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Julia Smith Wellner

@wellner.bsky.social
522 followers 362 following 85 posts

Sedimentologist mainly interested in ice sheets and sea-level changes. Professor trying to make more people care about what those sediments are telling us.

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Reposted by Julia Smith Wellner
Tom Arney @tomarney.com · 04/09/2026
New paper out now in EPSL! Pb isotopes and Rb–Sr geochronology via laser ablation of feldspar grains from West Antarctica. This developing method with some added ML clustering spice exposes crustal fragments, tectonic boundaries and metamorphic events hidden under the ice.
tomarney.com
West Antarctic subglacial geology distinguished by Pb isotopes and Rb–Sr ages in ice-rafted feldspars
Multi-proxy fingerprints via Rb–Sr isochrons from detrital Pb-isotope populations reveal Antarctic geology and set the stage for future studies of ice sheet history.
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University of Houston Earth and Atmospheric Sciences @uh-earth-atm-sci.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
EAS profs Brandee Carlson and Julia Wellner each led field trips for the #IMAGE2026 meeting in Houston this week. There may not be rocks in the area, but there is a lot to learn from coastal sediments!
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Julia Smith Wellner @wellner.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
Nice to see another student paper out from IODP Exp379 detailing West Antarctic glacial history from sediment cores. @us-sciod.bsky.social @gcrepository.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
West Antarctic Ice Sheet advance since the early Pliocene - Nature Communications
This study shows that West Antarctic Ice Sheet history in the Amundsen Sea sector since 4.33 million years ago was closely linked to global temperature change, with a major expansion threshold crossin...
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Julia Smith Wellner @wellner.bsky.social · 25/04/2026
In the continuing drip of bad news for US science, this stands out as truly terrible.
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Julia Smith Wellner @wellner.bsky.social · 16/04/2026
Exciting news that the US has a research icebreaker on the way. Notes from today's PRB meeting include that the goal is to have it out in ~5 years (!!!) but that the scope will have to be reduced to fit the budget somehow (???). @policyhound.bsky.social www.science.org/content/arti...
science.org
Science | AAAS
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University of Houston Earth and Atmospheric Sciences @uh-earth-atm-sci.bsky.social · 25/03/2026
Our latest student field journal is up, and it looks like a fantastic trip! www.uh.edu/nsm/earth-at...
uh.edu
FIELDGeo 2026
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Julia Smith Wellner @wellner.bsky.social · 02/03/2026
Congratulations @shelfyice.bsky.social and team on this new paper. Those hard won forams had a story to tell! www.nature.com/articles/s41...
nature.com
Ocean heat forced West Antarctic Ice Sheet retreat after the Last Glacial Maximum - Nature Communications
Amundsen Sea records show warm Circumpolar Deep Water drove major West Antarctic Ice Sheet retreat from 18,000–10,000 years ago. Subsequent cooling stabilized the grounding line, indicating ocean heat...
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University of Houston Earth and Atmospheric Sciences @uh-earth-atm-sci.bsky.social · 16/02/2026
This Friday, we are happy to host Dr. Kerri Crawford from the Department of Biology and Biochemistry on a talk entitled “Applications of Ecological Theory to Coastal Dune Restorations”
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Julia Smith Wellner @wellner.bsky.social · 14/02/2026
SCAR abstract deadline is coming soon!
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Reposted by Julia Smith Wellner
Eos @eos.org · 12/01/2026
“President Trump’s talk of ‘buying’ Greenland is not only an affront to Greenland’s autonomy but also a dangerous distraction from the urgent work of addressing environmental change impacts to US citizens,” the letter reads. eos.org/research-and...
eos.org
Hundreds of Scientists “Vehemently Oppose” U.S. Effort to Purchase Greenland - Eos
About 350 scientists scientists have signed a letter condemning U.S. President Donald Trump’s efforts to acquire Greenland.
