European Geosciences Union Research Articles

Earth science for all? The economic barrier to European geoscience conferences

Abstract. Scientific meetings are vital for research development and networking. However, these events often reflect unconscious biases and barriers to diversity, particularly affecting marginalized groups. The future success of the geosciences depends on diversity, which enhances problem-solving and innovation through varied perspectives. This study examines the attendance diversity at the European Geosciences Union (EGU) General Assembly from 2005 to 2024, focusing on the impact of economic factors, distance, and population size on participation. Using publicly available data from the World Bank and the EGU, this study finds that gross national income (GNI) is the primary determinant of attendance, especially post-COVID. Distance also influences attendance but to a lesser extent, while population size shows a weak correlation. To improve diversity in academic conferences, we suggest facilitating donations, offering affordable accommodations, establishing additional travel funds, and rotating the conference location. Our actions must go beyond the EGU General Assembly and other geoscience conferences, as these actions can also help dismantle barriers to inclusivity in other areas of our community. By addressing these financial and systemic barriers, geoscience conferences can become more inclusive, benefiting the entire scientific community.

Preface to the special issue of the Division Energy, Resources and the Environment at the EGU General Assembly 2023

Abstract. The European Geosciences Union (EGU) brings together geoscientists from all over Europe and the rest of the world, covering all disciplines of Earth, planetary and space sciences. The Division on Energy, Resources and the Environment (ERE), as part of the EGU, follows an interdisciplinary approach to serve society and provide solutions to challenges of our time and in the future. One task for humankind, for example, is to provide adequate and reliable supplies of affordable energy and other resources, obtained in environmentally sustainable ways, which will be essential for economic prosperity, environmental quality and political stability around the world. This volume of Advances in Geosciences spans the range of topics of the division and continues a series of ten ERE special issues over the course of the last ten years. We incorporate emerging topics into the division ERE along the line and we advocate that every idea and opportunity should be studied and tested.

(Dis)connectivity in hydro‐geomorphic systems – emerging concepts and their applications

AbstractIn geomorphology, connectivity has emerged as a framework for understanding the transfer of water and sediment through landscapes. Over the past decade, sessions on (dis)connectivity at the General Assembly of the European Geosciences Union (EGU), and more recently, three mini‐conferences in 2020 and 2021 called ‘Connectivity Conversations’, organized by the International Association of Geomorphologists (IAG) working group on ‘Connectivity in Geomorphology’, have created a space for the exchange of ideas relating to (dis)connectivity in geomorphology and related disciplines. The result of these initiatives has been a collection of research articles related to a special issue (SI) entitled ‘(Dis)connectivity in hydro‐geomorphic systems – emerging concepts and their applications’. In this article, we provide a synthesis that embraces the SI contributions related to the application of the connectivity concept in different environments and geomorphic process domains, spatial and temporal scales, types and spatial dimensions of connectivity and the role of human impacts and associated river and catchment management aspects.

Preface to the special issue of the Division Energy, Resources and the Environment at the EGU General Assembly EGU22

Abstract. The European Geosciences Union (EGU) is one of the leading global bottom-up societies that promotes earth, planetary and space sciences. In its annual general assemblies, EGU brings together experts from all over the world to discuss cutting-edge research and implementation of findings in their respective disciplines and beyond via its inter-and transdisciplinary sessions, and thus offers a unique forum for scientific exchange, science-policy interaction, and joint development of strategies for future research endeavours. Within that framework the Energy, Resources and the Environment (ERE) Programme Group provides the platform for discussion about adequate and reliable supplies of affordable energy and other georesources in environmentally sustainable ways. This special issue in Advances in Geosciences comprises a collection of contributions from the ERE Programme Group, which were presented at the General Assembly 2022. It was held in hybrid mode for the first time from 23–27 May 2022, after two virtual assemblies in 2020 and 2021.

