Current position: 89°31.85 N, 62°0.45 E, drifting with a multi-year ice floe (24th August 2018) With a little more than three weeks into the Arctic Ocean 2018 Expedition, the team has found the right ice floe and settled down to routine operations. Finding the perfect ice floe for an interdisciplinary science cruise is not an easy task. The Arctic Ocean 2018 Expedition aims to understand the linka ...[Read More]
Natural Hazards
Bridging the gap between science and decision makers – a new tool for nuclear emergencies affecting food and agriculture
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has developed an online system to assist in improving the response capabilities of authorities in the event of an emergency caused by natural hazards. This tool provides a clear overview of radioactive contamination of crops and agricultural lands through improved data management and visualization, it also assists in decision support processes by sugge ...[Read More]
Seismology
Lombok and Fiji – or why a M6.9 earthquake can be worse news than a M8.2 event
Two magnitude 6.9 earthquakes in Indonesia in the space of two weeks, 20 km apart. Meanwhile, a magnitude 8.2 event in the Pacific. Did you get any questions about the end of the world being upon us, how come all these quakes happen so close together and why the Fiji event was so harmless? Latitude Longitude Origin time depth Magnitude Region 8.2597° S 116.4363° E 2018-08-05 1 ...[Read More]
Climate: Past, Present & Future
What can the Cretaceous tell us about our climate?
The Cretaceous The Cretaceous period features a particularly interesting climatic episode in the Earth’s geological history. It follows the Jurassic Period, better known as the time the dinosaurs inhabited Earth and spanned the period between 145.5 and 65.5 million years ago. The Cretaceous is the last period of the Mesozoic Era, which ends with a well-known mass extinction event. At the end of th ...[Read More]
Solar-Terrestrial Sciences
SunPy: a Python solar data analysis environment
Introduction For many years now we know that our star the Sun influences the Earth in many different ways, via the total solar irradiance, solar energetic particles and coronal mass ejections. Understanding the influence of the Sun on the Earth requires many different types of measurements. For example, NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) spacecraft, produces over 1 terabyte of data per day (P ...[Read More]
Stratigraphy, Sedimentology and Palaeontology
Slimy Landscapes
When we think about how our landscapes evolve and change we probably tend to go straight for the big stuff, things like the climate, tectonics or geology, and in my previous blog I looked at how rainfall contributes to changing the planet’s surface. However, it is not just the big stuff which controls these changes, smaller things do as well, for example changes in land cover (ie, from grasses to ...[Read More]
Seismology
Seismo @ school
Being a seismologist is not just doing research, it is also sharing experience and teaching the next generation. As early career scientists, we are used to share ‘our science’ during open days and career days at university. Another peculiar moment for Science outreach is the National Science week, where researchers can set up experiments and exhibitions to draw the attention of the general public ...[Read More]
Natural Hazards
Heavy metals in industrial wastewater: hazardous waste or secondary resource?
Not long ago on the blog, we have talked about natural groundwater quality triggered by geogenic factors and related hazards such as a high concentration of heavy metals. Today’s topic concerns the anthropogenic input of heavy metals into the water and how to tackle its effects efficiently. Industrial processes can lead to heavy metal-bearing wastewater, which is commonly treated by ineffi ...[Read More]
Seismology
4th TIDES Advanced Training School
The 4th TIDES Advanced Training School was held in Prague, Czech Republic, from the 2nd to the 6th of July 2018. If you missed it, take a look at Michaela and Eric’s short report: It’s the first Sunday of July. It could have been a calm sunny noon in Vienna, but that’s not my plan for today, I’ve to catch a train in 45 minutes! I check the room, take my luggage, ready to start my jour ...[Read More]
Atmospheric Sciences
Into the mist of studying the mystery of Arctic low level clouds
This post is the first of a “live-series of blog post” that will be written by Julia Schmale while she is participating in the Arctic Ocean 2018 expedition. Low level Arctic clouds are still a mystery to the atmospheric science community. To understand their role the present and future Arctic climate, the Arctic Ocean 2018 Expedition is currently under way with an international group o ...[Read More]