This page lists sessions, selected by the EGU press officer, that could be of interest to journalists taking part in the General Assembly. They were selected because they include one or more abstracts featuring potentially newsworthy research.
Over the whole Earth history, the climate has encountered tipping points, shifting from one regulated system to the other. This tilting motion affects both climate and the carbon cycle and has played a major role in the evolution of the Earth climate, at all timescales. Earth History has been ponctuated by large climate changes and carbon cycle reorganizations, from large climate variations occurring in deep times (snowball events, terrestrialisation, Mesozoic and early Cenozoic warm episodes, quaternary glacial cycles…) to past and on-going abrupt events. Many potential triggers of those climate and carbon cycle shifts have been proposed and tested through modeling studies, and against field data, such as those directly or indirectly linked with tectonics (plate motion, orogenesis, opening/closing of seaways, weathering…) and orbital forcing. Given that the Earth climate is currently experiencing an unprecedented transition under anthropogenic pressure, understanding the mechanisms behind the scene is crucial.
Our aim is to point out the most recent results concerning how a complex system as the climate of the Earth has undergone many tipping points and what is the specificity of the future climate changes. Therefore, within this session, we would like to encourage talks discussing advances in our record and modeling of the forces triggering and amplifying the changes of Earth climate and carbon cycle across spatial and temporal scales.
In October 2018, the IPCC published its special report on impacts of global warming of 1.5 deg C. Another recent, highly publicised study suggests that the planet could pass an irreversible threshold into a so called “Hothouse Earth” state for a temperature increase of as low as 2 degrees C above pre-industrial temperatures, while other studies and commentaries have emphasised the urgency on climate action, arguing that 2020 must be a turning point for global fossil fuel emissions, to increase the chance of maintaining a safe operating space for the humans on the planet. In 2018, the IPCC celebrated its 30th anniversary. The importance of taking action on human-induced climate change has been emphasised with governments around the world since the 1990s yet CO2 concentrations continue to rise and international initiatives have, to date, had limited and insufficient impact to avert some of the most serious consequences of climate change.
How close are we to one or more critical thresholds (cliff edge)? Is there time to avert passing one or more of these thresholds? What can the geoscience community do to reduce the risks? How important is bottom up versus top down action to ensuring the least worst outcome? These are some of the questions we will debate with world experts in their field and authors of the thought papers on these topics.
Public information:
In October 2018, the IPCC published its special report on impacts of global warming of 1.5 deg C. Another recent, highly publicised study suggests that the planet could pass an irreversible threshold into a so called “Hothouse Earth” state for a temperature increase of as low as 2 degrees C above pre-industrial temperatures.
In 2018, the IPCC celebrated its 30th anniversary. The importance of taking action on human-induced climate change has been emphasised with governments around the world since the 1990s yet CO2 concentrations continue to rise and international initiatives have, to date, had limited and insufficient impact to avert some of the most serious consequences of climate change that may pose an existential threat to modern civilisation.
How close are we to one or more critical thresholds? Is there time to avert passing one or more of them? What can the geoscience community do to reduce the risks? How important is bottom up versus top down action to ensuring the least worst outcome? These are some of the questions we will debate with world experts in their field and authors of the thought papers on these topics.
The Great Debate panellists are:
Prof. Myles Allen is Professor of Geosystem Science in the Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford. His research focuses on how human and natural influences on climate contribute to observed climate change and risks of extreme weather and in quantifying their implications for long-range climate forecasts. He was a Coordinating Lead Author on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Special Report on 1.5 degrees, having served on the IPCC’s 3rd, 4th and 5th Assessments, including the Synthesis Report Core Writing Team in 2014.
Prof. Sabine Fuss, Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change (MCC), Berlin. Sabine is an economist, currently leading a working group at the MCC. She holds a professorship on Sustainable Resource Management and Global Change at Humboldt University of Berlin. Her research interests are in sustainable development, land use change and climate change mitigation. She has been an IPCC Lead Author for the Special Report on 1.5°C global warming, serves on the steering committee of the Global Carbon Project and is a guest scholar at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis.
Erica Hope leads the cross-sectoral ‘2050 Task Force’ and governance programme of the European Climate Foundation (ECF) in Brussels, which seeks to build knowledge, political strategies and coalitions to drive the transition to a zero emissions society by mid-century. Erica has previously worked for the energy efficiency and UK programmes of the ECF, and before that led the policy and advocacy activities of NGO network Climate Action Network Europe on energy efficiency. From 2005-2009 she was researcher to Green MEP Caroline Lucas, and has also worked at the Institute for Public Policy Research in London.
Prof. Linda Steg is professor of environmental psychology at the University of Groningen. She studies factors influencing sustainable behaviour, the effects and acceptability of strategies aimed at promoting sustainable behaviour, and public perceptions of technology and system changes. She is member of Member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences (KNAW), and lead author of the IPCC special report on 1.5°C and AR6. She works on various interdisciplinary and international research programmes, and collaborates with practitioners working in industry, governments and NGOs.
Public information:
Plan S, devised by a coalition of research funders with support from the European Commission and European Research Council, demands that by January 1, 2020 research supported by participating funders must be published in Open Access journals. Representatives from subscription-based and Open Access publishers, architects of Plan S, and researchers affected by it will debate questions surrounding the implementation of the plan and its consequences.
The panelists are David Sweeney, Heike Langenberg, Marc Schiltz and Brooks Hanson. They will present the case for and against mandatory OA followed by an open debate with questions and comments from the audience.
David Sweeney is Executive Chair of Research England, the biggest research funder in the UK. He has been invited to visit many countries to advise on research assessment and funding, particularly with respect to research impact. He is also co-chair of the Implementation Task Force for Plan S, the international initiative on full and immediate open access to research publications.
Heike Langenberg is the Chief Editor of Nature Geoscience. She started her editorial career in 1999 as an Associate, then Senior Editor at Nature handling manuscripts in the broad area of climate sciences. In 2007 she moved to Nature Geoscience to launch the journal in January 2008. A graduate in mathematics of the Philipps-Universität Marburg, Germany, she ventured into oceanography for her PhD at the University of Hamburg. Her postdoctoral research at various research institutes in Hamburg was focused on numerical simulations of the ocean and atmosphere at a regional scale.
Marc Schiltz is president of Science Europe, the European association of all major national public research funding and research performing organisations. In this role, he has contributed to setting the European agenda to foster Open Science and is one of the architects of Plan S. He is also leading the Luxembourg National Research Fund. He is a relentless advocate of science and research, serving on a number of external boards and committees, both at the national and international level. Having received a PhD in Crystallography from the University of Paris-Sud and an executive MBA from INSEAD, Marc has been active in research and higher education for more than 25 years and held research and faculty positions in several European countries.
Brooks Hanson is the Executive Vice President for Science for the American Geophysical Union (AGU), responsible for AGU’s publications, meetings, ethics and data programs, and Thriving Earth Exchange. He previously acted as Sr. Vice President for Publications at AGU, where he was responsible for AGU's portfolio of books and 21 journals and served as Deputy Editor for Physical Sciences at Science. Brooks received a Ph.D. in Geology from UCLA and held a post-doctoral appointment at the Department of Mineral Sciences at the Smithsonian Institution.
Plastic pollution is recognized as one of the most serious and urgent problems facing our planet. Rates of manufacture, use and ultimately disposal of plastics continue to soar, posing an enormous threat to the planet’s oceans and rivers and the flora and fauna they support. There is an urgent need for global action, backed by sound scientific understanding, to tackle this problem.
This Union Symposium will address the problems posed to our planet by plastic pollution, and examine options for dealing with the threat.
Public information:
The dialogue between scientists, institutions, policymakers and the general public is widely recognised as an essential step towards a fair and sustainable society. Nowadays, more than ever in human history, international cooperation is an essential requirement for protecting the planet, advancing science and ensuring an equitable development of the global economy.
Despite its importance, the above dialogue can be a challenge for scientists, who often cannot find a productive connection with governments and politicians. Scientific associations are a key link between researchers and policy makers, as they have the potential to establish a durable and profitable connection with institutions.
The EGU elected the dialogue with society as one of its priority missions. At its General Assembly, the EGU is launching an innovative symposium format, Science and Society (SCS), to host scientific forums specifically dedicated to connecting with high-level institutions and engaging the public and policymakers.
The conversation with Ilaria Capua and Mario Monti will focus on science and politics with a global perspective, and the impact of populism on European integrity and therefore scientific research. The discussion will elaborate on optimal strategies to deliver topical and clear scientific messages to key institutions.
Ilaria Capua is a virologist best known for her research on influenza viruses and her efforts promoting open access to genetic information on emerging viruses. In 2006, Science reported on Capua’s effort towards open access science, stating that she had “renewed the debate about how to balance global health against scientists’ needs to publish and countries’ demands for secrecy". She has been a member of the Italian parliament from 2013 to 2016 and a fake news victim. She is currently a full professor at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, US, and director of the UF One Health Center of Excellence.
Mario Monti served as a European Commissioner from 1995 to 2004, with responsibility for the internal market, services, customs, taxation and competition. He was Prime Minister of Italy from 2011 to 2013, leading a government of national unity to cope with the Italian debt crisis. Monti has also been Rector and is currently President of Bocconi University in Milan. His publications deal mainly with monetary and financial economics, public finance, European integration, competition policy. He is currently lifetime member of the Italian Senate.
During the conversation, Ilaria Capua and Mario Monti will present their vision with two 15-minute talks that will be followed by 20 minutes dedicated to questions from the audience and answers.
Citizen science (the involvement of the public in scientific processes) is gaining momentum in one discipline after another, thereby more and more data on biodiversity, earthquakes, weather, climate, health issues among others are being collected at different scales that can extend the frontiers of knowledge. Successful citizen observatories can potentially be scaled up in order to contribute to larger environmental and policy strategies and actions (such as the European Earth Observation monitoring systems) and to be integrated in GEOSS and Copernicus. Making credible contributions to science can empower citizens to actively participate in environmental decision making, can raise awareness about environmental issues and can help bridge the science-society gap. Often, citizen science is seen in the context of Open Science, which is a broad movement embracing Open Data, Open Access, Open Educational Resources, Open Source, Open Methodology, and Open Peer Review to transparently publish and share scientific research - thus leveraging Citizen Science and Reproducible Research.
Both, open science in general and citizen science in particular, pose great challenges for researchers, and to support the goals of the various openness initiatives, this session looks at what is possible nowadays and what is ready for application in geosciences. Success stories, failures, best practices and solutions will be presented, in addition to various related networks. We aim to show how researchers, citizens, funding agencies, governments and other stakeholders can benefit from citizen science and open science, acknowledging the drawbacks and highlighting the opportunities available for geoscientists.
In this session, we are looking for successful approaches of working with citizen science and open science to bridge the gap between a multitude of stakeholders in research, policy, economy, practice and society at large by finding emerging environmental issues and empowering citizens. This session shall be an open space to exchange experiences and to present either successful examples or failed efforts. Learning from others and understanding what to adopt and what to change help the participants in their own undertakings and new initiatives, so that they become future success stories.
We want to ask and find answers to the following questions:
Which approaches can be used in Earth, Planetary and Space Sciences?
What are the biggest challenges and how to overcome them?
What kind of citizen scientist involvement and open science strategies exist?
How to ensure transparency in project results and analyses?
How to evaluate successful bridging of the science-society-gap?
Natural hazards and the associated risk are in some cases a major hindrance to economic and social growth in economically developing countries. This is particularly evident for urban areas, since rapid and uncontrolled urbanization in hazard-prone regions may result in a significant increase in risk due to insufficient spatial planning, which sometimes does not correctly consider (if at all) the impact of natural hazards, and to inadequate building practices. This session will profile the challenges faced in the developing world when doing assessments of natural hazard and risk and designing mitigation strategies. Examples of these challenges include (i) a frequent lack of data, along with difficulties in collecting it, (ii) rapid and often unplanned urban development, with building practices often neglecting the potential hazards, (iii) less regulated nature-human interactions, (iv) limited resources and capacity to undertake the most appropriate prevention and mitigation actions and to actually respond to disastrous and extreme events, (v) climate change, and (vi) difficulties in communication between science, policy and decision makers, and the general public.
Submissions to this PICO session covering all relevant topics are welcome, including but not limited to: database and archive construction; modeling, monitoring and tools for natural hazard and risk assessment; conceptual understanding of multi-hazards and nature-technology interactions; response and mitigation strategies; and communications, policy and decision-making. We particularly welcome abstracts focusing on urban areas, as well as the participation of stakeholders to share their innovative theoretical and practical ideas and success stories of how risk can be understood and addressed across economically developing countries.
Cities all over the world are facing rising population densities. This leads to increasing fractions of built-up and sealed areas, consequencing in a more and more altered and partly disrupted water balance - both in terms of water quantities and qualities. On top, climate change is altering precipitation regimes.
This session focuses on according urban ecohydrological problems and approaches to solve them spanning from technical to nature-based solutions in different time and spatial scales from the building to the whole city.
Geoscience witnessed a flurry of major breakthroughs in the 19th and 20th century, leading to major shifts in our understanding of the Earth system. Such breakthroughs included new concepts, such as plate tectonics and sequence stratigraphy, and new techniques, like radiometric dating and remote sensing. However, the pace of these discoveries has declined, raising the question of whether we have now made all of the key geoscience breakthroughs. Put another way, have we reached “Peak Geoscience” and are we now in a time of synthesis, incremental development and consolidation? Or are there new breakthroughs on the horizon? If so what will these developments be?
One key remaining challenge is the management of the inherent uncertainties in geoscience. Despite the importance of understanding uncertainty, it is often neglected by interpreters, geomodellers and experimentalists. With ever-more powerful computers and the advent of big data analytics and machine learning, our ability to quantify uncertainty in geological interpretation, models and experiments will be crucial.
This session aims to bring together those with an interest in the future of geoscience. We welcome contributions from any field of geoscience which either demonstrate a new, disruptive geoscience breakthrough or provide insights into where the next breakthrough will come. We encourage contributions associated with uncertainty in geoscience models and data, machine learning or big data analytics.
Plastic contamination has been reported in all realms of the environment from the tropics to the polar oceans. The consequences of this contamination may be severe for ecosystems and could adversely affect ecosystem services such as fisheries and even human health. Our poor knowledge of plastics sources, their composition, sizes, pathways, hot spots of accumulation and ultimate fate prevents an assessment of environmental risks and the development of appropriate mitigation strategies. In order to understand current distributions of plastics and the way they evolve in space and time, much better observations and common consistent measuring methods are required but simultaneously, observations must be combined with computational models from their sources on land to rivers, estuaries, oceans and sea ice. This requires improved standardized accurate observations and the development of advanced modelling capabilities to quantify and predict contamination levels.
The session aims to set up a forum for multi-disciplinary discussions to create a global picture of plastic contamination in the environment and to suggest approaches for future research, monitoring and mitigation of plastic pollutions impacts. The session will provide a framework to advise legislators and industry on the best ways to reduce the risks of serious damage from this contaminant.
This session will draw together data on plastic contamination across all sizes of plastics, from nano- and micro-plastics to large plastic fragments, and across all environments and locations. It will combine observations with state-of-the-art computational modelling to promote the fast advance of research and improve our understanding of how plastic pollution affects environments worldwide. We invite contributions on new methods and field observations, laboratory experiments, novel modelling approaches, related scientific initiatives and projects. New ideas for citizen-science involvement and for mitigation strategies to reduce plastic contamination of the environment are especially welcome.
It is becoming increasingly evident that both the scientific and the artist communities have a shared interest and responsibility in raising awareness of the limits to our planetary boundaries and the fragile stability and resilience of our Earth-System. In the past, this issue has been addressed mostly through traditional educational methods. However, there is mounting evidence that science-art collaborations can play a pivotal and vital role in this context by co-creating new ways of research and by stimulating the discussion by providing emotional and human context through the arts. This session, already in its fifth edition, has presented since interesting and progressive science-art collaborations across a number of disciplines, focused on presenting Earth sciences content. We have witnessed that climate change, natural hazards, meteorology, palaeontology, earthquakes, volcanoes and geology have been successfully presented through music, visual art, photography, theatre, literature, digital art, where the artists explored new practices and methods in their work with scientists but also where scientists have been inspired by artists in their research, and finally truly trans-disciplinary co-creation of Sci-Art work have emerged.
Public information:
The dialogue between scientists, institutions, policymakers and the general public is widely recognised as an essential step towards a fair and sustainable society. Nowadays, more than ever in human history, international cooperation is an essential requirement for protecting the planet, advancing science and ensuring an equitable development of the global economy.
Despite its importance, the above dialogue can be a challenge for scientists, who often cannot find a productive connection with governments and politicians. Scientific associations are a key link between researchers and policy makers, as they have the potential to establish a durable and profitable connection with institutions.
The EGU elected the dialogue with society as one of its priority missions. At its General Assembly, the EGU is launching an innovative symposium format, Science and Society (SCS), to host scientific forums specifically dedicated to connecting with high-level institutions and engaging the public and policymakers.
The conversation with Ilaria Capua and Mario Monti will focus on science and politics with a global perspective, and the impact of populism on European integrity and therefore scientific research. The discussion will elaborate on optimal strategies to deliver topical and clear scientific messages to key institutions.
Ilaria Capua is a virologist best known for her research on influenza viruses and her efforts promoting open access to genetic information on emerging viruses. In 2006, Science reported on Capua’s effort towards open access science, stating that she had “renewed the debate about how to balance global health against scientists’ needs to publish and countries’ demands for secrecy". She has been a member of the Italian parliament from 2013 to 2016 and a fake news victim. She is currently a full professor at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, US, and director of the UF One Health Center of Excellence.
Mario Monti served as a European Commissioner from 1995 to 2004, with responsibility for the internal market, services, customs, taxation and competition. He was Prime Minister of Italy from 2011 to 2013, leading a government of national unity to cope with the Italian debt crisis. Monti has also been Rector and is currently President of Bocconi University in Milan. His publications deal mainly with monetary and financial economics, public finance, European integration, competition policy. He is currently lifetime member of the Italian Senate.
During the conversation, Ilaria Capua and Mario Monti will present their vision with two 15-minute talks that will be followed by 20 minutes dedicated to questions from the audience and answers.
Citizen science (the involvement of the public in scientific processes) is gaining momentum in one discipline after another, thereby more and more data on biodiversity, earthquakes, weather, climate, health issues among others are being collected at different scales that can extend the frontiers of knowledge. Successful citizen observatories can potentially be scaled up in order to contribute to larger environmental and policy strategies and actions (such as the European Earth Observation monitoring systems) and to be integrated in GEOSS and Copernicus. Making credible contributions to science can empower citizens to actively participate in environmental decision making, can raise awareness about environmental issues and can help bridge the science-society gap. Often, citizen science is seen in the context of Open Science, which is a broad movement embracing Open Data, Open Access, Open Educational Resources, Open Source, Open Methodology, and Open Peer Review to transparently publish and share scientific research - thus leveraging Citizen Science and Reproducible Research.
Both, open science in general and citizen science in particular, pose great challenges for researchers, and to support the goals of the various openness initiatives, this session looks at what is possible nowadays and what is ready for application in geosciences. Success stories, failures, best practices and solutions will be presented, in addition to various related networks. We aim to show how researchers, citizens, funding agencies, governments and other stakeholders can benefit from citizen science and open science, acknowledging the drawbacks and highlighting the opportunities available for geoscientists.
In this session, we are looking for successful approaches of working with citizen science and open science to bridge the gap between a multitude of stakeholders in research, policy, economy, practice and society at large by finding emerging environmental issues and empowering citizens. This session shall be an open space to exchange experiences and to present either successful examples or failed efforts. Learning from others and understanding what to adopt and what to change help the participants in their own undertakings and new initiatives, so that they become future success stories.
We want to ask and find answers to the following questions:
Which approaches can be used in Earth, Planetary and Space Sciences?
What are the biggest challenges and how to overcome them?
What kind of citizen scientist involvement and open science strategies exist?
How to ensure transparency in project results and analyses?
How to evaluate successful bridging of the science-society-gap?
Over the past decades, many initiatives have been produced to archive the losses and datasets associated with natural perils events (EM-DAT, MunichRe NATCATservice, SwissRe Sigma, CATDAT, Dartmouth Flood Observatory etc.). On a European scale, much research has also been undertaken on a Europe-wide, country and subcountry level either using Desinventar or through other academic and insurer data archiving. However, these loss databases provide varying levels of parameters, data completeness, quality checks, spatial integration, and spatiotemporal limits. In addition, the types of data collection and definitions of loss often differ greatly between databases.
With over 3000 Open Data Initiatives around Europe (www.europeandataportal.eu/) and the World, the amount of data freely available is increasing, but censoring and data checks are required in order to ensure that the quality is reasonable. This similarly goes for online media archives and loss reporting. Even though some initial attempts have been made to connect different databases and stimulate consistency and open access (e.g. IRDR-DATA), this is a topic that needs to be explored further.
This session aims to advance efforts on loss data collection and provide a future inventory of socioeconomic loss databases for loss and risk analysis as well as to create a community linking academia, government and insurance.
Abstracts are welcomed in the following fields:-
- Socioeconomic loss databases for natural perils
- Infrastructure and sectoral loss archiving
- Online media initiatives for collecting loss data (e.g. twitter)
- Post-disaster loss analysis
- Online analysis of loss data or loss reporting
- Parametric risk transfer products
- GIS integration of past natural hazards event data
- Open data efforts for loss modelling
- Insurance loss data and loss archives
- Government post-disaster loss analysis and loss databases
- Other relevant loss-related research
Natural hazards and the associated risk are in some cases a major hindrance to economic and social growth in economically developing countries. This is particularly evident for urban areas, since rapid and uncontrolled urbanization in hazard-prone regions may result in a significant increase in risk due to insufficient spatial planning, which sometimes does not correctly consider (if at all) the impact of natural hazards, and to inadequate building practices. This session will profile the challenges faced in the developing world when doing assessments of natural hazard and risk and designing mitigation strategies. Examples of these challenges include (i) a frequent lack of data, along with difficulties in collecting it, (ii) rapid and often unplanned urban development, with building practices often neglecting the potential hazards, (iii) less regulated nature-human interactions, (iv) limited resources and capacity to undertake the most appropriate prevention and mitigation actions and to actually respond to disastrous and extreme events, (v) climate change, and (vi) difficulties in communication between science, policy and decision makers, and the general public.
Submissions to this PICO session covering all relevant topics are welcome, including but not limited to: database and archive construction; modeling, monitoring and tools for natural hazard and risk assessment; conceptual understanding of multi-hazards and nature-technology interactions; response and mitigation strategies; and communications, policy and decision-making. We particularly welcome abstracts focusing on urban areas, as well as the participation of stakeholders to share their innovative theoretical and practical ideas and success stories of how risk can be understood and addressed across economically developing countries.
Cities all over the world are facing rising population densities. This leads to increasing fractions of built-up and sealed areas, consequencing in a more and more altered and partly disrupted water balance - both in terms of water quantities and qualities. On top, climate change is altering precipitation regimes.
This session focuses on according urban ecohydrological problems and approaches to solve them spanning from technical to nature-based solutions in different time and spatial scales from the building to the whole city.
Geoscience witnessed a flurry of major breakthroughs in the 19th and 20th century, leading to major shifts in our understanding of the Earth system. Such breakthroughs included new concepts, such as plate tectonics and sequence stratigraphy, and new techniques, like radiometric dating and remote sensing. However, the pace of these discoveries has declined, raising the question of whether we have now made all of the key geoscience breakthroughs. Put another way, have we reached “Peak Geoscience” and are we now in a time of synthesis, incremental development and consolidation? Or are there new breakthroughs on the horizon? If so what will these developments be?
One key remaining challenge is the management of the inherent uncertainties in geoscience. Despite the importance of understanding uncertainty, it is often neglected by interpreters, geomodellers and experimentalists. With ever-more powerful computers and the advent of big data analytics and machine learning, our ability to quantify uncertainty in geological interpretation, models and experiments will be crucial.
This session aims to bring together those with an interest in the future of geoscience. We welcome contributions from any field of geoscience which either demonstrate a new, disruptive geoscience breakthrough or provide insights into where the next breakthrough will come. We encourage contributions associated with uncertainty in geoscience models and data, machine learning or big data analytics.
The Anthropocene is a topic of broad and current interest that is being discussed across various disciplines, within Earth Sciences, but also in the humanities and in the media. Its significance and usefulness as the youngest epoch of the Geological Time Scale is examined by the Working Group of the Anthropocene of the Subcommission on Quaternary Stratigraphy, part of the International Commission on Stratigraphy. A multidisciplinary and transdisciplinary approach for investigating and discussing the Anthropocene is feasible, including not only various Earth Sciences disciplines such as stratigraphy, sedimentology, geochemistry and palaeontology, but also archaeology, geography, geomorphology and various disciplines of the humanities and the arts. This session invites transdisciplinary and interdisciplinary contributions on the significance, usefulness and application of the term, as well as case studies including proposals on possible GSSPs (Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point) for a definition of the Anthropocene as part of the Geological Time Scale. The session will foster transdisciplinary dialogue and interdisciplinary cooperation and understanding on the scale and reach of anthropogenic changes within the Earth System.
Plastic contamination has been reported in all realms of the environment from the tropics to the polar oceans. The consequences of this contamination may be severe for ecosystems and could adversely affect ecosystem services such as fisheries and even human health. Our poor knowledge of plastics sources, their composition, sizes, pathways, hot spots of accumulation and ultimate fate prevents an assessment of environmental risks and the development of appropriate mitigation strategies. In order to understand current distributions of plastics and the way they evolve in space and time, much better observations and common consistent measuring methods are required but simultaneously, observations must be combined with computational models from their sources on land to rivers, estuaries, oceans and sea ice. This requires improved standardized accurate observations and the development of advanced modelling capabilities to quantify and predict contamination levels.
The session aims to set up a forum for multi-disciplinary discussions to create a global picture of plastic contamination in the environment and to suggest approaches for future research, monitoring and mitigation of plastic pollutions impacts. The session will provide a framework to advise legislators and industry on the best ways to reduce the risks of serious damage from this contaminant.
This session will draw together data on plastic contamination across all sizes of plastics, from nano- and micro-plastics to large plastic fragments, and across all environments and locations. It will combine observations with state-of-the-art computational modelling to promote the fast advance of research and improve our understanding of how plastic pollution affects environments worldwide. We invite contributions on new methods and field observations, laboratory experiments, novel modelling approaches, related scientific initiatives and projects. New ideas for citizen-science involvement and for mitigation strategies to reduce plastic contamination of the environment are especially welcome.
The occurrence of extremes such as droughts, flash floods, hailstorms, storm surges and tropical storms can have significant and sometimes catastrophic consequences to society. However, not all low probability weather/climate events will lead to “high impacts” on human or natural systems or infrastructure. Rather, the severity of such events depend also intrinsically on the exposure, vulnerability and/or resilience to such hazards of affected systems, including emergency management procedures. Similarly, high impact events may be compounded by the interaction of several, e.g., in their own right less severe hydro-meteorological incidents, sometimes separated in time and space. Or they may similarly result from the joint failures of multiple human or natural systems. Consequently, it is a deep transdisciplinary challenge to learn from past high impact events, understand the mechanisms behind them and ultimately to project how they may potentially change in a future climate.
The ECRA (European Climate Research Alliance) Collaborative Programme on “High Impact Events and Climate Change” aims to promote research on the mechanisms behind high impact events and climate extremes, simulation of high impact events under present and future climatic conditions, and on how relevant information for climate risk analysis, vulnerability and adaptation may be co-created with users, e.g., in terms of tailored climate services. For this aim, this Interdisciplinary and Transdisciplinary Session invites contributions that will serve to (i) better understand the mechanisms behind high impact events from a transdisciplinary and interdisciplinary perspective, e.g. case studies and the assessment of past high impact events, including detection and attribution; (ii) project changes to high impact events through, e.g. high resolution climate and impacts modelling (including economic modelling); (iii) produce climate information at the relevant scales (downscaling); and co-create climate services with users to help deal with the risk and/or impacts of high-impact events, e.g. risk analysis and climate adaptation. Abstracts that highlight recent advances from a transdisciplinary perspective for example through the innovation of climate services will be particularly encouraged. Authors and contributors to this session will be offered to present their work in a Special Issue of the journal “Sustainability”.
The Tibetan Plateau and surrounding mountain regions, known as the Third Pole, cover an area of > 5 million km2 and are considered to be the water tower of Asia. The Pan Third Pole expands on both the north-south and the east-west directions, going across the Tibetan Plateau, Pamir, Hindu Kush, Iran Plateau, Caucasian and Carpathian, and covering an area of about 20 million km2. Like the Arctic and Antarctica, the Pan Third Pole’s environment is extremely sensitive to global climate change. In recent years, scientists from around the globe have increased observational, remote sensing and numerical modeling research related to the Pan Third Pole in an effort to quantify and predict past, current and future scenarios. Co-sponsored by TPE (www.tpe.ac.cn), this session is dedicated to studies of Pan Third Pole atmosphere, cryosphere, hydrosphere, and biosphere and their interactions with global change. Related contributions are welcomed.
Climate change in the Mediterranean region poses critical environmental issues and can affect many sectors of human activities. Contrasting climate trends, levels of exposure and vulnerability are present across this region with associated potential conflicts. Climate research is expected to contribute an increasingly precise information on the future climate and impacts of climate change in this region. A large set of instrumental records and climate proxies allows in many areas of the Mediterranean region to bridge present trends and past climate over a wide range of timescales. This session encourages contributions adopting a multidisciplinary approach and it aims to promote a dialogue between climatologists and researchers interested on the impacts of climate on human and natural systems. It aims at including contributions describing new scientific findings on the climate of the Mediterranean region, its dynamics, variability, change, and studies of climate related impacts on societies and ecosystems. The session considers different time scales (from paleoclimate to future model projections), different components (atmosphere, ocean, land and its hydrology) and factors (chemical, biological, anthropic) as well as highlights of sub-regional hotspots and climate processes.
Estimating the impact of climate change on both the natural and socio-economic environment plays an important role in informing a range of national and international policies, including energy, agriculture and health. Understanding these impacts, and those avoided, has never been more pertinent since the adoption of the 2015 Paris Agreement, which sought to hold “the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C, recognizing that this would significantly reduce the risks and impacts of climate change".
Policies may aim to mitigate (i.e. reduce emissions), counteract (i.e. negative emissions) and/or adapt to anthropogenic climate change and it is equally important to quantify the impact of implementing these options. While rapid, deep mitigation is clearly a pre-requisite to success, delays to such measures imply a greater reliance upon large scale negative emissions technologies. Those based on land are likely to face competing pressure from wide ranging economic activity, and knowledge of these interactions and synergies is limited. Similarly while adaptation options are wide ranging, the uses of nature-based solutions, which often provide mitigation co-benefits and are often highly cost effective, are under-researched and rarely integrated into overall natural hazard or climate change risk management strategies.
Furthermore, the methods used to evaluate impact in the climate context are many and varied, including empirical, econometric and process-based. These methods continue to evolve implying that the assessment of impact may depend upon the analytical approach chosen.
This inter- and transdisciplinary session aims to draw together scientists, developing climate-impact evaluation methods, evaluating the impact (or avoided impact) of anthropogenic climate change upon natural and socio-economic environments, investigating the potential for mitigation and counteraction options to reduce long term risk, and studying the value of multiple adaptation options to stakeholders when planning how to manage vulnerability.
In October 2018, the IPCC published its special report on impacts of global warming of 1.5 deg C. Another recent, highly publicised study suggests that the planet could pass an irreversible threshold into a so called “Hothouse Earth” state for a temperature increase of as low as 2 degrees C above pre-industrial temperatures, while other studies and commentaries have emphasised the urgency on climate action, arguing that 2020 must be a turning point for global fossil fuel emissions, to increase the chance of maintaining a safe operating space for the humans on the planet. In 2018, the IPCC celebrated its 30th anniversary. The importance of taking action on human-induced climate change has been emphasised with governments around the world since the 1990s yet CO2 concentrations continue to rise and international initiatives have, to date, had limited and insufficient impact to avert some of the most serious consequences of climate change.
How close are we to one or more critical thresholds (cliff edge)? Is there time to avert passing one or more of these thresholds? What can the geoscience community do to reduce the risks? How important is bottom up versus top down action to ensuring the least worst outcome? These are some of the questions we will debate with world experts in their field and authors of the thought papers on these topics.
Public information:
In October 2018, the IPCC published its special report on impacts of global warming of 1.5 deg C. Another recent, highly publicised study suggests that the planet could pass an irreversible threshold into a so called “Hothouse Earth” state for a temperature increase of as low as 2 degrees C above pre-industrial temperatures.
In 2018, the IPCC celebrated its 30th anniversary. The importance of taking action on human-induced climate change has been emphasised with governments around the world since the 1990s yet CO2 concentrations continue to rise and international initiatives have, to date, had limited and insufficient impact to avert some of the most serious consequences of climate change that may pose an existential threat to modern civilisation.
How close are we to one or more critical thresholds? Is there time to avert passing one or more of them? What can the geoscience community do to reduce the risks? How important is bottom up versus top down action to ensuring the least worst outcome? These are some of the questions we will debate with world experts in their field and authors of the thought papers on these topics.
The Great Debate panellists are:
Prof. Myles Allen is Professor of Geosystem Science in the Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford. His research focuses on how human and natural influences on climate contribute to observed climate change and risks of extreme weather and in quantifying their implications for long-range climate forecasts. He was a Coordinating Lead Author on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Special Report on 1.5 degrees, having served on the IPCC’s 3rd, 4th and 5th Assessments, including the Synthesis Report Core Writing Team in 2014.
Prof. Sabine Fuss, Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change (MCC), Berlin. Sabine is an economist, currently leading a working group at the MCC. She holds a professorship on Sustainable Resource Management and Global Change at Humboldt University of Berlin. Her research interests are in sustainable development, land use change and climate change mitigation. She has been an IPCC Lead Author for the Special Report on 1.5°C global warming, serves on the steering committee of the Global Carbon Project and is a guest scholar at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis.
Erica Hope leads the cross-sectoral ‘2050 Task Force’ and governance programme of the European Climate Foundation (ECF) in Brussels, which seeks to build knowledge, political strategies and coalitions to drive the transition to a zero emissions society by mid-century. Erica has previously worked for the energy efficiency and UK programmes of the ECF, and before that led the policy and advocacy activities of NGO network Climate Action Network Europe on energy efficiency. From 2005-2009 she was researcher to Green MEP Caroline Lucas, and has also worked at the Institute for Public Policy Research in London.
Prof. Linda Steg is professor of environmental psychology at the University of Groningen. She studies factors influencing sustainable behaviour, the effects and acceptability of strategies aimed at promoting sustainable behaviour, and public perceptions of technology and system changes. She is member of Member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences (KNAW), and lead author of the IPCC special report on 1.5°C and AR6. She works on various interdisciplinary and international research programmes, and collaborates with practitioners working in industry, governments and NGOs.
Plastic pollution is recognized as one of the most serious and urgent problems facing our planet. Rates of manufacture, use and ultimately disposal of plastics continue to soar, posing an enormous threat to the planet’s oceans and rivers and the flora and fauna they support. There is an urgent need for global action, backed by sound scientific understanding, to tackle this problem.
This Union Symposium will address the problems posed to our planet by plastic pollution, and examine options for dealing with the threat.
Over the whole Earth history, the climate has encountered tipping points, shifting from one regulated system to the other. This tilting motion affects both climate and the carbon cycle and has played a major role in the evolution of the Earth climate, at all timescales. Earth History has been ponctuated by large climate changes and carbon cycle reorganizations, from large climate variations occurring in deep times (snowball events, terrestrialisation, Mesozoic and early Cenozoic warm episodes, quaternary glacial cycles…) to past and on-going abrupt events. Many potential triggers of those climate and carbon cycle shifts have been proposed and tested through modeling studies, and against field data, such as those directly or indirectly linked with tectonics (plate motion, orogenesis, opening/closing of seaways, weathering…) and orbital forcing. Given that the Earth climate is currently experiencing an unprecedented transition under anthropogenic pressure, understanding the mechanisms behind the scene is crucial.
Our aim is to point out the most recent results concerning how a complex system as the climate of the Earth has undergone many tipping points and what is the specificity of the future climate changes. Therefore, within this session, we would like to encourage talks discussing advances in our record and modeling of the forces triggering and amplifying the changes of Earth climate and carbon cycle across spatial and temporal scales.
The aim of this general session is to bring together the scientific community within air pollution modelling. The focus is ongoing research, new results and current problems related to the field of modelling the atmospheric transport and transformation on global, regional and local scales.
All presentations covering the research area of air pollution modelling are welcome, including recent model developments, applications and evaluations, physical and chemical parameterisations, process understanding, model testing, evaluation and uncertainty estimates, emissions, numerical methods, model systems and integration, forecasting, event-studies, scenarios, ensembles, assessment, etc.
Cities are hotspots for the emissions of air pollutants and greenhouse gases from traffic, industries, household heating and energy production. Air pollution impacts are episodic and often co-occur with heat waves and allergenic pollen release. Greenhouse gases are often co-emitted with air pollutants. Urban air quality and the effect of policy measures are a challenge to monitor with traditional fixed stations or with models, because of the extreme variability in the cities’ geometry and emission patterns.
This session intends to bring together researchers of urban air quality and greenhouse gases and will accept submissions of topics related to urban air quality, heat stress, and air pollution impacts including health. The presentations focus on new developments in the field of ground and satellite observations, process modelling, data merging and downscaling related to urban air quality. Topics include sensor networks, personal monitoring, observations from space and UAV’s, high spatial and temporal resolution model approaches, downscaling, source apportionment, optical properties, atmospheric processes, mechanisms for air quality deterioration, community and personal exposure quantification and air pollution effects. Air pollution species may include anthropogenic and biogenic ones, including greenhouse gases and allergenic pollen, their isotopes and concentration ratios.
The interaction of processes between the land surface, the planetary boundary layer (PBL), and the free troposphere are crucial for the understanding of weather and climate including extremes such as heavy precipitation and droughts. This requires an advanced understanding and modeling of the exchange of momentum, water, energy, and carbon at interfaces. In this session, we present and discuss current research activities contributing to this understanding, including L-A interaction and feedback to the diurnal cycle of the PBL, clouds, and precipitation as well as surface fluxes such as evapotranspiration and entrainment. We accept observational and modeling approaches to address these challenges. With respect to the observations, emphasis is put on the application of new sensor synergies, e.g., using active remote sensing for studying land surface exchange processes and entrainment at the PBL top, which have been addressed in field campaigns. With respect to theoretical understanding and modeling, we are focusing on new insights by feedback diagrams and grey zone experiments down to the large eddy simulation scale.
Cities all over the world are facing rising population densities. This leads to increasing fractions of built-up and sealed areas, consequencing in a more and more altered and partly disrupted water balance - both in terms of water quantities and qualities. On top, climate change is altering precipitation regimes.
This session focuses on according urban ecohydrological problems and approaches to solve them spanning from technical to nature-based solutions in different time and spatial scales from the building to the whole city.
'Cosmic rays’ collectively describe particles that bombard the Earth from space. They carry information about space and, once near the Earth, interact with the magnetosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere and lithosphere. Secondary cosmic rays created within the atmosphere can provide information about our planet that is vital to science and society. Secondary neutron radiation plays an extraordinary role, as it not only carries information about solar activity, but also produces short and long living tracer isotopes, influences genetic information of living organisms, and is extraordinarily sensitive to hydrogen and therefore also to water. Given the vast spectrum of interactions of cosmic rays with matter in different parts of the Earth, cosmic-ray research ranges from studies of the solar system to the history of the Earth, and from health and security issues to hydrology and climate change.
Although research on cosmic-ray particles is connected to a variety of disciplines and applications, they all share similar questions and problems regarding the physics of detection, modeling, and environmental factors that influence the intensity. Questions that all disciplines have in common are, for example, “How does the cosmic-ray intensity and energy spectra change with time and location on Earth?”, “How to correct the signal for magnetospheric or atmospheric fluctuations?”, “What is the influence of local structures, water bodies, and surface conditions?”, “Which computer model for cosmic-ray propagation is correct?”, or “What can we learn from other types of cosmic-ray particles?”.
The session brings together scientists from all fields of research that are related to monitoring and modeling of cosmogenic radiation. It will allow sharing of expertise amongst international researchers as well as showcase recent advancements in their field. The session aims to stimulate discussions about how individual disciplines can share their knowledge and benefit from each other.
