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.
Latest posts from the NH blog
Collaboration in Science: A Necessity Not A Luxury
- Natural Hazards
- posted 1 week ago
Collaboration in science is of paramount importance for the development of new ideas and tools that progress our common knowledge. However, you might have felt at times that, for example, the competition for funding or the inequality of access to resources have undermined collaboration opportunities. In this blog post, we host the reflections and actions of Dr Omar AlThuwaynee, who, after experiencing first hand the struggle of trying to establish meaningful international collaborations when one lacks access to resources, decided …
Climate Change: is Viticulture under threat?
- Natural Hazards
- posted 1 month ago
In the afternoon of August 29, 2020, an intense supercell, which is a thunderstorm characterized by the presence of a deep, persistently rotating updraft, affected the province of Verona in the north of Italy (Figure 1). It was not the first event of this kind; several other events, including tornado episodes, had already occurred during summer 2020. Here the video of the downburst recorded during the event of August 29, 2020, in Soave hills (north-eastern Italy; video credit: Alberto Coffele; …
A look into the life of a volcanologist in Japan, one of the most hazardous countries for volcanoes
- Natural Hazards
- posted 1 month ago
In this interview, I talk with Chris Conway about his experience as a volcanologist in Japan, which is one of the countries with the highest volcanic threat in the world. You will read how studying crystals found within erupted lava flows can help hazard mitigation at active volcanoes and how volcanic hazard is managed in Japan. Hi Chris!! Thank you for accepting this interview, first and foremost, please tell us about yourself and what brought you to Japan I am …
#vEGU21: Gather Online – what you need to know.
- Natural Hazards
- posted 1 month ago
On November 2nd, EGU opened the call for abstracts and communicated that 2021 will see the General Assembly going again fully virtual. It seems a very considerate choice, giving that the COVID-19 pandemic still pervades our lives and makes impossible safe planning of events that include travelling and in-person contacts os far ahead in time. Let’s see what we have to know to get ready for it based on the latest information provided on the official website. Take this post …
Current issue of the EGU newsletter
Why is research in Antarctica so important? In this issue of The Loupe, EGU asks experts why they think it really matters. We also highlight blogs from each of the month’s featured EGU divisions: Climate: Past, Present & Future, Cryospheric Sciences, and Nonlinear Processes in Geosciences.
This issue also discusses the extensive fee waiver programme for vEGU21. The abstracts submission deadline is 13 January 2021 at 13:00 CET!
Last, but not least: for those scientists who tend to shop late, there’s the Top 5 (last-minute) gifts for geoscientists. From the ultimate sample collection kit to cake (no, really!), EGU has you covered with our last-minute guide. And the #1 gift? You’ll need to read the blog!