In the midst of summer when the sun does not set at high latitudes one can sometimes catch a glimpse of the mesosphere shortly after sunset or before sunrise. These thin veils, known as noctilucent clouds, are the highest known cloud-like structures forming at about 80km above the surface. At this height, they are still lit by the sun and can be seen from lower latitudes many hundreds of kilometer ...[Read More]
The mysterious appearance and disappearance of the Weddell Polynya, a giant hole in the sea ice cover, has long puzzled scientists. Recent work reveals that the polynya is initiated and maintained by gigantic and formidable atmospheric currents: atmospheric rivers! Read on to find out more… Each year, approximately 15 million square kilometers of ice forms in the Southern Ocean around Antarctica d ...[Read More]
Ramsay’s 1980 important contribution is a practical and theoretical handbook about shear zones, where the reader can find a detailed classification of shear zones, their description, and mathematical explanation. A definition of the concept of shear zones opens the article, followed by the shear zones classification into three types, namely brittle (e.g., Fig. 1a), brittle-ductile (e.g., Fig ...[Read More]
2020 left your head spinning? This week Derek Neuharth from GFZ Potsdam introduces us to the spinning microplates that can be found in extensional plate boundaries such as the East African Rift System and the East Pacific Rise. Divergent plate boundaries Microplates are enigmatic features that form in the boundaries between tectonic plates. Generally, plate boundary dynamics are divided into three ...[Read More]
Dear readers of the EGU Climate: Past, present and future blog. We hope you are having a good start to the New Year. Last year we faced a multitude of challenges due to the pandemic. Hopefully, by the end of 2021, the vaccination campaign will help combat the pandemic, and allow us to go back to some semblance of normality; fingers crossed! About Climate scientists Climate scientists investigate E ...[Read More]
The genesis of the idea to explore the influence of papers on shaping the field of tropospheric chemistry came when editing a textbook chapter I had written a decade earlier. As I edited it I thought, what really is new; text-book worthy over the last 10 years? In some senses what is text-book worthy? These type of questions inspired me to think about where atmospheric chemistry has got to as ...[Read More]
Recently, the European Geosciences Union (EGU) started to support a new type of event called ‘Campfires’ that will give the Divisions the freedom to run online interactive events in a way that suits their needs. This allows the EGU Divisions to encourage interactions in their research communities through virtual informal meetings. In this framework, and thanks to a group of young and established s ...[Read More]
Happy New Year! It’s January, and time for us to continue our monthly series of blog posts dedicated to highlighting the great work carried out by technicians, laboratory assistants, and research support staff in soil science. This month, we sat down (virtually, of course) with Jonathan J. Gottlieb (J.J.), the Head of the Laboratory for the Conservation of Waterlogged, Organic, Archaeological mat ...[Read More]
The indigenous name of the 3405 meter high Fitz Roy mountain in Patagonia, on the border between Argentina and Chile, is frequently translated as “smoking mountain”. This photo may visually explain an origin of this name. On the day the photo was taken, vortices downwind of the peak drew warmer, humid air from below, forming banner clouds at the leeward site of the Fitz Roy mountain an ...[Read More]
Furious yet disillusioned by a bunch of anonymous reviewers, of which most have provided zero insight through their nugatory reviews and displaying unambiguous bias towards a non-inflammatory, well-worded and a scientifically substantiated manuscript, Txabi demands to know: Why are many reviewers still insisting on anonymity? Dear Txabi, There is indeed such a segment of the academic community, wh ...[Read More]
