Field Work

Imaggeo on Mondays: Sedimentary record of catastrophic floods in the Atacama desert

Manuel Abad and Tatiana Izquierdo May 22, 2017

Sedimentary record of catastrophic floods in the Atacama Desert . Credit: Manu Abad (distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu).

Despite being one of the driest regions on Earth, the Atacama desert is no stranger to catastrophic flood events. Today’s post highlights how the sands, clays and muds left behind once the flood waters recede can hold the key to understanding this natural hazard. During the severe rains that occurred between May 12 and 13, 2017 in the Atacama Region (Northern Chile) the usually dry Copiapó R ...[Read More]

Imaggeo on Mondays: Polar backbone (Arctic Ocean)

Grace Shephard May 15, 2017

Polar backbone (Arctic Ocean) . Credit: Grace Shephard (distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu).

This image was taken during the Arctic Ocean 2016(AO16) expedition that ventured to the central regions of the Arctic Ocean, including the North Pole. It shows a pressure ridge, or ice ridge, as viewed from onboard the deck of the icebreaker Oden. It was quite striking that the ice ridge resembled an image of a spine – sea ice being a defining characteristic of the broader Arctic environment and b ...[Read More]

Imaggeo on Mondays: Sneaking up from above

Jan Blöthe May 8, 2017

Sneaking up from above . Credit: Jan Blöthe (distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu)

Take some ice, mix in some rock, snow and maybe a little mud and the result is a rock glacier. Unlike ice glaciers (the ones we are most familiar with), rock glaciers have very little ice at the surface. Looking at today’s featured image, you’d be forgiven for thinking the Morenas Coloradas rock glacier wasn’t a glacier at all. But appearances can be misleading; as Jan Blöthe (a researcher at the ...[Read More]

April GeoRoundUp: the best of the Earth sciences from the 2017 General Assembly

Laura Roberts-Artal May 4, 2017

This diagram created by Cassini's mission planning team shows how navigators use Titan flybys to shape Cassini's orbits. Credit NASA / Jet Propulsion Laboratory - Caltech / Erick Sturm

This month’s GeoRoundUp is a slight deviation from the norm. Instead of drawing inspiration from popular stories on our social media channels and unique or quirky research featured in the news, we’ve rounded up some of the stories which came out of researcher presented at our General Assembly (which took place last week in Vienna). The traditional format for the column will return in May! Major st ...[Read More]