After the Nile, the Amazon River is the second longest river in the world and, by releasing up to 300,000 cubic metres per second into the Atlantic Ocean, accounts for approximately one-fifth of the planet’s total river flow. The river and its tributaries are characterised by extensive annual flooding of over 350,000 square kilometres of …[Read More]
Regular Features
Imaggeo on Mondays: Storm in Mount Waddington
This week’s Imaggeo on Mondays is brought to you by the photographer herself, Marion Bisiaux (now at Stendhal University, Grenoble, France), who tells us about her exciting field trip to the British Columbia’s Coast Range. This picture was taken during the Waddington Range Ice Core Project in which I participated during my PhD at the …[Read More]
Geosciences Column: Spotting signs of sea-quakes
A French and Algerian study team seeks markers of underwater earthquakes off the Algerian coast. The team also matched the site’s paleoseismic history to land-based historical reports. Wayne Deeker reports. The Mediterranean Sea represents the boundary between the African and Eurasian plates. Yet the fault segment off the Algerian coast is one of the most …[Read More]
Imaggeo on Mondays: Irish coast
Among geoscientists, the beautiful island of Ireland is best known for its Giant’s Causeway, an area with some 40,000 polygonal columns of layered basalt that formed 60 million years ago as a result of a volcanic eruption. But another recognisable feature of the Emerald Isle, is its lush green vegetation, a product of the island’s …[Read More]
Imaggeo on Mondays: Melting ice
The speed and extent of Greenland’s ice sheet melt dominated the media over the summer, and for good reason. Dramatic satellite images showed that, in just a few days, 97% of the island’s ice sheet surface thawed, melting over a larger area than at any time in more than 30 years of satellite observations. Usually, …[Read More]
Imaggeo on Mondays: Ellesmere Island
Located within the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, Ellesmere Island is the world’s tenth largest island and features Canada’s most northerly point but little else apart from vast landscapes of pristine natural habitat. It is separated from Greenland only by the Nares Strait, a major pathway for sea ice flushing out of the High Arctic. Belonging to …[Read More]
Imaggeo on Mondays: Light reflection
In this week’s Imaggeo on Mondays, brought to you by the photographer herself, Jacqueline Isabella Gisen (Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands) tells us about light refraction and reflection in a beautiful Autumnal landscape. This shot was taken spontaneously on my way to Clingendael Park in The Hague, Netherlands, for an Autumn’s photography activity on …[Read More]
Geotalk: Dr Olivier Galland
GeoTalk, featuring short interviews with geoscientists about their research, continues this month with a Q&A with Dr Olivier Galland (University of Oslo), who tells us about his volcanology research and the importance of outreach in promoting the Earth sciences. If you’d like to suggest a scientist for an interview, please contact Bárbara Ferreira. First, could you …[Read More]
Imaggeo on Mondays: The power of ice
There has been a lot of talk about Greenland lately in the context of global climate change. And for good reason. Over 80% of its total surface is covered by ice, the volume of which exceeds 2,850,000 km3 or enough to raise global sea levels by a staggering 7 m if fully melted. The Greenland …[Read More]
Geosciences Column: Human-induced changes in the ocean’s salinity and temperature fields
In this month’s Geosciences column, Mona Behl discusses a recent paper on the effects of anthropogenically-induced climate change on the planet’s oceans. A recent study led by scientists at the Scripps Institute of Oceanography, University of California San Diego, suggests that observed changes in ocean salinity are inconsistent with natural climate variations and can be attributed to human-induced …[Read More]