Jascha Polet

Shakemap for the magnitude 4.27 earthquake mentioned in this post.

A magnitude 4.27 earthquake occurred 4 km ESE of San Ramon, CA on February 2nd, 2026 at 3:01:13 PM GMT

https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/nc75305736

RIP to the QUEEN, Catherine O’Hara. 💔

US science after a year of Trump: what has been lost and what remains A series of graphics reveals how the Trump administration has sought historic cuts to science and the research workforce.

This immersive data visualization will help you comprehend the scope of historic cuts to grants and the research workforce:

www.nature.com/immersive/d4...

By @maxkozlov.bsky.social Jeff Tollefson & @dangaristo.bsky.social, edited by @richmonastersky.bsky.social

(2/n) 🧪

Map of past seismicity around the M4.9 Indio earthquake using many different catalogs and the Generic Mapping Tools software

Quick map of the M4.9 #earthquake near Indio, CA, and its current aftershock sequence (with blue outlines). Located about 15 km from the 1992 Joshua Tree quake and consistent with past strike slip faulting in the area. ⚒️🧪

Consider me the vampire who moved to Italy and watched the US change in a few months..

It was fascinating to see the similarities between these and the petroglyphs I have seen in the western US!

Thank you!

You are very welcome!

Yes, there are also glacial striations on the rocks! Life in Italy is good, how quickly things seem to have changed in the US..

I haven’t posted for a while, because I just don’t know what to say anymore…
But here are some prehistoric rock scratchings in Valcamonica that I found amazing, so maybe some of you will enjoy them too.

Photograph from 1911 taken by Herbert Ponting whilst with Scott's Antarctic Expedition The monochrome photo is taken from within a cave. The walls of the cave are made of ice. The cave entrance is in the mid distance with two figures standing looking out towards a distant ship. Between them and the ship there is first a 'beach' of ice before the sea itself. The ship could be up to 800 metres away What makes the photo so special is that where the figures are at the cave entrance there is a band of very white snow and ice (contrasting with the comparatively dark inside of the cave) that creates a stark framework in which the men and the ship are captured. It is made even more dramatic by the fact that the cave entrance is at least 30 metres high and is in the shape of a distorted elipse with the tail sloping off to the right at the top of the elipse The photo being in monochrome in a largely white environment makes the photographers skill all the more laudable

This photo was taken in 1911 using glass plate technology by Herbert Ponting who was part of Scott's Antarctic expedition,

The composition and detail are exquisite with the band of white snow/ice creating a perfect frame around the two people and the ship in the distance

Iconic imo

Rock avalanche below Mt King George triggered by the 6 December 2025 Hubbard Glacier Earthquake. The runout distance is 1.4 km.

A sensational guest post by Derek Cronmiller, Theron Finley Panya Lipovsky and Jan Dettmer of the Yukon Geological Survey: Photos and Preliminary Observations from an Overview Flight of the 6 December 2025 Hubbard Glacier Earthquake, Yukon Territory, Canada.
eos.org/thelandslide...

New Year Office Chitchat How was your Christmas? you ask and I think of the bloodstained rug and the silent scraping of the spade in the garden at midnight and the wash wash washing of my hands and the dreams, those endless dreams which haunt the night-time and smudge their thumbprints on the day to come and I reply Super, thanks. Yours?

This poem is dedicated to anyone heading back into work and having to endure dull conversation about what they got up to during the Christmas holidays.

‘Every Single Dollar Mattered’: Donations Save Museum of the Earth From Foreclosure Just days before a year-end foreclosure deadline, the Museum of the Earth has paid off its mortgage following a wide fundraising campaign that rescued the Ithaca area landmark.

ACTUAL GOOD NEWS EVERYONE: The Paleontological Research Institution and the Museum of the Earth have made it through the crisis!

Thanks to everyone who shared or donated-every donation mattered! Please share the good news just as widely!⚒️🧪🦑 Together we did #savePRI

www.ithaca.com/news/ithaca/...

