Latest news with #EuropeanGeosciencesUnion
Irish Examiner
18-07-2025
- Health
- Irish Examiner
Working Life: Watching Leonardo DiCaprio's ‘Before the Flood' documentary spurred me to decide to make climate action my life's work
Samuel Awe, HSE Capital & Estates regional sustainability office, HSE Dublin and Midlands 'Science has been my favourite subject since I was a kid. I'd watch Brainiac: Science Abuse and Backyard Science, hoping that I would one day contribute to the field. 'Little did I know that with the help of my course coordinator and thesis supervisor, I'd make a scientific discovery in 2018. My master's thesis got published in the European Geosciences Union's 'Climate of the Past' journal in 2022. The findings in my scientific paper improve the accuracy of temperature measurements in the tropics. 'Having shared some lectures with environmental students back in 2015 while doing my undergraduate in natural science, I was encouraged to join the Environmental Society. 'Watching Leonardo DiCaprio's Before the Flood documentary in 2016 spurred me to decide to make climate action my life's work. There was a moment when he spoke to former US President Barack Obama, and they highlighted climate change as the most urgent issue of our time. The following year, I graduated from Trinity College Dublin and applied to pursue a Master's in climate change at Maynooth University. Samuel Awe, Capital & Estates Regional Sustainability Officer for HSE. Photograph Moya Nolan 'In my role as a regional sustainability officer with HSE Capital & Estates, I provide sustainable engineering advice and project management, and I recommend funding for hospitals to help reduce their carbon emissions. The priority areas we focus on are energy efficiency, water conservation, green environments and waste reduction. My job takes me across Dublin and the Midlands. Today I am visiting Tallaght University Hospital's Green Team. Green teams focus on promoting sustainability and reducing the environmental impact of healthcare services. 'We work with all kinds of hospitals, from large acute to community nursing units. I was delighted to see the HSE recently achieve certification to the ISO 50001 global energy management standard for its efforts in continuously improving energy efficiency and performance. 'I grew up in Tallaght, but Clontarf is home now. In my downtime, I enjoy long-distance running, especially half-marathons. After work, I enjoy cooking with my fiancée. Cleaning up is where I shine. HSE Capital and Estates Sustainable Infrastructure Office focuses on reducing energy and carbon emissions of buildings, along with providing support and guidance on improving green spaces and water conservation. Find out more at Sustainable Buildings and the Green Environment -
Muscat Daily
08-07-2025
- Science
- Muscat Daily
Omani scientist joins global study on ancient marine life
Muscat – In a significant step for Oman's research sector, Eng Najat al Fadhili of the Industrial Innovation Academy has contributed to an international peer-reviewed study examining the effects of environmental changes on ancient marine organisms. The study, published on the European Geosciences Union (EGU) platform, was conducted in collaboration with Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Utrecht University, and Friedrich-Alexander University of Erlangen-Nuremberg. Researchers analysed marine species dating back more than 60 million years to understand their response to climate shifts over geological time. Fieldwork was carried out at the Saiwan geological site in Al Wusta, internationally recognised for its scientific importance. The project aligns with national efforts to strengthen the research ecosystem and support the objectives of Oman Vision 2040, particularly in innovation and sustainability. According to the Industrial Innovation Academy, the study contributes critical insights into the long-term impact of climate change on marine ecosystems. It also demonstrates Oman's capacity to support advanced research through local expertise in geosciences and climate science. Such initiatives are seen as strategic to enhancing scientific output, informing sustainable resource management, and reinforcing Oman's role as a regional player in environmental research.
Observer
07-07-2025
- Science
- Observer
Scientific study enhancing global presence
MUSCAT: An Omani researcher has participated in a peer-reviewed international study published on the European Geosciences Union (EGU) platform, in collaboration with three leading European universities: Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Utrecht University and Friedrich-Alexander University of Erlangen-Nuremberg. This achievement reflects Oman's commitment to advancing research and development. Engineer and researcher Najat al Fadhli from the Industrial Innovation Academy contributed to the scientific study, which examined the response of ancient marine organisms — dating back over 60 million years — to environmental changes in Oman's geologically significant "Saiwan" site. The study enhances understanding of climate change impacts on fragile marine ecosystems while contributing to a knowledge-based economy by empowering national competencies in earth and climate sciences. The Industrial Innovation Academy emphasised that such research is not merely an academic contribution but a strategic pillar for supporting resource sustainability, achieving sustainable development goals and setting a national model for investing in scientific knowledge. - ONA
Time of India
07-06-2025
- Science
- Time of India
The Sudanese hill that looks just like a pair of ‘lips' — no one knows why
The Sudanese hill that looks just like a pair of 'lips' (Image source: Live Science) A picture of a hill formation strikingly resembling human lips in Sudan was captured by a Google Earth satellite in 2012. The image appears to show a pair of human lips, giving the impression of blowing a kiss into space. Researchers have speculated about how the unusual landmark might have formed, but not much is known about it yet. According to Live Science, the striking hill, which is around 3,000 feet (900 meters) long and 1,200 feet (350 meters) across at its widest point, is located in Sudan's West Darfur state, roughly 60 miles (95 km) east of the country's border with Chad. 