earthquake

A better framework for disasters

Robert Emberson November 13, 2018

The 2018 Carr Fire that burned 229,651 acres in California. It's currently listed as the seventh-largest wildfire recorded in the state's modern history. (Photo: Bureau of Land Management California via Bureau of Land Management California)

The end of the Northern hemisphere summer tends to be a good time to regroup from natural hazards, as the frequency and intensity of storms, as well as the incidence of wildfires, tends to trail off. At the time of writing, however, Hurricane Willa had just crashed into Mexico, while Typhoon Yutu has just hit the Northern Mariana Islands so hard that any equipment designed to record wind-speed had ...[Read More]

September GeoRoundUp: the best of the Earth sciences from around the web

Olivia Trani October 5, 2018

Astronaut Ricky Arnold, from aboard the International Space Station, shared this image of Hurricane Florence on Sept. 10. Credit: NASA.

Drawing inspiration from popular stories on our social media channels, major geoscience headlines, as well as unique and quirky research, this monthly column aims to bring you the latest Earth and planetary science news from around the web. Major stories This month has been a whirlwind of Earth and space science news; the majority focusing on natural hazards. Powerful cyclones, earthquakes, and ts ...[Read More]

Geosciences Column: Extreme snowfall potentially worsened Nepal’s 2015 earthquake-triggered avalanche

Olivia Trani May 11, 2018

A view of Langtang Nepal in 2012. The village was struck by an earthquake-induced avalanche and landslides in 2015, burying the town in debris. (Credit: Sander van Dijk via Flickr)

Three years ago, an earthquake-induced avalanche and rockfalls buried an entire Nepalese village in ice, stone, and snow. Researchers now think the region’s heavy snowfall from the preceding winter may have intensified the avalanche’s disastrous effect. The Langtang village, just 70 kilometres from Nepal’s capital Kathmandu, is nestled within a valley under the shadow of the Himalayas. The town wa ...[Read More]

Imaggeo on Mondays: Winter threatens to freeze over fieldwork

Roberto Vallone February 26, 2018

Ice crystals oriented by wind . Credit: Roberto Vallone (distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu)

This photo was taken during a fieldwork campaign following the mainshock of the deadly seismic sequence that struck central Italy starting from 24 August 2016. The magnitude 6.2 earthquake severely damaged nearby towns, claimed more than 290 lives and injured nearly 400 people in its wake. As a geologist from the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology, I was in charge of measuring the ma ...[Read More]