EGU, or the European Geosciences Union, is Europe's largest association of researchers and professionals involved in geological, planetary and astrophysical research. The organisation has more than 20,000 members from all over the world, and every year they nominate particularly excellent researchers in a number of areas.

It has just been announced that Professor Martyn Tranter is to receive the very prestigious Julia and Johannes Weertman medal. It is awarded in recognition of his excellent research and his contributions regarding the cryosphere here on Earth or on other planets in the solar system.

70s rock and climate change

Martyn Tranter has been working with polar geochemistry for many years, and his research into bio-geological reactions takes him in, on and under the Greenlandic ice sheet, for example. He is currently involved in a research project called DEEP PURPLE. The project is examining how flowering deep-violet algae can cause the ice sheet to melt faster.

The professor has been working with glaciology for more than 35 years, including at the University of Bristol since 1992, where he has been a pioneer in the field, and colleagues have lauded him as the man who created the field of research on biological processes on and under the ice cap and glaciers in polar regions.

Martyn Tranter is renowned as one of the most innovative and creative researchers, and not only as a world leader in his own work, but also for his multidisciplinary approach and his ability to share his knowledge with students and partners. Since the summer of 2020, he has been affiliated with the Department of Environmental Science, where he is continuing his work.

The medal will be presented at the annual EGU conference, which is scheduled for April 2021.