We solicit contributions related but not limited to:
- Health, security, and radiation protection: cosmic-ray dosimetry on Earth and its dependence on environmental and atmospheric factors
- Planetary space science: satellite and ground-based neutron and gamma-ray sensors to detect water and soil chemistry
- Neutron monitor research: detection of high-energy cosmic rays variations and its dependence on local and atmospheric factors
- Hydrology and climate change: low-energy neutron sensing to measure water in reservoirs at and near the land surface, such as soils, snow pack and vegetation
- Cosmogenic nuclides: as tracers of atmospheric circulation and mixing; as a tool in archaeology or glaciology for dating of ice and measuring ablation rates; and as a tool for surface exposure dating and measuring rates of surficial geological processes
- Detector design: technological advancements for the detection of cosmic rays
- Cosmic-ray modeling: advances in modeling of the cosmic-ray propagation through the magnetosphere and atmosphere, and their response to the Earth’s surface
- Impact modeling: How can cosmic-ray monitoring support environmental models, weather and climate forecasting, irrigation management, and the assessment of natural hazards
Lightning is the energetic manifestation of electrical breakdown, occurring after charge separation processes operating on micro and macro-scales, leading to strong electric fields within thunderstorms. Lightning is associated with severe weather, torrential rains and flash floods. It has significant effects on various atmospheric layers and drives the fair-weather electric field. It is a strong indicator of convective processes on regional and global scales, potentially associated with climate change. Thunderstorms and lightning are also associated to the production of energetic radiation up to tens of MeV on time scales from sub-millisecond (Terrestrial Gamma-ray Flashes) to tens of seconds (gamma-ray glows).
This session seeks contributions from research in atmospheric electricity on:
Atmospheric electricity in fair weather and the global electrical circuit
Atmospheric chemical effects of lightning and LtNOx
Middle atmospheric Transient Luminous Events
Energetic radiation from thunderstorms and lightning.
Remote sensing of lightning from space and by lightning detection networks
Results from the Atmosphere-Space Interaction Monitor (ASIM) mission.
Thunderstorms, flash floods and severe weather
Lightning and climate
Modeling of thunderstorms and lightning
Now-casting and forecasting of thunderstorms
New airborne and ground-based observation techniques
Heat extremes are already one of the deadliest meteorological events and they are projected to increase in intensity and frequency due to rising CO2 emissions. Thus the risk these events pose to society may increase dramatically and society will need to adapt if the worst impacts are to be avoided. However, uncertainties for understanding the development of extreme heat episodes and their impacts remain large. This session therefore aims to address this challenge, welcoming research which improves our understanding of extreme heat events and how to respond to them. Suitable contributions in this regard may: (i) assess the drivers and underlying processes of extreme heat in observations and models; (ii) explore the diverse socio-economic impacts of extreme heat events (for example, on aspects relating to human health or economic productivity); (iii) address forecasting of extreme heat at seasonal to sub-seasonal time scales; (iv) focus on societal adaptation to extreme heat, including (but not limited to) the implementation of Heat-Health Early Warning Systems.
The occurrence of extremes such as droughts, flash floods, hailstorms, storm surges and tropical storms can have significant and sometimes catastrophic consequences to society. However, not all low probability weather/climate events will lead to “high impacts” on human or natural systems or infrastructure. Rather, the severity of such events depend also intrinsically on the exposure, vulnerability and/or resilience to such hazards of affected systems, including emergency management procedures. Similarly, high impact events may be compounded by the interaction of several, e.g., in their own right less severe hydro-meteorological incidents, sometimes separated in time and space. Or they may similarly result from the joint failures of multiple human or natural systems. Consequently, it is a deep transdisciplinary challenge to learn from past high impact events, understand the mechanisms behind them and ultimately to project how they may potentially change in a future climate.
The ECRA (European Climate Research Alliance) Collaborative Programme on “High Impact Events and Climate Change” aims to promote research on the mechanisms behind high impact events and climate extremes, simulation of high impact events under present and future climatic conditions, and on how relevant information for climate risk analysis, vulnerability and adaptation may be co-created with users, e.g., in terms of tailored climate services. For this aim, this Interdisciplinary and Transdisciplinary Session invites contributions that will serve to (i) better understand the mechanisms behind high impact events from a transdisciplinary and interdisciplinary perspective, e.g. case studies and the assessment of past high impact events, including detection and attribution; (ii) project changes to high impact events through, e.g. high resolution climate and impacts modelling (including economic modelling); (iii) produce climate information at the relevant scales (downscaling); and co-create climate services with users to help deal with the risk and/or impacts of high-impact events, e.g. risk analysis and climate adaptation. Abstracts that highlight recent advances from a transdisciplinary perspective for example through the innovation of climate services will be particularly encouraged. Authors and contributors to this session will be offered to present their work in a Special Issue of the journal “Sustainability”.
The Tibetan Plateau and surrounding mountain regions, known as the Third Pole, cover an area of > 5 million km2 and are considered to be the water tower of Asia. The Pan Third Pole expands on both the north-south and the east-west directions, going across the Tibetan Plateau, Pamir, Hindu Kush, Iran Plateau, Caucasian and Carpathian, and covering an area of about 20 million km2. Like the Arctic and Antarctica, the Pan Third Pole’s environment is extremely sensitive to global climate change. In recent years, scientists from around the globe have increased observational, remote sensing and numerical modeling research related to the Pan Third Pole in an effort to quantify and predict past, current and future scenarios. Co-sponsored by TPE (www.tpe.ac.cn), this session is dedicated to studies of Pan Third Pole atmosphere, cryosphere, hydrosphere, and biosphere and their interactions with global change. Related contributions are welcomed.
The InSight mission to Mars landed in Elysium Planitia on November 26. InSight's scientific objective is the study of the Martian interior using two seismometers, a heat flow probe and geodetical measurements. Auxiliary instruments will collect meteorological and magnetic data for at least one Martian year.
This session provides initial results from Mars, status reports of instrument deployment and relevant pre-landing science.
Fire is a global phenomenon influencing ecosystem functioning, carbon stocks and fluxes, and atmospheric composition, with large impacts on human health, safety and economy. The relative importance of climate, vegetation and humans as drivers of fire activity varies across spatial and temporal scales. Multiscale and interdisciplinary assessments of fire behavior are required to understand global climate-fire feedbacks, as well as regional interactions between vegetation and humans, and fire.
Fire influences the global carbon cycle among others through its carbon emissions and post-fire ecosystem carbon sequestration. In addition, black carbon (also known as pyrogenic carbon, charcoal, soot) is a crucial component in the carbon cycle, yet uncertainties remain regarding sizes, losses and fluxes between land, rivers, oceans and atmosphere.
Remote sensing provides baseline information for all stakeholders involved in monitoring of biomass burning at different scales and for understanding how ecosystems respond to fires. However, there are still large uncertainties in satellite-based active fire, burned area, and fire emissions estimates, in part due to the complexity and diversity of the ecosystems affected. Building on the environmental significance and scientific challenges described above, this session will bring together fire scientists working on biomass burning monitoring and early warning systems. The aim of this session is to improve the understanding of interactions between fire, vegetation, carbon, climate and humans. We invite contributions developing or using remote sensing datasets, in situ observations, charcoal records, laboratory experiments and modeling approaches. We welcome studies that help to improve our understanding of (1) the relative importance of climate, vegetation and humans on fire occurrence across spatial and temporal scales (2) the impacts of fire on vegetation, atmosphere and society, (3) feedbacks between fire, vegetation and climate, and (4) the role of fire in the carbon cycle, with special focus on the transfer of black carbon and other fire markers from terrestrial ecosystems to aquatic environments, and their biogeochemical fate in these environments, (5) innovative use of remote sensing technologies (LIDAR, infrared cameras, drones) for fuel characterization, fire detection and monitoring; (6) algorithms/models applicable to regional-to-global scale fire analyses exploring active fire detection and characterization (e.g., fire radiative power, area affected, combustion phase), burned area mapping, atmospheric emissions and smoke transport, (7) fire product validation and error assessment, (8) analytical tools designed to enhance situational awareness among fire practitioners and early warning systems, addressing specific needs of operational fire behavior modeling.
Invited speakers:
Emilio Chuvieco, University of Alcala
Elena Kukavskaya, Sukachev Institute of Forest, Russian Academy of Sciences
Tipping elements in the Earth's climate system are continental-scale subsystems that are characterized by a threshold behavior. It has been suggested that these include biosphere components (e.g. the Amazon rainforest and coral reefs), cryosphere components (e.g. the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets) and large-scale atmospheric and oceanic circulations (e.g. the thermohaline circulation, ENSO and Indian summer monsoon). Once operating near a threshold or tipping point, these components can transgress into a qualitatively different state by small external perturbations. The large-scale environmental consequences could impact the livelihoods of millions of people.
In this session, we aim to bring together experts presenting and discussing the state-of-the-art research on tipping elements in the Earth's climate system, both in empirical data and numerical modelling of past, present and future climate. Among other topics, issues to be addressed in this session include critical thresholds for specific tipping elements, typical time scales of tipping, interactions and feedbacks between tipping elements, the potential for tipping cascades as well as environmental and socio-economic impacts of tipping.
This session invites contributions on all aspects of dynamical meteorology, especially into the investigation of mid-latitude cyclone and storms on both hemispheres. The session focuses on predictability of mid-latitude, tropical and polar weather systems, including cyclones at different stages of their life cycles from the initial development, to the large-scale and synoptic-scale conditions. Factors influencing cyclone growth to a severe storm, up to their dissipation are investigated from dynamical as well as climatological perspectives. This session will focus on all aspects of cyclone activity (including their impacts) and mid-latitude dynamical meteorology, particularly inviting results from recent field campaigns.
One goal of the session is to bring researchers together from different areas of expertise and backgrounds: researchers from dynamic-climatological perspectives and end-users and practitioners from impact based research and applications (e.g. financial sector, insurance industry).
Public information:
Plan S, devised by a coalition of research funders with support from the European Commission and European Research Council, demands that by January 1, 2020 research supported by participating funders must be published in Open Access journals. Representatives from subscription-based and Open Access publishers, architects of Plan S, and researchers affected by it will debate questions surrounding the implementation of the plan and its consequences.
The panelists are David Sweeney, Heike Langenberg, Marc Schiltz and Brooks Hanson. They will present the case for and against mandatory OA followed by an open debate with questions and comments from the audience.
David Sweeney is Executive Chair of Research England, the biggest research funder in the UK. He has been invited to visit many countries to advise on research assessment and funding, particularly with respect to research impact. He is also co-chair of the Implementation Task Force for Plan S, the international initiative on full and immediate open access to research publications.
Heike Langenberg is the Chief Editor of Nature Geoscience. She started her editorial career in 1999 as an Associate, then Senior Editor at Nature handling manuscripts in the broad area of climate sciences. In 2007 she moved to Nature Geoscience to launch the journal in January 2008. A graduate in mathematics of the Philipps-Universität Marburg, Germany, she ventured into oceanography for her PhD at the University of Hamburg. Her postdoctoral research at various research institutes in Hamburg was focused on numerical simulations of the ocean and atmosphere at a regional scale.
Marc Schiltz is president of Science Europe, the European association of all major national public research funding and research performing organisations. In this role, he has contributed to setting the European agenda to foster Open Science and is one of the architects of Plan S. He is also leading the Luxembourg National Research Fund. He is a relentless advocate of science and research, serving on a number of external boards and committees, both at the national and international level. Having received a PhD in Crystallography from the University of Paris-Sud and an executive MBA from INSEAD, Marc has been active in research and higher education for more than 25 years and held research and faculty positions in several European countries.
Brooks Hanson is the Executive Vice President for Science for the American Geophysical Union (AGU), responsible for AGU’s publications, meetings, ethics and data programs, and Thriving Earth Exchange. He previously acted as Sr. Vice President for Publications at AGU, where he was responsible for AGU's portfolio of books and 21 journals and served as Deputy Editor for Physical Sciences at Science. Brooks received a Ph.D. in Geology from UCLA and held a post-doctoral appointment at the Department of Mineral Sciences at the Smithsonian Institution.
Public information:
The dialogue between scientists, institutions, policymakers and the general public is widely recognised as an essential step towards a fair and sustainable society. Nowadays, more than ever in human history, international cooperation is an essential requirement for protecting the planet, advancing science and ensuring an equitable development of the global economy.
Despite its importance, the above dialogue can be a challenge for scientists, who often cannot find a productive connection with governments and politicians. Scientific associations are a key link between researchers and policy makers, as they have the potential to establish a durable and profitable connection with institutions.
The EGU elected the dialogue with society as one of its priority missions. At its General Assembly, the EGU is launching an innovative symposium format, Science and Society (SCS), to host scientific forums specifically dedicated to connecting with high-level institutions and engaging the public and policymakers.
The conversation with Ilaria Capua and Mario Monti will focus on science and politics with a global perspective, and the impact of populism on European integrity and therefore scientific research. The discussion will elaborate on optimal strategies to deliver topical and clear scientific messages to key institutions.
Ilaria Capua is a virologist best known for her research on influenza viruses and her efforts promoting open access to genetic information on emerging viruses. In 2006, Science reported on Capua’s effort towards open access science, stating that she had “renewed the debate about how to balance global health against scientists’ needs to publish and countries’ demands for secrecy". She has been a member of the Italian parliament from 2013 to 2016 and a fake news victim. She is currently a full professor at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, US, and director of the UF One Health Center of Excellence.
Mario Monti served as a European Commissioner from 1995 to 2004, with responsibility for the internal market, services, customs, taxation and competition. He was Prime Minister of Italy from 2011 to 2013, leading a government of national unity to cope with the Italian debt crisis. Monti has also been Rector and is currently President of Bocconi University in Milan. His publications deal mainly with monetary and financial economics, public finance, European integration, competition policy. He is currently lifetime member of the Italian Senate.
During the conversation, Ilaria Capua and Mario Monti will present their vision with two 15-minute talks that will be followed by 20 minutes dedicated to questions from the audience and answers.
Progressively stricter requirements in geophysical prospecting, in urban and inter-urban monitoring make it important to look continuously for innovative solutions to new and old complex problems. In particular, investigation and monitoring of pollution, hydrological resources, energy efficiency, cultural heritage, cities and transportation infrastructures nowadays require technological and methodological innovations of geophysical and sensing techniques in order to properly understand the limits of the current state of art and to identify where possible the most convenient strategies to overcome limitations of current approaches. This goal can be achieved either with more advanced solutions in a general sense or with dedicated solutions, particularly suitable for the specific problem at hand.
Integrated prospecting, refined data processing, new models, hardware innovations, new ICT information and telecommunications systems can and should cooperate with each other in this sense. It is important that the scientific community finds a moment for considering the connection between adjacent aspects of the same problem, e.g. to achieve improved geophysical data, safe and reliable environmental and structural monitoring, improved processing as much as possible.
The session “ Innovative instrumentations, techniques, geophysical methods and models for near surface geophysics, cities and transportation infrastructures aims to propose one such moment, where multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary competences can interact with each other, possibly finding possible new ways to cooperate and to exchange experiences reciprocally to reach sustainable solutions.
In October 2018, the IPCC published its special report on impacts of global warming of 1.5 deg C. Another recent, highly publicised study suggests that the planet could pass an irreversible threshold into a so called “Hothouse Earth” state for a temperature increase of as low as 2 degrees C above pre-industrial temperatures, while other studies and commentaries have emphasised the urgency on climate action, arguing that 2020 must be a turning point for global fossil fuel emissions, to increase the chance of maintaining a safe operating space for the humans on the planet. In 2018, the IPCC celebrated its 30th anniversary. The importance of taking action on human-induced climate change has been emphasised with governments around the world since the 1990s yet CO2 concentrations continue to rise and international initiatives have, to date, had limited and insufficient impact to avert some of the most serious consequences of climate change.
How close are we to one or more critical thresholds (cliff edge)? Is there time to avert passing one or more of these thresholds? What can the geoscience community do to reduce the risks? How important is bottom up versus top down action to ensuring the least worst outcome? These are some of the questions we will debate with world experts in their field and authors of the thought papers on these topics.
Public information:
In October 2018, the IPCC published its special report on impacts of global warming of 1.5 deg C. Another recent, highly publicised study suggests that the planet could pass an irreversible threshold into a so called “Hothouse Earth” state for a temperature increase of as low as 2 degrees C above pre-industrial temperatures.
In 2018, the IPCC celebrated its 30th anniversary. The importance of taking action on human-induced climate change has been emphasised with governments around the world since the 1990s yet CO2 concentrations continue to rise and international initiatives have, to date, had limited and insufficient impact to avert some of the most serious consequences of climate change that may pose an existential threat to modern civilisation.
How close are we to one or more critical thresholds? Is there time to avert passing one or more of them? What can the geoscience community do to reduce the risks? How important is bottom up versus top down action to ensuring the least worst outcome? These are some of the questions we will debate with world experts in their field and authors of the thought papers on these topics.
The Great Debate panellists are:
Prof. Myles Allen is Professor of Geosystem Science in the Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford. His research focuses on how human and natural influences on climate contribute to observed climate change and risks of extreme weather and in quantifying their implications for long-range climate forecasts. He was a Coordinating Lead Author on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Special Report on 1.5 degrees, having served on the IPCC’s 3rd, 4th and 5th Assessments, including the Synthesis Report Core Writing Team in 2014.
Prof. Sabine Fuss, Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change (MCC), Berlin. Sabine is an economist, currently leading a working group at the MCC. She holds a professorship on Sustainable Resource Management and Global Change at Humboldt University of Berlin. Her research interests are in sustainable development, land use change and climate change mitigation. She has been an IPCC Lead Author for the Special Report on 1.5°C global warming, serves on the steering committee of the Global Carbon Project and is a guest scholar at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis.
Erica Hope leads the cross-sectoral ‘2050 Task Force’ and governance programme of the European Climate Foundation (ECF) in Brussels, which seeks to build knowledge, political strategies and coalitions to drive the transition to a zero emissions society by mid-century. Erica has previously worked for the energy efficiency and UK programmes of the ECF, and before that led the policy and advocacy activities of NGO network Climate Action Network Europe on energy efficiency. From 2005-2009 she was researcher to Green MEP Caroline Lucas, and has also worked at the Institute for Public Policy Research in London.
Prof. Linda Steg is professor of environmental psychology at the University of Groningen. She studies factors influencing sustainable behaviour, the effects and acceptability of strategies aimed at promoting sustainable behaviour, and public perceptions of technology and system changes. She is member of Member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences (KNAW), and lead author of the IPCC special report on 1.5°C and AR6. She works on various interdisciplinary and international research programmes, and collaborates with practitioners working in industry, governments and NGOs.
Plastic pollution is recognized as one of the most serious and urgent problems facing our planet. Rates of manufacture, use and ultimately disposal of plastics continue to soar, posing an enormous threat to the planet’s oceans and rivers and the flora and fauna they support. There is an urgent need for global action, backed by sound scientific understanding, to tackle this problem.
This Union Symposium will address the problems posed to our planet by plastic pollution, and examine options for dealing with the threat.
Over the whole Earth history, the climate has encountered tipping points, shifting from one regulated system to the other. This tilting motion affects both climate and the carbon cycle and has played a major role in the evolution of the Earth climate, at all timescales. Earth History has been ponctuated by large climate changes and carbon cycle reorganizations, from large climate variations occurring in deep times (snowball events, terrestrialisation, Mesozoic and early Cenozoic warm episodes, quaternary glacial cycles…) to past and on-going abrupt events. Many potential triggers of those climate and carbon cycle shifts have been proposed and tested through modeling studies, and against field data, such as those directly or indirectly linked with tectonics (plate motion, orogenesis, opening/closing of seaways, weathering…) and orbital forcing. Given that the Earth climate is currently experiencing an unprecedented transition under anthropogenic pressure, understanding the mechanisms behind the scene is crucial.
Our aim is to point out the most recent results concerning how a complex system as the climate of the Earth has undergone many tipping points and what is the specificity of the future climate changes. Therefore, within this session, we would like to encourage talks discussing advances in our record and modeling of the forces triggering and amplifying the changes of Earth climate and carbon cycle across spatial and temporal scales.
Due to the growing pressures on marine natural resources and the ecosystem services demand, the interest of scientific and politic world is moving to ensure the conservation of marine ecosystems and environmental sustainable development of anthropogenic activities. Recently the principal European policies meet these issues, focusing on maintaining/ reaching the good environmental status (GES) of water bodies (WFD/MSFD) and solving the conflicts between anthropogenic pressures and marine ecosystems (MSP).
Some of the anthropogenic activities could have a potential impact on marine environment altering the marine ecosystems equilibrium. Since the dynamical processes influence the pollutants dispersion, it is compelling to analyse the ecosystems status through the study of abiotic variables distribution at proper spatial and temporal resolution.
From this perspective a large amount of data obtained by global observation systems (e.g. GOOS, EMODNET…) is needed to properly analyse the environmental quality both in the coastal and open ocean areas.
The session focuses on marine ecosystems, abiotic and biotic factors affecting their dynamics, highlighting the effects of anthropogenic impacts.
The following topics will be discussed: quantitative analysis of the effects of pollution on biota considering their natural and anthropogenic sources; benthic and pelagic community dynamics; economic evaluation of natural capital.
In this session multidisciplinary approaches using data coming from multiple sources (mathematical model, in-situ and remote observations) are encouraged.
Studies regarding the marine strategy descriptors, with the aim to develop methods, technologies and best practices to maintain/restore biodiversity and to guarantee a sustainable marine resources use, are also welcome.
The interaction of processes between the land surface, the planetary boundary layer (PBL), and the free troposphere are crucial for the understanding of weather and climate including extremes such as heavy precipitation and droughts. This requires an advanced understanding and modeling of the exchange of momentum, water, energy, and carbon at interfaces. In this session, we present and discuss current research activities contributing to this understanding, including L-A interaction and feedback to the diurnal cycle of the PBL, clouds, and precipitation as well as surface fluxes such as evapotranspiration and entrainment. We accept observational and modeling approaches to address these challenges. With respect to the observations, emphasis is put on the application of new sensor synergies, e.g., using active remote sensing for studying land surface exchange processes and entrainment at the PBL top, which have been addressed in field campaigns. With respect to theoretical understanding and modeling, we are focusing on new insights by feedback diagrams and grey zone experiments down to the large eddy simulation scale.
Citizen science (the involvement of the public in scientific processes) is gaining momentum in one discipline after another, thereby more and more data on biodiversity, earthquakes, weather, climate, health issues among others are being collected at different scales that can extend the frontiers of knowledge. Successful citizen observatories can potentially be scaled up in order to contribute to larger environmental and policy strategies and actions (such as the European Earth Observation monitoring systems) and to be integrated in GEOSS and Copernicus. Making credible contributions to science can empower citizens to actively participate in environmental decision making, can raise awareness about environmental issues and can help bridge the science-society gap. Often, citizen science is seen in the context of Open Science, which is a broad movement embracing Open Data, Open Access, Open Educational Resources, Open Source, Open Methodology, and Open Peer Review to transparently publish and share scientific research - thus leveraging Citizen Science and Reproducible Research.
Both, open science in general and citizen science in particular, pose great challenges for researchers, and to support the goals of the various openness initiatives, this session looks at what is possible nowadays and what is ready for application in geosciences. Success stories, failures, best practices and solutions will be presented, in addition to various related networks. We aim to show how researchers, citizens, funding agencies, governments and other stakeholders can benefit from citizen science and open science, acknowledging the drawbacks and highlighting the opportunities available for geoscientists.
In this session, we are looking for successful approaches of working with citizen science and open science to bridge the gap between a multitude of stakeholders in research, policy, economy, practice and society at large by finding emerging environmental issues and empowering citizens. This session shall be an open space to exchange experiences and to present either successful examples or failed efforts. Learning from others and understanding what to adopt and what to change help the participants in their own undertakings and new initiatives, so that they become future success stories.
We want to ask and find answers to the following questions:
Which approaches can be used in Earth, Planetary and Space Sciences?
What are the biggest challenges and how to overcome them?
What kind of citizen scientist involvement and open science strategies exist?
How to ensure transparency in project results and analyses?
How to evaluate successful bridging of the science-society-gap?
Cities all over the world are facing rising population densities. This leads to increasing fractions of built-up and sealed areas, consequencing in a more and more altered and partly disrupted water balance - both in terms of water quantities and qualities. On top, climate change is altering precipitation regimes.
This session focuses on according urban ecohydrological problems and approaches to solve them spanning from technical to nature-based solutions in different time and spatial scales from the building to the whole city.
Snow and ice can capture and store contaminants both local and global in origin. The decrease in glacier cover, snow cover and sea ice in response to climate affects cycling of airborne impurities in polar and alpine environments, accelerating and enhancing their release. In this context snow and ice act as a secondary source for numerous organic and inorganic atmospheric contaminants that were deposited on their surface during recent decades, including persistent organic pollutants, radioactive species, microplastics, pesticides, and heavy metals. The release of contaminants from snow and ice to glacier forefields, rivers and seas might pose a hazard to these ecosystems and to human health, particularly under accelerated melt conditions.
Identification and assessment of this hazard relies, for each contaminant class, on the understanding of processes that control their accumulation, release and downstream transport. The physical and chemical forms in which contaminants are removed from the atmosphere and hydrosphere may further affect their interactions with mineral substances and biota. Existing studies suggest that the contaminant release process is not linear, and that interactions between meltwater, supraglacial debris and glacial microbiology may be crucial in the accumulation and transport of contaminants in glacier catchments. For example, evidence is mounting that cryoconite can efficiently accumulate radionuclides from anthropogenic sources to potentially hazardous levels in glaciers around the world. At the same time, the high biological activity present in cryoconite could enhance the degradation of organic pollutants, with important implications for remediation. A portion of contaminants released from glaciers may also be stored in their proglacial zones as shown by the very high concentrations of radionuclides found by several recent studies. The effects of contaminant transport on the pro-glacial environment and downstream communities remain uncertain, but improved understanding of the impacts of contaminants in land ice, sea ice, and snow is clearly warranted.
The session aims to contribute to the development of this emerging and interdisciplinary field, welcoming presentations from across cryospheric, hydrological, and biogeochemical sciences, and other research areas.
Tree rings are a key terrestrial archive providing insight into past climate conditions at annual and intra-annual resolution and from local to hemispheric scales. Tree ring proxies are also important indicators of plant physiological responses to changing environments and of long-term ecological processes. In this broad context we welcome contributions using one or more of the following approaches to either study the impact of environmental change on growth and physiology of trees and forest ecosystems or to assess and reconstruct past environmental change: (i) traditional dendrochronological methods including studies based on tree ring width and density, (ii) stable isotopes in tree rings and related plant compounds, (iii) dendrochemistry, (iv) quantitative wood anatomy, (v) sap flow, dendrometer and related monitoring data analyses, and (vi) mechanistic modelling, all at different temporal and spatial scales.
Marine geological processes cover a range of different disciplinary fields and their understanding usually requires an interdisciplinary approach. The interaction of geological, physical oceanographic, chemical and biological mechanisms in marine geological processes ranging from sediment erosion and deposition, to hydrothermal and fluid flow systems, to early diagenesis and geomicrobiology, is of specific interest. Such processes may take place in shallow or deep, in tropical and glacial environments, and they may be natural or partly human-influenced. Climate-induced perturbations in marine geological processes have occurred in present and past, and potentially will also occur in the future. Several of these processes may also have a profound human impact, such as tsunamis generated by tectonic or mass-slumping events, coastal erosion in response to changed currents or river discharge, and sediment gravity flow in deep waters affecting human infrastructures. /We encourage comprehensive and interdisciplinary abstracts within the broad field of marine geology and with direct relevance to marine processes or deposits concerned with rocks, sediments, and geo-physical and geo-(bio)chemical processes that affect them.
The world annual consumption of pesticides has amounted to 2.7 × 106 tons in recent years. Agricultural land is the first recipient of pesticides after its application; even if the pesticides are applied in accordance with the regulations, only a minor amount reaches its objectives, while the rest represent possible environmental contaminants and short or long-term harvest products, with a wide range of possible negative impacts. For many pesticides or their degradation products, soils become the non-point source of groundwater contamination (leaching of soluble compounds and compounds linked to colloids) and / or surface water (runoff of soluble compounds, compounds bound to colloids and soil particles, transport from groundwater). On the other hand, these pesticides represent a potential risk for soil biota, such as nematodes, microorganisms and plants.
The purpose of the session is to share the knowledge generated by researchers whose interest lies in the role of soil in the destination and the behavior of emerging contaminants, including pesticides.
This session will include contributions from different areas:
1. Development, validation and application of analytical methods for pesticides and their degradation / transformation products in water, soil, sediment, air and food samples for direct consumption or fresh consumption.
2. Studies of adsorption, desorption, physical transport, synergies, etc. between soil and organic pollutants of agricultural production (pesticides, pharmaceutical products, other emerging pollutants, which favor their environmental availability.
3. Field tests, monitoring and modeling of environmental destinations of pesticides.
4. Effects of mixtures of pesticides and pesticides on non-target organisms and interactions of various classes of pesticides detected in the natural environment.
5. Evaluation of risks of environmental contamination by pesticides.
6. Assessments regarding climate change on the fate and behavior of pesticides.
The scientific session “Soils as a non-point source of contamination by pesticides or their degradation products” will provide an opportunity to research teams working in different parts of the world to discuss their findings within the settings of a large conference.
Plastic contamination has been reported in all realms of the environment from the tropics to the polar oceans. The consequences of this contamination may be severe for ecosystems and could adversely affect ecosystem services such as fisheries and even human health. Our poor knowledge of plastics sources, their composition, sizes, pathways, hot spots of accumulation and ultimate fate prevents an assessment of environmental risks and the development of appropriate mitigation strategies. In order to understand current distributions of plastics and the way they evolve in space and time, much better observations and common consistent measuring methods are required but simultaneously, observations must be combined with computational models from their sources on land to rivers, estuaries, oceans and sea ice. This requires improved standardized accurate observations and the development of advanced modelling capabilities to quantify and predict contamination levels.
The session aims to set up a forum for multi-disciplinary discussions to create a global picture of plastic contamination in the environment and to suggest approaches for future research, monitoring and mitigation of plastic pollutions impacts. The session will provide a framework to advise legislators and industry on the best ways to reduce the risks of serious damage from this contaminant.
This session will draw together data on plastic contamination across all sizes of plastics, from nano- and micro-plastics to large plastic fragments, and across all environments and locations. It will combine observations with state-of-the-art computational modelling to promote the fast advance of research and improve our understanding of how plastic pollution affects environments worldwide. We invite contributions on new methods and field observations, laboratory experiments, novel modelling approaches, related scientific initiatives and projects. New ideas for citizen-science involvement and for mitigation strategies to reduce plastic contamination of the environment are especially welcome.
The Tibetan Plateau and surrounding mountain regions, known as the Third Pole, cover an area of > 5 million km2 and are considered to be the water tower of Asia. The Pan Third Pole expands on both the north-south and the east-west directions, going across the Tibetan Plateau, Pamir, Hindu Kush, Iran Plateau, Caucasian and Carpathian, and covering an area of about 20 million km2. Like the Arctic and Antarctica, the Pan Third Pole’s environment is extremely sensitive to global climate change. In recent years, scientists from around the globe have increased observational, remote sensing and numerical modeling research related to the Pan Third Pole in an effort to quantify and predict past, current and future scenarios. Co-sponsored by TPE (www.tpe.ac.cn), this session is dedicated to studies of Pan Third Pole atmosphere, cryosphere, hydrosphere, and biosphere and their interactions with global change. Related contributions are welcomed.
Fire is a global phenomenon influencing ecosystem functioning, carbon stocks and fluxes, and atmospheric composition, with large impacts on human health, safety and economy. The relative importance of climate, vegetation and humans as drivers of fire activity varies across spatial and temporal scales. Multiscale and interdisciplinary assessments of fire behavior are required to understand global climate-fire feedbacks, as well as regional interactions between vegetation and humans, and fire.
Fire influences the global carbon cycle among others through its carbon emissions and post-fire ecosystem carbon sequestration. In addition, black carbon (also known as pyrogenic carbon, charcoal, soot) is a crucial component in the carbon cycle, yet uncertainties remain regarding sizes, losses and fluxes between land, rivers, oceans and atmosphere.
Remote sensing provides baseline information for all stakeholders involved in monitoring of biomass burning at different scales and for understanding how ecosystems respond to fires. However, there are still large uncertainties in satellite-based active fire, burned area, and fire emissions estimates, in part due to the complexity and diversity of the ecosystems affected. Building on the environmental significance and scientific challenges described above, this session will bring together fire scientists working on biomass burning monitoring and early warning systems. The aim of this session is to improve the understanding of interactions between fire, vegetation, carbon, climate and humans. We invite contributions developing or using remote sensing datasets, in situ observations, charcoal records, laboratory experiments and modeling approaches. We welcome studies that help to improve our understanding of (1) the relative importance of climate, vegetation and humans on fire occurrence across spatial and temporal scales (2) the impacts of fire on vegetation, atmosphere and society, (3) feedbacks between fire, vegetation and climate, and (4) the role of fire in the carbon cycle, with special focus on the transfer of black carbon and other fire markers from terrestrial ecosystems to aquatic environments, and their biogeochemical fate in these environments, (5) innovative use of remote sensing technologies (LIDAR, infrared cameras, drones) for fuel characterization, fire detection and monitoring; (6) algorithms/models applicable to regional-to-global scale fire analyses exploring active fire detection and characterization (e.g., fire radiative power, area affected, combustion phase), burned area mapping, atmospheric emissions and smoke transport, (7) fire product validation and error assessment, (8) analytical tools designed to enhance situational awareness among fire practitioners and early warning systems, addressing specific needs of operational fire behavior modeling.
Invited speakers:
Emilio Chuvieco, University of Alcala
Elena Kukavskaya, Sukachev Institute of Forest, Russian Academy of Sciences
Tipping elements in the Earth's climate system are continental-scale subsystems that are characterized by a threshold behavior. It has been suggested that these include biosphere components (e.g. the Amazon rainforest and coral reefs), cryosphere components (e.g. the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets) and large-scale atmospheric and oceanic circulations (e.g. the thermohaline circulation, ENSO and Indian summer monsoon). Once operating near a threshold or tipping point, these components can transgress into a qualitatively different state by small external perturbations. The large-scale environmental consequences could impact the livelihoods of millions of people.
In this session, we aim to bring together experts presenting and discussing the state-of-the-art research on tipping elements in the Earth's climate system, both in empirical data and numerical modelling of past, present and future climate. Among other topics, issues to be addressed in this session include critical thresholds for specific tipping elements, typical time scales of tipping, interactions and feedbacks between tipping elements, the potential for tipping cascades as well as environmental and socio-economic impacts of tipping.
Public information:
Plan S, devised by a coalition of research funders with support from the European Commission and European Research Council, demands that by January 1, 2020 research supported by participating funders must be published in Open Access journals. Representatives from subscription-based and Open Access publishers, architects of Plan S, and researchers affected by it will debate questions surrounding the implementation of the plan and its consequences.
The panelists are David Sweeney, Heike Langenberg, Marc Schiltz and Brooks Hanson. They will present the case for and against mandatory OA followed by an open debate with questions and comments from the audience.
David Sweeney is Executive Chair of Research England, the biggest research funder in the UK. He has been invited to visit many countries to advise on research assessment and funding, particularly with respect to research impact. He is also co-chair of the Implementation Task Force for Plan S, the international initiative on full and immediate open access to research publications.
Heike Langenberg is the Chief Editor of Nature Geoscience. She started her editorial career in 1999 as an Associate, then Senior Editor at Nature handling manuscripts in the broad area of climate sciences. In 2007 she moved to Nature Geoscience to launch the journal in January 2008. A graduate in mathematics of the Philipps-Universität Marburg, Germany, she ventured into oceanography for her PhD at the University of Hamburg. Her postdoctoral research at various research institutes in Hamburg was focused on numerical simulations of the ocean and atmosphere at a regional scale.
Marc Schiltz is president of Science Europe, the European association of all major national public research funding and research performing organisations. In this role, he has contributed to setting the European agenda to foster Open Science and is one of the architects of Plan S. He is also leading the Luxembourg National Research Fund. He is a relentless advocate of science and research, serving on a number of external boards and committees, both at the national and international level. Having received a PhD in Crystallography from the University of Paris-Sud and an executive MBA from INSEAD, Marc has been active in research and higher education for more than 25 years and held research and faculty positions in several European countries.
Brooks Hanson is the Executive Vice President for Science for the American Geophysical Union (AGU), responsible for AGU’s publications, meetings, ethics and data programs, and Thriving Earth Exchange. He previously acted as Sr. Vice President for Publications at AGU, where he was responsible for AGU's portfolio of books and 21 journals and served as Deputy Editor for Physical Sciences at Science. Brooks received a Ph.D. in Geology from UCLA and held a post-doctoral appointment at the Department of Mineral Sciences at the Smithsonian Institution.
Public information:
The dialogue between scientists, institutions, policymakers and the general public is widely recognised as an essential step towards a fair and sustainable society. Nowadays, more than ever in human history, international cooperation is an essential requirement for protecting the planet, advancing science and ensuring an equitable development of the global economy.
Despite its importance, the above dialogue can be a challenge for scientists, who often cannot find a productive connection with governments and politicians. Scientific associations are a key link between researchers and policy makers, as they have the potential to establish a durable and profitable connection with institutions.
The EGU elected the dialogue with society as one of its priority missions. At its General Assembly, the EGU is launching an innovative symposium format, Science and Society (SCS), to host scientific forums specifically dedicated to connecting with high-level institutions and engaging the public and policymakers.
The conversation with Ilaria Capua and Mario Monti will focus on science and politics with a global perspective, and the impact of populism on European integrity and therefore scientific research. The discussion will elaborate on optimal strategies to deliver topical and clear scientific messages to key institutions.
Ilaria Capua is a virologist best known for her research on influenza viruses and her efforts promoting open access to genetic information on emerging viruses. In 2006, Science reported on Capua’s effort towards open access science, stating that she had “renewed the debate about how to balance global health against scientists’ needs to publish and countries’ demands for secrecy". She has been a member of the Italian parliament from 2013 to 2016 and a fake news victim. She is currently a full professor at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, US, and director of the UF One Health Center of Excellence.
Mario Monti served as a European Commissioner from 1995 to 2004, with responsibility for the internal market, services, customs, taxation and competition. He was Prime Minister of Italy from 2011 to 2013, leading a government of national unity to cope with the Italian debt crisis. Monti has also been Rector and is currently President of Bocconi University in Milan. His publications deal mainly with monetary and financial economics, public finance, European integration, competition policy. He is currently lifetime member of the Italian Senate.
During the conversation, Ilaria Capua and Mario Monti will present their vision with two 15-minute talks that will be followed by 20 minutes dedicated to questions from the audience and answers.
In October 2018, the IPCC published its special report on impacts of global warming of 1.5 deg C. Another recent, highly publicised study suggests that the planet could pass an irreversible threshold into a so called “Hothouse Earth” state for a temperature increase of as low as 2 degrees C above pre-industrial temperatures, while other studies and commentaries have emphasised the urgency on climate action, arguing that 2020 must be a turning point for global fossil fuel emissions, to increase the chance of maintaining a safe operating space for the humans on the planet. In 2018, the IPCC celebrated its 30th anniversary. The importance of taking action on human-induced climate change has been emphasised with governments around the world since the 1990s yet CO2 concentrations continue to rise and international initiatives have, to date, had limited and insufficient impact to avert some of the most serious consequences of climate change.
How close are we to one or more critical thresholds (cliff edge)? Is there time to avert passing one or more of these thresholds? What can the geoscience community do to reduce the risks? How important is bottom up versus top down action to ensuring the least worst outcome? These are some of the questions we will debate with world experts in their field and authors of the thought papers on these topics.
Public information:
In October 2018, the IPCC published its special report on impacts of global warming of 1.5 deg C. Another recent, highly publicised study suggests that the planet could pass an irreversible threshold into a so called “Hothouse Earth” state for a temperature increase of as low as 2 degrees C above pre-industrial temperatures.
In 2018, the IPCC celebrated its 30th anniversary. The importance of taking action on human-induced climate change has been emphasised with governments around the world since the 1990s yet CO2 concentrations continue to rise and international initiatives have, to date, had limited and insufficient impact to avert some of the most serious consequences of climate change that may pose an existential threat to modern civilisation.
