Characterizing the surface material of an asteroid is important for understanding its geology and for informing mission decisions, such as the selection of a sample site. Diurnal surface temperature amplitudes are directly related to the thermal properties of the materials on the surface. We describe a numerical model for studying the thermal conductivity of particulate regolith in vacuum. Heat diffusion and surface-to-surface radiation calculations are performed using the finite element (FE) method in three-dimensional meshed geometries of randomly packed spherical particles. We validate the model for test cases where the total solid and radiative conductivity values of particulates with monodisperse particle size frequency distributions (SFDs) are determined at steady-state thermal conditions. Then, we use the model to study the bulk radiative thermal conductivity of particulates with polydisperse, cumulative power-law particle SFDs. We show that for each polydisperse particulate geometry tested, there is a corresponding monodisperse geometry with some effective particle diameter that has an identical radiative thermal conductivity. These effective diameters are found to correspond very well to the Sauter mean particle diameter, which is essentially the surface-area–weighted mean. Next, we show that the thermal conductivity of the particle material can have an important effect on the radiative component of the thermal conductivity of particulates, especially if the particle material conductivity is very low or the spheres are relatively large, owing to non-isothermality in each particle. We provide an empirical correlation to predict the effects of non-isothermality on radiative thermal conductivity in both monodisperse and polydisperse particulates.

We present the first quantitative measurements of the magnitude and gradient of thermal pressure in a laser heated diamond anvil cell (LHDAC). The observed thermal pressure is strongly localized and follows the distribution of the laser hotspot. The magnitude of the thermal pressure is of the order of the thermodynamic thermal pressure (ad) with gradients between 0.5 – 1.0 GPa/10 um. This poses constraints on pressure determinations during PVT equation of state measurements when using a LHDAC. We show that an incomplete account of thermal pressure in PVT experiments can lead to distortions of the coveted depth versus mineralogy correlation. However, the ability to spatially resolve thermal pressure in a LHDAC opens avenues to measure thermodynamic derivative properties, which are important for comprehensive thermodynamic descriptions of the interior of planets.

Arctic warming is outpacing the global rate of climate change, with up to 11 degrees C of warming projected by the year 2100 if greenhouse gas emissions follow their current trajectories. Increasing temperatures are expected to result in permafrost thaw, and the combined effects of precipitation changes, soil warming, and active layer deepening are expected to result in net soil drying. While there is widespread agreement that increasing temperatures and active layer depth will release carbon from soils, the effect on vegetative C cycling is less certain. In 2017, we conducted an experiment to examine the effects of soil drying and active layer deepening on primary productivity in Eriophorum vaginatum, a dominant circumpolar Arctic sedge, and the extent to which those effects vary across ecotypes. We harvested E. vaginatum tussocks from three sites along a latitudinal gradient in the Alaskan Arctic, placed them in pots filled with peat soil, and assigned each to one of three drying treatments. In one treatment, the soils were kept saturated with water through the growing season. In the second treatment, rain was excluded in alternating two-week cycles. In the third treatment, rain was also excluded in alternating two-week cycles, and the soil column was approximately doubled in depth to allow deeper drainage. We measured soil moisture, leaf water potential, leaf area index (LAI), leaf-level phenology, and photosynthetic capacity (Amax) in each of the tussocks. We found that the southern ecotype was affected most severely by drying, with reductions in LAI, maximum leaf length, and Amax. We found that effects were greater with rain exclusion and soil column deepening than with rain exclusion alone. However, we found no difference in leaf water potential between populations or treatments, suggesting that E. vaginatum leaves function within a fairly narrow range of moisture conditions. These results demonstrate that changes in soil moisture may affect carbon storage in Arctic vegetation, but that the magnitude of the effect may vary depending on region and ecotype.

The Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative Information and Data Cooperative (GRIIDC) is a data management system that provides researchers with a variety of tools to help manage data throughout the lifecycle of a project. GRIIDC was developed to fulfill the requirement that all Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative (GoMRI) funded researchers make their data publicly available. After seven years of operation and over 1,900 datasets available for download, GRIIDC has encountered many challenges, including data organization issues, researchers’ varied experience with technology, and hesitance to share data. In 2016, GRIIDC began hosting training webinars to help researchers navigate the system, submit quality data and metadata, and provide data organization best practices. As the quality of data and metadata improved, GRIIDC determined that these webinars could mitigate previous issues. In 2017, the GoMRI data policy was updated requiring that each newly funded research consortium or individual investigator complete three training sessions within specific dates of their grant agreement. The training sessions included an introduction to the GoMRI data management program, organizing data – best practices and GRIIDC submission, and how to submit data to GRIIDC. The training sessions were offered by webinar and as workshops presented at the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill & Ecosystem Science conference. After hosting over 50 webinars, offering six workshops, and training 260 researchers, GRIIDC encountered a few issues with the required training including having to schedule individual webinars to accommodate researcher’s schedules, low attention rates, and diverse attitudes and experiences sharing data. Improvements were identified such as using software to track presentation views, making webinars more interactive, hosting additional in-person workshops, requiring a quiz at the end of the training, and allowing researchers the ability to test out of training. Even with the issues identified, GRIIDC is hopeful that the training will help researchers provide quality data submissions not only for the remaining GoMRI projects but for data they will generate in the future.

Ecosystem dynamic models have been widely used to estimate terrestrial carbon flux and to project ecosystem structure and composition over time and space, because of their efficiency over direct field measurements and easy applicability to broader spatial coverage. However, such models have also been associated with internal uncertainties, as well as complexities arising from distinct qualities of the ecosystem being analyzed. The widespread sagebrush-steppe ecosystem (dominated by Artemisia spp.) in Western North America holds high ecological and social significance, but is threatened by anthropogenic forcing factors, including impacts from invasive species, climate change, and altered fire regimes. To restore the ecosystem, land managers have focused on reducing flammable vegetation and seeding native species. However, the collective effects of restoration activities, fire, climate change, and invasive species on ecosystem dynamics are poorly understood. We applied the Ecosystem Demography (ED2) model to analyze its effectiveness in predicting plant function type (PFT) composition and ecosystem fluxes, parameterized and validated using empirical datasets for different carbon, vegetation and fire scenarios at Reynolds Creek Experimental Watershed (RCEW), Idaho, USA. We initialized ED2 with 20 x 40 grids of 1 km resolution representing and allowed PFTs to grow for 20 years to reach an equilibrium state. Results showed shrubs dominating C3 grass in a few years of time, sooner for increased CO2 and initial ecosystem condition. A separate scenario with potential fire showed significant loss in biomass within eight years of time. Results from this modeling study can improve our understanding of broad-scale ecosystem processes in sagebrush-steppe landscapes and inform land management and restoration strategies.

Cenozoic extension in the Western Mediterranean is related to the dynamics of back-arc domains. However, extension propagated into the external Foreland Thrust Belts (FTB) of the region. Here we revisit the structure, metamorphism and radiometric ages of the Tunisian Tell FTB, where HP/LT blastomylonitic rocks (300-370ºC at 0.9-1.0 GPa), were exhumed by the sequential activity of extensional detachments. Normal faults thinning the Tunisian Tell FTB detached at two different crustal levels. The shallower one cuts down into the Atlas Mesozoic sequence, involving allochthonous Triassic evaporites at the base of the hanging-wall that form halokynetic structures intruding the Mejerda basin Late Miocene infilling. Meanwhile, the deeper-detachment level bounds metamorphic domes formed by marbles and metapsamnites. Illite crystallinity of Triassic rocks in the region shows epizonal to anchizonal values, at deep and intermediate structural depths of the Tell-Atlas FTB, respectively. New U-Pb 49.78 ± 1.28 Ma rutile ages together with existing K-Ar ages in marbles at the footwall of the deepest detachment, indicate a polymetamorphic evolution. The Tell Triassic rocks underwent Cretaceous extensional metamorphism, followed by crustal thickening and rutile growth in the Early Eocene. Further, Early Miocene thickening thrusted the metadolerites over lower-grade sediments, producing HP/LT metamorphism overprinting the base of the FTB. The exhumation of midcrustal roots of western Mediterranean FTBs after the tectonic shortening phase is a common feature of other FTB´s, like the Betics and Rif, which underwent a late-stage tearing at the edges of the subduction system together with delamination of their subcontinental lithospheric mantle.

