Volcanoes are often located in stunning and fascinating places of the world. Some volcanoes are in areas already heavily populated, like Popocatépetl in Mexico or that thanks to tourism become highly or more populated during certain times of the year, like Agung in Indonesia. In addition to the charm, volcanoes can be and have been harmful to both lives and properties. The hazards posed by ...[Read More]
Stratigraphy, Sedimentology and Palaeontology
When lava meets water…
Pillow-palagonite complex forming as a result of hot lava entering a former river channel or lake in the Columbia River Flood Basalt Province, Washington State, USA (c. 15 My). Individual sediment packages were picked up from the bottom of the water body and trapped within the lava complex (see white arrow). Orange-brown palagonite is a type of clay which forms through the break-down of volcanic g ...[Read More]
GeoLog
Imaggeo on Mondays: The breath of our Earth
This picture was taken in the Myvatn geothermal area in southeast Iceland. Seeing the geothermal steam vent in this area while the temperature was -22 degrees Celsius is the best experience in Myvatn. The difference between Iceland’s cold ambient temperature and the released heat from inside the Earth is a really stunning event to see. Iceland is situated in the middle of two tectonic plates (the ...[Read More]
Cryospheric Sciences
Image of the Week — Orange is the new white
On 22 March 2018, large amounts of Saharan dust were blown off the Libyan coast to be further deposited in the Mediterranean, turning the usually white snow-capped Mountains of Turkey, Romania and even Caucasus into Martian landscapes. As many people were struck by this peculiar color of the snow, they started documenting this event on social media using the “#orangesnow hashtag”. Instagram and t ...[Read More]
Solar-Terrestrial Sciences
The average magnetic field and polar current system (AMPS) model
In this month’s post, Karl Magnus Laundal explains a newly developed empirical model for the full high latitude current system of the Earth’s ionosphere, AMPS (Average Magnetic field and Polar Current System). The model is available and documented in python code, published under the acronym pyAMPS. The community is invited to download and explore the electric currents and magentic fiel ...[Read More]
GeoLog
GeoTalk: A new view on how ocean currents move
Geotalk is a regular feature highlighting early career researchers and their work. In this interview we speak to Jan Zika, an oceanographer at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia. This year he was recognized for his contributions to ocean dynamics research as the winner of the 2018 Ocean Sciences Division Outstanding Early Career Scientists Award. First, could you introduce your ...[Read More]
Cryospheric Sciences
What’s on at POLAR18?
Next Tuesday (19th June) the POLAR18 Open Science Conference kicks off in Davos, Switzerland. We have put together a quick guide about events that might be of interest to you during the week! Conferences are about the science, of course, but the social side is just as important :) What is POLAR18? The eagle-eyed among you will have spotted that the POLAR18 conference is, in fact, a collection of d ...[Read More]
GeoLog
Geosciences Column: Landslide risk in a changing climate, and what that means for Europe’s roads
If your morning commute is already frustrating, get ready to buckle up. Our climate is changing, and that may increasingly affect some of central Europe’s major roads and railways, according to new research published in the EGU’s open access journal Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences. The study found that, in the face of climate change, landslide-inducing rainfall events will increase in fr ...[Read More]
GeoLog
Uploading your 2018 General Assembly presentation
This year it is, once again, possible to upload your oral presentations, PICO presentations and posters from EGU 2018 for online publication alongside your abstract, giving all participants a chance to revisit your contribution – hurrah for open science! Files can be in either PowerPoint or PDF format. Note that presentations will be distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. ...[Read More]
GeoLog
Imaggeo on Mondays: Hints of an eruption
The photograph shows water that accumulated in a depression on the ice surface of Vatnajökull glacier in southeastern Iceland. This 700m wide and 30m deep depression [1], scientifically called an ‘ice cauldron’, is surrounded by circular crevasses on the ice surface and is located on the glacier tongue Dyngjujökull, an outlet glacier of Vatnajökull. The photo was taken on 4 June 2016, less than 22 ...[Read More]