David Sandwell on Seeing Plate Tectonics Under the Oceans

10/01/20 • 29 min

David Sandwell uses satellites to make accurate measurements of the shape of the ocean surface. He explains how this enabled him to create a global map of the topography on the sea-floor. This revealed the global extent of classic plate-tectonic features, such as spreading ridges and transform faults, but also intriguing new features we still do not understand.

David Sandwell is a Professor at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego.

David Sandwell is a Professor at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego.

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Barbara Romanowicz on Seeing Deep into the Earth

Barbara Romanowicz uses the seismic waves triggered by earthquakes to probe the interior of the Earth. She has forged new techniques for analyzing these waves to give us a much sharper view of the deep structure of the Earth. She is a Professor of the Graduate School at the University of California at Berkeley, and Chair of Physics of the Earth’s Interior at the Collège de France in Paris.

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Bruce Buffett on Probing the Earth's Core

Bruce Buffett is a Professor in the Department of Earth and Planetary Science at the University of California, Berkeley. He investigates the structure and motions within the Earth’s core by matching physics-based simulations of the core to the observed magnetic field of the Earth.

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