Terrestrial ecosystems at risk of major shifts as temperatures increase Press release 8 October 2013 Over 80% of the world’s ice-free land is at risk of profound ecosystem transformation by 2100, a new study reveals. “Essentially, we would be leaving the world as we know it,” says Sebastian Ostberg of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Germany. Ostberg and collaborators studied the critical impacts of climate change on landscapes and have now published their results in Earth System Dynamics. Read more
Tiny plankton could have big impact on climate Press release 13 September 2013 As the climate changes and oceans’ acidity increases, tiny plankton seem set to succeed. An international team of marine scientists has found that the smallest plankton groups thrive under elevated carbon dioxide (CO2) levels. This could cause an imbalance in the food web as well as decrease ocean CO2 uptake, an important regulator of global climate. The results of the study, conducted off the coast of Svalbard, Norway, in 2010, are now compiled in a special issue published in Biogeosciences. Read more
Educators: apply now to take part in the 2014 GIFT workshop! 10 September 2013 The Geosciences Information For Teachers workshop is taking place on April 27–30 2014 at the EGU General Assembly in Vienna, Austria. The topic of the 2014 edition of GIFT is Our Changing Planet and the workshop will explore some of the recent complex changes of our environment, particularly in the framework of the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Read more
Using digital SLRs to measure the height of Northern Lights Press release 6 September 2013 Scientific research doesn’t often start from outreach projects. Yet, Ryuho Kataoka from the National Institute of Polar Research in Tokyo, Japan, came up with an idea for a new method to measure the height of aurora borealis after working on a 3D movie for a planetarium. Read more
New edition of GeoQ out now! 2 September 2013 The September issue of the quarterly newsletter of the European Geosciences Union is dedicated to young scientists. Of highlight are the articles, on young researchers’ work and a whole new Young Scientists section. Read more
Resource site for young scientists launched 20 August 2013 Early career researchers make up a large proportion of the EGU membership and (graduate and undergraduate) students regularly make up about a third of General Assembly participants. With so many young scientists involved in the EGU, we wanted to produce something that caters for them – the young scientists’ website. Read more
EGU journal implements new requirement for authors to provide computer code of their models 20 August 2013 The EGU journal Geoscientific Model Development (GMD) has implemented some radical new policies in terms of requirements of the published papers. The changes are highlighted in an editorial recently published in GMD. Read more
Six new blogs join the EGU Blog Network 8 August 2013 The new geoscience blogs cover mineralogy, climate change and volcanology as well as the atmospheric, Quaternary and soil sciences. Like other blogs on the network, their aim is to put complex scientific research into context and share recent findings beyond the usual suspects, opening science up to a much wider audience. Read more
EGU election for president/vice-president and general secretary: propose a candidate 1 August 2013 The autumn 2013 election, where 2013 EGU members will be able to vote for the next president/vice-president and general secretary, is taking place from 1 November to 1 December. From now until 30 September, you are kindly asked to propose a candidate to either vacancy. Read more
Could planting trees in the desert mitigate climate change? Press release 31 July 2013 As the world starts feeling the effects of increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide and consequent global temperature rise, researchers are looking for a Plan B to mitigate climate change. A group of German scientists has now come up with an environmentally friendly method that they say could do just that. Read more
Cluster spacecraft detects elusive space wind Press release 2 July 2013 A new study, published in EGU’s Annales Geophysicae, provides the first conclusive proof of the existence of a space wind first proposed theoretically over 20 years ago. Read more
New edition of GeoQ out now! 3 June 2013 The June issue of the quarterly newsletter of the European Geosciences Union is dedicated to the EGU 2013 General Assembly. Of highlight are the articles, on research published at the meeting, the letter from the Programme Committee Chair and interviews with GIFT teachers. Read more
GPS solution provides three-minute tsunami alerts Press release 17 May 2013 Researchers have shown that, by using global positioning systems (GPS) to measure ground deformation caused by a large underwater earthquake, they can provide accurate warning of the resulting tsunami in just a few minutes after the earthquake onset. Read more
Launching a new EGU interactive open access journal, ESurf 4 April 2013 Earth Surface Dynamics (ESurf) is the newest international scientific journal of the EGU. It is dedicated to the publication and discussion of high-quality research on the physical, chemical and biological processes shaping Earth’s surface and their interactions on all scales. Read more
Austrian Science and Research Minister at the EGU General Assembly 4 April 2013 Karlheinz Töchterle, the Austrian Federal Minister for Science and Research, will attend the EGU Award Ceremony where he will give a presentation on the future of geosciences in Europe. Read more
General Assembly 2013 Media Advisory 4 – On-site registration, press conferences streamed online Press release 2 April 2013 The General Assembly of the European Geosciences Union (EGU), a meeting with over 10,000 scientists that covers all disciplines of the Earth, planetary and space sciences, is taking place next week (07–12 April) in Vienna, Austria. Interested journalists can register on-site free of charge. Those who cannot make it to Vienna, can watch press conferences remotely through a web-streaming link. Media briefings include presentations on the latest Curiosity results, near-Earth objects and the Russian meteor, and the consequences of nuclear disasters. Another event of interest is the Great Debate on shale gas and fracking, which will also be streamed online. Read more
General Assembly 2013 Media Advisory 3 – Full press conference schedule, online registration closing tomorrow Press release 14 March 2013 The schedule of press conferences at the General Assembly of the European Geosciences Union (EGU), which includes briefings on the latest Curiosity results, near-Earth objects and the Russian meteor, and the consequences of nuclear disasters, is now available. The meeting will also feature a Great Debate on shale gas and fracking. Journalists interested in attending should register online by tomorrow. The EGU General Assembly is a meeting with over 10,000 scientists that covers all disciplines of the Earth, planetary and space sciences, and is taking place in Vienna, Austria from 07–12 April 2013. Read more
General Assembly 2013 Media Advisory 2 – Meeting programme online, provisional press conference topics Press release 4 March 2013 The programme for the General Assembly of the European Geosciences Union (EGU), a meeting with over 10,000 scientists that covers all disciplines of the Earth, planetary, and space sciences, is now online. This year’s conference features a Great Debate on shale gas and fracking. Press conferences will include presentations on near-Earth objects and the Russian meteor, the latest results from the Curiosity Mars Rover, and the consequences of nuclear accidents, among other topics. The event will be held on 07–12 April 2013 at the Austria Center Vienna. Read more
March edition of the EGU newsletter, GeoQ, now published! 4 March 2013 Don’t miss the Articles section, the letter from the EGU Awards Committee Chair Alberto Montanari in EGU Voice, and a very interesting Education article featuring micropalaeontology activities for the classroom. The pieces in the External News section are also of mention: one introduces the Future Earth initiative and the other a science policy programme from the other side of the Atlantic. Read more
Job opportunity at the EGU Executive Office: Educational Fellow 22 February 2013 We intend to appoint a Fellow to expand the Union’s educational programme with activities that are targeted directly at school students. These activities will complement our current efforts, such as the Geosciences Information for Teachers workshop (GIFT), which are aimed primarily at teachers. The Fellow will further assist our Education Committee with an EGU-UNESCO collaboration intended to expand GIFT to Africa. Read more
