Nepal

How extreme events impact Earth’s surface: reports from the 6th EGU Galileo conference

Maarten Lupker November 6, 2019

Researchers convene at the Bhote Kosi valley in Nepal for a week long EGU Galileo Conference on how rare and catastrophic events influence Earth system dynamics. (Credit: Kristen Cook)

Throughout the year, EGU hosts a number of meetings, workshops, and conferences for the geoscience community. While the EGU’s annual General Assembly brings more than 15,000 scientists together under one roof, the EGU Galileo Conferences allows a smaller number of scientists to discuss and debate issues at the forefront of their discipline. In this blog post, the organisers of the 6th Galileo Conf ...[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]

When mountains collapse…

Jane Qiu April 27, 2016

The mountainsides, severely weakened by last year’s Gorkha Earthquake, is more likely to give way, especially during monsoons and aftershocks. (Credit: Kristen Cook)

Jane Qiu, a grantee of the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, took to quake-stricken Nepal last month — venturing into landslide-riddled terrains and shadowing scientists studying what makes slopes more susceptible to failure after an earthquake. The journey proved to be more perilous than she had expected. What would it be like to lose all your family overnight? And how would you cope? It’s wit ...[Read More]

Imaggeo on Mondays: Annapurna snow avalanche

Laura Roberts-Artal December 7, 2015

Annapurna snow avalanche. Credit: Martin Struck (distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu)

The Annapurna massif is located in an imposing 55 km long collection of peaks in the Himalayas, which behave as a single structural block. Composed of one peak (Annapurna I Main) in excess of 8000 m, a further thirteen peaks over 7000 m and sixteen more of over 6000 m, the massif forms a striking structure within the Himalayas. Annapurna I Main, the tenth highest peak in the world, is towering at ...[Read More]