Geoscientific Methods

Imaggeo on Mondays: The waxing Earth

Laura Roberts-Artal May 2, 2016

The waxing Earth from a geostationary perspective . Credit: Maximilian Reuter (distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu)

These incredible images of Earth were acquired from the European MSG-2 satellite on July 21, 2009. The MSG, which stands for Meteosat Second Generation, satellites are operated as a series of satellites which continually orbit our planet, capturing detailed images of Europe, Africa and parts of the Atlantic and Indian Ocean every 15 minutes. The data acquired is largely used by meteorologists. The ...[Read More]

When mountains collapse…

Jane Qiu April 27, 2016

The mountainsides, severely weakened by last year’s Gorkha Earthquake, is more likely to give way, especially during monsoons and aftershocks. (Credit: Kristen Cook)

Jane Qiu, a grantee of the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, took to quake-stricken Nepal last month — venturing into landslide-riddled terrains and shadowing scientists studying what makes slopes more susceptible to failure after an earthquake. The journey proved to be more perilous than she had expected. What would it be like to lose all your family overnight? And how would you cope? It’s wit ...[Read More]

Geosciences Column: An international effort to understand the hazard risk posed by Nepal’s 2015 Gorkha earthquake

Laura Roberts-Artal February 12, 2016

The upper part of the Pokhara Valley and view towards the Annapurna Massif. Debris flows and floods triggered by three major medieval earthquakes delivered the vast, flat-lying and steeply dissected deposits of the Pokhara Formation. The photo was taken by Amelie Stolle. Distributed via NASA Goddard on Flickr.

Nine months ago the ground in Nepal shook, and it shook hard: on April 25th 2015 the M7.8 Gorkha earthquake struck and was followed by some 250 aftershocks, five of which were greater than M 6.0. The devastation left behind in the aftermath of such an event, and how to coordinate disaster-relief efforts in a vast, mountainous region, is difficult to imagine. Yet, this December at the 2015 AGU Fall ...[Read More]

Geoscience hot topics – The finale: Understanding planet Earth

Laura Roberts-Artal December 22, 2015

The Grand Prismatic Spring, Yellowstone National Park. Credit: David Mencin (distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu)

What are the most interesting, cutting-edge and compelling research topics within the scientific areas represented in the EGU divisions? Ground-breaking and innovative research features yearly at our annual General Assembly, but what are the overarching ideas and big research questions that still remain unanswered? We spoke to some of our division presidents and canvased their thoughts on what the ...[Read More]