Atmosphere and Weather
Trends in Snowfall Versus Rainfall in the Western United States
Noah Knowles, USGS - April 5, 2007
Frozen in Time: How Ice Cores Are Revealing the Composition and Temperature of Earth's Atmosphere During the Past Million Years
Todd Hinkley, USGS - December 8, 2005
Biology
How the Earth Copes with Our LUSTs:
The amazing capabilities of subsurface life
Barbara Bekins, USGS - August 28, 2008
A Moroccan Adventure: Searching for a Blue-eyed Turtle in the Sahara Desert
Jeffrey Lovich, USGS and Mohammed Znari, Cadi Ayyad University, Marrakech - July 24, 2008
Species Traits as Determinants of Trace Element Bioaccumulation in Riverine Fishes...or Why it Pays to Be a Small, Riffle-loving Herbivore
Terry Short, USGS - May 1, 2008
Ecology and Management of Blue Green Algae
Hans Paerl, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill - September 7, 2008
The Impacts of Global Climate Change on Delta Fishes: Predicting Fish Populations and Diversity Changes
Christa Woodley, University of California, Davis - February 14, 2008
A Tale of Two Kelp Forests: Sea Otters and Ecosystem Dynamics in the Aleutians and the Commander Islands
Tim Tinker, University of California, Santa Cruz - September 27, 2007
Feathered Dinosaurs from the 'Cretaceous Pompeii' of China and the Origin of Avian Flight
Sankar Chatterjee, Texas Tech University - July 9, 2007
Life's Chemical Kitchen: Support of Deep Terrestrial Subsurface Life by Abiogenic Hydrogen and Hydrocarbons
Barbara Sherwood-Lollar, University of Toronto - March 19, 2007
Lost California: Can Environmental History Help Piece Together the Fragments (The Checkerspot Butterfly)
Jon Christensen and Richard White, Stanford University - October 6, 2006
Tropical Temperatures, Global Warming, and Land Use Change: A View from the Coral Reef
Rob Dunbar, Stanford University - June 12, 2006
Precipice of Survival: What is the Future of the Southern Sea Otter?
Alisha Kage and M. Tim Tinker, USGS - August 26, 2004
Human Footprints on the Web of Life: Biodiversity and Increasing Population and Development in California
Robert N. Fisher, USGS - August 28, 2003
Physiology of Contaminant Accumulation in Aquatic Insects
David Buchwalter, USGS - September 18, 2003
What is a Butterfly Worth? The Challenge of Making Economic Estimates for Biodiversity
Alicia Torregrosa, USGS - November 21, 2002
Losing the Race for Survival? The Catastrophic Decline of the Desert Tortoise in California
Kristin H. Berry, USGS - March 28, 2002
Climate Change
Taking the Biological Pulse of Our Planet: The USA National Phenology Network
Jake Weltzin, National Phenology Network - November 13, 2008
Prehistoric Packrat Piles: Archives of Climate Change
Kenneth Cole, USGS - October 30, 2008
Global Warming: Western Style
Michael Dettinger, USGS - May 22, 2008
Alaska's Rivers of Ice
Bruce Molnia, USGS - February 28, 2008
The National Phenology Network
Brad Reed, USGS - May 21, 2007
Climate Change Feedbacks and the Future Role of Soils
Margaret Torn, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory - August 14, 2006
Tropical Temperatures, Global Warming, and Land Use Change: A View from the Coral Reef
Rob Dunbar, Stanford University - June 12, 2006
Deep Freeze: The Impact of Science on U.S. Climate-Change Policy
Judy Layzer, MIT and Herman Karl, USGS - June 14, 2005
What's Happening to Alaska's Glaciers? Their Dynamic Response to Changing Climate and Other Factors
Bruce F. Molnia, USGS - December 11, 2003
The Future of Western Water: What Does Climate Tell Us?
