GeoLog

Atmospheric Sciences

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

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

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

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

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]

Imaggeo On Monday: The sudden stratospheric warming on February 12, 2018

Imaggeo On Monday: The sudden stratospheric warming on February 12, 2018

The image captures an atmospheric extreme event, a so-called sudden stratospheric warming (SSW) that occurred on Feb. 12, 2018. It is visualized through potential vorticity above the North Pole at the 10hPa level (~30km) above the Earth’s surface and consists of a split of the winter polar vortex into two separate vortices that interact with each other. Although the events are not predictable more ...[Read More]

Imaggeo On Monday: Revealing the secrets of the Arctic sky

Imaggeo On Monday: Revealing the secrets of the Arctic sky

When it is dark over Ny Ålesund, Svalbard, a bright green laser beam can be seen quite often, shooting from the AWIPEV Arctic Research Base observatory towards the sky. This beam belongs to “KARLi” the Koldewey Aerosol Raman Lidar, run by the Alfred Wegener Institute for more than 25 years, which contributes to long-term, atmospheric aerosol measurement records.   With this system ...[Read More]