International Short Course at Tohoku with ANU (9/6 - 9/13)

Last month we joined the annual International Short Trip Course to Tohoku with students from The Australian National University. On the first day, after the Welcome and Greetings from professors and the directors, we immersed ourselves in lectures across a spectrum of disciplines, from geohazards to philosophy, as well as lab tours at AORI. It was exciting to meet new people and make friends with each other.

On the second day, we departed from AORI to Tohoku, heading north along Japan's East Coast, starting our trip with the first visit to the TEPCO Decommissioning Archive Center. We were able to closely learn about the Fukushima nuclear accident. Following the visit, we went to explore the traces and deposits of tsunamis in a soil setting, great thanks to the professors from Tohoku University for their help.

On the third day, we visited the town of Otsuchi, which was devastated by the 2011 big earthquake and tsunami. We had a walking tour and a workshop on tsunami events, response, decision making and recovery. It became particularly important for science communication when we shared different ideas and understood different perspectives from each other at the workshop. We also went to the AORI aquarium exhibit and saw the interesting marine animals in the sea around Otsuchi.

Day 4 started with a hike along the coast at Karakuwa to see some boulders that were shifted by the 2011 tsunami. We took the best group photo at the boulder site with the great view. Following the walk, lunch was an unexpected highlight of the day in a beautiful traditional Japanese house with a garden. We went to the Okawa elementary school after lunch, where they had preserved the destroyed school after the 2011 tsunami for exhibition.

On day 5, we visited the Nakahama elementary school, where 90 lives were saved from the 2011 tsunami and marked as a great success in surviving the catastrophic tsunami event. This visit provided a poignant example of how effective preparation and leadership are essential to survival. We returned back to AORI in the afternoon and enjoyed the delicious BBQ dinner hosted by the whole department.

On the final day, to conclude this international short course, we prepared slides and made group presentations based on what we have learnt from the trip. It was such a pleasure to meet each other from different countries and work as partners. This course ended perfectly with a farewell party at the Fish Club Hama restaurant on the ground floor at AORI. We really enjoyed the fresh fish, sushi and nice dishes prepared by the hospitable chef and staff. Many thanks to all the professors, staffs and teaching assistants that organize the course and help us all the way through the trip, making it a lifetime memorable experience for us all.

New Papers Nature (2026/10/05 - 2026/10/12)

PNAS: M. Henke, Z. Yang, & R. Branch, Improved assessment of Alaskan Arctic coastal wave exposure accounting for landfast ice, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 123 (42) e2612829123, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2612829123 (2026).

R. Halonen, Thermodynamic origin of atmospheric new particle formation: Theory for stable nucleating pairs, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 123 (42) e2620565123, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2620565123 (2026).

A.G. Fountain, B. Glenn, C. McNeil, & B. Menounos, Extensive glacier loss in the coterminous United States, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 123 (43) e2600941123, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2600941123 (2026).

Nature geoscience: Piao, J., Kug, JS., Chen, W. et al. An abrupt shift towards a hotter and drier climate regime in the Western Eurasian Steppe. Nat. Geosci. (2026).

Rodriguez, AB, Ridge, JT, Bost, MC et al. Sea level-induced oyster reef accretion causes minimal net carbon burial change. Nat. Geosci. (2026).

Qian, F., Wang, Y., Costa, KM et al. Transient variability in global oceanic oxygen during the Last Interglacial Period. Nat. Geosci. (2026).

Nature geology: /

Nature communications: Lee, MU., Park, JY., Kim, HK. et al. Hysteresis of extreme precipitation in East Asia under various CO2 removal pathways. Nat Commun (2026).

Poinelli, M., Rignot, E., Seroussi, H. et al. Sea-level contribution from Thwaites Glacier doubles in an observation-constrained ice-sheet model. Nat Commun 17, 10364 (2026).

Zhang, Z., Chen, P., Jamet, C. et al. Asymmetric bloom lengthening drives high-latitude ocean chlorophyll accumulation imbalance. Nat Commun (2026).

Zheng, Y., Zhai, X., Stevens, DP et al. Intensification of near-inertial currents in the Atlantic Ocean over the past two decades. Nat Commun (2026).

Nature climate change: van Westen, RM, Börner, R. & Dijkstra, HA Failure to track a stable AMOC state under rapid climate change. Nat. Clim. Chang. 16, 1195–1206 (2026).

Nature scientific reports: /

ScienceAdvances: Evi Wubben et al. ,Ocean circulation changes rather than global warming drove temperature trends across the Miocene Climatic Optimum.Sci. Adv.12, eadz2555(2026).

New Paper (ELSEVIER, 261005~261012)

Chemical Geology

1. High-precision laser ablation U-Pb geochronology using a Neptune PLUS equipped with two 1013 Ω amplifiers: Age mapping of Jack Hills detrital zircon

Christopher M. Fisher, Dan Bevan, Aleksey Sadekov, Anthony I.S. Kemp

2. An assessment of the Zr/Hf ratio as a proxy of marine clay authigenesis

G. Bayon, P. Giresse, M.-L. Rouget, A. Boissier, ... E. Pucéat

3. The late shoulder season modifies the mobility of iron and dissolved organic carbon in rivers from distinct permafrost regions

Maëlle Villani, Catherine Hirst, Eléonore du Bois d'Aische, Cécile Osy, ... Sophie Opfergelt

Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta

4. Oxygen isotope exchange unravels million-year long hydrogeochemical evolution of a deep carbonate aquifer in the Swiss Molasse Basin

Christoph Wanner, Lukas Aschwanden, Mirjam Kiczka, H. Niklaus Waber, ... Daniel Traber

