From the Field: Thar She Blows!
Scripps Institution of Oceanography
Published: 9 July 2012
Scripps Ph.D. student Valeria Sahakian helped locate a sunken fin whale off La Jolla using geophysical tools, enabling long-term study of whale decomposition and its link to seep ecosystems near San Diego.
Keywords: fin whale, San Diego seeps, Scripps, geophysics, whale fall, deep-sea ecosystem, multibeam sonar
Research Highlight: Not of this World
Scripps Institution of Oceanography
Published: 25 July 2012
Scripps researcher James Day found that precious metals like platinum arrived on Earth via asteroid collisions just 2–3 million years after the solar system formed, reshaping our understanding of planetary development.
Keywords: precious metals, asteroid impacts, platinum, Earth formation, Scripps, planetary cores, meteorites
Voyager: Why are clouds made of water? How do they form?
Scripps Institution of Oceanography
Published: 14 August 2012
Clouds form when humid air cools and water vapor condenses onto aerosols like dust or sea salt, forming droplets or ice crystals—making water the only Earth substance to exist naturally in all three states.
Keywords: cloud formation, water vapor, condensation, aerosols, climate, ice crystals, Joel Norris
