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Luca Malatesta @geoluca.bsky.social · 2d

We'll try a 360º camera to document field sites google-streetview-style and to plunge it under our kayak looking for faults. In the meantime, enjoy this gimmicky autumnal snapshot @gfz.bsky.social .

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Luca Malatesta @geoluca.bsky.social · Sep 8

Researchers at Toyama and Kanazawa Universities deployed a ROV to document the earthquake scarp offshore of the Noto Peninsula, here is their video summary. Very cool images of underwater splay faults!
youtu.be/QaIw5PgXZkc?...

【令和６年能登半島地震】能登半島北部沿岸海域「海域活断層」の実態

YouTube video by TOYAMA BAY Lab

youtu.be

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Luca Malatesta @geoluca.bsky.social · Sep 7

I was thinking about that same (relatively small) PNG landslide that had also initially reportedly caused a very large number of casualties

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_En...

2024 Enga landslide - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

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Reposted by Luca Malatesta

Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · Aug 28

Full resignation letter from Demetre C. Daskalakis, a CDC leader, does not hold back.
"The recent shooting at CDC is not why I am resigning. My grandfather, who I am named after, stood up to fascist forces in Greece and lost his life doing so. I am resigning to make him and his legacy proud."

My resignation letter from CDC.

Dear Dr. Houry,

I am writing to formally resign from my position as Director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), effective August 28, 2025, close of business. I am happy to stay on for two weeks to provide transition, if requested.

This decision has not come easily, as I deeply value the work that the CDC does in safeguarding public health and am proud of my contributions to that critical mission. However, after much contemplation and reflection on recent developments and perspectives brought to light by Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., I find that the views he and his staff have shared challenge my ability to continue in my current role at the agency and in the service of the health of the American people. Enough is enough.

While I hold immense respect for the institution and my colleagues, I believe that it is imperative to align my professional responsibilities to my system of ethics and my understanding of the science of infectious disease, immunology, and my promise to serve the American people. This step is necessary to ensure that I can contribute effectively in a capacity that allows me to remain true to my principles.

The recent change in the adult and children’s immunization schedule threaten the lives of the youngest Americans and pregnant people. The data analyses that supported this decision have never been shared with CDC despite my respectful requests to HHS and other leadership. This lack of meaningful engagement was further compounded by a “frequently asked questions” document written to support the Secretary’s directive that was circulated by HHS without input from CDC subject matter experts and that cited studies that did not support the conclusions that were attributed to these authors. Having worked in local and national public health for years, I have never experienced such radical non-transparency, nor have I seen such unskilled manipulation of data to achieve a political end rather than the good of the American people.

It is untenable to serve in an organization that is not afforded the opportunity to discuss decisions of scientific and public health importance released under the moniker of CDC. The lack of communication by HHS and other CDC political leadership that culminates in social media posts announcing major policy changes without prior notice demonstrate a disregard of normal communication channels and common sense. Having to retrofit analyses and policy actions to match inadequately thought-out announcements in poorly scripted videos or page long X posts should not be how organizations responsible for the health of people should function. Some examples include the announcement of the change in the COVID-19 recommendations for children and pregnant people, the firing of scientists from ACIP by X post and an op-ed rather than direct communication with these valuable experts, the announcement of new ACIP members by X before onboarding and vetting have completed, and the release of term of reference for an ACIP workgroup that ignored all feedback from career staff at CDC.

Their desire to please a political base will result in death and disability of vulnerable children and adults. Their base should be the people they serve not a political voting bloc.

I have always been first to challenge scientific and public health dogma in my career and was excited by the opportunity to do so again. I was optimistic that there would be an opportunity to brief the Secretary about key topics such as measles, avian influenza, and the highly coordinated approach to the respiratory virus season. Such briefings would allow exchange of ideas and a shared path to support the vision of “Making America Healthy Again.” We are seven months into the new administration, and no CDC subject matter expert from my Center has ever briefed the Secretary. I am not sure who the Secretary is listening to, but it is quite certainly not to us. Unvetted and conflicted outside organizations seem to be the sources HHS use over the gold standard science of CDC and other reputable sources. At a hearing, Secretary Kennedy said that Americans should not take medical advice from him. To the contrary, an appropriately briefed and inquisitive Secretary should be a source of health information for the people he serves. As it stands now, I must agree with him, that he should not be considered a source of accurate information.

