Geoscientific Methods

Geosciences column: Making aurora photos taken by ISS astronauts useful for research

Laura Roberts-Artal October 7, 2016

Northern lights appeared over Murphy Dome, Alaska. Credit: Taro Nakai (distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu)

It’s a clear night, much like any other, except that billions of kilometers away the Sun has gone into overdrive and (hours earlier) hurled a mass of charged particles, including protons, electrons and atoms towards the Earth. As the electrons slam into the upper reaches of the atmosphere, the night sky explodes into a spectacular display of dancing lights: aurora. Aurora remain shrouded in myste ...[Read More]

Celebrating Earth Science Week!

Laura Roberts-Artal October 6, 2016

For those not so familiar with the Earth sciences, geosciences and all its subdisciplines might be shrouded in mystery: boring, unfathomable, out of reach and with little relevance to everyday life. Nothing could be further from the truth! Earth Science Week, an international annual celebration founded by the American Geosciences Institute in 1998, aims to change the public’s perception of the ge ...[Read More]

Geosciences Column: A new rock outcrop map and area estimation for the entire Antarctic continent

Jonathan Fuhrmann September 9, 2016

Whale bones, raised beaches and moraine, Byers Peninsula, Antarctica . Credit: Marc Oliva (distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu)

Antarctica has been known as “the frozen continent” for almost as long as we have known of its existence. It may be the only place on Earth where, instead of information on the extent of glaciers or ice caps, there exists a dataset of all non-icy areas compiled from satellite imagery. However, this repository is far from perfect: while satellite resolution and coverage have been steadily improving ...[Read More]

GeoSciences Column: Improving together – science writing and football

Mathew Stiller-Reeve August 26, 2016

Some of the writing group at the Geophysical Insitute at the University of Bergen. From right to left: Hella Elisa Wittmeier, Anne Morée, Ragna Breines, Mathew Stiller-Reeve (Credit: Gudrun Sylte)

Writing is something that those pursuing a career in academia are expected to be good at. It is a requirement of the job, yet it is a skill few get any formal training in and simply rely on the old saying that practice makes perfect. But what if there is another way? Mathew Stiller-Reeve is a co-founder of ClimateSnack, a writing group organization, which aims to tackle the problem. In today’s pos ...[Read More]