GeoLog

Climate

The Carbon Potential of Peat

January 10, 2020
The Carbon Potential of Peat
Northern carbon sink. Credit: Mélina Guêné-Nanchen (distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu).

2020 is being described by many as a tipping point: the year that humanity as a species must take concrete and measurable action to prevent catastrophic climate change. But even if we do manage to slow carbon emissions from 2020 onwards, how would the planet deal with all the carbon dioxide we have produced so far? How much capacity do the planet’s natural carbon sequestration reserves actually ha ...[Read More]

Imaggeo on Mondays: Setting trees aflame to understand the carbon balance of fires

December 9, 2019
Imaggeo on Mondays: Setting trees aflame to understand the carbon balance of fires
Smoke clears after an experimental wildfire in Australian eucalyptus forest. Credit: Stefan Doerr (distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu)

Smoke clears after an experimental wildfire in Australian eucalyptus forest carried out for carbon balance estimations of wildfires. We meticulously measured the carbon in all leaves, twigs, logs and bark in a forest block about 35km east of Manjimup and then they set it on fire with help from the Dept. of Parks and Wildlife, [Western Australia]. We the counted the carbon all over again including ...[Read More]

Imaggeo on Mondays: The glacier surviving climate change

October 21, 2019
Imaggeo on Mondays: The glacier surviving climate change
A Living Being Surviving the Climate Change. Credit: Magdalena Stefanova Vassileva (distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu)

Human impacts on the climate are nowadays clearly discernible, and the changes to our climate that previously happened in geologic time scales are currently happening during the span of a human lifetime. Our planet is warming and temperature today is now more than 1°C higher than it was in the pre-industrial world and rises by about 0.15-0.2°C on average each decade. The dramatic effects of this r ...[Read More]

Conversations on a century of geoscience in Europe: Part 2

October 11, 2019
Conversations on a century of geoscience in Europe: Part 2
Image modified from Ice breaker. Credit: Jan-Marcus Nasse (distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu)

When you think about the last century of geoscience, what comes to mind? Perhaps Alfred Wegener’s theory of continental drift? Or Inge Lehmann’s discovery of Earth’s solid inner core? Over the last 100 years, geoscientists have made incredible contributions to our understanding of the Earth, the solar system, and beyond. The science community has explored uncharted territory, challenged previously ...[Read More]