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Julia Smith Wellner @wellner.bsky.social · 09/01/2026
Considering @scar-antarctic.bsky.social this summer in Oslo? We are soliciting submissions for Session S13: Past, present, and future of Antarctic marine grounded basins. See scar2026.org for meeting details. @polarrobs.bsky.social @deformedearth.bsky.social and more are co-chairs. 🧪❄️
scar2026.org
Home | SCAR open science conference
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Sandra Passchier @passchier.bsky.social · 22/12/2025
Repeated major inland retreat of Thwaites and Pine Island glaciers (West Antarctica) during the Pliocene | PNAS www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
pnas.org
PNAS
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), a peer reviewed journal of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) - an authoritative source of high-impact, original research that broadly spans...
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Reposted by Julia Smith Wellner
University of Houston Earth and Atmospheric Sciences @uh-earth-atm-sci.bsky.social · 15/11/2025
Introduction to Climate Change class field trip to Surfside Beach today, launching an ozone weather balloon. All students helped with launch😊
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Julia Smith Wellner @wellner.bsky.social · 03/11/2025
We've come a long way in our understanding of the Antarctic Ice Sheet history, even while we have a ways to go to know how fast future changes are coming. I'm lucky to be a part of John Anderson's group. See story on his career: naturalsciences.rice.edu/milestones-s... 📷 Linda Welzenbach
Grounded ice in the background, flowing into ocean in the foreground, with small bits of brash ice floating.
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Julia Smith Wellner @wellner.bsky.social · 30/10/2025
A clear summary of much of what we have learned about Thwaites Glacier, and what we still need to learn.
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Julia Smith Wellner @wellner.bsky.social · 27/10/2025
The NBP has finished her last USAP cruise. Not the outcome we’ve been hoping to see. I’m of course glad that researchers are being supported by substitute vessels. But, it’s not clear how this will work in the long run.
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Christine Siddoway @iphigenesdream.bsky.social · 12/10/2025
Nice synopsis of #IODP379 #AmundsenSea research that examines the early #Pliocene record of warming of West Antarctica, using sediment cores from deep sea @passchier.bsky.social @wellner.bsky.social #JOIDESResolution
scienmag.com
Early Pliocene West Antarctic Ice Retreat Explored
In a groundbreaking new study published in Nature Communications, an international team of geoscientists has unveiled compelling evidence of significant West Antarctic ice retreat during the early
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University of Houston Earth and Atmospheric Sciences @uh-earth-atm-sci.bsky.social · 10/09/2025
University of Houston students had the chance to participate in a marine mapping short course that included field work and hands on exercises. www.uh.edu/nsm/earth-at...
Students and instructors sitting in rows for a group picture.
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Dr. Lucky Tran @luckytran.com · 28/08/2025
CDC scientists receive a heroes welcome after walking out today.
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Paul Voosen @voosen.me · 28/07/2025
Just after publication, an NSF spokesperson responded to @science.org confirming the plan: "NSF is terminating the lease of the research vessel Nathaniel B. Palmer in FY 2026. NSF has also begun the process to identify vessels and partnerships to support marine science. " We're updating the story.
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Julia Smith Wellner @wellner.bsky.social · 28/07/2025
🥼❄️
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Julia Smith Wellner @wellner.bsky.social · 28/07/2025
Thanks to @voosen.me for helping spread the word about this potential major blow to U.S. polar science. @carlosmoffat.com and I are grateful to all the people who have shared their concerns by signing our letter. Keep reaching out to protect the USAP icebreaker---and science in general.
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Julia Smith Wellner @wellner.bsky.social · 25/07/2025
Are you a scientist that wants to support the Antarctic marine research community? And coastal access? And access to USAP stations? See below to join 120+ of our peers in fighting to keep the NBP.
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Julia Smith Wellner @wellner.bsky.social · 25/07/2025
Did you know there is a plan to terminate the lease of the NB Palmer, the US icebreaker supporting Antarctic science? @carlosmoffat.com docs.google.com/document/d/1...
docs.google.com
Antarctic Research Vessel Letter of Support
If you are a scientist interested in adding your name to our letter in support of the US Antarctic Program Research Vessel Capabilities, please email one of the following organizers by July 28th, 3:00...
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U.S. Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (US-SCAR) @usscar-antarctic.bsky.social · 08/07/2025
Nominate an Expert for the SCAR Physical Sciences Group Submit nominations by Mon, July 28, to Lindsay Moller (LMoller@nas.edu). Include candidate’s name, affiliation, area of expertise, and brief description why the nominee is appropriate. Self nominations are welcome. usscar.org/news/nominat...
