Earth Sciences | College of Engineering and Physical Sciences

Department of Earth Sciences
56 College Road
214 James Hall
Durham, NH 03824

P: (603) 862-1718
E: earth.sciences@unh.edu

earth sciences students

Explore the Department of Earth Sciences

The Department of Earth Sciences at UNH aims to improve our understanding of the Earth, and the processes that affect it, through excellence in teaching, research, and service. We offer undergraduate and graduate degrees encompassing a broad spectrum of disciplines including geology, hydrology, oceanography, ocean mapping, geochemistry, climate science, and geophysics. Our location on the Great Bay Estuary near the White Mountains provides an ideal backdrop for hands-on learning opportunities. Join us in our journey of discovery!

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Undergraduate Research: Daniel Okuniewicz Jr., Environmental Sciences Hydrology major, contributed an article to UNH's Inquiry about his research under the mentorship of Anne Lightbody

Research Articles Extracting Bankfull Widths and Stream Slopes from New England Rivers

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Undergraduate Research: Daniel Okuniewicz Jr., Environmental Sciences Hydrology major, contributed an article to UNH's Inquiry about his research under the mentorship of Anne Lightbody

Research Articles Extracting Bankfull Widths and Stream Slopes from New England Rivers

Learn More
Ruth Varner: How microbes in permafrost could trigger a massive carbon bomb

Genomics studies are helping to reveal how bacteria and archaea influence one of Earth’s largest carbon stores as it begins to thaw.

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Ruth Varner: How microbes in permafrost could trigger a massive carbon bomb

Genomics studies are helping to reveal how bacteria and archaea influence one of Earth’s largest carbon stores as it begins to thaw.

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Professor Joel Johnson provides perspective for AGU EOS Article

The Influence of Tidal Forces Extends to the Arctic’s Deep Sea

The Moon’s gravitational pull creates the tides, but its influence extends hundreds of meters below the sea surface too, influencing sensitive methane seeps in the seabed.

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Professor Joel Johnson provides perspective for AGU EOS Article

The Influence of Tidal Forces Extends to the Arctic’s Deep Sea

The Moon’s gravitational pull creates the tides, but its influence extends hundreds of meters below the sea surface too, influencing sensitive methane seeps in the seabed.

Learn More
Earth Sciences PostDoc Alia Lesnek Co-Authored a Study Published in Nature

“Rate of mass loss from the Greenland Ice Sheet will exceed Holocene values this century"

An interdisciplinary team of scientists used reconstructions of climate & former ice sheet extent to model the past, present, & future of the Greenland Ice Sheet. Future ice loss will be more extreme than any time in the past 12,000 years unless global carbon emissions are curbed.

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Earth Sciences PostDoc Alia Lesnek Co-Authored a Study Published in Nature

“Rate of mass loss from the Greenland Ice Sheet will exceed Holocene values this century"

An interdisciplinary team of scientists used reconstructions of climate & former ice sheet extent to model the past, present, & future of the Greenland Ice Sheet. Future ice loss will be more extreme than any time in the past 12,000 years unless global carbon emissions are curbed.

Learn More
Larry Mayer

Named Chair the U.S. National Committee for the Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development

The National Academies is introducing a national committee that will serve as the voice of the U.S. scientific community during the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development, which will run from 2021 to 2030. The U.S. National Committee for the Decade is comprised of the experts who...

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Larry Mayer

Named Chair the U.S. National Committee for the Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development

The National Academies is introducing a national committee that will serve as the voice of the U.S. scientific community during the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development, which will run from 2021 to 2030. The U.S. National Committee for the Decade is comprised of the experts who...

Learn More

Recent Stories

Drone image of research tower in forest in autumn

Excellence in Citations

Excellence in Citations

Study ranks 41 UNH researchers in top 2 percent worldwide...

Bill McDowell and Larry Mayer

Geophysical Fellows

Geophysical Fellows

McDowell, Mayer elected American Geophysical Union fellows...

Ruth Varner in Stordalen Mire in Sweden

Emerging Science

Emerging Science

UNH receives $3.6 million to examine climate change effect on ecosystems...

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NRESS PhD Program Dissertation Defense

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13

NRESS PHD Program Dissertation Proposal Defense