Dr. Evan J. Gowan

@evangowan.bsky.social

3074 Followers 1347 Following

I am a climate scientist, focused on paleoclimate, sea level change and the evolution of Quaternary glaciations. I reconstruct ice sheets using glacial isostatic adjustment and ice sheet modelling. In Japan but have been all over the place. 🇨🇦🇯🇵🇦🇺🇩🇪🇸🇪

A notice on a website stating "Sorry, you have been blocked".
Picture of the sunset at a beach.
A picture of me on the left, and the presentation screen showing the title of my presentation "An investigation of the evolution of the North American ice sheets through glacial cycles".
An SEM image of a foraminifera, at 660× magnification. It shows four bulbous chambers with a hole in the middle. The surface of the foram has lots of tiny holes. This is likely a Globigerinoides species foraminifera.
Photo showing a microscopic view of a sediment. There are tiny grains of quartz that are translucent, volcanic material grains that are black and grey, and some white to yellowish microfossils. In the middle of the view is a slightly larger grain that is actually a foraminifera fossil. It has three roundish bulges.
In the background is an outcrop showing alternating dark and light sedimentary beds. This is actually part of the Early Pleistocene Shimajiri Group, Somachi Formation, and was deposited in a deep ocean environment about 1.5 million years ago. The Somachi Formation forms the core of Kikaijima. In the foreground, there are 7 students and myself posing for a photo in front of the outcrop (with smiley emojis to hid their identity).
In the foreground is a cherry tree in full bloom. In the background is a multistorey building where my office room was.
This paper that was published today in Nature Communications has the title "Deadly heat stress conditions are already occurring for submission to Nature Communications".
The left figure shows the data locations of the paleo sea level data (shown as green boxes) for the Nakdong River region, which flows through Busan. The right figure shows the sea level index point data, which constrains past sea level. At 12,000 years ago, relative sea level here was about 55 m below present day sea level. The data all through the Holocene suggest relative sea level remained below present day level through the Holocene, which is at odds with the calculated sea level from my model (the black line), which suggests a slight highstand above present day sea level at about 5000 years ago.
An AI generated schematic diagram of the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake. There are so many mistakes, it is not worth listing them all.
A fault that ruptured in the 2016 Kumamoto earthquake. It looks like someone dug a trench.
A picture of the TV show, which is depicting the Kikai volcano eruption, south of Kyushu in Japan. It shows a view taken from space.
Commentary by Mr Bennema: Dr. Pannekoek (Geolog. Survey) quotes some conclusions from Ahlmann's 1952 lecture in Washington. There are some indications that the climatic optimum in the Arctic of the past decades has passed its culmination point. This does not necessarily mean that a general glacier advance and lowering of the sealevel may be expected in the near future, the relation between climate and glacier regime being rather complex. Though some glaciers are advancing now, the majority are still retreating, and the sea-level is still rising. Prof. Florschiitz (Leiden) also mentions the continuing glacier retreat in the Eastern Alps, whereas Prof. Bakker quotes the impression of Swiss, German and Austrian glaciologists, that the maximum of glacier retreat is now past. Mr. van Weelden (B.P.M.) calls attention to Sir Edward Bullard's opinion about a deviation of the Gulf Stream towards the East by the accumula- tion of morainic material on the ridge in the Northern Atlantic, extending from Scotland to Greenland, which caused Greenland to become colder and Scandinavia warmer. Prof. Rutten (Utrecht) mentions rhythmic glacier variations in Iceland similar to those known in Greenland, and presenting a periodicity like that mentioned by Mr. Bennema. He thinks that the observations on the absence of glacier retreat in Antarctica are no reason for optimism. They only show that the recent rise of sealevel is entirely due to ice melting in the Northern hemisphere, and that, if Antarctic ice should also start retreating, the situation would be worse. There are, however, some other factors, possibly influencing climatic and sealevel changes, the study of which is recommended. They are: (1) a new calculation of the extension of Milankovitch' curve into the future, as was done by Gamow; (too much text for alt text, sorry)
A beer by Helios Brewery in Okinawa. It is "Island beer" (島ビール). This is a session IPA. The artwork shows a spotted whale shark oriented upwards.
A view from a balcony in a resort looking out to sunny blue skies and the ocean. A swimming pool and beach are visible.
