Africa

Imaggeo on Mondays: Rain on the Namib Desert

Olivia Trani December 16, 2019

Rain in the Namib Desert. Credit: Christoph Schmidt (distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu).

Pictured here is the arid Namib Desert on a not-so-arid day. The desert is known for its extremely dry conditions and abundance of sunshine, but this photo, taken by Christoph Schmidt, chair of geomorphology at the University of Bayreuth in Germany, gives us a rare glimpse of a rainy day. The Namib Desert spans about 81,000 square kilometres in southwest Africa, stretching throughout the entire co ...[Read More]

Geosciences Column: How erupting African volcanoes impact the Amazon’s atmosphere

Olivia Trani July 12, 2019

An aerial view of the towering volcanic peak of Mt. Nyiragongo. Research suggests that its emissions can reach as far as South America, impacting the atmosphere of the Amazon Basin. (Credit: MONUSCO/Neil Wetmore via Wikimedia Commons)

When volcanoes erupt, they can release into the atmosphere a number of different gases initially stored in their magma, such as carbon dioxide, hydrogen sulfide, and sulfur dioxide. These kinds of gases can have a big influence on Earth’s atmosphere, even at distances hundreds to thousands of kilometres away. A team of researchers have found evidence that sulfur emissions from volcanic eruptions i ...[Read More]

GeoTalk: Severe soil erosion events and how to predict them

Olivia Trani July 20, 2018

Urban gully in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, May 2018. Credit: Matthias Vanmaercke.

Geotalk is a regular feature highlighting early career researchers and their work. In this interview we speak to Matthias Vanmaercke, an associate professor at the University of Liège in Belgium who studies soil erosion and land degradation across Europe and Africa. At the EGU General Assembly he received the 2018 Soil System Sciences Division Outstanding Early Career Scientists Award. Thanks for ...[Read More]

Imaggeo on Mondays: Namibia’s mysterious fairy circles

Olivia Trani July 9, 2018

The mysterious fairy circles. Credit: Hezi Yizhaq (distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu)

The grassy Namibian desert is pock-marked with millions of circular patches of bare earth just like these shown in the picture between linear dunes. Viewed from a balloon, they make the ground look like a moonscape. Commonly known as fairy circles, the patches range from two to 12 metres across and appear in a 2000 kilometre strip that stretches from Angola to South Africa. For many decades, the f ...[Read More]