This is an aerial image taken from a balloon at around 150m height, at the eastern shoreline of the Dead Sea. Such “selfies” are scientifically valuable, providing important data that help researchers to analyze the morphology of the retreating lake and investigate associated hazards like sinkholes, subsidence and landslides. The older shorelines, visible as lines on the shore stand fo ...[Read More]
Since the explosive spread of COVID19, the way most academics work has changed and it can sometimes feel like we’re all living on conference calls, Skype and online events. While this may not suit everyone’s preferred working style, it’s difficult to deny that people are now more willing to engage online and it’s worth thinking about how we can take full advantage of this new method of working! Ha ...[Read More]
Unsettled by a well-nigh void wardrobe, Giuseppe bethinks himself of his scholarly stature and posits to moot that his foibles and idiosyncrasies are promulgated through a predilection for plebeian raiments: What should a scientist dress like? Dear Giuseppe, Firstly, heave thine integral collection of aforementioned raiments atop a scorching blaze and instill upon thyself the manner they evanesce. ...[Read More]
Last week EGU hosted the second of our official quarterly webinar series, on Careers outside Academia. Up to 70% of scientists will transition to careers outside of academia after their PhD. Transferable scientific skills and knowledge are becoming progressively valued in non-academic job sectors. However, navigating job opportunities and transitioning to different career paths can be difficult. T ...[Read More]
The badlands at the Zabriskie Point (Death Valley, California, USA) rest upon a mudstone foundation. In the prehistoric lakes of Death Valley, fine grained sediments were deposited to form soft rocks. The clay minerals in the mudstone are shaped like tiny plates, which helps create the layers. The combination of the almost impermeable mudstone and Death Valley’s low rainfall makes plant grow ...[Read More]
By Tom Gleeson, Adam Ward, Anne Jefferson, and Skuyler Herzog Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, many of us are in the same situation: all of a sudden ‘pivoting’ to online teaching, which is probably better called ‘emergency remote teaching’ since few of us have the background, training, and resources to purposefully develop online courses. Fortunately, this response has also catalyzed the open sharing ...[Read More]
In October 2015 a series of massive thunderstorms rolled across the Eastern Mediterranean. In the hours and days that followed many people living along the Israeli coast had to go to their nearest medical centre because they were experiencing respiratory problems, which appeared very similar to asthma. But what could have caused these breathing problems? Well in research recently published in Natu ...[Read More]
You’ve just finished your PhD or postdoc… now what? Perhaps you’re thinking of a non-academic career, but don’t know where to start, or which skills you need? Up to 70% of scientists move into non-academic careers after graduation (The Royal Society, 2010). But finding useful information and advice is hard. In today’s blog, we summarise the EGU Webinar ‘Careers outside of academia’ which took plac ...[Read More]
This week, the EGU Blog Team is authorised by me to buy itself a cake with 3 little candles on top to celebrate the fact that we have been blogging about geodynamics for 3 years! Hooray! We have had a particularly successful year, so let’s have a look at what happened. What did we do? At the start of this blog year, we reorganised how the blog team functions to relieve a bit of the pressure ...[Read More]
Vancouver, Vancouver, this is it! Just a few words radioed by volcanologist David ‘Dave’ Johnston on May 18, 1980, to USGS headquarter in Vancouver, Washington State. It was 8:32 a.m., and a few hours later he lost his life during the (in)famous Mount Saint Helens eruption. That day, exactly forty years ago, the eruption of Mount St. Helen upset the world. It all started with a collapse on the nor ...[Read More]
