Travis Drake

Carbon biogeochemist at ETH Zurich
Associate Editor @ Global Biogeochemical Cycles

[Travis Drake @travisdrake]

@kirkgoldsberry Dame

[Travis Drake @travisdrake]

@oomfmagazine In Switzerland its called 1. Klasse

[Travis Drake @travisdrake]

@MushtaqBilalPhD Does this study account for the fact that Nobel prize winners a) are likely working on a line of highly relevant research, b) important research likely attracts the best minds of the next generation and c) the historically best funded research institutions lie in NA and Europe?

[Dr. Julie Lattaud @JLattaud]

I am looking for a PhD student (fully funded, 4 years) to start next year at Stockholm University. Apply before 5/11 online. Topic is described in the link but in a nutshell: effect is glacier melt on carbon cycling in Greenlandic fjords https://t.co/BVp6CwOG3A

[Travis Drake @travisdrake]

@GRocherRos @ERC_Research @umeauniversity Congrats Gerard! This is excellent news!

[Our World in Data @OurWorldInData]

The drivers of the loss of tree cover are different in each region.

Recent data from Global Forest Watch shows trends in tree cover loss, split by five drivers: forestry, shifting agriculture, and wildfires, which lead to temporary tree cover loss, while commodity-driven deforestation and urbanization often cause permanent deforestation.

This dataset combines time-series data of tree cover loss, estimated from satellite imagery using research by Matthew Hansen and colleagues, with research on the drivers of deforestation by Philip Curtis and colleagues.

The drivers of tree cover loss vary markedly across regions. Wildfires and forestry (logging) are the main drivers of tree cover loss in Europe and North America, with wildfires mainly occurring in Canada and Russia. Tree cover loss from wildfires does not include fire clearing for agriculture.

Commodity-driven deforestation is a key cause in Asia and South America, largely due to trends in Brazil and Indonesia. Shifting agriculture — where trees are cleared so the land can be cultivated temporarily before being abandoned — is the dominant driver of tree cover loss in Africa and a major driver in South America.

(This Daily Data Insight was written by Fiona Spooner.)

[Soil Resources Group at ETH Zurich @ETH_SoilRes]

Congratulations to Laura Summerauer who just successfully defended her PhD thesis! The thesis examines the effect of #deforestation on #soil redistribution and soil #degradation on #croplands along the steep topography of the East African Rift system.

[Our World in Data @OurWorldInData]

Wildfires have surged globally in August 2024, mainly in Africa.

The chart shows the weekly area burned by wildfires globally and in Africa from 2012 to 2024. This August saw an abrupt increase in the area burned by wildfires, with most of this rise coming in a single week.

This global weekly burn rate was 64% higher than any previous week during this period. This data comes from the Global Wildfire Information System.

This dramatic rise was mostly driven by severe wildfires in Africa, where approximately 22 million hectares burned in a week, accounting for around 80% of the global burned area.

Two countries have been particularly hard-hit — Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo — where 6% and 2.5% of the total land area have burned in just one week.

(This Daily Data Insight was written by Veronika Samborska.)

[Travis Drake @travisdrake]

@MikePeacock86 Woohoo! Looking forward to it!

[Travis Drake @travisdrake]

@bariweiss TheDoomPress

[Travis Drake @travisdrake]

https://t.co/ThaZDRWlwC

[Travis Drake @travisdrake]

@OurWorldInData % carbon neutral electricity generation would be more interesting than % "renewable"

[D-USYS@ETH @usys_ethzh]

The war in Ukraine is also a war for soil. @SebDoetterl, Professor for #SoilResources at @ETH_en explains what makes Ukrainian soil so valuable and why it will become even more geopolitically significant. https://t.co/9eMiQJXx8f

[Travis Drake @travisdrake]

@MikePeacock86 Isn't this just a UV-spec?
https://t.co/Jo1uhpddmW

[Valier Galy @valiergaly]

Depth‐Partitioning of Particulate Organic Carbon Composition in the Rising and Falling Stages of the Amazon River - https://t.co/J6ZnVL7KSz
We explore depth trends in the concentration and composition of POC in the Amazon River Mainstem at Obidos. @saroraaustralis @drdrewsteen

[Travis Drake @travisdrake]

@thomaschattwill We've been over this:
https://t.co/ax5M4KFHp5

[Travis Drake @travisdrake]

@StevenJRobbins Not sure how affordable they are anymore but: Chattanooga, Santa Fe, Albuquerque, Flagstaff, Bozeman, Ashland, Asheville, SLC?

[𝚃𝚊𝚛𝚊𝚜 𝙶𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚌𝚘𝚎 🚇 @grescoe]

"A developed country is not a place where the poor have cars. It's where the rich use public transportation."

[Travis Drake @travisdrake]

@mateosfo @uberfahr As an American west-coaster living in Switzerland, it boggles my mind when I return to the US why we let cars and their infrastructure dictate our entire living geography.

[Travis Drake @travisdrake]

@valiergaly Absolutely. The problem is when folks don't take these into consideration, which I'm afraid is quite often. I just think we could already improve citation metrics by having slightly more nuanced categories. Like a simple checkbox during submission to designate "data author".

[Travis Drake @travisdrake]

When are we going to create a new category for scientific "authorship" that is "only provided a few data points to a massive global synthesis"?

These hundred+ author papers that get cited a ton should be listed in a different category...