Podcast conversations about geology with researchers making key contributions to our understanding of the Earth and the Solar System I have always wanted to grasp the widest spatial and temporal context in which we find ourselves. After completing a physics degree at Cambridge University, this led me to cosmology, and a PhD on the structure of clusters of galaxies at Oxford University. I then join ...[Read More]
The retreat of large glaciers that drain the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets could expose immense ice-cliffs at newly-bared calving faces, which are the exposed ends of glaciers where, in these cases, glacier ice meets the ocean. Past a certain height, these ice cliffs will become susceptible to collapsing from high stresses, a process known as structural ice-cliff failure. If a taller ice clif ...[Read More]
Written by Oliver Strimpel, University of Oxford; edited by Jan and Sabine What is it about rocks that determines whether they create features in the landscape? In the Sierras, why does the west side with its giant cliffs of glacially polished stone look so different from the gentler terrain of the east side despite having the same bedrock? How has the use of cosmogenic radionuclides revolutioni ...[Read More]
We all hope you have enjoyed vEGU21 and you were able to meet new and old friends/colleagues/peers. With the end of the EGU General Assembly, it is the time when outgoing Early Career Scientist (ECS) Representatives (Reps) are handing all over to the incoming ECS Reps. Now the new Reps officially start their work for the next two years. But who are the new ECS reps? The new Rep for the next year i ...[Read More]
We invite you to attend the IAG workshop on « Quantum gravimetry in space and on ground » 26th and 27th of May 2021 2:00-5:00 PM CEST This meeting covers quantum gravity sensing, from the development of the sensors and their characterization, to a large panel of present and future applications. We bring together instrument scientists from the quantum physics community and users from the geoscience ...[Read More]
18 May 1971. This date may not mean anything to you at the moment, but it represents a very special day for the evolution of Mount Etna, leaving a deep mark in the recent eruptive activity of the volcano. Exactly 50 years ago, Mount Etna saw the birth of what, only a short time later, was to become the most active crater of the last decades: “The South-East Crater”, the fourth child of ...[Read More]
Due to huge difference between the time scale of the mantle convection and the outer core convection, they are modelled separately. In this week’s News and Views, Masaki Yoshida from the Volcanoes and Earth’s Interior Research Center, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC), Japan, put forward the recent development on the modeling of the whole solid-Earth. The E ...[Read More]
#vEGU21 is over and it was an intense two-week period for many of us. Whether you occasionally zapped in or kept your whole last week free to join online, you certainly have heard a lot about it. Here I have collected a few reflections from the events related to the hydrological sciences division. The conference first week The first week presented several Union-wide debates and sessions. We learne ...[Read More]
Belemnites are a group of now extinct marine coleoids cephalopods that lived during the Mesozoic (240 Mya – 65 Mya). Unlike modern squids, belemnites had a hard internal skeleon made of calcium carbonate called a rostrum. Like many fossil groups, belemnites have been associated with numerous myths and legends in folklore. Belemnites take their name from the Greek word belemnon meaning dart or jave ...[Read More]
Worldwide, drought has put lives and livelihoods under serious threat. People are increasingly suffering from drought, but we often also aggravate drought ourselves. Fortunately, solutions to drought problems are mainly in our own hands as well. Drought is not just a water problem. It is a societal problem. Droughts: a local problem with global relevance In recent years, droughts seem to be ...[Read More]
