news from the lab 2016

EPFL scientists measured for the first time - at centimeter resolutions - how the snowscape of Antarctic ice in the sea changed, before and after a blizzard. This data will help build better weather models for the South Pole and the world's climate. EPFL scientists provided the first detailed measurements of how a blizzard affects snow cover on an Antarctic ice floe.

The researchers have studied the shape of the ribcage in more than 120 tetrapods - from prehistoric times up to the present day. (Image: UZH) What do enormous dinosaurs have in common with tiny shrews' They are both four-legged vertebrates, otherwise known as tetrapods. In the course of evolution, tetrapods developed various body shapes and sizes - from the mouse to the dinosaur - to adapt to different environments.

Measurements at 49 sites all over the world show that, since 2010, long-declining global atmospheric ethane concentrations are on the uptick again in the Northern Hemisphere. The new study by an international team of researchers concluded that the rise was most likely largely due to greater oil and gas production in the US.

Why are volcanologists interested in vapour bubbles? Because they can accumulate in a magma reservoir underneath a volcano, priming it to explode.

Mistakes can happen when estimating emissions of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane. Researchers funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation have developed a method to independently validate national statistics. The signatory countries of the Kyoto Protocol and the new Paris Agreement have committed to reduce global warming.

14. The Trace Gas Orbiter, which will search for traces of biological life on the red planet, was launched into space this morning.

An international expedition, led by ETH Professor Gretchen Bernasconi-Green, has discovered traces of life in a core sample. The geologist explains what this means. An international team of scientists returned last December from an IODP (International Ocean Discovery Program) expedition to the Atlantis Massif in the Atlantic Ocean.

Mars's southern hemisphere has a tumultuous past that was marked by significant volcanism. Now an ETH researcher has discovered that these many volcanoes are not distributed randomly but in fact lie along specific lines. These could well correspond to different paths taken by mantle plumes. Planetary scientist Giovanni Leone at ETH Zurich's Institute of Geophysics has lost count of the hours he has spent poring over high-resolution satellite images to study structures on the surface of Mars.

A warming climate is likely to drive species to higher, cooler altitudes. A new study highlights a less obvious, yet crucial way in which their new habitat could differ from the one they leave behind. Mountains are home to many living species, with biodiversity typically peaking at mid-altitudes. Scientists have long struggled to explain why this is the case, invoking factors such as low temperatures at high elevations or human disturbance further down.