University of Texas Institute for Geophysics

09/02/2026

NASA Texas Space Grant Consortium (TSGC), headquartered at the University of Texas Institute for Geophysics, will collaborate with the Texas Space Commission in a state-wide effort to grow Texas’ skilled aerospace workforce in conjunction with NASA’s newly announced Skilled Technical Workforce Hub initiative.

This initiative designates Texas as one of seven strategic centers for developing and sustaining a skilled technical workforce aligned with the growing nation-wide aerospace industry and NASA's future mission directive needs. TSGC will foster this workforce pipeline by enhancing and supporting the industry-ready talent pool through student development initiatives like its Design Challenge competition, Fellows and Scholars program, NASA-related internships and more.

TSGC is a NASA-funded consortium of 50+ academic, government, nonprofit, and industry partners that expands access to space-related STEM education and careers for Texans through scholarships, internships, workforce development activities, and outreach. TSGC joined the Institute for Geophysics in 2022 to collaborate further with institution’s planetary researchers, increase higher education STEM opportunities, and partner with more schools across the state.

Learn more about Texas Space Grant Consortium: https://ig.utexas.edu/tsgc/

09/01/2026

This week's features C. Adeene Denton, a NASA Postdoctoral Fellow who researches the origin and evolution of ocean worlds in the outer Solar System. Join us this Friday: https://ig.utexas.edu/utig-seminar-series/2026/utig-seminar-series-adeene-denton/

08/26/2026

Experts in earthquake cycle modeling gathered at UTIG for the Megathrust Modeling Framework (MTMOD) NSF project workshop 🌎

With focus on the Cascadia Earthquake System, researchers worked in teams on various projects including how to link structural imaging to assessment of fault activity, pre- and post-earthquake plate boundary transients, and regionally resolved global mantle circulation models for subduction zone temperature and stress. The goal was to advance computational tools and our understanding of tectonics, earthquake cycle, rupture, and tsunami dynamics.

”It was awesome to welcome back the MTMOD team and friends, and amazing to see how far our student cohort has come since the project inception,” said Thorsten Becker, professor at UTIG.

Thanks to everyone for coming to Austin and working with us!

08/25/2026

Did you miss us, because we missed you! The series returns this Friday, August 28 at 10:30 a.m. here at UTIG! More details, including how to join virtually can be found here: https://ig.utexas.edu/news/2026/utig-seminar-series-jason-sylvan/

08/11/2026

Last week, researchers from around the country traveled to Austin for the fifth annual COLDEX All-Hands meeting! Members gathered to share research updates, give a retrospective of the work done in the past five years and plan for the next stage in the center’s evolution.

COLDEX is a National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded center that is looking for the world’s oldest ice in Antarctica. They’re on the hunt for ice that’s millions of years old with tiny pockets of Earth’s ancient atmosphere trapped in air bubbles within the ice. These small air samples can hold information about the planet’s prehistoric climate.

The University of Texas Institute for Geophysics joined COLDEX when it was founded in 2021 and provides one of the airborne-radar systems used to map and track the internal flow of ice sheets during missions to the Antarctic. This information is critical for finding good places to o drill and collect ice cores.

Don Blankenship and Duncan Young, who also spearheaded this year’s annual meeting, lead UTIG’s efforts at the center.

📸 UTIG and Kelly Brunt

08/04/2026

The University of Texas Institute for Geophysics (UTIG) seeks to hire multiple research faculty at the Research Assistant or Research Associate Professor rank in the broadly defined field of Coastal Science, including the interconnected fields of Physical Oceanography and Weather and Climate Extremes.

Areas of expertise may include, but are not limited to: beach processes, estuarine dynamics, ice-ocean interactions, ocean circulation, paleoceanography, paleotempestology, permafrost degradation, sea level change, and tropical cyclones).

For more information on this opportunity or to apply, click here: https://ig.utexas.edu/jobs/2026/research-assistant-research-associate-professor-coastal-science/

08/02/2026

2026 is an El Niño year, with current forecasts showing it intensifying through the end of the year and remaining through the beginning of 2027.

The weather phenomenon affects the entire world, but what’s the potential impact on Texas? Jud Partin, a research associate professor at the Jackson School of Geosciences at The University of Texas at Austin, spoke with Texas Public Radio about the strengthening El Niño.

Partin said expect fewer tropical storms, higher precipitation amounts and a cooler and wetter winter.

With a Super El Niño brewing in the atmosphere, there's concern about what the weather pattern means for the U.S. and the Southwest. Texas is already experiencing another summer of weather extremes: destructive rainfall and flooding followed by dangerous heat, with Tropical Storm Bertha now moving ...

07/31/2026

Seasonal summer warming — not just high annual temperatures — in southern tropical oceans is the reason for a longstanding error in climate models, according to research co-authored by research associate professor Yuko Okumura and published in Nature.

The finding can help improve climate models, setting the stage for better seasonal climate predictions and future climate projection.

The higher summer temperature is only about 1 degree Celsius higher than observed but sets off chain reaction of processes in climate models that ends up creating the erroneous band of rain in the eastern Pacific and the Atlantic Ocean of the southern hemisphere. This seasonal event is strong enough to affect the annual mean climate.

Climatologists have long struggled to model the tropical rain belt or Intertropical Convergence Zone in the western hemisphere. On average, the rain belt is located north of the equator and migrates toward the equator during the southern hemisphere summer. But current climate models typically fail to portray this, often creating a rogue rain band in the south, resulting in double annual rain belts straddling the equator.

Accurately modeling this seasonal warming sets the stage for better climate models. It also highlights how small changes in temperature can make a big difference.

“This study highlights the nonlinear nature of interactions between the tropical ocean and atmosphere,” said Okumura. “Small temperature changes can have disproportionately large effects once a critical threshold for tropical convection is crossed.”

Read the paper: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-026-02046-6

07/21/2026

Research Assistant Professor Danielle Touma is a co-author of a new report published by The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine on extreme event attribution – a field of science that analyzes individual extreme weather events and quantifies the extent that human-caused climate change influenced them.

The report shows that human-caused climate change is altering the frequency and intensity of several types of extreme weather events, such as hurricanes, heat waves, and extreme rainfall.

While Touma contributed to all parts of the report, she mainly provided expertise on the representation of extreme climate events in climate models and observational datasets, and the state of extreme event attribution of extreme precipitation, drought, and wildfires.

“The biggest takeaway from this report is that this field of climate event attribution is maturing at a high level given its rapidly expanding needs,” said Touma. “This information allows communities to understand how we assess the impacts that climate change has already caused, and how to begin adapting to changes expected under warmer climates.”

This year’s report also includes an assessment of the state of the emerging field of extreme event impact attribution, which analyzes the downstream impacts of extreme weather events driven by climate change, such as deaths and economic losses.

Read the full report: https://www.nationalacademies.org/projects/DELS-BASCPR-23-02/publication/28590

06/17/2026

Last week, faculty, students and staff gathered to celebrate another year of hard work at the annual UTIG Awards! 🏆

In addition to operational and scientific accomplishments, the UTIG Awards celebrate service milestones, retirements and more.

“It’s always terrific to gather, celebrate and recognize the many outstanding accomplishments of everyone at the institute,” said UTIG Director Demian Saffer.

See a full album of photos and winners here: https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjCWNQ7

Congratulations to everyone recognized!