The global transformation of geomorphology

Abstract This chapter reviews the various developments in geomorphology in terms of institutions, journals, textbooks, research stations, etc. Among the institutions discussed are the Binghamton Geomorphology Symposium, the Geological Society of America Quaternary Geology and Geomorphology Division, the Association of American Geographers Geomorphology Specialty Group, the British Geomorphological Research Group, the IGU Commission on Measurements, Theory and Application in Geomorphology (COMTAG), the International Association of Geomorphologists, the European Geosciences Union (EGU), the American Geophysical Union (AGU), the International Quaternary Association, and the International Conference on Aeolian Research. Many countries established their own national bodies. A number of new journals appeared, including Catena , Earth Surface Processes and Landforms , Géomorphologie , and Geomorphology . In addition, during the closing decades of the twentieth century there was a proliferation of textbooks in geomorphology. One development was that geomorphological research was promoted by the establishment of research stations. These permitted long-term monitoring and provided bases for sustained investigations. The study of fluvial processes was much encouraged in the United States at USDA Forest Service research basins (known as ‘watersheds’ in the USA) such as the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest (New Hampshire), Coweeta Hydrologic Laboratory (North Carolina) and the H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest (Oregon). The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers) organized ambitious research projects in collaboration with host nations. Various US government departments supported much geomorphological research in various parts of the world. Some European countries fostered overseas geomorphological research and created missions. Notable was the work of ORSTOM (Office de la Recherche Scientifique et Technique Outre-mer) in former francophone colonies. In the post-war years, and as independence approached and then occurred, new universities were established in Africa. These employed expatriate geomorphologists and also trained up a new generation of indigenous scholars. The decades since the 1960s have been a period of space exploration and the development of remote sensing. This has had important implications for geomorphology. The period also saw the onset of the digital age and the beginning of the World Wide Web's influence on teaching and research. Applied research became increasingly important. A major cause for international and cross-disciplinary co-operation during the period was the emergence of geoarchaeology. Finally, since the 1950s, an increasing number of women have made important contributions to the discipline.

Най-големият симпозиум за науки за Земята в Европа през погледа на един студент

A walk through the biggest symposium for Earth sciences in Europe and the impressions of one university student from it. The General Assembly of the European Geosciences Union (EGU) over the years, from its establishment in 2004 in Nice, France to its present home in Vienna, Austria. The article presents various events that accompany the conference, as well as an overview of the program, which gives maximum opportunity for communication between all participants, who at this year‘s forum exceeded 14 000. The impressions from a very interesting presentation, which is a good example of the topics and the convincing way of presenting it, are summarized.

Brief communication: Key papers of 20 years in <i>Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences</i>

Abstract. To mark the 20th anniversary of Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences (NHESS), an interdisciplinary and international journal dedicated to the public discussion and open-access publication of high-quality studies and original research on natural hazards and their consequences, we highlight 11 key publications covering major subject areas of NHESS that stood out within the past 20 years. The papers cover all the topics contemplated in the European Geosciences Union (EGU) Division on Natural Hazards including dissemination, education, outreach and teaching. The selected articles thus represent excellent scientific contributions in the major areas of natural hazards and risks and helped NHESS to become an exceptionally strong journal representing interdisciplinary areas of natural hazards and risks. At its 20th anniversary, we are proud that NHESS is not only used by scientists to disseminate research results and novel ideas but also by practitioners and decision-makers to present effective solutions and strategies for sustainable disaster risk reduction.

GC Insights: Rainbow colour maps remain widely used in the geosciences

Abstract. Rainbow colour maps are known to be problematic yet remain widely used in scientific communication. This study extends work by Stoelzle and Stein (2021) to investigate the extent of their use in geoscience publications. It is found that over half (55 %) of all papers surveyed from six geoscience journals from the years 2005, 2010, 2015 and 2020 (n=2638) contained at least one visualisation that uses rainbow or red–green colour schemes and are therefore potentially misleading and colour-inaccessible. Recent changes to the submission guidelines for all European Geosciences Union (EGU) journals would seem to place greater responsibility in the future with editors and reviewers to identify and correct colour issues as part of the review process.

Is it worth ‘flipping’ your favourite journal to open access? An opinion

In the course of 2019, a new open access journal called Magnetic Resonance was launched by the Groupement Ampère in Zurich. The journal is produced by a small publisher in Göttingen, Germany, that has gathered experience with a palette of journals run by the European Geosciences Union (EGU). The initial idea of Magnetic Resonance was to create a so-called “gold” open access journal: one can freely download all papers, including preliminary and revised versions, reviewers’ critiques and authors’ replies, while the authors’ institutions pay reasonable Article Processing Charges (APCs). The new journal is independent of learned societies like the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) and the American Chemical Society (ACS), and it is not exposed to profit-oriented business models of commercial publishers like RLX/Elsevier, Springer/Nature, Cell Press, and Wiley. After about 2 years, it seems appropriate to publish a few remarks about our experience of the strengths and weaknesses of open access publishing. Our discussion draws on a detailed analysis of the Ethics Committee of the French CNRS, and on a debate organized by the Royal Dutch Academy of Science.

