The European Geosciences Union (EGU) is a

non-profit A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...

international union in the fields of

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to Planetary habitability, harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all ...

, planetary, and

space science Space is a three-dimensional continuum containing positions and directions. In classical physics, physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions. Modern physicists usually consider it, with time, to be part of a boundless ...

s whose vision is to "realise a sustainable and just future for humanity and for the planet". The organisation has headquarters in

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

, Germany. Membership is open to individuals who are professionally engaged in or associated with these fields and related studies, including students, early career scientists and retired seniors. The EGU publishes 19 public peer-reviewed

open-access Open access (OA) is a set of principles and a range of practices through which nominally copyrightable publications are delivered to readers free of access charges or other barriers. With open access strictly defined (according to the 2001 de ...

scientific journal In academic publishing, a scientific journal is a periodical publication designed to further the progress of science by disseminating new research findings to the scientific community. These journals serve as a platform for researchers, schola ...

s and a number of other science publications. It also organises several topical meetings, as well training events and summer schools, and provides support and funding for numerous education and outreach activities. Its most prominent event is the EGU General Assembly, an annual conference that brings together over 18,000 scientists from all over the world. The meeting's sessions cover a wide range of topics, including

volcanology Volcanology (also spelled vulcanology) is the study of volcanoes, lava, magma and related geology, geological, geophysical and geochemistry, geochemical phenomena (volcanism). The term ''volcanology'' is derived from the Latin language, Latin ...

, planetary exploration, the Earth's internal structure and atmosphere,

climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...

, and renewable energies. The EGU has 22 scientific divisions that reflect the interdisciplinary nature of the organisation.

History

The EGU was established by the merger of the European Geophysical Society (EGS) and the European Union of Geosciences (EUG) on 7 September 2002. Council members of the two organisations came together at Hotel Platzl in Munich, Germany, to sign the Union into existence. The final stages of the merger were completed on 31 December 2003. The EGU founding members were: Egu founding group-2002

Jan Backman, Jonathan Bamber, Ray Bates, Günter Blöschl, Lars Clemmensen, Max Coleman, Peter Fabian, Gerald Ganssen,

Jean-Pierre Gattuso Jean-Pierre Gattuso () (born 14 December 1958 in Antibes) is a French ocean scientist conducting research globally, from the pole to the tropics and from nearshore to the open ocean. His research addresses the biology of reef-building corals, th ...

, David Gee, Fausto Guzzetti, Albrecht Hofmann, Jürgen Kurths, Yves Langevin, John Ludden, Arne Richter, Michael Rycroft, W. Schlager, Roland Schlich, Isabella Premovi Silva, Christopher Spotl, Håkan Svedhem,

Hans Thybo Hans Thybo (born 19 February 1954) is a Danish geophysicist and geologist. He is President of International Lithosphere Program since 2017 and currently employed by the Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences (CAGS). Early life and education I ...

, Bert Vermeersen, David Webb, Jerzy Weber, Richard Worden. On 12 February 2004, the EGU signed the Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities. The EGU Executive Office moved to central

on 1 August 2010, and later expanded by hiring six more staff members in addition to the EGU Executive Secretary, Philippe Courtial. In August 2011, the EGU signed an agreement with the

American Geophysical Union The American Geophysical Union (AGU) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization of Earth, Atmospheric science, atmospheric, Oceanography, ocean, Hydrology, hydrologic, Astronomy, space, and Planetary science, planetary scientists and enthusiasts that ...

(AGU) and with the Asia Oceania Geosciences Society (AOGS) with the aim to promote the cooperation between the institutions. In June 2019, the EGU announced a new chapter in its history: the Union launched a new strategy and moved its Executive Office to new premises in the Berg am Laim area of

Presidents of the European Geosciences Union

The presidents of the European Geosciences Union have been: * Andre Berger (Honorary President) * Peter Fabian (2002–2005) * John Ludden (2005–2007) * Gerald Ganssen (2007–2009) * Tuija Pulkkinen (2009–2011) * Donald Bruce Dingwell 2011–2013) * Günter Blöschl (2013–2015) *