Mike Dettinger, USGS - September 4, 2003
Coastal and Marine Science
Alchemy in the Abyss: Probing the Mysteries of Deep-ocean Minerals
James R. Hein, USGS - May 31, 2007
The Hidden World of the Golden Gate: How Tides, Currents, and Humans Have Created an Array of Sea-floor Features
Patrick Barnard, USGS - January 25, 2007
Shifting Shoals and Shattered Rocks—How Man Has Changed the Floor of San Francisco Bay
John Chin and Florence Wong, USGS - November 17, 2005
Commotions in the Oceans: USGS Shipboard Research Sparked Scientific Advances
William R. Normark and David W. Scholl, USGS - March 31, 2005
Life and Death of Hawaiian Coral Reefs: New Studies Track the Life Cycle of Maui's Changing Reefs
Michael E. Field and Curt D. Storlazzi, USGS - February 26, 2004
Revealing the Hidden World Beneath Monterey Bay
Steve Eittreim, USGS - August 29, 2002
Beyond the Golden Gate: Oceanography, Geology, Biology, and Environmental Issues In The Gulf of the Farallones
Herman A. Karl, USGS and Edward Ueber, Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary - July 25, 2002
Earthquakes
Creative Destruction: Timber and Masonry Earthquake Resistant Construction before the Age of Steel and Reinforced Concrete
Randolph Langenbach, Conservationtech Consulting - November 19, 2008
Ready for the Next Big Bay Area Earthquake?: The 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake was not the Bay Area's "Big One" but a repeat of the destructive 1868 Hayward earthquake may qualify!
Tom Brocher, USGS - September 25, 2008
Hayward Fault Earthquakes: Past, Present, and Future?
Jim Lienkaemper, USGS - April 30, 2008
The Hayward Fault in Google Earth: Visualizing Past, Present, and Future Earthquakes
David Schwartz, Heather Lackey, Luke Blair, and Scott Haefner, USGS - April 24, 2008
Northern California Earthquake Hazards Workshop
Jim Lienkaemper, David Oppenheimer, Bill Bakun and Janet Watt, USGS - January 23, 2008
Geodynamics and Seismic/Geodetic Imaging of the Yellowstone Hotspot
Bob Smith, University of Utah - November 5, 2007
The Parkfield 2004 Earthquake: Lessons From the Best-Recorded Quake in History
Andy Michael, USGS - October 26, 2006
Hidden Faults Under Silicon Valley: Do New Discoveries Change Our View of Santa Clara Valley Earthquake Hazards?
R. D. Catchings, USGS - August 24, 2006
Uncovering Silicon Valley: Weaving a Tale of Three Sedimentary Basins
Victoria E. Langenheim, USGS - July 27, 2006
California's Greatest Fault: How Historical Data From 1906 Have Shed Llight on the San Andreas Fault
Carol S. Prentice, USGS - April 27, 2006
Shock Waves: How the 1906 Earthquake Shook Up California and Science
David Schwartz, USGS - April 26, 2007
The Great 1906 Earthquake: Lessons Learned, Lessons Forgotten, and Future Directions in Earthquake Science
Mary Lou Zoback, USGS - March 30, 2006
Earthquake Storms: The Very Long Reach of Very Large Earthquakes
Susan Hough, USGS - October 27, 2005
A Crack in the Edge of the World: America and the Great California Earthquake of 1906
Simon Winchester, bestselling author - October 21, 2005
Earthquakes at the USGS: Blowing the Lid off Seismic Science for 40 Years
Ross Stein, USGS - April 28, 2005
Hot Oil, Frozen Ground, and Earthquakes: The Trans-Alaska Pipeline Story -- So Far,So Good
George Gryc, Arthur Lachenbruch, and Robert Page, USGS Scientists Emeriti - October 28, 2004
The Quakes, They Are A-comin': New Estimates of Earthquake Hazard and Risk Across the Bay Region
Michael Blanpied, USGS - June 26, 2003
Plumbing the Mysteries of the San Andreas Fault: Deep Drilling to Test Fundamental Theories About Faulting and Earthquakes
Stephen H. Hickman, USGS - October 24, 2002
Finding Elusive Earthquake Faults: New Mapping Techniques Reveal Potential Seismic Sources Beneath Seattle
Richard J. Blakely and Ralph A. Haugerud, USGS - June 27, 2002
Ecosystems
Estuarine Response to Habitat Restoration: Changes in Hydrodynamics and Scalar Dispersion in the Far South San Francisco Bay with Salt Pond Restoration
Lissa MacVean, University of California, Berkeley - April 3, 2008