Carbonate clumped isotope thermometry is a useful tool practised in studies of temperature history and fluid composition of surface and subsurface environments, with application to both inorganic and biological precipitates. Its measurements are based upon the propensity with which 13C and 18O isotopes, within a carbonate mineral, are bound to one another, in relation to a stochastic distribution. The quantity of these 13C-18O bonds (commonly referred to as “clumps”) is determined by gas source mass spectrometry on CO2 produced from acid digestion of carbonate minerals, and is controlled by physiochemical parameters of the solution at the time of mineral precipitation. If equilibrium is reached, then 13C-18O abundance, measured against the stochastic distribution and represented by the variable Δ47, can be used to measure the temperature of precipitation of the carbonate without the need to characterize the isotopic composition of coeval fluids. However, long-term reproducibility of these measurements is a critical factor contributing to uncertainties in all calibrations and applications. Here we discuss the impact of using different standardization procedures on the accuracy and precision of Δ47 measurements, as compared across three mass spectrometers with four different configurations within the Tripati Lab at UCLA. Specifically, we assess the long-term reproducibility of carbonate standard Δ47 values across mass spectrometers, using a correction scheme that incorporates either gas and carbonate standards of known composition, or both, and the impact of different approaches for characterizing instrument drift (i.e., averaging for an interval or using a moving window). We also recommend best practices to promote reproducibility.

The South American longitudinal sector presents the unique feature of the presence of daytime equatorial electrojet currents (EEJ) and the South Atlantic Magnetic Anomaly (SAMA), where the global minimum intensity of the geomagnetic field is observed. Enhanced amplitudes are observed in the horizontal magnetic components recorded on the ground within the areas of influence of both the EEJ and the SAMA and therefore it is expected that significant enhancements of GIC magnitude also occur in these regions. We use here geomagnetic field variations data recorded by fluxgate magnetometers from the Brazilian space weather program (EMBRACE) to evaluate GIC effects during two strong geomagnetic storms in March (Dst = −222nT) and June (Dst = −204nT) 2015. Among the available geomagnetic stations, we selected those with information about the underground electrical conductivity structure and that can be approximated by 1-D models for calculation of the geoelectric field. GIC levels are estimated using a realistic local power grid model located in the central region of Brazil, artificially moved to the sites where the geomagnetic measurements are available. Maximum GIC amplitude of about 8 A was estimated at an equatorial station positioned over high resistivity underground, associated with the arrival of an interplanetary pressure pulse just behind two other pulses during the June storm. The results are also interpreted in terms of the ionospheric currents over the measurement sites and the conductivity distribution beneath these sites. It is observed that both EEJ and SAMA increase the GIC amplitudes, with the greatest effects associated with EEJ. In relation to the underlying conductivity structure, the higher GIC effects are associated with low conductance at crustal depths, with upper mantle depths showing minor effect.

This work investigates small-scale infiltration dynamics in smooth and rough single fractures using a three-dimensional multiphase pairwise-force smoothed particle hydrodynamics (PF-SPH) model. Gravity-driven infiltration instabilities in fractures under unsaturated conditions can significantly influence the arrival time of tracers or contaminants, and the rapid and localized recharge dynamics in fractured-porous aquifer systems. Here, we study the influence of roughness and injection rate on fluid flow modes and flow velocity. Three types of fractures are considered with different degrees of roughness, including a smooth fracture. Both the rough and smooth fractures exhibit flow instabilities, fingering, and intermittent flow regimes for low infiltration rates. In agreement with theoretical predictions, a flat fluid front is achieved when the flux q supplied to a fracture is larger than the gravitationally driven saturated flux (q > kρg/μ cosφ). To characterize the flow instability, we calculate standard deviations of velocity along the fracture width. For the considered infiltration rates, we find that an increase in roughness decreases the flow velocity and increases the standard deviation of velocity. This is caused by a higher likelihood of flow discontinuities in the form of fingering and/or snapping rivulets. To validate our unsaturated flow simulations in fractures, we estimate the scaling of specific discharge with normalized finger velocity and compute the relationship between fingertip length and scaled finger velocity, and find a good agreement with experimental results.

