We model the changes in the geographic location of continents via paleogeographic reconstructions. However, the current methodology for generating these reconstructions is not without problems! Publication of palaeogeographic reconstructions is scarce, probably resulting from the difficulties associated with generating them. Conventional reconstructions are presented as static maps which have poor ...[Read More]
Communicating Climate Change
The UK House of Commons Science and Technology Select Committee has recently launched an inquiry entitled “Climate Change: public understanding and its policy implications”, which is due to address the issue of communicating climate change research. This inquiry was raised following a recent surge in climate change scepticism and a diminishing public concern regarding its effects, with ...[Read More]
Imaggeo on Mondays: Explosions in the Sky
Suwanosejima, which lies within the Ryukyu Islands, is one of Japan’s most active volcanoes, erupting almost continuously between the 1950s and mid 1990s. It has two active craters, the central Otake crater and the Bunka crater, to the southwest. While the frequency of these eruptions has declined, the volcano remains active, with strombolian and vulcanian type eruptions occurring every 2 to 4 wee ...[Read More]
GeoTalk: Alexis Rouillard
GeoTalk is a regular feature highlighting early career researchers and their work. Following the EGU General Assembly, we spoke to Alexis Rouillard, an Arne Richter Outstanding Young Scientist awardee and a brilliant space scientist. First, could you introduce yourself and let us know a bit about your current work at the French National Centre for Scientific Research? Hi, I am Alexis Rouillard and ...[Read More]
Imaggeo on Mondays: cutting through a slice of geological cake
Nothing captures beauty of Arizona’s landscape better than the Grand Canyon and its steeply-sided cliffs that have been carved by the Colorado River. This photo by Lukas Hoertnagl shows this stunning landscape as seen from Lipan Point in the Grand Canyon National Park. The early geological history of America is preserved in the strata that make up the Grand Canyon’s famed banded landscape, which i ...[Read More]
Reaching up High – Aerosol Concentrations at EGU 2013
For those with a keen eye, you may have spotted a red balloon soaring high above the EGU Centre this week. The little white box attached underneath is the Light Optical Aerosol Counter (LOAC), a device that has been measuring the aerosols it the air around the conference. Aerosols are air borne particles that can be liquid or solid, natural or manmade. Salt, fog, sand, plaster and carbon are commo ...[Read More]
Meet Future Earth
This week at the EGU General Assembly, we’ve heard how the global environment is changing before our very eyes. As the Earth warms, sea levels rise, and weather patterns shift, the food security, health, and economic prosperity of societies around the world has come under threat. In the Anthropocene, an era dominated by human impact on the natural world, it seems that environmental and development ...[Read More]
Bioengineering Could be the Answer to Dirt-Free Dams
Scientists are building walls of willow trees in the Southern French Alps gullies to trap dirt that blocks hydroelectric dams downstream. Sediment in rainwater washes off the steep valley slopes in the Francon marly basin into gullies. These smaller waterways then feed larger rivers. When the water reaches the slower-moving reservoirs above dams, the sediment drops out and settles behind the barra ...[Read More]
Bookends on Planetary Atmosphere
New results presented this week at the EGU General Assembly have scientists adjusting the assumptions that have longed acted as bookends on the way we understand the evolution of planetary atmospheres. On one side, researchers have identified a previously unrecognised greenhouse effect that could have warmed the early Earth. On the other, the Curiosity rover has uncovered evidence that Mars has lo ...[Read More]
GeoTalk: Sylvian LeDuc on Why Woody Biofuels Wouldn’t be the Best Plan for the EU
Biofuels are set to replace 10 per cent of EU transportation fuel by 2020. Yet, the long-term sustainability of first generation biofuels, made from grains and vegetable oils, has raised concerns as production starts to compete with food supplies. Attention has now turned to second generation biofuels, produced from non-edible sources such as wood or waste plant residual like straw. In the next de ...[Read More]