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.
In July 2017, the world’s largest iceberg known as A68 calved from the Larsen C Ice Shelf, located in the western Weddell Sea, Antarctica. Since then, A68 has lost two chunks of ice, A68-B and A68-C, but still remains a giant after more than 3 years. How did it feel to be the greatest, A68? Being the greatest With a length of 175 km and being about 50 km wide, this giant iceberg also appropriately received massive media attention. The …
“Be thou as chaste as ice, as pure as snow”. Hamlet, Act 3 Scene 1 (W. Shakespeare) Snow and ice are not always as pristine as one may think. If you have ever walked on a glacier or on a snowfield during summer, you might have already noticed that. In fact, both snow and ice are often darkened by impurities. In this blog post, you will learn about the main processes leading to ice and snow darkening, thus promoting their …
Permafrost, or perennially frozen, peatlands are among the world’s largest terrestrial carbon stores and are particularly threatened by warming climates. Understanding how modern climate controls the distribution of permafrost peatlands is crucial for making confident predictions of their past and future extents. What are permafrost peatlands? Peatlands are wetlands that develop where cold, wet conditions prevent deceased organic matter from fully decomposing, producing organic-rich soils known as peat. Peatlands are widely distributed across the northern hemisphere, with recent estimates suggesting …
Chalaati Glacier is one of the largest glaciers in the Greater Caucasus and has undergone expansive mass loss. In this week’s blog post, Levan Tielidze tells us about Chalaati Glacier variations in the past centuries. His recent study was conducted based on surface exposure dating technique, dendrochronology (tree ring analysis), lichenometry, and satellite imagery. They found out that the Chalaati Glacier area decreased by 34% from 14.9 km2 to 9.9 km2 between 1810 and 2018. At the same time, the …
As part of EGU’s Mineral Month, the September 2020 newsletter commemorates Friedrich Mohs, a German geologist who invented the Mohs Hardness Scale, thereby changing the way people study minerals to this very day. This issue also announces the upcoming EGU-European Parliament Intergroup virtual science-policy event, which will bring together geoscientists, policymakers, and industry representatives on 30 September to discuss how Earth, planetary, and space science researchers can support the European Green Deal.
Other upcoming events include the next EGU webinar on European Research Council grants, to be held on 19 October, and the annual EGU plenary meeting, which will be held virtually on 22 October.
The Loupe also features the latest EGU blogs, science policy news, and a call for new members of the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Working Group. Be sure to apply by 21 October!