Duncan Young

Scanning Ice for Monster Cracks, on This World and Another

Joint UTIG/MSU team in action at Thwaites Glacier! www.nytimes.com/2026/01/27/c...

Everyone getting excited about #AGU25??

To keep up with the madness, I've updated my AGU conference feeds! Collects posts from the official AGU account, + #AGU25 and #AGU2025 hashtags

AGU 2025 is chronological: bsky.app/profile/did:...

What's Hot AGU25 for algorithm sort: bsky.app/profile/did:...

You: building your #AGU25 schedule
🤝
Me: providing you a GIF-ed list of #AGU25 talks from GT Cryo group members and friends for you to add to your schedule 🧵

NASA’s Europa Clipper Radar Instrument Proves Itself at Mars - NASA The agency’s largest interplanetary probe tested its radar during a Mars flyby. The results include a detailed image and bode well for the mission at

First light for the REASON radar on Europa Clipper, taken from Mars, the first stop on our way to the Jupiter system in 2030! No subsurface echoes were expected in this part of the red planet, but some great measurements of the surface of Mars. More coming at #AGU25! www.nasa.gov/missions/eur... 🧪🚀🪐

Will anyone review this paper? Screening, sorting, and the feedback cycles that imperil peer review Scholarly publishing relies on peer review to identify the best science. Yet finding willing and qualified reviewers to evaluate manuscripts has become an increasingly challenging task, possibly even ...

1. Kevin Gross and I just posted a new science-of-science preprint.

This one explores the looming peer review crisis. As many of you know, it's becoming significantly more difficult for journal editors to find scholars willing to serve as peer reviewers for submitted manuscripts.

This is awesome. This Mars lander version of Voyager would die, being coupled to Saturn as a launch vehicle, before being reincarnated as Viking (great history here www.nasa.gov/wp-content/u...). These notebooks probably have the full evolution! Echoes of Europa Clipper's story.

A map showing the topography of Antarctica, without ice

We’ve just published the most detailed map yet of the landscape beneath Antarctica’s ice sheet (called Bedmap3), and we learnt some pretty cool facts about Antarctica that you can use to impress your pals. Ready?

Graphic: Hamish Pritchard et al

And here is the view from the Moon!

Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost lunar lander took this image of the eclipse around 3:30 am CDT on March 14 from the Moon’s Mare Crisium. It shows the Sun about to emerge from totality behind Earth.

Credit: Firefly Aerospace
fireflyspace.com/news/blue-gh...

Pattern of CO2 over the past 66 Million years. The curve begins around 720ppm, peaks at 1600ppm 51 Million years ago and then declines toward today when a marked increase in CO2 is observed that is caused by human CO2 emissions.

For the first time ever, recorded atmospheric CO₂ has exceeded 430ppm! The last time CO₂ consistently reached today’s human-driven levels was ∼14 Million years ago, with shorter periods of similar levels around 3-5 Million years ago.
1/3

Looks like the DC sites have been pulled from the list?

DOGE’s Chaos Reaches Antarctica Daily life at US-run Antarctic stations has already been disrupted. Scientists worry that the long-term impacts could upend not only important research but the continent’s delicate geopolitics.

Daily life at US-run Antarctic stations has already been disrupted. Scientists worry that the long-term impacts could upend not only important research but the continent’s delicate geopolitics.

I think having reviews in hand will help whoever has to pick up the pieces in a hurry. And given the dubious legality of these firings, I wouldn’t be surprised if the piece picker uppers ended up being the people who got fired…

N.S.F. Cuts Raise Fears of a Reduced U.S. Presence in Polar Regions (Gift Article) The National Science Foundation has fired workers at the office that manages polar research, raising fears about a reduced U.S. presence in two strategic regions.

The Antarctic part of the NSF/Office of Polar Programs was particularly exposed to the recent firings, due to a bunch of turnover during the last few years - ironically they were recovering from that by converting temporary rotators from academia to permanent staff.
www.nytimes.com/2025/02/25/c...

Upon learning that yesterday would be my last day as a program officer at the National Science Foundation, I shared this parting message with my colleagues. The next few months will be frenetic and stressful for them. Here are some things that you can do to help them with the mission ahead. (1)

Apparently New Zealand has a new, somewhat misconceived, tourism logo. New Zealanders are making the most of it.

1. Today the NIH director issued a new directive slashing overhead rates to 15%.

I want to provide some context on what that means and why it matters.

grants.nih.gov/grants/guide...

a cartoon says hey everybody an old man 's talking while bart simpson looks on ALT: a cartoon says hey everybody an old man 's talking while bart simpson looks on

A Primer on Indirect Cost Rates

1/ Here's my take on what's happening with DOGE.

I've got fed experience through contracting with Health & Human Safety, Head Start, The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and DOD. I get brought in when people need to get shit done. Other people here have way more experience than me.

a cartoon says hey everybody an old man 's talking while bart simpson looks on ALT: a cartoon says hey everybody an old man 's talking while bart simpson looks on

Bluetorial-A dream and a bit of a nightmare

Serving as Editor-in-Chief at Science was fascinating. I greatly enjoyed working with talented and committed editorial, news, graphics, and production staff. But the inside look into scientific publishing and AAAS was also deeply disillusioning.

An infrared light echo traveling from the lower left through the upper right of the image. The image is speckled with dozens of white stars, some showing Webb’s signature 8-point diffraction spikes, against the black background of space. The image also shows tightly packed, glowing red filaments that resemble muscle fibers or wood grain.⁣ Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, J. Jencson (Caltech/IPAC)⁣

genuinely this just became one of my favorite jwst images ever. it looks like a cosmic painting!!!

what a GREAT way to start 2025.

Hydroclimate volatility on a warming Earth Nature Reviews Earth & Environment - Rapid transitions between extreme wet and extreme dry conditions — ‘hydroclimate whiplash’ — have marked environmental and societal...

Our paper on "Hydroclimate volatility on a Warming Earth" is out in Nature Reviews Earth & Environment. We assess existing scientific literature & conduct new analysis--concluding that "#HydroclimateWhiplash" is increasing due to #ClimateChange. [Thread] www.nature.com/artic...

Million year-old bubbles could solve ice age mystery - BBC News What is probably the world's oldest ice, dating back 1.2m years ago, has been dug out from deep within Antarctica.

Huge congratulations to the ‘Beyond EPICA’ team for pushing the ice-core reconstruction of Earth’s atmosphere back to 1,200,000 years at Little Dome C!
🥳👏

www.bbc.com/news/article...

Throughout my career I’ve collected a nice set of Strong Opinions about relatively unimportant things. Here’s one: Don’t end your talk with a slide that just says “Thanks!” or “Questions?” The slide that remains up during audience questions should be a summary of your main points

That’s Radar of course #firstpost

First post! I’ll be attempting an “elightening“ presentation here at #agu2024 as part of the FAIR and CARE polar data session in theater 2 late this afternoon. Come for a chat about the Open Polar Rhadar project.