DEEPS Shorts is a video series highlighting the diverse research within Brown’s Department of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences. This week's scientist is Jaesoek Lee, PhD student studying seismology, earthquakes, and fault geometries. Created by PhD Candidate Élise Beaudin, with support from Communications Specialist Mae Jackson.

This year, DEEPS undergraduates traveled to Utah for the annual Spring Break Field Trip. Their geologic journey included the grandeur of Zion National Park, the unique hoodoos of Bryce Canyon National Park, the enigmatic splendor of Escalante Petrified Forest, and much more. Enjoy these photos from their exciting and educational adventure!

DEEPS is proud to present our newest Lincoln Field Art Show. "Blue Moon: Lunar Orbiter Silk Cyanotype" is a student exhibition featuring a 60-foot vertical silk cyanotype, along with smaller cyanotypes, community event photos, and a video on the 1960s Lunar Orbiter Missions.

The Department of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences joins Brown University in celebrating the achievements of the graduating class of 2025. Here we will be sharing an expanded version of our Commencement Program, listing the accomplishments of our new graduates, photos of the event, and other resources.

DEEPS Shorts is a video series highlighting the diverse research within Brown’s Department of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences. This week we hear from Aikaterina “Katia” Tavri, Postdoctoral Research Associate and Remote Sensing Specialist using satellite imageries to study sea ice variability. Created by PhD Candidate Élise Beaudin, with support from Communications Specialist Mae Jackson.

DEEPS Shorts is a video series highlighting the diverse research within Brown’s Department of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences. This week features Pierre Chabert, Postdoctoral Research Associate and Physical Oceanographer studying extreme flooding events in New England. Created by PhD Candidate Élise Beaudin, with support from Communications Specialist Mae Jackson.

DEEPS Graduate Student Sara Cuevas-Quiñones recently published a new paper in Communications Earth & Environment, exploring the morphological, thermophysical, and mineralogical properties of a mountain on the Jezero crater of Mars. Cuevas-Quiñones and her team explain how radioisotope dating of igneous rock samples cached by Perseverance could eventually make this the first volcano of precisely known age on another terrestrial planet.

DEEPS Shorts is a video series highlighting the diverse research within Brown’s Department of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences. Our first scientist is Lily Dove, Postdoctoral Fellow and Physical Oceanographer exploring the Southern Ocean: The Lung of the Ocean. Created by PhD Candidate Élise Beaudin, with support from Communications Specialist Mae Jackson.

Research.com's 2025 Ranking of Best Scientists in the field of Earth Science has named DEEPS Professor Jim Head #1 in the world ranking and #1 in United States. He has also been awarded the Earth Science Leader Award for 2025.

Improving water systems is a key way we can better adapt to climate change, according to Brown oceanographer Baylor Fox-Kemper.

Conversations about sea-level rise often spotlight warming temperatures. But Earth’s geological engine quietly plays its own role. Professor Colleen Dalton, together with colleagues, connects the dramatic change in sea levels to a slowdown in seafloor spreading that reshaped the depth of the ocean basins.

Every year, distinguished Brown scholars are nominated for Research Achievement Awards by their colleagues for conducting exceptional and transformative research. Assistant Professor Daniel E. Ibarra was named one of the The 2025 Early Career Research Achievement Award winners for his significant contributions to geochemistry, paleoclimate studies, natural resources, and the training of aspiring scientists.

In a new Science Advances publication, Assistant Professor James Dottin III demonstrates how Hydrogen may leak from the core into the lowermost mantle, become entrained in mantle plumes, and mix into the upper mantle. "We typically think about the water cycle on the surface," explained Dottin, "but we often don't consider what happens to water beneath our feet through deep Earth processes." By measuring 2H/1H ratios in olivine-hosted basaltic melt inclusions from a Baffin Island lava, Dottin and his team investigated whether mantle plumes contain Hydrogen from the core. "This means that some the the water you're drinking today might be seeing the surface for the first time since the Earth was formed."

Swathes of scientific data deletions are sweeping across US government websites, and scientists are racing to save their work before it's lost. "Climate science is only possible because of long-term datasets," says DEEPS Postdoc Lilian Dove, a US Noaa climate and global change research fellow. "Without continuing to collect that data, preserve that data, our field is in really big trouble."

Dr. Bethany Ehlmann, a 2010 graduate of Brown with with a PhD and MS in geology, has been named director of the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) at the University of Colorado Boulder. LASP’s mission is to advance scientific discovery and inspire the next generation through forefront research, innovation and education.

Maggie Gonzalez, a 2025 Leadership Alliance REU student, has published a paper in Geophysical Research Letters with DEEPS Postdoc Lily Dove and Assistant Professor Mara Freilich. The publication explores the biogeochemical and seasonal properties of Antarctic Winter Water using data collected by profiling floats. Gonzalez developed an algorithm to detect a layer of water in the Southern Ocean from observations, as well as the first description of the seasonal and geographical patterns of the biogeochemistry of this water.