5. Two-stage Mg isotope behavior during silicate weathering and its implication for tracing continental weathering intensity

Long Ma, Yuanqiang Guo, Kang-Jun Huang

Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology

6. Sources of particulate and sedimentary organic matter in the middle Okinawa Trough since the Last Glacial Maximum: Implications for lateral transport across the East China Sea shelf

Libo Wang, Xilin Zhang, Bin Zhai, Mingyu Zhang, ... Yong Zhang

Fieldwork in Kikaijima (9/29-10/2)

こんにちは！D2のYangerです！

I just got back from a field trip to Kikaijima with Professor Hirabayashi. Kikaijima is a small island in Kagoshima Prefecture, east of Amami. Besides being known for its sugar cane and sesame, the island is also famous for its uplifted coral reefs and was recently designated as a Japanese geopark. As we approached the island by air, we could clearly see the classic spur-and-groove formations of its coral reefs.

Our main mission this time was to survey limestone outcrops exposed during excavation for an underground dam. We were joined by Professor Marc Humblet from Nagoya University, an expert on coral and limestone assemblages. With his help, we identified fossils of corals, foraminifera, brachiopods, and other organisms preserved in the limestone. These fossils offered clues about the water depths and environments in which they originally lived. We even found a well-preserved barnacle fossil protruding from the rock face!

We spent two days at the site documenting and sampling the specimens we found in the rock. After long days working under the sun, we were rewarded with beautiful sunsets.

In addition to examining the outcrops, we also had the chance to inspect rock cores collected before construction began. The cores were stored in the gym of an old school, where rows upon rows of boxes filled the space. As we examined the cores and identified sections containing corals, foraminifera, and crustose coralline algae (CCA), we could trace how the island's environment had changed over time.

  

On our final day, we drove around the island to sample groundwater from springs. Professor Hirabayashi explained that our lab has been regularly monitoring the geochemical composition of Kikaijima's groundwater for several years. By using radiocarbon as a tracer, these measurements help us understand how groundwater moves and changes beneath the island.

In just four days, I got a glimpse of the exciting research being conducted on this coral island. A huge thank you to Professor Humblet for helping us identify the various organisms preserved in the limestone and explaining what they can tell us about the island's past environments. I'm also very grateful to Professor Hirabayashi for organizing the trip and teaching me so much about Kikaijima!

New Papers (AGU, etc.) 2026/09/29~2026/10/05

 

Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems

1. Pre-Eruptive Volatiles and Magma Storage Depth for the 2018 Eruption at Mount Veniaminof, Alaska

    E. G. Huggins, P. Ruprecht, M. Loewen, M. Gavrilenko, R. J. Bodnar, M. Harlaux

 

Geophysical Research Letters

2. Cosmogenic ¹⁰Be as a Tracer for Recent Heliospheric Encounters With Interstellar Cold Clouds and Nearby Supernovae

    Anna Nica, Merav Opher, Jesse A. Miller, Jennifer L. Middleton, Joe Giacalone

3. Water Storage Capacity Dynamics in Drained Boreal Peatlands: Responses to Rewetting and Climate Change

Shokoufeh Salimi, Behshid Khodaei, Hjalmar Laudon

4. Climate Change Induced Seasonal Amplification of the Indian Ocean CO₂ Sink

    A. P. Joshi, Kunal Chakraborty, V. V. S. S. Sarma, Prasanna Kanti Ghoshal, B. Sridevi, Zouhair Lachkar

5. Asynchronous Changes in Tempo-Spatial Patterns of the Younger Dryas Hydroclimate in Northeastern China

   Sihan Sun, Yukun Zheng, Yue Wang, Jun Cheng, Yiyin Li, Hongyan Liu, Ulrike Herzschuh

6. Dead Sea Warming and the Origin of Salt Giants

   E. Guillerm, T. K. Lowenstein, V. Gardien, F. Bärenbold, D. Bouffard, A. Brauer, F. Caupin

7. Record-Breaking Humid Heat in Northern China During Summer 2025 Driven by Kuroshio–Oyashio Extension SST Anomalies

   Wenyue He, Huopo Chen, Zhicong Yin, Fei Xie

8. Divergent Influences of Oceanic Western Boundary Currents on Weak and Strong Tropical Cyclones

   Wenting Lou, Tongya Liu, Jiacheng Hong, Yi-Peng Guo, Han Zhang, Dake Chen

 

Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology

9. Simulated Ocean Oxygen Under Miocene Boundary Conditions

   James R. Berg, David K. Hutchinson, Katrin J. Meissner, Benoît Pasquier, Mark Holzer, Alexandra Auderset

10. Chemostratigraphic Constraints on Oligocene–Miocene Sedimentation and Hiatus Formation at IODP Site U1516, Mentelle Basin: Implications for Deep-Water Circulation in the Eastern Indian Ocean

   Tianqi Sun, Christophe Colin, Zhaokai Xu, Arnaud Dapoigny, Rosella Pinna-Jamme, Dhongil Lim, Gang Hu, Fengming Chang, Hongjin Chen, Wei Wang, Qingchao Fan, Tiegang Li

 

Climate of the Past

11. Ocean warming caused by Late Ordovician glacial onset in a coupled climate-ice sheet simulation

   Yudong Sun, Yonggang Liu, Jiacheng Wu, Kai Man, Haonan Yu, Shuai Yuan, Yizhang Liu, Yue Liu, Qi Cui, Qiang Wei, and Yongyun Hu

12. Holocene-like summer climate during Marine Isotope Stage 11 in northwestern Greenland

    John Michael N. Aguilar, Elizabeth K. Thomas, Diana S. Aga, Paul R. Bierman, Jason P. Briner, Isla S. Castañeda, and Andrew J. Christ