Wetland Revival: Restoring San Francisco Bay Salt Ponds to Wetlands Habitat
Steven E. Schwarzbach, USGS - March 27, 2008
Estuarine Geomorphic Modeling: A Link in the Cascade from Climatic to Ecological Change
Neil Ganju, USGS - January 31, 2008
Fire As An Ecosystem Process: Past, Present, And Future
Jon E. Keeley, USGS - October 25, 2007
The Mojave National Preserve: Geology and Water Shape Desert Plant Communities
David Miller and John Nimmo, USGS - December 15, 2006
Science and Natural Resources Along La Frontera
Floyd Gray, USGS - February 23, 2006
Managing for Ecosystem Services: Wild Bees and Crop Pollination in Northern CA
Claire Kremen, University of California, Berkeley - February 13, 2006
Toxic Mercury in Aquatic Ecosystems: Why Quality Trumps Quantity
Mark Marvin-DiPasquale, USGS - September 29, 2005
A Delicate Balance: Salt Ponds, Wetland Restoration, and Wildlife in San Francisco Bay
A. Keith Miles and John Y. Takekawa, USGS - August 25, 2005
Sonoran Desert: Fragile Land of Extremes
Cecil Schwalbe and Todd Esque USGS - May 26, 2005
Deciphering an Estuarine Ecosystem: 35 Years of San Francisco Bay Studies
John Conomos, USGS Scientist Emeritus - January 27, 2005
Delta Revival: Restoration of a California Ecosystem
Jim Cloern, USGS - May 27, 2004
Healing the Redwood Creek Watershed: Successes and Failures in a Large-scale Watershed Restoration Program
Mary Ann Madej, USGS - September 26, 2002
Energy
Global Energy: Myths and Realities
Scott Tinker, University of Texas, Austin - January 14, 2008
Drills, Spills, and Chills: The Inside Story on USGS Estimates of Alaskan Oil and Gas Resources
Ken Bird and Rick Stanley, USGS - November 16, 2006
Gaia's Breath: Methane and the Future of Natural Gas
Keith A. Kvenvolden, USGS - April 24th, 2003
Clean Power from the Earth's Heat: The Present and Future of Geothermal Energy
John Sass, USGS - November 20, 2003
Geochemistry and Biochemistry
Old Pollutants Never DieThey Just Fade Away: The Fate of DDT on the Palos Verdes Shelf
Robert Eganhouse, USGS - October 15, 2007
Life's Chemical Kitchen: Support of Deep Terrestrial Subsurface Life by Abiogenic Hydrogen and Hydrocarbons
Barbara Sherwood-Lollar, University of Toronto - March 19, 2007
Trains, Pains, and the Legal System: Forensic Geochemistry of Two Oil Spills Affected By Methanogenic Biodegradation
Fran Hostettler, USGS - September 11, 2006
Applications of Modeling Contaminant Biodynamics: Long-term Team Research Works
Sam Luoma, USGS - February 16, 2006
The Naval Air Warfare Center (NAWC) Toxics Site: USGS Research on Transport and Biodegradation of Chlorinated Solvents in Fractured Sedimentary Rock
Claire Tiedeman, USGS - January 19, 2006
Molecular Approaches to Biogeochemistry: Linking Microbial Community Landscape Patterns to Soil Carbon Fluxes
Mark Waldrop, USGS - October 28, 2005
From Strawberry Fields to the Ozone Layer: The Methyl Bromide Story
Laurence G. Miller, USGS - June 24, 2004
Geology
Meter-sized granite basins in the Southern Sierra
Jim Moore, USGS - April 15, 2008
Carbon Dioxide Capture and Storage in Deep Geological Formations
Sally Benson, Stanford University - October 15, 2007
Dark Holes in Muir's "Range of Light": Insights from Southern Sierra Nevada Caves and Karst
John C. Tinsley, USGS - August 30, 2007
Adventures in Southwest Geology: Exploring the Colorful Southern Colorado Plateau in 3-D
Philip Stoffer, USGS - June 28, 2007
Impact! Piecing Together the Story of a Giant Meteorite Crater Beneath the Atlantic Coast
David S. Powars and R.D. Catchings, USGS - March 22, 2007
Geology on Conveyor Belts: New Ideas on Bay Area Evolution from a Decade of Geologic Mapping
Russ Graymer, USGS - June 29, 2006
What Lies Beneath? Concealed Sedimentary Basins and Hidden Oil Under Silicon Valley
Richard G. Stanley, USGS - May 25, 2006
The Winemaker's Dance: Connecting Geology and Wine in Napa Valley
David G. Howell, USGS Geologist Emeritus - September 30, 2004
Human Health
Environmental Contaminants in our Drinking Water, Breast Milk, and Our Babies: How Worried Should We Be?
