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 Louis Agassiz medal for outstanding contributions to the science of the cryosphere.
The 2018 Louis Agassiz Medal is awarded to Frank Pattyn for his unsurpassed contributions to the understanding of large-scale ice-sheet dynamics and his leadership in the internationally coordinated efforts to improve ice-sheet models.
The 2018 Outstanding Student Poster and PICO (OSPP) Awards is awarded to Fanny Brun Can ice cliffs explain the “debris-cover anomaly”? New insights from Changri Nup Glacier, Nepal
The 2018 Outstanding Student Poster and PICO (OSPP) Awards is awarded to Sandra Vázquez-Martín Ground-based in-situ snowfall speed measurements: Microphysical properties of snowflakes
The 2017 Louis Agassiz Medal is awarded to Eric Rignot for fundamental innovations in the remote sensing of glacier flow, leading to the first assessments of the mass balance of the ice sheets of Antarctica and Greenland.
The 2017 Division Outstanding Early Career Scientists Award is awarded to Ricarda Winkelmann for her innovative contributions to glaciology and the study of the interactions between climate and glaciation.
The 2017 Outstanding Student Poster and PICO (OSPP) Awards is awarded to Flavien Beaud Numerical modelling of esker formation in semi-circular subglacial channels
The 2017 Outstanding Student Poster and PICO (OSPP) Awards is awarded to Louis Quéno Forecasting and modelling ice layer formation on the snowpack due to freezing precipitation in the Pyrenees
![Image of the Week – On thin [Arctic sea] ice](https://cdn.egu.eu/media/news/blogmessages/2018/10/19/11a9ad0bdf072b3640f9ed1a120c8e4f.jpg.250x250_q85_crop_upscale.jpg)
Perhaps the most enduring and important signal of a warming climate has been that the minimum Arctic sea ice extent, occurring each year in September, has declined precipitously. Over the last 40 years, most of the Arctic sea ice has thus been transformed to first-year ice that freezes in the winter and melts in the summer. Concern about sea ice extent and area is valid: since sea ice is a highly reflective surface, a reduction of its area has a …
Communicating scientific findings toward non-experts is a vital part of cryosphere science. However, when it comes to climate change and its impact, the gap between scientific knowledge and human action has never been so evident (see for instance, the publication of the latest IPCC special report). Today, our image of the week features an interview with Cryo Connect, a new initiative for more efficient flow of information between cryosphere scientists and information seekers. Why have you decided to come up …
One of the most challenging research questions to address in the Arctic is how freshwater discharge from Greenland’s largest glaciers affects the biogeochemistry of the ocean. Just getting close to the calving fronts of these large marine-terminating glaciers is difficult. Fjords, hundreds of kilometers long and full of icebergs which shift with the wind and roll as they melt, make the commute a little difficult. Navigating these fjords to within a few kilometers of Greenland’s largest glaciers requires a combination …
The Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets are major players in future sea level rise. Still, there is a lot about these ice sheets we do not understand. Under the umbrella of the World Climate Research Programme, the international scientific community is coming together to improve ice sheet modelling efforts to better grasp the implications of climate change for ice sheet evolution, and consequently, sea level rise… What are ice sheets? An ice sheet is a massive chunk of glacier ice …
Last week, the EGU hosted its first science-policy dinner debate in Brussels. The event, 'Horizon Geoscience: overcoming societal challenges, creating change', was organised in collaboration with the European Federation of Geologists (EFG) and brought together geoscientists, policymakers and industry representatives. On the EGU website, we report on the outcome of the discussion and publish the key findings from the Horizon 2020 Geoscience Survey conducted earlier this year.
In the past few weeks, we have also issued three press releases highlighting research published in some of EGU's open access journals. Follow the links to find out how bombing raids in the Second World War impacted the ionosphere, how glacial geoengineering could help limit sea-level rise, and what the point of no return for climate action might be.