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Earth Science

sand dunes against an ocean background

California has lost more than half of its coastal sand dunes, first-ever comprehensive assessment reveals

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Whitecaps stir up on the ocean surface under dark clouds
Photo Credit
Oporkka via iStock
Climate dynamics can be quite nuanced, with far off winds influencing tropical oceans.

Distant winds can drive massive tropical warming deep below the ocean surface
Sunbeams filter down on a algae-covered rocks on a shallow seafloor.
Photo Credit
Johan Holmdahl via iStock
Oxygenated seafloors were likely the cradle of eukaryotic life.

Early complex life clung to oxygenated seafloors for hundreds of millions of years
a patient intake form, a stethoscope and a red ribbon that symbolizes HIV

HIV patients are especially vulnerable to extreme weather events
Earth from space, centered on North America
Photo Credit
NASA

Moving beyond money to measure the true value of Earth science information
A forest sits atop an eroding bluff.
Photo Credit
Maksim Safaniuk via iStock
Anna Trugman researches how plants respond to climate change, while Gen Li studies erosion and weathering — the natural processes that break down rocks and transport sediment.

Two UCSB professors recognized for contributions to the Earth sciences
A young man places a small orange box of electronics near a bush on the seashore with
Photo Credit
Elena Zhukova
There’s a cacophony of acoustic signals below the range of human hearing, many quite intense, that you can pick up with the right “ears.”

Scientists tune in to the surf’s hidden signals
A turbid river flows down from the mountains through a mixed woodland. Gravel, cobbles, and boulders line the river channel. Clouds obscure the very peaks of the mountains above the trees.
Photo Credit
Sergey Kuznetsov via iStock
Rivers wash mountains to the sea. How quickly they do this has major implications for natural hazards and fundamental Earth science.

Years after an earthquake, rivers still carry the mountains downstream
A half-corroded barrel seeps toxic waste into the seafloor.
Photo Credit
Courtesy Image
Untold amounts of toxic waste were carelessly, though legally, disposed of off the California coast. Their presence continues to haunt human and wildlife health.

Award-winning documentary explores the unfinished tale of DDT
The Earth gradually becoming whiter.
Photo Credit
Matt Perko
On its own, Earth would shift toward another ice age in about 10,000 years, scientists say. But humanity’s greenhouse gas emissions may have radically shifted the climates trajectory.

Scientists match Earth’s ice age cycles with orbital shifts
A researcher in a hardhat looks off to the right on a boat.
Photo Credit
Courtesy Image

Professor David Valentine’s toxic waste discovery featured in LA Times documentary at SBIFF
artist rendition of asteroid hitting Earth's atmosphere

Researchers model airbursts, a common yet little-understood cosmic impact process
Left to right: Anna Boser, Naomi Tague, David Valentine, and Leander Anderegg.
Photo Credit
UC Santa Barbara
Left to right: Anna Boser, Naomi Tague, David Valentine, and Leander Anderegg.

UCSB faculty and students among the American Geophysical Union’s 2024 honorees
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