The magnitude of aerosol radiative effects remains the single largest uncertainty in current estimates of anthropogenic radiative forcing. One of the key quantities needed for accurate estimates of anthropogenic radiative forcing is an accurate estimate of the radiative effects from natural aerosol. The dominant source of natural aerosols over Earth’s forested regions is biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOC) which, following oxidation in the atmosphere, can participate in new particle formation or condense onto aerosols to form secondary organic aerosol (SOA). Consequently, BVOC emissions could introduce a regionally relevant cooling feedback in a warming climate. The main objective of this study is to provide a quantitative estimate of the regional aerosol direct radiative effect caused by the temperature-dependent biogenic emissions over the boreal forests in present day conditions and in a warmer future. The study is done using a combination of climate modeling and satellite data. The aerosol-chemistry climate model used is ECHAM-HAMMOZ, which describes the relevant atmospheric aerosol processes. The BVOC emissions are computed online using the MEGAN model, which enables the simulation of the effects of temperature changes on atmospheric aerosol load. Key remote sensing data used are the AATSR based aerosol optical depth (AOD) and land surface temperature (LST) products available from the Aerosol-CCI and GlobTemperature projects, together with ancillary data, such as column concentrations of CO and water vapour from AIRS, and NO2 column densities from OMI. Our analysis shows that there could be a small temperature dependence in AOD over the boreal forests but it cannot be reliably detected from the simulations or observations. The only subregion with a clear temperature dependence in AOD was found over western Russia. Anthropogenic emissions affect this subregion more than the other regions analyzed thus, it is likely that in addition to BVOC emissions hygroscopic sulfate aerosols affect the temperature dependence of AOD. In a warmer future the clear-sky radiative forcing caused by biogenic aerosols will increase, following the increase of BVOC emissions, but if anthropogenic emissions will decrease at the same time the total clear-sky forcing will also decrease.

Observations made in Gale Crater by instruments on the MSL Curiosity Rover show that the diurnal amplitude of the surface pressure is increased and the depth of the Convective Boundary Layer (CBL) is decreased relative to other lander locations on flatter regions of Mars (Haberle et al., 2014; Moores et al., 2015). Mesoscale modeling studies of Gale Crater suggest that crater circulations produce these effects. Tyler & Barnes (2013) show that local upslope/downslope flows along the crater rim and Mt. Sharp amplify the diurnal pressure cycle. These same flows are thought to be at least partly responsible for the suppression of the CBL because upward air flow at the rim and in the center (due to Mt. Sharp) forces subsidence over the lowest regions of the crater during the day. Regional flows, largely due to the location of Gale near the dichotomy boundary, may also play a role in shaping the circulation internal to the crater. Whether the behavior of the CBL and the amplified diurnal pressure cycle are phenomena observed in craters morphologically different from Gale (i.e. bowl-shaped, irregular, degraded) is not yet understood. We will explore these questions by characterizing the behavior of these processes as they are shaped by the morphology of craters greater than 100 km in diameter. We use the NASA Ames Mars Global Circulation Model (GCM) that now utilizes the NOAA/GFDL cubed-sphere finite-volume dynamical core to examine ~100 craters of varying size and shape from a database of known Martian craters (Robbins & Hynek, 2014). Run at 7.5 km resolution, the GCM is capable of resolving surface winds, temperature, and pressure inside craters of this size allowing for the analysis of dozens of craters simulated at various seasons and within the context of synoptic and global-scale phenomena.

Currently available soil volumetric water content (VWC) sensors have several drawbacks that pose certain challenges for implementation on large scale for farms. Such issues include cost, scalability, maintenance, wires running through fields, and single-spot resolution. The development of a passive soil moisture sensing system utilizing Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) would allay many of these issues. The type of passive RFID tags discussed in this paper currently cost between 8 to 15 cents retail per tag when purchased in bulk. An incredibly cheap, scalable, low-maintenance, wireless, high-resolution system for sensing soil moisture would be possible if such tags were introduced into the agricultural world. This paper discusses both the use cases as well as examines one implementation of the tags. In 2015, RFID tag manufacturer SmarTrac started selling RFID moisture sensing tags for use in the automotive industry to detect leaks during quality assurance. We place those tags in soil at a depth of 4 inches and compared the moisture levels sensed by the RFID tags with the relative permittivity (εr) of the soil as measured by an industry-standard probe. Using an equation derived by Topp et al, we converted to VWC. We tested this over a wide range of moisture conditions and found a statistically significant, correlational relationship between the sensor values from the RFID tags and the probe’s measurement of εr. We also identified a possible function for mapping vales from the RFID tag to the probe bounded by a reasonable margin of error.

