Subject Award · Physical Sciences & Engineering · 2026
The ten finalist universities are the ten highest-ranked on the Earth & Planetary Sciences collaboration index, listed here alphabetically until the full index publishes on 15 September. Each finalist is represented by an academic whose recent work exemplifies why: a real project, drawn from the open scholarly record, cited so you can check it.
The finalists
Response of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet to past and future climate change
Antarctica's eastern ice sheet is a vast store of frozen water whose behaviour matters far beyond the polar regions. The work examines the response of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet to past climate change and its possible behaviour under future change, drawing on the record of earlier epochs to inform what may lie ahead.
Global carbon dioxide efflux from rivers enhanced by high nocturnal emissions
Rivers are active players in the planet's carbon cycle, not just conduits carrying water to the sea. The study examines the global efflux of carbon dioxide from rivers, focusing on the contribution of high emissions during the night to the overall release of carbon from flowing waters.
Seasonal Arctic sea ice forecasting with probabilistic deep learning
Arctic sea ice is shrinking year-round, with far-reaching consequences for local communities, polar ecosystems and global climate. The team built IceNet, a probabilistic deep learning system trained on climate simulations and observations that forecasts sea ice concentration six months ahead, outperforming a state-of-the-art dynamical model for summer sea ice and extreme ice events.
Secular Evolution of Continents and the Earth System
Reading the rock and mineral archive preserved in the continental lithosphere, the work divides Earth's long history into seven phases, from the Proto-Earth of some 4.57 billion years ago to the Contemporary Earth of today. Integrating this record with knowledge of mantle cooling and lithospheric rheology, it constrains how the planet's tectonic modes have changed through time.
Submesoscale Dynamics in the Upper Ocean
Between large ocean currents and small-scale turbulence lie submesoscale motions, flows of 200 metres to 20 kilometres that are ubiquitous in the upper ocean. Introducing their fluid dynamics, the work explains how these motions arise through instabilities, modify density stratification, and redistribute energy between scales in complex transfers with both up-scale and down-scale components.
The imbalance of the Asian water tower
Glaciers, snow and lakes in High Mountain Asia are often described as a water tower for the surrounding regions. The work addresses the imbalance of the Asian water tower, examining how this great natural store of fresh water is changing and what that shift means for the region it supplies.
To trust climate models about the future, it helps to test them against the deep past. The study analyses new simulations of the Last Glacial Maximum, around 21,000 years ago, from the PMIP4 model intercomparison project, comparing them with the previous generation and showing that the new experiments span a wider range of temperature and precipitation.
Impacts of seismic resolution on fault interpretation: Insights from seismic modelling
Twenty interpreters from different geoscientific backgrounds were asked to map the same faults in conventional and high-resolution 3D seismic data from the Barents Sea. Comparing their interpretations through seismic modelling, the study reveals considerable variability between interpreters and shows how seismic resolution shapes the fault architectures that can actually be imaged, insights with clear value for subsurface mapping.
When the Raikoke volcano erupted in June 2019, it sent around 1.5 teragrams of sulfur dioxide into the stratosphere, the largest such volcanic emission since 2011. Comparing dispersion model simulations against high-resolution satellite measurements, the study assessed how skilfully the Met Office's atmospheric model tracked the volcanic cloud across the Northern Hemisphere, work that matters for forecasting disruption from future eruptions.
Greenland ice sheet climate disequilibrium and committed sea-level rise
Ice loss from Greenland is one of the largest sources of contemporary sea-level rise, yet models struggle to say how much is already locked in. Using satellite-derived observations of ice extent, flow and surface mass balance, the study finds Greenland's imbalance with the recent climate commits at least 274 millimetres of sea-level rise regardless of twenty-first-century climate pathways.
Exclusive to partners
Partners verify their data, feature their academics, and are eligible for the Subject Awards. Finalists are identified from open data; winners are decided by our editorial team and announced on 15 September 2026.
Explore partnership →The wider slate
Projected land ice contributions to twenty-first-century sea level rise
High Mountain Asia hydropower systems threatened by climate-driven landscape instability
Experimental warming differentially affects vegetative and reproductive phenology of tundra plants
Permafrost and Climate Change: Carbon Cycle Feedbacks From the Warming Arctic
Projected land ice contributions to twenty-first-century sea level rise
Mass balance of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets from 1992 to 2020
Carbon Fluxes in the Coastal Ocean: Synthesis, Boundary Processes, and Future Trends
← All subject awards · The full Earth & Planetary Sciences index →