ISSUE 68, AUGUST 2020 EGU NEWSLETTER Monthly information service for members of the European Geosciences Union View this email in HTML format at https://www.egu.eu/newsletter/egu/68/email/ ------------------------------------------------------------ HIGHLIGHTS The United Nations has declared 2020 the International Year of Plant Health (https://egu.eu/3L9P5D/), which it considers a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” to increase awareness of how protecting plants can help reduce poverty, eliminate hunger, and safeguard the environment. This year also marks the close of the U.N.’s landmark Decade on Biodiversity (https://egu.eu/9WDOLZ/). Maintaining plant health and preserving Earth’s biodiversity depend in large part upon safeguarding the health of soils, the most biologically diverse portion (https://egu.eu/7X1RY1/) of our living planet (https://egu.eu/0J64HQ/). This significance is something that geoscientists are acutely aware of. “I chose to study soils because of how useful they are in supporting ecosystems and our well-being and how interdisciplinary their study is,” says soil scientist Olga Vindušková in the August Geotalk blog (https://egu.eu/38AHPH/). Vindušková serves as a blog editor and social media manager for EGU’s Soil System Sciences Division (https://www.egu.eu/sss/home/), which we’re highlighting this month along with the Biogeosciences Division (https://www.egu.eu/bg/home/). Research in both fields is necessarily multi- and interdisciplinary, and the results often have far-reaching implications. One example is the capacity of both soils and plants, especially trees, to store vast amounts of carbon to help counteract the effects of humanity’s increasing fossil fuel consumption, as a GeoLog blog (https://egu.eu/2JO663/) and a Great Debate (https://egu.eu/9C3SYO/) at this year's virtual EGU General Assembly, Sharing Geoscience Online, recently explored. To overcome the challenges of climate change, the European Commission has developed the European Green Deal (https://egu.eu/8NKP15/), a plan that aims to make the EU’s economy sustainable and Europe the first climate-neutral continent. Accomplishing these goals, writes EGU Science Policy Intern Ned Staniland, will require significant scientific expertise, so he proposes three ways geoscientists can support this initiative’s Biodiversity Strategy (https://egu.eu/8OK81J/). EGU is also organising a virtual Integrating science into the EU Green Deal (https://egu.eu/4FAMBH/) event on 30 September to discuss with policymakers how geoscientists can contribute to the plan’s success. Ultimately, its realisation will require expertise from many disciplines, so we hope you’ll register now (https://egu.eu/664WSG/) to join this discussion. ------------------------------------------------------------ IN THIS ISSUE EGU News General Assembly Journal Watch EGU Science in the News EGU Blogs ------------------------------------------------------------ EGU News * EGU Governance Review: an opportunity for reflection (https://egu.eu/3TE68F/) * Obituary: Michael Freilich (1954-2020) (https://egu.eu/592XPQ/) * EGU Autumn 2020 elections: call for Treasurer candidates (https://www.egu.eu/elections/) due 15 September * Registration is now open for an inaugural AOGS-EGU virtual meeting for the AOGS-EGU Joint Conference Series on New Dimensions for Natural Hazards in Asia (https://egu.eu/7JOEH1/) to be held on 21–23 September * Integrating science into the EU Green Deal (https://egu.eu/4FAMBH/): EGU 2020 virtual science-policy event to be held 30 September * Press release: Fossil leaves point to global greening in the coming decades (https://egu.eu/9ZIGTX/) * New EGU Webinar: Engaging with geoscience education (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jG0fQIjkR-Q) More EGU news (https://www.egu.eu/news/all/) items are available on the EGU website. ------------------------------------------------------------ General Assembly * EGU 2021: Call for session proposals (including Short Courses) (https://egu.eu/3ZM2S5/) closes 11 September! More EGU 2021 information is available on the meeting website (https://egu2021.eu/). ------------------------------------------------------------ Journal Watch Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (ACP) * Reviewing global estimates of surface reactive nitrogen concentration and deposition using satellite retrievals (https://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/20/8641/2020/acp-20-8641-2020.html) * Multidecadal trend analysis of in situ aerosol radiative properties around the world (https://acp.copernicus.org/articles/20/8867/2020/) * Remote sensing of methane leakage from natural gas and petroleum systems revisited (https://acp.copernicus.org/articles/20/9169/2020/acp-20-9169-2020.html) * Molecular understanding of new-particle formation from α-pinene between-50 and +25 °C (https://acp.copernicus.org/articles/20/9183/2020/acp-20-9183-2020.html) Atmospheric Measurement Techniques (AMT) * An overview of and issues with sky radiometer technology and SKYNET (https://amt.copernicus.org/articles/13/4195/2020/amt-13-4195-2020.html) Biogeosciences (BG) * The recent state and variability of the carbonate system of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago and adjacent basins in the context of ocean acidification (https://bg.copernicus.org/articles/17/3923/2020/) * Rainfall intensification increases the contribution of rewetting pulses to soil heterotrophic respiration (https://bg.copernicus.org/articles/17/4007/2020/bg-17-4007-2020.html) Earth System Dynamics (ESD) * Impact of environmental changes and land management practices on wheat production in India (https://esd.copernicus.org/articles/11/641/2020/esd-11-641-2020.html) * Incremental