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Mara Freilich @maratimes.bsky.social · 09/07/2025
NOAA Climate and Global Change fellows were furloughed this week. One of many losses.
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Julia Smith Wellner @wellner.bsky.social · 01/07/2025
This is more than making lemonade after being given a bad sea-ice field season. Nice work, Sandra!
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Julia Smith Wellner @wellner.bsky.social · 19/06/2025
Maybe good news for those of us hoping to see a new research icebreaker built someday?
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Science Magazine @science.org · 12/06/2025
"[Research universities] are behind the breakthroughs that shape daily lives. Undermining them doesn’t just jeopardize higher education, it threatens national and global strength," writes University of Rhode Island president Marc B. Parlange in a new #ScienceEditorial. scim.ag/4ky2K4I
Quote from Marc B. Parlange: 'Public research institutions...are the lifeblood of local communities and are especially vulnerable to budget cuts..."
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Joshua Weitz @joshuasweitz.bsky.social · 31/05/2025
How bad will it be? Catastrophic. Proposed cuts to #NSF, #NIH, and #NASA will set the US R&D landscape back 25 yrs+, cause economic and job loss now, and undermine innovations to come. But, this is the WH's *proposed* budget. Speak up now before it is too late. (inflation adjusted $-s below)
NSF, NASA and NIH budgets per year, inflation adjusted from 2000-2025 along with the proposed cuts. NSF includes research component only. Massive cuts across all sectors, well below support spanning 25 years.
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Julia Smith Wellner @wellner.bsky.social · 31/05/2025
With a deadline Monday, I’m wondering how much of my weekend to spend on my proposal? Should I keep working nights and days off scrambling for a piece of the remaining pie? This is not auspicious timing for keeping my motivation going.
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Lily Dove @solilyquy.bsky.social · 30/05/2025
Tune in to the @wclivestream.bsky.social bright and early tomorrow to learn about how and why scientists use robots to observe our blue planet! www.youtube.com/@wclivestrea... 🧪 🌊 🌍
100 Hours to Save America's Forecasts
20 Minute Talks

"Observing the Ocean with Robots"
Dr. Lily Dove
7:30 am EDT | Friday, May 30th
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Jeffrey Mervis @policyhound.bsky.social · 22/05/2025
A poignant picture: NSF staff overcome obstacles to mark agency's 75th anniversary. www.science.org/content/arti...
science.org
Is a photo subversive? NSF staff overcome obstacles to 75th anniversary portrait
Management tried to quash outpouring of support for beleaguered agency
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Julia Smith Wellner @wellner.bsky.social · 02/05/2025
I’m currently in the field with grad students. We will lose a generation of highly trained individuals if we can’t pay them or keep the labs open. Hard to keep morale up on long days when this type of news comes in.
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Julia Smith Wellner @wellner.bsky.social · 19/04/2025
Overall I think it is critical to make sure our protests don’t focus too much just on a couple people. There are lots of enablers that need to be held accountable. But I was proud to march alongside this guy in Houston today. @maddow.msnbc.com
Donald Trump (blow up suit) reading Oligarchy for Dummies.
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Senator Bernie Sanders @sanders.senate.gov · 14/04/2025
In defiance of the Supreme Court & without any evidence, the White House claims that Kilmar Abrego Garcia is a “terrorist,” who was “sent to the right place.” This is a blatant LIE. He is innocent. He cannot be allowed to rot in an El Salvadorian jail. He must be brought home.
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Alexandra Witze @alexwitze.bsky.social · 09/04/2025
I wrote about Trump cuts at the ends of the Earth, to NSF support of science in Antarctica. 🧪 “We’re all trying to find other ways of doing our research,” says @leighstearns.bsky.social, “because they are not the stable entity.” www.nature.com/articles/d41...
nature.com
Does US science have a future in Antarctica? Trump cuts threaten to cancel fieldwork and more
Funding for the National Science Foundation, which finances research at US bases on the icy continent, has already been reduced, and the agency faces steeper cuts soon.