Paul Winchester, Indiana University School of Medicine - January 14, 2008
Disasters, Dust, and Danger: Using Geoscience to Help Understand Whether Health Risks Lurk in Particles Produced by Disasters
Geoff Plumlee, USGS - November 15, 2007
The Evolution of Human Skin Color
Nina G. Jablonski, California Academy of Sciences - March 13, 2006
Hydrology
Cleanup on Aisle 9: The Long Lasting Legacy of Nuclear Waste
Dave Stonestrom, USGS - June 26, 2008
Cracks in the Clay: The Role of Fractures and Macropores in Critical Zone Hydrology (2008 GSA Birdsall-Dreiss Distinguished Lecture)
Larry McKay, University of Tennessee - February 26, 2008
Impacts of Changing Land Use and Land Cover on Subsurface Water Resources (2007 GSA Birdsall-Dreiss Distinguished Lecture)
Bridget R. Scanlon, University of Texas, Austin - October 4, 2007
In Search of Dam Sites: The USGS Expedition of 1923 in the Grand Canyon
Diane Boyer, USGS - November 13, 2006
Ground Water in Geologic Processes
Steve Ingebritsen, USGS - October 27, 2006
Water Odysseys: Surface-Water and Ground-Water Flow in the Santa Clara Valley
Randall T. Hanson, USGS - September 28, 2006
Water Management in the Upper Klamath Basin, OR: Historical Perspective and the Role of Optimization
Brian Wagner, USGS - December 15, 2005
Assessing Ground-Water Recharge in Arid and Semi-Arid Regions
Dave Stonestrom, USGS - September 22, 2005
Ground Water as the Foundation of Stream Restoration: Dam Removal as a Case Study
Jim Constantz and Hedeff Essaid, USGS - September 16, 2004
The Influence of Hydrogeology on 25 Years of Natural Attenuation at a Crude Oil Spill Site (2004 GSA Birdsall-Dreiss Lecture)
Barbara Bekins, USGS - May 20, 2004
Ground Water and Surface-Water flow in the Santa Clara Valley
Randall Hanson, USGS - March 25, 2004
Recent Advances in Characterizing Ground-Water Flow and Chemical Transport in Fractured Rock From Cores to Kilometers (2004 NGWA Darcy Distinguished Lecture)
Allen Shapiro, USGS - February 26, 2004
Landslides
Riding the Storm: Landslide Danger in the Bay Area Hills
Peter Lyttle, USGS - February 22, 2007
When Rocks Fall and the Land Slides: Understanding and Coping with Slope Failures
Gerald F. Wieczorek and Raymond C. Wilson, USGS - February 24, 2005
Is Your Neighborhood Going Downhill? How Landslides Threaten Bay Area Lives and Property
Raymond C. Wilson, USGS - February 27, 2003
Mapping and Remote Sensing
A Brief Primer on Remote Sensing of the Ocean (and San Francisco Bay)
Rochelle Labiosa, USGS - April 17, 2008
NASA Airborne Remote Sensing of the Bay Area
Jeff Myers, NASA - February 15, 2007
From Plane Tables to Pixels: The Revolution in Mapping at the U.S. Geological Survey
Susan P. Benjamin, USGS - November 18, 2004
Mapping the American West: Clarence King and the 40th Parallel Survey
James G. Moore, USGS - March 4, 2004
The National MapComing to Your Neighborhood: Integrating and Sharing Geographic Information in the Public Domain
Ken Osborn, USGS - May 22, 2003
Planetary Science
