European Geosciences Union
Division on Climate: Past, Present & Future
President: Irka Hajdas (cl@egu.eu)
Deputy President: Didier Roche
(didier.roche@lsce.ipsl.fr)
The Division on Climate: Past, Present & Future is one of the larger divisions of the European Geosciences Union. It pools from many disciplines and consequently has many co-organized and co-listed sessions with other divisions at the general assembly. The division is very interdisciplinary and covers climate variations on all time scales. CL includes the study of any kind of climate archive from rocks to ocean cores, speleothems, ice cores, chronicles, to instrumental records to name a few. Besides observations, climate modeling on all time scales from the deep past to the future are areas covered by the division. Any aspect of the climate system falls into the realm of the division e.g. atmosphere, ocean, biosphere, cryosphere, and geology. Themes focus on the climate on Earth but may also expand other planets or the sun.
EGU is saddened to report the death of John Kutzbach, a Professor Emeritus in the Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences and former Director of the Center for Climatic Research at University of Wisconsin-Madison. Kutzbach was awarded EGU’s Milankovich Medal in 2001 for his “pioneering and outstanding contributions towards the understanding of the response of the climate system to astronomical forcing using three-dimensional ocean-atmosphere models”.
The following tribute was written by Bette Otto-Bliesner in his honour:
Kutzbach’s career centered around using climate models to study previous as well as future climates. His colleagues at the university shared that “Professor Kutzbach’s pioneering use of general circulation models for climate research broke ground for future generations of climate scientists to study past, present, and future aspects of our Earth system. His interdisciplinary work with geologists, geochemists, palaeoecologists, glaciologists, archaeologists, and hydrologists helped identify, and ultimately improve, the quality of the output of the climate models that current Earth system scientists use to develop climate projections."
In recent years, Kutzbach’s work has focused on the impacts of climate and climate change on natural resources and society; past climates and past environments; how humans have contributed to climate change; and present-day climate variability and simulations of future climate changes.
In 2006, AGU awarded Kutzbach the Roger Revelle Medal, citing his body of work that “forms a large part of the framework of our current understanding of past climates”. He was a member of the National Academy of Sciences and Fellow of AGU, AMS, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
John is survived by his wife, Professor Gisela Hanebuth Kutzbach, their three children, and six grandchildren.
On a personal note, John started me, soon after my PhD, on modeling past climates, a rewarding focus that has taken me down a path of many new and intriguing challenges and exciting interdisciplinary collaborations. He was a mentor, a colleague, and a friend.
Bette Otto-Bliesner
National Center for Atmospheric Research
The 2021 Milutin Milankovic Medal is awarded to Ayako Abe-Ouchi for fundamental contributions to our understanding of climate-ice sheet interactions on orbital timescales and how they shape the planetary response to Milankovic cycles.
The 2021 Hans Oeschger Medal is awarded to Sonia I. Seneviratne for her groundbreaking contributions to our understanding of land-climate dynamics, their relevance to weather and climate extremes, and their implications for anthropogenic climate change.
The 2021 Division Outstanding Early Career Scientist Award is awarded to Franziska A. Lechleitner for her contributions to the understanding of the past climate and environment as recorded in speleothems.
The 2020 Hans Oeschger Medal is awarded to Kim M. Cobb for pioneering acquisition and interpretation of high-resolution observations from corals and cave deposits in Earth’s equatorial regions and their implications for climate change.
The 2020 Milutin Milankovic Medal is awarded to Valérie Masson-Delmotte for outstanding contributions to research on long-term climate change, namely palaeotemperature records from ice cores, and for her leadership in international efforts to translate science to society.
The 2020 Arne Richter Award for Outstanding Early Career Scientists is awarded to François Massonnet for his significant contribution to polar climate prediction, projection and reanalyses, including original integration of model and data evidence.
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What makes you unique as a scientist? Most of us are confronted with this question sooner or later in our career, for example when applying for jobs or research grants. The answer is not always easy, especially for Early Career Researchers (ECRs) still developing a strong scientific profile. For me, being able to clearly identify my research niche has been a long process that involved developing independent thinking and the confidence to believe in the worth of my ideas. I …
Cyclostratigraphers aim to read and understand the effect of climate-driven orbital changes in the geological record through time. In doing so, they start from an important prerequisite: An imprint of insolation variations caused by Earth’s orbital eccentricity, obliquity and/or precession (Milankovitch forcing) can be preserved in the geological rock record. The new www.cyclostratigraphy.org website is a learning platform for all geoscientists who want to learn more about the concepts and techniques that underpin our discipline. The website is also open …
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In the August issue of The Loupe learn all about what geodesy is and why it’s so important from Geodesy Division Early Career Scientist co-representative Rebekka Steffen and find out our Top 5 Tips for getting a great science photograph to accompany your research publication or science communication! You can also watch the free recording of our special webinar about Ocean Conservation with Rebecca Helm, available now on our YouTube channel.
Don’t forget that time is running out to submit your #EGU22 scientific session proposal or short course idea; the deadline for submissions is Monday 6 September 2021 so don’t delay, submit today
In addition to the latest Journal Watch and GeoRoundup of August EGU journal highlights, this issue also reminds members to nominate yourself or others for the upcoming Council positions by 15 September.