EGU Blogs

Nonlinear Processes in Geosciences

The most-read NPG 2020 paper: “Effects of upwelling duration and phytoplankton growth regime on dissolved-oxygen levels in an idealized Iberian Peninsula upwelling system”

Tommaso Alberti January 29, 2021

An emerging problem brought by climate change is the on-going deoxygenation of the world’s oceans. The fact that concentrations of dissolved oxygen have been/are declining in both open-ocean and coastal waters is becoming a major scientific and societal concern raised in the Kiel Declaration and in the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) 2019 report. Lower levels of dissolved oxy ...[Read More]

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Stratigraphy, Sedimentology and Palaeontology

Geoscience for the Future with Dr Natasha Dowey

Chris Skinner January 29, 2021

The Geosciences are at the forefront of the fight against climate change. It is Geoscientists who discovered it and explained it, and it is Geoscientists who work to understand it and its consequences. Geoscientists undoubtedly will be amongst those who will lead us to the solutions. However, it often seems that Geoscientists are solely associated with the extractive industries, a damaging false p ...[Read More]

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Tectonics and Structural Geology

Janet Vida Watson (1 September 1923 – 29 March 1985): The woman who could translate the story of Precambrian rocks into a crystal-clear message

Anouk Beniest January 29, 2021

On a late summer day in September 1923, Janet Vida Watson was born. With a father working in palaeontology and a mother who did research in embryology until her marriage, Janet grew up with science all around her. She went to South Hampstead High School, known for its science teaching and continued her education in General Science at Reading University. She graduated in biology and geology in 1943 ...[Read More]

GeoLog

GeoRoundup: the highlights of EGU Journals published during January!

Hazel Gibson January 28, 2021

Each month we feature specific Divisions of EGU and during the monthly GeoRoundup we will be putting the journals that publish science from those Divisions at the top of the Highlights roundup. For January, the Divisions we are featuring are: Atmospheric Sciences (CR), and Earth and Space Science Informatics (ESSI). They are served by the journals: Geoscientific Model Development (GMD), Annales Ge ...[Read More]

GeoLog

120 years of the ‘Greenhouse Effect’

Hazel Gibson January 27, 2021

120 years ago in 1901, Swedish meteorologist Nils Ekholm used the term ‘greenhouse’ to describe the heating effect that a planet’s atmosphere has on the surface temperature of the planet, the first time that this now much-used and abused metaphor was published. He wrote: “The atmosphere plays a very important part of a double character as to the temperature at the earth’s surface, of which the one ...[Read More]

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Geodynamics

Thermodynamics and Geodynamics: The perfect couple?

Bob Myhill and edited by Menno Fraters January 27, 2021

In preparation for Valentines day, Bob Myhill explores the potential for close partnership (and even love?) between the geodynamics and thermodynamics communities. Much of Earth and planetary science relies in some way on thermodynamics. This is not a surprise; the elegance1 of its premises makes thermodynamics a robust starting point for many investigations, and the number of thermodynamic applic ...[Read More]

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Seismology

Earthquake Watch December: Petrinja Mw 6.4

EGU Seismology ECS Team January 25, 2021

What we know On December 29, a strong earthquake Mw 6.4 hit Petrinja at 12:20 CET, a town located in Central Croatia. This event is the largest onshore earthquake rupture in Central Europe since the M 6.5 Norcia earthquake occurred in 2016 (e.g. Scognamiglio, 20181) which killed 299 persons and 4,500 became homeless. Recent reports on the Petrinja quake suggest seven fatalities and heavy damages o ...[Read More]

GeoLog

Imaggeo On Monday: Catching a glimpse of the Mesosphere

Michiel Baatsen January 25, 2021

In the midst of summer when the sun does not set at high latitudes one can sometimes catch a glimpse of the mesosphere shortly after sunset or before sunrise. These thin veils, known as noctilucent clouds, are the highest known cloud-like structures forming at about 80km above the surface. At this height, they are still lit by the sun and can be seen from lower latitudes many hundreds of kilometer ...[Read More]

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Tectonics and Structural Geology

Features from the Field: Shear Zones and Mylonites

Samuele Papeschi, Sandra McLaren and Hannah Davies January 25, 2021

The San Andreas Fault in California, the Alpine Fault in New Zealand, or the Main Frontal Thrust in the Himalayas are some of the most famous and largest fault zones that accommodate the relative displacement between two adjacent crustal blocks. Such faults, however, represent only the shallower expression of something much bigger: a crustal shear zone. In the first 10 kilometers or so of the crus ...[Read More]

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Natural Hazards

Advances in earthquakes forecasting pass through machine learning

Gabriele Amato January 25, 2021

In today’s interview, we meet Dr Fabio Corbi, a researcher at IGAG-CNR, the Institute of Environmental Geology and Geoengineering of the Italian National Research Council. Fabio has experience in analogue modelling of megathrust earthquakes and he is currently exploring the potentiality of machine learning in this research field. Hi Fabio, would you briefly tell us about you and your career? ...[Read More]