Divisions

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]

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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]

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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]

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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]

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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]

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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]

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Seismology

Seismology Job Portal

EGU Seismology ECS Team October 23, 2020

On this page, we regularly update open positions in Seismology for early career scientists. Do you have a job on offer? Contact us at ecs-sm@egu.eu Please, note that other available research positions are displayed on the EGU Jobs Portal.

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Cryospheric Sciences

The physical and social changes facing the mountainous populations of the Karakoram Range

Shakir Ahmed October 23, 2020

As a child, Shakir remembers long extreme winters with heavy snowfall and dry blistering winds, where it was hard to play outside. He grew up in a village named Gulmit, located at an elevation of 2500 m, surrounded by the high snow caped mountains in the Karakoram Range in northern Pakistan. That was 30 years ago, when climate change was still not a cause of concern for the local people. Today, in ...[Read More]

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Geodynamics

The Sassy Scientist – The Philosopher’s Stone

The Sassy Scientist October 23, 2020

Hermione has finally completed her graduate studies, with some extra-curricular training that will remain unnamed here and with activities which some will not remember. Now the time has come to use that newly acquired title for good although demands, desires and duties meander through the realm of possibilities, leaving Hermione in a perpetual plight: What to do when obtaining a PhD in geodynamics ...[Read More]