iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Jackie Caplan-Auerbach @geophysichick.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

Late notice, but if you're interested in last year's Tracy Arm landslide and tsunami and the potential use of seismic data to forecast such events, I'm giving a Zoom talk today on that topic. Thanks to the National Disaster Preparedness Training Center for the invitation to present!

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Jackie Caplan-Auerbach @geophysichick.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

New t-shirt to celebrate turning 59. You can wish me a happy birthday by telling me your favorite Buckaroo Banzai quote.

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Jackie Caplan-Auerbach @geophysichick.bsky.social · 20/06/2026

Been in DC the last few days, and the reflecting pool really is a sight to behold.

Zones of bright green algae in the Washington DC reflecting pool.

A television cameraman points his camera to the ground where a host from the reflecting pool is dumping bright green water into a drain.

A National Park worker in Waters, using a pool sweeper to push bright green algae to the center of the pool.

The Washington monument and reflecting pool. The interior of the pool is green, surrounded by NPS workers who are sweeping and vacuuming up the algae..

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Jackie Caplan-Auerbach @geophysichick.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

DC this week. A barricaded monument to this absolute child of a president.

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Jackie Caplan-Auerbach @geophysichick.bsky.social · 07/05/2026

How did I know this was indicative of a slide? Well, of all strange coincidences, I've been studying that exact precursory signal for about 20 years. Yep. My friends know one seismologist and it happens to be a person who studies the exact signal that we saw in the Tracy Arm data.

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Jackie Caplan-Auerbach @geophysichick.bsky.social · 11/04/2026

My view on my flight today. Little bugger snorted and grunted for the entirety of the flight. It was perfection.

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Jackie Caplan-Auerbach @geophysichick.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

I don't have my full failure CV--I'm too old and my archiving skills are poor. But here's what I found in an old "jobs" folder--lots of unsuccessful applications there. This doesn't include at least a dozen jobs for which I applied prior to completing my Ph.D.

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Jackie Caplan-Auerbach @geophysichick.bsky.social · 21/02/2026

If you happen to be in Memphis, do NOT miss the Civil Rights museum. It's located in the Lorraine motel, where Martin Luther King Jr was shot, and it's immensely powerful.

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Jackie Caplan-Auerbach @geophysichick.bsky.social · 25/01/2026

Timeline cleanse. The sun is warm, but Titan's head is very heavy.

A pit bull mix sleeps in a sunny spot, his head supported by a small speaker.

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Jackie Caplan-Auerbach @geophysichick.bsky.social · 25/01/2026

Anyone want to rate this translation, as requested?

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Jackie Caplan-Auerbach @geophysichick.bsky.social · 09/01/2026

This figure shows such a model for the 2010 M8.8 Maule (Chile) earthquake (fig. from USGS). The gridded area is the portion of the Nazca plate that moved in that event. You can see that it is broken up into chunks for the model.

A map showing southern Chile, with a colored grid overlying the plate. The figure shows how much each part of the grid--representing the Nazca plate--moved during the 2010 Maule earthquake. Some squares on the grid moved a lot while others only moved a little.

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Jackie Caplan-Auerbach @geophysichick.bsky.social · 09/01/2026

I show my students that model too...it's great and it's a classic. But it also made them think that the brick represented the entire plate. They thus didn't understand why an earthquake in Japan wouldn't cause plate motion in California too--after all, both boundaries include the Pacific plate.

A map showing the Pacific plate, extending across the entire Pacific ocean. Arrows show that it is moving towards Japan and away from California.

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Jackie Caplan-Auerbach @geophysichick.bsky.social · 09/01/2026

Wanna see how an earthquake works? Here's today's lab in my seismology class. An explanation follows. 🧪

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Jackie Caplan-Auerbach @geophysichick.bsky.social · 01/01/2026

First I failed the Wordle, and now this. Not a good start to 2026.

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Jackie Caplan-Auerbach @geophysichick.bsky.social · 01/01/2026

Space needle has a certain Arrival vibe to it this new year's Eve.