The intentional eroding of trust in low-risk vaccines favoring natural infection and unproven remedies will bring us to a pre-vaccine era where only the strong will survive and many if not all will suffer. I believe in nutrition and exercise. I believe in making our food supply healthier, and I also believe in using vaccines to prevent death and disability. Eugenics plays prominently in the rhetoric being generated and is derivative of a legacy that good medicine and science should continue to shun.

The recent shooting at CDC is not why I am resigning. My grandfather, who I am named after, stood up to fascist forces in Greece and lost his life doing so. I am resigning to make him and his legacy proud. I am resigning because of the cowardice of a leader that cannot admit that HIS and his minions’ words over decades created an environment where violence like this can occur. I reject his and his colleagues’ thoughts and prayers, and advise they direct those to people that they have not actively harmed.

For decades, I have been a trusted voice for the LGBTQ community when it comes to critical health topics. I must also cite the recklessness of the administration in their efforts to erase transgender populations, cease critical domestic and international HIV programming, and terminate key research to support equity as part of my decision.

Public health is not merely about the health of the individual, but it is about the health of the community, the nation, the world. The nation’s health security is at risk and is in the hands of people focusing on ideological self-interest.

I want to express my heartfelt gratitude for the opportunities for growth, learning, and collaboration that I have been afforded during my time at the CDC. It has been a privilege to work alongside such dedicated professionals who are committed to improving the health and well-being of communities across the nation even when under attack from within both physically and psychologically.

Thank you once again for the support and guidance I have received from you and previous CDC leadership throughout my tenure. I wish the CDC continued success in its vital mission and that HHS reverse its dangerous course to dismantle public health as a practice and as an institution. If they continue the current path, they risk our personal well-being and the security of the United States.

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Luca Malatesta @geoluca.bsky.social · Jul 28

It first seemed like Europe claimed to define itself in contrast to US funding cuts. But the drop in concurrence was just an opportunity to lower costs as well.

Jonathan Gilligan @jgilligan.org · Jul 28

Also, while the US is especially savage at cutting research, many other nations are cutting research spending too, albeit not as drastically.

www.chemistryworld.com/news/protest...

Protests and alarm as European research sector braces for cuts

Swiss science organisations are the latest to speak up after a wave of cuts is proposed across Europe

www.chemistryworld.com

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Luca Malatesta @geoluca.bsky.social · Jul 2

In this contribution on NHK a week ago, Yokose Hisayoshi (Kumamoto U) links the swarm to roughness on the megathrust:
www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/...

www3.nhk.or.jp

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Reposted by Luca Malatesta

Uğur Öztürk @uguroeztuerk.bsky.social · Jul 1

🚨 I’ve just started as Assistant Professor at @univie.ac.at!
📢 Soon I will open 2 fully funded positions in the ERC UrbanSlide Project (cordis.europa.eu/project/id/1...):
1️⃣ PhD (4 years) – landslide hazard modelling (Python)
2️⃣ Postdoc (2+2 years) – landslide risk modelling

"Global landslide casualties will rise due to greater exposure, lack of practical measures, and informed policies addressing growing landslide risks.Global urban population has grown from 30% in 1950 ...

cordis.europa.eu

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Luca Malatesta @geoluca.bsky.social · Jul 1

Wait and see!

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Luca Malatesta @geoluca.bsky.social · Jul 1

The related volcano would be Otake on Suwanosejima?

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Luca Malatesta @geoluca.bsky.social · Jun 26

Thank you to our speakers, to our audience, and to my co-organizers!

Landscapes Live Seminar series @landscapeslive.bsky.social · Jun 26

And that's a wrap for the 2025 Spring season!
We will see you in the Fall.

We =
Tamara Aránguiz-Rago
Anne-Laure Argentin
Luca Malatesta
Marcelline Péan
Laurent Roberge
Elena Serra
Christian Schwarz
Pedro Val
Youwei Wang

Luca Malatesta @geoluca.bsky.social · Jun 25

With enough stomping around you could see many aspects of liquefaction, loss of cohesion, water seeping out, and eventually sand boils as the system settled. Not to do without a certified guide!

