Celebrate UTIG: Staff and Student Awards 2020

by University of Texas Institute for Geophysics

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JUNE 2020 CELEBRATE UTIG STAFF AND STUDENT AWARDS

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LUNCHEON IN TWO ACTS

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ACT I THE YEAR IN REVIEW

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WE’RE THERE Art Maxwell UTIG Director 1982–1994 “UTIG Mourns Passing of Arthur Maxwell”

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WE’RE THERE ON THE ANNIVERSARY OF THE FIRST MOON LANDINGS WE REMEMBERED UTIG’S PART IN THE APOLLO LUNAR PROGRAM Remembering the Apollo moon landings: Yosio Nakamura and the birth of planetary seismology

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WE’RE THERE RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS A study revealed the complex geology behind the Deepwater Horizon disaster Overpressure at the Macondo Well and its impact on the Deepwater Horizon blowout William M. Pinkston and Peter B. Flemings Scientific Reports

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WE’RE THERE STUDENT RESEARCH Xian Wu discovered why some El Niño and La Niña events last longer than others What Controls the Duration of El Niño and La Niña Events? Xian Wu, Yuko M. Okumura, and Pedro N. DiNezio Journal of Climate

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WE’RE THERE RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS A new approach could swap natural gas for CO2 in deepwater hydrate deposits Nitrogen-Driven Chromatographic Separation During Gas Injection Into Hydrate-Bearing Sediments Kris N. Darnell, Peter B. Flemings, David DiCarlo Water Resources Research

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WE’RE THERE RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS Analysis of Chicxulub cores gave a blow-by- blow account of the day the dinosaurs died The first day of the Cenozoic Sean P. S. Gulick, Timothy J. Bralower, Jens Ormö, Brendon Hall, Gail L. Christeson, Naoma McCall, and the Expedition 364 Scientists PNAS

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WE’RE THERE RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS Analysis of old seismic data found a link between West Texas earthquakes and oil and gas activity Onset and Cause of Increased Seismic Activity Near Pecos, West Texas, United States, From Observations at the Lajitas TXAR Seismic Array Cliff Frohlich, Chris Hayward, Julia Rosenblit, Chastity Aiken, Peter Hennings, Alexandros et al. JGR: Solid Earth

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WE’RE THERE STUDENT RESEARCH Wei Wei showed for the first time how Antarctica’s Getz Ice Shelf is melting both into the ocean, and from below Getz Ice Shelf melt enhanced by freshwater discharge from beneath the West Antarctic Ice Sheet Wei Wei, Donald D. Blankenship, Jamin S. Greenbaum, Noel Gourmelen, Christine F. Dow, Thomas G. Richter, et al. The Cryosphere

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WE’RE THERE RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS Scientists found a 30 million-year-old mantle convection cell churning beneath the Nile Basin Role of dynamic topography in sustaining the Nile River over 30 million years Claudio Faccenna, Petar Glišović, Alessandro Forte, Thorsten W. Becker, Eduardo Garzanti, Andrea Sembroni and Zohar Gvirtzman Nature Geoscience

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WE’RE THERE RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS Scientists developed a computer model to reveal gas flowing into large methane hydrate deposits Gas Flow by Invasion Percolation Through the Hydrate Stability Zone Dylan W. Meyer, Peter B. Flemings, Kehua You, and David A. DiCarlo Geophysical Research Letters

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WE’RE THERE STUDENT RESEARCH Ben Stephens found that tropical climate forcing could have a profound effect on uncertainty in rainfall models Effect of Tropical Nonconvective Condensation on Uncertainty in Modeled Projections of Rainfall Benjamin A. Stephens, Charles S. Jackson, Benjamin M. Wagman Journal of Climate

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WE’RE THERE RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS Analysis of rocks drilled from the Hikurangi subduction zone gave insights into slow-slip events Slow slip source characterized by lithological and geometric heterogeneity Philip M. Barnes, Laura M. Wallace, Demian M. Saffer et al. Science Advances

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WE’RE THERE RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS New research into global warming revealed an emerging El Niño-like climate pattern in the Indian Ocean Emergence of an equatorial mode of climate variability in the Indian Ocean Pedro N. DiNezio, Martin Puy, Kaustubh Thirumalai, Fei-Fei Jin and Jessica E. Tierney Science Advances

