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 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
A creeping flux of ice descends Everest, creating the dynamic environment of Khumbu Glacier. Ice and snow tumble, debris slumps, ice cliffs melt, englacial cavities collapse, ponds form and drain, all responding to a variable energy balance. Indeed, Khumbu Glacier is a debris-covered glacier, meaning it features a layer of sediment, rocks and house-sized boulders that covers the ice beneath. Recent advances in understanding debris-covered glacier hydrology come from combining in situ surveys with remotely sensed satellite data. Khumbu Glacier …
Over the recent decades, the Arctic has warmed twice as fast as the whole globe. This stronger warming, called “Arctic Amplification”, especially occurs in the Arctic because ice, ocean and atmosphere interact strongly, sometimes amplifying the warming, sometimes reducing it. These interactions are called “feedbacks” and are illustrated in our Image of the Week. Let’s see why these feedbacks are important, how we can measure them and what their implications are. Climate feedbacks in polar regions When it comes to …
What, you may ask, are this group of 22 women doing standing around a fire-pit and what does this have to do with the EGU Cryosphere blog? This group of scientists, artists, teachers, and coaches gathered 2 weeks ago in Switzerland to learn how to become instructors on an Inspiring Girls Expedition. But what, you may ask again, is an Inspiring Girls Expedition? Well read on to find out more… What is an Inspiring Girls Expedition? In 1999 Glaciologist Erin …
It is this time of the year, where any news outlet is full of tips on how to lose weight rapidly to become beach-body ready. According to the media avalanche following the publication of the ice sheet mass balance inter-comparison exercise (IMBIE) team’s Nature paper, Antarctica is the biggest loser out there. In this Image of the Week, we explain how the international team managed to weight Antarctica’s ice sheet and what they found. Estimating the Antarctic ice sheet’s mass …
This month the EGU has opened a call for financial support for training schools in the Earth, planetary or space sciences scheduled for 2019. We also welcome proposals for conferences on solar system and planetary processes, as well as on biochemical processes in the Earth system, in line with two new conference series we are launching that are named after two female scientists.
Also this month, we have opened the EGU 2019 General Assembly call for sessions, with 6 September as a deadline for scientific sessions, short courses and townhall meetings. The deadline to submit proposals for Union Symposia and Great Debates is 15 August. Last but not the least, we are pleased to announced we have raised 17,000 EUR for a carbon offsetting scheme, thanks to 2018 General Assembly participants.