Extreme weather events, like catastrophic floods, are the malicious exclamation points of Earth’s chaotic and variable climate system; they arrive without warning and extract huge costs, both economic and humanitarian, from the communities they strike. Evidence suggests the frequency and severity of these events may be on the rise in a changing climate, but scientists struggle to place modern even ...[Read More]
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GeoLog
Defining the age of humans
We are currently changing our planet like never before. But do these changes deserve a new name? The Anthropocene – a geological period marking the length of time for which humans have had a significant impact on the planet – was first proposed in the 1980s. But the word has gained significant attention in recent years thanks to the popularising work of Nobel prize-winning chemist Paul Crutzen. Hu ...[Read More]
Between a Rock and a Hard Place
Review of the BGS myVolcano iPhone app
A few months ago, Elspeth posted a review of her top geology-themed mobile phone apps. Since then, the resourceful folk at the British Geological Survey (BGS) have come up with a new contender; here we take a look at myVolcano. Before we get started, the important details: myVolcano is free to download but is only currently available on Apple’s iOS (an Android version is in the pipeline). Yo ...[Read More]
GeoSphere
GeoPoll # 1 – What does a geology education need?
I’d like to inaugurate a new series of posts, that will pop up on a semi-regular basis, namely, whenever I feel like it. Since day 1 of this blog, even way back in my pre-EGU days, I have tried to encourage participation from readers. To date, the only way for you to engage with me is to comment. However, in reality, not that many people are so moved that they feel like responding directly. ...[Read More]
Polluting the Internet
EGU 2014: Measuring aerosol climate impacts from Space
In order to understand past climate change and to better project future changes, we need to understand how humans disturbed the radiative balance of our planet. Aerosols are one component of this disruption. The final report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) physical science basis concluded that aerosols dominate the uncertainty in the total anthropogenic radiative forcing. ...[Read More]
GeoLog
Announcing the winners of the EGU Photo Contest 2014!
The selection committee received over 200 photos for this year’s EGU Photo Contest, covering fields across the geosciences. Participants have been voting for their favourites throughout the week and there are three clear winners. Congratulations to Trent Marwick, Velio Coviello and John Clemens – 2014’s fantastic photographers! Imaggeo is the EGU’s open access geosciences image repository. Photos ...[Read More]
An Atom's-Eye View of the Planet
Global warming increases risk of winter flooding
Britain’s warm, wet winter brought floods and misery to many living across southern England, with large parts of Somerset lying underwater for months. When in January rainfall was double the expected average over wide areas, many people made cautious links between such extreme weather and global climate change. There were nay-sayers at the time but it now seems that there is evidence for those lin ...[Read More]
GeoLog
Communicate Your Science Competition Winner Announced!
Congratulations to Louise Crochemore, the winner of the first ever Communicate Your Science Video Competition. Louise is a PhD student at the National Research Institute of Science and Technology for Environment and Agriculture France, and has been investigating how to manage water resources effectively. Here’s her video, Hydrological Drought Predictions for Reservoir Management: What’ ...[Read More]
GeoLog
GeoTalk: What can you learn from a human hair?
Jim Ehleringer is Director of the Stable Isotope Ratio Facility at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City in the US. In the past few years he has been developing a method for deducing people’s diets and travel history from a sample of their hair. Here, he talks to the EGU press office about his research. Thanks for agreeing to chat, Jim. Can you tell me a bit about how your project started? This ...[Read More]
GeoLog
At the Assembly: Friday highlights
The conference is coming to a close and there’s still an abundance of great sessions to attend! Here’s our guide to getting the most out of the conference on its final day. Boost this information with features from EGU Today, the daily newsletter of the General Assembly – pick up a paper copy at the ACV entrance or download it here. Be sure to attend today’s Alexander von Humboldt Medal Lecture by ...[Read More]