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Congratulations to Dr. Katja E. Luxem for successfully defending her Ph.D. Thesis

Dec. 14, 2021

The Department of Geosciences and Princeton University congratulates Dr. Katja E. Luxem on successfully defending her Ph.D. thesis "Comparative Physiology of MO-, V- and FE-Only Based Biological Nitrogen Fixation in the Anaerobic Photoheterothroph 'Rhodopseudomonas Palustris'" on December 3, 2021.

Congratulations to Dr. Victoria Hoi-Yee Luu for successfully defending her Ph.D. Thesis

Dec. 13, 2021

The Department of Geosciences and Princeton University congratulates Dr. Victoria Hoi-Yee Luu on successfully defending her Ph.D. thesis "Modern-ocean ground-truthing of nitrogen isotopes in scleractinian corals: A proxy for surface nutrient conditions" on November 30, 2021.

A slice of an ice core containing hundreds of tiny bubbles, each a whiff of Earth’s atmosphere. Credit: Yuzhen Yan, 2015

Prof. John Higgins partners with Oregon State University, and other paleoclimate experts, to build a NSF-funded Center for Oldest Ice Exploration (COLDEX)

Nov. 29, 2021

Georgette Chalker, Geosciences Princeton University

Under a five-year, $25 million Science and Technology Center award, the Center for Oldest Ice Exploration (COLDEX) has been established to address climate change and its impacts. The center’s announcement came on September 09, 2021, under the umbrella Science and Technology Centers (

A kayaker paddles down an interstate in Pennsylvania after flooding from Hurricane Ida earlier this year. Several dozen people died, some in cars and basement apartments, during extreme flash flooding. Branden Eastwood/AFP via Getty Images

This is what the world looks like if we pass the crucial 1.5-degree climate threshold

Nov. 8, 2021

Lauren Sommer, NPR

There's one number heard more than any other from the podiums at the United Nations climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland: 1.5 degrees Celsius. Gabriel Vecchi, professor of geosciences at Princeton University. "If we go on a path to 3 degree warming, more and more things that are unheard of or have been unheard of will become relatively commonplace."

Here's what happens if the world warms more than 1.5 degrees Celsius

Nov. 4, 2021

Lauren Sommer, NPR Radio

There's one number you hear a lot at the international climate talks in Glasgow, Scotland ⁠— 1.5 degrees Celsius. So why is that number so important, and what happens if the world gets hotter than that? (Vecchi mention, Audio/Text)

Researchers endured bitter winds to collect the ancient ice in 2015. Photo by Yuzhen Yan *19

World's oldest ice core could solve mystery of ‘flipped' ice age cycles

Oct. 30, 2021

Paul Voosen, Science

More than two years after presenting the discovery of the world's oldest ice core, scientists have published an analysis of the 2.7-million-year-old sample. (Bender, Higgins, Yan mention)

Tullis Onstott, Professor of Geosciences. Photo Credit: Jesse Dittmar

Tullis Onstott, innovative geologist, explorer of subsurface life, and revered ‘gentle soul,’ dies at 66

Oct. 22, 2021

Denise Valenti, Office of Communications

Tullis Onstott, a Princeton graduate and professor of geosciences known for his innovative research in several specialties and his explorations of lifeforms deep below the Earth’s surface, died Oct. 19, 2021, in Oracle, Arizona, from complications associated with lung cancer. He was 66.

2021 Service and Outreach Awards for Graduate Students

Oct. 19, 2021

Please join us in honoring Sirus Han and Jenna Lee for their contributions to Service and Outreach in the Geosciences.

In addition to the awardees, the Department also recognized Abigale Wyatt and Aaron Match, who were nominated by their peers and…

Geosciences Annual Fall Picnic in Hargraves Glade

2020-2021 Princeton Geosciences Departmental Teaching Award Announced

Oct. 19, 2021

Please join us in honoring Jianshu Duan, Ryan A. Manzuk and Jack Murphy for their contributions to departmental teaching in the Geosciences.

The Princeton Geosciences Departmental Teaching Awards are presented to graduate student Assistants in Instruction (AIs) who have exhibited excellence in instruction,…

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Large-scale transport over the ocean of a plume of smoke and ash. (NICT)

Aerosols from wildfires can fertilize the oceans

Sept. 17, 2021

Weiya Tang, The Ward Lab at Princeton University

Wildfires can have catastrophic environmental and socioeconomic impacts on land, such as the loss of habitats and biodiversity, air pollution and public health. However, few studies report on the fires’ impact on ocean ecosystems. (Tang mention)

Curtis Deutsch, Professor of Geosciences and High Meadows Environmental Institute

Climate scientist Curtis Deutsch joins Geosciences, High Meadows Environmental Institute faculty

Sept. 7, 2021

Morgan Kelly, High Meadows Environmental Institute

Climate scientist Curtis Deutsch, whose work focuses on understanding interactions between climate and ecosystems, has joined the Princeton faculty as a Professor of Geosciences and the High Meadows Environmental Institute (HMEI).

Map of Lake Charles, Loiusiana. Courtesy of "The Water Main."

In Deep: One City's Year of Climate Chaos

Aug. 27, 2021

Lauren Rosenthal, The Water Main

Perhaps no place has endured more than Lake Charles, Louisiana. Gabriel Vecchi, a professor of geosciences and director of the High Meadows Environmental Institute at Princeton University, said what happened to Lake Charles offers important lessons. (AUDIO INCLUDED)

There’s no such thing as inefficiency

Aug. 23, 2021

Steven Pilon, Microbites, ScienceBites.org

Nitrogen is the main constituent of all life, being essential for e.g. proteins and DNA. Despite its abundance on earth, nitrogen supply is a growth-limiting factor for most life forms. Graduate Student Katja Luxem and colleagues set out to find answers on bacteria and archaea relationships to nitrogen supplies.

Meltwater lakes on the surface of Greenland’s ice sheet. Photo: Google Earth

Rise and fall of water blisters offers glimpse beneath Greenland’s thick ice sheet

Aug. 20, 2021

Morgan Kelly, High Meadows Environmental Institute

Water “blisters” trapped beneath the thick interior of Greenland’s ice sheet could provide critical insight into the hydrological network coursing deep below Earth’s second largest body of ice — and how it might be destabilized by climate change, according to a new study. (Lai mention)