About right: references in open-access EGU (European Geosciences Union) journals

Abstract. We investigated the number of references per page for different European Geosciences Union journals, which share the same text formatting. Although the journals formally all focus on geoscience, different disciplines are covered, from ocean science and biogeosciences to the technical description of numerical model development. In this study, we show that the number of references per page is remarkably constant across these journals. In addition, this value has remained constant in the last decade, despite the consistent increase in the number of pages and in the number of references in almost all journals considered. Independently of the quality of the references used in an article, we show that for the EGU (European Geosciences Union) journals the average number of references per page is 3.82 (1.87–6.18 at 90 % confidence level). This reveals that there is a consensus regarding optimum reference density, which depends on the journal's layout and not on the journal's discipline.

Preface to the special issue of the Division Energy, Resources and the Environment at vEGU2021: Gather online​​​​​​​

Abstract. The European Geosciences Union (EGU) is one of the leading global bottom-up societies that promotes earth, planetary and space sciences. In its annual general assemblies, EGU brings together experts from all over the world to discuss cutting-edge research and implementation of findings in its respective disciplines and thus offers a unique forum for scientific exchange, science-policy interaction, and joint development of strategies for future research endeavours. This special issue in Advances in Geosciences comprises a collection of contributions from the Division Energy, Resources and the Environment (ERE) of the EGU, which were presented at the General Assembly 2021, vEGU2021: Gather online. It was held entirely online for the second time after EGU2020 from 19 to 30 April 2021.

Increased Use of Bayesian Network Models Has Improved Environmental Risk Assessments.

Environmental and ecological risk assessments are defined as the process for evaluating the likelihood that the environment may be impacted as a result of exposure to stressors. Although this definition implies the calculation of probabilities, risk assessments traditionally rely on nonprobabilistic methods such as calculation of a risk quotient. Bayesian network (BN) models are a tool for probabilistic and causal modeling, increasingly used in many fields of environmental science. Bayesian networks are defined as directed acyclic graphs where the causal relationships and the associated uncertainty are quantified in conditional probability tables. Bayesian networks inherently incorporate uncertainty and can integrate a variety of information types, including expert elicitation. During the last 2 decades, there has been a steady increase in reports on BN applications in environmental risk assessment and management. At recent annual meetings of the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC) North America and SETAC Europe, a number of applications of BN models were presented along with new theoretical developments. Likewise, recent meetings of the European Geosciences Union (EGU) have dedicated sessions to Bayesian modeling in relation to water quality. This special series contains 10 articles based on presentations in these sessions, reflecting a range of BN applications to systems, ranging from cells and populations to watersheds and national scale. The articles report on recent progress in many topics, including climate and management scenarios, ecological and socioeconomic endpoints, machine learning, diagnostic inference, and model evaluation. They demonstrate that BNs can be adapted to established conceptual frameworks used to support environmental risk assessments, such as adverse outcome pathways and the relative risk model. The contributions from EGU demonstrate recent advancements in areas such as spatial (geographic information system [GIS]–based) and temporal (dynamic) BN modeling. In conclusion, this special series supports the prediction that increased use of Bayesian network models will improve environmental risk assessments.

Preface: Special issue from the Division on Energy, Resources and the Environment at EGU2020: Sharing geoscience online

Abstract. Since 2004, the European Geosciences Union (EGU) brings together experts from all over the world into one annual event covering all disciplines of the Earth, planetary and space sciences. This special issue in Advances in Geosciences comprises a collection of contributions from the Division on Energy, Resources and the Environment (ERE) which were presented at EGU2020: Sharing Geoscience Online.