(2015–2017) * Jonathan Bamber (2017–2019) * Alberto Montanari (2019–2021) * Helen Glaves (2021–2023) * Irina Artemieva (2023–2024) * Peter van der Beek (2024–)

Conferences and meetings

The European Geosciences Union convenes a yearly General Assembly. The first EGU General Assembly took place from 25 to 30 April 2004, in

Nice Nice ( ; ) is a city in and the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative city limits, with a population of nearly one millionAustria Center Vienna. The first EGU co-sponsored geoscience meeting (the first

Alexander von Humboldt Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander von Humboldt (14 September 1769 – 6 May 1859) was a German polymath, geographer, natural history, naturalist, List of explorers, explorer, and proponent of Romanticism, Romantic philosophy and Romanticism ...

conference) was held in

Guayaquil Guayaquil (), officially Santiago de Guayaquil, is the largest city in Ecuador and also the nation's economic capital and main port. The city is the capital (political), capital of Guayas Province and the seat of Guayaquil Canton. The city is ...

. Afterwards, the co-sponsored programme expanded into conference series, meetings, workshops and training schools. The EGU

Galileo Galileo di Vincenzo Bonaiuti de' Galilei (15 February 1564 – 8 January 1642), commonly referred to as Galileo Galilei ( , , ) or mononymously as Galileo, was an Italian astronomer, physicist and engineer, sometimes described as a poly ...

Conferences cycle started in 2015 when the first call for proposals was launched. At the 2019 meeting in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

, there were 5,531 oral, 9,432 poster, and 1,287 interactive content (PICO) presentations. Over 16,000 scientists from 113 countries participated in the conference Abstracts of presentations are published in the ''Geophysical Research Abstracts'' (print: , online: ). The 2018 EGU General Assembly hosted 15,075 scientists from 106 countries participated, of which 53% were under the age of 35 years. Over 17,000 abstracts were presented at the meeting.

Publications

The first EGU newsletter came out in November 2002. The ''Eggs'' magazine became the EGU newsletter after the completing of the merging between EGS and EUG in 2003. The three-monthly newsletter was modernised in late 2012 and both its format and its name were changed in GeoQ. The necessity to give reports of its activities on a more regular basis, led the EGU to further change its newsletter format and name (now EGU newsletter) in January 2015. The actual newsletter is an e-mail version, having a monthly frequency. At the General Assembly, the EGU has a daily newsletter called EGU Today. In 2010 the EGU released its official blog, which soon became a quick-to-read source of information about the EGU activities and on research in the Earth, planetary and space sciences fields. The blog has now grown to include division blogs and network blogs. EGU has also published academic books and other publications. Since 2001, the EGU and

Copernicus Publications Copernicus Publications (also: Copernicus GmbH) is a publisher of scientific literature based in Göttingen, Germany. Founded in 1994, Copernicus Publications currently publishes 28 peer-reviewed open access scientific journals and other publica ...

have published a growing number of

peer-reviewed Peer review is the evaluation of work by one or more people with similar competencies as the producers of the work ( peers). It functions as a form of self-regulation by qualified members of a profession within the relevant field. Peer review ...

Journals

In October 2002 the first EGU journals were published by transferring the property of the EGS publications ''Advances in Geosciences'' (''ADGEO''), '' Annales Geophysicae'' (''ANGEO''), ''

Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics ''Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics'' is an open access peer-reviewed scientific journal published by the European Geosciences Union. It covers research on the Earth's atmosphere and the underlying chemical and physical processes, including the al ...

'' (''ACP''), ''

Hydrology and Earth System Sciences Hydrology () is the scientific study of the movement, distribution, and management of water on Earth and other planets, including the water cycle, water resources, and drainage basin sustainability. A practitioner of hydrology is called a hydro ...

'' (''HESS''), ''Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences'' (''NHESS'') and '' Nonlinear Processes in Geophysics'' (''NPG'') – to the EGU. The open access journals '' Biogeosciences'' (''BG'') and ''

Ocean Sciences Oceanography (), also known as oceanology, sea science, ocean science, and marine science, is the scientific study of the ocean, including its physics, chemistry, biology, and geology. It is an Earth science, which covers a wide range of top ...

