Geomojis – a Global Symbology for Communicating Geosciences

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claire Shires ◽  
Friederike Spitzl-Dupic ◽  
Michaël Grégoire ◽  
Dana Martin ◽  
Benjamin van Wyk de Vries
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Hazards ◽  
Research Infrastructure ◽  
Local Context ◽  
Geological Hazard ◽  
Geological Environment ◽  
Geological Hazards ◽  
Earth System ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Coherent Communication ◽  
Hazard And Risk

<p>Communicating geosciences across linguistic and cultural borders is becoming increasingly important in our globalised world, and it is as important to have a globally coherent communication as it is to have global research infrastructure. In the context of geological hazards and the geological environment, we need a clear system that enables specialists and others to communicate effectively with each other. By using symbols and pictograms to represent geohazards, we can communicate these hazards clearly and efficiently. Certain hazard symbols are already in use across the globe, such as those for chemical or environmental hazards. In this project, we focus on the geological environment and geohazards, and much of the work is done within a UNESCO Geoscience Programme project 'Geoheritage for Resilience', using geoheritage sites as sites for communication and testing. The geological pictograms, or ‘geomojis’, bridge the gap between simple symbols and words, crossing language borders by representing concepts that we have identified as particularly important for understanding geohazards and risk. Our geomojis are based on the Global Framework for Geology (see Global and Planetary Change, 2018 - https://digitalcommons.mtu.edu/michigantech-p/427), also introduced during the IUGG centenary at UNESCO. This shows the context where they fit in the Earth system. We invite feedback on the geomojis that we have created, to consolidate geoscience knowledge and create a basic standardised set of symbols for all geological hazards. This standardisation of geohazard symbols could improve communication not only between specialists and non-specialists, but between geologists themselves. The global framework and geomojis will help us to think outside the box of our specialist environment. The geohazard pictograms can be used for geoscience communication in all forms, from hazard and risk publications to signage at geological sites. They can be adapted and modified for the local context and needs, while providing a central, and global, base for comparison. We plan to use the geomojis to accompany a multilingual glossary on geological hazard and risk terminology, a project that we hope will help international geoscience communication.</p>

Editorial: Fire in the Earth System

PAGES news ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 55-57 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cathy Whitlock ◽  
Willy Tinner
Keyword(s):  
Earth System ◽  
The Earth

SPIES AND BLOGGERS: NEW SYNTHETIC BIOLOGY TOOLS TO UNDERSTAND MICROBIAL PROCESSES IN THE EARTH SYSTEM

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caroline A. Masiello ◽  
◽  
Jonathan J. Silberg ◽  
Hsiao-Ying Cheng ◽  
Ilenne Del Valle ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Synthetic Biology ◽  
Microbial Processes ◽  
Earth System ◽  
The Earth

scholarly journals High and specific diversity of protists in the deep-sea basins dominated by diplonemids, kinetoplastids, ciliates and foraminiferans

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandra Schoenle ◽  
Manon Hohlfeld ◽  
Karoline Hermanns ◽  
Frédéric Mahé ◽  
Colomban de Vargas ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Cycling ◽  
Deep Sea ◽  
Trophic Levels ◽  
Earth System ◽  
Parasitic Species ◽  
Unicellular Eukaryotes ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Dna Metabarcoding ◽  
Global Carbon ◽  
Pelagic Communities

AbstractHeterotrophic protists (unicellular eukaryotes) form a major link from bacteria and algae to higher trophic levels in the sunlit ocean. Their role on the deep seafloor, however, is only fragmentarily understood, despite their potential key function for global carbon cycling. Using the approach of combined DNA metabarcoding and cultivation-based surveys of 11 deep-sea regions, we show that protist communities, mostly overlooked in current deep-sea foodweb models, are highly specific, locally diverse and have little overlap to pelagic communities. Besides traditionally considered foraminiferans, tiny protists including diplonemids, kinetoplastids and ciliates were genetically highly diverse considerably exceeding the diversity of metazoans. Deep-sea protists, including many parasitic species, represent thus one of the most diverse biodiversity compartments of the Earth system, forming an essential link to metazoans.

scholarly journals Applicability of NGGM near-real time simulations in flood detection

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 111-126
Author(s):  
A. F. Purkhauser ◽  
J. A. Koch ◽  
R. Pail
Keyword(s):  
European Space Agency ◽  
Earth System ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Future Mission ◽  
Space Agency ◽  
Flood Detection ◽  
The One ◽  
Real Time Simulations ◽  
Grace Mission ◽  
Gravity Mission

Abstract The GRACE mission has demonstrated a tremendous potential for observing mass changes in the Earth system from space for climate research and the observation of climate change. Future mission should on the one hand extend the already existing time series and also provide higher spatial and temporal resolution that is required to fulfil all needs placed on a future mission. To analyse the applicability of such a Next Generation Gravity Mission (NGGM) concept regarding hydrological applications, two GRACE-FO-type pairs in Bender formation are analysed. The numerical closed loop simulations with a realistic noise assumption are based on the short arc approach and make use of the Wiese approach, enabling a self-de-aliasing of high-frequency atmospheric and oceanic signals, and a NRT approach for a short latency. Numerical simulations for future gravity mission concepts are based on geophysical models, representing the time-variable gravity field. First tests regarding the usability of the hydrology component contained in the Earth System Model (ESM) by the European Space Agency (ESA) for the analysis regarding a possible flood monitoring and detection showed a clear signal in a third of the analysed flood cases. Our analysis of selected cases found that detection of floods was clearly possible with the reconstructed AOHIS/HIS signal in 20% of the tested examples, while in 40% of the cases a peak was visible but not clearly recognisable.

