This week, Francis Nimmo, professor in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences (University of California Santa Cruz), tells us about volcanism on metallic asteroids! Around and after the formation of the solar system (4.5 billion years ago onwards), volcanoes on some of the gigantic bodies of the asteroid belt might have erupted … iron. Explanations. One way in which we can learn abou ...[Read More]
Climate: Past, Present & Future
Magnetic minerals: storytellers of environmental and climatic conditions
Name of proxy Environmental Magnetism (also known as enviromagnetics) Type of record Environment and climate proxy Paleoenvironment Sedimentary environments (for the most part) Period of time investigated Present times to millions of years (depending on the preservation conditions) How does it work? Magnetism is a physical property that results from the behaviour of elementary particles in any sub ...[Read More]
GeoLog
Imaggeo on Mondays: Recreating monster waves in art and science
Featured in this blog post is a collection of images that gives a picture-perfect example of life imitating art. The photos in the left column are three consecutive still frames of a breaking wave that scientists generated in a lab environment at the University of Edinburgh in the UK. The pictures in the centre and right columns show the same wave images, but now superimposed with the famous 19th ...[Read More]
WaterUnderground
Urban water underground: How green infrastructure makes it visible
Post by Theodore Lim, assistant professor of Urban Affairs and Planning at Virginia Tech. He researches the socio-hydrology of green infrastructure planning and implementation. In order for people to care about something, to value it, they have to be able to see it and experience it. This point should not be taken lightly. So much about decision-making and policy-making depends on how much public ...[Read More]
Cryospheric Sciences
Surviving in cold environments: from microbes under glaciers to queer scientists in the current social context
On the 5th of July we will celebrate the International Day of LGBTQ+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual, queer, and people that do not identify themselves as cis and/or straight) People in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Maths (STEM). Many people will ask: “Why is this day important?” Being a queer scientist in particular, and a queer person in general, can sometimes reminds us of how livi ...[Read More]
GeoLog
GeoPolicy: Preventing mercury leakage from a WWII submarine
I recently had the opportunity to interview Matthias Kaiser, a professor at Bergen University and, at the time of the interview, Director of the Centre for the Study of the Sciences and the Humanities. He is part of an expert team that has given scientific advice to Norwegian policymakers, highlighting the issues that should be considered when dealing with the U-864 submarine wreckage and its carg ...[Read More]
Geodynamics
The Sassy Scientist – Jekyll: Mantle dynamics
Every week, The Sassy Scientist answers a question on geodynamics, related topics, academic life, the universe or anything in between with a healthy dose of sarcasm. Do you have a question for The Sassy Scientist? Submit your question here. Senna asks: I’m torn between mantle dynamics and lithosphere dynamics as a research topic. Which shall I choose? Dear Senna, This is an easy one: mantle dynami ...[Read More]
Geochemistry, Mineralogy, Petrology & Volcanology
What I learned from chairing my first EGU session
By Emily Bamber (PhD Student, University of Manchester) At this year’s EGU meeting I was invited to co-convene the GMPV 5.7 session ‘Magma ascent, degassing and eruptive dynamics: linking experiments, models and observations’. At first, I felt nervous, as a PhD student who has so far only attended and presented at a few conferences. Afterwards I felt happy to be part of a session which presents cu ...[Read More]
Geology for Global Development
The link between development and resource use
This month the GfGD blog revolved around the theme of Resources. Blog author Heather Britton explores the link between the use of natural resources and development. How feasible are the various options available to us, to reach a use of resources aligned with sustainable development? From the ideology of a circular economy, a switch to renewable resources and increasing efficiency, what might help ...[Read More]
Geodynamics
It doesn’t work! (Asking questions about scientific software)
Numerical modelling is not always a walk in the park. In fact, many of us occasionally encounter problems that we cannot directly solve ourselves, and thus rely on help from others. In this month’s Wit & Wisdom post, Patrick Sanan, postdoctoral researcher at the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics group at ETH Zurich, will talk about asking the right questions about scientific software. As an experienc ...[Read More]