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Luca Malatesta @geoluca.bsky.social · Jun 25

We had the chance to do just that a month or so ago! We could play around with quick sand until someone starts to sink. (We got them back)

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Luca Malatesta @geoluca.bsky.social · Jun 21

Our project has no link to deep submarine channels but regarding your question, here's a recent article by Covault et al. discussing some of the processes controlling meandering and avulsion of these channels using 3d seismic data onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Submarine‐channel meandering reset by landslide filling, Taranaki Basin, New Zealand

We use a 3D seismic-reflection dataset from the deep-water Taranaki Basin to show the interaction of submarine-channel deposits and landslides. Initially, submarine channels meandered like a river, b....

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

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Reposted by Luca Malatesta

Seismica @weareseismica.bsky.social · Jun 17

🌍 Seismic site response isn't static!!

Haendel et al. show that the high-frequency decay parameter κ₀ captures seasonal shifts that correlate with snow, freeze, and hydrological processes.

Read more: seismica.library.mcgill.ca/article/view...

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Reposted by Luca Malatesta

Luca Malatesta @geoluca.bsky.social · Jun 17

We are looking for a postdoctoral researcher to study submarine faults "just offshore". The postdoc will participate in all steps of the research from the development of an autonomous kayak w/ sonar to the analysis of bathymetric data for active tectonics. 📆 22 June!
www.gfz.de/en/career/jo...

Eastern Adriatic coast, with an outline of the large shallow water domain.

a map of Cephalonia showing active faults at shallow water depths

The kayak in the process of outfitting for autonomous surveys.

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Luca Malatesta @geoluca.bsky.social · Jun 17

Just off the @weareseismica.bsky.social press: Annabel Händel & Co. on IDing seasonal variations in seismic site responses across Japan 🫨vs🌡️❄️🌧️. Very grateful to have been invited to join this puzzling investigation.
And lots of work remain!
doi.org/10.26443/sei...

(a) Location of the 188 KiK-net sites analyzed in this study (gray triangles) and the 13 sites with pronounced seasonal variation in ∆κ0 (highlighted triangles). The different colors indicate clusters of sites that respond differently to environmental change. (b) Zoom on the northeast corner of Hokkaido and (c) Honshu. The crosses indicate the locations of JMA
weather stations.

Stack of all 4626 ∆κ0 values observed in the pe-
riod 2004–2020 in one year for the Honshu site cluster (blue
triangles in Fig. 1). Gray dots: Mean ∆κ0 values for each day
of the year and for each of the Honshu sites. Black curve:
Mean curve computed from all gray dots, smoothed with a
Gaussian filter of 6 days width. Red: Daily mean tempera-
ture stacked to one year (red bars) and smoothed a Gaus-
sian filter of 6 days width (red curve).

Stack of all 1331 ∆κ0 values observed in the pe-
riod 2004–2020 into one year for the Hokkaido site cluster
(red triangles in Fig. 1). The data is plotted from July to July
to have the winter month in the middle. Gray dots: Mean
∆κ0 values for each day of the year and for each of the
Hokkaido sites. Black curve: Mean curve computed from all
gray dots, smoothed with a Gaussian filter of 6 days width.
(a) Orange: Daily minimum temperature stacked to one year
(bars) and smoothed with the same Gaussian filter (orange
curve). Red: Same for the daily maximum temperature. The
orange and red dashed lines mark the times where the mini-
mum and maximum daily temperatures start to be below or
above 0°C. (b) Blue: Total daily precipitation stacked to one
year (bars) and smoothed using a Gaussian filter of 6 days
width (blue curve). Green: Average depth of snow cover.

Stack of all 145 ∆κ0 values observed in the
period 2009–2014 at YMTH07 (green triangle in Fig. 1) into
one year. Gray dots: Mean ∆κ0 values for each day of the
year. Black curve: Mean curve computed from all gray dots,
smoothed with a Gaussian filter of 6 days width. (a) Blue
curve: Total daily precipitation stacked to one year (bars)
and smoothed with the same Gaussian filter (blue curve).
Green: Average depth of snow cover. (b) Olive curve: Same
as for (a) but for daily soil moisture content.

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Luca Malatesta @geoluca.bsky.social · Jun 17

We are looking for a postdoctoral researcher to study submarine faults "just offshore". The postdoc will participate in all steps of the research from the development of an autonomous kayak w/ sonar to the analysis of bathymetric data for active tectonics. 📆 22 June!
www.gfz.de/en/career/jo...

