European Geosciences Union

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European Geosciences Union
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Formation 2002
Type Non-profit organization
Purpose Dedicated to the pursuit of excellence in the geosciences and the planetary and space sciences for the benefit of humanity
Headquarters Munich, Germany
Membership
Over 11,000 members (2012)
President
Hans Thybo[1]
Vice-president
Günter Blöschl
Website www.egu.eu

The European Geosciences Union (EGU) is a non-profit international union in the fields of Earth, planetary, and space sciences. The organization has headquarters in Munich (Germany). Membership is open to individuals who are professionally engaged in or associated with these fields and related studies, including students and retired seniors.

The EGU publishes 16 open-access scientific journals[2] and organises a number of topical meetings, as well as education and outreach activities. Its most prominent event is the EGU General Assembly, an annual conference that brings together over 11,000 scientists from all over the world. The meeting’s sessions cover a wide range of topics, including volcanology, planetary exploration, the Earth’s internal structure and atmosphere, climate change, and renewable energies.

The EGU has 22 scientific divisions that reflect the interdisciplinary nature of the organization.[3]

History

The EGU was established by the merger of the European Geophysical Society and the European Union of Geosciences on 7 September 2002. Council members of the two organisations came together at Hotel Platzl in Munich, Germany, to sign the Union into existence.[4] The final stages of the merger were completed on 31 December 2003.[5]

Publications

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EGU publishes books and other materials available in paper and online.[6] Since 2001,[7] the EGU and Copernicus Publications have published a growing number of peer-reviewed open-access scientific journals:[8]

  • Annales Geophysicae: covers the sciences of the Sun-Earth system, including space weather, solar-terrestrial plasma physics, and the Earth's atmosphere.
  • Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics: covers the Earth's atmosphere and the underlying chemical and physical processes. It covers the altitude range from the land and ocean surface up to the turbopause, including the troposphere, stratosphere, and mesosphere.
  • Atmospheric Measurement Techniques: covers remote sensing, in-situ and laboratory measurement techniques for the constituents and properties of the Earth's atmosphere.
  • Biogeosciences: covers all aspects of the interactions between the biological, chemical, and physical processes in terrestrial or extraterrestrial life with the geosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere.
  • Climate of the Past: covers the climate history of the Earth, including all temporal scales of climate change and variability, from geological time through to multidecadal studies of the last century.
  • Earth Surface Dynamics: covers the physical, chemical and biological processes shaping the Earth's surface and their interactions on all scales.
  • Earth System Dynamics: covers the functioning of the whole Earth system and global change.
  • Geoscientific Instrumentation, Methods and Data Systems: covers the area of geoscientific instruments.
  • Geoscientific Model Development: covers numerical models of the Earth system and its components.
  • Hydrology and Earth System Sciences: covers research in hydrology, placed within a holistic Earth system science context.
  • Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences: covers research on natural hazards.
  • Nonlinear Processes in Geophysics: covers nonlinear processes in all branches of Earth, planetary, and solar system sciences.
  • Ocean Science: covers all aspects of ocean science.
  • SOIL: covers soil system sciences at the interface between the atmosphere, lithosphere, hydrosphere, and biosphere.
  • Solid Earth: covers the composition, structure and dynamics of the Earth from the surface to the deep interior at all spatial and temporal scales.
  • The Cryosphere: covers all aspects of frozen water and ground on Earth and on other planetary bodies.

Meetings

The European Geosciences Union convenes a yearly General Assembly. At the 2013 meeting in Vienna, there were 4,684 oral, 8,207 poster presentations and 452 interactive content (PICO) presentations. Over 11,000 scientists from 95 countries participated in the conference[9] Abstracts of presentations are published in the Geophysical Research Abstracts (print: ISSN 1029-7006, online: ISSN 1607-7962).

Awards

The EGU awards a number of annual medals to recognize scientific achievements. Four of these medals are at union level: the Arthur Holmes Medal for Solid Earth Geosciences, the Alfred Wegener Medal for atmospheric, hydrological, or ocean sciences, the Jean Dominique Cassini Medal for planetary and space sciences, and the Alexander von Humboldt Medal for scientists from developing countries (with emphasis on Latin America and Africa), who have achieved exceptional international standing in geosciences and planetary and space sciences, defined in their widest senses. In addition there are four Arne Richter Awards for Outstanding Young Scientists (formerly Outstanding Young Scientist Award), selected from the Division level Outstanding Young Scientists Award Winners.[10]

At division level there are 29 medals for outstanding scientists. Each year Outstanding Student Poster Awards are selected for participating divisions.[11]

See also

References

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External links