My first day at AGU 2013 revolved around sessions on short-live climate forcers, which are components in the atmosphere that have short lifetimes (compared to carbon dioxide for example) and generally warm the atmosphere. Reduction of these compounds, such as methane and black carbon, has been mooted as a way to reduce global mean temperatures in coming decades. This is summarised in the figure be ...[Read More]
Four Degrees
Snacking on climate
ClimateSnack is a new initiative for early-career climate scientists around the world to improve their writing and communication skills. Snackers get to write tasty climate blogs and discuss them in a friendly and interactive environment. Marion talked to three members of the Imperial College London group for the latest issue of GeoQ! Good written and oral communication skills are quickly becoming ...[Read More]
Between a Rock and a Hard Place
Science snap (#14): San Andreas Fault
As one of ~20,000 geologists flocking to AGU Fall Meeting in San Francisco, I’ve headed out a few days early to take in a few West Coast sights. For many, the Foggy City will always be synonymous with earthquakes. San Francisco is located right on the San Andreas Fault, which is part of a larger fracture zone marking the boundary between the North American and Pacific tectonic plates. In 190 ...[Read More]
Geology for Global Development
Friday Photo (108): Damage from Cloudburst
The 2010 cloudburst in Leh, Ladakh, brought large amounts of mud, gravel and boulders into settlements on flood plains in Leh. The debris has still not been fully cleared, and here a house has been buried above window height in debris. Credit: Rosalie Tostevin, Geology for Global Development Leh, Ladakh, 2013
Between a Rock and a Hard Place
“I’m a scientist, get me out of here…!”
James Hickey is a PhD student in the School of Earth Sciences at the University of Bristol. A geophysicist and volcanologist by trade, his PhD project is focussed on attempting to place constraints on volcanic unrest using integrated geodetic modelling. Having had just over a week to recover I can finally begin to look back on what were two incredible weeks of “I’m a scientist, get me out here” ex ...[Read More]
Polluting the Internet
A continent on fire
While preparing my poster for the upcoming AGU Fall Meeting, I downloaded some data on fire activity in South America for background on why we are interested in biomass burning in the region. I wanted to quickly check I had the data in the correct format, so I just plotted the coordinates of the fire counts without an outline of South America. I was surprised to see that the fire locations for Aug ...[Read More]
Geology for Global Development
From Our Archives: Guest Blogs (1)
Over the past couple of years we have had some excellent guest blogs, from students and highly experienced professionals. We’ve put a number of these below – grouped into three categories (hazards and disaster risk reduction; water and sanitation; general development). In a couple of weeks we’ll be linking to another group of excellent guest blogs also! Hazards and Disaster Risk ...[Read More]
Four Degrees
Climate and Policy Roundup – November 2013
From London to Warsaw and Tokyo: Flo Bullough and Marion Ferrat discuss some of last month’s hot topics in the climate and policy world. News UN Warsaw Climate Talks The UN’s Climate Change Conference in Warsaw concluded this week at the end of a 30-hour deadlock in decision making over the wording of the final deal. After a series of controversies including hunger strikes, walkouts and stan ...[Read More]
Green Tea and Velociraptors
I need your clothes, your boots, and your copyright.
James Lewis is a PhD student at Imperial College London in the field of Planetary Geochemistry. When not blowing up gas cylinders, or hunting for jarosite, he can be found wandering the streets of London as an amateur photographer. James also suffers from Thesisitis, a common condition among third-year PhD students. He can be found on Twitter as @jmtlewis. When I was applying for PhD projects two ...[Read More]
Geology for Global Development
Placement Reminder – Deadline Midday Friday 6th December
A reminder about our exciting placement opportunities – deadline this Friday (6th December) at midday. GfGD PLACEMENT OPPORTUNITY The information below can be downloaded as a PDF WHEN & WHERE: Approximately 1-2 weeks (per topic) during December to early January (student’s Christmas vacation). Precise working dates are flexible. To minimise costs to the student and enable students to have ...[Read More]