Divisions

Will Hutchison September 29, 2017

Ongoing unrest at Agung Volcano, Indonesia

Agung volcano, a 3.1 km high cone located in the east of Bali, Indonesia, which last erupted in 1963 killing ~1500 people (Self and Rampino, 2012), is currently undergoing seismic unrest, and steam/gas emissions have been observed at the surface. This has led the Indonesian authorities to evacuate areas around Agung which could be affected by volcanic hazards, leading to the displacement of over 7 ...[Read More]

BG

Biogeosciences

Identification of past methane emission altering the foraminiferal tests by secondary overgrowth of calcium carbonate.

Jasper Bloemen September 29, 2017

Ever heard about foraminifera? These tiny benthic (living at the seafloor) marine organisms are common in oceans across the globe and can be used to accurately give relative dates to sedimentary rocks. But we can also use them to identify past methane emissions from the seabed by studing their test or shell! The measurements were done on foraminifera called Cassidulina neoteretis , which is a ty ...[Read More]

CR

Cryospheric Sciences

Image of the Week: Petermann Glacier

Laurence Dyke September 29, 2017

Our image of the week shows the area around the calving front of Petermann Glacier through the spring, summer, and autumn of 2016. Petermann Glacier, in northern Greenland, is one of the largest glaciers of the Greenland Ice Sheet. It terminates in the huge Petermann Fjord, more than 10 km wide, surrounded by 1000 m cliffs and plunging to more than 1100 m below sea level at its deepest point. In 2 ...[Read More]

GMPV

Geochemistry, Mineralogy, Petrology & Volcanology

Unseen but not unfelt: resilience to persistent volcanic emissions

Will Hutchison September 28, 2017

The last decade has been inundated with reports of environmental disasters impacting the lives of billions of people around the world. While news coverage of floods, hurricanes, earthquakes or wild fires are always accompanied with spectacular images of destruction that emphasise the speed at which they strike, a myriad of slow and latent hazards have been left in the shadow of the public attenti ...[Read More]

GD

Geodynamics

The EUGEN e.V. meeting – a unique (geological) experience

Editorial team 1 September 27, 2017

Extracurricular activities for current and former geosciences students provide great value to early career scientists in terms of networking and broadening their scientific horizon. PhD student Maximilian Döhmann, who studies rock deformation with numerical models based on high temperature and pressure torsion experiments in the Geodynamic Modelling group of GFZ Potsdam, shares his experiences wit ...[Read More]

AS

Atmospheric Sciences

Volcanic Ash Particles Hold Clues to Their History and Effects

G.A. Hoshyaripour September 22, 2017

Volcanic Ash as an Active Agent in the Earth System (VA3): Combining Models and Experiments; Hamburg, Germany, 12–13 September 2016 Volcanic ash is a spectacular companion of volcanic activity that carries valuable information about the subsurface processes. It also poses a range of severe hazards to public health, infrastructure, aviation, and agriculture, and it plays a significant role in bioge ...[Read More]

CR

Cryospheric Sciences

Image of the Week – Powering up the ground in the search for ice

Laura Helene Rasmussen September 22, 2017

In an earlier post, we talked briefly about below-ground ice and the consequences of its disappearing. However, to estimate the consequences of disappearing ground ice, one has to know that there actually is ice in the area of study. How much ice is there – and where is it? As the name suggests, below-ground ice is not so easy to spot with the naked eye. Using geophysical methods, however, ...[Read More]

GD

Geodynamics

Why there should (not) be more women in geodynamics

Iris van Zelst September 20, 2017

Nowadays, equality is cool. Everyone is always going on about how women and men should get the same opportunities. In science, and hence, geodynamics, women are still a bit behind men for both historical (women only recently started graduating more in exact sciences) and unconscious-bias reasons. Therefore, there are lots of programs in order to stimulate women to go into science and, more importa ...[Read More]

BG

Biogeosciences

Investigation of methane emissions in marine systems

Jasper Bloemen September 17, 2017

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]

ST

Solar-Terrestrial Sciences

Miho Janvier – The Quest for Solar Storms

Athanasios Papaioannou September 15, 2017

In this month’s (first ever for our blog) Life of a Scientist interview, we are very happy to talk to Dr Miho Janvier, a Researcher at the Institut d’Astrophysique Spatiale in Orsay (France), whose work has shed some light on the understanding of solar eruptions and coronal mass ejections (or solar storms) from their birth in the Sun’s corona to their evolution in interplanetary space ...[Read More]