EGU Blogs

Cryospheric Sciences

How small changes can make a big difference: tipping points in Antarctica

Ronja Reese & Dave Chandler November 13, 2020

As Antarctica’s mass loss increases, the threat of crossing tipping points both in the ice sheet and the surrounding Southern Ocean is increasing. But what actually is a tipping point? Have tipping points already been crossed in the past? And what might the future hold? What do we mean by a “tipping point”? Scientifically speaking, a tipping point is generally understood to be a threshold that, on ...[Read More]

CL

Climate: Past, Present & Future

A new European effort to better understand extreme weather

November 11, 2020

Extreme weather events routinely have detrimental socio-economic impacts around the globe. In fact, weather-related events make up over 90% of natural disasters worldwide [1]. In the new millennium, the frequency of many extreme weather events such as droughts and high temperatures, has systematically exceeded the levels seen in the 1980s and 1990s [1], and anthropogenic climate change may further ...[Read More]

SM

Seismology

Thirty-nine days onboard the Langseth

Hannah Mark November 11, 2020

When you picture sailing on a ship, what do you imagine? Cool breezes, salt spray, glorious sunrises, the peaceful sounds of breaking waves and passing gulls’ cries? As it turns out, you can go for multiple days at sea without directly looking at, smelling, or hearing the ocean waves – at least, you can if you sail on a 71-meter-long marine seismic research vessel like the R/V Marcus G. Langseth. ...[Read More]

GeoLog

Imaggeo On Monday: Micro and Nano composition

Liubov Kuleshova November 9, 2020

This image shows benthic foraminifera species of Favulina hexagona (Williamson, 1848) together with nanofossils enclosed inside the shell hexagons. This modern foraminifera species was found in the sediment core retrieved from the western slope of the Rio Grande Rise (western South Atlantic). Description by Liubov Kuleshova, after the description on imaggeo.egu.eu. Imaggeo is the EGU ...[Read More]

NH

Natural Hazards

The earthquake traffic light

Gabriele Amato November 9, 2020

Dr. Laura Gulia is a senior post-doc at the University of Bologna, Department of Physics and Astronomy. She has a strong experience in statistical seismology, seismicity analysis as well as seismic hazard and risk assessment. Recently, she investigated the spatio-temporal evolution of the earthquake size distribution throughout a seismic sequence focusing on the b-value, a parameter characterizing ...[Read More]

GeoLog

First-time convening an EGU session? Some advice from the Early Career Scientists.

Andrea Madella, Anna Gülcher and Tommaso Alberti November 6, 2020

With the most recent call for sessions for the next European Geosciences Union General Assembly, a diverse provisional programme has been put together. If you have been assigned your first EGU session as a convener – congratulations! But what happens now? Early Career Scientists representatives Andrea Madella (GM), Anna Gülcher (GD), and Tommaso Alberti (NPG) discuss what it’s like to conven ...[Read More]

GD

Geodynamics

Geoscience in the third world

Jyotirmoy Paul November 4, 2020

In this week’s wit and wisdom, Jyotirmoy Paul, a PhD student at the Indian Institute of Science, analyses the outlook of geoscience from the third world’s perspective. Academia has been shaped and influenced by the course of world history. The third world concept was seeded in Brussels, 1927, in a gathering of the League Against Imperialism1 and became popular in the mid-1950s through variou ...[Read More]

SM

Seismology

Seismology throughout the years: from blown pre-amplifiers to the internet of things — a technician’s view on seismology

Nienke Blom November 3, 2020

An interview with Arie van Wettum In many universities, students and staff will go out into the field to deploy seismometers, collect data, and service instruments. Students get a sense of the area their data is coming from, the difficulties that are involved with deploying and recording data, and although inexperienced at the beginning, they are a relatively low-cost way of getting equipment out. ...[Read More]

SSP

Stratigraphy, Sedimentology and Palaeontology

When huge masses of salt move underground: lessons from outcrops that go beyond the table salt

Ramon Lopez November 3, 2020

There is a place in the NE of Mexico where anyone can learn heaps about the dynamics of the ground beneath our feet while enjoying the wonders of the desert. Geologists call the area ‘La Popa Basin’. La Popa means “The Bow”, a name that comes from the shape of one of the mountains in this area, which resembles the front part of a very large boat. This place is a perfect training field for ge ...[Read More]

GeoLog

Imaggeo On Monday: Crete- Diplono Petris (Διπλόνο Πέτρις)

Wolfgang Fraedrich November 2, 2020

Diplono Petris near Agios Pavlos in the south of Crete island is one of Europe’s most impressive folded rock formations. The rock strata document an alternation of different limestone layers in the pindos top of the Cretan ceiling pile. These sediments, once deposited in a deeper ocean basin of the Pindos Ocean, were deformed in the course of Alpine fold tectonics, triggered by the Northern ...[Read More]