The text of this week’s Imaggeo on Mondays comes from the photographer himself, Brenner Silva. I took this picture from an airliner in September 2010 on my way to the Estación Científica San Francisco, South Ecuador, for field work. The flight route Quito-Loja goes through the two highest volcanoes, Chimborazo and Cotopaxi, of the so-called Avenue of the Volcanos in Ecuador. The pilot, attracted b ...[Read More]
Regular Features
Imaggeo on Mondays: Cloud sandwich
Lenticular clouds, also known as ‘flying saucer clouds’ or ‘cloudships’, have captured the imagination of humans since Biblical times. Normally aligned at right-angles to the direction of the wind, lenticular clouds are stationary, lens-shaped formations that form at high altitudes. Pilots of powered planes tend to avoid flying near lenticular clouds because of turbulence. Glider pilots, on the ot ...[Read More]
GeoTalk: Dr Giuliano Di Baldassarre
GeoTalk, featuring short interviews with geoscientists about their research, continues this month with a Q&A with Dr Giuliano Di Baldassarre (UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education) regarding his work on floods, population changes, and risk prevention. If you’d like to suggest a scientist for an interview, please contact Bárbara Ferreira. First, could you introduce yourself and let us ...[Read More]
Imaggeo on Mondays: Keanae coast
Geologically speaking, Hawaii is a very dynamic archipelago. Each of its islands is an exposed peak of a large undersea mountain range formed by volcanic activity starting about 28 million years ago as the Pacific plate moved slowly in northwest direction over a geological hotspot in the Earth’s mantle. Big Island and Maui, the southeastern most islands, are therefore the youngest and geologically ...[Read More]
Imaggeo on Mondays: Patagonian blues
If you are feeling the Monday blues, this peaceful photograph of a Patagonian lake might be just what you need to light up your day. Patagonia is known for its rich volcanic history and dramatic landscapes, and this scene is no exception. It shows a lake in the Pali-Aike volcanic field on the Argentina-Chile border, located north of the Strait of Magellan: the beautiful Laguna Potrok Aike. Agathe ...[Read More]
Geosciences Column: A teaching game for water managers
In this month’s Geosciences Column, Wayne Deeker tells us about a new game – first presented in EGU’s Hydrology and Earth System Sciences – that aims to teach how to best share water resources. With shrinking glaciers, depleted groundwater stores, and rising populations, water resources have never been under such pressure, and worse is yet to come. The resulting conflicts can get ugly and bring hi ...[Read More]
Imaggeo on Mondays: The beauty of energy
Electric cars require roughly 1,000 times more lithium than a standard laptop. It is therefore understandable that Bolivia’s Salar de Uyuni, a unique environment shown here under deep-blue skies, is widely regarded as the ‘Saudi Arabia of lithium’, because it contains over 40% of the planet’s lithium chloride (LiCl) reserves, or more than 5.4 million tons. The Salar is part of the Altiplano platea ...[Read More]
Imaggeo on Mondays: The strangest volcano on Earth
Natural Geographic describes Ol Donyo Lengai (pronounced ol doyn-yo len-guy), a mountain in northern Tanzania, as the ‘strangest volcano on Earth’. It is the planet’s only volcano known to produce lava made of natrocarbonatite, chemically similar to laundry soap, which hardens and decays almost immediately upon exposure to the atmosphere. It is very rare for natrocarbonatite, a type of igneous roc ...[Read More]
Imaggeo on Mondays: Turquoise paradise
Jacques Cousteau once said, “I have seen other places like Sipadan, 45 years ago, but now no more. Now we have found an untouched piece of art.” Indeed, the ‘wall of life’ shown in this picture suggests an untouched world, where schools of fish abound in a pure turquoise ocean. The waters around Pulau Sipadan (Sipadan Island) are globally recognised as some of the most diverse on the planet, playi ...[Read More]
GeoTalk: Dr Pedro Jiménez Guerrero
GeoTalk, featuring short interviews with geoscientists about their research, continues this month with a Q&A with Dr Pedro Jiménez Guerrero (University of Murcia) focusing on air pollution and climate change. If you’d like to suggest a scientist for an interview, please contact Bárbara Ferreira. First, could you introduce yourself and let us know a bit about your research topic(s)? I wa ...[Read More]