'' (''OS'') had been launched via

in March and November 2004, respectively. In 2005, EGU launched the open access journals '' Climate of the Past'' (''CP'') and ''eEarth'' in July and October, respectively through Copernicus Publications. The latter was replaced by ''

Solid Earth Solid earth refers to "the earth beneath our feet" or '' terra firma'', the planet's solid surface and its interior. It excludes the Earth's fluid envelopes, the atmosphere and hydrosphere (but includes the ocean basin), as well as the biosphere ...

'' journal in 2009. The open access journals '' The Cryosphere'' (''TC'') and '' Geoscientific Model Development'' (''GMD'') were released in 2007 via

. In June 2007, the EGU launched Imaggeo, an open access database featuring photos and videos relating geosciences. In August 2008, the ''

Atmospheric Measurement Techniques ''Atmospheric Measurement Techniques'' is a semi-monthly peer-reviewed open-access scientific journal covering research within atmospheric sciences. It was established in 2008 and is published by Copernicus Publications on behalf of the European ...

'' (''AMT'') journal was first published, and the journals ''Solid Earth'' (''SE'') and '' Earth System Dynamics'' (''ESD'') began publication in February and March 2010 respectively. In 2011, '' Geoscientific Instrumentation, Methods and Data Systems'' (''GI'') was first published. On 7 April 2013 the open access journals '' Earth Surface Dynamics'' (''ESurf'') and ''SOIL'' were launched via Copernicus Publications. In April 2018, EGU launched the open access journal '' Geoscience Communication'' (''GC'') and the compilation '' Encyclopedia of Geosciences'' (''EG''), a collection of articles in between traditional review articles and online encyclopediae. EGU's newest journals are Geochronology, launched in April 2019, and '' Weather and Climate Dynamics'', launched in August 2019. *'' Annales Geophysicae'': covers the sciences of the Sun-Earth system, including

space weather Space weather is a branch of space physics and aeronomy, or heliophysics, concerned with the varying conditions within the Solar System and its heliosphere. This includes the effects of the solar wind, especially on the Earth's magnetosphere, ion ...

, solar-terrestrial plasma physics, and the Earth's atmosphere. *''

'': 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 The turbopause, also called the homopause, marks the altitude in an atmosphere below which turbulent mixing dominates. Mathematically, it is defined as the point where the coefficient of Eddy diffusion is equal to the coefficient of molecular dif ...

, including the

troposphere The troposphere is the lowest layer of the atmosphere of Earth. It contains 80% of the total mass of the Atmosphere, planetary atmosphere and 99% of the total mass of water vapor and aerosols, and is where most weather phenomena occur. From the ...

stratosphere The stratosphere () is the second-lowest layer of the atmosphere of Earth, located above the troposphere and below the mesosphere. The stratosphere is composed of stratified temperature zones, with the warmer layers of air located higher ...

, and

mesosphere The mesosphere (; ) is the third layer of the atmosphere, directly above the stratosphere and directly below the thermosphere. In the mesosphere, temperature decreases as altitude increases. This characteristic is used to define limits: it be ...

. *''

'': covers

remote sensing Remote sensing is the acquisition of information about an physical object, object or phenomenon without making physical contact with the object, in contrast to in situ or on-site observation. The term is applied especially to acquiring inform ...

, 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. *''

Geochronology Geochronology is the science of Chronological dating, determining the age of rock (geology), rocks, fossils, and sediments using signatures inherent in the rocks themselves. Absolute geochronology can be accomplished through radioactive isotopes, ...

'': covers physical, chemical, and biological processes used to quantify time in all environmental and geological settings throughout Earth's history. *'' Geoscience Communication'': covers all aspects of outreach, public engagement, widening participation, knowledge exchange *'' 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. *''

'': covers research in

hydrology Hydrology () is the scientific study of the movement, distribution, and management of water on Earth and other planets, including the water cycle, water resources, and drainage basin sustainability. A practitioner of hydrology is called a hydro ...

