33 news posts in Frontiers in Earth Science

Life sciences

02 Sep 2016

One vent just isn’t enough for some volcanoes

by Simon Watt, Frontiers Science Writer One vent just isn’t enough for some volcanoes: the curious case of Mount Etna’s wandering craters. Volcanoes are geology at its most exciting. They seem so fiery, dangerous and thrillingly explosive. That may be true, but most old and mature volcanoes are surprisingly stuck in their ways and even if when they will blow is difficult to forecast, where they will blow from is often more predictable. The majority of volcanoes look as they do in a child’s drawing; like a steep mountain with its head cut off. They have a summit crater and, if they erupt, it is from this rocky orifice that lava and ash spews. But this is not the case with Mount Etna on the Island of Sicily, Italy, a study published in the open-access journal Frontiers in Earth Science found. Etna has been collecting new summits as though they are Pokémon. It is as if the mountain has had an outbreak of acne, with multiple cones forming in a geologically short space of time. According to Professor Valerio Acocella, of Roma Tre University and his colleagues from Ingv Catania, this makes Etna “perfect for study”. Valerio and […]

Climate action

18 Dec 2015

News from #AGU15: Heat stress in dense populations and impacts of the 2015-16 El Niño

Gearóid Ó Faoleán, Journal Manager of Frontiers in Earth Science, is representing Frontiers at the AGU Fall Meeting in San Francisco, the world’s largest earth and space science meeting. Here, in the 1st of a series of posts, he reports on some of the exciting press conferences he attended at the conference. The impacts of heat stress on densely populated regions in the 21st century Monday, 14 December 2015 Ethan Coffel, PhD candidate, Center for Climate Systems Research, Columbia University, New York, New York, U.S.A Radley Horton, Associate Research Scientist, Center for Climate Systems Research, Columbia University, New York, New York, U.S.A. Noah Diffenbaugh, Associate Professor, Stanford University, and Senior Fellow, Woods Institute for the Environment, Stanford, California, U.S.A. The participants spoke of global exposure to heat stress for this coming century and the effects it will have on our health and, linking to that, economic performance; as well as global infrastructure. Ethan Coffel first gave an overview of his research on global wet-bulb temperature, a combined measure of temperature and humidity. It was noted that while recent global heatwaves, in this context, were in the range of 29-31 °C, human tolerance is estimated to be 35 °C maximum. Thus, a global temperature rise could have serious repercussions for humankind. Dr Radley Horton […]

Frontiers news

21 Oct 2015

Geochemistry section launches in Frontiers in Earth Science

We are very pleased to announce the launch of Frontiers in Earth Science latest specialty section, Geochemistry, led by Chief Editors Prof.Craig Lundstrom (University of Illinois) and Prof. Martyn Tranter (University of Bristol). This specialty section encompasses both high- and low-temperature aspects of the discipline, with an Associate Editorial Board currently composed of the following researchers (more to follow soon): Kirsty C. Crockett (Scottish Association for Marine Science) Andrew Mitchell (Aberystwyth University) Mark Skidmore (Montana State University) Jean-Louis Vigneresse (Georesources Université de Lorraine) Mission Statement: Modern geochemistry often focuses on determining how elements are distributed between different reservoirs that make up the Earth, the Solar System or beyond. However, its ultimate goal is identification and in-depth understanding of the mechanisms by which these chemical reservoirs form and evolve, thus improving our understanding of how the Earth works as a geochemical system. Indeed, the flux of chemical species between these reservoirs – both in the past and at present, as well as in the future – provides an important constraint for modeling the past and predicting the future. As Prof. Tranter states: “Geochemistry is a fundamental means of understanding the operation, maintenance and evolution of ecosystems on earth, and very likely other habitats in our galaxy. […]