SAR image and have made it available for free. Please share around! The download link is active for 3 days: we.tl/t-lNFgCjcmwP

Very diligent lawn service here: saw these guys on my way into work, and then in front of the same house on my way home

Crazy (horizontal) runup from the large landslide into Tracy Arm fjord, SE Alaska. This is 20 km out the fjord and the wave reached up to 400 m into this side valley. notice how the vegetation was only wetted for the most part (pixels still red) and only the mouth of the river is destroyed.

It has been a busy couple of days! There was a large landslide and tsunami in SE Alaska, in Tracy Arm, Sunday morning. Luckily, no injuries or casualties were reported. This region is outside of our current landslide coverage, but we were able to get a quick location after hearing about the event. 🧵

With my favourite girl from Athens, Alabama watching her favourite band from Athens, Alabama.

I've seen this on Bluesky and had to try it myself. The image below was the response to the prompt: "Show me a diagram of the US presidents since Herbert Hoover, with their names and years in office under their photos" Bravo, OpenAI, bravo.

Getting my Phil at the Bowl tonight!

Japanese GSI published the InSAR result of ALOS-2. It may be helpful for the interpretation. www.gsi.go.jp/cais/topic20...

First Sentinel-1 interferogram from southern Kamchatka! Lots of what I am assuming are tropospheric signals (e.g. over the volcanoes), but I also see long-wavelength fringes that change in azimuth from the NE (~shore-perpendicular) to the SW (~shore-parallel). Optimistic it could be the earthquake!

Today’s M4.3 strike slip #earthquake near #Rialto CA is part of a little sequence of events in the last few days that appears to match up with the NE striking, left lateral, Fontana trend. This area is relatively active, with a M4.2 earthquake last year. 🧪⚒️

The M8.8 off Kamchatka appears to be the largest earthquake ever recorded that apparently didn't kill anyone. That's really remarkable, if true. ⚒️

Indeed. And the event was probably too small to warrant a warning (and the initial magnitude estimate was good, it seems).

Earthquake! Two wave arrivals, loud rattle, no warning!

OK... I've downloaded 180 GB of ALOS-2 SLC images (thanks, JAXA), a DEM the size of a large peninsula, made my computer a large cup of tea, and fixed at least seven stupid typos in the input XML file. Will there be an interferogram with an earthquake signal waiting for me when I get up tomorrow?

I'd better get some Oasis tickets or something at the end of this, AGU

NISAR has lifted off! And been successfully placed in its orbit! Good job, ISRO! Woohoo!