Claire J. Horwell
- 2020
- Plinius Medal
The 2020 Plinius Medal is awarded to Claire J. Horwell for her outstanding interdisciplinary research on the respiratory health implications of volcanic aerosols, including ash, minerals and liquid droplets.
Division on Natural Hazards
President: Ira Didenkulova (nh@egu.eu)
Deputy President: Paolo Tarolli
(paolo.tarolli@unipd.it)
The Natural Hazards (NH) Division of the EGU covers all the geological and geophysical processes that can be hazardous and can produce damage to the environment and to the society. Therefore it is a place where scientists and researchers of various geo-disciplines meet with sociologists, economists and people responsible for territorial and urban defense and planning policies. The aim is to improve the understanding of the evolution of the processes and to discuss new technologies, methods and strategies to mitigate their disastrous effects. The Division is structured in nine Subdivisions covering specific hazards. Of these seven are listed here: hydro-meteorological, volcanic, landslide, earthquake-, sea and ocean, remote sensing and hazards, wildfire hazards. The eighth Subdivision covers biological and environmental hazards and in addition hazards not included in the previous ones. The ninth (natural hazards and society) focuses on the social aspects of the hazards, including development sustainability, emergency, warning, after-disaster resilience, etc. Most of the topics that are treated in the NH Division are also treated in other EGU Divisions, which is expected due to the intrinsic transversal nature of the NH Division. For example, earthquakes are the main interest of the Seismology Division, but they are also of interest here where the chief topics are, among others, how to evaluate vulnerability and risk, how to reduce the impact on human lives and society, how geo-scientists can contribute to a prompt recovery of a community affected by disasters.
The NH Division is one the historical Divisions of the EGU that was established since when EGU was founded and has been and is one of the largest divisions to which many geo-scientists provide steadily contributions of papers and ideas over the years.
As for all EGU Divisions, an Early Career Scientist Award is established also for the NH Division and is given to young researchers who obtain outstanding results in the assessment and mitigation of natural hazard adopting a multidisciplinary approach. In addition, the NH Division awards the Plinius Medal devoted since 2012 to mid-career researchers and the Soloviev Medal for scientists who give outstanding contributions in fundamental aspects of research on natural hazards.
Recent awardees
John J. Clague
- 2020
- Sergey Soloviev Medal
The 2020 Sergey Soloviev Medal is awarded to John J. Clague for his remarkable scientific contributions in fundamental and applied research on earthquakes, tsunamis, outburst floods and landslides, directed towards risk reduction for the benefit of societies.
Vitor Silva
- 2020
- Division Outstanding Early Career Scientist Award
The 2020 Division Outstanding Early Career Scientist Award is awarded to Vitor Silva for his fundamental contributions to the research on earthquake risk assessment.
Kyoji Sassa
- 2019
- Sergey Soloviev Medal
The 2019 Sergey Soloviev Medal is awarded to Kyoji Sassa for outstanding scientific contributions in fundamental research in landslide hazards and in landslide risk-reduction initiatives for the benefit of societies.
Philip J. Ward
- 2019
- Plinius Medal
The 2019 Plinius Medal is awarded to Philip J. Ward for outstanding research on flood and drought risk assessments from global to local scales.
Jadranka Šepić
- 2019
- Division Outstanding Early Career Scientist Award
The 2019 Division Outstanding Early Career Scientist Award is awarded to Jadranka Šepić for fundamental contributions to the research on meteorological tsunamis and high-frequency sea level oscillations.