How close are we to one or more critical thresholds? Is there time to avert passing one or more of them? What can the geoscience community do to reduce the risks? How important is bottom up versus top down action to ensuring the least worst outcome? These are some of the questions we will debate with world experts in their field and authors of the thought papers on these topics.
The Great Debate panellists are:
Prof. Myles Allen is Professor of Geosystem Science in the Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford. His research focuses on how human and natural influences on climate contribute to observed climate change and risks of extreme weather and in quantifying their implications for long-range climate forecasts. He was a Coordinating Lead Author on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Special Report on 1.5 degrees, having served on the IPCC’s 3rd, 4th and 5th Assessments, including the Synthesis Report Core Writing Team in 2014.
Prof. Sabine Fuss, Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change (MCC), Berlin. Sabine is an economist, currently leading a working group at the MCC. She holds a professorship on Sustainable Resource Management and Global Change at Humboldt University of Berlin. Her research interests are in sustainable development, land use change and climate change mitigation. She has been an IPCC Lead Author for the Special Report on 1.5°C global warming, serves on the steering committee of the Global Carbon Project and is a guest scholar at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis.
Erica Hope leads the cross-sectoral ‘2050 Task Force’ and governance programme of the European Climate Foundation (ECF) in Brussels, which seeks to build knowledge, political strategies and coalitions to drive the transition to a zero emissions society by mid-century. Erica has previously worked for the energy efficiency and UK programmes of the ECF, and before that led the policy and advocacy activities of NGO network Climate Action Network Europe on energy efficiency. From 2005-2009 she was researcher to Green MEP Caroline Lucas, and has also worked at the Institute for Public Policy Research in London.
Prof. Linda Steg is professor of environmental psychology at the University of Groningen. She studies factors influencing sustainable behaviour, the effects and acceptability of strategies aimed at promoting sustainable behaviour, and public perceptions of technology and system changes. She is member of Member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences (KNAW), and lead author of the IPCC special report on 1.5°C and AR6. She works on various interdisciplinary and international research programmes, and collaborates with practitioners working in industry, governments and NGOs.
Plastic pollution is recognized as one of the most serious and urgent problems facing our planet. Rates of manufacture, use and ultimately disposal of plastics continue to soar, posing an enormous threat to the planet’s oceans and rivers and the flora and fauna they support. There is an urgent need for global action, backed by sound scientific understanding, to tackle this problem.
This Union Symposium will address the problems posed to our planet by plastic pollution, and examine options for dealing with the threat.
Over the whole Earth history, the climate has encountered tipping points, shifting from one regulated system to the other. This tilting motion affects both climate and the carbon cycle and has played a major role in the evolution of the Earth climate, at all timescales. Earth History has been ponctuated by large climate changes and carbon cycle reorganizations, from large climate variations occurring in deep times (snowball events, terrestrialisation, Mesozoic and early Cenozoic warm episodes, quaternary glacial cycles…) to past and on-going abrupt events. Many potential triggers of those climate and carbon cycle shifts have been proposed and tested through modeling studies, and against field data, such as those directly or indirectly linked with tectonics (plate motion, orogenesis, opening/closing of seaways, weathering…) and orbital forcing. Given that the Earth climate is currently experiencing an unprecedented transition under anthropogenic pressure, understanding the mechanisms behind the scene is crucial.
Our aim is to point out the most recent results concerning how a complex system as the climate of the Earth has undergone many tipping points and what is the specificity of the future climate changes. Therefore, within this session, we would like to encourage talks discussing advances in our record and modeling of the forces triggering and amplifying the changes of Earth climate and carbon cycle across spatial and temporal scales.
What role did climate dynamics play in human evolution, the dispersal of Homo sapiens within and beyond the African continent, and key cultural innovations? Were dry spells, stable humid conditions, or rapid climate fluctuations the main driver of human evolution and migration? In order to evaluate the impact that different timescales and magnitudes of climatic shifts might have had on the living conditions of prehistoric humans, we need reliable and continuous reconstructions of paleoenvironmental conditions and fluctuations from the vicinity of paleoanthropological and archaeological sites. The search for the environmental context of human evolution and mobility crucially depends on the interpretation of paleoclimate archives from outcrop geology, lacustrine and marine sediments. Linking archeological data to paleoenvironmental reconstructions and models becomes increasingly important.
As a contribution towards a better understanding of these human-climate interactions the conveners encourage submission of abstracts on their project’s research on (geo)archaeology, paleoecology, paleoclimate, stratigraphy, and paleoenvironmental reconstructions. We especially welcome contributions offering new methods for dealing with difficult archive conditions and dating challenges. We hope this session will appeal to a broad audience by highlighting the latest research on paleoenvironmental reconstructions in the vicinity of key sites of human evolution, showcasing a wide variety of analytical methods, and encouraging collaboration between different research groups. Conceptual models, modelling results and model-data comparisons are warmly welcomed, as collaborative and interdisciplinary research.
Prof. Dr. Daniel M. Deocampo (Department of Geosciences, Georgia State University, Atlanta) will talk on 'Silicate diagenesis and environmental change in eastern Africa: Examples from key hominin localities'.
Dr. Alice Leplongeon (Institute of Advanced Studies & Department of Cultural Heritage, University of Bologna) will talk about how technological variability, environmental change, and human dispersals may be linked, particularly in the Late Pleistocene in eastern Africa, north-eastern Africa and the Levant.
Arid to sub-humid regions contribute ca. 40 % to the global land surface and are home of more than 40 % of the world’s population. During prehistoric times many important cultures had developed in these regions. Due to the high sensitivity of dryland areas even to small-scale environmental changes and anthropogenic activities, ongoing geomorphological processes but also the Late Quaternary palaeoenvironmental evolution as recorded in sediment archives are becoming increasingly relevant for geomorphological, palaeoenvironmental and geoarchaeological research. Dryland research is also boosted by methodological advances, and especially by emerging linkages with other climatic and geomorphic systems that allow using dryland areas as indicator-regions of global environmental change.
This session aims to pool contributions from the broad field of earth sciences that deal with geomorphological processes and different types of sediment archives in dryland areas (dunes, loess, slope deposits, fluvial sediments, alluvial fans, lake and playa sediments, desert pavements, soils, paleosols etc.) at different spatial and temporal scales. Besides case studies from individual regions and archives, methodical and conceptual contributions, e.g. dealing with the special role of eolian, fluvial, gravitational and biological processes in dryland environments, their preservation over time in the sedimentary records, and emerging opportunities and limitations to resolve past and current dynamics, are especially welcome in this session.
The interaction of processes between the land surface, the planetary boundary layer (PBL), and the free troposphere are crucial for the understanding of weather and climate including extremes such as heavy precipitation and droughts. This requires an advanced understanding and modeling of the exchange of momentum, water, energy, and carbon at interfaces. In this session, we present and discuss current research activities contributing to this understanding, including L-A interaction and feedback to the diurnal cycle of the PBL, clouds, and precipitation as well as surface fluxes such as evapotranspiration and entrainment. We accept observational and modeling approaches to address these challenges. With respect to the observations, emphasis is put on the application of new sensor synergies, e.g., using active remote sensing for studying land surface exchange processes and entrainment at the PBL top, which have been addressed in field campaigns. With respect to theoretical understanding and modeling, we are focusing on new insights by feedback diagrams and grey zone experiments down to the large eddy simulation scale.
Mountain glaciers and ice caps are major contributors to sea-level rise and have large impacts on water balance of local basins. This is a general session on glaciers and ice caps where the relationship to climate forms a particular focus. The IPCC AR5 of Working Group 1 covers Earths Glaciers and Ice Caps outside the ice sheets under the heading of Glaciers and shows that, despite much progress recently provided by the community, we are still left with substantial unknowns. We need to acquire more data, both from new fieldwork and release of unpublished data from prior years on mass changes of glaciers and ice caps from all regions of the world. We need to improve the understanding of the processes behind the changes, and we need to improve the application of models of different complexity. We welcome presentations on all aspects of mass changes; current, past and future changes based on field observations, remote sensing and modeling. Studies of physical processes controlling accumulation and ablation including calving and submarine melting, are especially welcome.
Hydroclimatic variability is an emerging challenge with increasing implications on water resources management, planning, and the mitigation of water-related natural hazards. The above variability, along with the continuous development of water demands, and aging water supply system infrastructure make the sustainability of water use a high priority for modern society. In fact, the Global Risk 2015 Report of the World Economic Forum highlights global water crises as being the biggest threat facing the planet over the next decade.
To mitigate the above concerns we need to shed light on hydroclimatic variability and change. Several questions and mysteries are still unresolved regarding natural fluctuations of climate, anthropogenic climate change and associated variability, and changes in water resources. What is a hydroclimatic trend? What is a (long term) cycle? How can we distinguish between a trend and a cycle? Is such discrimination technically useful? How do human activities affect rainfall, hydrological change and water resources availability? How to set priorities and take action to ensure sustainability in light of variability and change?
The objective of this session is to explore hydrological and climatic temporal variability and their connections and feedbacks. More specifically, the session aims to:
1. investigate the hydrological cycle and climatic variability and change, both at regional and global scales;
2. explore the interplay between change and variability and its effect on sustainability of water uses;
3. advance our understanding of the hydrological cycle, benefiting from hydrological records and innovative techniques; and
4. improve the efficiency, simplicity, and accurate characterization of data-driven modeling techniques to quantify the impacts of past, present and future hydroclimatic change on human societies.
This session is sponsored by the International Association of Hydrological Sciences (IAHS) and the World Meteorological Organization – Commission for Hydrology (WMO CHy) and it is also related to the scientific decade 2013–2022 of IAHS, entitled “Panta Rhei - Everything Flows”.
Cities all over the world are facing rising population densities. This leads to increasing fractions of built-up and sealed areas, consequencing in a more and more altered and partly disrupted water balance - both in terms of water quantities and qualities. On top, climate change is altering precipitation regimes.
This session focuses on according urban ecohydrological problems and approaches to solve them spanning from technical to nature-based solutions in different time and spatial scales from the building to the whole city.
Ice sheets play an active role in the climate system by amplifying, pacing, and potentially driving global climate change over a wide range of time scales. The impact of interactions between ice sheets and climate include changes in atmospheric and ocean temperatures and circulation, global biogeochemical cycles, the global hydrological cycle, vegetation, sea level, and land-surface albedo, which in turn cause additional feedbacks in the climate system. This session will present data and modelling results that examine ice sheet interactions with other components of the climate system over several time scales. Among other topics, issues to be addressed in this session include ice sheet-climate interactions from glacial-interglacial to millennial and centennial time scales, the role of ice sheets in Cenozoic global cooling and the mid-Pleistocene transition, reconstructions of past ice sheets and sea level, the current and future evolution of the ice sheets, and the role of ice sheets in abrupt climate change.
The mid-Pleistocene Transition (MPT) is a crucial changes in climate dynamics, leading us into our current regime of long, asymmetric glacial cycles. However, evidence about the differences in how climate behaved before and after the MPT remains sparse and we also lack evidence to decide between theories that aim to explain the MPT. Here we hope to gather new datasets that compare climate on either side of the MPT or that offer new evidence about glacial cycles before it. Modelling and conceptual work about the causes of the MPT are also wlecome. Finally we would like to hear about work that paves the way for new projects, including plans and methodologies to obtain pre-MPT ice cores such as (but not limited to) the IPICS Oldest Ice challenge, like Beyond EPICA and other endeavours.
Multiple environmental pathways have emerged from the climatic variability and extreme weather events, which have affected the state of well-being of human health. These phenomena have affected the spatiotemporal distribution of diseases such as Zika, Dengue, Cholera, Influenza, and others through the influence of vectors on making the hosts more susceptible to diseases- ultimately leading to conditions of trigger and transmission of infections in the human population. Remote sensing and station based hydroclimatic data can be used as an early indicator to mitigate the adverse impact of these outbreaks on human health.
This session will provide a platform to discuss the impacts of enhanced climatic variability on the spatiotemporal movement of diseases and the development of early warning systems. We encourage abstract submissions on the topics of climate-linked to diseases, disease monitoring and climate-based predictions of diseases.
Detecting and attributing the fingerprint of anthropogenic climate change in long-term observed climatic trends is an active area of research. Though the science is well established for temperature related variables, the study of other climate indicators including hydrometeorological variables pose greater challenges due to their greater complexity and rarity.
Complementary to this, assessing the extent to which extreme weather events and impacts are attributable to anthropogenic climate change is a rapidly developing science, with emerging schools of thought on the methodology. Once again, the attribution of hydrometeorological events, long-term trends in these events and/or their impacts is less straightforward than temperature-related events.
This session solicits the latest studies from the spectrum of detection and/or attribution approaches. By considering studies over this wide range of temporal and spatial scales we aim to identify common/new methods, current challenges, and avenues for expanding the detection and attribution community. We particularly welcome submissions that compare approaches, or address hydrometerological trends, extremes and/or impacts – all of which test the limits of the present science.
Tree rings are a key terrestrial archive providing insight into past climate conditions at annual and intra-annual resolution and from local to hemispheric scales. Tree ring proxies are also important indicators of plant physiological responses to changing environments and of long-term ecological processes. In this broad context we welcome contributions using one or more of the following approaches to either study the impact of environmental change on growth and physiology of trees and forest ecosystems or to assess and reconstruct past environmental change: (i) traditional dendrochronological methods including studies based on tree ring width and density, (ii) stable isotopes in tree rings and related plant compounds, (iii) dendrochemistry, (iv) quantitative wood anatomy, (v) sap flow, dendrometer and related monitoring data analyses, and (vi) mechanistic modelling, all at different temporal and spatial scales.
Regional climate modeling has tremendously grown in the last decades, encompassing a large and diverse scientific community. Regional climate models (RCMs) are run on a wide range of resolutions, from a few to a few tens of km, and applications, from process studies to past and future climate simulations. In addition, the Coordinated Regional climate Downscaling EXperiment (CORDEX) has been recently implemented to increase international coordination among different research efforts and produce large ensembles of high resolution climate projections over regiona worldwide. Specifically, the Phase II CORDEX framework has been launched, including a CORDEX-CORE initiative aimed at generating a coherent set of projections over all CORDEX domains at increased resolution (12-25 km) and a number of Flagship Pilot Studies (FPSs) addressing specific research challenges, such as convection permitting modeling. These two initiatives are also intended to provide a strong input to the upcoming sixth assessment report of the Intergovernmental panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The session seeks for contributions on:
1) New developments in RCM research
2) Key methodological issues, such as Added Value and metrics for model assessment
3) Application of RCMs for different scientific challenges, e.g. extreme events, the hydrologic cycle, effect of land-use change and aerosols
4) Contributions to the CORDEX CORE and FPS initiatives
5) Use of RCMs to provide multi-model ensemble-based climate information for Vulnerability, Impacts and Adaptation (VIA) studies)
To address societal concerns over rising sea level and extreme events, understanding the contributions behind these changes is key to predict potential impacts of sea level change on coastal communities and global economy, and is recognized as one of the Grand Challenges of our time by the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP). To continue this discussion, we welcome contributions from the international sea level community that improve our knowledge of the past and present changes in sea level, extreme events, and flooding, and produce improved predictions of their future changes. We welcome studies on various drivers of sea level change and linkages between variability in sea level, heat and freshwater content, ocean dynamics, land subsidence from natural versus anthropogenic influences, and mass exchange between the land and the ocean associated with ice sheet and glacier mass loss and changes in the terrestrial water storage. Studies focusing on future sea level changes are also encouraged, as well as those discussing potential short-, medium-, and long-term impacts on coastal and deltaic environments, as well as the global oceans.
Marine geological processes cover a range of different disciplinary fields and their understanding usually requires an interdisciplinary approach. The interaction of geological, physical oceanographic, chemical and biological mechanisms in marine geological processes ranging from sediment erosion and deposition, to hydrothermal and fluid flow systems, to early diagenesis and geomicrobiology, is of specific interest. Such processes may take place in shallow or deep, in tropical and glacial environments, and they may be natural or partly human-influenced. Climate-induced perturbations in marine geological processes have occurred in present and past, and potentially will also occur in the future. Several of these processes may also have a profound human impact, such as tsunamis generated by tectonic or mass-slumping events, coastal erosion in response to changed currents or river discharge, and sediment gravity flow in deep waters affecting human infrastructures. /We encourage comprehensive and interdisciplinary abstracts within the broad field of marine geology and with direct relevance to marine processes or deposits concerned with rocks, sediments, and geo-physical and geo-(bio)chemical processes that affect them.
The Anthropocene is a topic of broad and current interest that is being discussed across various disciplines, within Earth Sciences, but also in the humanities and in the media. Its significance and usefulness as the youngest epoch of the Geological Time Scale is examined by the Working Group of the Anthropocene of the Subcommission on Quaternary Stratigraphy, part of the International Commission on Stratigraphy. A multidisciplinary and transdisciplinary approach for investigating and discussing the Anthropocene is feasible, including not only various Earth Sciences disciplines such as stratigraphy, sedimentology, geochemistry and palaeontology, but also archaeology, geography, geomorphology and various disciplines of the humanities and the arts. This session invites transdisciplinary and interdisciplinary contributions on the significance, usefulness and application of the term, as well as case studies including proposals on possible GSSPs (Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point) for a definition of the Anthropocene as part of the Geological Time Scale. The session will foster transdisciplinary dialogue and interdisciplinary cooperation and understanding on the scale and reach of anthropogenic changes within the Earth System.
The occurrence of extremes such as droughts, flash floods, hailstorms, storm surges and tropical storms can have significant and sometimes catastrophic consequences to society. However, not all low probability weather/climate events will lead to “high impacts” on human or natural systems or infrastructure. Rather, the severity of such events depend also intrinsically on the exposure, vulnerability and/or resilience to such hazards of affected systems, including emergency management procedures. Similarly, high impact events may be compounded by the interaction of several, e.g., in their own right less severe hydro-meteorological incidents, sometimes separated in time and space. Or they may similarly result from the joint failures of multiple human or natural systems. Consequently, it is a deep transdisciplinary challenge to learn from past high impact events, understand the mechanisms behind them and ultimately to project how they may potentially change in a future climate.
The ECRA (European Climate Research Alliance) Collaborative Programme on “High Impact Events and Climate Change” aims to promote research on the mechanisms behind high impact events and climate extremes, simulation of high impact events under present and future climatic conditions, and on how relevant information for climate risk analysis, vulnerability and adaptation may be co-created with users, e.g., in terms of tailored climate services. For this aim, this Interdisciplinary and Transdisciplinary Session invites contributions that will serve to (i) better understand the mechanisms behind high impact events from a transdisciplinary and interdisciplinary perspective, e.g. case studies and the assessment of past high impact events, including detection and attribution; (ii) project changes to high impact events through, e.g. high resolution climate and impacts modelling (including economic modelling); (iii) produce climate information at the relevant scales (downscaling); and co-create climate services with users to help deal with the risk and/or impacts of high-impact events, e.g. risk analysis and climate adaptation. Abstracts that highlight recent advances from a transdisciplinary perspective for example through the innovation of climate services will be particularly encouraged. Authors and contributors to this session will be offered to present their work in a Special Issue of the journal “Sustainability”.
The Tibetan Plateau and surrounding mountain regions, known as the Third Pole, cover an area of > 5 million km2 and are considered to be the water tower of Asia. The Pan Third Pole expands on both the north-south and the east-west directions, going across the Tibetan Plateau, Pamir, Hindu Kush, Iran Plateau, Caucasian and Carpathian, and covering an area of about 20 million km2. Like the Arctic and Antarctica, the Pan Third Pole’s environment is extremely sensitive to global climate change. In recent years, scientists from around the globe have increased observational, remote sensing and numerical modeling research related to the Pan Third Pole in an effort to quantify and predict past, current and future scenarios. Co-sponsored by TPE (www.tpe.ac.cn), this session is dedicated to studies of Pan Third Pole atmosphere, cryosphere, hydrosphere, and biosphere and their interactions with global change. Related contributions are welcomed.
Climate change in the Mediterranean region poses critical environmental issues and can affect many sectors of human activities. Contrasting climate trends, levels of exposure and vulnerability are present across this region with associated potential conflicts. Climate research is expected to contribute an increasingly precise information on the future climate and impacts of climate change in this region. A large set of instrumental records and climate proxies allows in many areas of the Mediterranean region to bridge present trends and past climate over a wide range of timescales. This session encourages contributions adopting a multidisciplinary approach and it aims to promote a dialogue between climatologists and researchers interested on the impacts of climate on human and natural systems. It aims at including contributions describing new scientific findings on the climate of the Mediterranean region, its dynamics, variability, change, and studies of climate related impacts on societies and ecosystems. The session considers different time scales (from paleoclimate to future model projections), different components (atmosphere, ocean, land and its hydrology) and factors (chemical, biological, anthropic) as well as highlights of sub-regional hotspots and climate processes.
Many water management sectors are already having to cope with extreme weather events, climate variability and change. For this purpose, climate services provide science-based and user-specific information on possible impacts. Such information can be based on weather forecasts or on climate projections. In this context, predictions on sub-seasonal, seasonal to decadal timescales are an emerging and essential part of hydrological forecasting. With horizons ranging from months to a decade, these probabilistic forecasts are used in industries such as transport, energy, agriculture, forestry, health, insurance, tourism and infrastructure.
This session aims to cover the advances in climate and hydrological forecasting, and their implications on forecasting extreme events and servicing water users. It welcomes, without being restricted to, presentations on:
- Making use of climate data for hydrological modelling (downscaling, bias correction, temporal disaggregation, spatial interpolation and other technical challenges),
- Methods to improve forecasting of hydrological extremes,
- Improved representations of hydrological extremes in a future climate,
- Seamless forecasting, including downscaling and statistical post- and pre-processing,
- Propagation of climate model uncertainty to hydrological models and impact assessment,
- Lessons learnt from forecasting and managing present day extreme conditions,
- Effective methods to link stakeholder interests and scientific expertise,
- Operational climatic forecasting systems.
The session will bring together research scientists and operational managers in the fields of hydrology, meteorology and climate with the aim of sharing experiences and initiating discussions on this emerging topic. We encourage presentations from initiatives such as the H2020 IMPREX, BINGO, S2S4E and CLARA projects, and from WWRP/WCRP S2S projects that utilise the recently established S2S project database, and all hydrological relevant applications.
Documenting the diversity of human responses and adaptations to climate, landscapes, ecosystems, natural disasters and the changing natural resources availability in different regions of our planet, cross-disciplinary studies in Geoarchaeology provide valuable opportunities to learn from the past. Furthermore, human activity became a major player of global climatic and environmental change in the course of the late Quaternary, during the Anthropocene. Consequently, we must better understand the archaeological records and landscapes in context of human culture and the hydroclimate-environment nexus at different spatial and temporal scales. This session seeks related interdisciplinary papers and specific geoarchaeological case-studies that deploy various approaches and tools to address the reconstruction of former human-environmental interactions from the Palaeolithic period through the modern. Topics related to records of the Anthropocene from Earth and archaeological science perspectives are welcome. Furthermore, contributions may include (but are not limited to) insights about how people have coped with environmental disasters or abrupt changes in the past; defining sustainability thresholds for farming or resource exploitation; distinguishing the baseline natural and human contributions to environmental changes. Ultimately, we would like to understand how strategies of human resilience and innovation can inform our modern strategies for addressing the challenges of the emerging Anthropocene, a time frame dominated by human modulation of surface geomorphological processes and hydroclimate.
Estimating the impact of climate change on both the natural and socio-economic environment plays an important role in informing a range of national and international policies, including energy, agriculture and health. Understanding these impacts, and those avoided, has never been more pertinent since the adoption of the 2015 Paris Agreement, which sought to hold “the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C, recognizing that this would significantly reduce the risks and impacts of climate change".
Policies may aim to mitigate (i.e. reduce emissions), counteract (i.e. negative emissions) and/or adapt to anthropogenic climate change and it is equally important to quantify the impact of implementing these options. While rapid, deep mitigation is clearly a pre-requisite to success, delays to such measures imply a greater reliance upon large scale negative emissions technologies. Those based on land are likely to face competing pressure from wide ranging economic activity, and knowledge of these interactions and synergies is limited. Similarly while adaptation options are wide ranging, the uses of nature-based solutions, which often provide mitigation co-benefits and are often highly cost effective, are under-researched and rarely integrated into overall natural hazard or climate change risk management strategies.
Furthermore, the methods used to evaluate impact in the climate context are many and varied, including empirical, econometric and process-based. These methods continue to evolve implying that the assessment of impact may depend upon the analytical approach chosen.
This inter- and transdisciplinary session aims to draw together scientists, developing climate-impact evaluation methods, evaluating the impact (or avoided impact) of anthropogenic climate change upon natural and socio-economic environments, investigating the potential for mitigation and counteraction options to reduce long term risk, and studying the value of multiple adaptation options to stakeholders when planning how to manage vulnerability.
Tipping elements in the Earth's climate system are continental-scale subsystems that are characterized by a threshold behavior. It has been suggested that these include biosphere components (e.g. the Amazon rainforest and coral reefs), cryosphere components (e.g. the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets) and large-scale atmospheric and oceanic circulations (e.g. the thermohaline circulation, ENSO and Indian summer monsoon). Once operating near a threshold or tipping point, these components can transgress into a qualitatively different state by small external perturbations. The large-scale environmental consequences could impact the livelihoods of millions of people.
In this session, we aim to bring together experts presenting and discussing the state-of-the-art research on tipping elements in the Earth's climate system, both in empirical data and numerical modelling of past, present and future climate. Among other topics, issues to be addressed in this session include critical thresholds for specific tipping elements, typical time scales of tipping, interactions and feedbacks between tipping elements, the potential for tipping cascades as well as environmental and socio-economic impacts of tipping.
Public information:
Plan S, devised by a coalition of research funders with support from the European Commission and European Research Council, demands that by January 1, 2020 research supported by participating funders must be published in Open Access journals. Representatives from subscription-based and Open Access publishers, architects of Plan S, and researchers affected by it will debate questions surrounding the implementation of the plan and its consequences.
The panelists are David Sweeney, Heike Langenberg, Marc Schiltz and Brooks Hanson. They will present the case for and against mandatory OA followed by an open debate with questions and comments from the audience.
David Sweeney is Executive Chair of Research England, the biggest research funder in the UK. He has been invited to visit many countries to advise on research assessment and funding, particularly with respect to research impact. He is also co-chair of the Implementation Task Force for Plan S, the international initiative on full and immediate open access to research publications.
Heike Langenberg is the Chief Editor of Nature Geoscience. She started her editorial career in 1999 as an Associate, then Senior Editor at Nature handling manuscripts in the broad area of climate sciences. In 2007 she moved to Nature Geoscience to launch the journal in January 2008. A graduate in mathematics of the Philipps-Universität Marburg, Germany, she ventured into oceanography for her PhD at the University of Hamburg. Her postdoctoral research at various research institutes in Hamburg was focused on numerical simulations of the ocean and atmosphere at a regional scale.
Marc Schiltz is president of Science Europe, the European association of all major national public research funding and research performing organisations. In this role, he has contributed to setting the European agenda to foster Open Science and is one of the architects of Plan S. He is also leading the Luxembourg National Research Fund. He is a relentless advocate of science and research, serving on a number of external boards and committees, both at the national and international level. Having received a PhD in Crystallography from the University of Paris-Sud and an executive MBA from INSEAD, Marc has been active in research and higher education for more than 25 years and held research and faculty positions in several European countries.
Brooks Hanson is the Executive Vice President for Science for the American Geophysical Union (AGU), responsible for AGU’s publications, meetings, ethics and data programs, and Thriving Earth Exchange. He previously acted as Sr. Vice President for Publications at AGU, where he was responsible for AGU's portfolio of books and 21 journals and served as Deputy Editor for Physical Sciences at Science. Brooks received a Ph.D. in Geology from UCLA and held a post-doctoral appointment at the Department of Mineral Sciences at the Smithsonian Institution.
Public information:
The dialogue between scientists, institutions, policymakers and the general public is widely recognised as an essential step towards a fair and sustainable society. Nowadays, more than ever in human history, international cooperation is an essential requirement for protecting the planet, advancing science and ensuring an equitable development of the global economy.
Despite its importance, the above dialogue can be a challenge for scientists, who often cannot find a productive connection with governments and politicians. Scientific associations are a key link between researchers and policy makers, as they have the potential to establish a durable and profitable connection with institutions.
The EGU elected the dialogue with society as one of its priority missions. At its General Assembly, the EGU is launching an innovative symposium format, Science and Society (SCS), to host scientific forums specifically dedicated to connecting with high-level institutions and engaging the public and policymakers.
The conversation with Ilaria Capua and Mario Monti will focus on science and politics with a global perspective, and the impact of populism on European integrity and therefore scientific research. The discussion will elaborate on optimal strategies to deliver topical and clear scientific messages to key institutions.
Ilaria Capua is a virologist best known for her research on influenza viruses and her efforts promoting open access to genetic information on emerging viruses. In 2006, Science reported on Capua’s effort towards open access science, stating that she had “renewed the debate about how to balance global health against scientists’ needs to publish and countries’ demands for secrecy". She has been a member of the Italian parliament from 2013 to 2016 and a fake news victim. She is currently a full professor at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, US, and director of the UF One Health Center of Excellence.
Mario Monti served as a European Commissioner from 1995 to 2004, with responsibility for the internal market, services, customs, taxation and competition. He was Prime Minister of Italy from 2011 to 2013, leading a government of national unity to cope with the Italian debt crisis. Monti has also been Rector and is currently President of Bocconi University in Milan. His publications deal mainly with monetary and financial economics, public finance, European integration, competition policy. He is currently lifetime member of the Italian Senate.
During the conversation, Ilaria Capua and Mario Monti will present their vision with two 15-minute talks that will be followed by 20 minutes dedicated to questions from the audience and answers.
In October 2018, the IPCC published its special report on impacts of global warming of 1.5 deg C. Another recent, highly publicised study suggests that the planet could pass an irreversible threshold into a so called “Hothouse Earth” state for a temperature increase of as low as 2 degrees C above pre-industrial temperatures, while other studies and commentaries have emphasised the urgency on climate action, arguing that 2020 must be a turning point for global fossil fuel emissions, to increase the chance of maintaining a safe operating space for the humans on the planet. In 2018, the IPCC celebrated its 30th anniversary. The importance of taking action on human-induced climate change has been emphasised with governments around the world since the 1990s yet CO2 concentrations continue to rise and international initiatives have, to date, had limited and insufficient impact to avert some of the most serious consequences of climate change.
How close are we to one or more critical thresholds (cliff edge)? Is there time to avert passing one or more of these thresholds? What can the geoscience community do to reduce the risks? How important is bottom up versus top down action to ensuring the least worst outcome? These are some of the questions we will debate with world experts in their field and authors of the thought papers on these topics.
Public information:
In October 2018, the IPCC published its special report on impacts of global warming of 1.5 deg C. Another recent, highly publicised study suggests that the planet could pass an irreversible threshold into a so called “Hothouse Earth” state for a temperature increase of as low as 2 degrees C above pre-industrial temperatures.
In 2018, the IPCC celebrated its 30th anniversary. The importance of taking action on human-induced climate change has been emphasised with governments around the world since the 1990s yet CO2 concentrations continue to rise and international initiatives have, to date, had limited and insufficient impact to avert some of the most serious consequences of climate change that may pose an existential threat to modern civilisation.
How close are we to one or more critical thresholds? Is there time to avert passing one or more of them? What can the geoscience community do to reduce the risks? How important is bottom up versus top down action to ensuring the least worst outcome? These are some of the questions we will debate with world experts in their field and authors of the thought papers on these topics.
The Great Debate panellists are:
Prof. Myles Allen is Professor of Geosystem Science in the Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford. His research focuses on how human and natural influences on climate contribute to observed climate change and risks of extreme weather and in quantifying their implications for long-range climate forecasts. He was a Coordinating Lead Author on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Special Report on 1.5 degrees, having served on the IPCC’s 3rd, 4th and 5th Assessments, including the Synthesis Report Core Writing Team in 2014.
Prof. Sabine Fuss, Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change (MCC), Berlin. Sabine is an economist, currently leading a working group at the MCC. She holds a professorship on Sustainable Resource Management and Global Change at Humboldt University of Berlin. Her research interests are in sustainable development, land use change and climate change mitigation. She has been an IPCC Lead Author for the Special Report on 1.5°C global warming, serves on the steering committee of the Global Carbon Project and is a guest scholar at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis.
Erica Hope leads the cross-sectoral ‘2050 Task Force’ and governance programme of the European Climate Foundation (ECF) in Brussels, which seeks to build knowledge, political strategies and coalitions to drive the transition to a zero emissions society by mid-century. Erica has previously worked for the energy efficiency and UK programmes of the ECF, and before that led the policy and advocacy activities of NGO network Climate Action Network Europe on energy efficiency. From 2005-2009 she was researcher to Green MEP Caroline Lucas, and has also worked at the Institute for Public Policy Research in London.
Prof. Linda Steg is professor of environmental psychology at the University of Groningen. She studies factors influencing sustainable behaviour, the effects and acceptability of strategies aimed at promoting sustainable behaviour, and public perceptions of technology and system changes. She is member of Member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences (KNAW), and lead author of the IPCC special report on 1.5°C and AR6. She works on various interdisciplinary and international research programmes, and collaborates with practitioners working in industry, governments and NGOs.
Plastic pollution is recognized as one of the most serious and urgent problems facing our planet. Rates of manufacture, use and ultimately disposal of plastics continue to soar, posing an enormous threat to the planet’s oceans and rivers and the flora and fauna they support. There is an urgent need for global action, backed by sound scientific understanding, to tackle this problem.
This Union Symposium will address the problems posed to our planet by plastic pollution, and examine options for dealing with the threat.
Over the whole Earth history, the climate has encountered tipping points, shifting from one regulated system to the other. This tilting motion affects both climate and the carbon cycle and has played a major role in the evolution of the Earth climate, at all timescales. Earth History has been ponctuated by large climate changes and carbon cycle reorganizations, from large climate variations occurring in deep times (snowball events, terrestrialisation, Mesozoic and early Cenozoic warm episodes, quaternary glacial cycles…) to past and on-going abrupt events. Many potential triggers of those climate and carbon cycle shifts have been proposed and tested through modeling studies, and against field data, such as those directly or indirectly linked with tectonics (plate motion, orogenesis, opening/closing of seaways, weathering…) and orbital forcing. Given that the Earth climate is currently experiencing an unprecedented transition under anthropogenic pressure, understanding the mechanisms behind the scene is crucial.
Our aim is to point out the most recent results concerning how a complex system as the climate of the Earth has undergone many tipping points and what is the specificity of the future climate changes. Therefore, within this session, we would like to encourage talks discussing advances in our record and modeling of the forces triggering and amplifying the changes of Earth climate and carbon cycle across spatial and temporal scales.
Mountain glaciers and ice caps are major contributors to sea-level rise and have large impacts on water balance of local basins. This is a general session on glaciers and ice caps where the relationship to climate forms a particular focus. The IPCC AR5 of Working Group 1 covers Earths Glaciers and Ice Caps outside the ice sheets under the heading of Glaciers and shows that, despite much progress recently provided by the community, we are still left with substantial unknowns. We need to acquire more data, both from new fieldwork and release of unpublished data from prior years on mass changes of glaciers and ice caps from all regions of the world. We need to improve the understanding of the processes behind the changes, and we need to improve the application of models of different complexity. We welcome presentations on all aspects of mass changes; current, past and future changes based on field observations, remote sensing and modeling. Studies of physical processes controlling accumulation and ablation including calving and submarine melting, are especially welcome.
Ice sheets play an active role in the climate system by amplifying, pacing, and potentially driving global climate change over a wide range of time scales. The impact of interactions between ice sheets and climate include changes in atmospheric and ocean temperatures and circulation, global biogeochemical cycles, the global hydrological cycle, vegetation, sea level, and land-surface albedo, which in turn cause additional feedbacks in the climate system. This session will present data and modelling results that examine ice sheet interactions with other components of the climate system over several time scales. Among other topics, issues to be addressed in this session include ice sheet-climate interactions from glacial-interglacial to millennial and centennial time scales, the role of ice sheets in Cenozoic global cooling and the mid-Pleistocene transition, reconstructions of past ice sheets and sea level, the current and future evolution of the ice sheets, and the role of ice sheets in abrupt climate change.
Snow and ice can capture and store contaminants both local and global in origin. The decrease in glacier cover, snow cover and sea ice in response to climate affects cycling of airborne impurities in polar and alpine environments, accelerating and enhancing their release. In this context snow and ice act as a secondary source for numerous organic and inorganic atmospheric contaminants that were deposited on their surface during recent decades, including persistent organic pollutants, radioactive species, microplastics, pesticides, and heavy metals. The release of contaminants from snow and ice to glacier forefields, rivers and seas might pose a hazard to these ecosystems and to human health, particularly under accelerated melt conditions.
Identification and assessment of this hazard relies, for each contaminant class, on the understanding of processes that control their accumulation, release and downstream transport. The physical and chemical forms in which contaminants are removed from the atmosphere and hydrosphere may further affect their interactions with mineral substances and biota. Existing studies suggest that the contaminant release process is not linear, and that interactions between meltwater, supraglacial debris and glacial microbiology may be crucial in the accumulation and transport of contaminants in glacier catchments. For example, evidence is mounting that cryoconite can efficiently accumulate radionuclides from anthropogenic sources to potentially hazardous levels in glaciers around the world. At the same time, the high biological activity present in cryoconite could enhance the degradation of organic pollutants, with important implications for remediation. A portion of contaminants released from glaciers may also be stored in their proglacial zones as shown by the very high concentrations of radionuclides found by several recent studies. The effects of contaminant transport on the pro-glacial environment and downstream communities remain uncertain, but improved understanding of the impacts of contaminants in land ice, sea ice, and snow is clearly warranted.
The session aims to contribute to the development of this emerging and interdisciplinary field, welcoming presentations from across cryospheric, hydrological, and biogeochemical sciences, and other research areas.
The mid-Pleistocene Transition (MPT) is a crucial changes in climate dynamics, leading us into our current regime of long, asymmetric glacial cycles. However, evidence about the differences in how climate behaved before and after the MPT remains sparse and we also lack evidence to decide between theories that aim to explain the MPT. Here we hope to gather new datasets that compare climate on either side of the MPT or that offer new evidence about glacial cycles before it. Modelling and conceptual work about the causes of the MPT are also wlecome. Finally we would like to hear about work that paves the way for new projects, including plans and methodologies to obtain pre-MPT ice cores such as (but not limited to) the IPICS Oldest Ice challenge, like Beyond EPICA and other endeavours.
To address societal concerns over rising sea level and extreme events, understanding the contributions behind these changes is key to predict potential impacts of sea level change on coastal communities and global economy, and is recognized as one of the Grand Challenges of our time by the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP). To continue this discussion, we welcome contributions from the international sea level community that improve our knowledge of the past and present changes in sea level, extreme events, and flooding, and produce improved predictions of their future changes. We welcome studies on various drivers of sea level change and linkages between variability in sea level, heat and freshwater content, ocean dynamics, land subsidence from natural versus anthropogenic influences, and mass exchange between the land and the ocean associated with ice sheet and glacier mass loss and changes in the terrestrial water storage. Studies focusing on future sea level changes are also encouraged, as well as those discussing potential short-, medium-, and long-term impacts on coastal and deltaic environments, as well as the global oceans.
The Tibetan Plateau and surrounding mountain regions, known as the Third Pole, cover an area of > 5 million km2 and are considered to be the water tower of Asia. The Pan Third Pole expands on both the north-south and the east-west directions, going across the Tibetan Plateau, Pamir, Hindu Kush, Iran Plateau, Caucasian and Carpathian, and covering an area of about 20 million km2. Like the Arctic and Antarctica, the Pan Third Pole’s environment is extremely sensitive to global climate change. In recent years, scientists from around the globe have increased observational, remote sensing and numerical modeling research related to the Pan Third Pole in an effort to quantify and predict past, current and future scenarios. Co-sponsored by TPE (www.tpe.ac.cn), this session is dedicated to studies of Pan Third Pole atmosphere, cryosphere, hydrosphere, and biosphere and their interactions with global change. Related contributions are welcomed.
All components of the cryosphere are strongly impacted by climate change and have been undergoing significant changes over the past decades. Most visibly, glaciers are shrinking and thinning. Snow cover and duration is reduced, and permafrost, in both Arctic and alpine environments, is thawing. Changes in sea ice cover and characteristics have attracted widespread attention, and changes in ice sheets are monitored with care and concern.
