Atmospheric Sciences

120 years of the ‘Greenhouse Effect’

Hazel Gibson January 27, 2021

The dark side of the big city. Credit: Vyacheslav Nizovtsev (distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu)

120 years ago in 1901, Swedish meteorologist Nils Ekholm used the term ‘greenhouse’ to describe the heating effect that a planet’s atmosphere has on the surface temperature of the planet, the first time that this now much-used and abused metaphor was published. He wrote: “The atmosphere plays a very important part of a double character as to the temperature at the earth’s surface, of which the one ...[Read More]

Imaggeo On Monday: Catching a glimpse of the Mesosphere

Michiel Baatsen January 25, 2021

Catching a glimpse of the Mesosphere. Credit: Michiel Baatsen (distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu)

In the midst of summer when the sun does not set at high latitudes one can sometimes catch a glimpse of the mesosphere shortly after sunset or before sunrise. These thin veils, known as noctilucent clouds, are the highest known cloud-like structures forming at about 80km above the surface. At this height, they are still lit by the sun and can be seen from lower latitudes many hundreds of kilometer ...[Read More]

Cyclone Idai disaster: European agencies foresee climate danger but poor countries stumble.

Ray Mwareya January 22, 2021

Summer on the Northern Hemisphere. Credit: Maximilian Reuter (distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu)

Cyclone Idai, which was labelled by the UN as possibly the worst climate calamity to ever hit the Southern Hemisphere, pounded Beira, Mozambique, in March 2019. The European Space Agency images revealed that a huge new inland ´lake´ measuring about 80 miles by 15 miles, an area the size of the European state of Luxembourg, had suddenly been created by the catastrophe. However, millions of residen ...[Read More]

Imaggeo On Monday: “Smoking” peaks of the Patagonian batholith

Christoph Mayr January 18, 2021

"Smoking" peaks of the Patagonian batholith. Credit: Christoph Mayr (distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu)

The indigenous name of the 3405 meter high Fitz Roy mountain in Patagonia, on the border between Argentina and Chile, is frequently translated as “smoking mountain”. This photo may visually explain an origin of this name. On the day the photo was taken, vortices downwind of the peak drew warmer, humid air from below, forming banner clouds at the leeward site of the Fitz Roy mountain an ...[Read More]