Divisions

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]

GD

Geodynamics

The Sassy Scientist – Mi Outcrop Es Su Casa

The Sassy Scientist October 30, 2020

Stuck at home, Roger keeps alive the hope of returning to fieldwork. Obviously, he wants my thoughts on: What are your top tips for planning fieldwork during a pandemic? Dear Roger, I see you started the long and costly process of planning remote fieldwork, only to have it cancelled by a pandemic. Given the huge uncertainties you have two big options ahead of you (and no middle group of course, be ...[Read More]

CR

Cryospheric Sciences

How do the ups and downs of the solid Earth influence the future of the West Antarctic ice sheet?

Violaine Coulon October 30, 2020

When the Antarctic ice sheet loses mass, the pressure it exerts on the underlying solid Earth decreases. As the ice sheet becomes less heavy, the Earth’s surface is not pressed down as much as before and therefore slowly rises up. In some regions, this rebound process is much faster than previously thought and could stabilise areas of unstable ice retreat. How come? Keep reading to figure it out… ...[Read More]

GD

Geodynamics

What can we learn from geodynamic failure?

Moh Gouiza and edited by Lucía Pérez-Díaz October 28, 2020

In this week’s post, Mohamed Gouiza discusses the challenges of living under constant stress, paralysed by the possibility of failure and self-perceived inevitability of impending breakup. Continental rifting, of course! Oh… did you think I was talking about life as a researcher? Under tensile stress, the lithosphere stretches, the asthenosphere rises, the crust fails, and rifts form. During this ...[Read More]

HS

Hydrological Sciences

Featured catchment: Water Towers of Mesopotamia: Snow feeding the cultural heritage

EGU Guest blogger October 28, 2020

Importance and challenges of snow modelling in Turkey Snow and glaciers in the high mountains play a crucial role for 1.6 billion people living downstream of mountainous areas. Thus, understanding snow dynamics is crucial for downstream irrigation, hydropower, flood control etc. In eastern Anatolia, Turkey (the mean elevation is around 1140 m), much of the precipitation falls as snow and is retain ...[Read More]

TS

Tectonics and Structural Geology

Chi Jishang (1917-1994): the diamond hunter who shaped her own future

Anouk Beniest October 27, 2020

Chi Jishang was born on the 25th of June 1917 in the Anlu County in the Province of Hubei, central China, but she moved to Beijing when she was four years old. Because her family was poor and she had three older siblings, her parents did not allow her and her younger sibling to go to school at the age that they should go to school. As a child, Chi was bright and very curious. She would ask her sch ...[Read More]

SM

Seismology

The HAMMER (AKA: The Best of the Worst)

EGU Seismology ECS Team October 26, 2020

Back in the day when my group organised the yearly retreat, we would also plan for a movie night. Usually, we would not get far because a heated discussion would break out about the quality of the movie: “…but this is a terrible movie!”, my colleagues would scream in agony and despair. In my opinion, that was exactly the point! The movies are so bad they passed the threshold of badness and e ...[Read More]

NH

Natural Hazards

Natural Hazards 101: The disaster cycle

Giulia Roder October 26, 2020

With the Natural Hazards 101 series, we meant to bring our readers closer to the terminology often used in the field of natural hazards, but that may not be so familiar. We started defining the very concept of hazard and natural hazard. We moved then to the concept of risk, which brought us to define exposure and vulnerability. In this episode, we will digest the disaster terminology provided by ...[Read More]

G

Geodesy

We need a new early career scientist representative!

Katrin Bentel October 23, 2020

The general assembly 2021 is approaching, Annette Eicker will take over as new division president, now we also need a new, fresh early career scientist (ECS) to take over the role of the ECS-representative. But what do you have to do as an ECS-representative? And where can you sign up? Early career scientists represent a significant share of the EGU general assembly attendees. It is therefore desi ...[Read More]