Alexandra Urgilez Vinueza
- 2019
- Outstanding Student Poster and PICO (OSPP) Award
The 2019 Outstanding Student Poster and PICO (OSPP) Award is awarded to Alexandra Urgilez Vinueza The occurrence of Landslides in Guarumales, Ecuador
Ina Teutsch
- 2019
- Outstanding Student Poster and PICO (OSPP) Award
The 2019 Outstanding Student Poster and PICO (OSPP) Award is awarded to Ina Teutsch Rogue Waves in the Southern North Sea
Rahul Kumar
- 2019
- Outstanding Student Poster and PICO (OSPP) Award
The 2019 Outstanding Student Poster and PICO (OSPP) Award is awarded to Rahul Kumar Urban interactions with heatwaves in India
Ricarda Gatter
- 2019
- Outstanding Student Poster and PICO (OSPP) Award
The 2019 Outstanding Student Poster and PICO (OSPP) Award is awarded to Ricarda Gatter The significance of weak layers for submarine slope failure
Latest posts from the NH blog
Blog column – PICTURE YOUR RESEARCH!
- Natural Hazards
- posted 1 week ago
Working on natural hazards brings you to places (physically and virtually) you might never have discovered otherwise. You look at the world while asking questions about places, situations, relationships, and interactions of the natural processes surrounding you, inspiring your scientific potential. The Natural hazard Early Career Scientists Team is interested in your natural hazard research and would like to invite you to share it as a form of photos with our global community through our blog. Professionals perceive that capturing …
Coping with ‘extremes’ – keep calm and fly…
- Natural Hazards
- posted 3 weeks ago
When you read about climate extremes, what is the first thing that comes to your mind? Probably not airport systems. However, you might have been affected at least once by delays, longer flights, or even flight cancellations due to low visibility, strong winds, convective activity which can lead to thunderstorms. Especially, if you reside in or have flown to or from the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, the United States, Caribbean Islands, Hong Kong or Japan. Climate extremes refer to the …
Satellite soil moisture improves rainfall just where needed
- Natural Hazards
- posted 1 month ago
Soil moisture and rainfall are the two fundamental variables in the water and energy cycle and their knowledge in many applications is crucial. For instance, for predicting the occurrence and the magnitude of flood and landslide events the knowledge of the initial soil moisture condition and of rainfall amount is mandatory. In the last decade, some authors have proposed a completely new approach, i.e., the use of satellite soil moisture for estimating and improving rainfall, doing hydrology backwards. In 2014, …
The Italian catalogue of earthquake-induced ground failures: saving the past for the future seismic hazard assessment #CEDIT
- Natural Hazards
- posted 1 month ago
The Italian Catalogue of Earthquake-Induced Ground Failures (CEDIT) is a database available online since January 2013 that stores data about ground failures induced by strong earthquakes, which occurred on the Italian territory since 1000 AD up to now. CEDIT is freely available on a web-GIS portal (currently the access is granted using Firefox as a web browser, the upgrade to other browsers is in process, Ed.) of the CERI Research Centre. His current curator is Salvatore Martino, Associate Professor in …
Current issue of the EGU newsletter
“They say there’s nothing more complex than the human brain. They haven’t worked in Brussels, have they?” Read all about EGU’s recent science-policy pairing scheme and sign up for EGU's database of expertise to receive emails about opportunities focussed on integrating science and policy.
This month we announced that EGU will contribute EUR 105,000 to help fund 17 training schools and conferences, including two Galileo Conferences, in 2020.
Fellowships: Tim Kalvelage, Cécile Dumas and Aisling Irwin are the recipients of this year's EGU Science Journalism Fellowships.
From a new audio accessibility system and more legible, browser-based programme to pronoun buttons and a diversity and pride reception, EGU is implementing extensive measures to foster an inclusive and respectful environment at the annual General Assembly. These include free, on-site childcare, for which the registration opens on 9 March at 13:00 CET and closes when filled - so be sure to sign up early.
The meeting programme for the EGU General Assembly 2020 (3–8 May, Vienna) will be published next week! With more than 1000 scientific sessions, debates, short courses and networking events scheduled, as well as two artists in residence - Lego photographer Stacy Phillips and digital artist Priyanka Das Rajkakati - it promises to be a diverse and exciting conference again this year. Please register by 31 March to qualify for the early registration rates.