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WE’RE THERE STUDENT RESEARCH Stefano Nerozzi revealed ancient ice layers buried beneath the Martian polar ice cap Buried Ice and Sand Caps at the North Pole of Mars: Revealing a Record of Climate Change in the Cavi Unit With SHARAD Stefano Nerozzi and Jack W. Holt Geophysical Research Letters

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WE’RE THERE STUDENT RESEARCH Wanying Wang confirmed the presence of mantle layers ‘frozen’ into the North American plate Upper mantle seismic anisotropy as a constraint for mantle flow and continental dynamics of the North American plate Wanying Wang and Thorsten W. Becker Earth and Planetary Science Letters

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WE’RE THERE UTIG Staff and Students continued to win the most coveted awards in their field! ROCHA AWARD YI FANG IACS EARLY CAREER AWARD DENIS FELIKSON AGU OUTSTANDING PRESENTATION XIAN WU

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WE’RE THERE ZEYU ZHAO KNEBEL TEACHING AWARD GAIL CHRISTESON REETAM BISWAS SEG SPECIAL RECOGNITION More Awards…

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WE’RE THERE EVENTS AND CELEBRATIONS WHILE THIS OLD-TIMER, SUNIT ADDY, STOPPED BY FOR A VISIT WE CONGRATULATED AND THANKED ANOTHER FOR HIS STELLAR CONTRIBUTIONS…

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WE’RE THERE THIS GUY SHOWED UP…

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WE’RE THERE CONSORTIA MEETINGS The GeoFluids Annual Meeting was a storming three days of emotion, drama… and pore pressure The GBDS Annual Meeting marked an important new book by John Snedden and Bill Galloway

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WE’RE THERE UTIG WAS AT AGU

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WE’RE THERE UTIG IN THE FIELD Adrien Arnulf and Steffen Saustrup led a five-week 3D seismic survey of Axial Seamount. R/V MARCUS LANGSETH AT SEA A Deep-Sea Magma Monster Gets a Body Scan

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WE’RE THERE UTIG IN THE FIELD Anja Rutishauser, Natalie Wolfenbarger, Lucas Beem, and Dillon Buhl weathered eight days of Antarctic blizzards to survey the most unstable glacier on Earth. LIONESS: THWAITES THE AIR UTIG Investigates Sea Level Threat of Giant Antarctic Glacier

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WE’RE THERE UTIG IN THE FIELD Peter Flemings, Zach Murphy, Yi Fang and Aaron Price tested the pressure coring system before its scheduled deepwater methane hydrate coring mission in 2022. CAMERON, TX ON LAND Pressure Coring Technology One Step Closer to Gulf of Mexico Hydrates Test

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WE’RE THERE The Austin Student Travel Grant helped these students travel to their first AGU Fall Meeting! Sara Hanan Chowdhury Dhaka, Bangladesh Pacifica Takata-Glushkoff Brunswick, ME Victoria Moreno El Paso, TX

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WE’RE THERE UTIG continued to play a central role in the Science Olympiad in Texas and Nationally

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WE’RE THERE UTIG TEACHES GAIL TAUGHT UT’S FIRST PYTHON FOR GEOSCIENCES CLASS THE MARINE GEOLOGY AND GEOPHYSICS FIELD COURSE HEADED FOR PORT ARANSAS AND THE GULF COAST AND WON A TEACHING AWARD THE FOLLOWING YEAR!

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WE’RE THERE With help from alumni, friends, and you, we smashed our HornRaiser goal for the Marine Geology & Geophysics Field Course, and brought home over $12,000! UT’s Marine Geology and Geophysics Field Course Needs Your Help

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WE’RE THERE UTIG Joined the World Under Quarantine Brewinar: Staying Social Under Lockdown Dr. Zoom: Dos and Don’ts of Remote Dissertation Defense Lessons about self-isolation from Antarctica Climate scientist moves research online, while learning to homeschool

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ACT II THE AWARDS

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WE’RE THERE STAFF SERVICE AWARDS The University of Texas at Austin Staff Service Awards Program recognizes the importance of the contributions of loyal and committed staff to the continuing success of the university • Ian Dalziel – 35 yrs • John Gerboc – 25 yrs • Greg Ng – 10 yrs • Fred Taylor – 40 yrs • Duncan Young – 15 yrs

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FRED TAYLOR UTIG Career Award

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LUC LAVIER IAN DALZIEL YUKO OKUMURA CHRIS LOWERY GAIL CHRISTESON Director's Circle of Excellence