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
Natural Hazards 101: The disaster cycle
- Natural Hazards
- posted 3 days ago
With the Natural Hazards 101 series, we meant to bring our readers closer to the terminology often used in the field of natural hazards, but that may not be so familiar. We started defining the very concept of hazard and natural hazard. We moved then to the concept of risk, which brought us to define exposure and vulnerability. In this episode, we are going to digest the disaster terminology provided by the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction that …
Natural Hazards 101: The concept of risk
- Natural Hazards
- posted 2 weeks ago
In the first episode of the series of posts called Natural Hazards 101, we focused on the definition of hazard and natural hazard considering the recent literature. In this episode, we wish to draw your attention to the concept of risk. Although a commonly used word the term risk might mean different things to different people. What does risk represent and what it means in the context of natural hazards? Let’s have a look at the most common definitions found …
Forests in danger: not only fires!
- Natural Hazards
- posted 1 month ago
We often talk about forests for their importance in climate as a carbon sink and oxygen source. For their great role in the preservation of biodiversity, both for vegetation and as habitat for many anima l species, for their potential in recreational activities. However, we do not talk a lot about forests in relation to natural hazards. Indeed, forests can be severely affected by natural hazards. The most common is forest fires, which are more and more frequent all around …
Natural Hazards 101 – What is a – natural – hazard?
- Natural Hazards
- posted 1 month ago
We often talk about different natural hazards, how researchers investigate them and solutions to mitigate their effects on society, infrastructures and the environment. However, we have never really stopped for a moment to define a hazard, a natural hazard and much of the terminology in the field that can sometimes be evasive and not so straightforward to understand. Thus, we start this series of posts called Natural Hazards 101 trying to provide a little guidance in this complex world. As …
Current issue of the EGU newsletter
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!