'Landlocked Lips': Sudan's mysterious mouth-shaped hill captured from space Despite its distinctive shape, the formation has not been widely studied and does not have any official name. However, based on its appearance and lack of ocean access, it has been informally labeled the 'Landlocked Lips.' The formation captured in the 2012 satellite photo appears to be surrounded by agricultural fields and dotted with small black specks, which are probably trees. The surrounding land in the photo looks parched, most likely due to drought conditions. The hill itself has a pinkish hue on its slopes, which enhances its mouth-like appearance. However, in more recent satellite images of the location, both the hill and its surroundings appear much greener and are covered with significantly more vegetation. This change may suggest seasonal variation or recovery from drought, further emphasizing how dynamic the region's landscape can be. Geologists say, the unusual landscape may be ancient Dikes According to reports, Josh Roering, a geomorphologist at the University of Oregon, says that the unusual formation resembles a dike. He explained, 'It looks like there's a dike or narrow unit of resistant rock running through the middle of that ridgeline that erodes more slowly than the surrounding rock and thus sticks out.' Dikes are geological features that cut across larger horizontal sheets of rock, according to the European Geosciences Union. They are most commonly formed via volcanic activity or tectonic plate movements. In some cases, they can also form as a result of sedimentary processes. These formations tend to be more resistant to erosion than the surrounding rock, which is why they often appear as elevated ridges on the landscape. However, it is unclear what type of dike this hill's central line may be. Similar structures can be found in the other parts of the world, such as the New Mexico desert and the Mackenzie dike swarm in Yukon, Canada. These global comparisons could offer clues to the origin of Sudan's 'Landlocked Lips,' but for now, the mysterious hill remains an intriguing natural feature awaiting further study. Also read | Is the 'doomsday fish' a real omen of disaster? Here's what scientists say
Forbes
14-05-2025
- Science
- Forbes
Earth Impactors Remain A Catastrophic Threat, Says Leading Geologist
Illustration of Pteranodon sp. flying reptiles watching a massive asteroid approaching Earth's ... More surface. A similar impact is believed to have led to the death of the dinosaurs some 65 million years ago. The impact would have thrown trillions of tons of dust into the atmosphere, cooling the Earth's climate significantly, which may have been responsible for the mass extinction. A layer of iridium-rich rock, known as the K-pg boundary, is thought to be the remnants of the impact debris. Earth impactors of the sort that brought down the dinosaurs are now usually looked upon as relics of the distant past. Indeed, most of Earth's asteroidal incursions took place hundreds of millions of years earlier than the Chicxulub impactor that hit Earth some 66 million years ago. But each year astronomers detect new asteroids, and their impact threat remains real. The United Nations has even declared 2029 for as the 'International Year of Asteroid Awareness and Planetary Defense.' Even if a small 50-meter diameter object hits a large city, it could easily kill a million people, Christian Koeberl, a planetary scientist at the University of Vienna, tells me at the European Geosciences Union (EGU) General Assembly 2025 in Austria. We now know of 40,000 Earth crossing or near-Earth asteroids, he says. In a decade's time, we may have detected as many as 100,000 near-Earth asteroids, says Koeberl. Yet on Earth there are only 200 currently known impact craters and only three are known to be truly ancient between 2.2 to 2.3 billion years old. And less than half of the 200 have precisely determined ages. That's not very many, but Earth is an active geological body, and so things change on the surface over time, says Koeberl. On Earth, there's constant weathering, erosion, volcanism as well as plate tectonics, the means by which our planet recycles its crust. Even though Galileo first identified what we now know are impact craters on the moon in 1610, geologists didn't definitively link those lunar craters to impacts until rock samples from Apollo 11 were analyzed in Earth laboratories, says Koeberl. But in the 1980s, when evidence for the dinosaur-killing impactor was discovered, geologists realized that all you need is a very small asteroidal object to make a crater that is least 20 times larger than the impacting body, says Koeberl. How important has satellite remote sensing been in identifying Earth impact craters? It used to be somewhat useful, but it has run its course, because by now, we have identified all the circular structures that are obvious of impact origin, says Koeberl. Even so, Koeberl notes that he's constantly bombarded by amateur Google Earth impact sleuths who think they have found a new impact crater. But as Koeberl explains nearly all such photos have been formed by wholly Earth-based geological processes. Impacts are the highest energetic geological process that we know, says Koeberl. Each event per area, per affected rock is somewhere between a hundred to a few thousand times more energetic than the largest volcanic eruption possible, he says. In fact, they are so energetic that they cause changes in the affected rocks' mineral structure. I could name a dozen other geological processes that form circular crater-like features on Earth's surface, says Koeberl. This is what brings us to the very important point of shock metamorphism, which is how you identify an impact crater, he says. Koeberl takes out his laptop and shows me a magnified image of a quartz crystal rock that has the telltale signatures of impact shock. No normal quartz crystal will look like this, says Koeberl. The lines that go through here are what we call shock lamellae, and they only form from an impact and no other geological process, he says. The paucity of ancient craters also correlates with major episodes of extensive 'Snowball Earth' glaciation phases, with its related subglacial erosion some 650 to 720 million years ago, Koeberl and colleagues note in a 2024 paper in the journal Precambrian Research. It's thought to have removed kilometers of material from the continents, enough to erase most existing impact craters except for the large ones, they write. Despite their potential for calamity, serendipitously, a few impacts have inadvertently revealed precious metals buried beneath Earth's surface. Located in the center of the Witwatersrand gold fields in present day South Africa, the Vredefort impact event formed the largest impact structure that remains at least partly preserved, the authors note. Some two billion years ago, the impact uplifted a massive gold cache that since the 1880s has generated about a third of the total gold ever extracted from our planet, they write. Trouble is, most of us fail to realize that we live in a dynamic solar system with asteroidal and cometary leftovers from its formation that potentially threaten life here in untold ways. Past impact craters on the surface of our planet serve as a reminder that we are constantly bombarded from space, often with devastating consequences, says Koeberl. Such events happened in the past and will happen in the future, he says.
