EGU Blogs

Divisions

CR
Cryospheric Sciences

Image of the Week – Bioalbedo: algae darken the Greenland Ice Sheet

September 8, 2017
Image of the Week – Bioalbedo: algae darken the Greenland Ice Sheet

Most of the energy that drives glacier melting comes directly from sunlight, with the amount of melting critically dependent on the amount of solar energy absorbed compared to that reflected back into the atmosphere. The amount of solar energy that is reflected by a surface without being absorbed is called the albedo. A low albedo surface absorbs more of the energy that hits it compared to a high ...[Read More]

AS
Atmospheric Sciences

How can we use meteorological models to improve building energy simulations?

September 7, 2017
How can we use meteorological models to improve building energy simulations?

Climate change is calling for various and multiple approaches in the adaptation of cities and mitigation of the coming changes. Because buildings (residential and commercial) are responsible of about 40% of energy consumption, it is necessary to build more energy efficient ones, to decrease their contribution to greenhouse gas emissions. But what is the relation with the atmosphere. It is two fold ...[Read More]

GD
Geodynamics

The Venus enigma: new insights into ‘Earth 2’

September 6, 2017
The Venus enigma: new insights into ‘Earth 2’

Apart from Earth, there are a lot of Peculiar Planets out there! Every 8 weeks, we look at a planetary body worthy of our geodynamic attention. This week Richard Ghail, lecturer in Engineering Geology at Imperial College London in the United Kingdom, discusses Earth’s sister: Venus. Geologists have long held the view that they only have the results of one experiment: Earth. The growing list ...[Read More]

CL
Climate: Past, Present & Future

What speleothems can tell about the past climates !

September 5, 2017
What speleothems can tell about the past climates !

Name of the proxy: Stable isotope ratios of carbonates in speleothems Type of proxy: Precipitation, atmospheric circulation, CO2 availability in soil, soil productivity Paleoenvironment: Continental environments Period of time investigated: Present day to 10 million years How does it work? Speleothems are inorganic carbonate deposits growing in caves that form from super-saturated cave waters (wit ...[Read More]

GD
Geodynamics

NetherMod Day 4 & 5 – Secret Summary

September 1, 2017
NetherMod Day 4 & 5 – Secret Summary

I hear you exclaiming: “Why merge day 4 and 5 together? What happened to the secret summary of day 4?” Well, I have to admit, apart from being your daily NetherMod reporter, I also needed to present my poster, so apologies for the delay and merge. Day 4 started with a keynote talk from Dave Stegman with a surprise topic (He had never handed in his abstract. Apparently this is a possibi ...[Read More]

CR
Cryospheric Sciences

Image of the week – Learning from our past!

September 1, 2017
Image of the week – Learning from our past!

Understanding the climate evolution of our planet is not an easy task, but it is essential to understand the past if we are to predict the future! Historic climate cycles provide us with a glimpse into a period of time when the Earth was warmer than it was today. Our image of the week looks at these warmer periods of time to see what they can tell us about the future! For example, during the Plioc ...[Read More]

GD
Geodynamics

NetherMod Day 5 – Putten an end to Nethermod: interviews with attendees

August 31, 2017
NetherMod Day 5 – Putten an end to Nethermod: interviews with attendees

Today is the fifth and final day of the XVth International Workshop on Modelling of Mantle and Lithosphere Dynamics, or “Nethermod”, here in Putten, The Netherlands. Despite the overcast conditions outside, the lively scientific program included keynotes by Paul Tackley and Carolina Lithgow-Bertelloni in the morning and Clint Conrad and Louise Kellogg in the afternoon. With over 120 at ...[Read More]

Geochemistry, Mineralogy, Petrology & Volcanology

The Fractional Crystallization Freak Zone

August 31, 2017
The Fractional Crystallization Freak Zone

A large majority of igneous rocks on Earth are formed by a process known as fractional crystallization (summarized in the diagram below). To understand this process, start by imagining a large liquid magma (melt) body. As we cool the magma, mineral phases become stable and crystals start to form. The newly formed minerals are likely to have a very different density from the magma causing them to f ...[Read More]

GD
Geodynamics

NetherMod Day 4 – A typical day

August 30, 2017
NetherMod Day 4 – A typical day

Today, Ági Király, postdoc at CEED (Centre for Earth Evolution and Dynamics) at the University of Oslo, Norway, is sharing her experience of NetherMod. After the wine tasting and karaoke party of yesterday evening, this morning’s keynote speakers had quite a difficult job to shake up the sleepy audience. Dave Stegman even dropped in a promise of a free beer for the most awake student (won by  René ...[Read More]

GD
Geodynamics

NetherMod Day 3 – Secret Summary

August 30, 2017
NetherMod Day 3 – Secret Summary

The third day of NetherMod promised to be a great day full of science, until it turned into a great day full of fun activities, such as windsurfing, wine tasting, and karaoke, thanks to the Dutch weather. This meant that only the morning was filled with science, which has already been summarised expertly in our previous post. What then, can this post add, I hear you thinking..? Well, let’s s ...[Read More]