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Jackie Caplan-Auerbach @geophysichick.bsky.social · 19/11/2025

Did the Daily Mail ask a single seismologist about these data? Did they interview a volcanologist? Did they talk with anyone who studies this volcano for a living? No. Here's their data source: "volcano watchers on social media". 15/n

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Jackie Caplan-Auerbach @geophysichick.bsky.social · 19/11/2025

Let's compare the last day at station STAR to another nearby station (RCS). STAR is maxed out, whereas RCS shows lots of tiny little blips--these are likely creaks and pops from within Rainier's zillions of glaciers. 11/n

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Jackie Caplan-Auerbach @geophysichick.bsky.social · 19/11/2025

Faulty instruments often generate wonky electrical signals. That's what is currently going on with station STAR on Mount Rainier. 8/n

Seismic data from station STAR on Mount Rainier show an instrument not working well.

Seismic data from station STAR on Mount Rainier show an instrument not working at all.

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Jackie Caplan-Auerbach @geophysichick.bsky.social · 19/11/2025

Speaking of bad science in media (and I am using the term "media" pretty loosely here), allow me to use The Daily Mail as evidence of why you should get your science information from reputable agencies rather than crap websites. I'm not going to link the article, but it looks like this: 1/n

An article in the Daily Mail entitled "America's deadliest volcano enters unprecedented 72-hour tremor phase as eruption threat looms over millions". This is incorrect.

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Jackie Caplan-Auerbach @geophysichick.bsky.social · 19/11/2025

Fox News has interpreted Amelia Earhart's final transmission as her being "near 157 degrees east longitude and 337 degrees south latitude." Join me, friends, at 337 degrees south where we will party with the Loch Ness monster, Sasquatch, and a variety of other things that do not exist.

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Jackie Caplan-Auerbach @geophysichick.bsky.social · 13/11/2025

Job alert!!! My department (Geology at @wwu.edu ) is searching for a hydrogeologist at the assistant professor level (tenure track). Fabulous colleagues and students (undergrad and master's level), spectacular setting. Ping me with questions. hr.wwu.edu/careers-facu...

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Jackie Caplan-Auerbach @geophysichick.bsky.social · 25/10/2025

Never realized how much excellent life advice is available in the comments to the New York Times cooking section.

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Jackie Caplan-Auerbach @geophysichick.bsky.social · 19/10/2025

Lots of beasts at the Bellingham #NoKings march too! We are all frogs today!

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Jackie Caplan-Auerbach @geophysichick.bsky.social · 09/10/2025

Intrigued by this extraordinarily inclusive list of languages one can select at a local doctors office. They apparently welcome time travelers and aliens as well as global citizens.

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Jackie Caplan-Auerbach @geophysichick.bsky.social · 29/09/2025

Bit of fieldwork nostalgia--these photos of an amazing cave in columnar jointed rocks on Tanaga Island. Back in the day when my hair was still brown (almost all grey now).

A cave on Tanaga Island, Alaska. The rocks around it are columnar jointed.

a geophysicist in a blue coat stands in front of large columnar-jointed basalts.

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Jackie Caplan-Auerbach @geophysichick.bsky.social · 28/09/2025

Someone just brought me a scrapbook that was found under the floorboards of my attic before I lived here. Includes some interesting news articles from 1927 and apparently the cure for diphtheria. Don't tell RFK.

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Jackie Caplan-Auerbach @geophysichick.bsky.social · 26/09/2025

Honestly, you can't make this stuff up.

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Jackie Caplan-Auerbach @geophysichick.bsky.social · 07/09/2025

Adventures in algebra. Had to get a new oven knob. Temps on the old knob run from 275 to 500. New knob runs 220 to 440. The old knob conveniently marked temperatures at 25 degree intervals, whereas the new one has (no joke) marks every 36.7 degrees. Find 350 degrees on the new knob. I dare you.

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Jackie Caplan-Auerbach @geophysichick.bsky.social · 13/08/2025

Also posted by AEC, this figure showing the timing of the events--you can see that they become more frequent as we approach the time of the main landslide.

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Jackie Caplan-Auerbach @geophysichick.bsky.social · 13/08/2025

The Alaska Earthquake Center posted this figure showing the events: the tiny wiggles that precede the really big one are the precursors in question. (Read more at earthquake.alaska.edu/major-landsl...)

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Jackie Caplan-Auerbach @geophysichick.bsky.social · 12/08/2025

Couldn't do much work on the recent AK landslide today because I was busy making curly fries at the NW Washington Fair. Science starts again tomorrow..

