EGU Blogs

Highlights

GeoLog

Geotalk: Olga Vindušková, the Soil System Sciences Division’s co-blog and social media co-ordinator!

August 21, 2020
Geotalk: Olga Vindušková, the Soil System Sciences Division’s co-blog and social media co-ordinator!

Hello Olga, thanks for speaking with us today, can you tell us a little about your background and how you got to where you are now? Thank you for inviting me for what might be my first interview! My background is in environmental science and I chose to study soils because of how useful they are (in supporting ecosystems and our well-being) and how interdisciplinary their study is, spanning biology ...[Read More]

GD
Geodynamics

The Sassy Scientist – A Last Minute Lark

August 21, 2020
The Sassy Scientist – A Last Minute Lark

Tatiana feels the pressure. A never-ending workload, a busy home life and unparalleled expectations of her own devising leave her with this: Why does everything have to be last minute in academia? Dear Tatiana, Last minute? Don’t know what you’re talking about. Nothing is last minute in case you’ve mapped out your activities properly beforehand. Do you find it difficult planning your to-do list an ...[Read More]

CL
Climate: Past, Present & Future

Learning lessons from the past to inform the future

August 21, 2020
Learning lessons from the past to inform the future

  A fairly recent blog post here reiterated the compelling comparison between the current COVID-19 crisis and the ongoing climate emergency, focusing on extreme events such as hurricanes, heatwaves and severe rainfall-related flooding, all of which are likely to get worse as the climate warms (Langendijk & Osman 2020).  This comparison has been made by us Climate Scientists since the COVI ...[Read More]

SM
Seismology

What’s it like to be black in academia?

August 19, 2020
What’s it like to be black in academia?

Maria, a member of our ECS team, recently interviewed Professor Christopher Jackson from Imperial College, London, UK. The idea of this interview arose after protests swept across the US, triggered by the murder of George Floyd. Resurfacing the recurring and unsolved issue of racial biases, these protests highlighted that fact that racial inequality is not only present in everyday life, but that i ...[Read More]

GD
Geodynamics

Baking geological cakes!

August 19, 2020
Baking geological cakes!

Who doesn’t love baking? Seriously, baked goods are the best: with or without gluten, with or without chocolate. But you know what makes every bake out there even better? A geological theme. You heard it here first! This week, Ruth Amey, postdoctoral researcher and programme manager of the Earth Observation Center for Doctoral Training at the University of Leeds, United Kingdom, discusses th ...[Read More]

GeoLog

Imaggeo On Monday: Burnt roots

August 17, 2020
Imaggeo On Monday: Burnt roots

Fires are a common and often natural worldwide phenomena, that are often integral to the lifecycle of certain land-based ecosystems. Despite this, frequent or unusually intense fires can have significant effects on plant productivity, plant community composition and root properties. Although many trees have evolved to grow in fire prone areas, they usually have certain adaptations to help them sur ...[Read More]

NH
Natural Hazards

To be or not to be a ‘natural’ disaster: that is the question

August 17, 2020
To be or not to be a ‘natural’ disaster: that is the question

The story of science is replete with theories that only become accepted by the scientific community after long and protracted uphill battles, said Howard Wolinsky in his commentary in Science and Society in 2008. Sometimes they are rejected, ridiculed, or they take time to be validated, digested, and likely accepted. However, in my opinion, the scientific discussion over new hypotheses is at the h ...[Read More]

SM
Seismology

Earthquake of the month: Simeonof – Alaska M 7.8

August 17, 2020
Earthquake of the month: Simeonof – Alaska M 7.8

On July 22nd, Alaska was the scene of last month’s largest earthquake, a Mw 7.8 earthquake that hit the Aleutian Islands, offshore the Alaska Peninsula. The hypocenter location, tectonic setting and focal mechanism suggest a megathrust earthquake. The hypocenter of the so called Simeonof earthquake is located at the western edge of the historical 1938 earthquake (M8.3) slip zone, near the Shumagin ...[Read More]

GeoLog

Imaggeo On Monday: A marvellous sequoia in spring time

August 10, 2020
Imaggeo On Monday: A marvellous sequoia in spring time

Although more commonly associated with the west coast of the United States, if you visit Cabezón de la Sal in Spain you may come across a stand of giant redwood trees or Sequoia. Around 800 trees were brought to Spain in the 1940s, so are still very young, but even at their young age they are still around 40 meters high! Sequoia groves, as well as being awe-inspiring to look at, provide a uniquely ...[Read More]