Field Work

Taking the pulse of an extreme landscape

Olivia Trani December 17, 2019

With the help of an EGU Science Journalism Fellowship, science journalist Katherine Kornei was able to follow a research team in Taiwan studying the dynamic landscape of Taroko National Park and its landslides. On the EGU blog Kornei reflects on the expedition. Image courtesy of Katherine Kornei.

Welcome to Taroko National Park. Would you like to borrow a safety helmet? In this precipitously steep landscape, covering one’s head is strongly encouraged. Rockfalls and landslides, triggered by frequent seismic activity and torrential rainfall, are mainstays in Taiwan’s preeminent national park. Evidence of this mass-wasting is everywhere: roadways are littered with fallen rocks, boulders choke ...[Read More]

Imaggeo on Mondays: Setting trees aflame to understand the carbon balance of fires

Olivia Trani December 9, 2019

Smoke clears after an experimental wildfire in Australian eucalyptus forest. Credit: Stefan Doerr (distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu)

Smoke clears after an experimental wildfire in Australian eucalyptus forest carried out for carbon balance estimations of wildfires. We meticulously measured the carbon in all leaves, twigs, logs and bark in a forest block about 35km east of Manjimup and then they set it on fire with help from the Dept. of Parks and Wildlife, [Western Australia]. We the counted the carbon all over again including ...[Read More]

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]