, 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 Soil, also commonly referred to as earth, is a mixture of organic matter, minerals, gases, water, and organisms that together support the life of plants and soil organisms. Some scientific definitions distinguish dirt from ''soil'' by re ...

'': covers soil system sciences at the interface between the atmosphere,

lithosphere A lithosphere () is the rigid, outermost rocky shell of a terrestrial planet or natural satellite. On Earth, it is composed of the crust and the lithospheric mantle, the topmost portion of the upper mantle that behaves elastically on time ...

, 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. *'' Weather and Climate Dynamics'': covers all aspects of dynamical processes in the atmosphere.

Awards

The EGU bestows a number of annual awards and medals to recognise 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. The EGU also has four union awards: *the Angela Croome Award, for Earth, space and planetary sciences journalism *the Arne Richter Awards for Outstanding Early Career Scientists (formerly Outstanding Young Scientist Award), for achievements made by early career scientists in the Earth, planetary, and space sciences (these awards are selected from the Division level Outstanding Early Career Scientists Award Winners. *the Katia and Maurice Krafft Award, for geoscience outreach and engagement *Union Service Award, for outstanding services for the EGU.

Division level awards

At division level there are medals for outstanding scientists and division awards for early career researchers. Each year Outstanding Student Poster and PICO Awards are selected for participating divisions. * Alina Kabata-Pendias, Medal Soil System Sciences * Augustus Love Medal, Geodynamics *Beno Gutenberg Medal, Seismology * Christiaan Huygens Medal, Geosciences Instrumentation and Data Systems * David Bates Medal, Planetary and Solar System Sciences * Fridtjof Nansen Medal, Ocean Sciences * Hannes Alfvén Medal, Solar-Terrestrial Sciences * Hans Oeschger Medal, Climate: Past, Present & Future * Henry Darcy Medal, Hydrological Sciences *The Ian McHarg Medal, named after Ian McHarg, is awarded by the Earth and Space Science Informatics Division for research in information technology applied to Earth and space sciences.Ian McHarg Medal
/ref> **Recipients: Lesley Wyborn 2025, François Robida 2024, Mikhail Kanevski 2022,

Paul Wessel Paul Wessel (born 9 April 1904 in Plauen; d. 20 January 1967 in Berlin) was a member of the small secretariat of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany, the communist party of the former German Democratic R ...

2020, Stefano Nativi 2019, Kerstin A. Lehnert 2018, Helen Glaves 2016, Alessandro Annoni 2013, Peter Fox 2012, Monique Petitdidier 2011 *Jean Baptiste Lamarck Medal, Stratigraphy, Sedimentology and Palaeontology *John Dalton Medal, Hydrological Sciences *Julia and Johannes Weertman Medal, Cryospheric Sciences *Julius Bartels Medal, Solar-Terrestrial Sciences *Lewis Fry Richardson Medal, Nonlinear Processes in Geosciences *Louis Néel Medal, Earth Magnetism & Rock Physics *Marie Tharp Medal, Tectonics and Structural Geology *Milutin Milanković Medal, Climate: Past, Present & Future *Petrus Peregrinus Medal, Earth Magnetism & Rock Physics *Philippe Duchaufour Medal, Soil System Sciences *Plinius Medal, Natural Hazards *Ralph Alger Bagnold Medal, Geomorphology *Robert Wilhelm Bunsen Medal, Geochemistry, Mineralogy, Petrology & Volcanology *Runcorn-Florensky Medal, Planetary and Solar System Sciences *Sergey Soloviev Medal, Natural Hazards *Vening Meinesz Medal, Geodesy *Vilhelm Bjerknes Medal, Atmospheric Sciences *Vladimir Ivanovich Vernadsky Medal, Biogeosciences

References

External links

*
Imaggeo: the online open access geosciences image repository of the European Geosciences Union

''EGU Newsletter'': a monthly, email information service for EGU members

''GeoLog'', the official EGU blog

EGU division and network blogs
{{authority control, state=collapsed * International scientific organizations based in Europe Earth sciences societies Meteorological societies Scientific organisations based in Germany Scientific organizations established in 2002 2002 establishments in Germany