Third Pod from the Sun

About 11,000 years ago, the Sahara desert turned green. The region received ten times the rain that falls there now, filling lakes and supporting savannahs, woodlands, and human communities. This was not the first time our species had encountered a green Sahara. Every 20,000 years or so, the wobble in Earth’s axis called precession brings the northern hemisphere a little closer to the Sun in summer, and more rain to the Sahara. The wet period ended abruptly, 5,000 years ago, leaving rock art and artifacts in the sand. But the people were not gone, they had just moved. As the sands took back the Sahara, people congregated along the Nile valley, and the Egyptian civilizations arose.

Our guest Jessica Tierney is interested in how climate changes influence human migrations. Tierney is a paleoclimatologist at the University of Arizona in Tucson where she studies past climate change, from the time of the dinosaurs, to the human diaspora 60,000 years ago, to more modern shifts in North America’s own Southwest monsoon. She learns about Earth’s past climate from mud laid down on the ocean floor over the millennia like a column stretching backward in time. In this centennial episode, she reveals the secrets of the mud, how humans may have weathered climate swings of the past, and what the past can tell us about our warming world.

This episode was produced by Liza Lester and mixed by Collin Warren.

If you are interested in how scientists core mud from the bottom of the ocean, don’t miss our past episode “Deep sea drilling with Dawn.”

Snapping shrimp are small but mighty creatures: they’re only a few inches long but are among the noisiest animals in the ocean. The loud cracking noise they make when snapping their claws sounds almost like a gunshot, and when enough shrimp snap at once, the din can be louder than the roar of a passenger jet flying overhead.

Snapping shrimp are typically found in warm, shallow subtropical waters all over the world. But in 2016, researchers at Oregon State University discovered snapping shrimp inhabiting the Oregon coast for the very first time. They now suspect the crackling of the shrimp’s claws may serve as a dinner bell for eastern Pacific gray whales residing in those waters.

In this episode, ocean acoustics specialist Joe Haxel describes the myriad of animals that contribute to Earth’s underwater soundscape, including fish that growl and crabs that scratch their backs. Joe discusses how he and his colleagues identified snapping shrimp by their characteristic racket and what the presence of snapping shrimp means for marine life along the Oregon coast.

This episode was produced by Lauren Lipuma and mixed by Kayla Surrey.

Hawaii is frequently described as a paradise in the Pacific Ocean, but for some scientists conducting field work, there can be some challenges to overcome. In this special episode, Kate Brauman, the lead scientist at the Global Water Initiative at the University of Minnesota, describes her field work experiences in Kona on the big island of Hawaii. Kate's research into land use and its impact on the ground water supply required her to work in “extremely rocky muck,” fend off cattle, and try to protect sensitive equipment from corrosive "vog."

Kate also details working in the fog belt on Hawaii, and how forest canopy vs. pasture land can affect the amount of water flowing through the soil. Through this research in Hawaii, as well as other areas across the globe, Kate recognizes and discusses the importance of water management solutions that take local values and needs into account.

This episode was produced by Katie Broendel, Shane M Hanlon, and Liza Lester and mixed by Adell Coleman.

In 1959, the United States built an unusual military base under the surface of the Greenland ice Sheet. Camp Century was a hub for scientific research, but it also doubled as a top-secret site for testing the feasibility of deploying nuclear missiles from the Arctic. When Camp Century was decommissioned in 1967, its infrastructure and waste were abandoned under the assumption they would be forever entombed beneath the colossal sheet of ice.

But climate change has warmed the Arctic more than any other region on Earth, and parts of the Greenland Ice Sheet are melting faster than snow can accumulate. What will happen in the coming decades if the melting ice exposes the biological, chemical, and radioactive waste left behind at Camp Century?

In this episode, University of Colorado Boulder glaciologist Mike MacFerrin recounts Camp Century’s intriguing history and its role in the Cold War. He discusses the potential hazard Camp Century’s waste poses to the environment and surrounding communities and examines what, if anything, should be done about it now.

Water is the most essential of essentials. We can survive weeks without food but only days without water. And it’s something that many of us take for granted. But water is not as plentiful, available, and clean in all parts of the world. And with climate change, water is going to become (and is already) a limited resource to some.

From Arizona to Katmandu, Chris Scott, Research Professor of Water Resources Policy at The University of Arizona, has traversed the globe to learn how we use water, problems populations are facing with contamination and access, and to work with governments, residents, and other stakeholders to ensure that everyone has access to clean, abundant water. In this episode, Chris told us some amazing stories of the places he’s traveled to, the people that he’s met, and the challenges that he’s faced.

