Lily Dove

Delighted that one of my Antarctic winter photos has won the 2025 Royal Society Photography Competition, Earth Science & Climatology category.

Captured during polar-night surveys of ocean conditions near Antarctic Peninsula glaciers.

royalsociety.org/journals/pub...

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s data has been crucial in predicting and guiding preparation efforts for severe weather events across the country, especially throughout hurricane season.

A True Expert Scientist Knows What They Don’t Know | Essay Textbooks are a false front for human knowledge. Science textbooks, at least. In high school, I eagerly read the biology textbook and the chemistry textbook and the physics textbook. Every question po...

“I have found that the longer I exist as an expert in my own field of science, the less I like to assert a piece of knowledge with great certainty.”

Beautiful writing that is helping me reflect on my assumptions in oceanography (and all the other amazing things I have the honor of learning!). 🌊

Things that will get you kicked out of academia forever:
- taking maternity leave at the wrong time
- spending too much time with your kids
- reporting harassment
- not moving every 2-3 years
- taking a partner's job/preferences into account
- mouthing off before tenure

The notion that someone who is in their 20's can't have experienced climate change (supposedly due to an IPCC definition) is utter crap. It's embarrassing for a supposedly serious academic to be so disingenuous.

Some seminars were better than others! But I do think it generally was better in my time, thanks to advocacy by folks in the department and the general cultural shift you mentioned.

👀 classic Caltech energy

Taking solace in the great Isabel Allende's words today:

"The patriarchy is stony. Feminism, like the ocean, is fluid, powerful, deep and encompasses the infinite complexity of life; it moves in waves, currents, tides and sometimes in storms. Like the ocean, feminism never stays quiet."

I feel like "the ocean makes half the O2 we breathe" is the chemical oceanographers version of the "gulf stream = AMOC" misunderstanding physical oceanographers deal with... 🌊

Oops already did that

Argo, the 'crown jewel' of ocean observing systems, turns 25 - NOAA/AOML This month marks 25 years since Argo floats began drifting with currents and diving for data. The array has helped scientists to...

One person dresses in all yellow and sticks an antenna on their head

www.aoml.noaa.gov/argo-the-cro...

Volunteers Step In to Help Understaffed NOAA Track Hurricane Melissa

“Dr. Marks is one of a handful of NOAA retirees who have been working on a volunteer basis this hurricane season to make sure that the significant improvements in forecasting capabilities over recent decades can continue despite large staff losses orchestrated by the Trump administration”

Just re-read Ancillary Justice after a decade, for the upcoming Reading Circle meeting.

Here is a book that has aged spectacularly well. Twelve years after publication, still feels every bit the genre-defining novel that it was when it was written.

Deciding that someone is unable to perform a physical job due to a disability, without ever once including that person in the conversation or hearing their expertise on their own body, directly violates their civil rights.

Science does this regularly, has for generations, and it’s never been okay.

Hi David, I’d love to be added. Thanks!

JPL Workforce Decimated - Eos NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif., laid off 550 people, a roughly 11% reduction of its workforce.

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory laid off 11% of its staff today, including many people working on an active Mars rover mission. “There’s no whitewashing the ‘doomsday-eve’ feeling that's looming over all our heads,” wrote one JPL’er. eos.org/research-and...

M.I.T. Rejects a White House Offer for Special Funding Treatment

No committee needed. Proud alumna today. 🦫🧪

“Fundamentally, the premise of the document is inconsistent with our core belief that scientific funding should be based on scientific merit alone.”

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/10/u...

‘Wholesale destruction’: Government shutdown or not, critical science programs are at risk The Trump administration has proposed devastating cuts to federal Earth and climate science programs, and a government shutdown could give them an opportunity to begin implementing those cuts.

In the event of a shutdown, the Office of Management and Budget is recommending reductions in force (layoffs) for “all employees” in all “programs, projects, or activities” that are “not consistent with the President’s priorities.”

What does that mean for US Earth and climate science?

After Trump cut the National Science Foundation by 56 percent, a venerable Arctic research center closes its doors The Arctic Research Consortium of the United States funded programs that aided Indigenous communities and tracked melting sea ice, among dozens of initiatives.

"After nearly 40 years, the Arctic Research Consortium of the United States, or ARCUS, will close September 30."

"The Arctic Research Consortium of the United States funded programs that aided Indigenous communities and tracked melting sea ice, among dozens of initiatives."

Ooh, good tip. Thanks!

(Hope you’re doing well, fellow Dr. Dove!)

Non-fiction:
- Braiding Sweetgrass (Robin Hall Kimmerer)
- This Changes Everything (Naomi Klein)
- Fire Weather (John Vaillant)

Fiction:
- Parable of the Sower (Octavia Butler)
- The Fifth Season (NK Jemisin)
Not strictly climate or environment buuuut - To Be Taught, If Fortunate (Becky Chambers)

Mr. Wright falsely claimed that critics of an Energy Department report — written by five researchers who reject the established scientific consensus that the burning of oil, gas and coal is dangerously heating the planet — did not dispute any of the report’s data or facts. “They just didn’t like that the conclusion of our report was, climate change is a real physical phenomenon that’s unfolding, it’s just not the crisis it’s often sold to be.” In fact, 85 scientists submitted a sweeping critique of the report detailing a litany of inaccuracies, including claims that sea level rise is not accelerating; that more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere will help plants grow; and that computer models exaggerate future temperature increases. The American Meteorological Society, a leading science organization, also outlined what it called “foundational flaws” in the report. And the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, the nation’s leading scientific advisory body, also contradicted the Energy Department report, saying the evidence that greenhouse gases threaten human health has only grown over time.

this is sooooooo f'ing sweet. every time Sec. Chris Wright lies about the DOE Climate Working Group report, reporters cite our response.

Fantastic news! Looking forward to seeing this in action. 🌊

Over 14,000 physicians currently practicing in the United States, concentrated in underserved Midwestern+Southern states, are currently working on H-1B visas.

This is the high-skill visa program, lifeblood for critical sectors, that the US Administration is sledgehammering.

doi.org/10.1007/s116...

Wow, Tom's blog made my day! Thanks for sharing.

You're still an astronaut in my heart! 👩‍🚀 🤍

Text messages. First one says: “Thank you! Good luck with writing today!” The reply is: “Thank you I will try but it is possible that I will fold completely and become a floor-puddle of stress and failure. We'll see!”

I have a manuscript due, it’s going fine

9/16/25: Happy Pythagorean Triple Square Day!

(3^2 + 4^2 = 5^2)

Featuring perhaps one of my favorite figures I've ever seen! Shoutout to the authorship team.

Mentees absolutely benefit from high-quality mentoring. Turns out so do the mentors! The Mentoring Physical Oceanography Women to Increase Retention (MPOWIR) program shows it with 20 years of data. 🌊 🧪