What a strange summer! Depending on where you live, you might currently be suffering from heat. In Switzerland, we are suffering from an exceptionally rainy and stormy weather situation, with high to very high flood danger issued for many major rivers and lakes (see warning map above, taken from the Federal Office for the Environment FOEN on Wednesday 14 July). For certain rivers, controlled flood ...[Read More]
Climate: Past, Present & Future
Bomb 14C – a tracer and time marker of the mid-20th century
1950 CE is known as the year zero in the so-called ‘BP time scale.’ The BP stands for, “Before Present,” and has its roots in the development and conventions of radiocarbon dating [1]. The radioactive isotope of carbon (14C) with a half-life of 5700 years [2; 3] is a cosmogenic isotope produced in the atmosphere by secondary cosmic rays (SCR). Thermal neutrons, the SCR particle responsible for the ...[Read More]
Geodynamics
The geophysicist’s toybox
Simplified models or toy models explain the complex Earth processes fairly well, even though they are far from reality. In this week’s Geodynamics 101, Adam Beall, Research Associate at Cardiff University, discusses some of his favourite geophysical toy models! I remember being excited to first hear about scientists doing Earth modelling and imagined impressive computer visualisations of tec ...[Read More]
Natural Hazards
Paving the way for climate resilience: what can we learn from the coronavirus pandemic?
Even though significant epidemics and pandemics have been recorded many times throughout human history, the Covid-19 pandemic demonstrated how vulnerable our societies still are. While the consequences of the pandemic are still ongoing, the global response so far can potentially offer some insights to support climate change response. Undoubtedly, the world is already experiencing a wide range of c ...[Read More]
Seismology
Seismology Job Portal
On this page, we regularly update open positions in Seismology for early career scientists. Do you have a job on offer? Contact us at ecs-sm@egu.eu Please, note that other available research positions are displayed on the EGU Jobs Portal. Special Thanks to Eric Löberich for researching job postings for the ECS.
Cryospheric Sciences
Image of the week – The hidden ice of mountainous regions
When speaking about glaciers and the ice they contain, we generally picture large, clean, and therefore relatively white mountain glaciers… But did you know about rock glaciers? From our Image of the Week, you might notice that they do not quite look like the classic ice glacier you might have had in mind. Indeed, they actually indicate the presence of mountain permafrost, an often poorly understo ...[Read More]
Geodynamics
The Sassy Scientist – The Low-Risk Game
Winning a prestigious fellowship is the dream of any early career scientist. It provides the freedom to waste a couple years of public funding without having to answer for that to a supervisor. The first step to reaching this academic Nirvana is to write a proposal. Blerta dares to ask what’s on everyone’s mind: What is a great idea for a proposal? Dear Blerta, I would love to tell you that the pr ...[Read More]
Geodynamics
Brown Dwarfs: Cloudy with A Chance of Earth’s Mantle
The universe is made up of stars and planets but have you ever wondered if there is anything in between? This week, Laci Brock, a PhD student from the University of Arizona’s Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, takes us on a journey into this murky region of stellar classification… Four years before the cult classic science fiction show Star Trek debuted on television in 1966, astrophysicist Dr. Shiv ...[Read More]
Seismology
Earthquake Watch May: Qinghai, China
On May 21, a major shallower earthquake (M7.3) hit Central China at 18:04 UTC in the southern Qinghai province (Figure 1). Until this date, this event is the largest onshore earthquake during 2021. The so-called Qinghai earthquake’s hypocenter is located in a remote area near the eastern edge of the Tibetan Plateau, which is formed due to the collision between the India Plate and the Eurasia ...[Read More]
Stratigraphy, Sedimentology and Palaeontology
Sedimentology – towards a disciplinary crisis?
This contribution adds to earlier articles on impact of global change on sedimentology and on the changing role of sedimentologists in a society moving towards a carbon-free energy future (e.g. Simmons and Davies, 2020, SSP BLOG). Sedimentology is a child of the Age of Petroleum. And, the success story of petroleum is closely linked to the equally successful story of gasoline-powered mobility. Let ...[Read More]