The 2020 Arne Richter Award for Outstanding Early Career Scientists is attributed to Weian Chao for his outstanding contributions to improving landslide monitoring systems using existing seismological networks in Taiwan. Chao is a promising young scientist who was trained as a seismologist and is now a practitioner of Environmental Seismology, a rapidly emerging field that employs conventional seismological techniques to explore the earth’s surface processes.
Chao developed a system able to monitor large landslide activities in Taiwan in real time and under all natural conditions using the existing seismic networks: this has no precedent elsewhere in the world. As a result of this successful work, a significant step forward has been made in the effectiveness with which Taiwan can monitor its major mass-wasting activities and act in time to mitigate their damage. This is more impressive than the yet also impressive number of papers Chao has published in his brief professional career. These demonstrate the tangible evidence of his innovative approach in using common seismological techniques to address urgent societal needs for practical knowledge on geohazards in Taiwan.
Chao’s approach is applicable to other regions with comparable landscape settings without much alteration and before long will be a routine practice for established seismometer networks.

Public information:
The 2020 Arne Richter Award for Outstanding Early Career Scientists is awarded to Weian Chao in recognition of his major contributions to using existing seismic networks to improve landslide monitoring, allowing authorities to act quickly to mitigate landslide damage.

The 2020 Jean Baptiste Lamarck Medal is awarded to Michael Benton in recognition of his outstanding contributions to vertebrate paleontology, to paleobiology and to macroevolution across times of extreme environmental change.

Juliennen Stroeve is awarded the 2020 Julia and Johannes Weertman medal for her fundamental contributions to improved satellite observations of sea ice, better understanding of causes of sea ice variability and change, and her compelling communication to the wider public.

This medal was established by the Earth Magnetism & Rock Physics Division in recognition of the scientific achievements of Louis Eugène Felix Néel, who shared the 1970 Nobel Prize in Physics for his fundamental research and discoveries concerning antiferromagnetism. This medal is awarded to individuals in recognition of outstanding achievements in rock magnetism, rock physics and geomaterials.

The Petrus Peregrinus medal was established by the Earth Magnetism & Rock Physics Division in recognition of the scientific achievements of Petrus Peregrinus. It is awarded for outstanding scientific contributions in the fields of magnetism and palaeomagnetism.

The GMPV medallist lecture

The SSP Division Outstanding Early Career Scientist Award was awarded to Anna Joy Drury for her fundamental contributions to research on Miocene stable isotope stratigraphy, paleoceanography and climate evolution.