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Jackie Caplan-Auerbach @geophysichick.bsky.social · 19/07/2025

WOW, there are a lot of salmon jumping at Brooks Falls (Alaska) right now. Check out salmon and bears on the live cam: explore.org/livecams/cur...

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Jackie Caplan-Auerbach @geophysichick.bsky.social · 18/07/2025

I just love this typo in the NYTimes. Not only is it an ironic error, but misspelling "Genius" is the only way that one could justify Trump's observation (highlighted).

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Jackie Caplan-Auerbach @geophysichick.bsky.social · 04/07/2025

It's a lousy year to celebrate July 4, so we are focusing on our community. Spent the past week building a couple of holes of mini golf for the neighborhood to enjoy when walking by.

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Jackie Caplan-Auerbach @geophysichick.bsky.social · 06/06/2025

Timeline cleanse: my daughter is home from college and made a cake. First time she's attempted a heart shape. I think she's amazing. ❤️

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Jackie Caplan-Auerbach @geophysichick.bsky.social · 20/05/2025

The US Army texted me to recruit my daughter today. I had thoughts.

Screenshot of a text in which an army recruiter reached out to my transgender daughter and I told him to kiss my ass.

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Jackie Caplan-Auerbach @geophysichick.bsky.social · 12/05/2025

I've been watching for a while, so the light angle has totally changed. Here's a good example of the brownish stuff--this time coming from the other side, I think.

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Jackie Caplan-Auerbach @geophysichick.bsky.social · 12/05/2025

Curious what other volcano geeks think is going on around the plume. There's a white (water?) gas that forms on the outside of the brownish plume. Is that brown plume gas? Pele's hair? Guessing the water cools more on the outside and condenses?

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Jackie Caplan-Auerbach @geophysichick.bsky.social · 02/05/2025

There are only a couple of volcanoes with seismometers near them. Axial seamount off the coast of Oregon has a real-time seismic network linked to shore by a very long cable. Axial is being closely watched because it looks like it's close to an eruption. oceanobservatories.org/array/cabled...

A map showing a cable extending from Oregon offshore to Axial seamount, an undersea volcano on the Juan de Fuca ridge.

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Jackie Caplan-Auerbach @geophysichick.bsky.social · 02/05/2025

Sometimes we know a submarine volcano has erupted because it produces pumice that floats on the sea surface. We don't always know where the pumice came from, so even that doesn't tell us where the volcanoes are.

Satellite image showing a the ocean surface with a pumice raft: a mass of floating rock generated by an undersea volcano.

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Jackie Caplan-Auerbach @geophysichick.bsky.social · 02/05/2025

A very few undersea volcanoes are shallow enough that their eruptive products (ash, gas) can reach or cross sea level. These may actual form visible eruption plumes, and they may form islands. A frequently erupting example is Home Reef in Tonga.

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Jackie Caplan-Auerbach @geophysichick.bsky.social · 02/05/2025

On land we can detect eruptions because (a) we see them, (b) we have seismometers sensing when they cause ground shaking, (c) we have satellite images to capture eruption plumes, and (d) infrasonic microphones can hear them blow. We have almost none of this under water.

A graphic shows a variety of instruments used to study volcanic eruptions.

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Jackie Caplan-Auerbach @geophysichick.bsky.social · 02/05/2025

We have no idea how many undersea volcanoes exist--the oceans are poorly mapped. Further, it's hard to know how to classify the mid-ocean ridge system, a range of volcanoes extending throughout the world's oceans (white lines in image). Is each eruptive vent its own volcano? How do we count them?

A map of the world showing the mid-ocean ridge system that lies beneath the oceans.

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Jackie Caplan-Auerbach @geophysichick.bsky.social · 21/04/2025

This is a real headline on Fox News today.

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Jackie Caplan-Auerbach @geophysichick.bsky.social · 16/04/2025

A cool thing about getting old is that when I go to conferences I get to see my former students shining as successful scientists. So proud of my MS student Jesse and my undergrads Bella and Natalie (whose opening slide includes a photo of working with my MS student Kevin). Great work, WWU grads!

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Jackie Caplan-Auerbach @geophysichick.bsky.social · 15/04/2025

In the @seismosocam.bsky.social conference Exhibit Hall with the incomparable @seislologist.bsky.social . Wait until you see my super cool tee shirt!!

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