Kyoji Sassa
- 2019
- Sergey Soloviev Medal
The 2019 None 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.
Division on Natural Hazards
President: Giorgio Boni (nh@egu.eu)
Deputy President: Ira Didenkulova
(didenkulova@mail.ru)
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
Philip J. Ward
- 2019
- Plinius Medal
The 2019 None 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 Scientists Award
The 2019 None is awarded to Jadranka Šepić for fundamental contributions to the research on meteorological tsunamis and high-frequency sea level oscillations.
Giuseppe De Natale
- 2018
- Sergey Soloviev Medal
The 2018 None is awarded to Giuseppe De Natale for his fundamental contributions to the assessment and management of seismic and volcanic hazards and risk.
Hannah L. Cloke
- 2018
- Plinius Medal
The 2018 None is awarded to Hannah L. Cloke for her outstanding research on uncertainties in modelling flood hazards and understanding risks in operational ensemble flood forecasting as well as climate impact assessments of future flood risks.
Thomas Wahl
- 2018
- Division Outstanding Early Career Scientists Award
The 2018 None is awarded to Thomas Wahl for his fundamental contributions to the research on assessment of coastal-flood risk.
Benno Wachler
- 2018
- Outstanding Student Poster and PICO (OSPP) Award
The 2018 None is awarded to Benno Wachler Feedbacks of sea-level rise induced topographic changes of the Wadden Sea on tidal dynamics
David Bonneau
- 2018
- Outstanding Student Poster and PICO (OSPP) Award
The 2018 None is awarded to David Bonneau The Use of Terrestrial Laser Scanning for the Characterization of Debris Accumulation Patterns in the White Canyon, British Columbia
Emanuele Bevacqua
- 2018
- Outstanding Student Poster and PICO (OSPP) Award
The 2018 None is awarded to Emanuele Bevacqua Changing risk of compound flooding over Europe under anthropogenic climate change
Marina Peña Gallardo
- 2018
- Outstanding Student Poster and PICO (OSPP) Award
The 2018 None is awarded to Marina Peña Gallardo The impacts of drought in agricultural productivity. An analysis at different scales for the two major rain-fed crops in Spain.
Veronika Röthlisberger
- 2018
- Outstanding Student Poster and PICO (OSPP) Award
The 2018 None is awarded to Veronika Röthlisberger Quantifying exposure: the influence of value estimation schemes
Latest posts from the NH blog
The collapse of Anak Krakatau volcano: a scenario envisaged
- Natural Hazards
- posted 1 week ago
Krakatoa or Krakatau, in Indonesia, is part of the Ujung Kulon National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage property, and among the most (in)famous volcanoes in the world. From a geological point of view, it is part of the Indonesian island arc system generated by the north-eastward subduction of the Indo-Australian plate (Figure 1). Krakatau is now a caldera type of volcano thanks to the 1883 eruption, one of the most destructive and deadliest volcanic events in historical records causing a …
Landslide forecasting and warning service in Norway
- Natural Hazards
- posted 3 weeks ago
Today our blog will host Graziella Devoli who will tell us about the Landslide Forecasting and Warning Service currently operating in Norway by the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate (NVE). Graziella is Senior Geologist at NVE and she has PhD in Environmental Geology and Geohazards obtained at the University of Oslo (UiO) where she also teaches in the Geohazards master program. At NVE she works with the organization and development of the national forecasting service and in the daily …
Another (surprising) brick in the wall: how seagrass protects coastlines against erosion.
- Natural Hazards
- posted 1 month ago
Dear readers, today our blog will host Marco Fusi, a postdoctoral fellow working on coastal ecosystems. Together with Marco we will give a twist to our usual geoscientific perspective and mix some ecology in it. Specifically, we will explore the surprising role of seagrass in limiting coastal erosion effects. 1- Hello Marco, please give us an overview of coastal erosion issues. When we speak about coasts, we think about beautiful mangrove forests or a dream tropical coastline that harbours beautiful …
The devil in disguise: filmmaking lives under the threat of volcanoes.
- Natural Hazards
- posted 2 months ago
Dear readers, today our blog will host Ryan Stone from Lambda Films. He will tell us his story and perspective behind the camera while documenting people’s lives constantly exposed to volcanic risk. If you want to get a quick taste of today’s content, just take a long breath and watch this video: https://www.lambdafilms.co.uk/video-production/an-eclipse/. Hello Ryan, Please tell us about the aim and perspectives of a director involved in natural hazard films When starting with any film project, we have to …
Current issue of the EGU newsletter
We are thrilled to announce we received over 17,000 abstracts to the EGU General Assembly 2019! We look forward to welcoming all participants in Vienna on 7–12 April. Aside from many exciting scientific sessions and events, the meeting will have more time for presentations and networking, an illustrator and sculptor as artists in residence, and much more.
We would also like to remind you that until 31 January, you can apply for the General Assembly Mentoring Programme, either as a mentor, if you are an experienced General Assembly attendee, or as a mentee, if you are a first-timer at the meeting.
Until 15 February, you can enter the Imaggeo Photo Contest for a chance to win a free registration to next year’s General Assembly. You can also apply to receive an EGU Public Engagement Grant until 15 February, if you have a geoscience outreach project you’d like to develop. Winners receive 1000 EUR and a free registration to next year's General Assembly.
Last but not the least, if you'd like to organise an EGU Galileo Conference, a meeting addressing a well-focused, cutting-edge topic at the frontier of geosciences research, make sure to apply for funding by 28 February. The first EGU Galileo Conference of 2019 will be on ‘Mass extinctions, recovery and resilience’ and is now accepting abstracts.