Preface: Advances in flood risk assessment and management

Abstract. Floods are among Earth's most common and most destructive natural hazards, affecting human lives and properties directly and indirectly around the world. The frequency and magnitude of extreme flooding have been increasing in many parts of the world in recent decades (see, e.g. Berghuijs et al., 2017; Blöschl et al., 2019a; Marijnissen et al., 2019), hampering human well-being and economic growth in both developed and developing countries. Flood risk management carries out the flood risk assessment and uses appropriate resources (human, finance, science and technology, and nature) to control the flood risk (Han, 2011), which is an urgent challenge for the scientific and engineering communities to address. In a similar way to “Twenty-three unsolved problems in hydrology” (Blöschl et al., 2019b), despite decades of research in this field, there are still many unsolved problems in floods as well. This special issue “Flood Risk Assessment and Management” is an outcome of the session “Flood Risk Assessment and Management” in the Naturals Hazards Division at the European Geosciences Union (EGU) General Assembly held in Vienna, Austria. The session series has been organized annually at EGU since 2018. This special issue presents a wide range of in-depth research studies based on flood modelling (including hydrological modelling and hydrodynamic modelling), hazard mapping, flood damage and risk assessment as well as studies that focus on flood relief prioritization, mitigation strategies and flood policies. Extraordinary floods and debris flows are also included due to dam and dike breaks and extreme storms over gullies in mountain areas. The nine articles in this special issue are broadly introduced in the following three categories.

Plastics in the hydrosphere

Plastics in the hydrosphere

Preface: Interdisciplinary contributions from the Division on Energy, Resources and the Environment at the EGU General Assembly 2019

Abstract. Since 2004, the European Geosciences Union (EGU) brings together experts from all over the world at its annual General Assembly, covering all disciplines of the earth, planetary and space sciences. With this special issue in Advances in Geosciences, we are pleased to present a collection of contributions from the Division on Energy, Resources and the Environment (ERE) which were presented at the EGU General Assembly 2019 in Vienna.

Introduction to the thematic set: Progress in Remediation of Polluted Soils

Lead Guest Editor: Jaume Bech Co-Guest Editors: Elena Korobova, M. Manuela Abreu, Carmen Perez-Sirvent, Hyo-Taek Chon and Nuria Roca The collection of papers presented in this Thematic Set is an outcome of the SSS8.4 Session ‘Progress in remediation for soils polluted by potentially toxic elements’, presented at the European Geosciences Union (EGU) Conference held in Vienna, April 2017. Soils are essential components of the environment, the basis of terrestrial ecosystems and a crossroad of biogeochemical cycles at the lithosphere-hydrosphere-biosphere-atmosphere interface. Soils are a limited and vulnerable resource and soil quality must be preserved. Anthropogenic mismanagement through poor industrial and mining practices, overuse of agrochemicals, bad disposal of sewage sludge and waste, cause contamination, environmental and health concerns. Therefore soil pollution needs innovative and eco-friendly technologies for its remediation. This Thematic Set contains 13 papers written by authors from 12 countries: Armenia, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Korea, Mexico, Mongolia, Philippines, Russian Federation, Spain, Thailand and USA. This collection of original studies focuses on five topics: 1) sequential extraction/speciation, 2) phytoremediation, 3) oxygen content in iron sulphides, 4) stabilization of Zn compounds in a long incubation experiment, and 5) bioavailability of potential toxic elements. ### Sequential extraction/speciation There are five papers dealing with this topic: Burachevskaya et al. studied the Zn fractional distribution in artificially contaminated Haplic Chernozem in South Russia, using the Miller and Tessier methods of sequential extraction. The authors concluded that the content of Zn in the fraction bound to the removed component obtained by the Tessier method area was lower than that obtained by the Miller method. Minkina et al. researched the Zn speciation in Technosols of the Karabash copper smelter, Southern Urals, Russia, using the combined fractionation scheme and a set of X-ray synchroton …

Joint editorial: Invigorating hydrological research through journal publications

Abstract. Editors of several journals in the field of hydrology met during the General Assembly of the European Geosciences Union (EGU) in Vienna in April 2017. This event was a follow-up of similar meetings held in 2013 and 2015. These meetings enable the group of editors to review the current status of the journals and the publication process, and to share thoughts on future strategies. Journals were represented at the 2017 meeting by their editors, as shown in the list of authors. The main points on invigorating hydrological research through journal publications are communicated in this joint editorial published in the above journals.

Joint editorial: Invigorating hydrological research through journal publications

Abstract. Editors of several journals in the field of hydrology met during the General Assembly of the European Geosciences Union (EGU) in Vienna in April 2017. This event was a follow-up of similar meetings held in 2013 and 2015. These meetings enable the group of editors to review the current status of the journals and the publication process, and to share thoughts on future strategies. Journals were represented at the 2017 meeting by their editors, as shown in the list of authors. The main points on invigorating hydrological research through journal publications are communicated in this joint editorial published in the above journals.

Report on the European Geosciences Union (EGU) General Assembly 2018

Report on the European Geosciences Union (EGU) General Assembly 2018