Natural Hazards

Thirty years after Biescas: Rethinking alluvial fan flooding and infrastructure failure

Asmae Ourkiya August 7, 2026

Aftermath of the 1999 Carbadella flooding. Source: NHESS journal.

Thirty years ago, in August 1996, a catastrophic flash flood swept through the Las Nieves campsite on the alluvial fan of the Barranco de Aras near Biescas in the Central Pyrenees of Aragón, Spain. The tragedy claimed 87 lives and injured over 180 people. This makes it one of the most severe weather-related disasters in modern European history. In the decades following the disaster, geoscientists ...[Read More]

More than meets the eye: What can we learn from non-visual science

Manuela Gialanella May 7, 2026

Tracy Arm, the Alaskan fjord where a massive tsunami took place in the summer of 2025. Credits: Stephen Hicks, University College London.

Many people exhibit a strong visual orientation, as a significant portion of human neurobiology is dedicated to processing light; however, this reliance is usually as much a product of our visually-centered environments as it is our biology. Science, however, reminds us that important information can come from different senses as well: sound, smell and tactile information all have something to say ...[Read More]

A trial by fire: Can we learn how to read a burning planet?

Lucia Perez-Diaz May 5, 2026

Boreal forest fire in Canada. Credit: Stefan Doerr (distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu)

I grew up watching my dad come home covered in soot. For most of his life, he worked as a firefighter in a natural reserve in Galicia, in northern Spain, a region of green mountains and steep terrain, almost Lord of the Rings in its landscape, but also a place where fire moves quickly and is notoriously difficult to control. Firefighting crews there are used to the fact that, to even begin work, t ...[Read More]

GeoTalk: meet Thanushika Gunatilake, researcher of earthquake impacts on geothermal energy

Simon Clark October 28, 2025

Thanushika Gunatilake

Hello Thanushika – welcome to GeoTalk! Before we delve deeper, could you introduce yourself to our readers? Thank you for having me! I’m Thanushika Gunatilake, an Assistant Professor at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. My research connects natural and human-induced processes in the Earth’s crust; from earthquake nucleation in the central Apennines, subduction dynamics, and volcanic activity, to geoth ...[Read More]