This former open-pit diamond mine is currently the second largest excavated hole in the world. After diamond was discovered in there in 1955, the area became the first and largest diamond mine in the Soviet Union, producing up to 2,000 kg of diamond per year during the 1960s. Its surface operations continued until 2001 and the mine was permanently shut in 2011. This photo was taken on 22 July 2008 ...[Read More]
Imaggeo on Mondays: El Tatio geyser field
Excursions following scientific conferences often give researchers a chance to observe geosciences phenomena in remote areas. That was the case for Simon Gascoin, from the Centre d’Etudes Spatiales de la Biosphère in Toulouse, France who got to photograph geysers in a Chilean desert after the EGU Alexander von Humboldt conference in Santiago de Chile in late 2008. “The picture shows the El T ...[Read More]
Imaggeo on Mondays: Forest Fires
Forest Fires. Image by Sandro Makowski, distributed by EGU under a Creative Commons licence. Slash and burn activity in Southern Ecuador. The photo was the taken during field work at the San Francisco valley, a microcatchment in the province of Zamora, south-east of Ecuador. The valley is the study area of the DFG research unit FOR 816 “Biodiversity and Sustainable Management of a Megadiverse Trop ...[Read More]
Geosciences Column: Why are jet streams not good wind energy sources?
Commercial airlines know jet streams well. Planes often hitch a ride on these strong, high-altitude atmospheric winds, which blow from west to east, to fly faster, and they are the reason why long-haul easterly flights (such as those between the US and Europe) are quicker than the corresponding westerly journeys. Scientists are also familiar with these fierce and persistent winds, which occur at a ...[Read More]