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George Takei @georgetakei.bsky.social · 07/04/2025
A reminder that if the government can send migrants to a prison camp without any due process, it can send U.S. citizens there, too. I know because this happened to me and my family in 1942.
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Jay Willis @jaywillis.net · 07/04/2025
If the Supreme Court decides that the government can "erroneously" disappear you off the street to a foreign torture prison, and that federal courts have no power to do anything about it, that is, in a meaningful way, Pretty Much It www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/24...
Respondents emphasize that Abrego Garcia was improperly removed to El Sal-
vador because, although he could be removed anywhere else in the world under a
2019 order of removal, that order granted statutory withholding of removal to El Sal-
vador alone. But, while the United States concedes that removal to El Salvador was
an administrative error, see App., infra, 60a, that does not license district courts to
seize control over foreign relations, treat the Executive Branch as a subordinate dip-
lomat, and demand that the United States let a member of a foreign terrorist organ-
ization into America tonight. For starters, because MS-13 members such as Abrego
Garcia have since been designated members of a foreign terrorist organization, they
are no longer eligible for withholding of removal under 8 U.S.C. 1231(b)(3)(B). Fur-
ther, the United States has ensured that aliens removed to CECOT in El Salvador
will not be tortured, and it would not have removed any alien to El Salvador for such
detention if doing so would violate its obligations under the Convention Against Tor-
ture. Moreover, respondents treat the relief here as “routine,” Resp. C.A. Stay
Opp. 1, but that relief goes far beyond merely facilitating an alien’s return, which is
what courts have ordered in other cases. This order—and its demand to accomplish
sensitive foreign negotiations post-haste, and effectuate Abrego Garcia’s return to-
night—is unprecedented and indefensible.
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Julia Smith Wellner @wellner.bsky.social · 05/04/2025
Major lightening storm held off just long enough for Houston to show up and say Hands Off!
Panoramic photo of a crowd protesting in front of Houston city hall.
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Julia Smith Wellner @wellner.bsky.social · 03/04/2025
This is my district. Taxation—and tariffs and all the rest—-without representation.
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All In with Chris Hayes @allinwithchris.bsky.social · 27/03/2025
"A terrified young student, snatched off the street by a masked police force taken thousands of miles across the country without anyone knowing. It is as flatly authoritarian as anything we have ever seen in this country," says @chrislhayes.bsky.social on Tufts student Rumeysa Ozturk's detention.
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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 16/03/2025
Murphy: "If we continue to observe norms, if we continue to engage in business as usual, this democracy could be gone. I don't think we have a year to save American democracy. I think the way the president is acting ... puts out democracy at immediate risk."
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University of Houston Earth and Atmospheric Sciences @uh-earth-atm-sci.bsky.social · 12/03/2025
National TV in Iceland is now live-streaming webcams and DAS recordings during the intense seismic swarm at Reykjanes (www.youtube.com/live/kXD4A9u...). This is a collaborative work between Icelandic Met Office, Ljósleiðarann, Reykjavik University, Caltech, and UH🌋 #Reykjanes #DAS #Seismology
https://www.youtube.com/live/kXD4A9uFHcg?si=el8z7mXESO5nxWvR
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Julia Smith Wellner @wellner.bsky.social · 07/03/2025
Even a year ago, none of us would believe this could possibly be real.
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Julia Smith Wellner @wellner.bsky.social · 03/03/2025
These are great slides. Many more people can see them this way than would have at your presentation!
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David Roberts @volts.wtf · 01/03/2025
Hi, broken record here. The same degraded information environment that led to Trump being elected is still in place. Most people still aren't being told what's happening, who's at fault, or what the effects will be. And there's zero reason to think traumatic events will "wake people up."
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The Onion @theonion.com · 28/02/2025
NOAA Cuts Leave Wind Chimes As Sole Predictor Of Approaching Hurricanes
theonion.com
NOAA Cuts Leave Wind Chimes As Sole Predictor Of Approaching Hurricanes
SILVER SPRING, MD—As mass firings of career experts and scientists continued to roil the federal government, officials confirmed Friday that cuts to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration...
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Julia Smith Wellner @wellner.bsky.social · 28/02/2025
Talking just about increasing erosion, and not the underlying cause, is old hat here in Texas I’m afraid.
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