Field Work

Imaggeo on Mondays: An expedition to better understand Antarctic soils

Carsten Müller October 7, 2019

Sunset over Lachman Crags on James Ross Island, Antarctica. Credit: Carsten W. Mueller (distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu)

A dramatic evening sky puts the frame to a photo taken during the Brazilian Antarctic expedition to James Ross Island in 2016. Brazilian palaeontologists and soil scientists together with German soil scientists spent over 40 days on the island to search for fossils and sample soils at various locations of the northern part of the island. The island was named after Sir James Clark Ross who led the ...[Read More]

Imaggeo on Mondays: The ephemeral salt crystals

Dan V. Palcu August 12, 2019

The ephemeral crystals. Credit: Dan Valentin Palcu (distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu)

Rock salt stalactites (Speleothems) are the indicators of entrance in a salt cave. These crystal stalactites precipitate from brine only at the entrance in the salt caves, as that is the only place where the physical and chemical properties of the air and the brine dripping from the ceiling allow these crystals to grow and be preserved. And they are extremely fragile – if there is just a sma ...[Read More]

GeoPolicy: Preventing mercury leakage from a WWII submarine

Chloe Hill July 5, 2019

U-864 Submarine Wreckage. Credit: NGI - Norges Geotekniske Institutt (distributed via Youtube).

I recently had the opportunity to interview Matthias Kaiser, a professor at Bergen University and, at the time of the interview, Director of the Centre for the Study of the Sciences and the Humanities. He is part of an expert team that has given scientific advice to Norwegian policymakers, highlighting the issues that should be considered when dealing with the U-864 submarine wreckage and its carg ...[Read More]

Imaggeo on Mondays: Robotics at the service of the polar science

Angelo Odetti July 1, 2019

Robotics at the service of the polar science. Credit: Angelo Odetti (distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu)

This picture was taken in the Arctic in May 2018. It shows the unmanned marine vehicle Proteus in front of the tidewater glacier Conwaybreen in the Kongsfjorden in Spitsbergen in the Svalbard Archipelago. The front of tidewater glaciers is an almost vertical wall of ice standing over the sea where direct measurements are very critical due to the possibility of sudden fall of enormous blocks of ice ...[Read More]