Roving Around Mars: Adventures in Exploring the Red Planet
Devon M. Burr & Michael H. Carr, USGS - January 22, 2004
Exploring Mars: Recent Discoveries and Upcoming Missions
Michael H. Carr, USGS - January 30, 2003
Plate Tectonics
Plate Tectonics in Action: Exploring the Earth with the New Edition of This Dynamic Planet Map and Web Site
Robert Tilling and Stephen Kirby, USGS - July 26, 2007
The Structure of Mantle Plumes—Insights from Geochemical and Isotopic Studies in Hawaii
Dominique Weis, University of British Columbia - April 23, 2007
Subduction, Seismicity, and Serpentinization: Capturing a Subduction Event
Patty Fryer, University of Hawaii - April 10, 2006
Secrets in Stone: The Role of Paleomagnetism in the Evolution of Plate Tectonic Theory
Jack Hillhouse, USGS - July 29, 2004
Polar Science
Exploring Antarctica's Frozen Frontier: The USGS Antarctic Program from the 1957 International Geophysical Year to the 2007 International Polar Year
Jerry Mullins, USGS and John Behrendt, USGS Scientist Emeritus - December 13, 2007
Frozen in Time: How Ice Cores Are Revealing the Composition and Temperature of Earth's Atmosphere During the Past Million Years
Todd Hinkley, USGS - December 8, 2005
Tsunamis
Tsunamis: Lessons and Questions from the Indian Ocean Disaster
Eric L. Geist, Bruce E. Jaffe, and Brian F. Atwater, USGS - June 30, 2005
December 2004 Tsunami Disaster: Reports from Field Teams in Sumatra and Sri Lanka
Guy Gelfenbaum and Bruce Jaffe, USGS - February 17, 2005
Volcanoes
Controls on Magma Ascent and Eruption—The Mount St. Helens Perspective
Kathy Cashman, University of Oregon - February 8, 2008
The Indonesian Mud Crisis: Long-lived Mud "Eruption" Inundates Housing and Infrastructure
Thomas J. Casadevall, USGS - January 30, 2008
Probing Volcanoes: Advances in Understanding and Coping with their Hazards
Robert L. Christiansen and Robert I. Tilling, USGS - December 16, 2004
Beneath Crater Lake: An Underwater Volcanic Llandscape Tells a Complex Tale
Charles R. Bacon and David W. Ramsey, USGS - September 25, 2003
Molten Paradise
Robert I. Tilling, USGS - July 31st, 2003
Hawaii's Volcanoes—Never a Dull Moment! 20 Years of Eruption at Kïlauea and Waiting for Mauna Loa
Don Swanson, USGS - December 12, 2002
Miscellaneous
Unscientific Publishing: Top Ten Reasons to Worry about the Future of Scientific Publications
Brooks Hansen, Science Magazine - February 15, 2007
A Brief (90min) Guide to Scientific Writing and Publishing (special tutorial)
Jim Cloern, USGS - November 15, 2006
Earth Science Findings with Foreign Policy Implications
John Kelmelis, USGS and U.S. Department of State - May 19, 2006
Serving California's Needs: How the California Geological Survey Identifies and Maps Natural Hazards, Promotes the State's Economy, and Protects Public Health and Safety
George J. Saucedo and Keith L. Knudson, California Geological Survey - January 26, 2006
Science, Society, and the Survey: 50 Years of the USGS in Menlo Park
David G. Howell, USGS - April 22, 2004