GeoLog

Imaggeo on Mondays: Antarctic winds make honeycomb ice

Olivia Trani August 27, 2018

Honeycomb Ice, Antarctica. Credit: Helen Millman (distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu)

These delicate ice structures may look like frozen honeycombs from another world, but the crystalline patterns can be found 80 degrees south, in Antarctica, where they are shaped by the white continent’s windy conditions. In Western Antarctica is a 9-kilometre line of rocky ridges, called Patriot Hills. Often cold wind furiously descends from the hills across Horseshoe Valley glacier, sculpting do ...[Read More]

An overnight train view of China’s Anthropocene – Part 2

Conor Purcell August 22, 2018

Tiananmen Square in Beijing, enveloped by heavy fog and haze. (Credit: Argonne National Laboratory, distributed via Flickr)

Science fiction is no match for industrial non-stop China. Electric bikes zip across the cities of Shanghai and Beijing, and soundtrack the neon nights with their passing whirr. Here, some kind of two-wheeled revolution has taken place which are we completely unaware of in the West. It’s Blade Runner meets Total Recall in a future which has already come to pass. The very existence of our ele ...[Read More]

Imaggeo on Mondays: Fairy chimneys in Love Valley

Olivia Trani August 20, 2018

Fairy Chimneys in The Love Valley. Credit: Alessandro Demarchi (distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu)

Every year tourists from around the world flock to Love Valley in Göreme National Park in the Cappadocia region of central Turkey to marvel at the region’s peculiarly pointy geological features. These cone-shaped formations, known as ‘fairy chimneys’ or hoodoos, dominate the park’s skyline, with some rocky spires extending up to 40 metres towards the sky. While the name ‘fairy chimney’ suggests my ...[Read More]

GeoTalk: To understand how ice sheets flow, look at the bedrock below

Olivia Trani August 17, 2018

A glacier in the Sukkertoppen ice cap, southwest Greenland, flows down a rocky canyon like those mapped in Mathieu's recent work (Credit: Michael Studinger/NASA)

Geotalk is a regular feature highlighting early career researchers and their work. In this interview we speak to Mathieu Morlighem, an associate professor of Earth System Science at the University of California, Irvine who uses models to better understand ongoing changes in the Cryosphere. At the General Assembly he was the recipient of a 2018 Arne Richter Award for Outstanding Early Career Scient ...[Read More]