These blogposts present interviews with outstanding scientists that bloomed and shape the theory that revolutionised Earth Sciences — Plate Tectonics. Get to know them, learn from their experience, discover the pieces of advice they share and find out where the newest challenges lie! Meeting Anne Davaille Anne Davaille majored in Physics and continued with a PhD in Theoretical Physics of …[Read More]
Division blogs
Minds over Methods: Mineral reactions in the lab
Mineral reactions in the lab André Niemeijer, Assistant Professor, Department of Earth Sciences at Utrecht University, the Netherlands In this blogpost we will go on a tour of the High Pressure and Temperature (HPT) Laboratory at Utrecht University and learn about some of the interesting science done there. André’s main interest is fault friction and all …[Read More]
Conferences: Secret PhD Drivers
Conferences are an integral part of a PhD. They are the forum for spreading the word about the newest science and developing professional relationships. But as a PhD student they are more likely to be a source of palpitations and sweaty palms. This week Kiran Chotalia writes about her personal experience on conferences, and lessons …[Read More]
The hidden part of the cryosphere – Ice in caves
The cryosphere can be found in various places in many forms and shapes… in the atmosphere, on land and sea. A lesser known part of the cryosphere is hidden deep in the dark, in the cold-karstic areas of the planet: Ice caves! The ongoing climate change affecting ice all over the world is now rapidly …[Read More]
Global gravity field modeling from Satellite-to-Satellite Tracking data
With the launch of the GRACE Follow-On twin satellites in 2018, the fundamentals and details of Satellite-to-Satellite Tracking (SST) measurements between low Earth orbiters find a lot of interest these days. The low-low SST technique was very successfully pioneered by the GRACE mission (2002-2017). The pair of satellites of GRACE Follow-On, a joint NASA/GFZ mission, …[Read More]
Image of the Week – When “Ice, Ice Baby” puts rocks “Under Pressure”
Bowie and Queen said it first, and Vanilla Ice brought it back. But now, I’ve set out to quantify it: Pressure. Rocks in glacial landscapes can experience many different kinds of pressure (forces), from sources like regional tectonics or even the weight of the glacier itself. Our hypothesis is that smaller-scale pressures, caused by the …[Read More]
Meeting Plate Tectonics – Roger Buck
These blogposts present interviews with outstanding scientists that bloomed and shape the theory that revolutionised Earth Sciences — Plate Tectonics. Get to know them, learn from their experience, discover the pieces of advice they share and find out where the newest challenges lie! Meeting Roger Buck Roger Buck is a Research Professor at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia University, …[Read More]
Job matchmaking in the water sector
Sooner or later in your career, you have turned lunch breaks, entire weekends or nights into a job search. Looking for a job can be like dating: it can either be an easy going match, quickly finding the right job position for you, or it might be a long and unsatisfying search over millions of …[Read More]
Image of the Week – Seven weeks in Antarctica [and how to study its surface mass balance]
After only two months of PhD at the Laboratoire de Glaciologie of the Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB, Belgium), I had the chance to participate in an ice core drilling campaign in the Princess Ragnhild coastal region, East Antarctica, during seven weeks in December 2018 – January 2019 for the Mass2Ant project. Our goal was …[Read More]
New insights to the north-south asymmetries of auroral features
Recent research on the simultaneous displays of aurora in both hemispheres have lead to new knowledge of how large-scale asymmetries in the global magnetic field configuration can arise and be mitigated. This new understanding is contrary to what has been the consensus in the field, and was recently highlighted in a press release from the …[Read More]