Geophysics will exist as long as humans keep being humans

Science adapts as humans adapt, and as long as we keep simply existing, there will always be something new to create, discover, or solve (to take an anthropocentric view, as Hawking attempts not to in his paper). I have my bachelor’s in physics, so it’s safe to say I am at least a little bit interested in physics, or at least science. However, my degree was just in general physics, not astrophysics or biophysics (the other two niches GW offered), so it can be very overwhelming. I do research in optics and computational physics—modeling incoming light from the sun through the atmosphere (plus gasses, clouds, space) onto different surfaces (snow, water, dark ground) and look at the, for example, the albedo (fraction of light reflected off the surface). This lends itself to climate change applications—if the snow melts from global warming, the surface changes and the amount of light reflected back changes. Snow is white, so when it melts, darker surfaces underneath absorb more light/heat into the Earth, creating a vicious cycle of more warming. We want a high albedo to combat this, and that comes from light reflecting off of lighter colored surfaces. Other things in the light’s path that change also affect the climate, and that’s what I study.

I picked this research topic and this advisor because I could see the immediate and clear applications. While a ton of physics research is important to the community and creates hubbub, this to me is a very clear and tangible answer to the question of why are you doing this? However, I think my interest in this is less about physics and more about the climate change applications. The article we had to read mentioned “revolutionary versus normal science” and I think that’s to be expected. All the “big stuff” like gravity and nuclei have already been discovered, so finding more “big stuff” is hard (hence the “normality” period). As our understanding of science advances, it leaves the general public in the dust sometimes in terms of conceptualizing what scientists are doing. It can be hard to see the big picture if you don’t have the degree or background knowledge.

This past summer I was a science communication intern at EarthScope Consortium, a geophysics resource and organization. While there I learned more about geophysics, which wasn’t an option at GW in undergrad. I also had opted not to take Earth science in high school. Spending the summer learning about it has made me wish I could go back and look for courses relating to it. The risk that climate change and natural hazards pose to the human race is well known within the general public, but I got a very in-depth understanding of Earth sciences, particularly remote sensing—a huge subject of fascination to me now (luckily it’s used in my research as well). There are so many kinds, and they are so versatile and applicable.

GPS (Global Positioning System) is most well-known to us, but GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) is the more general term. Satellites in space send a signal to your phone, car navigation, or anything else that uses it, and the device measures the distance from it to the satellite, which is how it knows your exact location. But, it’s used in research too by placing receivers in places and watching their movements. For example, a landslide or earthquake would create movement for the receiver, alerting the station monitoring that area. It can help sense incoming hazards before a human feels it, allowing early warning alerts to be sent out sooner.

DAS (Distributed Acoustic Sensing) is a bit newer but really cool and versatile. I became so enamored with it that I wrote an explainer this summer and a few articles involving DAS, which is like a long cable that sends light pulses through it. The cable can lay on the ocean floor or just ground surface and when there's a “disturbance” (tides, whale migration/calls, underwater earthquake) it sends back a scattered signal that we can discern. 

Other similar technologies can compare satellite images over time to see changes. A lot of the science people are doing is to monitor or help mitigate issues that humans in a large part have caused or contributed to (climate change, glacial melting, increased earthquakes). We even have used technology in new ways during times of crisis and war. I wrote an article about remote sensing to compare images of destroyed buildings to map building/facility damage in Gaza, deforestation and migration in Syria, and mine sites in Ukraine. Solving our own problems can seem a bit sad, and perhaps that’s part of the reason that science advancements have lost some of their pizazz. But that means we are always in a cycle of new science as long as we just simply keep being humans and existing.

Works cited

“Distributed Acoustic Sensing.” EarthScope Consortium, July 23, 2024. https://www.earthscope.org/what-is/das/. 

GNSS, Inside. “Expanding the Role of GNSS in Seismic Monitoring.” Inside GNSS - Global Navigation Satellite Systems Engineering, Policy, and Design, June 9, 2023. https://insidegnss.com/expanding-the-role-of-gnss-in-seismic-modeling/. 

Horgan, John. “Huge Study Confirms Science Ending! (Sort Of).” John Horgan (The Science Writer), April 18, 2024. https://johnhorgan.org/cross-check/yrb9e7uefpeqrlkiasoc6octxtnm5g. 

Loria, Davie. “NSF SAGE/Gage Community Science Workshop Highlights the Breadth of the Geophysical Toolkit.” EarthScope Consortium, July 10, 2024. https://www.earthscope.org/news/nsf-sage-gage-community-science-workshop-highlights-the-breadth-of-the-geophysical-toolkit/. 

Loria, Davie. “Remote Sensing and Armed Conflict-a Unique Humanitarian Role for Geophysics.” EarthScope Consortium, August 2, 2024. https://www.earthscope.org/news/remote-sensing-and-armed-conflict-a-unique-humanitarian-role-for-geophysics/. 

S W Hawking. “Is the End in Sight for Theoretical Physics?” Phys. Bull. 32 15, 1981