Risks associated with one or several of these cryosphere components have been present throughout history. However, as well documented atmospheric warming continues, we expect changes in the magnitude and frequency of hazards with profound implications for risks. New or growing glacier lakes pose a threat to downstream communities through the potential for sudden drainage. Thawing permafrost can destabilize mountain flanks, and eventually result in destructive rock and ice avalanches. An accelerated rate of permafrost degradation in low-land areas poses risk to existing and planned infrastructure and raises concerns about large-scale emission of greenhouse gases currently trapped in Arctic permafrost. Decreased summertime sea ice extent may produce both risks and opportunities in terms of large-scale climate feedbacks and alterations, coastal vulnerability, and new access to transport routes and natural resources. Eventually, rapid acceleration of outlet glacier ice discharge and collapse of ice sheets is of major concern for sea level change.
This session invites contributions across all cryosphere components that addresses risks associated with observed or projected physical processes. Contributions considering more than one cryosphere component (e.g. glaciers and permafrost) are particularly encouraged. Contributions can consider hazards and risks related to changes in the past, present or future. Discussion of both new risks and opportunities are encouraged, as long as an evidence based, critical analysis is provided.
Tipping elements in the Earth's climate system are continental-scale subsystems that are characterized by a threshold behavior. It has been suggested that these include biosphere components (e.g. the Amazon rainforest and coral reefs), cryosphere components (e.g. the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets) and large-scale atmospheric and oceanic circulations (e.g. the thermohaline circulation, ENSO and Indian summer monsoon). Once operating near a threshold or tipping point, these components can transgress into a qualitatively different state by small external perturbations. The large-scale environmental consequences could impact the livelihoods of millions of people.
In this session, we aim to bring together experts presenting and discussing the state-of-the-art research on tipping elements in the Earth's climate system, both in empirical data and numerical modelling of past, present and future climate. Among other topics, issues to be addressed in this session include critical thresholds for specific tipping elements, typical time scales of tipping, interactions and feedbacks between tipping elements, the potential for tipping cascades as well as environmental and socio-economic impacts of tipping.
Public information:
Plan S, devised by a coalition of research funders with support from the European Commission and European Research Council, demands that by January 1, 2020 research supported by participating funders must be published in Open Access journals. Representatives from subscription-based and Open Access publishers, architects of Plan S, and researchers affected by it will debate questions surrounding the implementation of the plan and its consequences.
The panelists are David Sweeney, Heike Langenberg, Marc Schiltz and Brooks Hanson. They will present the case for and against mandatory OA followed by an open debate with questions and comments from the audience.
David Sweeney is Executive Chair of Research England, the biggest research funder in the UK. He has been invited to visit many countries to advise on research assessment and funding, particularly with respect to research impact. He is also co-chair of the Implementation Task Force for Plan S, the international initiative on full and immediate open access to research publications.
Heike Langenberg is the Chief Editor of Nature Geoscience. She started her editorial career in 1999 as an Associate, then Senior Editor at Nature handling manuscripts in the broad area of climate sciences. In 2007 she moved to Nature Geoscience to launch the journal in January 2008. A graduate in mathematics of the Philipps-Universität Marburg, Germany, she ventured into oceanography for her PhD at the University of Hamburg. Her postdoctoral research at various research institutes in Hamburg was focused on numerical simulations of the ocean and atmosphere at a regional scale.
Marc Schiltz is president of Science Europe, the European association of all major national public research funding and research performing organisations. In this role, he has contributed to setting the European agenda to foster Open Science and is one of the architects of Plan S. He is also leading the Luxembourg National Research Fund. He is a relentless advocate of science and research, serving on a number of external boards and committees, both at the national and international level. Having received a PhD in Crystallography from the University of Paris-Sud and an executive MBA from INSEAD, Marc has been active in research and higher education for more than 25 years and held research and faculty positions in several European countries.
Brooks Hanson is the Executive Vice President for Science for the American Geophysical Union (AGU), responsible for AGU’s publications, meetings, ethics and data programs, and Thriving Earth Exchange. He previously acted as Sr. Vice President for Publications at AGU, where he was responsible for AGU's portfolio of books and 21 journals and served as Deputy Editor for Physical Sciences at Science. Brooks received a Ph.D. in Geology from UCLA and held a post-doctoral appointment at the Department of Mineral Sciences at the Smithsonian Institution.
Public information:
The dialogue between scientists, institutions, policymakers and the general public is widely recognised as an essential step towards a fair and sustainable society. Nowadays, more than ever in human history, international cooperation is an essential requirement for protecting the planet, advancing science and ensuring an equitable development of the global economy.
Despite its importance, the above dialogue can be a challenge for scientists, who often cannot find a productive connection with governments and politicians. Scientific associations are a key link between researchers and policy makers, as they have the potential to establish a durable and profitable connection with institutions.
The EGU elected the dialogue with society as one of its priority missions. At its General Assembly, the EGU is launching an innovative symposium format, Science and Society (SCS), to host scientific forums specifically dedicated to connecting with high-level institutions and engaging the public and policymakers.
The conversation with Ilaria Capua and Mario Monti will focus on science and politics with a global perspective, and the impact of populism on European integrity and therefore scientific research. The discussion will elaborate on optimal strategies to deliver topical and clear scientific messages to key institutions.
Ilaria Capua is a virologist best known for her research on influenza viruses and her efforts promoting open access to genetic information on emerging viruses. In 2006, Science reported on Capua’s effort towards open access science, stating that she had “renewed the debate about how to balance global health against scientists’ needs to publish and countries’ demands for secrecy". She has been a member of the Italian parliament from 2013 to 2016 and a fake news victim. She is currently a full professor at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, US, and director of the UF One Health Center of Excellence.
Mario Monti served as a European Commissioner from 1995 to 2004, with responsibility for the internal market, services, customs, taxation and competition. He was Prime Minister of Italy from 2011 to 2013, leading a government of national unity to cope with the Italian debt crisis. Monti has also been Rector and is currently President of Bocconi University in Milan. His publications deal mainly with monetary and financial economics, public finance, European integration, competition policy. He is currently lifetime member of the Italian Senate.
During the conversation, Ilaria Capua and Mario Monti will present their vision with two 15-minute talks that will be followed by 20 minutes dedicated to questions from the audience and answers.
Progressively stricter requirements in geophysical prospecting, in urban and inter-urban monitoring make it important to look continuously for innovative solutions to new and old complex problems. In particular, investigation and monitoring of pollution, hydrological resources, energy efficiency, cultural heritage, cities and transportation infrastructures nowadays require technological and methodological innovations of geophysical and sensing techniques in order to properly understand the limits of the current state of art and to identify where possible the most convenient strategies to overcome limitations of current approaches. This goal can be achieved either with more advanced solutions in a general sense or with dedicated solutions, particularly suitable for the specific problem at hand.
Integrated prospecting, refined data processing, new models, hardware innovations, new ICT information and telecommunications systems can and should cooperate with each other in this sense. It is important that the scientific community finds a moment for considering the connection between adjacent aspects of the same problem, e.g. to achieve improved geophysical data, safe and reliable environmental and structural monitoring, improved processing as much as possible.
The session “ Innovative instrumentations, techniques, geophysical methods and models for near surface geophysics, cities and transportation infrastructures aims to propose one such moment, where multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary competences can interact with each other, possibly finding possible new ways to cooperate and to exchange experiences reciprocally to reach sustainable solutions.
In October 2018, the IPCC published its special report on impacts of global warming of 1.5 deg C. Another recent, highly publicised study suggests that the planet could pass an irreversible threshold into a so called “Hothouse Earth” state for a temperature increase of as low as 2 degrees C above pre-industrial temperatures, while other studies and commentaries have emphasised the urgency on climate action, arguing that 2020 must be a turning point for global fossil fuel emissions, to increase the chance of maintaining a safe operating space for the humans on the planet. In 2018, the IPCC celebrated its 30th anniversary. The importance of taking action on human-induced climate change has been emphasised with governments around the world since the 1990s yet CO2 concentrations continue to rise and international initiatives have, to date, had limited and insufficient impact to avert some of the most serious consequences of climate change.
How close are we to one or more critical thresholds (cliff edge)? Is there time to avert passing one or more of these thresholds? What can the geoscience community do to reduce the risks? How important is bottom up versus top down action to ensuring the least worst outcome? These are some of the questions we will debate with world experts in their field and authors of the thought papers on these topics.
Public information:
In October 2018, the IPCC published its special report on impacts of global warming of 1.5 deg C. Another recent, highly publicised study suggests that the planet could pass an irreversible threshold into a so called “Hothouse Earth” state for a temperature increase of as low as 2 degrees C above pre-industrial temperatures.
In 2018, the IPCC celebrated its 30th anniversary. The importance of taking action on human-induced climate change has been emphasised with governments around the world since the 1990s yet CO2 concentrations continue to rise and international initiatives have, to date, had limited and insufficient impact to avert some of the most serious consequences of climate change that may pose an existential threat to modern civilisation.
How close are we to one or more critical thresholds? Is there time to avert passing one or more of them? What can the geoscience community do to reduce the risks? How important is bottom up versus top down action to ensuring the least worst outcome? These are some of the questions we will debate with world experts in their field and authors of the thought papers on these topics.
The Great Debate panellists are:
Prof. Myles Allen is Professor of Geosystem Science in the Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford. His research focuses on how human and natural influences on climate contribute to observed climate change and risks of extreme weather and in quantifying their implications for long-range climate forecasts. He was a Coordinating Lead Author on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Special Report on 1.5 degrees, having served on the IPCC’s 3rd, 4th and 5th Assessments, including the Synthesis Report Core Writing Team in 2014.
Prof. Sabine Fuss, Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change (MCC), Berlin. Sabine is an economist, currently leading a working group at the MCC. She holds a professorship on Sustainable Resource Management and Global Change at Humboldt University of Berlin. Her research interests are in sustainable development, land use change and climate change mitigation. She has been an IPCC Lead Author for the Special Report on 1.5°C global warming, serves on the steering committee of the Global Carbon Project and is a guest scholar at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis.
Erica Hope leads the cross-sectoral ‘2050 Task Force’ and governance programme of the European Climate Foundation (ECF) in Brussels, which seeks to build knowledge, political strategies and coalitions to drive the transition to a zero emissions society by mid-century. Erica has previously worked for the energy efficiency and UK programmes of the ECF, and before that led the policy and advocacy activities of NGO network Climate Action Network Europe on energy efficiency. From 2005-2009 she was researcher to Green MEP Caroline Lucas, and has also worked at the Institute for Public Policy Research in London.
Prof. Linda Steg is professor of environmental psychology at the University of Groningen. She studies factors influencing sustainable behaviour, the effects and acceptability of strategies aimed at promoting sustainable behaviour, and public perceptions of technology and system changes. She is member of Member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences (KNAW), and lead author of the IPCC special report on 1.5°C and AR6. She works on various interdisciplinary and international research programmes, and collaborates with practitioners working in industry, governments and NGOs.
Plastic pollution is recognized as one of the most serious and urgent problems facing our planet. Rates of manufacture, use and ultimately disposal of plastics continue to soar, posing an enormous threat to the planet’s oceans and rivers and the flora and fauna they support. There is an urgent need for global action, backed by sound scientific understanding, to tackle this problem.
This Union Symposium will address the problems posed to our planet by plastic pollution, and examine options for dealing with the threat.
Over the whole Earth history, the climate has encountered tipping points, shifting from one regulated system to the other. This tilting motion affects both climate and the carbon cycle and has played a major role in the evolution of the Earth climate, at all timescales. Earth History has been ponctuated by large climate changes and carbon cycle reorganizations, from large climate variations occurring in deep times (snowball events, terrestrialisation, Mesozoic and early Cenozoic warm episodes, quaternary glacial cycles…) to past and on-going abrupt events. Many potential triggers of those climate and carbon cycle shifts have been proposed and tested through modeling studies, and against field data, such as those directly or indirectly linked with tectonics (plate motion, orogenesis, opening/closing of seaways, weathering…) and orbital forcing. Given that the Earth climate is currently experiencing an unprecedented transition under anthropogenic pressure, understanding the mechanisms behind the scene is crucial.
Our aim is to point out the most recent results concerning how a complex system as the climate of the Earth has undergone many tipping points and what is the specificity of the future climate changes. Therefore, within this session, we would like to encourage talks discussing advances in our record and modeling of the forces triggering and amplifying the changes of Earth climate and carbon cycle across spatial and temporal scales.
'Cosmic rays’ collectively describe particles that bombard the Earth from space. They carry information about space and, once near the Earth, interact with the magnetosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere and lithosphere. Secondary cosmic rays created within the atmosphere can provide information about our planet that is vital to science and society. Secondary neutron radiation plays an extraordinary role, as it not only carries information about solar activity, but also produces short and long living tracer isotopes, influences genetic information of living organisms, and is extraordinarily sensitive to hydrogen and therefore also to water. Given the vast spectrum of interactions of cosmic rays with matter in different parts of the Earth, cosmic-ray research ranges from studies of the solar system to the history of the Earth, and from health and security issues to hydrology and climate change.
Although research on cosmic-ray particles is connected to a variety of disciplines and applications, they all share similar questions and problems regarding the physics of detection, modeling, and environmental factors that influence the intensity. Questions that all disciplines have in common are, for example, “How does the cosmic-ray intensity and energy spectra change with time and location on Earth?”, “How to correct the signal for magnetospheric or atmospheric fluctuations?”, “What is the influence of local structures, water bodies, and surface conditions?”, “Which computer model for cosmic-ray propagation is correct?”, or “What can we learn from other types of cosmic-ray particles?”.
The session brings together scientists from all fields of research that are related to monitoring and modeling of cosmogenic radiation. It will allow sharing of expertise amongst international researchers as well as showcase recent advancements in their field. The session aims to stimulate discussions about how individual disciplines can share their knowledge and benefit from each other.
We solicit contributions related but not limited to:
- Health, security, and radiation protection: cosmic-ray dosimetry on Earth and its dependence on environmental and atmospheric factors
- Planetary space science: satellite and ground-based neutron and gamma-ray sensors to detect water and soil chemistry
- Neutron monitor research: detection of high-energy cosmic rays variations and its dependence on local and atmospheric factors
- Hydrology and climate change: low-energy neutron sensing to measure water in reservoirs at and near the land surface, such as soils, snow pack and vegetation
- Cosmogenic nuclides: as tracers of atmospheric circulation and mixing; as a tool in archaeology or glaciology for dating of ice and measuring ablation rates; and as a tool for surface exposure dating and measuring rates of surficial geological processes
- Detector design: technological advancements for the detection of cosmic rays
- Cosmic-ray modeling: advances in modeling of the cosmic-ray propagation through the magnetosphere and atmosphere, and their response to the Earth’s surface
- Impact modeling: How can cosmic-ray monitoring support environmental models, weather and climate forecasting, irrigation management, and the assessment of natural hazards
The InSight mission to Mars landed in Elysium Planitia on November 26. InSight's scientific objective is the study of the Martian interior using two seismometers, a heat flow probe and geodetical measurements. Auxiliary instruments will collect meteorological and magnetic data for at least one Martian year.
This session provides initial results from Mars, status reports of instrument deployment and relevant pre-landing science.
This session provides the opportunity for contributions that fall within the broad spectrum of Geomagnetism and Paleomagnetism, but are not directly appropriate to any of the other proposed sessions. We solicit contributions on theory and simulations, instrumentation, laboratory experiments and field measurements, data analysis and interpretation, as well as inversion and modelling techniques.
Public information:
Plan S, devised by a coalition of research funders with support from the European Commission and European Research Council, demands that by January 1, 2020 research supported by participating funders must be published in Open Access journals. Representatives from subscription-based and Open Access publishers, architects of Plan S, and researchers affected by it will debate questions surrounding the implementation of the plan and its consequences.
The panelists are David Sweeney, Heike Langenberg, Marc Schiltz and Brooks Hanson. They will present the case for and against mandatory OA followed by an open debate with questions and comments from the audience.
David Sweeney is Executive Chair of Research England, the biggest research funder in the UK. He has been invited to visit many countries to advise on research assessment and funding, particularly with respect to research impact. He is also co-chair of the Implementation Task Force for Plan S, the international initiative on full and immediate open access to research publications.
Heike Langenberg is the Chief Editor of Nature Geoscience. She started her editorial career in 1999 as an Associate, then Senior Editor at Nature handling manuscripts in the broad area of climate sciences. In 2007 she moved to Nature Geoscience to launch the journal in January 2008. A graduate in mathematics of the Philipps-Universität Marburg, Germany, she ventured into oceanography for her PhD at the University of Hamburg. Her postdoctoral research at various research institutes in Hamburg was focused on numerical simulations of the ocean and atmosphere at a regional scale.
Marc Schiltz is president of Science Europe, the European association of all major national public research funding and research performing organisations. In this role, he has contributed to setting the European agenda to foster Open Science and is one of the architects of Plan S. He is also leading the Luxembourg National Research Fund. He is a relentless advocate of science and research, serving on a number of external boards and committees, both at the national and international level. Having received a PhD in Crystallography from the University of Paris-Sud and an executive MBA from INSEAD, Marc has been active in research and higher education for more than 25 years and held research and faculty positions in several European countries.
Brooks Hanson is the Executive Vice President for Science for the American Geophysical Union (AGU), responsible for AGU’s publications, meetings, ethics and data programs, and Thriving Earth Exchange. He previously acted as Sr. Vice President for Publications at AGU, where he was responsible for AGU's portfolio of books and 21 journals and served as Deputy Editor for Physical Sciences at Science. Brooks received a Ph.D. in Geology from UCLA and held a post-doctoral appointment at the Department of Mineral Sciences at the Smithsonian Institution.
Public information:
The dialogue between scientists, institutions, policymakers and the general public is widely recognised as an essential step towards a fair and sustainable society. Nowadays, more than ever in human history, international cooperation is an essential requirement for protecting the planet, advancing science and ensuring an equitable development of the global economy.
Despite its importance, the above dialogue can be a challenge for scientists, who often cannot find a productive connection with governments and politicians. Scientific associations are a key link between researchers and policy makers, as they have the potential to establish a durable and profitable connection with institutions.
The EGU elected the dialogue with society as one of its priority missions. At its General Assembly, the EGU is launching an innovative symposium format, Science and Society (SCS), to host scientific forums specifically dedicated to connecting with high-level institutions and engaging the public and policymakers.
The conversation with Ilaria Capua and Mario Monti will focus on science and politics with a global perspective, and the impact of populism on European integrity and therefore scientific research. The discussion will elaborate on optimal strategies to deliver topical and clear scientific messages to key institutions.
Ilaria Capua is a virologist best known for her research on influenza viruses and her efforts promoting open access to genetic information on emerging viruses. In 2006, Science reported on Capua’s effort towards open access science, stating that she had “renewed the debate about how to balance global health against scientists’ needs to publish and countries’ demands for secrecy". She has been a member of the Italian parliament from 2013 to 2016 and a fake news victim. She is currently a full professor at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, US, and director of the UF One Health Center of Excellence.
Mario Monti served as a European Commissioner from 1995 to 2004, with responsibility for the internal market, services, customs, taxation and competition. He was Prime Minister of Italy from 2011 to 2013, leading a government of national unity to cope with the Italian debt crisis. Monti has also been Rector and is currently President of Bocconi University in Milan. His publications deal mainly with monetary and financial economics, public finance, European integration, competition policy. He is currently lifetime member of the Italian Senate.
During the conversation, Ilaria Capua and Mario Monti will present their vision with two 15-minute talks that will be followed by 20 minutes dedicated to questions from the audience and answers.
In October 2018, the IPCC published its special report on impacts of global warming of 1.5 deg C. Another recent, highly publicised study suggests that the planet could pass an irreversible threshold into a so called “Hothouse Earth” state for a temperature increase of as low as 2 degrees C above pre-industrial temperatures, while other studies and commentaries have emphasised the urgency on climate action, arguing that 2020 must be a turning point for global fossil fuel emissions, to increase the chance of maintaining a safe operating space for the humans on the planet. In 2018, the IPCC celebrated its 30th anniversary. The importance of taking action on human-induced climate change has been emphasised with governments around the world since the 1990s yet CO2 concentrations continue to rise and international initiatives have, to date, had limited and insufficient impact to avert some of the most serious consequences of climate change.
How close are we to one or more critical thresholds (cliff edge)? Is there time to avert passing one or more of these thresholds? What can the geoscience community do to reduce the risks? How important is bottom up versus top down action to ensuring the least worst outcome? These are some of the questions we will debate with world experts in their field and authors of the thought papers on these topics.
Public information:
In October 2018, the IPCC published its special report on impacts of global warming of 1.5 deg C. Another recent, highly publicised study suggests that the planet could pass an irreversible threshold into a so called “Hothouse Earth” state for a temperature increase of as low as 2 degrees C above pre-industrial temperatures.
In 2018, the IPCC celebrated its 30th anniversary. The importance of taking action on human-induced climate change has been emphasised with governments around the world since the 1990s yet CO2 concentrations continue to rise and international initiatives have, to date, had limited and insufficient impact to avert some of the most serious consequences of climate change that may pose an existential threat to modern civilisation.
How close are we to one or more critical thresholds? Is there time to avert passing one or more of them? What can the geoscience community do to reduce the risks? How important is bottom up versus top down action to ensuring the least worst outcome? These are some of the questions we will debate with world experts in their field and authors of the thought papers on these topics.
The Great Debate panellists are:
Prof. Myles Allen is Professor of Geosystem Science in the Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford. His research focuses on how human and natural influences on climate contribute to observed climate change and risks of extreme weather and in quantifying their implications for long-range climate forecasts. He was a Coordinating Lead Author on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Special Report on 1.5 degrees, having served on the IPCC’s 3rd, 4th and 5th Assessments, including the Synthesis Report Core Writing Team in 2014.
Prof. Sabine Fuss, Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change (MCC), Berlin. Sabine is an economist, currently leading a working group at the MCC. She holds a professorship on Sustainable Resource Management and Global Change at Humboldt University of Berlin. Her research interests are in sustainable development, land use change and climate change mitigation. She has been an IPCC Lead Author for the Special Report on 1.5°C global warming, serves on the steering committee of the Global Carbon Project and is a guest scholar at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis.
Erica Hope leads the cross-sectoral ‘2050 Task Force’ and governance programme of the European Climate Foundation (ECF) in Brussels, which seeks to build knowledge, political strategies and coalitions to drive the transition to a zero emissions society by mid-century. Erica has previously worked for the energy efficiency and UK programmes of the ECF, and before that led the policy and advocacy activities of NGO network Climate Action Network Europe on energy efficiency. From 2005-2009 she was researcher to Green MEP Caroline Lucas, and has also worked at the Institute for Public Policy Research in London.
Prof. Linda Steg is professor of environmental psychology at the University of Groningen. She studies factors influencing sustainable behaviour, the effects and acceptability of strategies aimed at promoting sustainable behaviour, and public perceptions of technology and system changes. She is member of Member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences (KNAW), and lead author of the IPCC special report on 1.5°C and AR6. She works on various interdisciplinary and international research programmes, and collaborates with practitioners working in industry, governments and NGOs.
Plastic pollution is recognized as one of the most serious and urgent problems facing our planet. Rates of manufacture, use and ultimately disposal of plastics continue to soar, posing an enormous threat to the planet’s oceans and rivers and the flora and fauna they support. There is an urgent need for global action, backed by sound scientific understanding, to tackle this problem.
This Union Symposium will address the problems posed to our planet by plastic pollution, and examine options for dealing with the threat.
Over the whole Earth history, the climate has encountered tipping points, shifting from one regulated system to the other. This tilting motion affects both climate and the carbon cycle and has played a major role in the evolution of the Earth climate, at all timescales. Earth History has been ponctuated by large climate changes and carbon cycle reorganizations, from large climate variations occurring in deep times (snowball events, terrestrialisation, Mesozoic and early Cenozoic warm episodes, quaternary glacial cycles…) to past and on-going abrupt events. Many potential triggers of those climate and carbon cycle shifts have been proposed and tested through modeling studies, and against field data, such as those directly or indirectly linked with tectonics (plate motion, orogenesis, opening/closing of seaways, weathering…) and orbital forcing. Given that the Earth climate is currently experiencing an unprecedented transition under anthropogenic pressure, understanding the mechanisms behind the scene is crucial.
Our aim is to point out the most recent results concerning how a complex system as the climate of the Earth has undergone many tipping points and what is the specificity of the future climate changes. Therefore, within this session, we would like to encourage talks discussing advances in our record and modeling of the forces triggering and amplifying the changes of Earth climate and carbon cycle across spatial and temporal scales.
Estimating the impact of climate change on both the natural and socio-economic environment plays an important role in informing a range of national and international policies, including energy, agriculture and health. Understanding these impacts, and those avoided, has never been more pertinent since the adoption of the 2015 Paris Agreement, which sought to hold “the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C, recognizing that this would significantly reduce the risks and impacts of climate change".
Policies may aim to mitigate (i.e. reduce emissions), counteract (i.e. negative emissions) and/or adapt to anthropogenic climate change and it is equally important to quantify the impact of implementing these options. While rapid, deep mitigation is clearly a pre-requisite to success, delays to such measures imply a greater reliance upon large scale negative emissions technologies. Those based on land are likely to face competing pressure from wide ranging economic activity, and knowledge of these interactions and synergies is limited. Similarly while adaptation options are wide ranging, the uses of nature-based solutions, which often provide mitigation co-benefits and are often highly cost effective, are under-researched and rarely integrated into overall natural hazard or climate change risk management strategies.
Furthermore, the methods used to evaluate impact in the climate context are many and varied, including empirical, econometric and process-based. These methods continue to evolve implying that the assessment of impact may depend upon the analytical approach chosen.
This inter- and transdisciplinary session aims to draw together scientists, developing climate-impact evaluation methods, evaluating the impact (or avoided impact) of anthropogenic climate change upon natural and socio-economic environments, investigating the potential for mitigation and counteraction options to reduce long term risk, and studying the value of multiple adaptation options to stakeholders when planning how to manage vulnerability.
Public information:
Plan S, devised by a coalition of research funders with support from the European Commission and European Research Council, demands that by January 1, 2020 research supported by participating funders must be published in Open Access journals. Representatives from subscription-based and Open Access publishers, architects of Plan S, and researchers affected by it will debate questions surrounding the implementation of the plan and its consequences.
The panelists are David Sweeney, Heike Langenberg, Marc Schiltz and Brooks Hanson. They will present the case for and against mandatory OA followed by an open debate with questions and comments from the audience.
David Sweeney is Executive Chair of Research England, the biggest research funder in the UK. He has been invited to visit many countries to advise on research assessment and funding, particularly with respect to research impact. He is also co-chair of the Implementation Task Force for Plan S, the international initiative on full and immediate open access to research publications.
Heike Langenberg is the Chief Editor of Nature Geoscience. She started her editorial career in 1999 as an Associate, then Senior Editor at Nature handling manuscripts in the broad area of climate sciences. In 2007 she moved to Nature Geoscience to launch the journal in January 2008. A graduate in mathematics of the Philipps-Universität Marburg, Germany, she ventured into oceanography for her PhD at the University of Hamburg. Her postdoctoral research at various research institutes in Hamburg was focused on numerical simulations of the ocean and atmosphere at a regional scale.
Marc Schiltz is president of Science Europe, the European association of all major national public research funding and research performing organisations. In this role, he has contributed to setting the European agenda to foster Open Science and is one of the architects of Plan S. He is also leading the Luxembourg National Research Fund. He is a relentless advocate of science and research, serving on a number of external boards and committees, both at the national and international level. Having received a PhD in Crystallography from the University of Paris-Sud and an executive MBA from INSEAD, Marc has been active in research and higher education for more than 25 years and held research and faculty positions in several European countries.
Brooks Hanson is the Executive Vice President for Science for the American Geophysical Union (AGU), responsible for AGU’s publications, meetings, ethics and data programs, and Thriving Earth Exchange. He previously acted as Sr. Vice President for Publications at AGU, where he was responsible for AGU's portfolio of books and 21 journals and served as Deputy Editor for Physical Sciences at Science. Brooks received a Ph.D. in Geology from UCLA and held a post-doctoral appointment at the Department of Mineral Sciences at the Smithsonian Institution.
Public information:
The dialogue between scientists, institutions, policymakers and the general public is widely recognised as an essential step towards a fair and sustainable society. Nowadays, more than ever in human history, international cooperation is an essential requirement for protecting the planet, advancing science and ensuring an equitable development of the global economy.
Despite its importance, the above dialogue can be a challenge for scientists, who often cannot find a productive connection with governments and politicians. Scientific associations are a key link between researchers and policy makers, as they have the potential to establish a durable and profitable connection with institutions.
The EGU elected the dialogue with society as one of its priority missions. At its General Assembly, the EGU is launching an innovative symposium format, Science and Society (SCS), to host scientific forums specifically dedicated to connecting with high-level institutions and engaging the public and policymakers.
The conversation with Ilaria Capua and Mario Monti will focus on science and politics with a global perspective, and the impact of populism on European integrity and therefore scientific research. The discussion will elaborate on optimal strategies to deliver topical and clear scientific messages to key institutions.
Ilaria Capua is a virologist best known for her research on influenza viruses and her efforts promoting open access to genetic information on emerging viruses. In 2006, Science reported on Capua’s effort towards open access science, stating that she had “renewed the debate about how to balance global health against scientists’ needs to publish and countries’ demands for secrecy". She has been a member of the Italian parliament from 2013 to 2016 and a fake news victim. She is currently a full professor at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, US, and director of the UF One Health Center of Excellence.
Mario Monti served as a European Commissioner from 1995 to 2004, with responsibility for the internal market, services, customs, taxation and competition. He was Prime Minister of Italy from 2011 to 2013, leading a government of national unity to cope with the Italian debt crisis. Monti has also been Rector and is currently President of Bocconi University in Milan. His publications deal mainly with monetary and financial economics, public finance, European integration, competition policy. He is currently lifetime member of the Italian Senate.
During the conversation, Ilaria Capua and Mario Monti will present their vision with two 15-minute talks that will be followed by 20 minutes dedicated to questions from the audience and answers.
In October 2018, the IPCC published its special report on impacts of global warming of 1.5 deg C. Another recent, highly publicised study suggests that the planet could pass an irreversible threshold into a so called “Hothouse Earth” state for a temperature increase of as low as 2 degrees C above pre-industrial temperatures, while other studies and commentaries have emphasised the urgency on climate action, arguing that 2020 must be a turning point for global fossil fuel emissions, to increase the chance of maintaining a safe operating space for the humans on the planet. In 2018, the IPCC celebrated its 30th anniversary. The importance of taking action on human-induced climate change has been emphasised with governments around the world since the 1990s yet CO2 concentrations continue to rise and international initiatives have, to date, had limited and insufficient impact to avert some of the most serious consequences of climate change.
How close are we to one or more critical thresholds (cliff edge)? Is there time to avert passing one or more of these thresholds? What can the geoscience community do to reduce the risks? How important is bottom up versus top down action to ensuring the least worst outcome? These are some of the questions we will debate with world experts in their field and authors of the thought papers on these topics.
Public information:
In October 2018, the IPCC published its special report on impacts of global warming of 1.5 deg C. Another recent, highly publicised study suggests that the planet could pass an irreversible threshold into a so called “Hothouse Earth” state for a temperature increase of as low as 2 degrees C above pre-industrial temperatures.
In 2018, the IPCC celebrated its 30th anniversary. The importance of taking action on human-induced climate change has been emphasised with governments around the world since the 1990s yet CO2 concentrations continue to rise and international initiatives have, to date, had limited and insufficient impact to avert some of the most serious consequences of climate change that may pose an existential threat to modern civilisation.
How close are we to one or more critical thresholds? Is there time to avert passing one or more of them? What can the geoscience community do to reduce the risks? How important is bottom up versus top down action to ensuring the least worst outcome? These are some of the questions we will debate with world experts in their field and authors of the thought papers on these topics.
The Great Debate panellists are:
Prof. Myles Allen is Professor of Geosystem Science in the Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford. His research focuses on how human and natural influences on climate contribute to observed climate change and risks of extreme weather and in quantifying their implications for long-range climate forecasts. He was a Coordinating Lead Author on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Special Report on 1.5 degrees, having served on the IPCC’s 3rd, 4th and 5th Assessments, including the Synthesis Report Core Writing Team in 2014.
Prof. Sabine Fuss, Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change (MCC), Berlin. Sabine is an economist, currently leading a working group at the MCC. She holds a professorship on Sustainable Resource Management and Global Change at Humboldt University of Berlin. Her research interests are in sustainable development, land use change and climate change mitigation. She has been an IPCC Lead Author for the Special Report on 1.5°C global warming, serves on the steering committee of the Global Carbon Project and is a guest scholar at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis.
Erica Hope leads the cross-sectoral ‘2050 Task Force’ and governance programme of the European Climate Foundation (ECF) in Brussels, which seeks to build knowledge, political strategies and coalitions to drive the transition to a zero emissions society by mid-century. Erica has previously worked for the energy efficiency and UK programmes of the ECF, and before that led the policy and advocacy activities of NGO network Climate Action Network Europe on energy efficiency. From 2005-2009 she was researcher to Green MEP Caroline Lucas, and has also worked at the Institute for Public Policy Research in London.
Prof. Linda Steg is professor of environmental psychology at the University of Groningen. She studies factors influencing sustainable behaviour, the effects and acceptability of strategies aimed at promoting sustainable behaviour, and public perceptions of technology and system changes. She is member of Member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences (KNAW), and lead author of the IPCC special report on 1.5°C and AR6. She works on various interdisciplinary and international research programmes, and collaborates with practitioners working in industry, governments and NGOs.
Plastic pollution is recognized as one of the most serious and urgent problems facing our planet. Rates of manufacture, use and ultimately disposal of plastics continue to soar, posing an enormous threat to the planet’s oceans and rivers and the flora and fauna they support. There is an urgent need for global action, backed by sound scientific understanding, to tackle this problem.
This Union Symposium will address the problems posed to our planet by plastic pollution, and examine options for dealing with the threat.
Over the whole Earth history, the climate has encountered tipping points, shifting from one regulated system to the other. This tilting motion affects both climate and the carbon cycle and has played a major role in the evolution of the Earth climate, at all timescales. Earth History has been ponctuated by large climate changes and carbon cycle reorganizations, from large climate variations occurring in deep times (snowball events, terrestrialisation, Mesozoic and early Cenozoic warm episodes, quaternary glacial cycles…) to past and on-going abrupt events. Many potential triggers of those climate and carbon cycle shifts have been proposed and tested through modeling studies, and against field data, such as those directly or indirectly linked with tectonics (plate motion, orogenesis, opening/closing of seaways, weathering…) and orbital forcing. Given that the Earth climate is currently experiencing an unprecedented transition under anthropogenic pressure, understanding the mechanisms behind the scene is crucial.
Our aim is to point out the most recent results concerning how a complex system as the climate of the Earth has undergone many tipping points and what is the specificity of the future climate changes. Therefore, within this session, we would like to encourage talks discussing advances in our record and modeling of the forces triggering and amplifying the changes of Earth climate and carbon cycle across spatial and temporal scales.
Citizen science (the involvement of the public in scientific processes) is gaining momentum in one discipline after another, thereby more and more data on biodiversity, earthquakes, weather, climate, health issues among others are being collected at different scales that can extend the frontiers of knowledge. Successful citizen observatories can potentially be scaled up in order to contribute to larger environmental and policy strategies and actions (such as the European Earth Observation monitoring systems) and to be integrated in GEOSS and Copernicus. Making credible contributions to science can empower citizens to actively participate in environmental decision making, can raise awareness about environmental issues and can help bridge the science-society gap. Often, citizen science is seen in the context of Open Science, which is a broad movement embracing Open Data, Open Access, Open Educational Resources, Open Source, Open Methodology, and Open Peer Review to transparently publish and share scientific research - thus leveraging Citizen Science and Reproducible Research.
Both, open science in general and citizen science in particular, pose great challenges for researchers, and to support the goals of the various openness initiatives, this session looks at what is possible nowadays and what is ready for application in geosciences. Success stories, failures, best practices and solutions will be presented, in addition to various related networks. We aim to show how researchers, citizens, funding agencies, governments and other stakeholders can benefit from citizen science and open science, acknowledging the drawbacks and highlighting the opportunities available for geoscientists.
In this session, we are looking for successful approaches of working with citizen science and open science to bridge the gap between a multitude of stakeholders in research, policy, economy, practice and society at large by finding emerging environmental issues and empowering citizens. This session shall be an open space to exchange experiences and to present either successful examples or failed efforts. Learning from others and understanding what to adopt and what to change help the participants in their own undertakings and new initiatives, so that they become future success stories.
We want to ask and find answers to the following questions:
Which approaches can be used in Earth, Planetary and Space Sciences?
What are the biggest challenges and how to overcome them?
What kind of citizen scientist involvement and open science strategies exist?
How to ensure transparency in project results and analyses?
How to evaluate successful bridging of the science-society-gap?
The application of Earth Observation (EO) datasets for Sustainable Development is a fast-growing field. EO technologies and innovations are constantly evolving, and contributing to the delivery of sustainable, economic and societal benefit to developing countries, helping them meet their Sustainable Development Goals. There is great potential to build on the unique strengths that the space sector has in terms of services and technology to deliver sustainable development objectives, especially in data-sparse regions of the globe, and realising this potential is crucial. The scientific and socio-economic benefits from remote sensing data applications are limitless. Especially in developing nations, where there is a need to bridge the gap between existing technologies and operational applications, EO technology can help enhance the capability to monitor the Earth’s vital resources, and to support the planning, design, operation, and management processes of various sectors.
This session invites submissions from researchers and practitioners, whose work with EO technologies provides the information needed to confront key sustainable development challenges, spanning a whole range of themes such as: disaster response and early warning systems, water resources, agriculture, air and water quality, deforestation, land-use change, urban development, renewable energy and health.
Public information:
Plan S, devised by a coalition of research funders with support from the European Commission and European Research Council, demands that by January 1, 2020 research supported by participating funders must be published in Open Access journals. Representatives from subscription-based and Open Access publishers, architects of Plan S, and researchers affected by it will debate questions surrounding the implementation of the plan and its consequences.
The panelists are David Sweeney, Heike Langenberg, Marc Schiltz and Brooks Hanson. They will present the case for and against mandatory OA followed by an open debate with questions and comments from the audience.
David Sweeney is Executive Chair of Research England, the biggest research funder in the UK. He has been invited to visit many countries to advise on research assessment and funding, particularly with respect to research impact. He is also co-chair of the Implementation Task Force for Plan S, the international initiative on full and immediate open access to research publications.
Heike Langenberg is the Chief Editor of Nature Geoscience. She started her editorial career in 1999 as an Associate, then Senior Editor at Nature handling manuscripts in the broad area of climate sciences. In 2007 she moved to Nature Geoscience to launch the journal in January 2008. A graduate in mathematics of the Philipps-Universität Marburg, Germany, she ventured into oceanography for her PhD at the University of Hamburg. Her postdoctoral research at various research institutes in Hamburg was focused on numerical simulations of the ocean and atmosphere at a regional scale.
Marc Schiltz is president of Science Europe, the European association of all major national public research funding and research performing organisations. In this role, he has contributed to setting the European agenda to foster Open Science and is one of the architects of Plan S. He is also leading the Luxembourg National Research Fund. He is a relentless advocate of science and research, serving on a number of external boards and committees, both at the national and international level. Having received a PhD in Crystallography from the University of Paris-Sud and an executive MBA from INSEAD, Marc has been active in research and higher education for more than 25 years and held research and faculty positions in several European countries.
Brooks Hanson is the Executive Vice President for Science for the American Geophysical Union (AGU), responsible for AGU’s publications, meetings, ethics and data programs, and Thriving Earth Exchange. He previously acted as Sr. Vice President for Publications at AGU, where he was responsible for AGU's portfolio of books and 21 journals and served as Deputy Editor for Physical Sciences at Science. Brooks received a Ph.D. in Geology from UCLA and held a post-doctoral appointment at the Department of Mineral Sciences at the Smithsonian Institution.
Public information:
The dialogue between scientists, institutions, policymakers and the general public is widely recognised as an essential step towards a fair and sustainable society. Nowadays, more than ever in human history, international cooperation is an essential requirement for protecting the planet, advancing science and ensuring an equitable development of the global economy.