scholarly journals A potential feedback loop underlying glacial-interglacial cycles

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Els Weinans ◽  
Anne Willem Omta ◽  
George A. K. van Voorn ◽  
Egbert H. van Nes
Keyword(s):  
Ocean Circulation ◽  
Feedback Loop ◽  
Atmospheric Temperature ◽  
Earth System ◽  
Biological Productivity ◽  
Ocean Ventilation ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Main Driver ◽  
Underlying Mechanisms ◽  
Convergent Cross Mapping

AbstractThe sawtooth-patterned glacial-interglacial cycles in the Earth’s atmospheric temperature are a well-known, though poorly understood phenomenon. Pinpointing the relevant mechanisms behind these cycles will not only provide insights into past climate dynamics, but also help predict possible future responses of the Earth system to changing CO$$_2$$ 2 levels. Previous work on this phenomenon suggests that the most important underlying mechanisms are interactions between marine biological production, ocean circulation, temperature and dust. So far, interaction directions (i.e., what causes what) have remained elusive. In this paper, we apply Convergent Cross-Mapping (CCM) to analyze paleoclimatic and paleoceanographic records to elucidate which mechanisms proposed in the literature play an important role in glacial-interglacial cycles, and to test the directionality of interactions. We find causal links between ocean ventilation, biological productivity, benthic $$\delta ^{18}$$ δ 18 O and dust, consistent with some but not all of the mechanisms proposed in the literature. Most importantly, we find evidence for a potential feedback loop from ocean ventilation to biological productivity to climate back to ocean ventilation. Here, we propose the hypothesis that this feedback loop of connected mechanisms could be the main driver for the glacial-interglacial cycles.

scholarly journals A Clear Past and a Murky Future: Life in the Anthropocene on the Pampana River, Sierra Leone

Land ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 72 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Marcantonio ◽  
Agustin Fuentes
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Change ◽  
Sierra Leone ◽  
Complex Adaptive Systems ◽  
Human Activities ◽  
Adaptive Systems ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Earth System ◽  
Sierra Leonean ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Complex Adaptive

The impacts of human activities on ecosystems are significantly increasing the rate of environmental change in the earth system, reshaping the global landscape. The rapid rate of environmental change is disrupting the ability of millions of people around the globe to live their everyday lives and maintain their human niche. Evidence suggests that we have entered (or created) a new epoch, the Anthropocene, which is defined as the period in which humans and human activities are the primary drivers of planetary change. The Anthropocene denotes a global shift, but it is the collective of local processes. This is our frame for investigating local accounts of human-caused disruptive environmental change in the Pampana River in Tonkolili District, Northern Province, Sierra Leone. Since the end of the Sierra Leonean civil war in 2002, the country has experienced a rapid increase in extractive industries, namely mining. We explored the effects of this development by working with communities along the Pampana River in Tonkolili, with a specific focus given to engaging local fishermen through ethnographic interviews (N = 21 fishermen and 33 non-fishermen), focus group discussions (N = 21 fishermen), and participant observation. We deployed theoretical and methodological frameworks from human niche construction theory, complex adaptive systems, and ethnography to track disruptive environmental change in and on the Pampana from upstream activities and the concomitant shifts in the local human niche. We highlight the value of integrating ethnographic methods with human evolutionary theory, produce important insights about local human coping processes with disruptive environmental change, and help to further account for and understand the ongoing global process of human modification of the earth system in the Anthropocene.

Dryland Degradation and Expansion: Implications for Mexican Policies from the Earth System Perspective

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-4
Author(s):  
Gabriel Lopez Porras
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Science Policy ◽  
Land Degradation ◽  
Water Scarcity ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Earth System ◽  
Sustainable Land Management ◽  
System Perspective ◽  
The Earth

Despite international efforts to stop dryland degradation and expansion, current dryland pathways are predicted to result in large-scale migration, growing poverty and famine, and increasing climate change, land degradation, conflicts and water scarcity. Earth system science has played a key role in analysing dryland problems, and has been even incorporated in global assessments such as the ones made by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. However, policies addressing dryland degradation, like the ‘Mexican programme for the promotion of sustainable land management’, do not embrace an Earth system perspective, so they do not consider the complexity and non-linearity that underlie dryland problems. By exploring how this Mexican programme could integrate the Earth system perspective, this paper discusses how ’Earth system’ policies could better address dryland degradation and expansion in the Anthropocene.

A digital contract for restoration of the Earth System mediated by a Planetary Boundary Exchange Unit

2021 ◽  
pp. 205301962098727
Author(s):  
Orfeu Bertolami ◽  
Frederico Francisco
Keyword(s):  
Earth System ◽  
New Governance ◽  
Validation Process ◽  
Operational Conditions ◽  
Blockchain Technology ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Optimal Functioning ◽  
Operating Space ◽  
Exchange Unit ◽  
Safe Operating

In this paper, we propose a new governance paradigm for managing the Earth System based on a digital contract inspired on blockchain technology. This proposal allows for a radical decentralisation of the procedures of controlling, maintaining and restoring ecosystems by a set of networks willing to engage in improving the operational conditions of local ecosystems so to contribute to an optimal functioning of the Earth System. These procedures are aimed to improve local Planetary Boundary parameters so that they approach the optimal Holocene reference values, the so-called Safe Operating Space, via a reciprocal validation process and an exchange unit that internalises the state of the Earth System.

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