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Aaron Putnam

@aaronputnam.bsky.social
2.6K followers 2.1K following 1.6K posts

Dad. Husband. Earthling. Associate Professor of Earth Science at the University of Maine. I am interested in glaciers and climate in the past, present, and future.

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Reposted by Aaron Putnam
Zack Labe @zacklabe.com · 25/09/2026
All latitude bands outside of the Antarctic saw above average temperatures over the last 3 months. The tropical warming is notable, which is partly associated with El Niño. [Plot shows zonal-mean surface air temperature anomalies, where latitude = y-axis (not scaled by distance). Data: GISTEMPv4]
Bar graph showing zonal mean surface air temperature anomalies for the period of June 2026 to August 2026. Most all latitude bands, except the Antarctic, observed above average temperature anomalies, especially in the Northern Hemisphere.
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Joe Mason @moreorloess.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Beach ridge complex and dunes at Pointe aux Chenes, Michigan. I've got it in my slides for a case study on post-glacial rebound and other causes of lake level change on the Great Lakes, and I had to post it here again.
A shaded relief map of a very impressive set of concentric beach rdiges, and on the west side a coastal dune field, along the shore of northern Lake Michigan.
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Brandon Bishop @brandontbishop.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
I still want a pet dicynodont.
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Aaron Putnam @aaronputnam.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Congratulations @melissaberke.bsky.social on being awarded the @agu “Asahiko Taira International Scientific Ocean Drilling Research Prize”!!
“2026 Recipient - Asahiko Taira International Scientific Ocean Drilling Research Prize - Melissa A Berke”
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AGU (American Geophysical Union) @agu.org · 23/09/2026
🏆 AGU is excited to announce the recipients of the 2026 Union Medals, Awards and Prizes; Fellows; and Section Awards and Lectures. Please join us in congratulating these accomplished individuals. spklr.io/63325ETfjN
AGU is excited to announce the recipients of the 2026 Union Medals, Awards and Prizes; Fellows; and Section Awards and Lectures. Please join us in congratulating these accomplished individuals.
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Aaron Putnam @aaronputnam.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
I visited dear friends and colleagues at @lamont.columbia.edu for the first time since my mentor Wally Broecker passed away and we celebrated his life in 2019… 1/2
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Aaron Putnam @aaronputnam.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
About to fly from Newark to Bangor, and we were informed that there will be no beverage service and that the seatbelt light will be on the entire flight. Now I can see why…
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David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
The US National Science Foundation Directorate for Geosciences, which has funded most of my research over the past three decades, has been enshitified by Trump and his lackeys.
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Andrew Dessler @andrewdessler.com · 14/09/2026
On The Climate Brink: The Atmosphere Just Set a Water Vapor Record. Aug. 2026 probably had more water vapor in the atmosphere than any month in the last few thousand years, if not a 100,000 years. www.theclimatebrink.com/p/the-atmosp...
theclimatebrink.com
The Atmosphere Just Set a Water Vapor Record
More water vapor means more rocket fuel for extreme rain — so this record is not good news
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Prof Ian Hall @ianhall.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
🌊 The Southern Ocean is one of Earth’s biggest CO2 sinks, but that could change dramatically as we move toward net-zero and negative emissions. As atmospheric CO2 falls, the Southern Ocean may actually begin releasing CO2 back into the atmosphere. 1/3 www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
science.org
Enhanced carbon loss in the Southern Ocean under mitigation scenarios
The Southern Ocean (SO) plays a pivotal role in the global carbon cycle by absorbing anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2). Yet, it remains uncertain whether this role will persist under future mitigatio...
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Aaron Putnam @aaronputnam.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
My daughter and I witnessed Molly Tuttle last night. Amazing.
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Aaron Putnam @aaronputnam.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
My daughter and I met these fellow Earthlings in the pollinator garden this afternoon.
Skinny, light brown male praying mantis perched on my fingers.Bright green, robust female praying mantis perched on my hand.
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Aaron Putnam @aaronputnam.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Canadian brassica J.J. Kale Yellowchard New Kids on the Bok Choy
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Aaron Putnam @aaronputnam.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Well played.
