GeoLog

Geosciences Column

GeoSciences Column: Is smoke on your mind? Using social media to assess smoke exposure from wildfires

July 14, 2017
GeoSciences Column: Is smoke on your mind? Using social media to assess smoke exposure from wildfires

Wildfires have been raging across the globe this summer. Six U.S. States, including California and Nevada, are currently battling fierce flames spurred on by high temperatures and dry conditions. Up to 10,000 people have been evacuated in Canada, where wildfires have swept through British Columbia. Closer to home, 700 tourists were rescued by boat from fires in Sicily, while last month, over 60 pe ...[Read More]

GeoSciences Column: Can seismic signals help understand landslides and rockfalls?

June 9, 2017
GeoSciences Column: Can seismic signals help understand landslides and rockfalls?

From the top of a small gully in the French Alps, a 472 kg block is launched into the chasm. Every detail of it’s trajectory down the slope is scrutinised by two cameras and a network of seismometers. They zealously record every bounce, scrape and tumble – precious data in the quest to better understand landslides. What makes landslides tick? In 2016, fatalities caused by landslides tipped 2 ...[Read More]

Geosciences Column: The dangers of an enigmatic glacier in the Karakoram

April 5, 2017
Geosciences Column: The dangers of an enigmatic glacier in the Karakoram

Nestled among the high peaks of the Karakoram,  in a difficult to reach region of China, lies Kyagar Glacier. It’s trident-like shape climbs from 4800 to 7000 meters above sea level and is made up of three upper glacier tributaries which converge to form an 8 km long glacier tongue. Until recently, it’s remoteness meant that studying its behaviour relied heavily on the acquisition of data by satel ...[Read More]

Geosciences Column: How El Niño triggered Indonesia corals die-off

March 3, 2017
Geosciences Column: How El Niño triggered Indonesia corals die-off

In the glistening waters of Indonesia, shallow corals – the rain forests of the sea – teem with life.  Or at least they did once. Towards the end of 2015 the corals started to die, leaving a bleak landscape behind. An international team of researchers investigated the causes of the die-off. Their findings, published recently in the EGU’s open access journal, Biogeosciences, are rather ...[Read More]

Geosciences Column: Africa’s vulnerability to climate change

February 3, 2017
Climate change is set to hit the nations of the Global South the hardest.

Ravaged by armed conflicts, a deep struggle with poverty, poor governance and horizontal inequality, some parts of Africa and other Global South regions are arguably the most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Largely reliant on natural resources for sustenance, current and future changes in temperatures, precipitation and the intensity of some natural hazards threaten the food security, ...[Read More]

Geosciences Column: Do coastlines have memories?

January 6, 2017
do coastlines have memories

Did you know that the shape of coastlines is determined by the angle at which waves crash against the shoreline. It has long been thought that fluctuations in the wave incidence angle are rapidly felt by coastlines, which change the shapes of their shores quickly in response to shifting wave patterns. Or do they? Researchers at the British Geological Survey, Duke University (USA) and Woods Hole Oc ...[Read More]

Geosciences Column: The complex links between shrinking sea ice and cloud cover

December 2, 2016
Sea ice breaking on the Chukchi Sea, Barrow, July 2014

The global climate system is complex. It is composed of, and governed by, a plethora of interconnect factors. Solar radiation, land surface, ice cover, the atmosphere and living things, as well as wind and ocean currents, play a crucial role in the climate system. These factors are intricately connected; changes to some can have significant effects on others, leading to overall consequences for th ...[Read More]

GeoSciences Column: The ‘dirty weather’ diaries of Reverend Richard Davis

November 4, 2016
GeoSciences Column: The ‘dirty weather’ diaries of Reverend Richard Davis

Researching the Earth’s climate of the past, helps scientists make better predictions about how the climate and our environment will continue to be affected by, change and adapt to rising temperatures. One of the most invaluable sources of data, when it comes to understanding the Earth’s past climate, are historical meteorological records. Accounts of weather and climate conditions for the Souther ...[Read More]

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

October 7, 2016
Geosciences column: Making aurora photos taken by ISS astronauts useful for research

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]

This calls for a celebration: GeoLog’s 1000 post!

September 30, 2016
This calls for a celebration: GeoLog’s 1000 post!

As far as blogging milestones go, today is pretty special. This is GeoLog’s 1000 post! Since the EGU’s official blog launched back in March 2010 (that’s right, there’s over 6 years of back catalogue for you to enjoy!), we’ve shared posts about research spanning almost every discipline in the Earth sciences; highlighted member’s adventures in the field and showcased the work of outstanding early ca ...[Read More]