improvements of 2030 targets insufficient to achieve the Paris Agreement goals (https://esd.copernicus.org/articles/11/697/2020/esd-11-697-2020.html) * Relating climate sensitivity indices to projection uncertainty (https://esd.copernicus.org/articles/11/721/2020/esd-11-721-2020.html) Geoscientific Instrumentation, Methods and Data Systems (GI) * A monitoring system for spatiotemporal electrical self-potential measurements in cryospheric environments (https://gi.copernicus.org/articles/9/317/2020/gi-9-317-2020.html) Geoscientific Model Development (GMD) * The shared socio-economic pathway (SSP) greenhouse gas concentrations and their extensions to 2500 (https://gmd.copernicus.org/articles/13/3571/2020/gmd-13-3571-2020.html) Hydrology and Earth System Sciences (HESS) * Survival of the Qaidam mega-lake system under mid-Pliocene climates and its restoration under future climates (https://hess.copernicus.org/articles/24/3835/2020/) * Revisiting the global hydrological cycle: is it intensifying? (https://hess.copernicus.org/articles/24/3899/2020/hess-24-3899-2020.html) Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences (NHESS) * Invited perspectives: The volcanoes of Naples: how can the highest volcanic risk in the world be effectively mitigated? (https://nhess.copernicus.org/articles/20/2037/2020/nhess-20-2037-2020.html) * Anthropogenic climate change and glacier lake outburst flood risk: local and global drivers and responsibilities for the case of lake Palcacocha, Peru (https://nhess.copernicus.org/articles/20/2175/2020/nhess-20-2175-2020.html) Other papers highlighted by the editors (http://egu.eu/4XF4JN) of EGU open access journals are available online. ------------------------------------------------------------ EGU Science in the News A snapshot of recent English-speaking news coverage based on research published in EGU's 19 open access journals: * Two articles were published about a recently awarded EGU Public Engagement Grant: South Africa: Translating the Geological Record Into isiXhosa (https://egu.eu/4KKTQY/) and UCT project aims to have SA's geological record translated in local languages (https://egu.eu/0U07G4/) * EGU’s Angela Croome Award (https://egu.eu/7IACWV/) and its first recipient, science journalist Elizabeth Gibney, were both mentioned in a Nature Briefing (https://egu.eu/0H9TNU/) * The Surprising Advantages of Virtual Conferences (https://egu.eu/6SKHIW/) reported on the increased attendance at EGU2020: Sharing Geoscience Online in Scientific American * SDSC’s ‘Comet’ Supercomputer Used to Simulate Environmental Changes in Chesapeake Bay (https://egu.eu/273UBB/), based on a BG study by St-Laurent et al. (https://bg.copernicus.org/articles/17/3779/2020/bg-17-3779-2020.html) * More than 75 articles about a CP study by Reichgelt et al. (https://cp.copernicus.org/articles/16/1509/2020/) have been published, including ‘Mummified’ plants give glimpse of Earth’s future (https://egu.eu/4W3SLL/) and Leaves long left alone have story to tell (https://egu.eu/2XXLTX/) ------------------------------------------------------------ EGU Blogs GeoLog, the EGU blog * GeoRoundup: The highlights of EGU Journals published during August! (https://egu.eu/31U8NA/) * GeoPolicy: Communicating A Global Climate Crisis – your questions answered! (https://egu.eu/9NYNYI/) * Imaggeo on Mondays: Burnt roots (https://egu.eu/824H9A/) EGU network blogs * Geology for Global Development: Science and Engineering in the Civil Service - by Heather Britton (https://egu.eu/0J87HD/) * Geology for Global Development: Using Geoscience Skills to Improve Global Health; Integrating Indigenous Knowledge and Science. That and more in Jesse Zondervan’s Apr-Jul #GfGDpicks #SciComm (https://egu.eu/6NKT8Y/) EGU division blogs * Baking geological cakes! (https://egu.eu/8SOVBY/), in Geodynamics * Learning lessons from the past to inform the future (https://egu.eu/2ZIC98/), in Climate: Past, Present & Future * What’s it like to be black in academia? (https://egu.eu/88AW5T/), in Seismology * Xavier Sánchez-Vila (2020 Henry Darcy Medallist) on these strange times and the usefulness of scientific thinking (https://egu.eu/5WUDCM/), in Hydrological Sciences * Ask us (almost) anything: Were Chixculub and Deccan related? (https://egu.eu/0N2L0L/), in Geochemistry, Mineralogy, Petrology & Volcanology * Research Cruise in times of COVID-19 (https://egu.eu/3FC1D8/), in Ocean Sciences * Features from the Field: Pencil Cleavage (https://egu.eu/49D8L4/), in Tectonics and Structural Geology * To be or not to be a ‘natural’ disaster: that is the question (https://egu.eu/29PW0R/), in Natural Hazards * How to fall in love? (https://egu.eu/2R7EIT/), in Geodynamics More EGU blog posts are available at blogs.egu.eu (https://blogs.egu.eu/). ------------------------------------------------------------ FOLLOW US Web: https://www.egu.eu Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EuropeanGeosciencesUnion Twitter: https://twitter.com/EuroGeosciences LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/european-geosciences-union Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/eurogeosciences/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/EuroGeosciencesUnion ------------------------------------------------------------ SHARE THIS NEWSLETTER On Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=https%3A//www.egu.eu/newsletter/egu/68/email/ On Twitter: http://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=News+from+the+EGU%2C%20August%202020%3A%20https%3A//www.egu.eu/newsletter/egu/68/email/ ============================================================ Copyright © 2020 European Geosciences Union. All rights reserved. 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