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Reposted by Luca Malatesta

Javier Escartín @jescartin.bsky.social · Jun 16

🧪⚒️ #NODSSUM cruise - L’Atalante is now on the way after leaving Brest. First AUV UlyX dive tuesday morning to test all the instruments - and water and sediment sampling to set in place procedures and train the teams.

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Luca Malatesta @geoluca.bsky.social · Jun 12

Starting now!!!

Landscapes Live Seminar series @landscapeslive.bsky.social · Jun 11

Tomorrow, June 12th 16:00 CEST, join us for a great talk by Joel Wilner (Dartmouth College):

Erosion showdown: glacial vs. fluvial erosion rates and the limits to timescale-dependence

🧊🧊💧💧
🏔️🏔️⛰️⛰️

www.landscapeslive.org

Landscapes Live

Landscapes Live is a weekly online seminar series freely accessible to the international scientific community interested in various aspects of geomorphology. Our talks take place on Zoom every Thursda...

www.landscapeslive.org

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Reposted by Luca Malatesta

EGU Geomorphology @egu-gm.bsky.social · Jun 11

What happens when a mountain falls on a glacier and buries it in 9 mio tonnes of debris?! The EGU GM, Hydro and Nat Hazard blog editors highlight the recent Swiss Blatten landslide & interview Christophe Lambiel: blogs.egu.eu/divisions/gm/2025/06/11/highlighting-the-blatten-landslide-in-switzerland/

Highlighting: The Blatten landslide in Switzerland

An interview with Christophe Lambiel , a senior lecturer at University of Lausanne at the Institute of Earth Surface Dynamics. His research focuses on high mountain geomorphology, with a special focus...

blogs.egu.eu

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Reposted by Luca Malatesta

Luca Malatesta @geoluca.bsky.social · Jun 2

Distribution of permafrost around and above the Birch glacier assembled with swisstopo's online tools. Satellite image from May 30th.
s.geo.admin.ch/5yidukhr2udy

And go check @stim3on.bsky.social 's great work to explore the geometry of this permafrost area in 3d!

Satellite image of the Blatten collapse with permafrost extent as overlay. The unstable north-facing slopes of the Kleines Nesthorn that collapsed on the Birch glacier are mapped as "extensive permafrost"

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Luca Malatesta @geoluca.bsky.social · Jun 2

Distribution of permafrost around and above the Birch glacier assembled with swisstopo's online tools. Satellite image from May 30th.
s.geo.admin.ch/5yidukhr2udy

And go check @stim3on.bsky.social 's great work to explore the geometry of this permafrost area in 3d!

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Reposted by Luca Malatesta

Melaine Le Roy @subfossilguy.bsky.social · Jun 1

Finally some precise numbers for the Blatten deposit! 👇
11 Mio m3 and up to 32 m thick ! 😱

Simeon Schmauß @stim3on.bsky.social · Jun 1

I also derived a new elevation model from the aerial images, allowing me to visualize the elevation change in the affected areas.
The rocks and debris in the valley are locally up to 32m thick and I estimate the total displaced volume is about 11 million cubic meters. #Blatten

Map of the Lötschtal showing the area affected by the glacier collapse.
Blue colors show lost elevation, red areas elevation gains.
The two most notable areas are the collapsed peak of Kleines Nesthorn and the collapsed glacier which are shown in deep blue with elevation loss of up to 128m and 51m respectively.
The material slid down the mountain in an approximately 400m wide path and accumulated in a 2,5km long area on the valley floor which is up to 32m thick.
The newly formed lake above the village of Blatten is also drawn in.

The Map text reads:
Kleines Nesthorn and Birchgletscher collapse / Blatten im Lötschental (VS)
On Wednesday, May 28th, a2025, the Birchgletscher glacier collapsed under the weight of rock and debris following the partial collapse of the Kleines Nesthorn.
Approximately 10 million cubic meters of debris flowed into the valley, burying large parts of the villages of Blatten and Ried. The debris also blocked the Lonza River, forming a small lake that destroyed several more houses in Blatten.
Analyis
Using Oblique imagery collected and provided by swisstopo on May 30th, 2025, a photogrammetric DEM was created and compared to the swissALTI3D DEM.

The following volume change was measured in the affected area:
Above Volume (m³): 11.2 Mio
Below Volume (m³): 10.1 Mio

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