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Aaron Putnam @aaronputnam.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Just returned from a few days of glacial geology fieldwork on Katahdin. The early autumn weather is magical. Little-to-no cell signal to distract. And I made a friend (well, acquaintance) in North Basin while bushwhacking toward some glacially deposited boulders. ⚒️🧪
View looking south from Katahdin summit (Baxter Peak) towards South Peak, the Knife Edge, and Pamola. Foreground features the blockfield at the summit.Beautifully perched erratic boulder on the Tablelands (Saddle).North Basin, vantage west. I wasn’t the only one interested in the area with the boulders I was bushwhacking towards.Zoomed-in view of young bull moose in North Basin.
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beetle moses @beetlemoses.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Three panel comic. Panel 1: a horseshoe crab watches as a variety of prehistoric creatures swim towards an ethereal light. An ammonite calls back to the crab, “come on, horseshoe crab! We’re all evolving!” Panel 2: the horseshoe crab stays in position and replies, “nahh that’s crazy” Panel 3: the horseshoe crab is superimposed in front of a future premonition: a rather miserable-looking human slouched in the glow of a desktop computer. The horshoe crab swims away and says, “good luck tho”
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Brandon Bishop @brandontbishop.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
#Quartz. Quartz remembers the sunlight for centuries, for millennia, for a hundred thousand years. Quartz remembers the warm of the sun as it tumbled down rivers, blew across deserts. Quartz remembers as it lies buried in the dark beneath dunes, beneath forgotten riverbeds. #MinCup26
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Brent Ward @geobrentatlarge.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Great find and detective work to discover A. Cheeta Bones! and B. that contrary to assumptions, lived primarily on fish! Drawing shows the strange looking saga antelope. Its presence in Bering indicates a very cold (see convolute nose to warm the air) and little snow. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
cbc.ca
Bones found in Yukon ID'd as ice-age cheetah | CBC News
Researchers used DNA and isotope analysis to figure out how the large cats survived in the far north.
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Aaron Putnam @aaronputnam.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
While weeding the bog garden I discovered these cute volunteer Venus Flytrap seedlings! Sense of scale is hard in these photos, but I would estimate that they are a few centimeters across.
Tiny Venus Flytrap surrounded by bog cranberry, cinquefoil, and some Drosera rotundifolia seedlings.Venus Flytrap seedling (maybe a year old) with a tiny D. rotundifolia seedling nearby. Bog cranberry leaves for scale (they are very small).
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Prof Ian Hall @ianhall.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
A 1,000-year atmospheric methane record has been recovered from tropical ice in Peru. Why it matters: Most long-term CH₄ records come from polar ice. This first tropical record will help reveal how CH₄ sources have changed...and separate natural from human emissions. www.nature.com/articles/d41...
nature.com
Peruvian ice has preserved a global methane record
An ice core from a tropical mountain shows that the equatorial input to methane levels was greater than previously thought.
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Aaron Putnam @aaronputnam.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Downloaded MapQuest ✅
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Joe Mason @moreorloess.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Two amazing loess sections in Nebraska. Left, Middle to Late Pleistocene loess in a canal cut near Elba. Note gullies formed in the Late Pleistocene, then buried by loess. Right, Moran Canyon cut exposing the Brady Soil, formed at the Pleistocene-Holocene transition, halfway up by the cedar.
A large, high cut made for an irrigation canal. Layers of loess (wind-blown dust) are exposed, along with soils formed in them. One soil is dark brown, others are reddish brown. There are ancient gullies eroded into loess and then buried by more loess.Loess exposed in a road cut, most of which is very light grayish to yellowish brown. There is a darker gray buried soil half way up the cut, several meters below the ground surface at the top.
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Aaron Putnam @aaronputnam.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
It’s been a while, so I thought I should provide an update on reading #LOTR to my 8-yr old daughter. We stalled for about one year on the early chapters of the Two Towers. But now she has met Treebeard and she is hooked. She is also not convinced that Gandalf is dead.
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Leah McElrath @leahmcelrath.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Rest in peace, Wendell Berry.
The Peace of Wild Things
Wendell Berry

When despair for the world grows in me and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be, I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars waiting with their light. For a time I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

from Openings: Poems (1968)
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Lee Zimmerman @zim2918.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Canadian Strait of Hormuz Every ocean going ship from the great lakes must pass through the Welland Canal
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Zack Labe @zacklabe.com · 28/08/2026
How are our glaciers around the world doing? 😢 Graphic from zacklabe.com/climate-chan...
Line graph time series of cumulative glacier mass balance relative to 1970 for the period of 1950 to 2025. There is a long-term decreasing trend through the entire time series. Data from https://wgms.ch/global-glacier-state/.