The text in this image reads: Preface This report and accompanying map are the results of an inventory-type surficial geology mapping project mostly within the Precambrian Shield region of a relatively inaccessible part of north-central Manitoba. Maps were compiled on the basis of airphoto interpretation verified by selective field studies. Information given in this report concerning the nature and distribution of surficial materials and the glacial history of this region will be of value in resource development and related activities as well as those pursuits with a greater academic focus. John Netterville, whose tragic death, as a result of a car accident in February 1977, prematurely ended a promising career, contributed much to this study. His Master of Science thesis provided the basis for the stratigraphic framework proposed in this report. R.A. Price Director General Geological Survey of Canada
An orange coloured butterfly with four large eyespots. The smaller ones on the top part of the wings are round and blue. The larger ones on the bottom part of the wings are purple and look like they have pupils.
A picture taken from a schooner (visible on the left) of Suwanosejima. A large cloud is coming out of the volcano.
A picture of me, with a schooner in the background.
An outcrop of felsic gneiss, with a toonie for scale.
A granitic boulder with some sunglasses on it for scale. Two holes are visible in the boulder.
A picture of me driving a tractor. I am wearing a New Holland hat, aviators and a Rush shirt.
A picture of me pointing to another large coral fossil that exceeds my height.
The daily weather forecast for the next few days in Kumamoto, with daily high temperatures forecast to be between 37 and 40°C for the next 5 days, and nighttime lows between 24 and 28°C. On Thursday, the predicted high is 40°C. The icons show a blazing sun in a red colour background.
In the foreground is a Starbucks Dark Mocca Frappuccino on a table. In the background you can see an open area with rain coming down.
A picture looking northward of the Shin Aso Ohashi Bridge. Looking down, there is the gorge where the Shirakawa River flows. The columnar basalt is encasing the more distant of two support pillars of the bridge that are visible. The gorge is the location of a major strike slip fault that ruptured in a major earthquake in 2016. The old bridge that went over the gorge was destroyed in a landslide. This new bridge ("shin" means "new" in Japanese) is a marvel of engineering, designed to accommodate several meters of strike slip movement if another earthquake happens. The construction was not without controversy, as they damaged the columnar basalts, which are part of the Aso Geopark. They did not consult with the geopark officials before constructing the bridge and the damage was unnecessarily high.
A picture of me in a photo shoot spot at the conference.
Headline states: Still publishing research articles at nearly 102 years old Subheadline states: The first time she participated in fieldwork was in the 1940s, the last time was in 2020. And soon, another research article will be published with geologist Kari Egede Henningsmoen listed as one of the authors.
The left plot shows a map of the Vestfold area in southern Norway where there are data constraints on paleo sea level. The right plot shows this data as well as as calculated sea level (black lines) for this area. Paleo sea level is constrained to be a bit over 60 m higher than present around 10,000 years ago, and the data also shows the gradual drop in sea level after that to the present. On the bottom shows the references, with Henningsmoen's name highlighted.
A screen capture of the Environment Canada seven day forecast for Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Today (Tuesday May 13) has a forecast high of 35°C. By contrast, the night time lows on Friday and Saturday are expected to be 0°C, with a daytime high on Saturday of just 5°C.
Text showing the details of the EGU presentation by Andy Wickert. Title: Reconstructing North American rivers and lakes during the last deglaciation Authors: Andrew Wickert, Kerry Callaghan, and Evan Gowan Time: Wed, 30 Apr, 10:45–12:30 (CEST) location: Hall X3 | X3.92 Abstract: Starting ~20,000 years ago, the North American Ice-sheet Complex receded. As it did, its meltwater formed proglacial lakes, altered water tables, and flowed through rivers to the sea. These waters in turn shaped the landscape and altered ocean circulation. Here we reconstruct the spatially resolved pattern of lakes, wetlands, and river discharge using an updated modeling approach. We reconstruct the Laurentide Ice Sheet using ICESHEET v2.0, which prescribes a basal stress field and mapped ice margins to produce maps of steady-state ice thickness. After accounting for glacial isostatic adjustment and past climate, we simulate groundwater and surface-water distributions using the Water Table Model (WTM) v2.0.1. Following this reconstruction, we map water routing to the ocean, including river discharge and passage through proglacial lakes. We compare these findings against the dated timing of fluvial aggradation, often driven by ice-sheet-derived sediment supply, and incision, which occurs when river discharges remain high but lakes trap incoming sediment.
