BG
Biogeosciences

early career scientists

Investigation of methane emissions in marine systems

Investigation of methane emissions in marine systems

Ever wondered how we can measure methane emssions from the seafloor ? And ever wanted to steer a mini submarine remotely operating vehicle (ROV)? Well here´s your chance! Have look at this blog post on analyzing methane emissions using ROVs and you´re ready to embark!    The goal is to determine when the gas leak started and how the fluid flow systems work. With our research, we can contribut ...[Read More]

What´s in your fieldbag? Part 1: measuring freshwater carbon fluxes in the Artic

What´s in your fieldbag? Part 1: measuring freshwater carbon fluxes in the Artic

This bag belongs to Joshua Dean, Postdoc, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam Field Work location Far Eastern Siberian Arctic: Kytalyk Nature Reserve. Duration of field work 2 weeks plus 3 days travel either side. Items in the bag Detecto Pak-Infrared (DP-IR) gas analyser [borrowed from colleagues, protect at all costs] EGM4 CO2 gas analyser [borrowed from another department, protect at all costs] water ...[Read More]

Coffee break biogeosciences – climate change affects mountain plant’s sex ratios

Coffee break biogeosciences – climate change affects mountain plant’s sex ratios

As climate change progresses, widespread changes in phenotypes in many plant populations are bing observed by scientists around the world. For instance in alpine areas, dominant plant species on lower altitude are shifting towards higher altitude as they adapt to increasing temperatures, thereby competing with high-altitude native plant species. In a recent study by Petry et al. (2016) it was show ...[Read More]

Keeping a lookout at the edge of the world

Keeping a lookout at the edge of the world

  Few places in the world conjure up images of remoteness and harshness like Far Eastern Siberia. Yet, it’s places like these where our science is needed most. Arctic soils hold vast amount of carbon, protected in thick layers of permafrost, but these stores are becoming more and more vulnerable as temperatures in the Arctic warm, and are set to warm faster than anywhere else on the planet. R ...[Read More]

Digging up bones for science – looking into 48 million years old blood vessel-like structures

Digging up bones for science – looking into 48 million years old blood vessel-like structures

The Messel Pit is a worldwide famous fossil site recognized by UNESCO as a World Natural Heritage Site because of the exceptional preservation, as well as the diversity of its fossils from the early-middle Eocene (~48 Ma). The Messel Pit, located in an old Quarry in Germany near Frankfurt am Main , includes fossils from vertebrates (turtles, crocodiles, mammals, birds, lizards, among others), inve ...[Read More]

Insights into the ocean crust and deep biosphere – ECORD Summer School 2015

Insights into the ocean crust and deep biosphere – ECORD Summer School 2015

Summer time as an early career geochemist can mean many things, to some it is vacation time, to others it is field season, and yet for others it is time to enroll in a summer school. ECORD, the European Consortium for Ocean Drilling, offers at least one summer school a year. If you work with foraminifera you may be familiar with the Urbino Summer School in Paleoclimatology, sorry to disappoint, bu ...[Read More]

The Panamanian Isthmus is not entirely guilty after all!

The Panamanian Isthmus is not entirely guilty after all!

  “According to new research, the land bridge connecting Central and South America rose more than 10 million years earlier than originally thought”   Traditionally, closure of the Panama Isthmus has been deemed responsible for the co-occurrence of two major events: The large Pleistocene glaciations and the Great American Biotic Interchange (GABI). Existing evidence indicating a ca ...[Read More]