Despite its importance, the above dialogue can be a challenge for scientists, who often cannot find a productive connection with governments and politicians. Scientific associations are a key link between researchers and policy makers, as they have the potential to establish a durable and profitable connection with institutions.
The EGU elected the dialogue with society as one of its priority missions. At its General Assembly, the EGU is launching an innovative symposium format, Science and Society (SCS), to host scientific forums specifically dedicated to connecting with high-level institutions and engaging the public and policymakers.
The conversation with Ilaria Capua and Mario Monti will focus on science and politics with a global perspective, and the impact of populism on European integrity and therefore scientific research. The discussion will elaborate on optimal strategies to deliver topical and clear scientific messages to key institutions.
Ilaria Capua is a virologist best known for her research on influenza viruses and her efforts promoting open access to genetic information on emerging viruses. In 2006, Science reported on Capua’s effort towards open access science, stating that she had “renewed the debate about how to balance global health against scientists’ needs to publish and countries’ demands for secrecy". She has been a member of the Italian parliament from 2013 to 2016 and a fake news victim. She is currently a full professor at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, US, and director of the UF One Health Center of Excellence.
Mario Monti served as a European Commissioner from 1995 to 2004, with responsibility for the internal market, services, customs, taxation and competition. He was Prime Minister of Italy from 2011 to 2013, leading a government of national unity to cope with the Italian debt crisis. Monti has also been Rector and is currently President of Bocconi University in Milan. His publications deal mainly with monetary and financial economics, public finance, European integration, competition policy. He is currently lifetime member of the Italian Senate.
During the conversation, Ilaria Capua and Mario Monti will present their vision with two 15-minute talks that will be followed by 20 minutes dedicated to questions from the audience and answers.
In October 2018, the IPCC published its special report on impacts of global warming of 1.5 deg C. Another recent, highly publicised study suggests that the planet could pass an irreversible threshold into a so called “Hothouse Earth” state for a temperature increase of as low as 2 degrees C above pre-industrial temperatures, while other studies and commentaries have emphasised the urgency on climate action, arguing that 2020 must be a turning point for global fossil fuel emissions, to increase the chance of maintaining a safe operating space for the humans on the planet. In 2018, the IPCC celebrated its 30th anniversary. The importance of taking action on human-induced climate change has been emphasised with governments around the world since the 1990s yet CO2 concentrations continue to rise and international initiatives have, to date, had limited and insufficient impact to avert some of the most serious consequences of climate change.
How close are we to one or more critical thresholds (cliff edge)? Is there time to avert passing one or more of these thresholds? What can the geoscience community do to reduce the risks? How important is bottom up versus top down action to ensuring the least worst outcome? These are some of the questions we will debate with world experts in their field and authors of the thought papers on these topics.
Public information:
In October 2018, the IPCC published its special report on impacts of global warming of 1.5 deg C. Another recent, highly publicised study suggests that the planet could pass an irreversible threshold into a so called “Hothouse Earth” state for a temperature increase of as low as 2 degrees C above pre-industrial temperatures.
In 2018, the IPCC celebrated its 30th anniversary. The importance of taking action on human-induced climate change has been emphasised with governments around the world since the 1990s yet CO2 concentrations continue to rise and international initiatives have, to date, had limited and insufficient impact to avert some of the most serious consequences of climate change that may pose an existential threat to modern civilisation.
How close are we to one or more critical thresholds? Is there time to avert passing one or more of them? What can the geoscience community do to reduce the risks? How important is bottom up versus top down action to ensuring the least worst outcome? These are some of the questions we will debate with world experts in their field and authors of the thought papers on these topics.
The Great Debate panellists are:
Prof. Myles Allen is Professor of Geosystem Science in the Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford. His research focuses on how human and natural influences on climate contribute to observed climate change and risks of extreme weather and in quantifying their implications for long-range climate forecasts. He was a Coordinating Lead Author on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Special Report on 1.5 degrees, having served on the IPCC’s 3rd, 4th and 5th Assessments, including the Synthesis Report Core Writing Team in 2014.
Prof. Sabine Fuss, Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change (MCC), Berlin. Sabine is an economist, currently leading a working group at the MCC. She holds a professorship on Sustainable Resource Management and Global Change at Humboldt University of Berlin. Her research interests are in sustainable development, land use change and climate change mitigation. She has been an IPCC Lead Author for the Special Report on 1.5°C global warming, serves on the steering committee of the Global Carbon Project and is a guest scholar at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis.
Erica Hope leads the cross-sectoral ‘2050 Task Force’ and governance programme of the European Climate Foundation (ECF) in Brussels, which seeks to build knowledge, political strategies and coalitions to drive the transition to a zero emissions society by mid-century. Erica has previously worked for the energy efficiency and UK programmes of the ECF, and before that led the policy and advocacy activities of NGO network Climate Action Network Europe on energy efficiency. From 2005-2009 she was researcher to Green MEP Caroline Lucas, and has also worked at the Institute for Public Policy Research in London.
Prof. Linda Steg is professor of environmental psychology at the University of Groningen. She studies factors influencing sustainable behaviour, the effects and acceptability of strategies aimed at promoting sustainable behaviour, and public perceptions of technology and system changes. She is member of Member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences (KNAW), and lead author of the IPCC special report on 1.5°C and AR6. She works on various interdisciplinary and international research programmes, and collaborates with practitioners working in industry, governments and NGOs.
Plastic pollution is recognized as one of the most serious and urgent problems facing our planet. Rates of manufacture, use and ultimately disposal of plastics continue to soar, posing an enormous threat to the planet’s oceans and rivers and the flora and fauna they support. There is an urgent need for global action, backed by sound scientific understanding, to tackle this problem.
This Union Symposium will address the problems posed to our planet by plastic pollution, and examine options for dealing with the threat.
Over the whole Earth history, the climate has encountered tipping points, shifting from one regulated system to the other. This tilting motion affects both climate and the carbon cycle and has played a major role in the evolution of the Earth climate, at all timescales. Earth History has been ponctuated by large climate changes and carbon cycle reorganizations, from large climate variations occurring in deep times (snowball events, terrestrialisation, Mesozoic and early Cenozoic warm episodes, quaternary glacial cycles…) to past and on-going abrupt events. Many potential triggers of those climate and carbon cycle shifts have been proposed and tested through modeling studies, and against field data, such as those directly or indirectly linked with tectonics (plate motion, orogenesis, opening/closing of seaways, weathering…) and orbital forcing. Given that the Earth climate is currently experiencing an unprecedented transition under anthropogenic pressure, understanding the mechanisms behind the scene is crucial.
Our aim is to point out the most recent results concerning how a complex system as the climate of the Earth has undergone many tipping points and what is the specificity of the future climate changes. Therefore, within this session, we would like to encourage talks discussing advances in our record and modeling of the forces triggering and amplifying the changes of Earth climate and carbon cycle across spatial and temporal scales.
Geodesy is becoming increasingly important for observing the hydrological cycle and its effects on solid Earth shape. Signals in geodetic data have revealed water's influence on other geophysical processes including earthquakes, volcanos, land subsidence, mountain uplift, and other aspects of long- and short-term vertical land motion. GPS and InSAR measurements, for example, respectively provide high temporal and spatial resolution to study natural hydrologically-related deformation and monitor anthropogenic groundwater extraction and recharge, and GRACE is helping to track changes in the global terrestrial water storage. Signals of loading from changes in surface and groundwater storage are seen from basin to continental scale. Additionally, novel use of GPS reflectometry is operational for monitoring soil moisture and snow depth at continuous GPS stations in the western USA and Canada. We encourage contributions describing new observations and models of hydrological signals in geodetic time series and/or imaging. These include but are not limited to studies exploring deformation induced by loading, aquifer extraction/recharge, poroelastic deformation and stress changes, techniques for removing hydrological signals from geodetic datasets, monitoring water resources, or teleconnections between hydrologic and other geophysical phenomena.
To address societal concerns over rising sea level and extreme events, understanding the contributions behind these changes is key to predict potential impacts of sea level change on coastal communities and global economy, and is recognized as one of the Grand Challenges of our time by the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP). To continue this discussion, we welcome contributions from the international sea level community that improve our knowledge of the past and present changes in sea level, extreme events, and flooding, and produce improved predictions of their future changes. We welcome studies on various drivers of sea level change and linkages between variability in sea level, heat and freshwater content, ocean dynamics, land subsidence from natural versus anthropogenic influences, and mass exchange between the land and the ocean associated with ice sheet and glacier mass loss and changes in the terrestrial water storage. Studies focusing on future sea level changes are also encouraged, as well as those discussing potential short-, medium-, and long-term impacts on coastal and deltaic environments, as well as the global oceans.
Public information:
Plan S, devised by a coalition of research funders with support from the European Commission and European Research Council, demands that by January 1, 2020 research supported by participating funders must be published in Open Access journals. Representatives from subscription-based and Open Access publishers, architects of Plan S, and researchers affected by it will debate questions surrounding the implementation of the plan and its consequences.
The panelists are David Sweeney, Heike Langenberg, Marc Schiltz and Brooks Hanson. They will present the case for and against mandatory OA followed by an open debate with questions and comments from the audience.
David Sweeney is Executive Chair of Research England, the biggest research funder in the UK. He has been invited to visit many countries to advise on research assessment and funding, particularly with respect to research impact. He is also co-chair of the Implementation Task Force for Plan S, the international initiative on full and immediate open access to research publications.
Heike Langenberg is the Chief Editor of Nature Geoscience. She started her editorial career in 1999 as an Associate, then Senior Editor at Nature handling manuscripts in the broad area of climate sciences. In 2007 she moved to Nature Geoscience to launch the journal in January 2008. A graduate in mathematics of the Philipps-Universität Marburg, Germany, she ventured into oceanography for her PhD at the University of Hamburg. Her postdoctoral research at various research institutes in Hamburg was focused on numerical simulations of the ocean and atmosphere at a regional scale.
Marc Schiltz is president of Science Europe, the European association of all major national public research funding and research performing organisations. In this role, he has contributed to setting the European agenda to foster Open Science and is one of the architects of Plan S. He is also leading the Luxembourg National Research Fund. He is a relentless advocate of science and research, serving on a number of external boards and committees, both at the national and international level. Having received a PhD in Crystallography from the University of Paris-Sud and an executive MBA from INSEAD, Marc has been active in research and higher education for more than 25 years and held research and faculty positions in several European countries.
Brooks Hanson is the Executive Vice President for Science for the American Geophysical Union (AGU), responsible for AGU’s publications, meetings, ethics and data programs, and Thriving Earth Exchange. He previously acted as Sr. Vice President for Publications at AGU, where he was responsible for AGU's portfolio of books and 21 journals and served as Deputy Editor for Physical Sciences at Science. Brooks received a Ph.D. in Geology from UCLA and held a post-doctoral appointment at the Department of Mineral Sciences at the Smithsonian Institution.
Public information:
The dialogue between scientists, institutions, policymakers and the general public is widely recognised as an essential step towards a fair and sustainable society. Nowadays, more than ever in human history, international cooperation is an essential requirement for protecting the planet, advancing science and ensuring an equitable development of the global economy.
Despite its importance, the above dialogue can be a challenge for scientists, who often cannot find a productive connection with governments and politicians. Scientific associations are a key link between researchers and policy makers, as they have the potential to establish a durable and profitable connection with institutions.
The EGU elected the dialogue with society as one of its priority missions. At its General Assembly, the EGU is launching an innovative symposium format, Science and Society (SCS), to host scientific forums specifically dedicated to connecting with high-level institutions and engaging the public and policymakers.
The conversation with Ilaria Capua and Mario Monti will focus on science and politics with a global perspective, and the impact of populism on European integrity and therefore scientific research. The discussion will elaborate on optimal strategies to deliver topical and clear scientific messages to key institutions.
Ilaria Capua is a virologist best known for her research on influenza viruses and her efforts promoting open access to genetic information on emerging viruses. In 2006, Science reported on Capua’s effort towards open access science, stating that she had “renewed the debate about how to balance global health against scientists’ needs to publish and countries’ demands for secrecy". She has been a member of the Italian parliament from 2013 to 2016 and a fake news victim. She is currently a full professor at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, US, and director of the UF One Health Center of Excellence.
Mario Monti served as a European Commissioner from 1995 to 2004, with responsibility for the internal market, services, customs, taxation and competition. He was Prime Minister of Italy from 2011 to 2013, leading a government of national unity to cope with the Italian debt crisis. Monti has also been Rector and is currently President of Bocconi University in Milan. His publications deal mainly with monetary and financial economics, public finance, European integration, competition policy. He is currently lifetime member of the Italian Senate.
During the conversation, Ilaria Capua and Mario Monti will present their vision with two 15-minute talks that will be followed by 20 minutes dedicated to questions from the audience and answers.
In October 2018, the IPCC published its special report on impacts of global warming of 1.5 deg C. Another recent, highly publicised study suggests that the planet could pass an irreversible threshold into a so called “Hothouse Earth” state for a temperature increase of as low as 2 degrees C above pre-industrial temperatures, while other studies and commentaries have emphasised the urgency on climate action, arguing that 2020 must be a turning point for global fossil fuel emissions, to increase the chance of maintaining a safe operating space for the humans on the planet. In 2018, the IPCC celebrated its 30th anniversary. The importance of taking action on human-induced climate change has been emphasised with governments around the world since the 1990s yet CO2 concentrations continue to rise and international initiatives have, to date, had limited and insufficient impact to avert some of the most serious consequences of climate change.
How close are we to one or more critical thresholds (cliff edge)? Is there time to avert passing one or more of these thresholds? What can the geoscience community do to reduce the risks? How important is bottom up versus top down action to ensuring the least worst outcome? These are some of the questions we will debate with world experts in their field and authors of the thought papers on these topics.
Public information:
In October 2018, the IPCC published its special report on impacts of global warming of 1.5 deg C. Another recent, highly publicised study suggests that the planet could pass an irreversible threshold into a so called “Hothouse Earth” state for a temperature increase of as low as 2 degrees C above pre-industrial temperatures.
In 2018, the IPCC celebrated its 30th anniversary. The importance of taking action on human-induced climate change has been emphasised with governments around the world since the 1990s yet CO2 concentrations continue to rise and international initiatives have, to date, had limited and insufficient impact to avert some of the most serious consequences of climate change that may pose an existential threat to modern civilisation.
How close are we to one or more critical thresholds? Is there time to avert passing one or more of them? What can the geoscience community do to reduce the risks? How important is bottom up versus top down action to ensuring the least worst outcome? These are some of the questions we will debate with world experts in their field and authors of the thought papers on these topics.
The Great Debate panellists are:
Prof. Myles Allen is Professor of Geosystem Science in the Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford. His research focuses on how human and natural influences on climate contribute to observed climate change and risks of extreme weather and in quantifying their implications for long-range climate forecasts. He was a Coordinating Lead Author on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Special Report on 1.5 degrees, having served on the IPCC’s 3rd, 4th and 5th Assessments, including the Synthesis Report Core Writing Team in 2014.
Prof. Sabine Fuss, Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change (MCC), Berlin. Sabine is an economist, currently leading a working group at the MCC. She holds a professorship on Sustainable Resource Management and Global Change at Humboldt University of Berlin. Her research interests are in sustainable development, land use change and climate change mitigation. She has been an IPCC Lead Author for the Special Report on 1.5°C global warming, serves on the steering committee of the Global Carbon Project and is a guest scholar at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis.
Erica Hope leads the cross-sectoral ‘2050 Task Force’ and governance programme of the European Climate Foundation (ECF) in Brussels, which seeks to build knowledge, political strategies and coalitions to drive the transition to a zero emissions society by mid-century. Erica has previously worked for the energy efficiency and UK programmes of the ECF, and before that led the policy and advocacy activities of NGO network Climate Action Network Europe on energy efficiency. From 2005-2009 she was researcher to Green MEP Caroline Lucas, and has also worked at the Institute for Public Policy Research in London.
Prof. Linda Steg is professor of environmental psychology at the University of Groningen. She studies factors influencing sustainable behaviour, the effects and acceptability of strategies aimed at promoting sustainable behaviour, and public perceptions of technology and system changes. She is member of Member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences (KNAW), and lead author of the IPCC special report on 1.5°C and AR6. She works on various interdisciplinary and international research programmes, and collaborates with practitioners working in industry, governments and NGOs.
Plastic pollution is recognized as one of the most serious and urgent problems facing our planet. Rates of manufacture, use and ultimately disposal of plastics continue to soar, posing an enormous threat to the planet’s oceans and rivers and the flora and fauna they support. There is an urgent need for global action, backed by sound scientific understanding, to tackle this problem.
This Union Symposium will address the problems posed to our planet by plastic pollution, and examine options for dealing with the threat.
Over the whole Earth history, the climate has encountered tipping points, shifting from one regulated system to the other. This tilting motion affects both climate and the carbon cycle and has played a major role in the evolution of the Earth climate, at all timescales. Earth History has been ponctuated by large climate changes and carbon cycle reorganizations, from large climate variations occurring in deep times (snowball events, terrestrialisation, Mesozoic and early Cenozoic warm episodes, quaternary glacial cycles…) to past and on-going abrupt events. Many potential triggers of those climate and carbon cycle shifts have been proposed and tested through modeling studies, and against field data, such as those directly or indirectly linked with tectonics (plate motion, orogenesis, opening/closing of seaways, weathering…) and orbital forcing. Given that the Earth climate is currently experiencing an unprecedented transition under anthropogenic pressure, understanding the mechanisms behind the scene is crucial.
Our aim is to point out the most recent results concerning how a complex system as the climate of the Earth has undergone many tipping points and what is the specificity of the future climate changes. Therefore, within this session, we would like to encourage talks discussing advances in our record and modeling of the forces triggering and amplifying the changes of Earth climate and carbon cycle across spatial and temporal scales.
Transform faults form major active plate boundaries and are intrinsic features of plate tectonics and plate accretion. Submarine transforms are likely to be fundamental pathways for fluid circulation in depth, thus significantly contributing to the exchange between the lithosphere and the hydrosphere. This implies serpentinization and weathering that affect the mechanical properties in the deformation zone. An open question is the influence of the elemental exchange between the crust and ocean water on these processes, as well as the interactions with the biosphere, both at the surface and at depth. Continental transforms and strike-slip faults are often a site of major earthquakes, representing major hazards for the population. Here too, the role of weathering in the deformation zone is still unconstrained. Both types of faults are still poorly known in terms of structure, rheology and deformation. These features are seismically active zones, with large earthquakes often being recorded on the largest faults. Yet, little is known about the rupture process, seismic cyclicity and active deformation of transform faults. Recent works have shown that fracture zones, supposedly inactive features, can be reactivated and be the site of large earthquakes and deformation. Additional open questions are the way transform faults deform under far-field stresses, such as plate kinematic changes, and under more local stresses, what are the time constants of the processes and what are the primary controls of the tectonic and magmatic styles of the response. The tectonic and magmatic response of large offset transforms, particularly, is still largely unknown.
This session aims to present recent results on studies of these large features, especially on the rheology, deformation patterns, rupture processes, fluid circulation and physical properties of transform faults. We welcome observational studies on strike-slip and transform faults, both continental and oceanic, on fracture zones and on transform continental margins (structural geology and tectonics, geophysical imaging of the crust and lithosphere, petrology and geochemistry, seismology, fluid circulation and rock alteration, geodesy) as well as modelling studies, both analogue and numerical. Cross-disciplinary approaches are encouraged. The submission of abstracts divulging on-going international projects (drilling sites, seismic reflection imaging along strike-slip faults) are also welcome. This session is promoted by the Oceanic Transform Faults working group of InterRidge.
Geoscience witnessed a flurry of major breakthroughs in the 19th and 20th century, leading to major shifts in our understanding of the Earth system. Such breakthroughs included new concepts, such as plate tectonics and sequence stratigraphy, and new techniques, like radiometric dating and remote sensing. However, the pace of these discoveries has declined, raising the question of whether we have now made all of the key geoscience breakthroughs. Put another way, have we reached “Peak Geoscience” and are we now in a time of synthesis, incremental development and consolidation? Or are there new breakthroughs on the horizon? If so what will these developments be?
One key remaining challenge is the management of the inherent uncertainties in geoscience. Despite the importance of understanding uncertainty, it is often neglected by interpreters, geomodellers and experimentalists. With ever-more powerful computers and the advent of big data analytics and machine learning, our ability to quantify uncertainty in geological interpretation, models and experiments will be crucial.
This session aims to bring together those with an interest in the future of geoscience. We welcome contributions from any field of geoscience which either demonstrate a new, disruptive geoscience breakthrough or provide insights into where the next breakthrough will come. We encourage contributions associated with uncertainty in geoscience models and data, machine learning or big data analytics.
The InSight mission to Mars landed in Elysium Planitia on November 26. InSight's scientific objective is the study of the Martian interior using two seismometers, a heat flow probe and geodetical measurements. Auxiliary instruments will collect meteorological and magnetic data for at least one Martian year.
This session provides initial results from Mars, status reports of instrument deployment and relevant pre-landing science.
Subduction drives plate tectonics, generates the major proportion of subaerial volcanism, forms continents, and entrains surface material back to the deep Earth. Therefore, it is arguably the most important geodynamical phenomenon on Earth and the major driver of global geochemical cycles. Seismological data show a fascinating range in shapes of subducting slabs. Arc volcanism illustrates the complexity of geochemical and petrological phenomena associated with subduction. Surface topography provides insight in the orogenic processes related to subduction and continental collision.
Numerical and laboratory modelling studies have successfully built our understanding of many aspects of the geodynamics of subduction zones. Detailed geochemical studies, investigating compositional variation within and between volcanic arcs, provide further insights into systematic chemical processes at the slab surface and within the mantle wedge, providing constraints on thermal structures and material transport within subduction zones. However, with different technical and methodological approaches, model set-ups, inputs and material properties, and in some cases conflicting conclusions between chemical and physical models, a consistent picture of the controlling parameters of subduction-zone processes has so far not emerged.
This session aims to follow subducting lithosphere on its journey from the surface down into the Earth's mantle, and to understand the driving processes for deformation and magmatism in the over-riding plate. We aim to address topics such as: subduction initiation and dynamics; changes in mineral breakdown processes at the slab surface; the formation and migration of fluids and melts at the slab surface; primary melt generation in the wedge; subduction-related magmatism; controls on the position and width of the volcanic arc; subduction-induced seismicity; mantle wedge processes; the fate of subducted crust, sediments and volatiles; the importance of subducting seamounts, LIPs, and ridges; links between near-surface processes and slab dynamics and with regional tectonic evolution; slab delamination and break-off; the effect of subduction on mantle flow; and imaging subduction zone processes.
With this session, we aim to form an integrated picture of the subduction process, and invite contributions from a wide range of disciplines, such as geodynamics, modelling, geochemistry, petrology, volcanology and seismology, to discuss subduction zone dynamics at all scales from the surface to the lower mantle, or in applications to natural laboratories.
Volcanic Islands are environments created by the growth of volcanoes in the sea, modified by geologic, environmental, biological and human activity. They are highly varied in geology, terrain, environment and social makeup. They are fragile environments in that they respond rapidly to global or local changes in a way that links geology, social activity and environment. Dealing with a complex object such as volcanic island requires a multidisciplinary approach on their on-land and submarine processes that crosses scientific, social and economic boundaries. From a geological and geophysical perspective there are numerous aspects that need to be addressed to acquire a comprehensive picture of how volcanic islands are born, grow up, evolve and die. These include their geodynamic setting, magmatism, volcanism, hydrothermalism, tectonics, and erosion and material transport, as well as their associated hazards and risks, environmental change record, or energy and economic resources. With the aim at integrating all this multidisciplinary research into a single forum of discussion, we offer this scientific session on Volcanic Islands, in which any geological and geophysical research on such complex environments will be more than welcome.
Public information:
Plan S, devised by a coalition of research funders with support from the European Commission and European Research Council, demands that by January 1, 2020 research supported by participating funders must be published in Open Access journals. Representatives from subscription-based and Open Access publishers, architects of Plan S, and researchers affected by it will debate questions surrounding the implementation of the plan and its consequences.
The panelists are David Sweeney, Heike Langenberg, Marc Schiltz and Brooks Hanson. They will present the case for and against mandatory OA followed by an open debate with questions and comments from the audience.
David Sweeney is Executive Chair of Research England, the biggest research funder in the UK. He has been invited to visit many countries to advise on research assessment and funding, particularly with respect to research impact. He is also co-chair of the Implementation Task Force for Plan S, the international initiative on full and immediate open access to research publications.
Heike Langenberg is the Chief Editor of Nature Geoscience. She started her editorial career in 1999 as an Associate, then Senior Editor at Nature handling manuscripts in the broad area of climate sciences. In 2007 she moved to Nature Geoscience to launch the journal in January 2008. A graduate in mathematics of the Philipps-Universität Marburg, Germany, she ventured into oceanography for her PhD at the University of Hamburg. Her postdoctoral research at various research institutes in Hamburg was focused on numerical simulations of the ocean and atmosphere at a regional scale.
Marc Schiltz is president of Science Europe, the European association of all major national public research funding and research performing organisations. In this role, he has contributed to setting the European agenda to foster Open Science and is one of the architects of Plan S. He is also leading the Luxembourg National Research Fund. He is a relentless advocate of science and research, serving on a number of external boards and committees, both at the national and international level. Having received a PhD in Crystallography from the University of Paris-Sud and an executive MBA from INSEAD, Marc has been active in research and higher education for more than 25 years and held research and faculty positions in several European countries.
Brooks Hanson is the Executive Vice President for Science for the American Geophysical Union (AGU), responsible for AGU’s publications, meetings, ethics and data programs, and Thriving Earth Exchange. He previously acted as Sr. Vice President for Publications at AGU, where he was responsible for AGU's portfolio of books and 21 journals and served as Deputy Editor for Physical Sciences at Science. Brooks received a Ph.D. in Geology from UCLA and held a post-doctoral appointment at the Department of Mineral Sciences at the Smithsonian Institution.
Public information:
The dialogue between scientists, institutions, policymakers and the general public is widely recognised as an essential step towards a fair and sustainable society. Nowadays, more than ever in human history, international cooperation is an essential requirement for protecting the planet, advancing science and ensuring an equitable development of the global economy.
Despite its importance, the above dialogue can be a challenge for scientists, who often cannot find a productive connection with governments and politicians. Scientific associations are a key link between researchers and policy makers, as they have the potential to establish a durable and profitable connection with institutions.
The EGU elected the dialogue with society as one of its priority missions. At its General Assembly, the EGU is launching an innovative symposium format, Science and Society (SCS), to host scientific forums specifically dedicated to connecting with high-level institutions and engaging the public and policymakers.
The conversation with Ilaria Capua and Mario Monti will focus on science and politics with a global perspective, and the impact of populism on European integrity and therefore scientific research. The discussion will elaborate on optimal strategies to deliver topical and clear scientific messages to key institutions.
Ilaria Capua is a virologist best known for her research on influenza viruses and her efforts promoting open access to genetic information on emerging viruses. In 2006, Science reported on Capua’s effort towards open access science, stating that she had “renewed the debate about how to balance global health against scientists’ needs to publish and countries’ demands for secrecy". She has been a member of the Italian parliament from 2013 to 2016 and a fake news victim. She is currently a full professor at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, US, and director of the UF One Health Center of Excellence.
Mario Monti served as a European Commissioner from 1995 to 2004, with responsibility for the internal market, services, customs, taxation and competition. He was Prime Minister of Italy from 2011 to 2013, leading a government of national unity to cope with the Italian debt crisis. Monti has also been Rector and is currently President of Bocconi University in Milan. His publications deal mainly with monetary and financial economics, public finance, European integration, competition policy. He is currently lifetime member of the Italian Senate.
During the conversation, Ilaria Capua and Mario Monti will present their vision with two 15-minute talks that will be followed by 20 minutes dedicated to questions from the audience and answers.
Progressively stricter requirements in geophysical prospecting, in urban and inter-urban monitoring make it important to look continuously for innovative solutions to new and old complex problems. In particular, investigation and monitoring of pollution, hydrological resources, energy efficiency, cultural heritage, cities and transportation infrastructures nowadays require technological and methodological innovations of geophysical and sensing techniques in order to properly understand the limits of the current state of art and to identify where possible the most convenient strategies to overcome limitations of current approaches. This goal can be achieved either with more advanced solutions in a general sense or with dedicated solutions, particularly suitable for the specific problem at hand.
Integrated prospecting, refined data processing, new models, hardware innovations, new ICT information and telecommunications systems can and should cooperate with each other in this sense. It is important that the scientific community finds a moment for considering the connection between adjacent aspects of the same problem, e.g. to achieve improved geophysical data, safe and reliable environmental and structural monitoring, improved processing as much as possible.
The session “ Innovative instrumentations, techniques, geophysical methods and models for near surface geophysics, cities and transportation infrastructures aims to propose one such moment, where multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary competences can interact with each other, possibly finding possible new ways to cooperate and to exchange experiences reciprocally to reach sustainable solutions.
In October 2018, the IPCC published its special report on impacts of global warming of 1.5 deg C. Another recent, highly publicised study suggests that the planet could pass an irreversible threshold into a so called “Hothouse Earth” state for a temperature increase of as low as 2 degrees C above pre-industrial temperatures, while other studies and commentaries have emphasised the urgency on climate action, arguing that 2020 must be a turning point for global fossil fuel emissions, to increase the chance of maintaining a safe operating space for the humans on the planet. In 2018, the IPCC celebrated its 30th anniversary. The importance of taking action on human-induced climate change has been emphasised with governments around the world since the 1990s yet CO2 concentrations continue to rise and international initiatives have, to date, had limited and insufficient impact to avert some of the most serious consequences of climate change.
How close are we to one or more critical thresholds (cliff edge)? Is there time to avert passing one or more of these thresholds? What can the geoscience community do to reduce the risks? How important is bottom up versus top down action to ensuring the least worst outcome? These are some of the questions we will debate with world experts in their field and authors of the thought papers on these topics.
Public information:
In October 2018, the IPCC published its special report on impacts of global warming of 1.5 deg C. Another recent, highly publicised study suggests that the planet could pass an irreversible threshold into a so called “Hothouse Earth” state for a temperature increase of as low as 2 degrees C above pre-industrial temperatures.
In 2018, the IPCC celebrated its 30th anniversary. The importance of taking action on human-induced climate change has been emphasised with governments around the world since the 1990s yet CO2 concentrations continue to rise and international initiatives have, to date, had limited and insufficient impact to avert some of the most serious consequences of climate change that may pose an existential threat to modern civilisation.
How close are we to one or more critical thresholds? Is there time to avert passing one or more of them? What can the geoscience community do to reduce the risks? How important is bottom up versus top down action to ensuring the least worst outcome? These are some of the questions we will debate with world experts in their field and authors of the thought papers on these topics.
The Great Debate panellists are:
Prof. Myles Allen is Professor of Geosystem Science in the Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford. His research focuses on how human and natural influences on climate contribute to observed climate change and risks of extreme weather and in quantifying their implications for long-range climate forecasts. He was a Coordinating Lead Author on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Special Report on 1.5 degrees, having served on the IPCC’s 3rd, 4th and 5th Assessments, including the Synthesis Report Core Writing Team in 2014.
Prof. Sabine Fuss, Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change (MCC), Berlin. Sabine is an economist, currently leading a working group at the MCC. She holds a professorship on Sustainable Resource Management and Global Change at Humboldt University of Berlin. Her research interests are in sustainable development, land use change and climate change mitigation. She has been an IPCC Lead Author for the Special Report on 1.5°C global warming, serves on the steering committee of the Global Carbon Project and is a guest scholar at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis.
Erica Hope leads the cross-sectoral ‘2050 Task Force’ and governance programme of the European Climate Foundation (ECF) in Brussels, which seeks to build knowledge, political strategies and coalitions to drive the transition to a zero emissions society by mid-century. Erica has previously worked for the energy efficiency and UK programmes of the ECF, and before that led the policy and advocacy activities of NGO network Climate Action Network Europe on energy efficiency. From 2005-2009 she was researcher to Green MEP Caroline Lucas, and has also worked at the Institute for Public Policy Research in London.
Prof. Linda Steg is professor of environmental psychology at the University of Groningen. She studies factors influencing sustainable behaviour, the effects and acceptability of strategies aimed at promoting sustainable behaviour, and public perceptions of technology and system changes. She is member of Member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences (KNAW), and lead author of the IPCC special report on 1.5°C and AR6. She works on various interdisciplinary and international research programmes, and collaborates with practitioners working in industry, governments and NGOs.
Plastic pollution is recognized as one of the most serious and urgent problems facing our planet. Rates of manufacture, use and ultimately disposal of plastics continue to soar, posing an enormous threat to the planet’s oceans and rivers and the flora and fauna they support. There is an urgent need for global action, backed by sound scientific understanding, to tackle this problem.
This Union Symposium will address the problems posed to our planet by plastic pollution, and examine options for dealing with the threat.
Over the whole Earth history, the climate has encountered tipping points, shifting from one regulated system to the other. This tilting motion affects both climate and the carbon cycle and has played a major role in the evolution of the Earth climate, at all timescales. Earth History has been ponctuated by large climate changes and carbon cycle reorganizations, from large climate variations occurring in deep times (snowball events, terrestrialisation, Mesozoic and early Cenozoic warm episodes, quaternary glacial cycles…) to past and on-going abrupt events. Many potential triggers of those climate and carbon cycle shifts have been proposed and tested through modeling studies, and against field data, such as those directly or indirectly linked with tectonics (plate motion, orogenesis, opening/closing of seaways, weathering…) and orbital forcing. Given that the Earth climate is currently experiencing an unprecedented transition under anthropogenic pressure, understanding the mechanisms behind the scene is crucial.
Our aim is to point out the most recent results concerning how a complex system as the climate of the Earth has undergone many tipping points and what is the specificity of the future climate changes. Therefore, within this session, we would like to encourage talks discussing advances in our record and modeling of the forces triggering and amplifying the changes of Earth climate and carbon cycle across spatial and temporal scales.
This session aims to bridge the existing gap between the process-focused fields (hydrology, geomorphology, soil sciences, natural hazards, planetary science, geo-biology, archaeology) and the technical domain (engineering, computer vision, machine learning, and statistics) where terrain analysis approaches are developed.
The rapid growth of survey technologies and computing advances and the increase of data acquisition from various sources (platforms and sensors) has led to a vast data swamp with unprecedented spatio-temporal range, density, and resolution (from submeter to global scale data), which requires efficient data processing to extract suitable information. The challenge is now the interpretation of surface morphology for a better understanding of processes at a variety of scales, from micro, to local, to global.
We aim to foster inter-disciplinarity with a focus on new techniques in digital terrain analysis and production from any discipline which touches on geomorphometry, including but not exclusive to geomorphology (e.g., tectonic/volcanic/climatic/glacial), planetary science, archaeology, geo-biology, natural hazards, computer vision, remote sensing, image processing.
We invite submissions related to the successful application of geomorphometric methods, innovative geomorphometric variables as well as their physical, mathematical and geographical meanings. Submissions related to new techniques in high-resolution terrain or global scale data production and analysis, independent of the subject, as well as studies focused on the associated error and uncertainty analyses, are also welcome. We actively encourage contributors to present work “in development”, as well as established techniques being used in a novel way. We strongly encourage young scientists to contribute and help drive innovation in our community, presenting their work to this session.
We want to foster collaboration and the sharing of ideas across subject-boundaries, between technique developers and users, enabling us as a community to fully exploit the wealth of knowledge inherent in our digital landscape. Just remember, the driver for new ideas and applications often comes from another speciality, discipline or subject: Your solution may already be out there waiting for you!
Geoscience witnessed a flurry of major breakthroughs in the 19th and 20th century, leading to major shifts in our understanding of the Earth system. Such breakthroughs included new concepts, such as plate tectonics and sequence stratigraphy, and new techniques, like radiometric dating and remote sensing. However, the pace of these discoveries has declined, raising the question of whether we have now made all of the key geoscience breakthroughs. Put another way, have we reached “Peak Geoscience” and are we now in a time of synthesis, incremental development and consolidation? Or are there new breakthroughs on the horizon? If so what will these developments be?
One key remaining challenge is the management of the inherent uncertainties in geoscience. Despite the importance of understanding uncertainty, it is often neglected by interpreters, geomodellers and experimentalists. With ever-more powerful computers and the advent of big data analytics and machine learning, our ability to quantify uncertainty in geological interpretation, models and experiments will be crucial.
This session aims to bring together those with an interest in the future of geoscience. We welcome contributions from any field of geoscience which either demonstrate a new, disruptive geoscience breakthrough or provide insights into where the next breakthrough will come. We encourage contributions associated with uncertainty in geoscience models and data, machine learning or big data analytics.
'Cosmic rays’ collectively describe particles that bombard the Earth from space. They carry information about space and, once near the Earth, interact with the magnetosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere and lithosphere. Secondary cosmic rays created within the atmosphere can provide information about our planet that is vital to science and society. Secondary neutron radiation plays an extraordinary role, as it not only carries information about solar activity, but also produces short and long living tracer isotopes, influences genetic information of living organisms, and is extraordinarily sensitive to hydrogen and therefore also to water. Given the vast spectrum of interactions of cosmic rays with matter in different parts of the Earth, cosmic-ray research ranges from studies of the solar system to the history of the Earth, and from health and security issues to hydrology and climate change.
Although research on cosmic-ray particles is connected to a variety of disciplines and applications, they all share similar questions and problems regarding the physics of detection, modeling, and environmental factors that influence the intensity. Questions that all disciplines have in common are, for example, “How does the cosmic-ray intensity and energy spectra change with time and location on Earth?”, “How to correct the signal for magnetospheric or atmospheric fluctuations?”, “What is the influence of local structures, water bodies, and surface conditions?”, “Which computer model for cosmic-ray propagation is correct?”, or “What can we learn from other types of cosmic-ray particles?”.
The session brings together scientists from all fields of research that are related to monitoring and modeling of cosmogenic radiation. It will allow sharing of expertise amongst international researchers as well as showcase recent advancements in their field. The session aims to stimulate discussions about how individual disciplines can share their knowledge and benefit from each other.
We solicit contributions related but not limited to:
- Health, security, and radiation protection: cosmic-ray dosimetry on Earth and its dependence on environmental and atmospheric factors
- Planetary space science: satellite and ground-based neutron and gamma-ray sensors to detect water and soil chemistry
- Neutron monitor research: detection of high-energy cosmic rays variations and its dependence on local and atmospheric factors
- Hydrology and climate change: low-energy neutron sensing to measure water in reservoirs at and near the land surface, such as soils, snow pack and vegetation
- Cosmogenic nuclides: as tracers of atmospheric circulation and mixing; as a tool in archaeology or glaciology for dating of ice and measuring ablation rates; and as a tool for surface exposure dating and measuring rates of surficial geological processes
- Detector design: technological advancements for the detection of cosmic rays
- Cosmic-ray modeling: advances in modeling of the cosmic-ray propagation through the magnetosphere and atmosphere, and their response to the Earth’s surface
- Impact modeling: How can cosmic-ray monitoring support environmental models, weather and climate forecasting, irrigation management, and the assessment of natural hazards
Remote sensing and Earth Observations (EO) are used increasingly in the different phases of the risk management and in development cooperation, due to the challenges posed by contemporary issues such as climate change, population pressure and increasingly complex social interactions. EO-based applications have a number of advantages over traditional fieldwork expeditions including safety, the provision a synoptic view of the region of interest, the availability of data extending back several years and, in many cases, cost savings. Fortunately, the advent of new, more powerful sensors and more finely tuned detection algorithms provide the opportunity to image, assess and quantify natural hazards, their consequences, and vulnerable regions, more comprehensively than ever before.
For these reasons, the civil protections, the development agencies and space agencies have now inserted permanently into their programs applications of EO data to risk management. In particular, the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS) has a permanent working group on Disasters that supports and promotes the use of EO data for Disaster Risk management (DRM). During the preparedness and prevention phase EO revealed, especially in data scarce environments, fundamental for hazard, vulnerability and risk mapping. EO data intervenes both in the emergency forecast and early emergency response, thanks to the potential of rapid mapping. EO data is also increasingly being used for mapping useful information for planning interventions in the recovery phase, giving to managers and emergency officials a wealth of time-continuous information for assessment and analysis of natural hazards, from small to large regions around the globe. In this framework, CEOS has been working from several years on disasters management related to natural hazards (e.g., volcanic, seismic, landslide and flooding ones), including pilots, demonstrators, recovery observatory concepts, Geohazard Supersites and Natural Laboratory (GSNL) initiatives and multi-hazard management projects.