A plot showing the number of days after the start of the year the peak in the Kyoto cherry blossoms happened. This plot goes back to the year 1500. The timing of the peak of the blossoms is indicated by a cherry flower symbol. A red lowess smoothing curve shows the trend in timing of the peak. The timing of the peak in the blooming is getting notably earlier. Prior to the 1900s, it happened in mid-April (105 days after the start of the year), but now it is happening closer to the start of April (91 days after the start of the year).
An x/y plot showing the annual average temperature (as dots) for since 1900. There are three trend lines plotted. The blue trend line is for the overall trend from 1900 to 2024. The green trend line is for 1900 to 1980. The red trend line is for 1980 to 2024, and is extrapolated to 2040. The red line is notably steeper than the green line. The record high temperature dot for 2024 is notably higher than any previous year.
A picture of me standing in front of the Library of Columbia University.
Text from Project 2025, the campaign platform for the Trump presidential campain, on eliminating NOAA's climate change research: Downsize the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research. OAR provides theoretical science, as opposed to the applied science of the National Hurricane Center. OAR is, however, the source of much of NOAA's climate alarmism. The preponderance of its climate-change research should be disbanded. OAR is a large network of research laboratories, an undersea research center, and several joint research institutes with universities. These operations should be reviewed with an aim of consolidation and reduction of bloat.
A paleotopography reconstruction I created, depicting northern Europe at around 9000 years ago. By this time, ice cover had reached modern extent. Some areas were submerged relative to present, such as eastern Sweden and western Finland. This is because the Earth was still depressed due to the weight of the ice sheets. Other coastal areas, such as northwestern Russian and northern Germany, had much more extensive coastlines, in part because global ice volume was still larger than present.
A photo of a TV showing a news program with me getting interviewed. The subtitle says in Japanese "未来の希望は少しになります", which means "Hope for the future has gone down".
A row of small toys on a bookshelf. Yoshi (the dinosaur from the Mario video games) is knocked over, lying on its face.
A time series of obliquity for the past 10 million years. There are large fluctuations on the order of 20°, in addition to a sudden change in the average from about 35° to 25°, which happened about 5 million years ago. These fluctuations are much larger than the roughly 3° range on Earth, and is a result of Mars being closer to Jupiter and not having a large moon. souce: Touma and Wisdom (1993) - The Chaotic obliquity of Mars: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.259.5099.1294
A selfie photo of me wearing a baseball hat and sunglasses, with an erupting ash cloud from Sakurajima Volcano in the background.
A photo of Sakurajima Volcano, taken from a ferry in Kagoshima harbour. There are clear skies, and some steam coming out of the volcano.
The torii gate at the entrance of Kitaoka Shrine in Kumamoto.
A subglacial topography map for northern Europe, showing contour lines representing the calculated sea level change. The highest anomalies are in the Baltic Sea and Barents Sea, with values exceeding 250 m. Outside of the ice sheet, there is a relative sea level fall exceeding 100 m. A blue line depicts where the margin of the ice sheet was. Black lines show the modern coastline. In some places, like in northern Russia, coastline was far offshore what it is now. Near the ice sheet, this is caused in part due to the peripheral bulge of the ice sheet load, but in general global sea level fell because the water from the ocean went into the ice sheets.
This is an image of part of a shapefile polygon with nodes visible. The grid-like nature of it is evidence it was a raster to shapefile conversion. Many nodes along the same polygon touch at intersecting nodes, which makes it an invalid polygon.
Six squiggly lines for different sea level reconstructions of the period between 500 and 350 thousand years ago.
4 ammonite fossils with curly shells
A view looking into the Aso Caldera. In the foreground are the sides of some cliffs that jut out into the caldera. In the distance the bottom of the caldera has a number of fields, as it is a prime agricultural area. Further in the distance is the cliff of the north side of Aso Caldera. The leaves on the plants in the foreground are yellowing due to it being the autumn. The view is slightly obscured due to fog.
Selfy of me, with wind swept hair, sunglasses and a green plaid shirt, in front of the sign for the town of Camarones proclaiming it the National Capital of Salmon. In the distance is the ocean.
The sea surface temperature anomalies around Japan, showing a purple blob of extreme heat near Tohoku.