Energy, Resources and the Environment

A better framework for disasters

Robert Emberson November 13, 2018

The 2018 Carr Fire that burned 229,651 acres in California. It's currently listed as the seventh-largest wildfire recorded in the state's modern history. (Photo: Bureau of Land Management California via Bureau of Land Management California)

The end of the Northern hemisphere summer tends to be a good time to regroup from natural hazards, as the frequency and intensity of storms, as well as the incidence of wildfires, tends to trail off. At the time of writing, however, Hurricane Willa had just crashed into Mexico, while Typhoon Yutu has just hit the Northern Mariana Islands so hard that any equipment designed to record wind-speed had ...[Read More]

October GeoRoundUp: the best of the Earth sciences from around the web

Olivia Trani November 9, 2018

Fort Lauderdale, Florida, is at risk from rising sea levels. Credit: Dave/Flickr Creative Commons/CC BY 2.0 via NASA.

Drawing inspiration from popular stories on our social media channels, major geoscience headlines, as well as unique and quirky research, this monthly column aims to bring you the latest Earth and planetary science news from around the web. Major story In October, the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released a landmark report and summary statement that detailed the severe conse ...[Read More]

Imaggeo on Mondays: In-tents Icelandic sunset

Maria Warter November 5, 2018

In-tents icelandic sunset. Credit: Maria Warter (distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu)

This photograph was taken at the campsite near lake Mỳvatn during a field trip to Iceland. Every year a group of students from Wageningen University travels from the Netherlands to Iceland for a weeklong excursion as part of a course on catchment hydrology. The aim of the trip is to provide students with real life examples of the processes they learned during their lectures. After a rainy morning ...[Read More]

How to forecast the future with climate models

Conor Purcell September 19, 2018

This world map shows the change in annual average precipitation projected by the GFDL CM2.1 model for the 21st century (Credit: NOAA Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, via Wikimedia Commons)

Our climate is constantly changing, and with the help of simulation modelling, scientists are working hard to better understand just how these conditions will change and how it will affect society. Science journalist Conor Paul Purcell has worked on Earth System Models during his time as a PhD student and postdoctoral researcher; today he explains how scientists use these models as tools to foreca ...[Read More]