The session is dedicated to multidisciplinary contributions especially focused on the demonstration of the benefit of the use of EO for the risk management, with an operational user-oriented perspective.
The research presented might focus on:
- Addressed value of EO data in risk/hazard forecasting models (observation of possible precursory events and evaluation of potential predictive capabilities)
- Innovative applications of EO data for rapid mapping.
- Innovative applications of EO data for hazard, vulnerability and risk mapping.
- Innovative applications of EO data for the post-disaster recovery phase.
- Innovative applications in support to disaster risk reduction strategies (eg. landscape planning).
- Development of tools and platforms for assessment and validation of hazard/risk models
The use of different types of remote sensing (e.g. thermal, visual, radar, laser, and/or the fusion of these) might be considered, with an evaluation of their respective pros and cons. Evaluation of current sensors, data capabilities and algorithms will be welcomed, as will suggestions for future sensor considerations, algorithm developments and opportunities for emergency management agency buy-in.
Early stage researchers are strongly encouraged to present their research. Moreover, contributions from international cooperation, such as CEOS and GEO initiatives, are welcome.
Public information:
Plan S, devised by a coalition of research funders with support from the European Commission and European Research Council, demands that by January 1, 2020 research supported by participating funders must be published in Open Access journals. Representatives from subscription-based and Open Access publishers, architects of Plan S, and researchers affected by it will debate questions surrounding the implementation of the plan and its consequences.
The panelists are David Sweeney, Heike Langenberg, Marc Schiltz and Brooks Hanson. They will present the case for and against mandatory OA followed by an open debate with questions and comments from the audience.
David Sweeney is Executive Chair of Research England, the biggest research funder in the UK. He has been invited to visit many countries to advise on research assessment and funding, particularly with respect to research impact. He is also co-chair of the Implementation Task Force for Plan S, the international initiative on full and immediate open access to research publications.
Heike Langenberg is the Chief Editor of Nature Geoscience. She started her editorial career in 1999 as an Associate, then Senior Editor at Nature handling manuscripts in the broad area of climate sciences. In 2007 she moved to Nature Geoscience to launch the journal in January 2008. A graduate in mathematics of the Philipps-Universität Marburg, Germany, she ventured into oceanography for her PhD at the University of Hamburg. Her postdoctoral research at various research institutes in Hamburg was focused on numerical simulations of the ocean and atmosphere at a regional scale.
Marc Schiltz is president of Science Europe, the European association of all major national public research funding and research performing organisations. In this role, he has contributed to setting the European agenda to foster Open Science and is one of the architects of Plan S. He is also leading the Luxembourg National Research Fund. He is a relentless advocate of science and research, serving on a number of external boards and committees, both at the national and international level. Having received a PhD in Crystallography from the University of Paris-Sud and an executive MBA from INSEAD, Marc has been active in research and higher education for more than 25 years and held research and faculty positions in several European countries.
Brooks Hanson is the Executive Vice President for Science for the American Geophysical Union (AGU), responsible for AGU’s publications, meetings, ethics and data programs, and Thriving Earth Exchange. He previously acted as Sr. Vice President for Publications at AGU, where he was responsible for AGU's portfolio of books and 21 journals and served as Deputy Editor for Physical Sciences at Science. Brooks received a Ph.D. in Geology from UCLA and held a post-doctoral appointment at the Department of Mineral Sciences at the Smithsonian Institution.
Public information:
The dialogue between scientists, institutions, policymakers and the general public is widely recognised as an essential step towards a fair and sustainable society. Nowadays, more than ever in human history, international cooperation is an essential requirement for protecting the planet, advancing science and ensuring an equitable development of the global economy.
Despite its importance, the above dialogue can be a challenge for scientists, who often cannot find a productive connection with governments and politicians. Scientific associations are a key link between researchers and policy makers, as they have the potential to establish a durable and profitable connection with institutions.
The EGU elected the dialogue with society as one of its priority missions. At its General Assembly, the EGU is launching an innovative symposium format, Science and Society (SCS), to host scientific forums specifically dedicated to connecting with high-level institutions and engaging the public and policymakers.
The conversation with Ilaria Capua and Mario Monti will focus on science and politics with a global perspective, and the impact of populism on European integrity and therefore scientific research. The discussion will elaborate on optimal strategies to deliver topical and clear scientific messages to key institutions.
Ilaria Capua is a virologist best known for her research on influenza viruses and her efforts promoting open access to genetic information on emerging viruses. In 2006, Science reported on Capua’s effort towards open access science, stating that she had “renewed the debate about how to balance global health against scientists’ needs to publish and countries’ demands for secrecy". She has been a member of the Italian parliament from 2013 to 2016 and a fake news victim. She is currently a full professor at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, US, and director of the UF One Health Center of Excellence.
Mario Monti served as a European Commissioner from 1995 to 2004, with responsibility for the internal market, services, customs, taxation and competition. He was Prime Minister of Italy from 2011 to 2013, leading a government of national unity to cope with the Italian debt crisis. Monti has also been Rector and is currently President of Bocconi University in Milan. His publications deal mainly with monetary and financial economics, public finance, European integration, competition policy. He is currently lifetime member of the Italian Senate.
During the conversation, Ilaria Capua and Mario Monti will present their vision with two 15-minute talks that will be followed by 20 minutes dedicated to questions from the audience and answers.
In October 2018, the IPCC published its special report on impacts of global warming of 1.5 deg C. Another recent, highly publicised study suggests that the planet could pass an irreversible threshold into a so called “Hothouse Earth” state for a temperature increase of as low as 2 degrees C above pre-industrial temperatures, while other studies and commentaries have emphasised the urgency on climate action, arguing that 2020 must be a turning point for global fossil fuel emissions, to increase the chance of maintaining a safe operating space for the humans on the planet. In 2018, the IPCC celebrated its 30th anniversary. The importance of taking action on human-induced climate change has been emphasised with governments around the world since the 1990s yet CO2 concentrations continue to rise and international initiatives have, to date, had limited and insufficient impact to avert some of the most serious consequences of climate change.
How close are we to one or more critical thresholds (cliff edge)? Is there time to avert passing one or more of these thresholds? What can the geoscience community do to reduce the risks? How important is bottom up versus top down action to ensuring the least worst outcome? These are some of the questions we will debate with world experts in their field and authors of the thought papers on these topics.
Public information:
In October 2018, the IPCC published its special report on impacts of global warming of 1.5 deg C. Another recent, highly publicised study suggests that the planet could pass an irreversible threshold into a so called “Hothouse Earth” state for a temperature increase of as low as 2 degrees C above pre-industrial temperatures.
In 2018, the IPCC celebrated its 30th anniversary. The importance of taking action on human-induced climate change has been emphasised with governments around the world since the 1990s yet CO2 concentrations continue to rise and international initiatives have, to date, had limited and insufficient impact to avert some of the most serious consequences of climate change that may pose an existential threat to modern civilisation.
How close are we to one or more critical thresholds? Is there time to avert passing one or more of them? What can the geoscience community do to reduce the risks? How important is bottom up versus top down action to ensuring the least worst outcome? These are some of the questions we will debate with world experts in their field and authors of the thought papers on these topics.
The Great Debate panellists are:
Prof. Myles Allen is Professor of Geosystem Science in the Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford. His research focuses on how human and natural influences on climate contribute to observed climate change and risks of extreme weather and in quantifying their implications for long-range climate forecasts. He was a Coordinating Lead Author on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Special Report on 1.5 degrees, having served on the IPCC’s 3rd, 4th and 5th Assessments, including the Synthesis Report Core Writing Team in 2014.
Prof. Sabine Fuss, Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change (MCC), Berlin. Sabine is an economist, currently leading a working group at the MCC. She holds a professorship on Sustainable Resource Management and Global Change at Humboldt University of Berlin. Her research interests are in sustainable development, land use change and climate change mitigation. She has been an IPCC Lead Author for the Special Report on 1.5°C global warming, serves on the steering committee of the Global Carbon Project and is a guest scholar at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis.
Erica Hope leads the cross-sectoral ‘2050 Task Force’ and governance programme of the European Climate Foundation (ECF) in Brussels, which seeks to build knowledge, political strategies and coalitions to drive the transition to a zero emissions society by mid-century. Erica has previously worked for the energy efficiency and UK programmes of the ECF, and before that led the policy and advocacy activities of NGO network Climate Action Network Europe on energy efficiency. From 2005-2009 she was researcher to Green MEP Caroline Lucas, and has also worked at the Institute for Public Policy Research in London.
Prof. Linda Steg is professor of environmental psychology at the University of Groningen. She studies factors influencing sustainable behaviour, the effects and acceptability of strategies aimed at promoting sustainable behaviour, and public perceptions of technology and system changes. She is member of Member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences (KNAW), and lead author of the IPCC special report on 1.5°C and AR6. She works on various interdisciplinary and international research programmes, and collaborates with practitioners working in industry, governments and NGOs.
Plastic pollution is recognized as one of the most serious and urgent problems facing our planet. Rates of manufacture, use and ultimately disposal of plastics continue to soar, posing an enormous threat to the planet’s oceans and rivers and the flora and fauna they support. There is an urgent need for global action, backed by sound scientific understanding, to tackle this problem.
This Union Symposium will address the problems posed to our planet by plastic pollution, and examine options for dealing with the threat.
Over the whole Earth history, the climate has encountered tipping points, shifting from one regulated system to the other. This tilting motion affects both climate and the carbon cycle and has played a major role in the evolution of the Earth climate, at all timescales. Earth History has been ponctuated by large climate changes and carbon cycle reorganizations, from large climate variations occurring in deep times (snowball events, terrestrialisation, Mesozoic and early Cenozoic warm episodes, quaternary glacial cycles…) to past and on-going abrupt events. Many potential triggers of those climate and carbon cycle shifts have been proposed and tested through modeling studies, and against field data, such as those directly or indirectly linked with tectonics (plate motion, orogenesis, opening/closing of seaways, weathering…) and orbital forcing. Given that the Earth climate is currently experiencing an unprecedented transition under anthropogenic pressure, understanding the mechanisms behind the scene is crucial.
Our aim is to point out the most recent results concerning how a complex system as the climate of the Earth has undergone many tipping points and what is the specificity of the future climate changes. Therefore, within this session, we would like to encourage talks discussing advances in our record and modeling of the forces triggering and amplifying the changes of Earth climate and carbon cycle across spatial and temporal scales.
This session aims to bridge the existing gap between the process-focused fields (hydrology, geomorphology, soil sciences, natural hazards, planetary science, geo-biology, archaeology) and the technical domain (engineering, computer vision, machine learning, and statistics) where terrain analysis approaches are developed.
The rapid growth of survey technologies and computing advances and the increase of data acquisition from various sources (platforms and sensors) has led to a vast data swamp with unprecedented spatio-temporal range, density, and resolution (from submeter to global scale data), which requires efficient data processing to extract suitable information. The challenge is now the interpretation of surface morphology for a better understanding of processes at a variety of scales, from micro, to local, to global.
We aim to foster inter-disciplinarity with a focus on new techniques in digital terrain analysis and production from any discipline which touches on geomorphometry, including but not exclusive to geomorphology (e.g., tectonic/volcanic/climatic/glacial), planetary science, archaeology, geo-biology, natural hazards, computer vision, remote sensing, image processing.
We invite submissions related to the successful application of geomorphometric methods, innovative geomorphometric variables as well as their physical, mathematical and geographical meanings. Submissions related to new techniques in high-resolution terrain or global scale data production and analysis, independent of the subject, as well as studies focused on the associated error and uncertainty analyses, are also welcome. We actively encourage contributors to present work “in development”, as well as established techniques being used in a novel way. We strongly encourage young scientists to contribute and help drive innovation in our community, presenting their work to this session.
We want to foster collaboration and the sharing of ideas across subject-boundaries, between technique developers and users, enabling us as a community to fully exploit the wealth of knowledge inherent in our digital landscape. Just remember, the driver for new ideas and applications often comes from another speciality, discipline or subject: Your solution may already be out there waiting for you!
What role did climate dynamics play in human evolution, the dispersal of Homo sapiens within and beyond the African continent, and key cultural innovations? Were dry spells, stable humid conditions, or rapid climate fluctuations the main driver of human evolution and migration? In order to evaluate the impact that different timescales and magnitudes of climatic shifts might have had on the living conditions of prehistoric humans, we need reliable and continuous reconstructions of paleoenvironmental conditions and fluctuations from the vicinity of paleoanthropological and archaeological sites. The search for the environmental context of human evolution and mobility crucially depends on the interpretation of paleoclimate archives from outcrop geology, lacustrine and marine sediments. Linking archeological data to paleoenvironmental reconstructions and models becomes increasingly important.
As a contribution towards a better understanding of these human-climate interactions the conveners encourage submission of abstracts on their project’s research on (geo)archaeology, paleoecology, paleoclimate, stratigraphy, and paleoenvironmental reconstructions. We especially welcome contributions offering new methods for dealing with difficult archive conditions and dating challenges. We hope this session will appeal to a broad audience by highlighting the latest research on paleoenvironmental reconstructions in the vicinity of key sites of human evolution, showcasing a wide variety of analytical methods, and encouraging collaboration between different research groups. Conceptual models, modelling results and model-data comparisons are warmly welcomed, as collaborative and interdisciplinary research.
Prof. Dr. Daniel M. Deocampo (Department of Geosciences, Georgia State University, Atlanta) will talk on 'Silicate diagenesis and environmental change in eastern Africa: Examples from key hominin localities'.
Dr. Alice Leplongeon (Institute of Advanced Studies & Department of Cultural Heritage, University of Bologna) will talk about how technological variability, environmental change, and human dispersals may be linked, particularly in the Late Pleistocene in eastern Africa, north-eastern Africa and the Levant.
Arid to sub-humid regions contribute ca. 40 % to the global land surface and are home of more than 40 % of the world’s population. During prehistoric times many important cultures had developed in these regions. Due to the high sensitivity of dryland areas even to small-scale environmental changes and anthropogenic activities, ongoing geomorphological processes but also the Late Quaternary palaeoenvironmental evolution as recorded in sediment archives are becoming increasingly relevant for geomorphological, palaeoenvironmental and geoarchaeological research. Dryland research is also boosted by methodological advances, and especially by emerging linkages with other climatic and geomorphic systems that allow using dryland areas as indicator-regions of global environmental change.
This session aims to pool contributions from the broad field of earth sciences that deal with geomorphological processes and different types of sediment archives in dryland areas (dunes, loess, slope deposits, fluvial sediments, alluvial fans, lake and playa sediments, desert pavements, soils, paleosols etc.) at different spatial and temporal scales. Besides case studies from individual regions and archives, methodical and conceptual contributions, e.g. dealing with the special role of eolian, fluvial, gravitational and biological processes in dryland environments, their preservation over time in the sedimentary records, and emerging opportunities and limitations to resolve past and current dynamics, are especially welcome in this session.
Geoscience witnessed a flurry of major breakthroughs in the 19th and 20th century, leading to major shifts in our understanding of the Earth system. Such breakthroughs included new concepts, such as plate tectonics and sequence stratigraphy, and new techniques, like radiometric dating and remote sensing. However, the pace of these discoveries has declined, raising the question of whether we have now made all of the key geoscience breakthroughs. Put another way, have we reached “Peak Geoscience” and are we now in a time of synthesis, incremental development and consolidation? Or are there new breakthroughs on the horizon? If so what will these developments be?
One key remaining challenge is the management of the inherent uncertainties in geoscience. Despite the importance of understanding uncertainty, it is often neglected by interpreters, geomodellers and experimentalists. With ever-more powerful computers and the advent of big data analytics and machine learning, our ability to quantify uncertainty in geological interpretation, models and experiments will be crucial.
This session aims to bring together those with an interest in the future of geoscience. We welcome contributions from any field of geoscience which either demonstrate a new, disruptive geoscience breakthrough or provide insights into where the next breakthrough will come. We encourage contributions associated with uncertainty in geoscience models and data, machine learning or big data analytics.
The Anthropocene is a topic of broad and current interest that is being discussed across various disciplines, within Earth Sciences, but also in the humanities and in the media. Its significance and usefulness as the youngest epoch of the Geological Time Scale is examined by the Working Group of the Anthropocene of the Subcommission on Quaternary Stratigraphy, part of the International Commission on Stratigraphy. A multidisciplinary and transdisciplinary approach for investigating and discussing the Anthropocene is feasible, including not only various Earth Sciences disciplines such as stratigraphy, sedimentology, geochemistry and palaeontology, but also archaeology, geography, geomorphology and various disciplines of the humanities and the arts. This session invites transdisciplinary and interdisciplinary contributions on the significance, usefulness and application of the term, as well as case studies including proposals on possible GSSPs (Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point) for a definition of the Anthropocene as part of the Geological Time Scale. The session will foster transdisciplinary dialogue and interdisciplinary cooperation and understanding on the scale and reach of anthropogenic changes within the Earth System.
Plastic contamination has been reported in all realms of the environment from the tropics to the polar oceans. The consequences of this contamination may be severe for ecosystems and could adversely affect ecosystem services such as fisheries and even human health. Our poor knowledge of plastics sources, their composition, sizes, pathways, hot spots of accumulation and ultimate fate prevents an assessment of environmental risks and the development of appropriate mitigation strategies. In order to understand current distributions of plastics and the way they evolve in space and time, much better observations and common consistent measuring methods are required but simultaneously, observations must be combined with computational models from their sources on land to rivers, estuaries, oceans and sea ice. This requires improved standardized accurate observations and the development of advanced modelling capabilities to quantify and predict contamination levels.
The session aims to set up a forum for multi-disciplinary discussions to create a global picture of plastic contamination in the environment and to suggest approaches for future research, monitoring and mitigation of plastic pollutions impacts. The session will provide a framework to advise legislators and industry on the best ways to reduce the risks of serious damage from this contaminant.
This session will draw together data on plastic contamination across all sizes of plastics, from nano- and micro-plastics to large plastic fragments, and across all environments and locations. It will combine observations with state-of-the-art computational modelling to promote the fast advance of research and improve our understanding of how plastic pollution affects environments worldwide. We invite contributions on new methods and field observations, laboratory experiments, novel modelling approaches, related scientific initiatives and projects. New ideas for citizen-science involvement and for mitigation strategies to reduce plastic contamination of the environment are especially welcome.
The Tibetan Plateau and surrounding mountain regions, known as the Third Pole, cover an area of > 5 million km2 and are considered to be the water tower of Asia. The Pan Third Pole expands on both the north-south and the east-west directions, going across the Tibetan Plateau, Pamir, Hindu Kush, Iran Plateau, Caucasian and Carpathian, and covering an area of about 20 million km2. Like the Arctic and Antarctica, the Pan Third Pole’s environment is extremely sensitive to global climate change. In recent years, scientists from around the globe have increased observational, remote sensing and numerical modeling research related to the Pan Third Pole in an effort to quantify and predict past, current and future scenarios. Co-sponsored by TPE (www.tpe.ac.cn), this session is dedicated to studies of Pan Third Pole atmosphere, cryosphere, hydrosphere, and biosphere and their interactions with global change. Related contributions are welcomed.
Documenting the diversity of human responses and adaptations to climate, landscapes, ecosystems, natural disasters and the changing natural resources availability in different regions of our planet, cross-disciplinary studies in Geoarchaeology provide valuable opportunities to learn from the past. Furthermore, human activity became a major player of global climatic and environmental change in the course of the late Quaternary, during the Anthropocene. Consequently, we must better understand the archaeological records and landscapes in context of human culture and the hydroclimate-environment nexus at different spatial and temporal scales. This session seeks related interdisciplinary papers and specific geoarchaeological case-studies that deploy various approaches and tools to address the reconstruction of former human-environmental interactions from the Palaeolithic period through the modern. Topics related to records of the Anthropocene from Earth and archaeological science perspectives are welcome. Furthermore, contributions may include (but are not limited to) insights about how people have coped with environmental disasters or abrupt changes in the past; defining sustainability thresholds for farming or resource exploitation; distinguishing the baseline natural and human contributions to environmental changes. Ultimately, we would like to understand how strategies of human resilience and innovation can inform our modern strategies for addressing the challenges of the emerging Anthropocene, a time frame dominated by human modulation of surface geomorphological processes and hydroclimate.
Public information:
Plan S, devised by a coalition of research funders with support from the European Commission and European Research Council, demands that by January 1, 2020 research supported by participating funders must be published in Open Access journals. Representatives from subscription-based and Open Access publishers, architects of Plan S, and researchers affected by it will debate questions surrounding the implementation of the plan and its consequences.
The panelists are David Sweeney, Heike Langenberg, Marc Schiltz and Brooks Hanson. They will present the case for and against mandatory OA followed by an open debate with questions and comments from the audience.
David Sweeney is Executive Chair of Research England, the biggest research funder in the UK. He has been invited to visit many countries to advise on research assessment and funding, particularly with respect to research impact. He is also co-chair of the Implementation Task Force for Plan S, the international initiative on full and immediate open access to research publications.
Heike Langenberg is the Chief Editor of Nature Geoscience. She started her editorial career in 1999 as an Associate, then Senior Editor at Nature handling manuscripts in the broad area of climate sciences. In 2007 she moved to Nature Geoscience to launch the journal in January 2008. A graduate in mathematics of the Philipps-Universität Marburg, Germany, she ventured into oceanography for her PhD at the University of Hamburg. Her postdoctoral research at various research institutes in Hamburg was focused on numerical simulations of the ocean and atmosphere at a regional scale.
Marc Schiltz is president of Science Europe, the European association of all major national public research funding and research performing organisations. In this role, he has contributed to setting the European agenda to foster Open Science and is one of the architects of Plan S. He is also leading the Luxembourg National Research Fund. He is a relentless advocate of science and research, serving on a number of external boards and committees, both at the national and international level. Having received a PhD in Crystallography from the University of Paris-Sud and an executive MBA from INSEAD, Marc has been active in research and higher education for more than 25 years and held research and faculty positions in several European countries.
Brooks Hanson is the Executive Vice President for Science for the American Geophysical Union (AGU), responsible for AGU’s publications, meetings, ethics and data programs, and Thriving Earth Exchange. He previously acted as Sr. Vice President for Publications at AGU, where he was responsible for AGU's portfolio of books and 21 journals and served as Deputy Editor for Physical Sciences at Science. Brooks received a Ph.D. in Geology from UCLA and held a post-doctoral appointment at the Department of Mineral Sciences at the Smithsonian Institution.
Public information:
The dialogue between scientists, institutions, policymakers and the general public is widely recognised as an essential step towards a fair and sustainable society. Nowadays, more than ever in human history, international cooperation is an essential requirement for protecting the planet, advancing science and ensuring an equitable development of the global economy.
Despite its importance, the above dialogue can be a challenge for scientists, who often cannot find a productive connection with governments and politicians. Scientific associations are a key link between researchers and policy makers, as they have the potential to establish a durable and profitable connection with institutions.
The EGU elected the dialogue with society as one of its priority missions. At its General Assembly, the EGU is launching an innovative symposium format, Science and Society (SCS), to host scientific forums specifically dedicated to connecting with high-level institutions and engaging the public and policymakers.
The conversation with Ilaria Capua and Mario Monti will focus on science and politics with a global perspective, and the impact of populism on European integrity and therefore scientific research. The discussion will elaborate on optimal strategies to deliver topical and clear scientific messages to key institutions.
Ilaria Capua is a virologist best known for her research on influenza viruses and her efforts promoting open access to genetic information on emerging viruses. In 2006, Science reported on Capua’s effort towards open access science, stating that she had “renewed the debate about how to balance global health against scientists’ needs to publish and countries’ demands for secrecy". She has been a member of the Italian parliament from 2013 to 2016 and a fake news victim. She is currently a full professor at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, US, and director of the UF One Health Center of Excellence.
Mario Monti served as a European Commissioner from 1995 to 2004, with responsibility for the internal market, services, customs, taxation and competition. He was Prime Minister of Italy from 2011 to 2013, leading a government of national unity to cope with the Italian debt crisis. Monti has also been Rector and is currently President of Bocconi University in Milan. His publications deal mainly with monetary and financial economics, public finance, European integration, competition policy. He is currently lifetime member of the Italian Senate.
During the conversation, Ilaria Capua and Mario Monti will present their vision with two 15-minute talks that will be followed by 20 minutes dedicated to questions from the audience and answers.
In October 2018, the IPCC published its special report on impacts of global warming of 1.5 deg C. Another recent, highly publicised study suggests that the planet could pass an irreversible threshold into a so called “Hothouse Earth” state for a temperature increase of as low as 2 degrees C above pre-industrial temperatures, while other studies and commentaries have emphasised the urgency on climate action, arguing that 2020 must be a turning point for global fossil fuel emissions, to increase the chance of maintaining a safe operating space for the humans on the planet. In 2018, the IPCC celebrated its 30th anniversary. The importance of taking action on human-induced climate change has been emphasised with governments around the world since the 1990s yet CO2 concentrations continue to rise and international initiatives have, to date, had limited and insufficient impact to avert some of the most serious consequences of climate change.
How close are we to one or more critical thresholds (cliff edge)? Is there time to avert passing one or more of these thresholds? What can the geoscience community do to reduce the risks? How important is bottom up versus top down action to ensuring the least worst outcome? These are some of the questions we will debate with world experts in their field and authors of the thought papers on these topics.
Public information:
In October 2018, the IPCC published its special report on impacts of global warming of 1.5 deg C. Another recent, highly publicised study suggests that the planet could pass an irreversible threshold into a so called “Hothouse Earth” state for a temperature increase of as low as 2 degrees C above pre-industrial temperatures.
In 2018, the IPCC celebrated its 30th anniversary. The importance of taking action on human-induced climate change has been emphasised with governments around the world since the 1990s yet CO2 concentrations continue to rise and international initiatives have, to date, had limited and insufficient impact to avert some of the most serious consequences of climate change that may pose an existential threat to modern civilisation.
How close are we to one or more critical thresholds? Is there time to avert passing one or more of them? What can the geoscience community do to reduce the risks? How important is bottom up versus top down action to ensuring the least worst outcome? These are some of the questions we will debate with world experts in their field and authors of the thought papers on these topics.
The Great Debate panellists are:
Prof. Myles Allen is Professor of Geosystem Science in the Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford. His research focuses on how human and natural influences on climate contribute to observed climate change and risks of extreme weather and in quantifying their implications for long-range climate forecasts. He was a Coordinating Lead Author on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Special Report on 1.5 degrees, having served on the IPCC’s 3rd, 4th and 5th Assessments, including the Synthesis Report Core Writing Team in 2014.
Prof. Sabine Fuss, Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change (MCC), Berlin. Sabine is an economist, currently leading a working group at the MCC. She holds a professorship on Sustainable Resource Management and Global Change at Humboldt University of Berlin. Her research interests are in sustainable development, land use change and climate change mitigation. She has been an IPCC Lead Author for the Special Report on 1.5°C global warming, serves on the steering committee of the Global Carbon Project and is a guest scholar at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis.
Erica Hope leads the cross-sectoral ‘2050 Task Force’ and governance programme of the European Climate Foundation (ECF) in Brussels, which seeks to build knowledge, political strategies and coalitions to drive the transition to a zero emissions society by mid-century. Erica has previously worked for the energy efficiency and UK programmes of the ECF, and before that led the policy and advocacy activities of NGO network Climate Action Network Europe on energy efficiency. From 2005-2009 she was researcher to Green MEP Caroline Lucas, and has also worked at the Institute for Public Policy Research in London.
Prof. Linda Steg is professor of environmental psychology at the University of Groningen. She studies factors influencing sustainable behaviour, the effects and acceptability of strategies aimed at promoting sustainable behaviour, and public perceptions of technology and system changes. She is member of Member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences (KNAW), and lead author of the IPCC special report on 1.5°C and AR6. She works on various interdisciplinary and international research programmes, and collaborates with practitioners working in industry, governments and NGOs.
Plastic pollution is recognized as one of the most serious and urgent problems facing our planet. Rates of manufacture, use and ultimately disposal of plastics continue to soar, posing an enormous threat to the planet’s oceans and rivers and the flora and fauna they support. There is an urgent need for global action, backed by sound scientific understanding, to tackle this problem.
This Union Symposium will address the problems posed to our planet by plastic pollution, and examine options for dealing with the threat.
Over the whole Earth history, the climate has encountered tipping points, shifting from one regulated system to the other. This tilting motion affects both climate and the carbon cycle and has played a major role in the evolution of the Earth climate, at all timescales. Earth History has been ponctuated by large climate changes and carbon cycle reorganizations, from large climate variations occurring in deep times (snowball events, terrestrialisation, Mesozoic and early Cenozoic warm episodes, quaternary glacial cycles…) to past and on-going abrupt events. Many potential triggers of those climate and carbon cycle shifts have been proposed and tested through modeling studies, and against field data, such as those directly or indirectly linked with tectonics (plate motion, orogenesis, opening/closing of seaways, weathering…) and orbital forcing. Given that the Earth climate is currently experiencing an unprecedented transition under anthropogenic pressure, understanding the mechanisms behind the scene is crucial.
Our aim is to point out the most recent results concerning how a complex system as the climate of the Earth has undergone many tipping points and what is the specificity of the future climate changes. Therefore, within this session, we would like to encourage talks discussing advances in our record and modeling of the forces triggering and amplifying the changes of Earth climate and carbon cycle across spatial and temporal scales.
Transform faults form major active plate boundaries and are intrinsic features of plate tectonics and plate accretion. Submarine transforms are likely to be fundamental pathways for fluid circulation in depth, thus significantly contributing to the exchange between the lithosphere and the hydrosphere. This implies serpentinization and weathering that affect the mechanical properties in the deformation zone. An open question is the influence of the elemental exchange between the crust and ocean water on these processes, as well as the interactions with the biosphere, both at the surface and at depth. Continental transforms and strike-slip faults are often a site of major earthquakes, representing major hazards for the population. Here too, the role of weathering in the deformation zone is still unconstrained. Both types of faults are still poorly known in terms of structure, rheology and deformation. These features are seismically active zones, with large earthquakes often being recorded on the largest faults. Yet, little is known about the rupture process, seismic cyclicity and active deformation of transform faults. Recent works have shown that fracture zones, supposedly inactive features, can be reactivated and be the site of large earthquakes and deformation. Additional open questions are the way transform faults deform under far-field stresses, such as plate kinematic changes, and under more local stresses, what are the time constants of the processes and what are the primary controls of the tectonic and magmatic styles of the response. The tectonic and magmatic response of large offset transforms, particularly, is still largely unknown.
This session aims to present recent results on studies of these large features, especially on the rheology, deformation patterns, rupture processes, fluid circulation and physical properties of transform faults. We welcome observational studies on strike-slip and transform faults, both continental and oceanic, on fracture zones and on transform continental margins (structural geology and tectonics, geophysical imaging of the crust and lithosphere, petrology and geochemistry, seismology, fluid circulation and rock alteration, geodesy) as well as modelling studies, both analogue and numerical. Cross-disciplinary approaches are encouraged. The submission of abstracts divulging on-going international projects (drilling sites, seismic reflection imaging along strike-slip faults) are also welcome. This session is promoted by the Oceanic Transform Faults working group of InterRidge.
Geoscience witnessed a flurry of major breakthroughs in the 19th and 20th century, leading to major shifts in our understanding of the Earth system. Such breakthroughs included new concepts, such as plate tectonics and sequence stratigraphy, and new techniques, like radiometric dating and remote sensing. However, the pace of these discoveries has declined, raising the question of whether we have now made all of the key geoscience breakthroughs. Put another way, have we reached “Peak Geoscience” and are we now in a time of synthesis, incremental development and consolidation? Or are there new breakthroughs on the horizon? If so what will these developments be?
One key remaining challenge is the management of the inherent uncertainties in geoscience. Despite the importance of understanding uncertainty, it is often neglected by interpreters, geomodellers and experimentalists. With ever-more powerful computers and the advent of big data analytics and machine learning, our ability to quantify uncertainty in geological interpretation, models and experiments will be crucial.
This session aims to bring together those with an interest in the future of geoscience. We welcome contributions from any field of geoscience which either demonstrate a new, disruptive geoscience breakthrough or provide insights into where the next breakthrough will come. We encourage contributions associated with uncertainty in geoscience models and data, machine learning or big data analytics.
The InSight mission to Mars landed in Elysium Planitia on November 26. InSight's scientific objective is the study of the Martian interior using two seismometers, a heat flow probe and geodetical measurements. Auxiliary instruments will collect meteorological and magnetic data for at least one Martian year.
This session provides initial results from Mars, status reports of instrument deployment and relevant pre-landing science.
Subduction drives plate tectonics, generates the major proportion of subaerial volcanism, forms continents, and entrains surface material back to the deep Earth. Therefore, it is arguably the most important geodynamical phenomenon on Earth and the major driver of global geochemical cycles. Seismological data show a fascinating range in shapes of subducting slabs. Arc volcanism illustrates the complexity of geochemical and petrological phenomena associated with subduction. Surface topography provides insight in the orogenic processes related to subduction and continental collision.
Numerical and laboratory modelling studies have successfully built our understanding of many aspects of the geodynamics of subduction zones. Detailed geochemical studies, investigating compositional variation within and between volcanic arcs, provide further insights into systematic chemical processes at the slab surface and within the mantle wedge, providing constraints on thermal structures and material transport within subduction zones. However, with different technical and methodological approaches, model set-ups, inputs and material properties, and in some cases conflicting conclusions between chemical and physical models, a consistent picture of the controlling parameters of subduction-zone processes has so far not emerged.
This session aims to follow subducting lithosphere on its journey from the surface down into the Earth's mantle, and to understand the driving processes for deformation and magmatism in the over-riding plate. We aim to address topics such as: subduction initiation and dynamics; changes in mineral breakdown processes at the slab surface; the formation and migration of fluids and melts at the slab surface; primary melt generation in the wedge; subduction-related magmatism; controls on the position and width of the volcanic arc; subduction-induced seismicity; mantle wedge processes; the fate of subducted crust, sediments and volatiles; the importance of subducting seamounts, LIPs, and ridges; links between near-surface processes and slab dynamics and with regional tectonic evolution; slab delamination and break-off; the effect of subduction on mantle flow; and imaging subduction zone processes.
With this session, we aim to form an integrated picture of the subduction process, and invite contributions from a wide range of disciplines, such as geodynamics, modelling, geochemistry, petrology, volcanology and seismology, to discuss subduction zone dynamics at all scales from the surface to the lower mantle, or in applications to natural laboratories.
More than 75% of the volcanic activity on Earth occurs underwater. Recent unrest observed at many submarine volcanoes raises serious concerns regarding the level of risk posed to local communities. Many parameters of submarine to emergent volcanic activity are under active investigation, including how explosive activity varies with water depth, magma properties and magma composition. This session brings together experts from diverse disciplines to explore hazards posed to island and coastal communities as well as mechanisms of submarine to emergent volcanic activity.
The session will include presentations that integrate innovative and emerging technologies to enable focused and multi-disciplinary studies of recent and ancient eruptions and their products, as well as breakthrough developments in understanding the impact of disastrous submarine volcanic hazards on present and past societies.
We call for abstracts in the following areas:
- Identification of submarine volcanic hazards such as explosive eruptions, volcanic earthquakes, submarine landslides, hydrothermal emissions and volcanogenic tsunamis.
- Studies of the mechanics of submarine and emergent volcanic eruptions and formation of oceanic islands.
- Investigations of optimal monitoring technologies and state of the art methods that provide new insights into explorations of submarine volcanoes, which host hydrothermal systems, mineral deposits and biomediated processes.
- Recommendations for volcanic crisis management, public awareness and preparedness through an improved understanding of the hazards and impacts of submarine volcanoes.
The purpose of this session is to: (1) showcase the current state-of-the-art in global and continental scale natural hazard risk science, assessment, and application; (2) foster broader exchange of knowledge, datasets, methods, models, and good practice between scientists and practitioners working on different natural hazards and across disciplines globally; and (3) collaboratively identify future research avenues.
Reducing natural hazard risk is high on the global political agenda. For example, it is at the heart of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (and its predecessor the Hyogo Framework for Action) and the Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage Associated with Climate Change Impacts. In response, the last 5 years has seen an explosion in the number of scientific datasets, methods, and models for assessing risk at the global and continental scale. More and more, these datasets, methods and models are being applied together with stakeholders in the decision decision-making process.
We invite contributions related to all aspects of natural hazard risk assessment at the continental to global scale, including contributions focusing on single hazards, multiple hazards, or a combination or cascade of hazards. We also encourage contributions examining the use of scientific methods in practice, and the appropriate use of continental to global risk assessment data in efforts to reduce risks. Furthermore, we encourage contributions focusing on globally applicable methods, such as novel methods for using globally available datasets and models to force more local models or inform more local risk assessment.
Volcanic Islands are environments created by the growth of volcanoes in the sea, modified by geologic, environmental, biological and human activity. They are highly varied in geology, terrain, environment and social makeup. They are fragile environments in that they respond rapidly to global or local changes in a way that links geology, social activity and environment. Dealing with a complex object such as volcanic island requires a multidisciplinary approach on their on-land and submarine processes that crosses scientific, social and economic boundaries. From a geological and geophysical perspective there are numerous aspects that need to be addressed to acquire a comprehensive picture of how volcanic islands are born, grow up, evolve and die. These include their geodynamic setting, magmatism, volcanism, hydrothermalism, tectonics, and erosion and material transport, as well as their associated hazards and risks, environmental change record, or energy and economic resources. With the aim at integrating all this multidisciplinary research into a single forum of discussion, we offer this scientific session on Volcanic Islands, in which any geological and geophysical research on such complex environments will be more than welcome.
Public information:
Plan S, devised by a coalition of research funders with support from the European Commission and European Research Council, demands that by January 1, 2020 research supported by participating funders must be published in Open Access journals. Representatives from subscription-based and Open Access publishers, architects of Plan S, and researchers affected by it will debate questions surrounding the implementation of the plan and its consequences.
The panelists are David Sweeney, Heike Langenberg, Marc Schiltz and Brooks Hanson. They will present the case for and against mandatory OA followed by an open debate with questions and comments from the audience.
David Sweeney is Executive Chair of Research England, the biggest research funder in the UK. He has been invited to visit many countries to advise on research assessment and funding, particularly with respect to research impact. He is also co-chair of the Implementation Task Force for Plan S, the international initiative on full and immediate open access to research publications.
Heike Langenberg is the Chief Editor of Nature Geoscience. She started her editorial career in 1999 as an Associate, then Senior Editor at Nature handling manuscripts in the broad area of climate sciences. In 2007 she moved to Nature Geoscience to launch the journal in January 2008. A graduate in mathematics of the Philipps-Universität Marburg, Germany, she ventured into oceanography for her PhD at the University of Hamburg. Her postdoctoral research at various research institutes in Hamburg was focused on numerical simulations of the ocean and atmosphere at a regional scale.
Marc Schiltz is president of Science Europe, the European association of all major national public research funding and research performing organisations. In this role, he has contributed to setting the European agenda to foster Open Science and is one of the architects of Plan S. He is also leading the Luxembourg National Research Fund. He is a relentless advocate of science and research, serving on a number of external boards and committees, both at the national and international level. Having received a PhD in Crystallography from the University of Paris-Sud and an executive MBA from INSEAD, Marc has been active in research and higher education for more than 25 years and held research and faculty positions in several European countries.
Brooks Hanson is the Executive Vice President for Science for the American Geophysical Union (AGU), responsible for AGU’s publications, meetings, ethics and data programs, and Thriving Earth Exchange. He previously acted as Sr. Vice President for Publications at AGU, where he was responsible for AGU's portfolio of books and 21 journals and served as Deputy Editor for Physical Sciences at Science. Brooks received a Ph.D. in Geology from UCLA and held a post-doctoral appointment at the Department of Mineral Sciences at the Smithsonian Institution.
Public information:
The dialogue between scientists, institutions, policymakers and the general public is widely recognised as an essential step towards a fair and sustainable society. Nowadays, more than ever in human history, international cooperation is an essential requirement for protecting the planet, advancing science and ensuring an equitable development of the global economy.
Despite its importance, the above dialogue can be a challenge for scientists, who often cannot find a productive connection with governments and politicians. Scientific associations are a key link between researchers and policy makers, as they have the potential to establish a durable and profitable connection with institutions.
