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AGU 2013 preview and participation

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So, it’s that time of year again.

Fall AGU is the largest Earth Science conference on the planet, and is where you will get previews of new science results, get a sense of what other experts think about current topics, and indulge in the more social side of being a scientist. The full scientific program is available for searching here.

In recent years, there has been an increasing amount of virtual content – including live streaming of key sessions and high profile lectures, and continuous twitter commentary (follow the hashtag #AGU13), that give people not attending to get a sense of what’s going on. Gavin and Mike are attending and will try and give some highlights as the week goes along, here and via twitter (follow @ClimateOfGavin and @MichaelEMann).

Some obvious highlights (that will be live-streamed) are the Frontiers of Geophysics lecture from the Jim Hansen (Tuesday, 12:30pm PST), Senator Olympia Snowe (Monday, 12:30pm), Judith Lean (Tues 10:20am), the Charney Lecture from Lenny Smith (Tues 11:20am), James Elsner on tornado connections to climate change (Tues 2:40pm), David Grinspoon (the Sagan lecture, Thurs 9am), and Bill Ruddiman (Thursday 2:40pm). Some full sessions will also be livestreamed – for instance, The future of IPCC session (Tues 10:20am-12:30pm), and the Climate Literacy sessions (Tues 4:00pm-6:00pm, Wed 8am-12:30pm).

For attendees, there are a number of events close to our hearts: A bloggers forum for discussion on science blogging (Mon 5pm), the Open Mic night hosted by Richard Alley (Mon 7:30pm at Jillian’s Restaurant), and the AGU 5k run on Wednesday morning (6:30am).

Also AGU and the Climate Science Legal Defense Fund have organised a facility for individual consultations with a lawyer (by appointment via lawyer@climatesciencedefensefund.org) for people either who have found themselves involved in legal proceedings associated with their science or people who are just interested in what they might need to be prepared for. There is a brown bag lunch session on Friday (12:30pm PST) for a more informal discussion of relevant issues.

There are obviously many individual presentations that will be of interest, but too many to list here. Feel free to add suggestions in the comments and look out for updates all next week.

Reader Interactions

24 Responses to "AGU 2013 preview and participation"

  1. Anyone interested at all in this topic should try to attend AGU at least once. San Francisco is a nice place to visit and AGU takes over Moscone for a conference that can be overpowering, but offers a massive smorgasboard of stimulation.

    Every day, they fill the main hall in Moscone South with thousands of posters, 2 rounds/day. Although it doesn’t make headlines, one of the most fun things to do is to walk the posters and talk to people. Posters are often staffed by grad students or post-docs eager to explain what they’ve been doing to anyone who listens … and I always find their enthusiasm inspiring.

    Doing this might be an instructive experience for those that think people do this only for the money train of lavish research grants that provide cushy lifestyles. :-)

    More representative might be:
    From Ray Bradley’s “Global Warming and Political Intimidation” (2011): pp.67-68.
    Rep Joe Barton (R-TX) was defending his tactics in hassling climate scientists (M, B &H, of whom Ray was the B), whose pushback led to Barton arranging for the Wegman Report.

    Barton:
    “…In the end, however, sharing data seems like all indoor work and no heavy lifting.”

    Ray:
    “…I’ve adopted it as a mantra in my own research. As I dragged myself up nineteen thousand feet to service our weather station on the ice cap overlooking the crater of Mount Kilimanjaro, I chanted it, step by step. … As my colleagues and I struggled to load four hundred-pound Ski-Doos into the back of a Twin Otter to head off to a remote site in the High Arctic, it was a great teeth grinder. And as we froze our sorry asses off in a tent in the High Andes of Peru, we hummed the words to distract us from the cold. Oh, yes, we love all that indoor work.”

  2. A few corrections: The IPCC Session on Tuesday from 10:20 am -12:20 pm (U22A) is not on the future of the IPCC as suggested in the post, but is a set of talks on key aspects of IPCC WG1 AR5. The Town Hall on the future of the IPCC (TH15B) is a different event, from 6:15 – 7:15 pm on Monday. Open Mic Night is not on Monday night as stated in the post, but on Tuesday night from 7:30-9:00 pm.

  4. Do double-check time/date/contents for sessions.
    Changes happen.
    That first post for sure has errors pointed out in response #2, The Elf’s corrections — e.g.
    Open Mic Night is Tuesday 10 December 2013, 7:30 PM – 9:00 PM

    Also anyone counting on San Francisco’s balmy coastal weather should be aware that’s climate, but weather differs: the overnight temperature likely won’t _quite_ hit freezing tonight, but it’s rather brisk.