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Aaron Putnam @aaronputnam.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
💔 Dolly Parton, Superstar Whose Songs Spoke to Millions, Dies at 80 www.nytimes.com/2026/08/25/a...
nytimes.com
Dolly Parton, Country Music Superstar Whose Songs Spoke to Millions, Dies at 80
Known for her outsize persona, appearance and talent, she rose from rural poverty to become a top-selling singer, songwriter and entrepreneur.
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Aaron Putnam @aaronputnam.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
My 8-yr old and I walked among the glacially sculpted granite hills of Acadia today, Wabanaki ancestral homelands. Although I have seen them many times, these relict erratic boulders deposited during the termination of the last ice age still haunt me. (We also met a baby garter snake)
Tabular granite erratic boulder perched upon a cobble on bedrock of Parkman Mountain, Acadia Nat’l Park. 8-yr old leaning against boulder for scale.View south toward Upper Hadlock Pond.Juvenile garter snake.
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Aaron Putnam @aaronputnam.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
The incredible @paleobluedot.bsky.social presented me with this mug for our wedding anniversary this past week! (I am a huge fan of Sara Willis)
A coffee mug featuring the ‘In Tune with Sara Willis’ show from Maine Public.
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ClimateBook @climatebook.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
In commenting on this paper on the Earth's energy imbalance agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/... I referred to the issue of TCR (Transient Climate Response) vs ECS (Equilibrium Climate Sensitivity) and I want to expand on that a bit, since it intersects with some issues
agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Recent Temperature and Energy Imbalance Trends Point to Higher Estimates of Future Warming
Recent surface warming and top-of-atmosphere energy imbalance point to higher future warming than previously estimated Previous constraints on transient climate response using observed surface te...
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ClimateBook @climatebook.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
This new paper is one of the better examples of teasing out the consequences of Earth's recent energy imbalance. scholar.google.com/citations?us... There has been a lot of confusion out there about what the energy imbalance means for climate, since most directly the energy imbalance is
scholar.google.com
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Aaron Putnam @aaronputnam.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
Spotted this chonky ‘pillar chewing on some milkweed at the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens today.
Milkweed with a large Monarch butterfly caterpillar.Milkweed with a large Monarch butterfly caterpillar.
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Katharine Hayhoe @katharinehayhoe.com · 17/08/2026
I never expected one class to redirect my life. But that’s the thing about curiosity: you never know where one question will lead! That’s why I’m joining MIT for #CuriosityOnAMission Visit bit.ly/4gB3Gpj for more. #CuriosityPartner #sponsored
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814bleedingrose.bsky.social @814bleedingrose.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
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Admirable Women @admirablewomen.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
Computer scientist Margaret Hamilton coined the term “software engineer.” She directed the Software Engineering Division at MIT’s Instrumentation Lab & led development of the on-board flight software for NASA’s Apollo Guidance Computer. She was born #OTD in 1936 & turns 90 today! #WomenInSTEM
Two side-by-side black-and-white photographs of pioneering computer scientist Margaret Hamilton (born August 17, 1936). The left panel features a mature, close-up portrait where Hamilton gazes directly at the viewer with a serene, confident, and reflective expression, framed by her long, dark, slightly silvering hair. The right panel is a famous archival photograph showing a younger Hamilton standing indoors next to a towering stack of bound paper binders containing the Apollo Guidance Computer source code, which she led the development of at MIT. She is smiling broadly and wears a striped, long-sleeved mini dress with dark Mary Jane shoes and glasses, resting her hand proudly on top of the massive column of printed code. The overall composition contrasts her youthful triumph with her enduring legacy, capturing an optimistic, intellectually rigorous mood that highlights her monumental contributions to space exploration.
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Aaron Putnam @aaronputnam.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
If it takes a band of cross-dressing Aussies playing analog to bring down the manosphere, I’m here for it. Long live #KGLW.
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Aaron Putnam @aaronputnam.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
Fried zucchini. Highly recommend.
Half-fried zucchini slices in the skillet.Fully fried zucchini slices.
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ClimateBook @climatebook.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
MIT is hiring in planetary science! There is a deep pool of talent out there, especially in exoplanets, so I'm hoping for a flood of applicants to this (these) Earth Atmospheric and Planetary Science positions. eaps.mit.edu/about/employ... I am hoping we can get two hires out of this.
eaps.mit.edu
Employment Opportunities
EAPS is an academic community of approximately 40 faculty, 100 research staff including postdocs, and 175 students who study integrated aspects of Earth and planetary sciences, including through partn...
