GeoLog

Welcome to the final day of EGU 2013! As ever, there are many many great sessions on today – here’s our final selection of highlights. Be sure to complement this information with EGU Today, the daily newsletter of the General Assembly, available both in paper and for download here.

After you’ve settled into the day and had your morning coffee, why not pick up some skills to show off your talents to a potential employer, make the most of your CV and beat the competition (in academia and industry) in the “How to apply for a job” Short Course? Join career training experts Helen Goulding and Sarah Blackford in Room G10 at 10:30.

Today’s Medal Lectures:

• Julius Bartels Medal Lecture by Nikolai Tsyganenko (ML29), Room Y1, 08:30–09:30
• Arne Richter Award for Outstanding Young Scientists Lecture by Simon M. Mudd (ML5), Room B6, 13:30–14:00

…and a taste of the interdisciplinary sessions that are on:

• Crustal structure and geodynamic evolution in the Antarctic and Arctic regions 08:30–12:00,  Room G11
• Nature and physical properties of the plate interface in subduction zones: Cross-disciplinary views from Geodynamics-Geochemistry-Seismology-Modeling 08:30–12:00,  Room B1
• Integrated Research Infrastructures and Services to users: supporting excellence in a science for society 13:30–17:00,  Room B3
• Integrating Multiple Techniques to Determine the Evolution of the Himalayan-Karakorum-Tibetan Orogenic System: Surface, Sub-surface & Deep Earth Processes 13:30–17:00,  Room B1

We hope you’ve had a wonderful week, we certainly have!

Welcome to the fourth day of General Assembly excitement! Once again the day is packed with great events for you to attend – be sure to complement this information with EGU Today, the daily newsletter of the General Assembly, available both in paper and for download here.

Short courses! Today there’s a whole host of them, including a panel discussion on using blogs and social media in scientific research, while Web 2.0 isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, it can certainly raise your profile! Join in from 15:30 to 17:00 to pick up tips and quiz the panellists (Room G12). Later, we have an informal discussion on open access publishing for early career researchers, where experts in the audience will answer your questions on the topic. Drop in anytime from 17:30-19:00 and discus all things open access (in Room R11).

If you’re a young scientist, you can also join the EGU Young Scientists Forum (12:15–13:15 / Room B1) over lunch – a buffet of sandwiches and soft drinks will be served. If you’re a female geoscientist, head on over to the Women in the Geosciences Townhall Meeting to find out about current EGU initiatives and network.

Today’s interdisciplinary highlights:

• Moho oral sessions (SM6.3/GD2.11/GMPV26/TS11.6), 08:30-12:00 / Room B5 (the posters are on show tomorrow)
• Long-term rheological behaviour of the lithosphere (GD2.5/GMPV10/TS9.8): orals (08:30-12:00 in Room G10), posters (17:30-19:00 on the Blue Level) and poster summaries & discussions (15:30-16:15 in Room R7)
• Biochar and organic waste in soils: global warming mitigation and SOM quality (SSS8.6/CL2.9): orals (13:30-17:15 in Room B9) and posters (17:30-19:00 on the Blue Level).
• Geodiversity and geoheritage in geoscience research (SSS6.3/GM1.5): orals (15:30-17:15 in B6) and posters (17:39-19:00 on the Blue Level)

If you need a change of pace, why not stop by the Imaggeo photo exhibition, next to the EGU Booth on the Blue Level? You can vote for your favourite finalist there. Finally, remember to take the opportunity to meet your Division’s representatives in the day’s Meet EGU sessions.

Have a super day!

We’re halfway through the General Assembly already! Once again there is lots on offer at EGU 2013 and this is just a taster – be sure to complement this information with EGU Today, the daily newsletter of the General Assembly, available both in paper and for download here.

One thing we’ve been looking forward to is this year’s Great Debate on shale gas – “to frack, or not to frack?”, that is indeed the question! The aim of the EGU Great Debates is to tackle contemporary issues in the geosciences and break down the evidence with a panel of science, policy and environment experts – with all the coverage fracking for gas has received, this is sure to be a great debate! The Great Debate will take place in Room Y9 (15:30-17:00).

