Atmospheric Sciences

Discovery to recovery: how international collaboration solved the ozone crisis

Hazel Gibson December 26, 2025

Early morning light at Manchester surface radiation monitoring station. Credit: Andy Smedley (distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu). This is the optical dome of the ozone and spectral UV instrument at the monitoring station, Brewer spectrophotometer 172.

38 years ago, representatives from 46 countries around the globe came together to find a solution to the climate crisis. Alerted to an issue discovered by scientists 13 years previously, the representatives of these nations worked together swiftly and with purpose to create an international treaty to combat a major environmental issue. The treaty was signed by all 46 participant nations and would ...[Read More]

The spectral shadow of Samalas: When climate models conjure the Earth’s forgotten fury

Asmae Ourkiya October 24, 2025

Rinjani Volcano (3726m, Lombok Island, Indonesia) in eruption. A lava flow is emitted on the flank of the intra caldera cone of Gunung Baru. Mild explosive activity at the vent is producing a 1500m high gas and ash plume, while a viscous lava is entering the 200m deep caldera lake. A hot spring on its shower release a plume of iron hydroxide precipitates giving a peculiar yellow color. Source: Imaggeo

This Halloween, we turn our gaze from fictional haunts to the chilling, rigorous world of paleoclimatology. The paper by Hartmann et al. (2025), published on Climate of the Past, focuses on the implementation of external forcings in a regional climate model around the 1257 CE Samalas volcanic eruption. This paper can be quite the unsettling investigation, since it treats the Earth itself as a time ...[Read More]

Ozone 101: What you need to know as the Montreal Protocol turns 35

Asmae Ourkiya September 16, 2024

Sunset and Moonrise at Yosemite by Teamrat Ghezzehei

As the world commemorates the 35th anniversary of the Montreal Protocol, it’s worth taking a moment to appreciate this landmark agreement’s monumental impact on our planet. Officially known as the “Montreal Protocol on Substances That Deplete the Ozone Layer,” this treaty stands as one of the most successful environmental accords in history, showcasing what humanity can achieve when it comes ...[Read More]

The varying composition of a single bolt of lightning

Caitrin Pilkington April 26, 2023

A stylized reconstruction of lightning based on Bestard’s data, with 3D rendering from Alice Roux. Credit: Damien Bestard, Alice Roux

Until recently, scientists assumed lightning had a homogeneous distribution of energy inside its channel. But researchers like Damien Bestard, a PhD student with the Sorbonne Université have found that the composition of each bolt is quite variable. Bestard presented his findings at the European Geosciences Union General Assembly EGU23 on Monday (April 24). As part of his research, Bestard measure ...[Read More]