News
August 18, 2014
Reuters said - Iceland's Met Office on Monday raised its risk level to the aviation industry for an eruption at its Bardarbunga volcano to orange, which is the fourth level on a five-grade scale. Ash from the eruption of Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull volcano in 2010 shut down much of Europe's airspace for six days, affecting more than 10 million people and costing $1.7 billion. There has been intense seismic activity at Bardarbunga since Aug. 16, although there are no signs of eruption yet.
August 9, 2014
Canada has launched a mission to map the Arctic seabed to support its bid to extend its territory up to the North Pole. The six-week mission comes in the face of competing claims from other countries, including Russia. Two ice-breakers are setting out from Newfoundland to collect data from an undersea ridge that starts near Ellesmere Island and runs to the Pole. The region is believed to include large oil and gas reserves. Last December Canada filed an application with the UN seeking to vastly expand its Atlantic sea boundary.
August 06, 2014
Government pushes ahead with fracking plan dispite wide opposition.
July 25, 2014
International Association for Geoethics (IAGETH) at the IX National Congress of Geology (Portugal) and 2nd Geological Congress of the Portuguese Speaking Countries (IXCNG/2CoGePLiP)
The IXCNG/2CoGePLiP was held recently in Porto, Portugal, from the 20th to the 24th July, 2014.
July 8, 2014
Litter is now found in even the most remote areas of the oceans, say scientists trying to understand how much rubbish is lying at the bottom of Europe's seas. The new study, published in Plos One, shows for the first time that there seems to be no area of the ocean left untouched by human litter. Using 588 video clips collected by unmanned submarine vehicles for geological mapping and marine biology studies, the team found that plastics waste like shopping bags is the most prevalent.
April 8, 2014
Russia has drafted a program for colonization of the moon, and plans to send the first expeditions to build a permanent lunar base in 2030, the Russian Izvestia daily said Thursday, citing an official document.
"The moon is a space object for the future exploration by terrestrial civilization, and a geopolitical competition for the Moon's natural resources may begin in the 21st century," said a report on a potential lunar program prepared by the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Roscosmos space agency and Moscow State University.
April 11, 2014
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin called three strategic tasks facing Russia in development of outer space, ‘the expansion of our presence in low Earth orbit and the transition from exploration to development of them; developing near-moon space and the Moon; Moon settlement; preparation and beginning of the Mars exploration and other objects in the solar system."
April 5, 2014
Trade Group Rules Against China in Rare Earths Dispute. The World Trade Organization (WTO) has ruled against China in a trade dispute over rare earth elements (REE) as well as tungsten and molybdenum, the group announced on 26 March. The European Union, Japan, and the United States brought trade cases against China in March 2012 concerning alleged unfair export restraints on the materials (see Eos, 93(13), 134–135, doi:10.1029/2012EO130002).
April 5, 2014
Now in Russia 10 areas are already recognized as World Natural Heritage sites and are protected by UNESCO World Heritage status.
April 4, 2014
Residents from 13 different villages in the Izhma district of the Komi region (the Russian Federation) gathered at a public meeting to discuss recent environmental problems caused by Lukoil, the primary oil company operating in this subarctic area. The result of the meeting was sensational for Russia: they unanimously voted for a resolution demanding that the Lukoil-Komi Company should leave the district.