There’s a kitten rescuer whose videos I love, but she’s clearly been rescuing kittens for so long that she’s run out of cute names

Every new video has the cutest kittens you ever seen, with a caption like, “Meet the Roofing Materials kittens: Tar Paper, Shingles, and Fiberglass!”

Gas line explosion in Castaic prompts 5 Freeway closure, shelter-in-place order Los Angeles County firefighters were responding to a gas line explosion in Castaic on Saturday, which prompted the California Highway Patrol to close a portion of the 5 Freeway and the Fire Department...

Holy moly. Landslide ruptured buried gas line which caused an explosion (apparently?) and now a major N/S artery from Central Cal to SoCal is still shut down.
www.latimes.com/california/s...

Make a Bond movie academic

Tomorrow Never Hires

Molly's Holiday Fundraiser 2025 Make Winter Merry and Bright in Honor of Fergus

I love Christmas and normally I'd be getting so excited right about now, but this year I'm a little down because it's our first holiday since we lost Fergus. I'm hoping I can spread some cheer and regain a little spirit myself by raising some funds for our local shelter! givebutter.com/n5l31M

4 extra seconds of daylight let's goooooo

Russ Vought (piss man) tweet about doing piss man shit: The National Science Foundation will be breaking up the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colorado. This facility is one of the largest sources of climate alarmism in the country. A comprehensive review is underway & any vital activities such as weather research will be moved to another entity or location.

NSF is about to dismantle NCAR at Russell Vought's direction to protect the fossil fuel industry. It's hard to communicate just how much NCAR does, so let's take a look: I've never worked at NCAR, and I've worked with NCAR researchers once ever. What scientific discoveries has NCAR made possible? 👇

But don’t worry! To help fight burn out, teachers will be required to take a weekly workshop on how to avoid burn out! With a required online quiz after!

BREAKING: ‘This hurts’: UNL eliminates 4 programs despite faculty, student pleas The University of Nebraska-Lincoln eliminates the Earth and atmospheric sciences 8-0, educational administration 7-1, statistics 7-1, textiles, merchandising and fashion design 7-1 programs.

It's over.

Despite the fact that the academic council recommended against it, despite the fact that the program brought in more tuition than it cost, and despite the fact that Nebraskans need & deserve this expertise, Earth & Atmospheric Sciences will be cut.

www.dailynebraskan.com/news/adminis...

Made a little animated GIF showing the demise of the V3 camera at the summit of Kīlauea during today's eruption. #hawaii #volcano

Larger scale map for Yakutat earthquake

And for a larger scale tectonic picture, including the Denali earthquake, I generated this map.

Current screenshot of Kilauea USGS webcam

Also, you should really check out Kilauea right now! ⚒️🌋
www.youtube.com/live/tk0tfYD...

Historical earthquake map for the region of today’s M6.9 Yakutat earthquake generated by Jascha Polet using GMT.

M6.9 Yakutat #earthquake is located very close to the border of the USA and Canada. Preliminary results from GFZ Potsdam indicate relatively high non double couple component with oblique mechanism. ⚒️🧪

Trains cancelled over fake bridge collapse image Rail services were cancelled after a 'hoax' picture of a damaged bridge appeared on social media

After a 3.3-magnitude earthquake in north-west England on Wednesday night, "Trains were halted after a suspected AI-generated picture that seemed to show major damage to a bridge appeared on social media".

So there we are 😱

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

NASA Selects 2 Instruments for Artemis IV Lunar Surface Science - NASA Science NASA has selected two science instruments designed for astronauts to deploy on the surface of the Moon during the Artemis IV mission to the lunar south polar

Big news! We have a follow-up to Farside Seismic Suite called South Pole Seismic Station selected that will build a new seismic station that can be deployed by Artemis IV astronauts including an active source survey. More to come, but here's the release: science.nasa.gov/missions/art...

I got so many things to say I don’t even know where to start. But this right here is why we NEED better earth science in K-12 🤦🏻‍♀️

Earthquakes in England always feel like a truck has hit the house! ⚒️