European Geosciences Union
Encyclopedia
The European Geosciences Union (or EGU) is an interdisciplinary non-profit
learned society
open to individuals who are professionally engaged in or associated with geosciences, planetary
and space sciences, and related studies.The mission statement of the EGU is "Dedicated to the pursuit of excellence in the geosciences and the planetary
and space sciences for the benefit of humanity."
The objectives of the EGU are the promotion of
s and book series, including Advances in Geosciences,
Annales Geophysicae, Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics
, Biogeosciences, Climate of the Past, eEarth, Geoscientific Model Development
, Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences, Nonlinear Processes in Geophysics, Ocean Science
, The Cryosphere, and the Stephan Mueller Special Publication Series. Most of these publications are open-access.
A meeting of the EGU members is convened at least once per year as Plenary Session of the Union.
At division level there 29 Medals for outstanding scientists. Each year Outstanding Student Poster Awards are selected for participating divisions.
Non-profit organization
Nonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...
learned society
Learned society
A learned society is an organization that exists to promote an academic discipline/profession, as well a group of disciplines. Membership may be open to all, may require possession of some qualification, or may be an honor conferred by election, as is the case with the oldest learned societies,...
open to individuals who are professionally engaged in or associated with geosciences, planetary
Planetary science
Planetary science is the scientific study of planets , moons, and planetary systems, in particular those of the Solar System and the processes that form them. It studies objects ranging in size from micrometeoroids to gas giants, aiming to determine their composition, dynamics, formation,...
and space sciences, and related studies.The mission statement of the EGU is "Dedicated to the pursuit of excellence in the geosciences and the planetary
and space sciences for the benefit of humanity."
The objectives of the EGU are the promotion of
- the sciences of the Earth and its environment and of planetary and space sciences, and
- cooperation between scientists.
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.Publications
The EGU publishes several peer-reviewed scientific journalScientific journal
In academic publishing, a scientific journal is a periodical publication intended to further the progress of science, usually by reporting new research. There are thousands of scientific journals in publication, and many more have been published at various points in the past...
s and book series, including Advances in Geosciences,
Annales Geophysicae, Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics
Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics
Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics is an open access publication of the European Geosciences Union. It is a peer-reviewed scientific journal publishing studies investigating the Earth's atmosphere and the underlying chemical and physical processes. It covers the altitude range from the land and...
, Biogeosciences, Climate of the Past, eEarth, Geoscientific Model Development
Geoscientific Model Development
Geoscientific Model Development is an open access publication of the European Geosciences Union. It is an international scientific journal dedicated to the publication and public discussion of the description, development and evaluation of numerical models of the Earth System and its components...
, Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences, Nonlinear Processes in Geophysics, Ocean Science
Ocean Science (journal)
Ocean Science is an open-access peer-reviewed scientific journal published by the European Geosciences Union. It covers all aspects of oceanography. The journal is abstracted and indexed in Scopus, Chemical Abstracts, GeoRef, and Google Scholar...
, The Cryosphere, and the Stephan Mueller Special Publication Series. Most of these publications are open-access.
Meetings
The European Geosciences Union convenes a General Assembly every year. In 2011 this included 4,333 oral and 8,439 poster presentations in 707 sessions. At the conference 10,725 scientists from 96 countries participated, of which 28% were students http://meetings.copernicus.org/egu2011/.Abstracts of presentations are published in the Geophysical Research Abstracts (print: , online: ). Broad subject coverage for this general assembly are Earth, planetary, and space sciences.A meeting of the EGU members is convened at least once per year as Plenary Session of the Union.
Awards
The EGU awards a number of annual medals to recognize scientific achievements. Four of these medals are at union level Arthur Holmes Medal for Solid Earth Geosciences, Alfred Wegener Medal for atmospheric, hydrological or ocean sciences, 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 Award for Outstanding Young Scientists (formerly Outstanding Young Scientist Award) awarded, selected from the Division level Outstanding Young Scientists Award Winners.At division level there 29 Medals for outstanding scientists. Each year Outstanding Student Poster Awards are selected for participating divisions.