The effects of climate change are being felt all over the world but towns and cities are feeling most hot-under-the collar, a new study finds. Cities are usually warmer than their surroundings due to the urban heat island effect where artificial surfaces absorb more heat than their natural counterparts. Coupled with the loss of the shady effects of trees, urban areas regularly record the hottest t ...[Read More]
John G. Ramsay1 wrote his seminal textbook on the folding and fracturing of rocks in 1957, almost 20 years before I was born (and I don’t count myself as young!). So why did I co-convene a session at EGU in 2017 to celebrate the book? Because the book, in many ways, expresses the legacy that John has given to structural geology. He followed it with a series of books of the same ilk – Ramsay ...[Read More]
Take some ice, mix in some rock, snow and maybe a little mud and the result is a rock glacier. Unlike ice glaciers (the ones we are most familiar with), rock glaciers have very little ice at the surface. Looking at today’s featured image, you’d be forgiven for thinking the Morenas Coloradas rock glacier wasn’t a glacier at all. But appearances can be misleading; as Jan Blöthe (a researcher at the ...[Read More]
The EGU’s General Assemblies have a long tradition of Great Debates – sessions of Union-wide interest which aim to discuss some of the greatest challenges faced by our discipline. Past topics have included exploitation of mineral resources at the sea bed, water security given an ever growing population and climate geoengineering, to name but a few. This year’s meeting saw the first Great Debate a ...[Read More]
This month’s GeoRoundUp is a slight deviation from the norm. Instead of drawing inspiration from popular stories on our social media channels and unique or quirky research featured in the news, we’ve rounded up some of the stories which came out of researcher presented at our General Assembly (which took place last week in Vienna). The traditional format for the column will return in May! Major st ...[Read More]
Post by Anne van Loon, University of Birmingham You might remember that the summer of 2015 was extremely dry in large parts of Europe (Figure 1), leading to crop losses, wildfires, drinking water supply deficiencies, and reductions in energy production and navigation (Van Lanen et al., 2016), whether you experienced it yourself or read about it in the newspapers. Based on incomplete information th ...[Read More]
In 2008 the NEEM Deep Ice Core Project was initiated by 14 partner countries in Northwestern Greenland (camp position 77.45°N 51.06°W) with the aim to drill from the very top of the Greenland ice cap to its base; obtaining ice from as far back as the last interglacial period- the Eemian – some 130,000 years old. At the start of the 2008 field season, the NEEM camp consisted of a single hea ...[Read More]
The General Assembly has come to an end, with only a few days left to go. Many of the participants will make their way home over the weekend, but if you’ve chosen to stay on for a little longer, then this list of cultural activities and things to do in Vienna might just be the ticket! Liechtenstein Castle and Seegrotte Mines Take a train to Mödling and take a bus to visit the former residence of t ...[Read More]
Congratulations to Elisha Teo, the winner of the Communicate Your Science Video Competition 2017. Elisha is a PhD Candidate at National University of Singapore. Display "Teo Lost Rivers" from YouTube Click here to display content from YouTube. Always display content from YouTube Open "Teo Lost Rivers" directly .
The selection committee received over 300 photos for this year’s EGU Photo Contest, covering fields across the geosciences. Participants at the 2017 General Assembly have been voting for their favourites throughout the week of the conference and there are three clear winners. Congratulations to 2017’s fantastic photographers! Penitentes in the Andes by Christoph Schmidt (distributed by imaggeo.eg ...[Read More]
