Glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs) are caused when masses of meltwater are released from behind a glacier moraine. Moraines are piles of unconsolidated debris that have either eroded from the glacier valley or have been deposited by melting glaciers. When they fail, a huge volume of water can be released, threatening populations further down the valley. Moraine failure can be caused by avalanche ...[Read More]
Natural hazards workshop videos are online!
Every year, the EGU host a two day workshop for primary and secondary school teachers during the General Assembly. Geosciences Information For Teachers (GIFT) workshops aim to shorten the time between discovery and textbook, while providing teachers with material that can be used in the classroom. This year, the workshop was on natural hazards, with scientists from the fields of seismology, volcan ...[Read More]
Geosciences Column: Following Fukushima: what happened to the iodine isotopes?
The March 2011 earthquake, 130 km off the coast of Japan, resulted in a 10-40 m high tsunami inundating Japan’s Pacific coast and caused the release of radionuclides from Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (NPP). The demise of three of the reactors was widely covered in the media, with worldwide coverage of the potential effects of radiation release both close to the plant and further afield. ...[Read More]
Imaggeo on Mondays: Aerosols over Hurricane Irene
This image – rather than our usual Imaggeo photo – is a simulation representation of Hurricane Irene, as it moved up the coast of the United States. The red-yellow areas in the image represent regions with high aerosol concentration that have been swept upwards in convective clouds and the blue areas are clean regions. The aerosols enter Irene along rain bands, before being wrapped into the centre ...[Read More]