Geosciences Column

Geosciences Column: The quest for life on Mars

Laura Roberts-Artal February 20, 2015

Jarosite deposits on Mars. Image Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona

Understanding where we come from and whether Earth is the only habitable planet in the Solar System has been a long standing conundrum in science. Partly because it is our nearest neighbour, partly because of its past and current similarities with our own home, Mars, the red planet, is a likely contender in the quest for extra-terrestrial life. In this guest blog post, James Lewis, a PhD student a ...[Read More]

Geosciences Column: Fire in ice – the history of boreal forest fires told by Greenland ice cores.

Laura Roberts-Artal February 13, 2015

Burning of biomass contributes a significant amount of greenhouses gases to the atmosphere, which in turn influences regional air quality and global climate. Since the advent of humans, there has been a significant increase in the amount of biomass burning, particularly after the industrial revolution. What might not be immediately obvious is that, (naturally occurring) fires also play a part in e ...[Read More]

Geosciences Column: Do roads mean landslides are more likely?

Laura Roberts-Artal January 16, 2015

The Hvalsnes landslide, Eastern Iceland. Credit: Ragnar Sigurdsson (arctic-images.com; distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu)

Landslides have been in the news frequently over the past 12 months or so. It’s not surprising considering their devastating consequences and potential impact on nearby communities. Data collected by Dave Petley in his Landslide Blog shows that from January to July 2014 alone, there were 222 landslides that caused loss of life, resulting in 1466 deaths. A recent paper, in the journal Natural Hazar ...[Read More]

When Astronomy Gets Closer to Home: Why space weather outreach is important and how to give it impact

Laura Roberts-Artal December 19, 2014

When the public think about natural hazards, space weather is not the first thing to come to mind. Yet, though uncommon, extreme space weather events can have an economic impact similar to that of large floods or earthquakes. Although there have been efforts across various sectors of society to communicate this topic, many people are still quite confused about it, having only a limited understandi ...[Read More]