The three 2012 General Assembly photo competition winners are:

1st Prize (214 votes): Melt Stream, Greenland by Ian Joughin, distributed by EGU under a Creative Commons licence.
The selection committee received close to 300 photos for this year’s EGU Photo Competition, in most areas covered by Union’s activities. The ten stunning finalist photos are below. Do you have a favourite? Vote for it! The photos are exhibited in Hall X (basement, Blue Level) of the Austria Center Vienna, where you will also find voting terminals. The results will be announced on Friday 27 April during the lunch break.
Water or new iridescent fluid? by Alessandro Arato, distributed by EGU under a Creative Commons licence.
Nacreous clouds in Husavik, by Sigurjon Jonsson, distributed by EGU under a Creative Commons licence.
Terraced rice field, Yunnan, China by Samiksha Volvaiker, distributed by EGU under a Creative Commons licence.
Russell Fjord (detail) by Jean-Daniel Champagnac, distributed by EGU under a Creative Commons licence.
Rock Fall. Image by Fausto Guzetti, distributed by EGU under a Creative Commons licence.
The photograph shows a rock fall occurred near Valtopina, Umbria, Central Italy, at an unknown date.
Rockfalls are a mass movement hazard. They mostly occur on steep rock faces, with the blocks that fall detaching along an existing weakness. The scale of a rock fall can range from a few blocks of rock to rock avalanches. Rock falls can be triggered by earthquakes, freeze-thaw or no apparent cause.
Imaggeo is the online open access geosciences image repository of the European Geosciences Union. Every geoscientist who is an amateur photographer (but also other people) can submit their images to this repository. Being open access, it can be used by scientists for their presentations or publications as well as by the press. If you submit your images to imaggeo, you retain full rights of use, since they are licenced and distributed by EGU under a Creative Commons licence.
Strombolian activity on Mount Yasur, Vanuatu. Image by Derya Gürer, distributed by EGU under a Creative Commons licence.
Imaggeo is the online open access geosciences image repository of the European Geosciences Union. Every geoscientist who is an amateur photographer (but also other people) can submit their images to this repository. Being open access, it can be used by scientists for their presentations or publications as well as by the press. If you submit your images to imaggeo, you retain full rights of use, since they are licenced and distributed by EGU under a Creative Commons licence.
Lava from the East Rift Zone entering the sea near Kalapana (Hawaii Big Island). Image by Martin Mergili, distributed by EGU under a Creative Commons License.
The image shows a flow of basaltic lava out of a lava tunnel into the sea. The location of the scene is the shoreline of Hawaii Big Island near the village of Kalapana. Flow direction of the lava is from the bottom to the top of the image, vaporization of sea water leads to a steam plume of considerable size. Originating from the East Rift Zone, many of the lava flows in that area occur beneath a layer of partially solidified lava. The image was taken on August 13, 2010 during a touristic helicopter flight on a holiday trip.
Imaggeo is the online open access geosciences image repository of the European Geosciences Union. Every geoscientist who is an amateur photographer (but also other people) can submit their images to this repository. Being open access, it can be used by scientists for their presentations or publications as well as by the press. If you submit your images to imaggeo, you retain full rights of use, since they are licenced and distributed by EGU under a Creative Commons licence.
Mother of Pearl Cloud above Esrange, Sweden. Image by Peggy Achtert, distributed by EGU under a Creative Commons License.
This image shows a Polar Stratospheric Cloud (PSC) observed during a lidar campaign at Esrange, northern Sweden, on January 27th, 2011. The lidar measurement revealed that the PSC occurred between 29 and 31 km altitude at a temperature below -93°C. PSCs are most commonly observed between 18 and 26 km altitude during polar winter when ambient temperatures drop below -83°C. The name “Mother of Pearl Cloud” only refers to the visible kind of PSC that is made up of ice crystals. The recording of PSC observations started in 1893 when Henrik Mohn published his collected data of iridescent clouds over southern Sweden. It was him who called this phenomenon “Mother of Pearl Cloud” because of the cloud’s brilliant iridescence.
Imaggeo is the online open access geosciences image repository of the European Geosciences Union. Every geoscientist who is an amateur photographer (but also other people) can submit their images to this repository. Being open access, it can be used by scientists for their presentations or publications as well as by the press. If you submit your images to imaggeo, you retain full rights of use, since they are licenced and distributed by EGU under a Creative Commons licence.
Although at first they might look like a sierra crest viewed from an airplane, they are in fact cloud formations shot with an ultra-zoom lens, at dusk, sometime in late February 2009. Image by Evangelos Karageorgos, distributed by EGU under a Creative Commons License.
Imaggeo is the online open access geosciences image repository of the European Geosciences Union. Every geoscientist who is an amateur photographer (but also other people) can submit their images to this repository. Being open access, it can be used by scientists for their presentations or publications as well as by the press. If you submit your images to imaggeo, you retain full rights of use, since they are licenced and distributed by EGU under a Creative Commons licence.
Phrao, Thailand. Image by Heike Eichler, distributed by EGU under a Creative Commons License.
Imaggeo is the online open access geosciences image repository of the European Geosciences Union. Every geoscientist who is an amateur photographer (but also other people) can submit their images to this repository. Being open access, it can be used by scientists for their presentations or publications as well as by the press. If you submit your images to imaggeo, you retain full rights of use, since they are licenced and distributed by EGU under a Creative Commons licence.
A new EGU Journal has been launched: Geoscientific Instrumentation, Methods and Data Systems (GI). It is an open access interdisciplinary electronic journal for swift publication of original articles and short communications in the area of geoscientific instruments. A unique feature of the journal is the emphasis on synergy between science and technology that facilitates advances in GI. The Chief-Executive Editor is Jothiram Vivekanandan with the Executive Editors being Ari-Matti Harri and Håkan Svedhem. More information (including how to submit papers) can be found on the journal’s website.
Leptothrix bacteria, in general, are known to be capable of oxidizing both iron(II) and manganese(II) producing ferric hydroxide and manganese oxide. Image by Bertram Schmidt, distributed by EGU under a Creative Commons License.
Imaggeo is the online open access geosciences image repository of the European Geosciences Union. Every geoscientist who is an amateur photographer (but also other people) can submit their images to this repository. Being open access, it can be used by scientists for their presentations or publications as well as by the press. If you submit your images to imaggeo, you retain full rights of use, since they are licenced and distributed by EGU under a Creative Commons licence.