Another not-to-miss session is the EGU Award Ceremony, where the achievements of many outstanding scientists will be recognised in an excellent evening event from 17:30-20:00 in Room R1. Here are today’s lectures from some of these award-winning scientists:

• Ian McHarg Medal Lecture by Alessandro Annoni (ML13), Room R11, 11:00–12:00
• Stephan Mueller Medal Lecture by Leigh H. Royden (ML30), Room B9, 11:00–12:00
• Arne Richter Award for Outstanding Young Scientists Lecture by Xavier Fettweis (ML6), Room G11, 12:00–12:30
• Alfred Wegener Medal Lecture by Edouard Bard (ML1), Room R1, 12:15–13:15
• Beno Gutenberg Medal Lecture by Jeroen Tromp (ML25), Room B5, 13:30–14:30
• Vilhelm Bjerknes Medal Lecture by John P. Burrows (ML8), Room B10, 14:00–15:00

Why not expand your knowledge base in an incredibly interdisciplinary session on Anisotropy and small-scale heterogeneity in the Solid Earth, combining Geodynamics, Seismology, Geochemistry, Mineralogy and more?! Orals are in G10 (13:30-17:00), posters are on the Blue Level (17:30-19:00) and poster summaries and discussions are in R12 (10:30-11:15).

Finally, remember to take the opportunity to meet your Division’s representatives in the day’s Meet EGU sessions and, if you’ve had enough of the formalities, head on over to the Andean Geotrail photo exhibition where you take a breather and enjoy the fantastic photos taken on an incredible journey through South America (Exhibition Gallery, 1^st Floor, Green Level).

Have a lovely day!

Welcome back to the second day of the 2013 General Assembly! With so many excellent sessions, it isn’t easy selecting highlights, here’s just some of the great sessions on offer today. Make sure you complement this information with EGU Today, the daily newsletter of the General Assembly, available both in paper and for download here.

Why not venture outside of your comfort zone and investigate some of the interdisciplinary sessions on at the Assembly? From Chernobyl to Fukushima: Development of the Geoscientists’ Knowledgebase (GI1.4/SSS6.11) PICO sessions will be on this morning, followed by oral sessions this afternoon. There’s also a great series of orals and posters on the occurrence of earthquake hazards on today (SM3.3/NH4.4) and for something less close to home, there’s the session on evolution in the Earth and other planetary bodies (GD6.1/GMPV11). Take a look at the oral and PICO sessions for this series here.

Find out more about the role and responsibility of geoscientists in natural hazards in today’s Geoethics and natural hazards series (NH9.8) and how we can better determine earthquake source processes in session SM2.5.

If you’re a young scientist, join the EGU Young Scientists Forum (12:15–13:15 / Room B1) over lunch – a buffet of sandwiches and soft drinks will be served.

A tethered balloon will be measuring the aerosol profile outside the front entrance of the conference centre during the coffee breaks (10:30 and 15:30) – you can watch the launch and check out the results, which will be displayed live on computer screens throughout the building.

Today’s Townhall Meetings, organised by conference participants, include the following:

• Future Earth – research for global sustainability (TM4) 19:00–20:00 / Room B6
• Shaping future climate research in Europe (TM1) 19:00–20:00 / Room B13
• IODP-ICDP Townhall meeting (TM2) 19:00–20:00 / Room B5
• JUpiter ICy moons Explorer (JUICE) (TM11) 19:00–20:00 / Room B8

Finally, remember to take the opportunity to meet your Division’s representatives at the EGU Booth in today’s Meet EGU sessions and, if you’re in need of a break, head on over to GeoCinema, where you can kick back and relax with a geological film (10:30-19:00 daily in B13).

Have a great day!

Welcome to the 2013 General Assembly! This is the first full day of sessions – we’ve put together a few highlights for today below. Be sure to complement this information with EGU Today, the daily newsletter of the General Assembly, available both in paper and for download here.

Of particular importance today is the Union’s Plenary Meeting (UM8) at 12:15 in Room R1, a forum for all Assembly attendants to discuss the development of the Union in front of the Union Council. Seeing as it’s over lunch, buffet of sandwiches and soft drinks will be served at the event.

The union-wide session on the Mars Curiosity rover’s first results will be taking place shortly after this (US2) 13:30–15:00 / Room Y1) – after recent news on the Red Planet’s exciting surface geochemistry, this is not one to miss! If you have a conflict, you can check out what’s happening at the session on Twitter by following the session’s hashtag (#eguMars).

