Post by Andy Baker, University of New South Wales The effects of fire on the surface environment are clear to see. Landscapes are coated in ash. Intense fires can destroy all vegetation and alter soil properties. Less intense fires destroy just the surface leaf litter, grasses and shrubs. Grass fires can be fast moving, destroying buildings and threatening lives. Intense fires can even form their ...[Read More]
You have more than probably eaten many lollipops as a kid (and you might still enjoy them. The good thing is that you do not necessarily need to go to the candy shop to get them but you can simply wait for them to fall from the sky and eat them for free. Disclaimer: this kind of lollies might be slightly different from what you expect… Are lollies really falling from the sky? Eight years ago ...[Read More]
“You can never step into the same river, for new waters are always flowing on to you.” —Heraclitus of Ephesus Rushing rivers, with their unremitting twists and turns and continuous renewal, are often used as a metaphor for life, but the analogy is just as appropriate for scientific research, I reflected as I walked along the banks of a sparkling, turquoise-blue river in the heart of th ...[Read More]
With the progress in the digital world there are more and more e-tools available for research and teaching. What are smart ways to make use of new techniques in teaching? For inspiration and learning, Hans de Bresser, Janos Urai and Neil Mancktelow convened a PICO session at the EGU 2017 General Assembly to showcase present-day e-learning opportunities to improve the efficiency and quality of teac ...[Read More]
Brekkuselslækur, a small river, carves its way across Iceland’s ancient volcanic landscape. At Hengifoss, Iceland’s third-highest waterfall, it tumbles fiercely down thick, dark layers of lavas erupted from volcanoes some 18 to 2.58 million years ago, during a period of geological time known as the Tertiary. Eruptions are rarely continuous; during hiatuses in the extrusion of lavas, ash is able to ...[Read More]
Hi there, my name is Chloe and I’m embarking on a new challenge. After participating in the EGU’s 2017 General Assembly 3 weeks ago as a warmup, I am starting in Munich as the EGU’s Policy Officer. While the title might sound a little ambiguous, it is an incredibly exciting position that allows me to facilitate the dissemination of the EGU members’ scientific knowledge to EU policy-makers while si ...[Read More]
Today we welcome, potentially one of the youngest participants of this year’s General Assembly, Pimnutcha Promduangsri: a 17-year-old science baccalaureate student at Auguste Renoir high school in Cagnes-sur-mer, France, as our guest blogger. With a deep interest in the environment and taking care of the environment, Pimnutcha was a keen participant at the conference and gave an oral presentation ...[Read More]
– written by James Tempest (University of Cambridge), Larissa A. Naylor (University of Glasgow), Tom Spencer and Iris Möller (University of Cambridge) – Extreme storm and flood events are occurring with increasing frequency and intensity across the globe causing significant geomorphic change throughout many landscapes often with detrimental impacts on local populations. In 2014 an int ...[Read More]
Despite being one of the driest regions on Earth, the Atacama desert is no stranger to catastrophic flood events. Today’s post highlights how the sands, clays and muds left behind once the flood waters recede can hold the key to understanding this natural hazard. During the severe rains that occurred between May 12 and 13, 2017 in the Atacama Region (Northern Chile) the usually dry Copiapó R ...[Read More]
While at this year’s General Assembly in Vienna, Keri McNamara, one of the EGU’s press assistants, spoke to a number of female geoscientists (at different career stages), to get their perspective on what being a female in geosciences is like. At this year’s EGU General Assembly I decided to construct a blog out of conversations I had with several women in geoscience, to learn about the ...[Read More]