The EGU elected the dialogue with society as one of its priority missions. At its General Assembly, the EGU is launching an innovative symposium format, Science and Society (SCS), to host scientific forums specifically dedicated to connecting with high-level institutions and engaging the public and policymakers.
The conversation with Ilaria Capua and Mario Monti will focus on science and politics with a global perspective, and the impact of populism on European integrity and therefore scientific research. The discussion will elaborate on optimal strategies to deliver topical and clear scientific messages to key institutions.
Ilaria Capua is a virologist best known for her research on influenza viruses and her efforts promoting open access to genetic information on emerging viruses. In 2006, Science reported on Capua’s effort towards open access science, stating that she had “renewed the debate about how to balance global health against scientists’ needs to publish and countries’ demands for secrecy". She has been a member of the Italian parliament from 2013 to 2016 and a fake news victim. She is currently a full professor at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, US, and director of the UF One Health Center of Excellence.
Mario Monti served as a European Commissioner from 1995 to 2004, with responsibility for the internal market, services, customs, taxation and competition. He was Prime Minister of Italy from 2011 to 2013, leading a government of national unity to cope with the Italian debt crisis. Monti has also been Rector and is currently President of Bocconi University in Milan. His publications deal mainly with monetary and financial economics, public finance, European integration, competition policy. He is currently lifetime member of the Italian Senate.
During the conversation, Ilaria Capua and Mario Monti will present their vision with two 15-minute talks that will be followed by 20 minutes dedicated to questions from the audience and answers.
Progressively stricter requirements in geophysical prospecting, in urban and inter-urban monitoring make it important to look continuously for innovative solutions to new and old complex problems. In particular, investigation and monitoring of pollution, hydrological resources, energy efficiency, cultural heritage, cities and transportation infrastructures nowadays require technological and methodological innovations of geophysical and sensing techniques in order to properly understand the limits of the current state of art and to identify where possible the most convenient strategies to overcome limitations of current approaches. This goal can be achieved either with more advanced solutions in a general sense or with dedicated solutions, particularly suitable for the specific problem at hand.
Integrated prospecting, refined data processing, new models, hardware innovations, new ICT information and telecommunications systems can and should cooperate with each other in this sense. It is important that the scientific community finds a moment for considering the connection between adjacent aspects of the same problem, e.g. to achieve improved geophysical data, safe and reliable environmental and structural monitoring, improved processing as much as possible.
The session “ Innovative instrumentations, techniques, geophysical methods and models for near surface geophysics, cities and transportation infrastructures aims to propose one such moment, where multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary competences can interact with each other, possibly finding possible new ways to cooperate and to exchange experiences reciprocally to reach sustainable solutions.
In October 2018, the IPCC published its special report on impacts of global warming of 1.5 deg C. Another recent, highly publicised study suggests that the planet could pass an irreversible threshold into a so called “Hothouse Earth” state for a temperature increase of as low as 2 degrees C above pre-industrial temperatures, while other studies and commentaries have emphasised the urgency on climate action, arguing that 2020 must be a turning point for global fossil fuel emissions, to increase the chance of maintaining a safe operating space for the humans on the planet. In 2018, the IPCC celebrated its 30th anniversary. The importance of taking action on human-induced climate change has been emphasised with governments around the world since the 1990s yet CO2 concentrations continue to rise and international initiatives have, to date, had limited and insufficient impact to avert some of the most serious consequences of climate change.
How close are we to one or more critical thresholds (cliff edge)? Is there time to avert passing one or more of these thresholds? What can the geoscience community do to reduce the risks? How important is bottom up versus top down action to ensuring the least worst outcome? These are some of the questions we will debate with world experts in their field and authors of the thought papers on these topics.
Public information:
In October 2018, the IPCC published its special report on impacts of global warming of 1.5 deg C. Another recent, highly publicised study suggests that the planet could pass an irreversible threshold into a so called “Hothouse Earth” state for a temperature increase of as low as 2 degrees C above pre-industrial temperatures.
In 2018, the IPCC celebrated its 30th anniversary. The importance of taking action on human-induced climate change has been emphasised with governments around the world since the 1990s yet CO2 concentrations continue to rise and international initiatives have, to date, had limited and insufficient impact to avert some of the most serious consequences of climate change that may pose an existential threat to modern civilisation.
How close are we to one or more critical thresholds? Is there time to avert passing one or more of them? What can the geoscience community do to reduce the risks? How important is bottom up versus top down action to ensuring the least worst outcome? These are some of the questions we will debate with world experts in their field and authors of the thought papers on these topics.
The Great Debate panellists are:
Prof. Myles Allen is Professor of Geosystem Science in the Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford. His research focuses on how human and natural influences on climate contribute to observed climate change and risks of extreme weather and in quantifying their implications for long-range climate forecasts. He was a Coordinating Lead Author on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Special Report on 1.5 degrees, having served on the IPCC’s 3rd, 4th and 5th Assessments, including the Synthesis Report Core Writing Team in 2014.
Prof. Sabine Fuss, Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change (MCC), Berlin. Sabine is an economist, currently leading a working group at the MCC. She holds a professorship on Sustainable Resource Management and Global Change at Humboldt University of Berlin. Her research interests are in sustainable development, land use change and climate change mitigation. She has been an IPCC Lead Author for the Special Report on 1.5°C global warming, serves on the steering committee of the Global Carbon Project and is a guest scholar at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis.
Erica Hope leads the cross-sectoral ‘2050 Task Force’ and governance programme of the European Climate Foundation (ECF) in Brussels, which seeks to build knowledge, political strategies and coalitions to drive the transition to a zero emissions society by mid-century. Erica has previously worked for the energy efficiency and UK programmes of the ECF, and before that led the policy and advocacy activities of NGO network Climate Action Network Europe on energy efficiency. From 2005-2009 she was researcher to Green MEP Caroline Lucas, and has also worked at the Institute for Public Policy Research in London.
Prof. Linda Steg is professor of environmental psychology at the University of Groningen. She studies factors influencing sustainable behaviour, the effects and acceptability of strategies aimed at promoting sustainable behaviour, and public perceptions of technology and system changes. She is member of Member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences (KNAW), and lead author of the IPCC special report on 1.5°C and AR6. She works on various interdisciplinary and international research programmes, and collaborates with practitioners working in industry, governments and NGOs.
Plastic pollution is recognized as one of the most serious and urgent problems facing our planet. Rates of manufacture, use and ultimately disposal of plastics continue to soar, posing an enormous threat to the planet’s oceans and rivers and the flora and fauna they support. There is an urgent need for global action, backed by sound scientific understanding, to tackle this problem.
This Union Symposium will address the problems posed to our planet by plastic pollution, and examine options for dealing with the threat.
Over the whole Earth history, the climate has encountered tipping points, shifting from one regulated system to the other. This tilting motion affects both climate and the carbon cycle and has played a major role in the evolution of the Earth climate, at all timescales. Earth History has been ponctuated by large climate changes and carbon cycle reorganizations, from large climate variations occurring in deep times (snowball events, terrestrialisation, Mesozoic and early Cenozoic warm episodes, quaternary glacial cycles…) to past and on-going abrupt events. Many potential triggers of those climate and carbon cycle shifts have been proposed and tested through modeling studies, and against field data, such as those directly or indirectly linked with tectonics (plate motion, orogenesis, opening/closing of seaways, weathering…) and orbital forcing. Given that the Earth climate is currently experiencing an unprecedented transition under anthropogenic pressure, understanding the mechanisms behind the scene is crucial.
Our aim is to point out the most recent results concerning how a complex system as the climate of the Earth has undergone many tipping points and what is the specificity of the future climate changes. Therefore, within this session, we would like to encourage talks discussing advances in our record and modeling of the forces triggering and amplifying the changes of Earth climate and carbon cycle across spatial and temporal scales.
Geodesy is becoming increasingly important for observing the hydrological cycle and its effects on solid Earth shape. Signals in geodetic data have revealed water's influence on other geophysical processes including earthquakes, volcanos, land subsidence, mountain uplift, and other aspects of long- and short-term vertical land motion. GPS and InSAR measurements, for example, respectively provide high temporal and spatial resolution to study natural hydrologically-related deformation and monitor anthropogenic groundwater extraction and recharge, and GRACE is helping to track changes in the global terrestrial water storage. Signals of loading from changes in surface and groundwater storage are seen from basin to continental scale. Additionally, novel use of GPS reflectometry is operational for monitoring soil moisture and snow depth at continuous GPS stations in the western USA and Canada. We encourage contributions describing new observations and models of hydrological signals in geodetic time series and/or imaging. These include but are not limited to studies exploring deformation induced by loading, aquifer extraction/recharge, poroelastic deformation and stress changes, techniques for removing hydrological signals from geodetic datasets, monitoring water resources, or teleconnections between hydrologic and other geophysical phenomena.
Arid to sub-humid regions contribute ca. 40 % to the global land surface and are home of more than 40 % of the world’s population. During prehistoric times many important cultures had developed in these regions. Due to the high sensitivity of dryland areas even to small-scale environmental changes and anthropogenic activities, ongoing geomorphological processes but also the Late Quaternary palaeoenvironmental evolution as recorded in sediment archives are becoming increasingly relevant for geomorphological, palaeoenvironmental and geoarchaeological research. Dryland research is also boosted by methodological advances, and especially by emerging linkages with other climatic and geomorphic systems that allow using dryland areas as indicator-regions of global environmental change.
This session aims to pool contributions from the broad field of earth sciences that deal with geomorphological processes and different types of sediment archives in dryland areas (dunes, loess, slope deposits, fluvial sediments, alluvial fans, lake and playa sediments, desert pavements, soils, paleosols etc.) at different spatial and temporal scales. Besides case studies from individual regions and archives, methodical and conceptual contributions, e.g. dealing with the special role of eolian, fluvial, gravitational and biological processes in dryland environments, their preservation over time in the sedimentary records, and emerging opportunities and limitations to resolve past and current dynamics, are especially welcome in this session.
The interaction of processes between the land surface, the planetary boundary layer (PBL), and the free troposphere are crucial for the understanding of weather and climate including extremes such as heavy precipitation and droughts. This requires an advanced understanding and modeling of the exchange of momentum, water, energy, and carbon at interfaces. In this session, we present and discuss current research activities contributing to this understanding, including L-A interaction and feedback to the diurnal cycle of the PBL, clouds, and precipitation as well as surface fluxes such as evapotranspiration and entrainment. We accept observational and modeling approaches to address these challenges. With respect to the observations, emphasis is put on the application of new sensor synergies, e.g., using active remote sensing for studying land surface exchange processes and entrainment at the PBL top, which have been addressed in field campaigns. With respect to theoretical understanding and modeling, we are focusing on new insights by feedback diagrams and grey zone experiments down to the large eddy simulation scale.
Citizen science (the involvement of the public in scientific processes) is gaining momentum in one discipline after another, thereby more and more data on biodiversity, earthquakes, weather, climate, health issues among others are being collected at different scales that can extend the frontiers of knowledge. Successful citizen observatories can potentially be scaled up in order to contribute to larger environmental and policy strategies and actions (such as the European Earth Observation monitoring systems) and to be integrated in GEOSS and Copernicus. Making credible contributions to science can empower citizens to actively participate in environmental decision making, can raise awareness about environmental issues and can help bridge the science-society gap. Often, citizen science is seen in the context of Open Science, which is a broad movement embracing Open Data, Open Access, Open Educational Resources, Open Source, Open Methodology, and Open Peer Review to transparently publish and share scientific research - thus leveraging Citizen Science and Reproducible Research.
Both, open science in general and citizen science in particular, pose great challenges for researchers, and to support the goals of the various openness initiatives, this session looks at what is possible nowadays and what is ready for application in geosciences. Success stories, failures, best practices and solutions will be presented, in addition to various related networks. We aim to show how researchers, citizens, funding agencies, governments and other stakeholders can benefit from citizen science and open science, acknowledging the drawbacks and highlighting the opportunities available for geoscientists.
In this session, we are looking for successful approaches of working with citizen science and open science to bridge the gap between a multitude of stakeholders in research, policy, economy, practice and society at large by finding emerging environmental issues and empowering citizens. This session shall be an open space to exchange experiences and to present either successful examples or failed efforts. Learning from others and understanding what to adopt and what to change help the participants in their own undertakings and new initiatives, so that they become future success stories.
We want to ask and find answers to the following questions:
Which approaches can be used in Earth, Planetary and Space Sciences?
What are the biggest challenges and how to overcome them?
What kind of citizen scientist involvement and open science strategies exist?
How to ensure transparency in project results and analyses?
How to evaluate successful bridging of the science-society-gap?
A growing population is exerting an unprecedented pressure on water and energy resources, maximizing food production and reducing the impact on ecosystem services. Sociotechnical and socioecological variables are not just terms of our current scientific and technologic dictionary but key variables to increase agricultural productivity and fulfil food and fiber supplies in a dissimilar world experiencing climate, land use, market and social changes. With more than 45 % of the world’s agricultural production, irrigation has integrated scientific advancements in soil-plant-water relationships, engineering technologies of variable rate and sub-drip irrigation and innovation that have impacted farmers across the world. Furthermore, in the past decade, we have experienced the massification of proximal and remote sensing, modeling and field data, as well as the “explosion” of robotics, artificial intelligence and information technologies, genetics and high throughput phenotyping --all built upon previous experiences are creating the conditions necessary to innovate in irrigation and contribute to tackle local-to-global challenges.
The proposed session sets the scene for a sustainable irrigation in a changing world. This scenario is based on the integration of applied and basic research, which enables irrigation’s science, engineering and design revolutionize “again” food production with a clearer purpose of preserving water, energy and ecosystem services:
On the one hand, water demands for irrigation have steadily increased since the last decades of the twentieth century, and has created conflicts among water users over a finite water resource jeopardizing food and energy security. Additionally, projected climate change foresees warmer temperatures and shifting precipitation patterns which all together will modify stationary assumptions used to manage water supply, increasing water demands, shifting cropping regimes and triggering volatile markets and socioeconomic responses across the world. Consequently, soil and water productivity could be drastically reduced and thus, food, energy, and ecosystem services too.
On the other hand, technologic developments and innovation on monitoring and predicting future food, water, energy and ecosystems states highlight the role irrigation may play in creating a resilient agriculture to a volatile and complex environment. The following questions need to be addressed: (1) How water and natural resources will be managed for the sustainability of irrigated agriculture? (2) How well irrigated agriculture will adapt to water scarcity scenarios? (3) How information technologies and innovation are contributing to integrate complex systems (i.e. FEWES), maximize food production, optimize water and energy consumption and preserve the ecosystem services? A key element in answering such questions has been and will be the improvement of water, energy and fertilizer use efficiency. The increase of water, energy and fertilizer use efficiency, the accurate estimation in evapotranspiration, and the maintenance of the agroecosystem productivity and ecosystem services will be key topics in the present session. Likewise, the use of other water resources such as treated wastewater, both from industrial and domestic origin, is becoming a source for irrigation in semi-arid and arid regions where the future of irrigated agriculture is threatened by existing or expected water shortages of fresh water and rising concerns of potential water quality hazards to the environment and/or humans.
Within the above framework, this session offers an opportunity to present studies or professional works regarding irrigated agriculture with disciplinary and multidisciplinary approaches including (but not exclusively) the following key topics:
• Efficiency and productivity of water irrigation and fertigation
• Scale-dependent and driven resilience in irrigated working landscapes
• Resilience in coupled natural and human systems where ground and surface water and land are limiting resources for irrigation
• Traditional, novel, and transitional technologies for irrigation management and improvement
• Pros and cons of marginal water use in irrigated agriculture
• Better agronomic and irrigation management practices for soil biodiversity and natural ecosystems improvements and recovery.
• Information technologies and complex system integration as alternatives to tackle current irrigation problems
• Data science, robotics, artificial intelligence and high throughput phenotyping, proximal and remote sensing, and modeling in irrigated agriculture
• Agro-hydrological models and decision support systems to improve decisions in irrigation management and in safe surface water-groundwater interactions.
Particles (inorganic particles, biocolloids, plastics) in environmental systems are of great concern because of their potential adverse effects on ecosystem functions, wildlife and human health. They may also alter the transport properties of dissolved contaminants and change the hydraulic properties of subsurface systems. On the other hand, engineered particles and biocolloids play an important role in site remediation and aquifer restoration.
This interdisciplinary session fosters the exchange among scientists from hydrogeology, microbiology, ecotoxicology, engineering, and analytical chemistry in order to provide a general picture of the occurrence and fate of natural and engineered particles in aquatic and terrestrial systems.
We are expecting contributions in the following fields:
• occurrence, fate and transport of biocolloids, nanoparticles and other particles (microplastics, soot, ...) in aquatic and terrestrial systems
• methods to detect, characterize, and quantify particles in aquatic and terrestrial systems
• advanced experimental methods to test the behaviour of particles in aquatic and terrestrial systems (mesocosms, non-invasive imaging, ...)
• interactions between biocolloids, particles and solid surfaces
• biocolloid biodegradation in the presence of solids
• toxicity of products generated from biological disruption of pollutants in the presence of biocolloids
• adverse effects of nanoparticles on microorganisms
• effects of climate change on biocolloid and nanoparticle migration
• public health risks associated with water and air polluted with biocolloids and nanoparticles
Hydroclimatic variability is an emerging challenge with increasing implications on water resources management, planning, and the mitigation of water-related natural hazards. The above variability, along with the continuous development of water demands, and aging water supply system infrastructure make the sustainability of water use a high priority for modern society. In fact, the Global Risk 2015 Report of the World Economic Forum highlights global water crises as being the biggest threat facing the planet over the next decade.
To mitigate the above concerns we need to shed light on hydroclimatic variability and change. Several questions and mysteries are still unresolved regarding natural fluctuations of climate, anthropogenic climate change and associated variability, and changes in water resources. What is a hydroclimatic trend? What is a (long term) cycle? How can we distinguish between a trend and a cycle? Is such discrimination technically useful? How do human activities affect rainfall, hydrological change and water resources availability? How to set priorities and take action to ensure sustainability in light of variability and change?
The objective of this session is to explore hydrological and climatic temporal variability and their connections and feedbacks. More specifically, the session aims to:
1. investigate the hydrological cycle and climatic variability and change, both at regional and global scales;
2. explore the interplay between change and variability and its effect on sustainability of water uses;
3. advance our understanding of the hydrological cycle, benefiting from hydrological records and innovative techniques; and
4. improve the efficiency, simplicity, and accurate characterization of data-driven modeling techniques to quantify the impacts of past, present and future hydroclimatic change on human societies.
This session is sponsored by the International Association of Hydrological Sciences (IAHS) and the World Meteorological Organization – Commission for Hydrology (WMO CHy) and it is also related to the scientific decade 2013–2022 of IAHS, entitled “Panta Rhei - Everything Flows”.
Natural hazards and the associated risk are in some cases a major hindrance to economic and social growth in economically developing countries. This is particularly evident for urban areas, since rapid and uncontrolled urbanization in hazard-prone regions may result in a significant increase in risk due to insufficient spatial planning, which sometimes does not correctly consider (if at all) the impact of natural hazards, and to inadequate building practices. This session will profile the challenges faced in the developing world when doing assessments of natural hazard and risk and designing mitigation strategies. Examples of these challenges include (i) a frequent lack of data, along with difficulties in collecting it, (ii) rapid and often unplanned urban development, with building practices often neglecting the potential hazards, (iii) less regulated nature-human interactions, (iv) limited resources and capacity to undertake the most appropriate prevention and mitigation actions and to actually respond to disastrous and extreme events, (v) climate change, and (vi) difficulties in communication between science, policy and decision makers, and the general public.
Submissions to this PICO session covering all relevant topics are welcome, including but not limited to: database and archive construction; modeling, monitoring and tools for natural hazard and risk assessment; conceptual understanding of multi-hazards and nature-technology interactions; response and mitigation strategies; and communications, policy and decision-making. We particularly welcome abstracts focusing on urban areas, as well as the participation of stakeholders to share their innovative theoretical and practical ideas and success stories of how risk can be understood and addressed across economically developing countries.
Cities all over the world are facing rising population densities. This leads to increasing fractions of built-up and sealed areas, consequencing in a more and more altered and partly disrupted water balance - both in terms of water quantities and qualities. On top, climate change is altering precipitation regimes.
This session focuses on according urban ecohydrological problems and approaches to solve them spanning from technical to nature-based solutions in different time and spatial scales from the building to the whole city.
'Cosmic rays’ collectively describe particles that bombard the Earth from space. They carry information about space and, once near the Earth, interact with the magnetosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere and lithosphere. Secondary cosmic rays created within the atmosphere can provide information about our planet that is vital to science and society. Secondary neutron radiation plays an extraordinary role, as it not only carries information about solar activity, but also produces short and long living tracer isotopes, influences genetic information of living organisms, and is extraordinarily sensitive to hydrogen and therefore also to water. Given the vast spectrum of interactions of cosmic rays with matter in different parts of the Earth, cosmic-ray research ranges from studies of the solar system to the history of the Earth, and from health and security issues to hydrology and climate change.
Although research on cosmic-ray particles is connected to a variety of disciplines and applications, they all share similar questions and problems regarding the physics of detection, modeling, and environmental factors that influence the intensity. Questions that all disciplines have in common are, for example, “How does the cosmic-ray intensity and energy spectra change with time and location on Earth?”, “How to correct the signal for magnetospheric or atmospheric fluctuations?”, “What is the influence of local structures, water bodies, and surface conditions?”, “Which computer model for cosmic-ray propagation is correct?”, or “What can we learn from other types of cosmic-ray particles?”.
The session brings together scientists from all fields of research that are related to monitoring and modeling of cosmogenic radiation. It will allow sharing of expertise amongst international researchers as well as showcase recent advancements in their field. The session aims to stimulate discussions about how individual disciplines can share their knowledge and benefit from each other.
We solicit contributions related but not limited to:
- Health, security, and radiation protection: cosmic-ray dosimetry on Earth and its dependence on environmental and atmospheric factors
- Planetary space science: satellite and ground-based neutron and gamma-ray sensors to detect water and soil chemistry
- Neutron monitor research: detection of high-energy cosmic rays variations and its dependence on local and atmospheric factors
- Hydrology and climate change: low-energy neutron sensing to measure water in reservoirs at and near the land surface, such as soils, snow pack and vegetation
- Cosmogenic nuclides: as tracers of atmospheric circulation and mixing; as a tool in archaeology or glaciology for dating of ice and measuring ablation rates; and as a tool for surface exposure dating and measuring rates of surficial geological processes
- Detector design: technological advancements for the detection of cosmic rays
- Cosmic-ray modeling: advances in modeling of the cosmic-ray propagation through the magnetosphere and atmosphere, and their response to the Earth’s surface
- Impact modeling: How can cosmic-ray monitoring support environmental models, weather and climate forecasting, irrigation management, and the assessment of natural hazards
Snow and ice can capture and store contaminants both local and global in origin. The decrease in glacier cover, snow cover and sea ice in response to climate affects cycling of airborne impurities in polar and alpine environments, accelerating and enhancing their release. In this context snow and ice act as a secondary source for numerous organic and inorganic atmospheric contaminants that were deposited on their surface during recent decades, including persistent organic pollutants, radioactive species, microplastics, pesticides, and heavy metals. The release of contaminants from snow and ice to glacier forefields, rivers and seas might pose a hazard to these ecosystems and to human health, particularly under accelerated melt conditions.
Identification and assessment of this hazard relies, for each contaminant class, on the understanding of processes that control their accumulation, release and downstream transport. The physical and chemical forms in which contaminants are removed from the atmosphere and hydrosphere may further affect their interactions with mineral substances and biota. Existing studies suggest that the contaminant release process is not linear, and that interactions between meltwater, supraglacial debris and glacial microbiology may be crucial in the accumulation and transport of contaminants in glacier catchments. For example, evidence is mounting that cryoconite can efficiently accumulate radionuclides from anthropogenic sources to potentially hazardous levels in glaciers around the world. At the same time, the high biological activity present in cryoconite could enhance the degradation of organic pollutants, with important implications for remediation. A portion of contaminants released from glaciers may also be stored in their proglacial zones as shown by the very high concentrations of radionuclides found by several recent studies. The effects of contaminant transport on the pro-glacial environment and downstream communities remain uncertain, but improved understanding of the impacts of contaminants in land ice, sea ice, and snow is clearly warranted.
The session aims to contribute to the development of this emerging and interdisciplinary field, welcoming presentations from across cryospheric, hydrological, and biogeochemical sciences, and other research areas.
The world annual consumption of pesticides has amounted to 2.7 × 106 tons in recent years. Agricultural land is the first recipient of pesticides after its application; even if the pesticides are applied in accordance with the regulations, only a minor amount reaches its objectives, while the rest represent possible environmental contaminants and short or long-term harvest products, with a wide range of possible negative impacts. For many pesticides or their degradation products, soils become the non-point source of groundwater contamination (leaching of soluble compounds and compounds linked to colloids) and / or surface water (runoff of soluble compounds, compounds bound to colloids and soil particles, transport from groundwater). On the other hand, these pesticides represent a potential risk for soil biota, such as nematodes, microorganisms and plants.
The purpose of the session is to share the knowledge generated by researchers whose interest lies in the role of soil in the destination and the behavior of emerging contaminants, including pesticides.
This session will include contributions from different areas:
1. Development, validation and application of analytical methods for pesticides and their degradation / transformation products in water, soil, sediment, air and food samples for direct consumption or fresh consumption.
2. Studies of adsorption, desorption, physical transport, synergies, etc. between soil and organic pollutants of agricultural production (pesticides, pharmaceutical products, other emerging pollutants, which favor their environmental availability.
3. Field tests, monitoring and modeling of environmental destinations of pesticides.
4. Effects of mixtures of pesticides and pesticides on non-target organisms and interactions of various classes of pesticides detected in the natural environment.
5. Evaluation of risks of environmental contamination by pesticides.
6. Assessments regarding climate change on the fate and behavior of pesticides.
The scientific session “Soils as a non-point source of contamination by pesticides or their degradation products” will provide an opportunity to research teams working in different parts of the world to discuss their findings within the settings of a large conference.
Plastic contamination has been reported in all realms of the environment from the tropics to the polar oceans. The consequences of this contamination may be severe for ecosystems and could adversely affect ecosystem services such as fisheries and even human health. Our poor knowledge of plastics sources, their composition, sizes, pathways, hot spots of accumulation and ultimate fate prevents an assessment of environmental risks and the development of appropriate mitigation strategies. In order to understand current distributions of plastics and the way they evolve in space and time, much better observations and common consistent measuring methods are required but simultaneously, observations must be combined with computational models from their sources on land to rivers, estuaries, oceans and sea ice. This requires improved standardized accurate observations and the development of advanced modelling capabilities to quantify and predict contamination levels.
The session aims to set up a forum for multi-disciplinary discussions to create a global picture of plastic contamination in the environment and to suggest approaches for future research, monitoring and mitigation of plastic pollutions impacts. The session will provide a framework to advise legislators and industry on the best ways to reduce the risks of serious damage from this contaminant.
This session will draw together data on plastic contamination across all sizes of plastics, from nano- and micro-plastics to large plastic fragments, and across all environments and locations. It will combine observations with state-of-the-art computational modelling to promote the fast advance of research and improve our understanding of how plastic pollution affects environments worldwide. We invite contributions on new methods and field observations, laboratory experiments, novel modelling approaches, related scientific initiatives and projects. New ideas for citizen-science involvement and for mitigation strategies to reduce plastic contamination of the environment are especially welcome.
The occurrence of extremes such as droughts, flash floods, hailstorms, storm surges and tropical storms can have significant and sometimes catastrophic consequences to society. However, not all low probability weather/climate events will lead to “high impacts” on human or natural systems or infrastructure. Rather, the severity of such events depend also intrinsically on the exposure, vulnerability and/or resilience to such hazards of affected systems, including emergency management procedures. Similarly, high impact events may be compounded by the interaction of several, e.g., in their own right less severe hydro-meteorological incidents, sometimes separated in time and space. Or they may similarly result from the joint failures of multiple human or natural systems. Consequently, it is a deep transdisciplinary challenge to learn from past high impact events, understand the mechanisms behind them and ultimately to project how they may potentially change in a future climate.
The ECRA (European Climate Research Alliance) Collaborative Programme on “High Impact Events and Climate Change” aims to promote research on the mechanisms behind high impact events and climate extremes, simulation of high impact events under present and future climatic conditions, and on how relevant information for climate risk analysis, vulnerability and adaptation may be co-created with users, e.g., in terms of tailored climate services. For this aim, this Interdisciplinary and Transdisciplinary Session invites contributions that will serve to (i) better understand the mechanisms behind high impact events from a transdisciplinary and interdisciplinary perspective, e.g. case studies and the assessment of past high impact events, including detection and attribution; (ii) project changes to high impact events through, e.g. high resolution climate and impacts modelling (including economic modelling); (iii) produce climate information at the relevant scales (downscaling); and co-create climate services with users to help deal with the risk and/or impacts of high-impact events, e.g. risk analysis and climate adaptation. Abstracts that highlight recent advances from a transdisciplinary perspective for example through the innovation of climate services will be particularly encouraged. Authors and contributors to this session will be offered to present their work in a Special Issue of the journal “Sustainability”.
Climate change in the Mediterranean region poses critical environmental issues and can affect many sectors of human activities. Contrasting climate trends, levels of exposure and vulnerability are present across this region with associated potential conflicts. Climate research is expected to contribute an increasingly precise information on the future climate and impacts of climate change in this region. A large set of instrumental records and climate proxies allows in many areas of the Mediterranean region to bridge present trends and past climate over a wide range of timescales. This session encourages contributions adopting a multidisciplinary approach and it aims to promote a dialogue between climatologists and researchers interested on the impacts of climate on human and natural systems. It aims at including contributions describing new scientific findings on the climate of the Mediterranean region, its dynamics, variability, change, and studies of climate related impacts on societies and ecosystems. The session considers different time scales (from paleoclimate to future model projections), different components (atmosphere, ocean, land and its hydrology) and factors (chemical, biological, anthropic) as well as highlights of sub-regional hotspots and climate processes.
Drought and water scarcity are important issues in many regions of the Earth, requiring innovative hydro-meteorological monitoring, modelling and forecasting tools to evaluate the complex impacts on the availability and quality of water resources. While drought describes a natural hazard, water scarcity is related to long-term unsustainable use of water resources and associated socio-economic aspects. Both phenomena are, however, closely linked, with the complex interrelationship requiring careful attention.
While an increase in the severity and frequency of droughts can lead to water scarcity situations, particularly in regions that are already water stressed, overexploitation of available water resources can exacerbate the consequences of droughts. In the worst case, this can lead to long-term environmental and socio-economic impacts. Particular attention should, therefore, be paid to the feedbacks between these two phenomena, including the potential impacts of climate change. It is therefore necessary to improve both monitoring and sub-seasonal to seasonal forecasting for droughts and water availability, and to develop innovative indicators and methodologies that translate the information provided into effective drought early warning and risk management.
This session will address statistical, remote sensing and physically-based techniques, aimed at monitoring, modelling and forecasting hydro-meteorological variables relevant to drought and/or water scarcity. These include, but are not limited to, precipitation, snow cover, soil moisture, streamflow, groundwater levels and extreme temperatures. The development and implementation of drought indicators meaningful to decision making processes, and ways of presenting and explaining them to water managers, policy makers and other stakeholders, are further issues to be addressed.
The session aims to bring together scientists, practitioners and stakeholders in the fields of hydrology and meteorology, as well as in the field of water resources and/or risk management; interested in monitoring, modelling and forecasting drought and water scarcity, and in analyzing their interrelationships, hydrological impacts, and the feedbacks with society. Particularly welcome are applications and real-world case studies in regions subject to significant water stress, where the importance of drought warning, supported through state-of-the-art monitoring and forecasting of water resources availability is likely to become more important in the future.
Many water management sectors are already having to cope with extreme weather events, climate variability and change. For this purpose, climate services provide science-based and user-specific information on possible impacts. Such information can be based on weather forecasts or on climate projections. In this context, predictions on sub-seasonal, seasonal to decadal timescales are an emerging and essential part of hydrological forecasting. With horizons ranging from months to a decade, these probabilistic forecasts are used in industries such as transport, energy, agriculture, forestry, health, insurance, tourism and infrastructure.
This session aims to cover the advances in climate and hydrological forecasting, and their implications on forecasting extreme events and servicing water users. It welcomes, without being restricted to, presentations on:
- Making use of climate data for hydrological modelling (downscaling, bias correction, temporal disaggregation, spatial interpolation and other technical challenges),
- Methods to improve forecasting of hydrological extremes,
- Improved representations of hydrological extremes in a future climate,
- Seamless forecasting, including downscaling and statistical post- and pre-processing,
- Propagation of climate model uncertainty to hydrological models and impact assessment,
- Lessons learnt from forecasting and managing present day extreme conditions,
- Effective methods to link stakeholder interests and scientific expertise,
- Operational climatic forecasting systems.
The session will bring together research scientists and operational managers in the fields of hydrology, meteorology and climate with the aim of sharing experiences and initiating discussions on this emerging topic. We encourage presentations from initiatives such as the H2020 IMPREX, BINGO, S2S4E and CLARA projects, and from WWRP/WCRP S2S projects that utilise the recently established S2S project database, and all hydrological relevant applications.
Remote sensing and Earth Observations (EO) are used increasingly in the different phases of the risk management and in development cooperation, due to the challenges posed by contemporary issues such as climate change, population pressure and increasingly complex social interactions. EO-based applications have a number of advantages over traditional fieldwork expeditions including safety, the provision a synoptic view of the region of interest, the availability of data extending back several years and, in many cases, cost savings. Fortunately, the advent of new, more powerful sensors and more finely tuned detection algorithms provide the opportunity to image, assess and quantify natural hazards, their consequences, and vulnerable regions, more comprehensively than ever before.
For these reasons, the civil protections, the development agencies and space agencies have now inserted permanently into their programs applications of EO data to risk management. In particular, the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS) has a permanent working group on Disasters that supports and promotes the use of EO data for Disaster Risk management (DRM). During the preparedness and prevention phase EO revealed, especially in data scarce environments, fundamental for hazard, vulnerability and risk mapping. EO data intervenes both in the emergency forecast and early emergency response, thanks to the potential of rapid mapping. EO data is also increasingly being used for mapping useful information for planning interventions in the recovery phase, giving to managers and emergency officials a wealth of time-continuous information for assessment and analysis of natural hazards, from small to large regions around the globe. In this framework, CEOS has been working from several years on disasters management related to natural hazards (e.g., volcanic, seismic, landslide and flooding ones), including pilots, demonstrators, recovery observatory concepts, Geohazard Supersites and Natural Laboratory (GSNL) initiatives and multi-hazard management projects.
The session is dedicated to multidisciplinary contributions especially focused on the demonstration of the benefit of the use of EO for the risk management, with an operational user-oriented perspective.
The research presented might focus on:
- Addressed value of EO data in risk/hazard forecasting models (observation of possible precursory events and evaluation of potential predictive capabilities)
- Innovative applications of EO data for rapid mapping.
- Innovative applications of EO data for hazard, vulnerability and risk mapping.
- Innovative applications of EO data for the post-disaster recovery phase.
- Innovative applications in support to disaster risk reduction strategies (eg. landscape planning).
- Development of tools and platforms for assessment and validation of hazard/risk models
The use of different types of remote sensing (e.g. thermal, visual, radar, laser, and/or the fusion of these) might be considered, with an evaluation of their respective pros and cons. Evaluation of current sensors, data capabilities and algorithms will be welcomed, as will suggestions for future sensor considerations, algorithm developments and opportunities for emergency management agency buy-in.
Early stage researchers are strongly encouraged to present their research. Moreover, contributions from international cooperation, such as CEOS and GEO initiatives, are welcome.
The purpose of this session is to: (1) showcase the current state-of-the-art in global and continental scale natural hazard risk science, assessment, and application; (2) foster broader exchange of knowledge, datasets, methods, models, and good practice between scientists and practitioners working on different natural hazards and across disciplines globally; and (3) collaboratively identify future research avenues.
Reducing natural hazard risk is high on the global political agenda. For example, it is at the heart of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (and its predecessor the Hyogo Framework for Action) and the Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage Associated with Climate Change Impacts. In response, the last 5 years has seen an explosion in the number of scientific datasets, methods, and models for assessing risk at the global and continental scale. More and more, these datasets, methods and models are being applied together with stakeholders in the decision decision-making process.
We invite contributions related to all aspects of natural hazard risk assessment at the continental to global scale, including contributions focusing on single hazards, multiple hazards, or a combination or cascade of hazards. We also encourage contributions examining the use of scientific methods in practice, and the appropriate use of continental to global risk assessment data in efforts to reduce risks. Furthermore, we encourage contributions focusing on globally applicable methods, such as novel methods for using globally available datasets and models to force more local models or inform more local risk assessment.
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Plan S, devised by a coalition of research funders with support from the European Commission and European Research Council, demands that by January 1, 2020 research supported by participating funders must be published in Open Access journals. Representatives from subscription-based and Open Access publishers, architects of Plan S, and researchers affected by it will debate questions surrounding the implementation of the plan and its consequences.
The panelists are David Sweeney, Heike Langenberg, Marc Schiltz and Brooks Hanson. They will present the case for and against mandatory OA followed by an open debate with questions and comments from the audience.
David Sweeney is Executive Chair of Research England, the biggest research funder in the UK. He has been invited to visit many countries to advise on research assessment and funding, particularly with respect to research impact. He is also co-chair of the Implementation Task Force for Plan S, the international initiative on full and immediate open access to research publications.
Heike Langenberg is the Chief Editor of Nature Geoscience. She started her editorial career in 1999 as an Associate, then Senior Editor at Nature handling manuscripts in the broad area of climate sciences. In 2007 she moved to Nature Geoscience to launch the journal in January 2008. A graduate in mathematics of the Philipps-Universität Marburg, Germany, she ventured into oceanography for her PhD at the University of Hamburg. Her postdoctoral research at various research institutes in Hamburg was focused on numerical simulations of the ocean and atmosphere at a regional scale.
Marc Schiltz is president of Science Europe, the European association of all major national public research funding and research performing organisations. In this role, he has contributed to setting the European agenda to foster Open Science and is one of the architects of Plan S. He is also leading the Luxembourg National Research Fund. He is a relentless advocate of science and research, serving on a number of external boards and committees, both at the national and international level. Having received a PhD in Crystallography from the University of Paris-Sud and an executive MBA from INSEAD, Marc has been active in research and higher education for more than 25 years and held research and faculty positions in several European countries.
Brooks Hanson is the Executive Vice President for Science for the American Geophysical Union (AGU), responsible for AGU’s publications, meetings, ethics and data programs, and Thriving Earth Exchange. He previously acted as Sr. Vice President for Publications at AGU, where he was responsible for AGU's portfolio of books and 21 journals and served as Deputy Editor for Physical Sciences at Science. Brooks received a Ph.D. in Geology from UCLA and held a post-doctoral appointment at the Department of Mineral Sciences at the Smithsonian Institution.
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The dialogue between scientists, institutions, policymakers and the general public is widely recognised as an essential step towards a fair and sustainable society. Nowadays, more than ever in human history, international cooperation is an essential requirement for protecting the planet, advancing science and ensuring an equitable development of the global economy.
Despite its importance, the above dialogue can be a challenge for scientists, who often cannot find a productive connection with governments and politicians. Scientific associations are a key link between researchers and policy makers, as they have the potential to establish a durable and profitable connection with institutions.
The EGU elected the dialogue with society as one of its priority missions. At its General Assembly, the EGU is launching an innovative symposium format, Science and Society (SCS), to host scientific forums specifically dedicated to connecting with high-level institutions and engaging the public and policymakers.
The conversation with Ilaria Capua and Mario Monti will focus on science and politics with a global perspective, and the impact of populism on European integrity and therefore scientific research. The discussion will elaborate on optimal strategies to deliver topical and clear scientific messages to key institutions.
Ilaria Capua is a virologist best known for her research on influenza viruses and her efforts promoting open access to genetic information on emerging viruses. In 2006, Science reported on Capua’s effort towards open access science, stating that she had “renewed the debate about how to balance global health against scientists’ needs to publish and countries’ demands for secrecy". She has been a member of the Italian parliament from 2013 to 2016 and a fake news victim. She is currently a full professor at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, US, and director of the UF One Health Center of Excellence.
