European Geosciences Union
Division on Cryospheric Sciences
President: Olaf Eisen (cr@egu.eu)
Deputy President: Carleen Tijm-Reijmer
(c.h.tijm-reijmer@uu.nl)
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 is to facilitate the exchange of information within the science community. It does so by organizing series of sessions at the annual EGU 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.
The 2020 Julia and Johannes Weertman Medal is awarded to Julienne C. Stroeve for her fundamental contributions to improved satellite observations of sea ice, better understanding of causes of sea ice variability and change, and her compelling communication to the wider public.
The 2020 Division Outstanding Early Career Scientist Award is awarded to Anna E. Hogg for outstanding research in the field of satellite remote sensing of the cryosphere and her contributions to science communications.
The 2019 Louis Agassiz Medal is awarded to Andreas Kääb for innovative and multidisciplinary contributions to the field of remote sensing of the cryosphere, with applications in glacier mass balance, permafrost and geohazards.
The 2019 Outstanding Student Poster and PICO (OSPP) Award is awarded to Bartosz Kurjanski Cool deltas – Sedimentary environments of the Salpausselka I and II moraine ridges near Lahti, Finland
The 2019 Outstanding Student Poster and PICO (OSPP) Award is awarded to Gregory Church Detecting and characterising an englacial conduit network within a temperate Swiss glacier using active seismic and ground penetrating radar
The 2019 Arne Richter Award for Outstanding Early Career Scientists is awarded to Marie Dumont for outstanding contributions to the field of snow sciences.
Scientists struggle to get ice samples from the depths of glaciers where fundamental pieces of information about the climate of Earth are stored. But in many places around the periphery of the Greenland Ice Sheet, you don’t need to drill a deep ice core to obtain ancient ice, you can simply walk across the ice sheet’s margin and look at the layered ice surface. There you can read the ice as though it was an open book, distinguishing the oldest …
As Antarctica’s mass loss increases, the threat of crossing tipping points both in the ice sheet and the surrounding Southern Ocean is increasing. But what actually is a tipping point? Have tipping points already been crossed in the past? And what might the future hold? What do we mean by a “tipping point”? Scientifically speaking, a tipping point is generally understood to be a threshold that, once crossed, leads to large scale and irreversible changes. It is tied to a …
In Switzerland, nothing is really remote, but some places are more so than others. Dense infrastructure networks typically provide convenient access to research sites in the Alps where it is difficult to feel far away from home. However, this is not always the case… For us, our home for the summer is a bit different. We work at 2400 m above sea level in Southern Switzerland, in a narrow valley running parallel to the Swiss-Italian border. Our base camp is …
When the Antarctic ice sheet loses mass, the pressure it exerts on the underlying solid Earth decreases. As the ice sheet becomes less heavy, the Earth’s surface is not pressed down as much as before and therefore rises again slowly. In some regions, this rebound process is much faster than previously thought and could stabilise areas of unstable ice retreat. How come? Keep reading to figure it out… PS: You’ll find some clues in the picture! What is Glacial Isostatic …
As part of EGU’s Natural Hazards and Risk Reduction Month, this newsletter issue checks in on the state of progress of the 2015–2030 Sendai Framework and how different countries have approached this landmark agreement. This issue also highlights blogs from each of this month’s featured EGU divisions: Hydrological Sciences, Natural Hazards, and Seismology, plus a GeoLog about spatial seismic hazard in western Indonesia.
Upcoming events include a day-long ERC webinar hosted by EGU and the Union’s Autumn Election 2020 for the EGU Treasurer, for which members will receive an e-ballot in the mail next week.
The Loupe also features a new webinar about ERC grants, a new statement by EGU, and a call for new ECS members of the Education Committee. Be sure to apply by 2 November!