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Bluesy glacier (Credit: Velio Coviello, distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu)

CR Cryospheric Sciences Division on Cryospheric Sciences

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European Geosciences Union

Division on Cryospheric Sciences
cr.egu.eu

Division on Cryospheric Sciences

President: Daniel Farinotti (Emailcr@egu.eu)
Deputy President: Carleen Tijm-Reijmer (Email)
ECS Representative: Aakriti Srivastava (Emailecs-cr@egu.eu)

The cryosphere are those parts of the Earth and other planetary bodies that are subject to prolonged periods of temperatures below the freezing point of water. These include glaciers, frozen ground, sea ice, snow and ice. One of the main aims of the EGU Division on Cryospheric Sciences (CR) is to facilitate the exchange of information within the science community. It does so by organising series of sessions at the annual EGU General Assembly, and through the publishing of the open-access journal The Cryosphere. The division awards the Julia and Johannes Weertman medal for outstanding contributions to the science of the cryosphere.

Latest posts from the CR blog

Did you know: Soot is a melting agent for glaciers in Peru and China

Mountain glaciers are melting rapidly due to global warming. This process is being intensified by increasingly extreme natural events, such as forest fires and air pollution from human activities. One of the main culprits is a tiny but powerful pollutant called black carbon (commonly known as soot) which darkens the surface of the snow and makes it met faster under the sun. But how much of this pollutant is actually ending up on glaciers? And what does this mean for …


The Proglacial Puzzle: Sampling of Glacier-fed Lakes in Greenland

Would you like to follow the endeavours of a small team working in the ice-marginal terrain in South-West Greenland? They set out to investigate proglacial lakes using sediment coring, water sampling and gas collections (figure 1), aiming to better understand methane dynamics, proglacial terrain development and the environmental drivers behind methane production in glacially influenced lake systems. Here, you will read how the team is confronted with the resistance of frozen landscapes and strives to uncover the elusive truths hidden …


Cryosphere Caps: PhD hats and the researchers that wear them – Episode 4

This miniseries features the tradition of ‘PhD hat’ making in German research institutes and universities. For those of you unfamiliar with this idea (as I once was), this is one of the final milestones a graduate student has before they are officially a “Dr.”. Upon the successful defense of a thesis, the labmates of the PhD student craft a graduation hat from a mishmash of scrap cardboard and memorabilia. Hours of work go into these beloved pieces, and you can …


Tracking the Footprints of a Vanishing Glaciers in the Greater Caucasus

In this week’s blog, Levan Tielidze tells us about his recent glacier study from the Greater Caucasus. By combining geomorphology, remote sensing, and historical cartography, the team reconstructed nearly 200 years of glacier and climate change across one of the world’s most dynamic cryospheric frontiers. Glaciers’ transformation provides a high-resolution archive of post-Little Ice Age climate dynamics in this region where instrumental records are sparse. The Greater Caucasus and the Little Ice Age The majestic Greater Caucasus mountains, a rugged …

Recent awardees

Shin Sugiyama

Shin Sugiyama

  • 2025
  • Julia and Johannes Weertman Medal

The 2025 Julia and Johannes Weertman Medal is awarded to Shin Sugiyama for outstanding work in the field of glacier dynamics and ice-water interactions, including seminal contributions to our understanding of lake-calving glaciers and ice-dammed lake outbursts.


Brice Noël

Brice Noël

  • 2025
  • Arne Richter Award for Outstanding Early Career Scientists

The 2025 Arne Richter Award for Outstanding Early Career Scientists is awarded to Brice Noël for outstanding research in the field of the surface mass budget of ice caps and ice sheets, based on regional climate modelling.


Gwenn E. Flowers

Gwenn E. Flowers

  • 2024
  • Julia and Johannes Weertman Medal

The 2024 Julia and Johannes Weertman Medal is awarded to Gwenn E. Flowers for outstanding research in the field of the theoretical and observational hydrology of glaciers, ice caps and continental ice masses.


Katrina Lutz

Katrina Lutz

  • 2024
  • Outstanding Student and PhD candidate Presentation (OSPP) Award

The 2024 Outstanding Student and PhD candidate Presentation (OSPP) Award is awarded to Katrina Lutz Evaluation of supraglacial lake depth estimation techniques using Sentinel-2, ICESat-2, TanDEM-X, and in situ data, along with an analysis of rapid drainage events over Northeast Greenland


Laura Gabriel

Laura Gabriel

  • 2024
  • Outstanding Student and PhD candidate Presentation (OSPP) Award

The 2024 Outstanding Student and PhD candidate Presentation (OSPP) Award is awarded to Laura Gabriel Exploring englacial hydrology with surface nuclear magnetic resonance


Nora Krebs

Nora Krebs

  • 2024
  • Outstanding Student and PhD candidate Presentation (OSPP) Award

The 2024 Outstanding Student and PhD candidate Presentation (OSPP) Award is awarded to Nora Krebs Testing four Sentinel (1 and 2) and MODIS Fractional Snow Cover products for the evaluation of five Alpine Cosmic Ray Neutron Sensing sites


Laura A. Stevens

Laura A. Stevens

  • 2024
  • Arne Richter Award for Outstanding Early Career Scientists

The 2024 Arne Richter Award for Outstanding Early Career Scientists is awarded to Laura A. Stevens for outstanding research into the links between glacial hydrology and ice dynamics, and for their service to the cryosphere community.

Current issue of the EGU newsletter

In our July issue we mark the 60th anniversary of the innovative tunnel under Mont Blanc and learn more about the complex data needs of early warning systems for landslides and flooding with William Veniss from GfGD. Discover your career options inside and out of academia with this recent EGUwebinar hosted by Veronica Peverelli and don't miss the next EGU Science-Policy Hangout on 4 August!

Also now is the time to nominate a candidate for EGU President and other Council roles, by 3 September, and don't forget to submit your EGU26 session proposals by 13:00 CEST 16 September. All this and much more, in this month's Loupe!