Surfing CalifornIA
Though it didn’t originate here, surfing has inspired countless publications, movies, videos, songs, and works of art that have propagated across the globe from the Golden State. Surfing has...
Environment
Are Yet More Weather Records About to Fall?
Just this past week, a monstrous heat wave broke temperature records in many parts of the state — especially in the Bay Area and several Central Valley cities. And...
Storm Chasing in the California Desert
When temperatures rise during early summer, residents of the desert and mountain Southwest U.S. begin anticipating the arrival of their annual monsoon season. (1) Welcome to our first in...
Unprecedented Drought, Heat, and Fire Repeat in the West, 2021
It has become an unfortunate and disturbing annual Golden State dance during the last several years. Severe drought plagues the majority of the state, followed by extended record heat...
Natural History of a Grain of Sand
While strolling along a California beach, stream, or riverbed, or plodding over a sand dune, you may not realize that there is a captivating world of natural history at...
Badlands In a New York Minute?
When it comes to erosional landforms, badlands are the speed demons of geomorphology.
Adventures of a Water Drop, California Style
Forward: An Autobiographical Synopsis Let me introduce myself. I am a California water drop. I condensed from billions of water vapor molecules in the air above the North Pacific...
All The Hills Are Brown and The Sky Is Blue …
While it is nice having warm, clear weather in January, the California sunshine that fuels this weather is a doubled-edged sword for the Golden State. As they say, all sunshine makes a desert.
Desert Quakes and Ancient Lakes: Geopostcards from Searles Valley
In early July 2019, a series of powerful earthquakes fractured the desert, generating violent seismic waves that eventually rippled across the state and dissipated into California’s distant cities. A...
COVID-free Spaces in Pandemic Places: Coping with COVID-19 across California
As the COVID-19 pandemic peaks again in the fall and drags on into winter, 2020, it is our duty to provide this update, our latest attempt to make a...
