Skip to main content
Vatnajokull glacier from a plane (Credit: Lamquin Nicolas, distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu)

NP Nonlinear Processes in Geosciences Division on Nonlinear Processes in Geosciences

EGU logo

European Geosciences Union

Division on Nonlinear Processes in Geosciences
np.egu.eu

Division on Nonlinear Processes in Geosciences

President: François Schmitt (Emailnp@egu.eu)
Deputy President: Davide Faranda (Email)
ECS Representative: Mireia Ginesta-Fernandez (Emailecs-np@egu.eu)

The Nonlinear Processes in Geosciences (NP) Division is an interdisciplinary division which is concerned with all aspects on nonlinear and stochastic theories, methods and data in the geosciences. The NP division is focused on a series of nonlinear paradigms whose applications cut across the different disciplines of the geosciences (hydrosphere, atmosphere, biosphere, lithosphere, space sphere…). Examples include chaos, tipping points, nonlinear waves, similarity across scales (scaling, scale invariance, fractals, multifractals), network theory, nonlinear stochastics, predictability and its limits, pattern formation, self-organised criticality, extreme events, deep learning… The NP division welcomes mathematical and theoretical approaches, as well as applications including new methodologies, new modelling and new data analysis techniques.

Due to its interdisciplinary character, many of the NP-sessions during the EGU general assemblies are co-organized with sessions from other divisions. Potential contributors to any session are encouraged to evaluate the benefits of a multi-disciplinary organization in collaboration with the corresponding disciplinary Division.

The division is structured into several subdivisions (see the “About” tab above, for the NP Division structure information and reports).

The Division contributes to the EGU Awards & Medals programme. As for all EGU Divisions, an Early Career Scientist Award is established also for the NP Division and is given to young researchers who obtained outstanding results in the nonlinear geosciences. Every year the Lewis Fry Richardson medal is awarded to scientists for their exceptional contributions to nonlinear geosciences in general. Members of the Division are invited to contribute to the nominations (deadline are every year on the 15th June, see here) for both the NP Division Awards and Medals.

The division maintains very strong links with the EGU publication committee, and especially with the board of Editors of the open access journal Nonlinear Processes in Geophysics (NPG), an interdisciplinary journal for the publication of original research furthering knowledge on nonlinear processes in all branches of Earth, planetary, and solar system sciences.

Latest posts from the NP blog

NP Paper of the Month: “Representation learning with unconditional denoising diffusion models for dynamical systems”

About the revolution of generating butterflies Imagine the most vibrant butterfly you can conceive. Congratulations – you’ve just achieved what generative AI does! This technology can create images from simple text descriptions, revolutionising image generation. But as geoscientists, how can we use it to improve the prediction of chaotic system like our weather? How can it help us to discover properties crucial for weather prediction and climate projections? And what does it learn from data? These are the questions, we …

Recent awardees

Vincenzo Carbone

Vincenzo Carbone

  • 2025
  • Lewis Fry Richardson Medal

The 2025 Lewis Fry Richardson Medal is awarded to Vincenzo Carbone for outstanding contributions to the study of turbulence in magnetohydrodynamics, particularly in the solar wind and space plasmas, as well as its impact on the Earth’s magnetosphere and climate.


Johannes Jakob Lohmann

Johannes Jakob Lohmann

  • 2025
  • Division Outstanding Early Career Scientist Award

The 2025 Division Outstanding Early Career Scientist Award is awarded to Johannes Jakob Lohmann for important contributions to our understanding of non-linear climate dynamics during the last glacial period.


Annick Pouquet

Annick Pouquet

  • 2024
  • Lewis Fry Richardson Medal

The 2024 Lewis Fry Richardson Medal is awarded to Annick Pouquet for her outstanding contributions to the field of theoretical and computational turbulence in neutral and conducting fluids, in particular in magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence and dynamo theory.


Simone Benella

Simone Benella

  • 2024
  • Division Outstanding Early Career Scientist Award

The 2024 Division Outstanding Early Career Scientist Award is awarded to Simone Benella for his many original contributions in the field of stochastic processes, advancing the understanding space plasma dynamics.


Abdallah Aoude

Abdallah Aoude

  • 2024
  • Outstanding Student and PhD candidate Presentation (OSPP) Award

The 2024 Outstanding Student and PhD candidate Presentation (OSPP) Award is awarded to Abdallah Aoude Design of a new laboratory earthquake experiment

Current issue of the EGU newsletter

In our March issue we are here to help you prepare for the EGU25 General Assembly, with guides for first time attendees, understanding the EGU Code of Conduct, our playlist of EGU25 walk-through videos, two webinars to help you prepare your presentations and sign ups open for the EGUtoday newsletter, we are excited to get together with you all, in Vienna and online, in less than a month!

This month we also learned about a special scientific landscape under threat and what we can do to help, and now is also your last chance to get involved in the Science for Policy interface in Europe by applying to join EGU's new Climate Hazard and Risk Task Force by 31 March.

For all our talented photographers, the EGU Photo Competition is still open for submissions; enter by 31 March and you could win free registration to EGU26, and the admiration of your peers! All this and much more in this month's Loupe!