  5. Can a non-member attend the exhibits and or the poster areas?

    Thanks,
    Bob

  6. > can a non-member attend …
    Nope. Members pay in addition to membership, registering for the meeting, with big discounts for 3rd and 4th world scientists.
    http://fallmeeting.agu.org/2013/travel-housing/registration-rates/

    Registered attendees can buy guest passes. Chat someone up …

    BUT:

    If I read it right, nonmembers can register, with this code, for access for a month or so to the online material:

    https://fallmeeting.agu.org/2013/general-information/faqs/

    Try and see if that works?

    As an incentive to try Virtual Options, AGU is offering the live streaming and on-demand viewing All Access Pass for free this year. Use promo code: AGU13 when creating an account to watch live streams and recordings. No discount code is needed to view ePosters, but you will need to create an account.

    What happens once I register?
    After creating an account, you will receive a confirmation email and will be able to immediately login.

    Note: You must create separate accounts for both ePosters and to watch live streams and recordings. AGU recommends using the email address associated with your AGU membership.

    But — even for those of us who aren’t scientists (and also not paying to register to get into the meeting)

    AGU offers a whole lot for its current $50 annual registration:
    https://membership.agu.org/join-renew/

    I’m still looking for a summary page for events that are open to the general public this year — usually some are.

  7. Which reminds me, did the presentations from the royal society get published? (gavin)

    [Response: Thanks for the reminder! The audio from each of the speakers is available here (click on the speakers name and the audio link should become visible). No video though. (My slides are available from here though, if you want to follow along). – gavin]

  8. answer via email from AGU:

    Please visit virtualoptions.agu.org to create an account for the live streaming platform (this will be a new account; you can’t log in with your AGU username and password, though we request that you use your email address on file with AGU to create the account). Once you have completed the registration process and have logged in, there is a Schedule tab on the main navigation bar. It will list what is streaming each day. Everything that is streamed will also be available on-demand. There is no streaming on Friday – those sessions will only be recorded for on-demand viewing.

    Anyone can create an account – AGU members, non-members, meeting attendees, and non-meeting attendees. Be sure to use discount code AGU13! All of the live streams and on-demand content will be available in this platform.

    The only presentation open to general public (to attend in person without registering) was the Public Lecture held on Sunday. All other presentations require registration and payment in order to attend in person.

    Please let us know if you have any other questions, and again, thank you for your interest in Virtual Options!

    …
    virtualoptions@agu.org

  11. In case my previous comment didnt get through, no inperson public events this year sez k in member svcs.

  12. (Also daypass v expensive and no nearby streaming video viewing sites, despite vast unused space in #AGU13 lobbies and fine public and private universities nearby. Next year?)

  13. (Yes we can watch in private, eschewing the human element, but said element is important.)

  16. Off topic I know. But what’s the response to Nic Lewis at Climate Audit when he tries to show low Transient Climate Response? Does this have anything to say about sensitivity? Seems to me that the paleo record rules out low sensitivity.

  18. I watched several oral presentations from the AGU meeting via the “virtual options” link. I was curious about the session on remote sensing, which was scheduled for presentation starting at 4 PM Thursday. One session (U44A-02) wasn’t streamed or recorded and I wondered whether someone who attended might give a comment on it. I gather that the presenter was Carol Ann Clayson from Woods Hole…

  19. Quoting from the main post at top of thread:

    The full scientific program is available for searching here.

    Great info still there for those looking for reading:

    SWIRLs: AGU and its Program Committee has created a themed path for interdisciplinary collaboration at Fall Meeting. The Committee has identified, linked, and organized select sessions from various sections into themes. These themes, called SWIRLs, provide Fall Meeting attendees with an interdisciplinary “walk through the week.”

    The six SWIRL themes are: (1) Carbon Dioxide Sequestration, (2) Characterizing Uncertainty, (3) Dust and Aerosols, (4) Computational Methods across Scales: Personal to High Performance Platforms, (5) Global Soils, and (6) Urban Systems. SWIRLs are included in the session title. For example, [SWIRL_GS] at the end of a session title indicates that a session is a part of the Global Soils SWIRL.

  23. NOAA on their “Climate at a Glance” page has November as the warmest on record also. It isn’t on the main page yet. The “Climate at a Glance” site is an incredible accomplishment by the way for anyone who wants to show a friend an easy and simple way to view past climate changes.