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Rick Thoman @alaskawx.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
Utqiaġvik, Alaska up to 68F (20.0C) at 4pm AKDT Thursday. This is a new record high temperature for August 13, breaking the previous record of 66F (18.9C) set in 1991. Climate obs at Alaska’s northernmost community since 1920. #akwx #Arctic #Climate @climatologist49.bsky.social
Sceenshot showing the 4pm AKDT August 13, 2026 at Utqiaġvik, including a temperature of 68F (20.0C).
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Climate.us @climate.us · 13/08/2026
It's ENSO-forecast day at NOAA — the perfect day for an ENSO announcement of our own. Starting next week, we're taking baby steps toward rebooting the ENSO Blog, which ran on Climate(.)gov from 2014–2025. 🌎️🧪 [1/4]
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Celeste Labedz @celestelabedz.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
I feel like xkcd has been getting more into geoscience the last couple of years, and I absolutely love it. Bonus text reads "the administration thinks it's weird, but the geologists say it looks normal." xkcd.com/3284/
xkcd comic #3284, which shows a building labeled "department of geology," but all of the features of the building are slightly offset along a fault running diagonally through the middle. Caption is "The administration regretted giving the geology department free reign to design their new building."
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AGU (American Geophysical Union) @agu.org · 12/08/2026
From ancient greenhouse worlds to ice ages, Earth’s past offers vital clues to its future. 🌎 In #AGUEos, learn about the 40th anniversary special collection from Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology. spklr.io/63326ER3Jw #AGUPubs #Oceans #Climate #Publishing #Paleoclimate #Paleooceanography
A wall of ice cores.
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Faine Greenwood @faineg.com · 11/08/2026
instead of staring into the abyss for yet another endless night, you could think about if Haast’s Eagle had male pattern baldness or not instead
newscientist.com
Haast’s eagle: Extinct New Zealand bird was part-eagle part-vulture | New Scientist
The Haast’s eagle had a beak and talons suited for capturing live prey, but its skull was adapted for ripping out organs
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optimisticsoap.bsky.social @optimisticsoap.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
Libraries make us a harder target for authoritarianism. Equal access to info, ideas, and space that doesn’t require a purchase to belong. Also: using the library means money stays in your community instead of streaming out to Amazon. 📚 What’s checked out on your card right now?
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Brandon Bishop @brandontbishop.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
It would be very, very good if we got our act together on climate ASAP. Some people are linking this to fertilizer issues, that's not quite right--growth season for wheat is the spring and it was already evident months ago that drought was going to make this a bad year.
farmpolicynews.illinois.edu
US Winter Wheat Crop Smallest Since 1965, USDA Says - Farm Policy News
The U.S. Department of Agriculture on Thursday cut its U.S. ​winter wheat crop outlook by 2% from a ‌month earlier as a harsh drought in the Plains cut its hard red winter wheat production view to the...
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Josh Kantor @jtkantor.bsky.social · 08/08/2026
The Red Sox have just won 32 of 37 for the first time in the team's 126-year history. I'm commemorating the occasion by playing Peabo Bryson & Roberta Flack's "Tonight, I Celebrate My Love For You."
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Aaron Putnam @aaronputnam.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
Sox Win!!!
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AGU (American Geophysical Union) @agu.org · 06/08/2026
AGU is documenting the real-world impacts of recent U.S. Administration actions that have resulted in cuts, delays, and disruptions at NSF and other science agencies. Take the AGU Survey today. Responses before 31 August are most immediately helpful. 🔗 spklr.io/63325EuFnR
AGU logo: Advancing Earth and Space Sciences
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AGU (American Geophysical Union) @agu.org · 06/08/2026
🚨 If you're a student, a first-time presenter at #AGU26, or someone presenting from a low and lower-middle income country, apply for the NEW Outstanding Emerging Presenters #OEP Program by 12 August after submitting your abstract. Apply today! 📲spklr.io/63323EuLdJ
🚨 If you're a student, a first-time presenter at #AGU26, or someone presenting from a low and lower-middle income country, apply for the NEW Outstanding Emerging Presenters #OEP Program by 12 August after submitting your abstract.
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