Divisions

Hydrological Sciences

Brian Berkowitz (2021 John Dalton Medallist) on modelling fluid flow and chemical transport in hydrology: complexity vs. simplicity

Brian Berkowitz June 2, 2021

The EGU 2021 John Dalton Medal of the EGU Division on Hydrological Sciences was awarded to Brian Berkowitz for his seminal contributions to analysis of flow and anomalous transport in natural porous and fractured media, with pioneering experimental methods and novel conceptual frameworks. His medal lecture was presented at the online vEGU 2021 meeting. We invited Brian to contribute a blog post to ...[Read More]

TS

Tectonics and Structural Geology

TS Must-Read – Molnar and Lyon-Caen (1988): Some simple physical aspects of the support, structure and evolution of mountain belts

The Must-read team June 2, 2021

In 1988 Peter Molnar and Hélène Lyon-Caen published their “Must-Read” paper on the support, structure and evolution of mountain belts. It is an article that touches on some core issues of plate tectonics by looking at two types of forces that resist mountain building, using key observations from Asian and American mountain chains. They name the first force “mechanical strength”, and to approximate ...[Read More]

SM

Seismology

Narcissistic abuse in academia

Agnieszka Płonka June 1, 2021

Let’s talk about narcissistic abuse in academia. Many of us have become scientists out of passion and curiosity. Such mental resources are crucial in research, where working hours can get long, experiments can fail, career prospects and funding are scarce. However, even the most passionate may not withstand all of the possible difficulties thrown their way — especially workplace abuse, which may t ...[Read More]

NH

Natural Hazards

Mitigating Soil Erosion After Wildfires

Antonio Girona-García and Diana Vieira May 31, 2021

Wildfires are a natural element in many ecosystems and play a central role in their dynamics. For example, they clear forest floors and liberate nutrients that can replenish the soil. However, changes in fire regimes induced by anthropogenic factors (such as climate change and land uses) have resulted in fire patterns that harm ecosystems [1]. Let’s see together the issues and the mitigation solut ...[Read More]

CR

Cryospheric Sciences

Image of the Week – Did you know that Arctic sea ice is melting from the bottom?

David Docquier May 28, 2021

The current retreat of Arctic sea ice is a major sign of ongoing climate changes. And it could almost disappear during summer in a few decades from now, depending on the amount of greenhouse gases we will emit into the atmosphere. In this context, understanding what are the exact causes of this sea-ice loss is important. One of these causes is the amount of heat transported by the ocean (which dep ...[Read More]

GD

Geodynamics

The Sassy Scientist – When All Is Said And Done

The Sassy Scientist May 28, 2021

Lena has just shown me her beautiful LaTeX thesis template, complete with chapter headings. Populating it with text and results isn’t so exciting so instead she is beginning to consider: How should I celebrate my PhD defence? Dear Lena, Once all the hard work of writing your thesis is done, you’re left with one task that may fall completely outside your experience – organising yo ...[Read More]

OS

Ocean Sciences

OceanTalk with Richard J. Greatbatch

Meriel Bittner May 27, 2021

Richard J. Greatbatch has been awarded the 2020 Fridtjof Nansen Medal for his distinguished research in oceanography. At vEGU21 he gave his medal lecture titled ‘From the North Atlantic Oscillation to the Tropics and back’. Richard, was becoming a scientist your career plan when you were a mathematician student? Yes, I always wanted to be a scientist and, in particular, to work on some ...[Read More]

G

Geodesy

Starting a PhD during a pandemic

Öykü Koç, edited by Rebekka Steffen and Andreas Kvas May 26, 2021

Have you ever wondered what it means to start a PhD during the pandemic? Below you can get more insights. Hi! I’m Öykü, a PhD student at Politecnico di Milano in Italy. I’m originally from Turkey and did my MSc at Istanbul Technical University. My research focus is static and time-variable gravity field recovery from satellite data and local gravity field modelling. Currently, ...[Read More]

GD

Geodynamics

EGU medals and awards

Jeroen van Hunen and edited by Menno Fraters May 26, 2021

The deadline for submitting nominations is arriving soon. So it is the perfect time for EGU Geodynamics President Jeroen van Hunen to explain what awards there are and how easy it is to nominate you colleague for it! This is my first-ever EGU GD blog (in fact, this is the first time I am writing a blog at all). I feel like stepping into a new world. The topic of this blog is EGU medals and awards. ...[Read More]

HS

Hydrological Sciences

Featured catchment: Hydrometeorological observations in an agricultural landscape in the Czech Republic

EGU Guest blogger May 26, 2021

The Nučice experimental catchment (0.531 km2) is located 30 km east of Prague in an agricultural landscape in the Central Bohemian Region, Czech Republic (Figs. 1 and 2). The cultivated landscape and climatic conditions are representative of farmlands of the Czech Republic. To understand water balance, rainfall-runoff and soil erosion processes on the cultivated landscape, we started hydrological ...[Read More]