Geosciences Column

GeoSciences Column: Can seismic signals help understand landslides and rockfalls?

Laura Roberts-Artal June 9, 2017

Landslide Gschliefgraben . Credit: Robert Supper (distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu).

From the top of a small gully in the French Alps, a 472 kg block is launched into the chasm. Every detail of it’s trajectory down the slope is scrutinised by two cameras and a network of seismometers. They zealously record every bounce, scrape and tumble – precious data in the quest to better understand landslides. What makes landslides tick? In 2016, fatalities caused by landslides tipped 2 ...[Read More]

Geosciences Column: The dangers of an enigmatic glacier in the Karakoram

Laura Roberts-Artal April 5, 2017

Kyagar as seen from the observation station upstream of the glacier’s terminus during the surge. The dashed line indicates the ice dam height from 2012, highlighting the dramatic thickening at the glacier's snout. Credit: V.Round et al., 2017

Nestled among the high peaks of the Karakoram, in a difficult to reach region of China, lies Kyagar Glacier. It’s trident-like shape climbs from 4800 to 7000 meters above sea level and is made up of three upper glacier tributaries which converge to form an 8 km long glacier tongue. Until recently, it’s remoteness meant that studying its behaviour relied heavily on the acquisition of data by satel ...[Read More]

Geosciences Column: How El Niño triggered Indonesia corals die-off

Laura Roberts-Artal March 3, 2017

Coral bleaching in the Maldives captured by The Ocean Agency / XL Catlin Seaview Survey in May 2016. Credit: he Ocean Agency / XL Catlin Seaview Survey / Richard Vevers.

In the glistening waters of Indonesia, shallow corals – the rain forests of the sea – teem with life. Or at least they did once. Towards the end of 2015 the corals started to die, leaving a bleak landscape behind. An international team of researchers investigated the causes of the die-off. Their findings, published recently in the EGU’s open access journal, Biogeosciences, are rather ...[Read More]

Geosciences Column: Africa’s vulnerability to climate change

Laura Roberts-Artal February 3, 2017

Climate change is set to hit the nations of the Global South the hardest. Masai life . Credit: Jaap Berghuijs (distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu).

Ravaged by armed conflicts, a deep struggle with poverty, poor governance and horizontal inequality, some parts of Africa and other Global South regions are arguably the most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Largely reliant on natural resources for sustenance, current and future changes in temperatures, precipitation and the intensity of some natural hazards threaten the food security, ...[Read More]