Climate of the Present

The ocean floor is sinking under the weight of sea level rise

Bramha Dutt Vishwakarma October 16, 2020

The figure shows a schematic of the sea level budget (a), the map (b) of GRACE observed rate of ocean mass change (mm/yr), and (c) is the corresponding ocean bottom deformation. Regions with increases in mass are subsiding, regions with decreases in mass are uplifting, but the global mean of ocean mass is increasing, hence the mean ocean bottom is subsiding.

Sea level rise is one of most dreadful consequences of anthropogenic (caused by humans) global warming. It is estimated that the loss of coastal infrastructure alone would cost the global economy more than 1 trillion dollars per year by 2100 [1]. This number is based on climate models, but these are only as good as our current understanding of the sea level rise. Therefore, researchers are monitor ...[Read More]

Desert loess: formation, distribution, geoscientific value

Kamila Ryzner, Janina Nett and Christian Zeeden September 25, 2020

Image of desert loess from Tunisia, provided by Sascha Meszner, Maximilian Pachtmann and Georg Mettig (Institute for Geography, TU Dresden; Germany).

Loess is an aeolian (wind-driven) silty sediment covering over 10% of the Earth’s land surface; it occurs predominantly in the mid-latitudes. On a global scale, loess is among the most widespread unconsolidated sediments, and of crucial importance for agricultural regions where loess deposits are known to form fertile soils because of its ability to store water and retain nutrients. Loess is compr ...[Read More]

InterArctic project: understanding the interaction between artic environments and societies

Émilie Gauthier September 21, 2020

Figure 1. Synthesis figure of the InterArctic project.

The InterArctic project (Fig. 1) focuses on vulnerability, resilience and adaptation of northern societies facing global change. The current rapid warming of Arctic and Subarctic climates has already produced many changes in the social, economic and cultural behaviour of the populations inhabiting these regions and more changes are expected to come. In this context, looking at the past provides th ...[Read More]

Climate models and Bach’s unfinished fugue

Faranak Tootoonchi September 10, 2020

Illustration by: Roshanak Tootoonchi, M.Sc. Student in hydrology and water resources management, University of Tabriz, Iran.

Johann Sebastian Bach’s last work – Contrapunctus XIV – is an unfinished musical composition. For many years, scholars considered that this piece was left unfinished because of Bach’s deteriorating health in his final years and eventual death. However, researchers recently found evidence that Bach might have left this piece intentionally unfinished, as he thought that there was still room for impr ...[Read More]