Atmospheric Sciences

Imaggeo on Mondays: Antarctic winds make honeycomb ice

Olivia Trani August 27, 2018

Honeycomb Ice, Antarctica. Credit: Helen Millman (distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu)

These delicate ice structures may look like frozen honeycombs from another world, but the crystalline patterns can be found 80 degrees south, in Antarctica, where they are shaped by the white continent’s windy conditions. In Western Antarctica is a 9-kilometre line of rocky ridges, called Patriot Hills. Often cold wind furiously descends from the hills across Horseshoe Valley glacier, sculpting do ...[Read More]

An overnight train view of China’s Anthropocene – Part 2

Conor Purcell August 22, 2018

Tiananmen Square in Beijing, enveloped by heavy fog and haze. (Credit: Argonne National Laboratory, distributed via Flickr)

Science fiction is no match for industrial non-stop China. Electric bikes zip across the cities of Shanghai and Beijing, and soundtrack the neon nights with their passing whirr. Here, some kind of two-wheeled revolution has taken place which are we completely unaware of in the West. It’s Blade Runner meets Total Recall in a future which has already come to pass. The very existence of our ele ...[Read More]

An overnight train view of China’s Anthropocene – Part 1

Conor Purcell August 15, 2018

Air pollution in Shanghai's Pudong region in July 2017. Credit: Conor Purcell

The nighttrain from Shanghai to Beijing is a comfortable affair. The train is new and clean. My travel partner and I can charge our phones and relax on soft beds. The railway is almost frictionless, and overall the experience is similar to any ride in the West. But outside, as the vehicle roars through the early night, things become increasingly hazy. As we reach further out from the Shanghai metr ...[Read More]

Imaggeo on Mondays: Refuge in a cloudscape

Olivia Trani April 23, 2018

Refuge in a cloudscape. Credit: Julien Seguinot (distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu )

The action of glaciers combined with the structure of the rock to form this little platform, probably once a small lake enclosed between a moraine at the mountain side and the ice in the valley. Now it has become a green haven in the mountain landscape, a perfect place for an alp. In the Alps, stratus clouds opening up on autumn mornings often create gorgeous light display. That day, some of the f ...[Read More]