General Assembly

Volcanic darkness marked the dawn of the Dark Ages

Laura Roberts-Artal June 15, 2016

Volcanic ash can spread far and wide. Credit: Taro Taylor via Flickr.

The dawn of the Dark Ages coincided with a volcanic double event – two large eruptions in quick succession. Combined, they had a stronger impact on the Earth’s climate than any other volcanic event – or sequence of events – in the last 1200 years. Historical reports reveal that a mysterious dust cloud dimmed the sun’s rays between in 536 and 537 CE, a time followed by global societal decline. Now, ...[Read More]

GeoEd: Planet Press – geoscience news for children

Laura Roberts-Artal June 10, 2016

Inspiring children to be interested in the geosciences isn’t always an easy task. While dinosaurs, volcanoes and earthquakes are a sure hook (rightly so!), there is also much more to the Earth, ocean and planetary sciences! Not only that, but new developments happen much more quickly than the lifetime of a textbook, meaning that breaking science is often underreported in the classroom. However, ...[Read More]

General Assembly 2016 – Highlights

Laura Roberts-Artal June 8, 2016

Credit: Kai Boggild/EGU (distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu)

It’s been a month and a half since the EGU General Assembly 2016 in Vienna. The conference this year was a great success with 863 oral, 10,320 poster, and 947 PICO presentations. A further 619 unique scientific sessions were complimented by an impressive 321 side events, creating an interesting and diverse programme.The conference brought together 13,650 scientists from 109 countries, 25% were stu ...[Read More]

Testing triggers of catastrophic climate change

Sara Mynott June 3, 2016

The research presented during the EGU’s 2016 General Assembly have wide-reaching implications for how we understand planet Earth. In today’s post, Sara Mynott, an EGU press assistant during the conference, writes about findings presented at the meeting which highlight the importance of the biosphere when it comes to understanding the threat posed to our planet by environmental challenges. With the ...[Read More]