E. Solly, I. Schöning, S. Boch, J. Müller, S.A. Socher, S.E. Trumbore, M. Schrumpf. 2013. Mean age of carbon in fine roots from temperate forests and grasslands with different management. Biogeosciences, 10, 4833-4843, doi:10.5194/bg-10-4833-2013 Abstract Fine roots are the most dynamic portion of a plant’s root system and a major source of soil organic matter. By altering plant species div ...[Read More]
Polluting the Internet
AGU 2013 roundup
Now that the 2013 AGU Fall Meeting has ended, I thought I would roundup what I’ve been involved with over the week for both this blog and the Barometer Podcast, which I was recording each day with Sam Illingworth. Links to each piece are available below. Many thanks to all who have read and shared these over the past week. Recording the podcast at conferences is becoming a trend as we’ ...[Read More]
Polluting the Internet
AGU 2013 Days 4 & 5: measurements & models
My fourth and fifth days at the AGU Fall Meeting involved dashing between multiple sessions to take in a number of talks on (surprise, surprise) aerosols! The main strand running through them from my point of view was how there are major efforts to construct large datasets of aerosol properties that can be used to test our understanding via numerical models. Aerosols are complex and tend to stick ...[Read More]
GeoSphere
Reading Past Sea Ice Coverage from strange red blobs!
Sea ice is an interesting phenomenon, especially to a Canadian. The question around this time of year that always arises in the news is will this be a big sea ice year, will we set a new record low, high (haha) or will it be just average? This is a question that gets a lot of study and media attention. People run countless statistical models to predict sea ice conditions and try to predict the pas ...[Read More]
GeoLog
…Ever thought about joining a research cruise?
Over the next month Jens Weiser, a masters student at the University of Bremen, will be reporting from a research cruise off southern Africa. This week he’s setting the scene and setting seaward with 14 other young scientists in a bid to understand more about the region’s biology and geology… When I started my Masters programme, Marine Geosciences, at the University of Bremen one and a half years ...[Read More]
Geology for Global Development
Friday Photo (109): Souvenir Rocks
Himalayan rocks are peddled to tourists in Leh, Ladakh. Credit: Rosalie Tostevin, Geology for Global Development Leh, Ladakh, 2013
Soil System Sciences
4th European Conference on Permafrost (EUCOP)
Marc Oliva The big European conference on frozen soils is approaching fast. The EUCOP conference will take place in Évora (Portugal) from 18 to 21st June 2014. At the conference website (http://www.eucop4.org) you can find all the information about sessions and key-note speakers, the online abstract submission form, details on the programme, registration fees, stipends for young reseachers and inf ...[Read More]
Polluting the Internet
AGU 2013 Day 3: secondary organic aerosol – animal or vegetable?
My third day at the AGU 2013 Fall Meeting involved lots of talks on one of the trickiest parts of aerosol science – secondary organic aerosol (SOA). We’ve known for several years now that SOA is ubiquitous across the globe and it is often the most dominant aerosol chemical species in many environments and this is particularly true in the industrialised regions of the Northern Hemispher ...[Read More]
GeoLog
Registration for the EGU 2014 General Assembly is open!
The EGU General Assembly brings together geoscientists from all over the world to one meeting that covers all disciplines of the Earth, planetary and space sciences. This year, the conference will have a theme: The Face of the Earth. Much like a human face, our planet exhibits a huge diversity of shapes and forms. This theme aims to celebrate that diversity in geoscience processes – from the core ...[Read More]
Soil System Sciences
Cracked soils
Vertisols are dark clayey soils that show cracks at least during some part of the year. Normally, Vertisols are found in depressions or plain areas under subhumid or semiarid climate, with a wet and a dry season. Although climax vegetation is savanna, grassland or woodland, Vertisols are very fertile, so that agricultural use is very common. However, the process of swelling/shrinking makes Vertiso ...[Read More]