Energy, Resources and the Environment

GeoSciences Column: The dirty business of shipping goods by sea

Laura Roberts-Artal November 10, 2017

“Above the foggy strip, this white arch was shining, covering one third of the visible sky in the direction of the ship's bow,” he explains. “It was a so-called white, or fog rainbow, which appears on the fog droplets, which are much smaller then rain droplets and cause different optic effects, which is a reason of its white colour.”

Gateway to the Arctic . Credit: Mikhail Varentsov (distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu)

Shipping goods across the oceans is cost-effective and super-efficient; that’s why over 80% of world trade is carried by sea (according to the International Maritime Organisation). But the shipping industry also contributes significant amounts of air pollutants to marine and coastal environments. A new study, published in the EGU’s open access journal Earth System Dynamics, reports on concentratio ...[Read More]

GeoSciences Column: Forests in flux – log-jams in the Amazon

Robert Emberson October 25, 2017

The impact of log jams on river geomorphology is varied. Unravelling the untouched . Credit: Amajida Roslim (distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu).

Collapsing dams are a staple of disaster films, but the form that these take in natural systems is also surprisingly varied. Streams and rivers can be blocked by a range of rapid and gradual inputs. One of the lesser-known causes of stream blockage is through the accumulation of large woody debris – tree trunks and large branches – to form a log jam. The impact of these jams on river geomorphology ...[Read More]

Imaggeo on Mondays: One of the oldest evergreen rainforests in the world

Frederik Tack October 16, 2017

Ratchaprapha lake in Khao Sok national park . Credit: Frederik Tack (distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu).

A blazing sky and shimmers cast by water ripples frame the spectacular beauty of one of the world’s oldest treasures: an evergreen rainforest in Thailand. Today’s featured image was captured by Frederik Tack, of the Institute for Space Aeronomy in Brussels. This picture was taken during sunset between the limestone mountains with the sunlight reflecting on beautiful Ratchaprapha lake i ...[Read More]

Imaggeo on Mondays: The unique bogs of Patagonia

Klaus-Holger Knorr October 9, 2017

Oceanic ombrotrophic peatland at the Seno Skyring Fjord, Patagonia, Chile . Credit: Klaus-Holger Knorr (distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu).

Patagonia, the region in southernmost tip of South America, is as diverse as it is vast. Divided by the Andes, the arid steppes, grasslands and deserts of Argentina give way to the temperate rainforests, fjords and glaciers of Chile. Also on the Chilean side are rolling hills and valleys of marshy topography: Patagonia’s bogs. Today, Klaus-Holger Knorr, a researcher at the University of Münster’s ...[Read More]