Persistent Scatterer Interferometry (PSI) is a novel remote sensing technique for monitoring land deformation on large scale. It is economic and can be used for detection of land surface deformation in the past given that the sensor should have passed over the area. The millimetric precision of the technique makes it very useful. One of its application is monitoring of slow moving landslides. In this study we have focused upon monitoring of slow moving landslides in Tehri region of Uttarakhand state of India. This area is landslide prone. Its susceptibility to landslide has increased due to construction of artificial reservoir in the region. The variation in reservoir drawdown level can be cited as one of the reasons. In this study we have applied Persistent Scatterer Interferometry on the stack of 20 Single Look Complex (SLC) scenes of Envisat satellite of European Space Agency. We have performed time-series analysis for period starting from 12 May 2008 to 26 July 2010. The methodology consists of selection of master image, coregistration of other slave images to master image, calculation of amplitude stability index, generation of reflectivity map. After this 19 interferograms were generated. On basis of this selection of Persistent Scatterers (PS) is done. After that estimation and removal of Atmospheric Phase Screen (APS) was done. In the end calculation of time-series displacement of PSs is performed. From this analysis we are able to identify the spatial location of slow moving landslides. In this study we have identified PSs having nearly 40 mm/year of velocity. Detected areas showing land movement away from the line of sight of satellite, can be found on the rim of reservoir as well as areas 4 kilometres interior, away from the boundary of reservoir. These areas are located near roads and places where anthropogenic interference is there.

We analyze peridotites from a wide range of tectonic settings to investigate relationships between olivine lattice preferred orientation (LPO) and deformation conditions in naturally deformed rocks. These samples preserve the five olivine LPO types (A through E-type) that rock deformation experiments have suggested are controlled by water content, temperature, stress magnitude, and pressure. The naturally deformed specimens newly investigated here (65 samples) and compiled from an extensive literature review (445 samples) reveal that these factors may matter less than deformation history and/or geometry. Some trends support those predicted by experimentally determined parametric dependence, but several observations disagree — namely that all LPO types are able to form at very low water contents and stresses, and that there is no clear relationship between water content and LPO type. This implies that at the low stresses typical of the mantle, LPO type more often varies as a function of strain geometry. Because olivine LPO is primarily responsible for seismic anisotropy in the upper mantle, the results of this study have several implications. These include (1) the many olivine LPO types recorded in samples from individual localities may explain some of the complex seismic anisotropy patterns observed in the continental mantle, and (2) B-type LPO – where olivine’s “fast axes” align perpendicular to flow direction – occurs under many more conditions than traditionally thought. This study highlights the need for more experiments, and the difficulty in using olivine LPO in naturally-deformed peridotites to infer deformation conditions.

Carbonate drift deposits in the Santaren Channel, on the Marion Plateau and in the Inner Sea of the Maldives were cored and dated by ODP and IODP expeditions. The ages based on biostratigraphy of these drifts are 11.4 Ma (Marion Drift), 12.3 Ma (Santaren Drift) and 12.9 Ma (Maldives Inner Sea), indicating a near simultaneous onset of the Florida, East Australia and Indian Ocean Currents that are all part of the global ocean current system. The Himalayan tectonics started with the collision of the Indian continent with Asia about ~50 Ma ago and continues today. The uplift of the Himalaya and Tibetan Plateau was not steady and not consistent across the mountain belt. The uplift of the southern and central Tibetan Plateau occurred from 40–35 Ma, at the northern Tibetan plateau at approximately 25–20 Ma, and at the northeastern to eastern Tibetan plateau at ~15 Ma. Significant increases in altitude of the entire Tibetan plateau are thought to have occurred about 10–8 Ma agoor more recently, some 3 myrs after the onset of the modern Indian Ocean monsoon-driven circulation system that is dated at 12.9 Ma. This sudden onset or intensification is puzzling in light of the continuous uplift of the Himalaya and Tibetan Plateau. If a linkage between tectonics and climate exists, the uplift must have stepped over a threshold that caused the climate to change dramatically. The near simultaneous onset of the global ocean circulation and the intensification of the monsoon is strong evidence that a combination of factors caused the sudden climate change. It is likely that onset of the intense monsoon is the combined result of the tectonic configuration, consisting of the Himalayan uplift but also the closing of the Tethyan seaway, and progressive glaciation on Antarctica.