Today also features four fantastic Medal Lectures:

• Augustus Love Medal Lecture by Michael Gurnis (ML15) 09:00–10:00 / Room G11
• Hannes Alfvén Medal Lecture by Göran Marklund (ML28) 10:30–11:30 / Room Y1
• Arne Richter Award for Outstanding Young Scientists Lecture by Alexis P. Rouillard (ML4) 11:30–12:00 / Room Y1
• Runcorn-Florensky Medal Lecture by Tilman Spohn (ML31) 15:30–16:30 / Room Y1

The first round of Townhall Meetings start this evening – these are forums open to all conference participants at which new initiatives or decisions are announced to a larger audience following an open discussion on the matter raised. Today’s topics are:

• Monitoring geothermal reservoir depletion using seismic tomography (19:00–20:00 / Room B1)
• Tomorrow’s CLIVAR (19:00–20:00 / Room B5)
• Big data and software architecture meet geophysics and crisis management (19:00–20:00 / Room B3)
• ORCID: Connecting Research and Researchers (19:00–20:00 / Room Y1)

It’s also the first year we’re running PICO – or Presenting Interactive Content – sessions that combine the best of both oral and poster presentations. Take a look at what’s on here.

Finally, remember to take the opportunity to meet your Division’s representatives in the day’s Meet EGU sessions and, if you’re in need of a break, head on over to GeoCinema, where you can kick back and relax with a geological film (10:30-19:00 daily in B12).

Have an excellent day!

Many of the EGU General Assembly higlights will be streamed live, so if you can’t make it to Vienna this year, you can still watch the Union Session on Curiosity’s first results (US1), the Great Debate on fracking, several medal lectures and all the press conferences at the 2013 General Assembly live on the conference website.

To watch a session, simply click on the link that appears next to its entry on the full webstreaming schedule (available here). Videos will also be available on demand after the Assembly, and if you’d like to watch past year’s sessions, you can do so on EGU TV or the Union’s YouTube channel.

If you are a journalist or a freelance writer or science blogger interested in watching press conferences via webstreaming, you may ask questions to panellists using Skype, or on Twitter, using the hashtag #askEGU. For more information, please check the Webstreaming page on the EGU 2013 Media portal.

The enormous space and time scales that Geology covers makes teaching it a challenge, one best overcome by field experience, but it’s a rare thing for a school to be able to explore Geological wonders on the other side of the world. So what if someone brought it to you?

Olivier Galland (who we had the chance to interview in December), together with Caroline Sassier, set up an educational project (The Andean Geotrail) centred on their cycling adventures in the Andean mountains. Seventeen schools followed their 8,000 kilometre journey from Lima to Ushuaia, as they blogged their way from one geo-highlight to the next.

The stunning photos from their travels are being exhibited at the General Assembly (Exhibition Gallery on the First Floor, Green Level) – it’s definitely worth dropping in!

Caroline Sassier on the The Andean Geotrail project, lost in the immensity of the Bolivian Altiplano. Photograph: Olivier Galland.

Short Courses

Open Access (OA)

Demystifying Open Access – an open discussion for early career researchers tackling how OA can benefit young scientists without compromising their careers. From what it costs to publish an open access paper to how we can measure its impact, all interested scientists are invited to drop in and join us over drinks in a marketplace of discussion.

How to apply for a job. It’s a topic rarely addressed in postgraduate courses, but in this session, career training experts will help you make the most of your strengths and show them off to a potential employer. Pick up some tips about finding the right job for you, preparing a good CV, and writing a targeted cover letter.

The Blogs and social media in scientific research session explores the ways in which scientists can use blogs and social media to communicate their work. Why should scientists blog or use Twitter?  How do they find the time? And what are the benefits? A panel of blog and social media-savvy scientists will talk about their experience before opening the discussion to the audience.

Last year’s communicate your science workshop

If you’re a Geomorphologist, you’ll be set for the week as the Geomorphology division has loads on offer! Pickup skills on dating techniques, project supervision, open access publishing  and you can also meet the master for tips from seasoned academics.

If you’re a Hydrologist, there’s also the opportunity to meet experts in the field in a round-table discussion with established scientists. You can also pick up pointers on writing the perfect hydrology paper.

See the session programme for more short courses at EGU 2013.

Meeting other Geoscientists during the tweet up at last year’s General Assembly.

