The vast expanse of Antarctic sea-ice may appear inhospitable at first, but the region supports one of the most productive ecosystems on Earth. Amongst the organisms that call Antarctica home, certain seabird species have become so well adapted to the harsh conditions that they not only survive in the region, but flourish. Like all Antarctic organisms, seabirds are intricately linked to the contin ...[Read More]
After snoozing their alarm for the 50th time, Alex gets started with their day. They should be writing their thesis first thing after breakfast, but instead they write to the Sassy Scientist: How do you manage to meet writing deadlines as a PhD student? Dear Alex, Ah! You have reached the writing stage. I assume then your pin board is full of post-it notes with goals for ‘next week’. B ...[Read More]
It’s time to introduce a new member of the Geodesy Division Team: Roelof Rietbroek. You might remember Roelof from some years ago when he was the Geodesy ECS Representative and then later also became the Union ECS Representative. Now he has started to take over a new role as the deputy president within the Geodesy Division. We asked him a few questions so you can get to know him better. &nbs ...[Read More]
About the blog series: Life of a Climate scientist Life of a Climate Scientist is a new blog series started by the EGU Climate Division. The main focus of this series is to provide a platform for climate scientists to tell their stories of life in research. We will be covering a wide-range of subjects, from their scientific endeavors and maintaining work-life balance to challenges they have faced ...[Read More]
Another year, another blog team! This time we have a lot of diverse roles (editors, topical editors, Sassy Scientist columnists, and illustrators!) and a lot of diverse people. Whoopee! So here is the lovely blog team of 2021 – 2022, ready to start blogging from next week onwards! If you are interested in joining yourself or want to reach out to any of the blog team, don’t hesitate to ...[Read More]
The EGU 2021 John Dalton Medal of the EGU Division on Hydrological Sciences was awarded to Brian Berkowitz for his seminal contributions to analysis of flow and anomalous transport in natural porous and fractured media, with pioneering experimental methods and novel conceptual frameworks. His medal lecture was presented at the online vEGU 2021 meeting. We invited Brian to contribute a blog post to ...[Read More]
In 1988 Peter Molnar and Hélène Lyon-Caen published their “Must-Read” paper on the support, structure and evolution of mountain belts. It is an article that touches on some core issues of plate tectonics by looking at two types of forces that resist mountain building, using key observations from Asian and American mountain chains. They name the first force “mechanical strength”, and to approximate ...[Read More]
Let’s talk about narcissistic abuse in academia. Many of us have become scientists out of passion and curiosity. Such mental resources are crucial in research, where working hours can get long, experiments can fail, career prospects and funding are scarce. However, even the most passionate may not withstand all of the possible difficulties thrown their way — especially workplace abuse, which may t ...[Read More]
Wildfires are a natural element in many ecosystems and play a central role in their dynamics. For example, they clear forest floors and liberate nutrients that can replenish the soil. However, changes in fire regimes induced by anthropogenic factors (such as climate change and land uses) have resulted in fire patterns that harm ecosystems [1]. Let’s see together the issues and the mitigation solut ...[Read More]
The current retreat of Arctic sea ice is a major sign of ongoing climate changes. And it could almost disappear during summer in a few decades from now, depending on the amount of greenhouse gases we will emit into the atmosphere. In this context, understanding what are the exact causes of this sea-ice loss is important. One of these causes is the amount of heat transported by the ocean (which dep ...[Read More]