Essential Biodiversity Variables (EBVs) are state variables that lie between primary measurements and high-level indicators, and are necessary for assessment of the health and prognosis of Earth’s biosphere. EBVs represent the complete spectrum of biological diversity from genes to ecosystems, and so are based on observations which themselves are highly diverse, and typically human-collected or analyzed. What is now sorely needed are structured dictionaries of biological measurements that data collectors, curators and nascent biodiversity programs can reference at all stages of planning and data organization. Similarly, analysts working with data defined according to these measurement dictionaries, require assurance that their results are comparable across scales and institutions. Full understanding of primary measurements will ideally require machine-readable, interpretable, and interoperable descriptions of the measurement contents, collection methods, data-typing, dimensions and associated units for physical quantities, and specification of appropriate temporal and spatial scales, plus the relationships among those attributes and facets of the ecosystem. Formal ontologies, i.e. vocabularies built using modern Semantic Web technologies, now provide the ideal tools and protocols for structuring and operationalizing EBV primary measurements. Here we illustrate an approach to apply these to existing data sets (both primary and harmonized intermediates) using community-accepted measurement ontologies under development. Such techniques can streamline the discovery and integration of observations, assist with calibration/validation checks required for automated or remote data collection, and enable rigorous structured definitions for modeled or remotely-sensed EBVs as these are developed.

Conventionally, radar-based nowcasting methods have been conducted by shifting or extrapolating the most recent estimated precipitation field along the estimated motion field to lead times up to 3 hr. However, such methods assume that these fields do not evolve during the lead-time period. A more recent nowcasting approach is the short-term ensemble prediction system known as STEPS. STEPS aims to filter small spatial scales of rain as they have an expected short life-time compared to large spatial scales. Besides, it perturbs the precipitation field during extrapolation so that the prediction uncertainties related to the evolution of precipitation is considered, resulting in an ensemble nowcast. In this work, the configuration, implementation, and performance of STEPS are studied for its radar-based ensemble nowcasting application in Germany. Attention is given to the spatial localization (i.e., the adjustment of parameters that control the spatio-temporal evolution of precipitation in large domains). For such purpose, the capability of STEPS is analyzed using multiple rain events collected by the German radar network. Preliminary analysis regarding the spatial scale filtering of STEPS (without perturbation) shows an improvement against conventional extrapolation of 20 to 30 % on the critical success index starting at lead times of 30 min at a rainfall threshold of 0.1 mm hr-1. In terms of the spatial structure, STEPS (without perturbation) provides a consistent nowcast for lead times up to 3 hr. Although small spatial structures are filtered, the spatial structure at scales of 32 km or larger is maintained. The skill of a probabilistic nowcast (STEPS with perturbation) was also analyzed. It is shown that for the probability of exceeding the 5.0 mm hr-1 threshold, the predictability of the nowcast is compromised for lead times on the order of 1 hr. However, the capability of identifying rain and non-rain areas is still valuable: the hit rates are still larger than the false alarm rates. Our preliminary results highlight aspects needed in the configuration of STEPS such as the evolution model and the perturbation model. In this manner, this study can serve as a basis for an improved nowcasting system in Germany and as a reference for forecasters to understand the characteristics of the examined nowcast system.

Geotechnical engineering and geology faculty at Drexel and Villanova Universities and a graduate teaching assistant collaborated with an environmental hydrogeologist from a local civil engineering firm to develop a field trip for their undergraduate engineering geology courses. At Villanova, Geology for Engineers is required for all civil and environmental engineering students. Similarly, at Drexel, Geologic Principles for Infrastructure & Environmental Engineering is a required course for all civil, architectural and environmental engineering students. The learning goal of both courses is to have students understand how basic topics in geology and geomorphology apply to civil and environmental engineering practice. The field trip focuses on the core elements of the courses: the importance of rock type on engineering properties, the effects of plate tectonics and weathering on rocks, and the interaction of human activity with the lithosphere and hydrosphere. The team selected Wissahickon Valley Park as the location for the field trip because it provides a dynamic stream ecosystem within a geologically diverse setting that has been highly impacted by urban development of the surrounding City of Philadelphia. The engineering aspects bring novelty into an established practice of classical geology field trips. In addition to examining outcrops and evidence of geologic processes, the students were required to critically identify engineering issues associated with the infrastructure in the valley, storm water management, and the impact of development on the stream valley. From anonymous surveys disseminated after the first offering of the field trip, students indicated the trip had enriched their learning experience, improved their ability to apply basic geology knowledge in a real-world context, and increased their interest in how rock, soil, water, and climate play roles in infrastructure engineering. Without exception, the students agreed that the field trip should be offered again. This presentation will describe the development of the collaboration between the educators and practitioners, the resulting field trip and materials that have been adopted at both universities. We will also update the surveys’ results from two more trips of the fall of 2018.