Trying to understand the reasons behind the global warming of our climate is a never ending quest for scientists across the geosciences. Scientists often rely on deciphering past change to help us understand, and perhaps predict, what might happen in the future. Many will be familiar with the common saying ‘the past is the key to the future’. This is exactly what James Rae, a research fellow at th ...[Read More]
New research on crocodiles shows that a combination of changing sea levels and temperatures were responsible for driving their biodiversity over millions of years. Living crocodiles are threatened by climate change, with 10 out of 23 species at a high risk of extinction. As ectotherms, animals which require external sources of heat to function, they are sensitive to changes in temperature. With 2- ...[Read More]
As part of the activities of the International Year of Soils, FAO has published the following Soil Facts. Contribute with your comments!
The picture shows the Elbe Rivervalley, one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It was taken from the Bastei Bridge close to Rathen, which towers 194 meters above the Elbe River in the state of Saxony in the south-eastern Germany. This region belongs to the national park known as Saxon Switzerland. Together with the Bohemian Switzerland in the Czech Republic, the Saxon Switzerland National Park ...[Read More]
Creating 1 Hz-seismograms in a 3-D Earth model, and comparing them to observed body waves, is a dream that’s today still too expensive for routine use. But even tackling the problem for a spherically symmetric Earth poses certain challenges. Recently, a new tool entered the stage (you might have followed the Solid Earth discussion): Instaseis allows users to extract seismograms for a spherically s ...[Read More]
Open kickoff meeting of the PAGES working group held in Bonn, Germany, 19th – 21st Aug. 2015 The open kickoff meeting of the PAGES working group GloSS aimed to set the boundary conditions that will enable the GloSS-WG to meet its scientific goals within the next three years. Therefore, this workshop focused on the development of a list of proxies/indices of human impacts on soils and sediments tha ...[Read More]
When you think of soil, what is the first thing that comes to mind? The answer will depend on your perception of soil: to some it has a patriotic meaning (“soil of Britain”, for example), while to others it has a strong agricultural connection and to an Earth scientist, well, it’ll depend on their field of expertise. A geotechnical engineer’s perception of soil is different to how it might be view ...[Read More]
The margin of the glacier “Hochjochferner” on the border between Austria and Italy. This glacier has been monitored with an Automatic Weather Station for several years by the Institute for Marine and Atmospheric research in Utrecth, NL.It is also the destination of the field trip that takes place during the annual Karthaus summer school in ice and climate. Here, students are exploring ...[Read More]
With so many thinking the EGU’s activities are restricted to the organisation and running of the General Assembly, we thought we’d share a behind-the-scenes peek at the team who works year-round to promote the Earth, ocean and planetary sciences and the work of the members of the Union. At the EGU Executive Office in Munich, Germany, you’ll find the Union’s headquarters. With a team of six employe ...[Read More]
Ok, so I took some license with the title. This isn’t really a curious case and neither Krypton-81 nor ATTA are actually people. In fact, Krypton-81 (81Kr) is a radioisotope of the noble gas krypton and ATTA, which stands for atom trap trace analysis, is the revolutionary technique that has made its analysis possible. I recently heard about developments with ATTA at the IAEA Isotope Hydrolog ...[Read More]
