Microplastics at the Kikai College Summer Science Camp

A plastic bag floating in the water near a coral reef in Kikaijima, southern Japan. The grey specks are pumice stones from an undersea volcanic eruption that happened in 2021. This summer marks the fourth time I have gone to the Kikai Institute for Coral Reef Sciences. Kikaijima is a small island located in southern … Continue reading Microplastics at the Kikai College Summer Science Camp

Raised beaches in Northwestern Scotland

A Marine Isotope Stage 3 aged marine terrace in Slaggan Bay, Scotland. Image from Google Earth. I named this website over the fact that so-called "raised beaches" are a key constraint that I use to infer the size of past ice sheets. As I discussed in episode 1 one of my podcast, the term "raised … Continue reading Raised beaches in Northwestern Scotland

Signs of a Mississippian Glaciation

One of the great joys of having a highly cited paper is that I usually get one or two notifications every week of new studies that cite it from Google Scholar. This notifies me of papers that use my work that sometimes fall well outside of my usual radar. It is very interesting to discover … Continue reading Signs of a Mississippian Glaciation

10 years on

With the extreme heat going on here in Kumamoto (it could be the worst in the history of the city), I was reminded of a similar heat wave that happened 10 years ago when I went to the INQUA Conference in Nagoya. During that week, I discussed my work on ice sheet modelling, and met … Continue reading 10 years on

Raised Beaches Podcast: Episode 6

Raised Beaches Podcast: Episode 6 The deep dive of episode 6 is on the topic of CO2 changes through time. Listen here: https://raisedbeaches.buzzsprout.com/ Watch here: https://www.youtube.com/@evangowan Episode 6 - Intro In the intro, I discuss about the hot start to the summer and my trip to Mt. Aso volcano. I discuss about my experience at … Continue reading Raised Beaches Podcast: Episode 6

Raised Beaches Podcast: Episode 5

The deep dive of episode 5 is the greenhouse effect. For a full list of references, see the post on my website: Listen here: https://raisedbeaches.buzzsprout.com/ Watch here: https://www.youtube.com/@evangowan Episode 5 - Intro I discuss what I have been doing from late December 2024 to the end of February 2025, including watching Sakurajima volcano erupt, and … Continue reading Raised Beaches Podcast: Episode 5

Raised Beaches Podcast: Episode 4

Raised Beaches Podcast: Episode 4 The deep dive of episode 4 is on Milankovitch Cycles. Listen here: https://raisedbeaches.buzzsprout.com/ Watch here: https://www.youtube.com/@evangowan Episode 4 - Intro I discuss what I have been doing in November and December 2024, as well as an overview of all of 2024. Current work on ice sheet reconstructions. Trip to Okinawa … Continue reading Raised Beaches Podcast: Episode 4

Raised Beaches Podcast: Episode 3

The deep dive of episode 3 is on proxy records. Listen here: https://raisedbeaches.buzzsprout.com/ Watch here: https://www.youtube.com/@evangowan Episode 3 - Intro I discuss about how autumn is late coming to Japan, and my geological observations from my recent trip to Nagasaki. I talk about the devastating hurricanes in the southeastern United States, and how Hurricane Helene … Continue reading Raised Beaches Podcast: Episode 3

Raised Beaches Podcast: Episode 2

The main topic of episode 2 is on sea level and deviations from sea level. Listen here: https://raisedbeaches.buzzsprout.com/ Watch here: https://www.youtube.com/@evangowan Epsiode 2 - Intro I discuss about my activities from June to late July, including my stay at the Kikai Institute for Coral Reef Sciences, and the University at Buffalo. I then discuss about … Continue reading Raised Beaches Podcast: Episode 2

Raised Beaches Podcast: Episode 1

This is episode 1 of the Raised Beaches Podcast. This is the culmination of many months of planning to produce a podcast to discuss topics related to paleoclimate, Earth science and global change. In this episode, I introduce myself and discuss the highlights of the 2024 Japan Geoscience Union conference. The deep dive explains what … Continue reading Raised Beaches Podcast: Episode 1