In June 2016, Paris was transformed. The River Seine burst its banks, submerging some of the nearby roads; floodwater lapped at the tops of street lamps and traffic lights. The event marked the the worst flooding in Paris for more than 30 years. When a flood event hits a major city, numerous researchers are keen …[Read More]
climate
GeoPolicy: COP23 – key updates and outcomes
What is COP23? Anthropogenic climate change is threatening life on this planet as we know it. It’s a global issue… and not one that is easily solved. The Conference of the Parties (COP) provides world leaders, policy workers, scientists and industry leaders with the space to share ideas and decide on how to tackle climate …[Read More]
How certain plants survive mass extinction events: study
We often read about Earth’s mass extinction events and how they wiped out vast numbers of animal species, leaving survivors to evolve and repopulate the planet. But it’s rarer to hear about how plants managed these catastrophes. A new study published last month by a team at University College Dublin, Ireland, in the journal Nature …[Read More]
GeoPolicy: IPCC decides on fresh approach for next major report
This month’s GeoPolicy post is a guest post from Sarah Connors, a Science Officer in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Working Group 1 Technical Support Unit (and former EGU Science Policy Officer). The IPCC is starting its sixth cycle, in which hundreds of scientists take stock of the world’s climate change knowledge by …[Read More]
Imaggeo on Mondays: The shrinking of Earth’s saltiest lake
The Dead Sea is one of the saltiest lakes on Earth, located at the lowest point of the globe. For centuries it has been known for the restorative powers of its muds and waters. Their hypersalinity means it is possible to easily float on the lake’s surface. Bordering Israel, the West Bank and Jordan, it …[Read More]
GeoPolicy: What will a Trump presidency mean for climate change?
The US Presidential election this month saw Republican Donald Trump, a fierce climate sceptic, be elected into office. In wake of the election results, this month’s GeoPolicy post will take a look at Trump’s proposed actions on climate change, how likely these are to happen, and what the climate and clean technology communities could do …[Read More]
Imaggeo on Mondays: Glacier de la Pilatte
The relentless retreat of glaciers, globally, is widely studied and reported. The causes for the loss of these precious landforms are complex and the dynamics which govern them difficult to unravel. So are the consequences and impacts of reduced glacial extent atop the world’s high peaks, as Alexis Merlaud, explains in this week’s edition of …[Read More]
GeoEd: How do we make climate predictions – An idea for an outreach activity
This month’s GeoEd post is brought to you by Dr. Mirjam S. Glessmer. Mirjam is a physical oceanographer, who during her PhD at GEOMAR Kiel, Germany, became more and more interested in understanding how people learn and hence did a Masters of Higher Education in parallel to her PhD. During her PostDoc at the University …[Read More]
Floods and droughts set to increase due to climate change
The planet is set to encounter a record-level amount of floods and droughts by 2050 – researchers recently announced at the European Geosciences Union’s General Assembly in Vienna. Nikita Marwaha shares their predictions on the impact that climate change will have on these extreme weather conditions. In a study by the Joint Research Centre (JRS) …[Read More]
Imaggeo on Mondays: Mirror Image
This week’s Imaggeo on Mondays image is brought to you by Fabien Darrouzet, who visited the icy landscapes of Svalbard back in 2012. Whilst the aim of his trip was not to better understand the geology of the landscapes, his eyes were very much focused on goings on up, up in the sky, it didn’t …[Read More]