Networking

The opening reception on Sunday, 7 April is a great opportunity to meet people, network, get to know the Assembly venue. There is free food and drink as well as specific places for Young Scientists to meet up on the Green Level. Tall signs will tell you where to go, so stop by to meet fellow early career researchers, division presidents and the Young Scientist representatives for the EGU (Jennifer Holden and Sara Mynott).

Earlier in the day, there will also be an opportunity for women in the geosciences to attend a networking event run by the Earth Science Women’s Network, for more information and how to register, see here.

Check this post for more details on networking opportunities at the General Assembly.

Have your say!

What would you like us to do for you? Join us over lunch (food provided!) to find out what the EGU can do to for Young Scientists and let us know what you’d like more of. These will take place on Tuesday 9 April and Thursday 11 April.

Other Sessions

The Medal Lectures, which highlight the work of brilliant scientists. Head on over to the lectures on the Arne Richter Award for Outstanding Young Scientists (ML4-ML7) and be inspired!

You can also join in a conference call for Young Researchers in Earth Sciences, which aims to promote interdisciplinary research efforts among early career researchers.

There are 14 short courses at the EGU General Assembly 2013. 

Short courses are great opportunities to learn about a subject or further your knowledge in a particular area. The short courses at this year’s General Assembly are listed below.

Short courses represent a refreshing opportunity to learn from the masters (source: Wikimedia Commons)

SC1 Short Course: Tipping Points in the Geosciences (also listed as NP1.5)

SC2 Short Course: Nonlinear Time Series Analysis (also listed as NP1.6)

SC3 Short Course: Predictability in Theory and Predictability in Practice (also listed as NP1.7)

SC4 How to write (and publish) a scientific paper in hydrology (also listed as HS11.1)

SC5 Meet the expert in hydrology – Round tables among young and established scientists (also listed as HS11.2)

SC6 Short Course: How to apply and interpret the Fast Fourier Transform (also listed as NH10.1)

SC7 Short Course on methods and techniques to study soils affected by fire

SC8 Blogs and social media in scientific research (also listed as EOS12)

SC9 How to apply for a job (also listed as EOS13)

SC10 Managing Uncertainty in the Model Web

SC11 Geomorphology workshops for young scientists: Dating techniques in geomorphology (also listed as GM11.1)

SC12 Geomorphology workshops for young scientists: Supervising Master’s and PhD projects (also listed as GM11.2)

SC13 Geomorphology workshops for young scientists: Open access publishing  (also listed as GM11.3)

SC14 Geomorphology workshops for young scientists: Meet the Master

Please note that courses operate on a first come, first served basis, so make sure you arrive early!

Oral Presentations

The guidelines for oral presentations are online. The link also specifies the equipment available in each room (laptop, microphone, laser pointer, ability to hook up your own laptop, etc.). Oral presentations this year are in four 90-minute time blocks, with each talk being about 12 minutes long with 3 minutes for questions. Please be in the presentation room approximately 30 minutes before your time block starts, so your presentation can be uploaded to the provided laptop or so you can connect your laptop to the system.

Austria Center Vienna by night during the General Assembly

Posters

Guidelines for poster presentations are also online. Importantly, the required dimensions of poster boards are 197 cm x 100 cm (landscape). Posters should be hung between 08:00 and 08:30 in the morning using tape available from roaming student assistants. By the start of the Assembly, EGU will have sent your poster location (e.g. XY0439) by email. Locations are also listed online in the programme. You can find the exact location of your poster using the online floor plans. Please retrieve your poster at the end of the day. Those that are not collected will be disposed of.

The Authors in Attendance Time will also have been sent to you. Note that some sessions may have a poster walk-through (in some cases this will be noted in the session details), where authors are asked to summarise their poster with other members of their session in attendance. Other sessions will comprise scheduled poster summaries and discussion.

Time Blocks

Timetabling at the General Assembly is in four time blocks as follows:

TB1 08:30–10:00
TB2 10:30–12:00
TB3 13:30–15:00
TB4 15:30–17:00
TB5 17:30–19:00 (not on Friday)

There is free tea and coffee available in the poster halls in the breaks between TB1 & TB2 and TB3 & TB4.

No-shows

Including your abstract in the conference programme obliges you, or one of your co-authors, to present your contribution at the time and in the mode indicated. If you already know that your oral will not be presented, you are kindly requested to withdraw your corresponding abstract as soon as possible.