Third Pod from the Sun is all about the scientists and the methods behind the science. And who better to talk to about going the extra mile for results than photographer and star of the film Chasing Ice, James Balog?

For three decades, James has broken new conceptual and artistic ground on one of the most important issues of our era: human modification of our planet’s natural systems. He and his Extreme Ice Survey team are featured in the 2012 internationally acclaimed, Emmy award-winning documentary Chasing Ice and in the PBS/NOVA special, Extreme Ice. His photos have been extensively published in major magazines, including National Geographic, and exhibited at museums and galleries worldwide. His new film The Human Element, is an innovative—perhaps even revolutionary— look at how humanity interacts with earth, air, fire and water. The film will be released later this year.

We were fortunate to be able to sit down with James at AGU’s Fall Meeting in 2018 for a live interview. In this three-part series, we talked about how he became a photographer, some of his most memorable (and dangerous) moments in the field, and how his work and experiences have shaped him into the climate activist he is now.

Third Pod from the Sun is all about the scientists and the methods behind the science. And who better to talk to about going the extra mile for results than photographer and star of the film Chasing Ice, James Balog?

For three decades, James has broken new conceptual and artistic ground on one of the most important issues of our era: human modification of our planet’s natural systems. He and his Extreme Ice Survey team are featured in the 2012 internationally acclaimed, Emmy award-winning documentary Chasing Ice and in the PBS/NOVA special, Extreme Ice. His photos have been extensively published in major magazines, including National Geographic, and exhibited at museums and galleries worldwide. His new film The Human Element, is an innovative—perhaps even revolutionary— look at how humanity interacts with earth, air, fire and water. The film will be released later this year.

We were fortunate to be able to sit down with James at AGU’s Fall Meeting in 2018 for a live interview. In this three-part series, we talked about how he became a photographer, some of his most memorable (and dangerous) moments in the field, and how his work and experiences have shaped him into the climate activist he is now.

Third Pod from the Sun is all about the scientists and the methods behind the science. And who better to talk to about going the extra mile for results than photographer and star of the film Chasing Ice, James Balog?

For three decades, James has broken new conceptual and artistic ground on one of the most important issues of our era: human modification of our planet’s natural systems. He and his Extreme Ice Survey team are featured in the 2012 internationally acclaimed, Emmy award-winning documentary Chasing Ice and in the PBS/NOVA special, Extreme Ice. His photos have been extensively published in major magazines, including National Geographic, and exhibited at museums and galleries worldwide. His new film The Human Element, is an innovative—perhaps even revolutionary— look at how humanity interacts with earth, air, fire and water. The film will be released later this year.

We were fortunate to be able to sit down with James at AGU’s Fall Meeting in 2018 for a live interview. In this three-part series, we talked about how he became a photographer, some of his most memorable (and dangerous) moments in the field, and how his work and experiences have shaped him into the climate activist he is now.

Kathy Crane is a true adventurer. As one of the first women in the field of marine geophysics in the 1970s, she hypothesized and then helped discover the existence of hydrothermal vents on the Galápagos Rift along the East Pacific Rise in the mid-1970s and was one the first people to see many of the strange creatures that make their home in this improbable environment.

Using a temperature-monitoring system that she developed for a a deep-tow seafloor towing system, she discovered temperature anomalies, as well as seafloor images of volcanic features, which provided strong support for her hypothesis about the existence of hydrothermal vents – cracks in the crust of the deep ocean floor where tectonic plates move away or towards one another, thereby releasing by hot magma that forms vents that heat the surrounding cold seawater.

Aboard the submersible Alvin, she also discovered never before seen animal life – mussels, clams, and most beautifully, tube worms – where it was once thought impossible, all of which led to led to the discovery of the biological process of chemosynthesis. Of the tube worms, Kathy said “they looked like roses. Pristine white stems that were part of the worm, and they were fixed holdfast onto the basalt rocks below them, and at the top was a head that was scarlet red with, looked like, pink petals coming out, which is where it got all its nutrients and everything taking the chemistry off of the ocean water. Absolutely beautiful place.”

Throughout, she had to deal with scientists sabotaging each other, build tools never used in the deepest marine environments, and survive aboard sea rickety research vessels. This episode of Third Pod has it all!