Mario Monti served as a European Commissioner from 1995 to 2004, with responsibility for the internal market, services, customs, taxation and competition. He was Prime Minister of Italy from 2011 to 2013, leading a government of national unity to cope with the Italian debt crisis. Monti has also been Rector and is currently President of Bocconi University in Milan. His publications deal mainly with monetary and financial economics, public finance, European integration, competition policy. He is currently lifetime member of the Italian Senate.
During the conversation, Ilaria Capua and Mario Monti will present their vision with two 15-minute talks that will be followed by 20 minutes dedicated to questions from the audience and answers.
Progressively stricter requirements in geophysical prospecting, in urban and inter-urban monitoring make it important to look continuously for innovative solutions to new and old complex problems. In particular, investigation and monitoring of pollution, hydrological resources, energy efficiency, cultural heritage, cities and transportation infrastructures nowadays require technological and methodological innovations of geophysical and sensing techniques in order to properly understand the limits of the current state of art and to identify where possible the most convenient strategies to overcome limitations of current approaches. This goal can be achieved either with more advanced solutions in a general sense or with dedicated solutions, particularly suitable for the specific problem at hand.
Integrated prospecting, refined data processing, new models, hardware innovations, new ICT information and telecommunications systems can and should cooperate with each other in this sense. It is important that the scientific community finds a moment for considering the connection between adjacent aspects of the same problem, e.g. to achieve improved geophysical data, safe and reliable environmental and structural monitoring, improved processing as much as possible.
The session “ Innovative instrumentations, techniques, geophysical methods and models for near surface geophysics, cities and transportation infrastructures aims to propose one such moment, where multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary competences can interact with each other, possibly finding possible new ways to cooperate and to exchange experiences reciprocally to reach sustainable solutions.
Tsunamis can produce catastrophic damage on vulnerable coastlines, essentially following major earthquakes, landslides or atmospheric disturbances. After the disastrous tsunamis in 2004 and 2011, tsunami science has grown significantly, opening new fields of research for various domains, and also in regions where the tsunami hazard was previously underestimated.
Numerical modeling, complemented with laboratory experiments, are essential to quantify the tsunami hazard based. To this end, it is essential to rely on complete databases of past tsunami observations, including both historical events and results of paleotsunami investigations. Furthermore, a robust hazard analysis has to take into account uncertainties and probabilities with the more advanced approaches such as PTHA.
Because the vulnerability of populations, of infrastructures and of the built environment in coastal zones increases, integrated plans for tsunami risk prevention and mitigation should be encouraged in any exposed coastline, consistent with the procedures now in place in a growing number of Tsunami Warning System.
The NH5.1/OS2.22/SM3.11 Tsunami session welcomes contributions covering any of the aspects mentioned here, encompassing field data, regional hazard studies, observation databases, numerical modeling, risk studies, real time networks, operational tools and procedures towards a most efficient warning.
A focus on recent tsunami events all over the globe is encouraged (including Palu 28 September, Zakynthos 26 October, Tadine, New Caledonia, 5 December), as well as on the achievements of recent research projects.
Oceanographic processes at coastal scales present a number of differences with respect to deep water oceanography, which result in higher prediction errors. In shallow water coastal domains the bottom topography, via the sea-bed boundary condition, exerts a strong control on the resulting wave and current fields. In addition to this, other factors need to be accounted for, such as the relevance of the tidal influence, stratification and mixing effects, land boundary condition (affecting the wind fields), the presence of distributed run off and point-wise river mouths. And yet it is in these coastal zones where the need for accuracy and reliability becomes crucial for planning socio-economic activities and for maintaining risk levels under present and future climate conditions.
A thorough characterisation of the physical processes taking place on the coastal region relies on the joint use of numerical modelling, in-situ observations and remote sensing, three approaches currently achieving rapid advances and which constitute the three basic pillars of this session. A coupled modelling approach to atmosphere, hydrodynamics and sediment transport, as well as the refinement of numerical strategies (nested meshes, finite-difference or finite-element discretization, variable grids, etc.), parameterizations and boundary conditions, can play a critical role in improving the quality of analyses and predictions. Marine observatories, providing the necessary information to drive and validate numerical models, are progressively aggregating into organised, trans-national infrastructures based on broadly accessible and interoperable data formats. The advent of new satellite capabilities (with increased resolution and enhanced technologies, like in the case of the Sentinel constellation) aiming at overcoming the typical limitations of remote sensing in coastal environments, allows starting a quantum leap in coastal oceanography. In fact, the joint use of these instruments can be particularly powerful for an increasing integration among the different aspects of coastal risk assessment, planning and response to climate change (as recommended by IPCC last reports).
This session proposes to discuss recent advances in these fields with emphasis on: integrated ocean-atmosphere-sediment modelling approaches and the physics of their coupling mechanisms; the hydrological, biogeochemical, geomorphological variability of coastal regions; the availability and use of coastal in-situ observations; and standards, procedures and data formats to make data ready for use in an integrated ocean processes monitoring system. We thus welcome presentations /posters also on: satellite/in-situ measurements, coastal assimilation, atmosphere-ocean-sediment model coupling and error/prediction limits as well as the contribution of coastal met-ocean science to operational oceanography. Applications to improve our knowledge on how these processes interact with coastal infrastructure or activities and applications of operational simulations combined with remote and in-situ data.
In October 2018, the IPCC published its special report on impacts of global warming of 1.5 deg C. Another recent, highly publicised study suggests that the planet could pass an irreversible threshold into a so called “Hothouse Earth” state for a temperature increase of as low as 2 degrees C above pre-industrial temperatures, while other studies and commentaries have emphasised the urgency on climate action, arguing that 2020 must be a turning point for global fossil fuel emissions, to increase the chance of maintaining a safe operating space for the humans on the planet. In 2018, the IPCC celebrated its 30th anniversary. The importance of taking action on human-induced climate change has been emphasised with governments around the world since the 1990s yet CO2 concentrations continue to rise and international initiatives have, to date, had limited and insufficient impact to avert some of the most serious consequences of climate change.
How close are we to one or more critical thresholds (cliff edge)? Is there time to avert passing one or more of these thresholds? What can the geoscience community do to reduce the risks? How important is bottom up versus top down action to ensuring the least worst outcome? These are some of the questions we will debate with world experts in their field and authors of the thought papers on these topics.
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In October 2018, the IPCC published its special report on impacts of global warming of 1.5 deg C. Another recent, highly publicised study suggests that the planet could pass an irreversible threshold into a so called “Hothouse Earth” state for a temperature increase of as low as 2 degrees C above pre-industrial temperatures.
In 2018, the IPCC celebrated its 30th anniversary. The importance of taking action on human-induced climate change has been emphasised with governments around the world since the 1990s yet CO2 concentrations continue to rise and international initiatives have, to date, had limited and insufficient impact to avert some of the most serious consequences of climate change that may pose an existential threat to modern civilisation.
How close are we to one or more critical thresholds? Is there time to avert passing one or more of them? What can the geoscience community do to reduce the risks? How important is bottom up versus top down action to ensuring the least worst outcome? These are some of the questions we will debate with world experts in their field and authors of the thought papers on these topics.
The Great Debate panellists are:
Prof. Myles Allen is Professor of Geosystem Science in the Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford. His research focuses on how human and natural influences on climate contribute to observed climate change and risks of extreme weather and in quantifying their implications for long-range climate forecasts. He was a Coordinating Lead Author on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Special Report on 1.5 degrees, having served on the IPCC’s 3rd, 4th and 5th Assessments, including the Synthesis Report Core Writing Team in 2014.
Prof. Sabine Fuss, Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change (MCC), Berlin. Sabine is an economist, currently leading a working group at the MCC. She holds a professorship on Sustainable Resource Management and Global Change at Humboldt University of Berlin. Her research interests are in sustainable development, land use change and climate change mitigation. She has been an IPCC Lead Author for the Special Report on 1.5°C global warming, serves on the steering committee of the Global Carbon Project and is a guest scholar at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis.
Erica Hope leads the cross-sectoral ‘2050 Task Force’ and governance programme of the European Climate Foundation (ECF) in Brussels, which seeks to build knowledge, political strategies and coalitions to drive the transition to a zero emissions society by mid-century. Erica has previously worked for the energy efficiency and UK programmes of the ECF, and before that led the policy and advocacy activities of NGO network Climate Action Network Europe on energy efficiency. From 2005-2009 she was researcher to Green MEP Caroline Lucas, and has also worked at the Institute for Public Policy Research in London.
Prof. Linda Steg is professor of environmental psychology at the University of Groningen. She studies factors influencing sustainable behaviour, the effects and acceptability of strategies aimed at promoting sustainable behaviour, and public perceptions of technology and system changes. She is member of Member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences (KNAW), and lead author of the IPCC special report on 1.5°C and AR6. She works on various interdisciplinary and international research programmes, and collaborates with practitioners working in industry, governments and NGOs.
Plastic pollution is recognized as one of the most serious and urgent problems facing our planet. Rates of manufacture, use and ultimately disposal of plastics continue to soar, posing an enormous threat to the planet’s oceans and rivers and the flora and fauna they support. There is an urgent need for global action, backed by sound scientific understanding, to tackle this problem.
This Union Symposium will address the problems posed to our planet by plastic pollution, and examine options for dealing with the threat.
Over the whole Earth history, the climate has encountered tipping points, shifting from one regulated system to the other. This tilting motion affects both climate and the carbon cycle and has played a major role in the evolution of the Earth climate, at all timescales. Earth History has been ponctuated by large climate changes and carbon cycle reorganizations, from large climate variations occurring in deep times (snowball events, terrestrialisation, Mesozoic and early Cenozoic warm episodes, quaternary glacial cycles…) to past and on-going abrupt events. Many potential triggers of those climate and carbon cycle shifts have been proposed and tested through modeling studies, and against field data, such as those directly or indirectly linked with tectonics (plate motion, orogenesis, opening/closing of seaways, weathering…) and orbital forcing. Given that the Earth climate is currently experiencing an unprecedented transition under anthropogenic pressure, understanding the mechanisms behind the scene is crucial.
Our aim is to point out the most recent results concerning how a complex system as the climate of the Earth has undergone many tipping points and what is the specificity of the future climate changes. Therefore, within this session, we would like to encourage talks discussing advances in our record and modeling of the forces triggering and amplifying the changes of Earth climate and carbon cycle across spatial and temporal scales.
Geodesy is becoming increasingly important for observing the hydrological cycle and its effects on solid Earth shape. Signals in geodetic data have revealed water's influence on other geophysical processes including earthquakes, volcanos, land subsidence, mountain uplift, and other aspects of long- and short-term vertical land motion. GPS and InSAR measurements, for example, respectively provide high temporal and spatial resolution to study natural hydrologically-related deformation and monitor anthropogenic groundwater extraction and recharge, and GRACE is helping to track changes in the global terrestrial water storage. Signals of loading from changes in surface and groundwater storage are seen from basin to continental scale. Additionally, novel use of GPS reflectometry is operational for monitoring soil moisture and snow depth at continuous GPS stations in the western USA and Canada. We encourage contributions describing new observations and models of hydrological signals in geodetic time series and/or imaging. These include but are not limited to studies exploring deformation induced by loading, aquifer extraction/recharge, poroelastic deformation and stress changes, techniques for removing hydrological signals from geodetic datasets, monitoring water resources, or teleconnections between hydrologic and other geophysical phenomena.
This session aims to bridge the existing gap between the process-focused fields (hydrology, geomorphology, soil sciences, natural hazards, planetary science, geo-biology, archaeology) and the technical domain (engineering, computer vision, machine learning, and statistics) where terrain analysis approaches are developed.
The rapid growth of survey technologies and computing advances and the increase of data acquisition from various sources (platforms and sensors) has led to a vast data swamp with unprecedented spatio-temporal range, density, and resolution (from submeter to global scale data), which requires efficient data processing to extract suitable information. The challenge is now the interpretation of surface morphology for a better understanding of processes at a variety of scales, from micro, to local, to global.
We aim to foster inter-disciplinarity with a focus on new techniques in digital terrain analysis and production from any discipline which touches on geomorphometry, including but not exclusive to geomorphology (e.g., tectonic/volcanic/climatic/glacial), planetary science, archaeology, geo-biology, natural hazards, computer vision, remote sensing, image processing.
We invite submissions related to the successful application of geomorphometric methods, innovative geomorphometric variables as well as their physical, mathematical and geographical meanings. Submissions related to new techniques in high-resolution terrain or global scale data production and analysis, independent of the subject, as well as studies focused on the associated error and uncertainty analyses, are also welcome. We actively encourage contributors to present work “in development”, as well as established techniques being used in a novel way. We strongly encourage young scientists to contribute and help drive innovation in our community, presenting their work to this session.
We want to foster collaboration and the sharing of ideas across subject-boundaries, between technique developers and users, enabling us as a community to fully exploit the wealth of knowledge inherent in our digital landscape. Just remember, the driver for new ideas and applications often comes from another speciality, discipline or subject: Your solution may already be out there waiting for you!
Citizen science (the involvement of the public in scientific processes) is gaining momentum in one discipline after another, thereby more and more data on biodiversity, earthquakes, weather, climate, health issues among others are being collected at different scales that can extend the frontiers of knowledge. Successful citizen observatories can potentially be scaled up in order to contribute to larger environmental and policy strategies and actions (such as the European Earth Observation monitoring systems) and to be integrated in GEOSS and Copernicus. Making credible contributions to science can empower citizens to actively participate in environmental decision making, can raise awareness about environmental issues and can help bridge the science-society gap. Often, citizen science is seen in the context of Open Science, which is a broad movement embracing Open Data, Open Access, Open Educational Resources, Open Source, Open Methodology, and Open Peer Review to transparently publish and share scientific research - thus leveraging Citizen Science and Reproducible Research.
Both, open science in general and citizen science in particular, pose great challenges for researchers, and to support the goals of the various openness initiatives, this session looks at what is possible nowadays and what is ready for application in geosciences. Success stories, failures, best practices and solutions will be presented, in addition to various related networks. We aim to show how researchers, citizens, funding agencies, governments and other stakeholders can benefit from citizen science and open science, acknowledging the drawbacks and highlighting the opportunities available for geoscientists.
In this session, we are looking for successful approaches of working with citizen science and open science to bridge the gap between a multitude of stakeholders in research, policy, economy, practice and society at large by finding emerging environmental issues and empowering citizens. This session shall be an open space to exchange experiences and to present either successful examples or failed efforts. Learning from others and understanding what to adopt and what to change help the participants in their own undertakings and new initiatives, so that they become future success stories.
We want to ask and find answers to the following questions:
Which approaches can be used in Earth, Planetary and Space Sciences?
What are the biggest challenges and how to overcome them?
What kind of citizen scientist involvement and open science strategies exist?
How to ensure transparency in project results and analyses?
How to evaluate successful bridging of the science-society-gap?
Over the past decades, many initiatives have been produced to archive the losses and datasets associated with natural perils events (EM-DAT, MunichRe NATCATservice, SwissRe Sigma, CATDAT, Dartmouth Flood Observatory etc.). On a European scale, much research has also been undertaken on a Europe-wide, country and subcountry level either using Desinventar or through other academic and insurer data archiving. However, these loss databases provide varying levels of parameters, data completeness, quality checks, spatial integration, and spatiotemporal limits. In addition, the types of data collection and definitions of loss often differ greatly between databases.
With over 3000 Open Data Initiatives around Europe (www.europeandataportal.eu/) and the World, the amount of data freely available is increasing, but censoring and data checks are required in order to ensure that the quality is reasonable. This similarly goes for online media archives and loss reporting. Even though some initial attempts have been made to connect different databases and stimulate consistency and open access (e.g. IRDR-DATA), this is a topic that needs to be explored further.
This session aims to advance efforts on loss data collection and provide a future inventory of socioeconomic loss databases for loss and risk analysis as well as to create a community linking academia, government and insurance.
Abstracts are welcomed in the following fields:-
- Socioeconomic loss databases for natural perils
- Infrastructure and sectoral loss archiving
- Online media initiatives for collecting loss data (e.g. twitter)
- Post-disaster loss analysis
- Online analysis of loss data or loss reporting
- Parametric risk transfer products
- GIS integration of past natural hazards event data
- Open data efforts for loss modelling
- Insurance loss data and loss archives
- Government post-disaster loss analysis and loss databases
- Other relevant loss-related research
Natural hazards and the associated risk are in some cases a major hindrance to economic and social growth in economically developing countries. This is particularly evident for urban areas, since rapid and uncontrolled urbanization in hazard-prone regions may result in a significant increase in risk due to insufficient spatial planning, which sometimes does not correctly consider (if at all) the impact of natural hazards, and to inadequate building practices. This session will profile the challenges faced in the developing world when doing assessments of natural hazard and risk and designing mitigation strategies. Examples of these challenges include (i) a frequent lack of data, along with difficulties in collecting it, (ii) rapid and often unplanned urban development, with building practices often neglecting the potential hazards, (iii) less regulated nature-human interactions, (iv) limited resources and capacity to undertake the most appropriate prevention and mitigation actions and to actually respond to disastrous and extreme events, (v) climate change, and (vi) difficulties in communication between science, policy and decision makers, and the general public.
Submissions to this PICO session covering all relevant topics are welcome, including but not limited to: database and archive construction; modeling, monitoring and tools for natural hazard and risk assessment; conceptual understanding of multi-hazards and nature-technology interactions; response and mitigation strategies; and communications, policy and decision-making. We particularly welcome abstracts focusing on urban areas, as well as the participation of stakeholders to share their innovative theoretical and practical ideas and success stories of how risk can be understood and addressed across economically developing countries.
'Cosmic rays’ collectively describe particles that bombard the Earth from space. They carry information about space and, once near the Earth, interact with the magnetosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere and lithosphere. Secondary cosmic rays created within the atmosphere can provide information about our planet that is vital to science and society. Secondary neutron radiation plays an extraordinary role, as it not only carries information about solar activity, but also produces short and long living tracer isotopes, influences genetic information of living organisms, and is extraordinarily sensitive to hydrogen and therefore also to water. Given the vast spectrum of interactions of cosmic rays with matter in different parts of the Earth, cosmic-ray research ranges from studies of the solar system to the history of the Earth, and from health and security issues to hydrology and climate change.
Although research on cosmic-ray particles is connected to a variety of disciplines and applications, they all share similar questions and problems regarding the physics of detection, modeling, and environmental factors that influence the intensity. Questions that all disciplines have in common are, for example, “How does the cosmic-ray intensity and energy spectra change with time and location on Earth?”, “How to correct the signal for magnetospheric or atmospheric fluctuations?”, “What is the influence of local structures, water bodies, and surface conditions?”, “Which computer model for cosmic-ray propagation is correct?”, or “What can we learn from other types of cosmic-ray particles?”.
The session brings together scientists from all fields of research that are related to monitoring and modeling of cosmogenic radiation. It will allow sharing of expertise amongst international researchers as well as showcase recent advancements in their field. The session aims to stimulate discussions about how individual disciplines can share their knowledge and benefit from each other.
We solicit contributions related but not limited to:
- Health, security, and radiation protection: cosmic-ray dosimetry on Earth and its dependence on environmental and atmospheric factors
- Planetary space science: satellite and ground-based neutron and gamma-ray sensors to detect water and soil chemistry
- Neutron monitor research: detection of high-energy cosmic rays variations and its dependence on local and atmospheric factors
- Hydrology and climate change: low-energy neutron sensing to measure water in reservoirs at and near the land surface, such as soils, snow pack and vegetation
- Cosmogenic nuclides: as tracers of atmospheric circulation and mixing; as a tool in archaeology or glaciology for dating of ice and measuring ablation rates; and as a tool for surface exposure dating and measuring rates of surficial geological processes
- Detector design: technological advancements for the detection of cosmic rays
- Cosmic-ray modeling: advances in modeling of the cosmic-ray propagation through the magnetosphere and atmosphere, and their response to the Earth’s surface
- Impact modeling: How can cosmic-ray monitoring support environmental models, weather and climate forecasting, irrigation management, and the assessment of natural hazards
Marine geological processes cover a range of different disciplinary fields and their understanding usually requires an interdisciplinary approach. The interaction of geological, physical oceanographic, chemical and biological mechanisms in marine geological processes ranging from sediment erosion and deposition, to hydrothermal and fluid flow systems, to early diagenesis and geomicrobiology, is of specific interest. Such processes may take place in shallow or deep, in tropical and glacial environments, and they may be natural or partly human-influenced. Climate-induced perturbations in marine geological processes have occurred in present and past, and potentially will also occur in the future. Several of these processes may also have a profound human impact, such as tsunamis generated by tectonic or mass-slumping events, coastal erosion in response to changed currents or river discharge, and sediment gravity flow in deep waters affecting human infrastructures. /We encourage comprehensive and interdisciplinary abstracts within the broad field of marine geology and with direct relevance to marine processes or deposits concerned with rocks, sediments, and geo-physical and geo-(bio)chemical processes that affect them.
Lightning is the energetic manifestation of electrical breakdown, occurring after charge separation processes operating on micro and macro-scales, leading to strong electric fields within thunderstorms. Lightning is associated with severe weather, torrential rains and flash floods. It has significant effects on various atmospheric layers and drives the fair-weather electric field. It is a strong indicator of convective processes on regional and global scales, potentially associated with climate change. Thunderstorms and lightning are also associated to the production of energetic radiation up to tens of MeV on time scales from sub-millisecond (Terrestrial Gamma-ray Flashes) to tens of seconds (gamma-ray glows).
This session seeks contributions from research in atmospheric electricity on:
Atmospheric electricity in fair weather and the global electrical circuit
Atmospheric chemical effects of lightning and LtNOx
Middle atmospheric Transient Luminous Events
Energetic radiation from thunderstorms and lightning.
Remote sensing of lightning from space and by lightning detection networks
Results from the Atmosphere-Space Interaction Monitor (ASIM) mission.
Thunderstorms, flash floods and severe weather
Lightning and climate
Modeling of thunderstorms and lightning
Now-casting and forecasting of thunderstorms
New airborne and ground-based observation techniques
Heat extremes are already one of the deadliest meteorological events and they are projected to increase in intensity and frequency due to rising CO2 emissions. Thus the risk these events pose to society may increase dramatically and society will need to adapt if the worst impacts are to be avoided. However, uncertainties for understanding the development of extreme heat episodes and their impacts remain large. This session therefore aims to address this challenge, welcoming research which improves our understanding of extreme heat events and how to respond to them. Suitable contributions in this regard may: (i) assess the drivers and underlying processes of extreme heat in observations and models; (ii) explore the diverse socio-economic impacts of extreme heat events (for example, on aspects relating to human health or economic productivity); (iii) address forecasting of extreme heat at seasonal to sub-seasonal time scales; (iv) focus on societal adaptation to extreme heat, including (but not limited to) the implementation of Heat-Health Early Warning Systems.
The occurrence of extremes such as droughts, flash floods, hailstorms, storm surges and tropical storms can have significant and sometimes catastrophic consequences to society. However, not all low probability weather/climate events will lead to “high impacts” on human or natural systems or infrastructure. Rather, the severity of such events depend also intrinsically on the exposure, vulnerability and/or resilience to such hazards of affected systems, including emergency management procedures. Similarly, high impact events may be compounded by the interaction of several, e.g., in their own right less severe hydro-meteorological incidents, sometimes separated in time and space. Or they may similarly result from the joint failures of multiple human or natural systems. Consequently, it is a deep transdisciplinary challenge to learn from past high impact events, understand the mechanisms behind them and ultimately to project how they may potentially change in a future climate.
The ECRA (European Climate Research Alliance) Collaborative Programme on “High Impact Events and Climate Change” aims to promote research on the mechanisms behind high impact events and climate extremes, simulation of high impact events under present and future climatic conditions, and on how relevant information for climate risk analysis, vulnerability and adaptation may be co-created with users, e.g., in terms of tailored climate services. For this aim, this Interdisciplinary and Transdisciplinary Session invites contributions that will serve to (i) better understand the mechanisms behind high impact events from a transdisciplinary and interdisciplinary perspective, e.g. case studies and the assessment of past high impact events, including detection and attribution; (ii) project changes to high impact events through, e.g. high resolution climate and impacts modelling (including economic modelling); (iii) produce climate information at the relevant scales (downscaling); and co-create climate services with users to help deal with the risk and/or impacts of high-impact events, e.g. risk analysis and climate adaptation. Abstracts that highlight recent advances from a transdisciplinary perspective for example through the innovation of climate services will be particularly encouraged. Authors and contributors to this session will be offered to present their work in a Special Issue of the journal “Sustainability”.
Drought and water scarcity are important issues in many regions of the Earth, requiring innovative hydro-meteorological monitoring, modelling and forecasting tools to evaluate the complex impacts on the availability and quality of water resources. While drought describes a natural hazard, water scarcity is related to long-term unsustainable use of water resources and associated socio-economic aspects. Both phenomena are, however, closely linked, with the complex interrelationship requiring careful attention.
While an increase in the severity and frequency of droughts can lead to water scarcity situations, particularly in regions that are already water stressed, overexploitation of available water resources can exacerbate the consequences of droughts. In the worst case, this can lead to long-term environmental and socio-economic impacts. Particular attention should, therefore, be paid to the feedbacks between these two phenomena, including the potential impacts of climate change. It is therefore necessary to improve both monitoring and sub-seasonal to seasonal forecasting for droughts and water availability, and to develop innovative indicators and methodologies that translate the information provided into effective drought early warning and risk management.
This session will address statistical, remote sensing and physically-based techniques, aimed at monitoring, modelling and forecasting hydro-meteorological variables relevant to drought and/or water scarcity. These include, but are not limited to, precipitation, snow cover, soil moisture, streamflow, groundwater levels and extreme temperatures. The development and implementation of drought indicators meaningful to decision making processes, and ways of presenting and explaining them to water managers, policy makers and other stakeholders, are further issues to be addressed.
The session aims to bring together scientists, practitioners and stakeholders in the fields of hydrology and meteorology, as well as in the field of water resources and/or risk management; interested in monitoring, modelling and forecasting drought and water scarcity, and in analyzing their interrelationships, hydrological impacts, and the feedbacks with society. Particularly welcome are applications and real-world case studies in regions subject to significant water stress, where the importance of drought warning, supported through state-of-the-art monitoring and forecasting of water resources availability is likely to become more important in the future.
Fire is a global phenomenon influencing ecosystem functioning, carbon stocks and fluxes, and atmospheric composition, with large impacts on human health, safety and economy. The relative importance of climate, vegetation and humans as drivers of fire activity varies across spatial and temporal scales. Multiscale and interdisciplinary assessments of fire behavior are required to understand global climate-fire feedbacks, as well as regional interactions between vegetation and humans, and fire.
Fire influences the global carbon cycle among others through its carbon emissions and post-fire ecosystem carbon sequestration. In addition, black carbon (also known as pyrogenic carbon, charcoal, soot) is a crucial component in the carbon cycle, yet uncertainties remain regarding sizes, losses and fluxes between land, rivers, oceans and atmosphere.
Remote sensing provides baseline information for all stakeholders involved in monitoring of biomass burning at different scales and for understanding how ecosystems respond to fires. However, there are still large uncertainties in satellite-based active fire, burned area, and fire emissions estimates, in part due to the complexity and diversity of the ecosystems affected. Building on the environmental significance and scientific challenges described above, this session will bring together fire scientists working on biomass burning monitoring and early warning systems. The aim of this session is to improve the understanding of interactions between fire, vegetation, carbon, climate and humans. We invite contributions developing or using remote sensing datasets, in situ observations, charcoal records, laboratory experiments and modeling approaches. We welcome studies that help to improve our understanding of (1) the relative importance of climate, vegetation and humans on fire occurrence across spatial and temporal scales (2) the impacts of fire on vegetation, atmosphere and society, (3) feedbacks between fire, vegetation and climate, and (4) the role of fire in the carbon cycle, with special focus on the transfer of black carbon and other fire markers from terrestrial ecosystems to aquatic environments, and their biogeochemical fate in these environments, (5) innovative use of remote sensing technologies (LIDAR, infrared cameras, drones) for fuel characterization, fire detection and monitoring; (6) algorithms/models applicable to regional-to-global scale fire analyses exploring active fire detection and characterization (e.g., fire radiative power, area affected, combustion phase), burned area mapping, atmospheric emissions and smoke transport, (7) fire product validation and error assessment, (8) analytical tools designed to enhance situational awareness among fire practitioners and early warning systems, addressing specific needs of operational fire behavior modeling.
Invited speakers:
Emilio Chuvieco, University of Alcala
Elena Kukavskaya, Sukachev Institute of Forest, Russian Academy of Sciences
Documenting the diversity of human responses and adaptations to climate, landscapes, ecosystems, natural disasters and the changing natural resources availability in different regions of our planet, cross-disciplinary studies in Geoarchaeology provide valuable opportunities to learn from the past. Furthermore, human activity became a major player of global climatic and environmental change in the course of the late Quaternary, during the Anthropocene. Consequently, we must better understand the archaeological records and landscapes in context of human culture and the hydroclimate-environment nexus at different spatial and temporal scales. This session seeks related interdisciplinary papers and specific geoarchaeological case-studies that deploy various approaches and tools to address the reconstruction of former human-environmental interactions from the Palaeolithic period through the modern. Topics related to records of the Anthropocene from Earth and archaeological science perspectives are welcome. Furthermore, contributions may include (but are not limited to) insights about how people have coped with environmental disasters or abrupt changes in the past; defining sustainability thresholds for farming or resource exploitation; distinguishing the baseline natural and human contributions to environmental changes. Ultimately, we would like to understand how strategies of human resilience and innovation can inform our modern strategies for addressing the challenges of the emerging Anthropocene, a time frame dominated by human modulation of surface geomorphological processes and hydroclimate.
Earthquakes occur with great spatio-temporal variability, which emerges from the complex interactions between them. Significant progress is being made towards understanding spatio-temporal correlations, scaling laws and clustering, and the emergence of seismicity patterns. New models being developed in statistical seismology have direct implications for time-dependent seismic hazard assessment and probabilistic earthquake forecasting. In addition, the increasing amount of earthquake data available on local to global scales provides new opportunities for model testing.
This session focuses both on recent insights on the physical processes responsible for the distribution of earthquakes in space and time, and on new models and techniques for quantifying the seismotectonic process and its evolution. Particular emphasis will be placed on:
- physical and statistical models of earthquake occurrence;
- analysis of earthquake clustering;
- spatio-temporal properties of earthquake statistics;
- quantitative testing of earthquake occurrence models;
- implications for time-dependent hazard assessment;
- methods for earthquake forecasting;
- data analyses and requirements for model testing.
Confirmed solicited speaker: Danijel Schorlemmer (GFZ - German Research Center for Geosciences, Potsdam, Germany)
This session aims to share innovative approaches to developing multi-hazard risk assessments and their components, and to explore their applications to disaster risk reduction. Effective disaster risk reduction practices and the planning of resilient communities requires the evaluation of multiple hazards and their interactions. This approach is endorsed by the UN Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction. Multi-hazard risk and multi-hazard impact assessments look at interaction mechanisms among different natural hazards, and how spatial and temporal overlap of hazards influences the exposure and vulnerability of elements at risk. Moreover, the uncertainty associated with multi-hazard risk scenarios needs to be considered, particularly in the context of climate change and evolving vulnerabilities.
This session, therefore, aims to profile a diverse range of multi-hazard risk and impact approaches, including hazard interactions, multi-vulnerability studies, and multi-hazard exposure characterization. In covering the whole risk assessment chain, we propose that it will be easier to identify potential research gaps, synergies and opportunities for future collaborations.
We encourage abstracts which present innovative research, case study examples and commentary throughout the whole disaster risk cycle on (i) multi-hazard risk methodologies which address multi-vulnerability and multi-impact aspects; (ii) methodologies and tools for multi-hazard risk management and inclusive risk-informed decision making and planning; (iii) methodologies and tools for multi-hazard disaster scenario definition and management for (near) real-time applications; (iv) cross-sectoral approaches to multi-hazard risk, incorporating the physical, social, economic, and/or environmental dimensions; (v) uncertainty in multi-hazard risk and multi-hazard impact assessment; (vi) evaluation of multi-hazard risk under climate change and future changes; (vii) implementation of disaster risk reduction measures within a multi-hazard perspective.
The session is organized as a PICO session to facilitate interactive sharing of ideas among the participants, and to provide a space for discussion. If there is sufficient interest, we will seek to coordinate a special issue on multi-hazard risk in NHESS by gathering contributions from the session.
Assessing the costs of the overall economic impacts of natural hazards, costs of prevention and costs of responses to natural hazards supply crucial information for decision-making practices in the fields of disaster risk reduction, natural hazard and risk management and climate change adaptation planning. However, the lack of empirical impact data as well as the significant diversity in methods that are currently applied in costs assessments of different natural hazards and impacted sectors make it difficult to establish comprehensive, robust and reliable cost figures. This also hinders comparisons of associated costs across countries, hazards and impacted sectors. This session aims to review current methodological approaches for assessing individual cost types (such as direct damages to housing, indirect losses, as well as costs of risk reduction) and aims to show how these methods are used in the context of various natural hazards (e.g. floods, droughts, earthquakes). We welcome submissions in the areas of assessing these various types of damage induced by any kind of natural hazard. Also, we are interested in contributions that focus on the cost-effectiveness or efficiency of risk reduction to natural hazards and adaptation to increasing weather risks that are due to climate change. Presentations are welcome for instance on model development, validation, uncertainty analysis, risk assessment frameworks as well as presentations about the application of damage models in case studies. Abstracts are sought from those involved in both the theoretical and practical aspects related to these topics.
Excellent submissions which are deemed important contributions to the session will be classified as “solicited talks”.
More than 75% of the volcanic activity on Earth occurs underwater. Recent unrest observed at many submarine volcanoes raises serious concerns regarding the level of risk posed to local communities. Many parameters of submarine to emergent volcanic activity are under active investigation, including how explosive activity varies with water depth, magma properties and magma composition. This session brings together experts from diverse disciplines to explore hazards posed to island and coastal communities as well as mechanisms of submarine to emergent volcanic activity.
The session will include presentations that integrate innovative and emerging technologies to enable focused and multi-disciplinary studies of recent and ancient eruptions and their products, as well as breakthrough developments in understanding the impact of disastrous submarine volcanic hazards on present and past societies.
We call for abstracts in the following areas:
- Identification of submarine volcanic hazards such as explosive eruptions, volcanic earthquakes, submarine landslides, hydrothermal emissions and volcanogenic tsunamis.
- Studies of the mechanics of submarine and emergent volcanic eruptions and formation of oceanic islands.
- Investigations of optimal monitoring technologies and state of the art methods that provide new insights into explorations of submarine volcanoes, which host hydrothermal systems, mineral deposits and biomediated processes.
- Recommendations for volcanic crisis management, public awareness and preparedness through an improved understanding of the hazards and impacts of submarine volcanoes.
Remote sensing and Earth Observations (EO) are used increasingly in the different phases of the risk management and in development cooperation, due to the challenges posed by contemporary issues such as climate change, population pressure and increasingly complex social interactions. EO-based applications have a number of advantages over traditional fieldwork expeditions including safety, the provision a synoptic view of the region of interest, the availability of data extending back several years and, in many cases, cost savings. Fortunately, the advent of new, more powerful sensors and more finely tuned detection algorithms provide the opportunity to image, assess and quantify natural hazards, their consequences, and vulnerable regions, more comprehensively than ever before.
For these reasons, the civil protections, the development agencies and space agencies have now inserted permanently into their programs applications of EO data to risk management. In particular, the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS) has a permanent working group on Disasters that supports and promotes the use of EO data for Disaster Risk management (DRM). During the preparedness and prevention phase EO revealed, especially in data scarce environments, fundamental for hazard, vulnerability and risk mapping. EO data intervenes both in the emergency forecast and early emergency response, thanks to the potential of rapid mapping. EO data is also increasingly being used for mapping useful information for planning interventions in the recovery phase, giving to managers and emergency officials a wealth of time-continuous information for assessment and analysis of natural hazards, from small to large regions around the globe. In this framework, CEOS has been working from several years on disasters management related to natural hazards (e.g., volcanic, seismic, landslide and flooding ones), including pilots, demonstrators, recovery observatory concepts, Geohazard Supersites and Natural Laboratory (GSNL) initiatives and multi-hazard management projects.
The session is dedicated to multidisciplinary contributions especially focused on the demonstration of the benefit of the use of EO for the risk management, with an operational user-oriented perspective.
The research presented might focus on:
- Addressed value of EO data in risk/hazard forecasting models (observation of possible precursory events and evaluation of potential predictive capabilities)
- Innovative applications of EO data for rapid mapping.
- Innovative applications of EO data for hazard, vulnerability and risk mapping.
- Innovative applications of EO data for the post-disaster recovery phase.
- Innovative applications in support to disaster risk reduction strategies (eg. landscape planning).
- Development of tools and platforms for assessment and validation of hazard/risk models
The use of different types of remote sensing (e.g. thermal, visual, radar, laser, and/or the fusion of these) might be considered, with an evaluation of their respective pros and cons. Evaluation of current sensors, data capabilities and algorithms will be welcomed, as will suggestions for future sensor considerations, algorithm developments and opportunities for emergency management agency buy-in.
Early stage researchers are strongly encouraged to present their research. Moreover, contributions from international cooperation, such as CEOS and GEO initiatives, are welcome.
Estimating the impact of climate change on both the natural and socio-economic environment plays an important role in informing a range of national and international policies, including energy, agriculture and health. Understanding these impacts, and those avoided, has never been more pertinent since the adoption of the 2015 Paris Agreement, which sought to hold “the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C, recognizing that this would significantly reduce the risks and impacts of climate change".
Policies may aim to mitigate (i.e. reduce emissions), counteract (i.e. negative emissions) and/or adapt to anthropogenic climate change and it is equally important to quantify the impact of implementing these options. While rapid, deep mitigation is clearly a pre-requisite to success, delays to such measures imply a greater reliance upon large scale negative emissions technologies. Those based on land are likely to face competing pressure from wide ranging economic activity, and knowledge of these interactions and synergies is limited. Similarly while adaptation options are wide ranging, the uses of nature-based solutions, which often provide mitigation co-benefits and are often highly cost effective, are under-researched and rarely integrated into overall natural hazard or climate change risk management strategies.
Furthermore, the methods used to evaluate impact in the climate context are many and varied, including empirical, econometric and process-based. These methods continue to evolve implying that the assessment of impact may depend upon the analytical approach chosen.
This inter- and transdisciplinary session aims to draw together scientists, developing climate-impact evaluation methods, evaluating the impact (or avoided impact) of anthropogenic climate change upon natural and socio-economic environments, investigating the potential for mitigation and counteraction options to reduce long term risk, and studying the value of multiple adaptation options to stakeholders when planning how to manage vulnerability.
The purpose of this session is to: (1) showcase the current state-of-the-art in global and continental scale natural hazard risk science, assessment, and application; (2) foster broader exchange of knowledge, datasets, methods, models, and good practice between scientists and practitioners working on different natural hazards and across disciplines globally; and (3) collaboratively identify future research avenues.
Reducing natural hazard risk is high on the global political agenda. For example, it is at the heart of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (and its predecessor the Hyogo Framework for Action) and the Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage Associated with Climate Change Impacts. In response, the last 5 years has seen an explosion in the number of scientific datasets, methods, and models for assessing risk at the global and continental scale. More and more, these datasets, methods and models are being applied together with stakeholders in the decision decision-making process.
We invite contributions related to all aspects of natural hazard risk assessment at the continental to global scale, including contributions focusing on single hazards, multiple hazards, or a combination or cascade of hazards. We also encourage contributions examining the use of scientific methods in practice, and the appropriate use of continental to global risk assessment data in efforts to reduce risks. Furthermore, we encourage contributions focusing on globally applicable methods, such as novel methods for using globally available datasets and models to force more local models or inform more local risk assessment.
Volcanic Islands are environments created by the growth of volcanoes in the sea, modified by geologic, environmental, biological and human activity. They are highly varied in geology, terrain, environment and social makeup. They are fragile environments in that they respond rapidly to global or local changes in a way that links geology, social activity and environment. Dealing with a complex object such as volcanic island requires a multidisciplinary approach on their on-land and submarine processes that crosses scientific, social and economic boundaries. From a geological and geophysical perspective there are numerous aspects that need to be addressed to acquire a comprehensive picture of how volcanic islands are born, grow up, evolve and die. These include their geodynamic setting, magmatism, volcanism, hydrothermalism, tectonics, and erosion and material transport, as well as their associated hazards and risks, environmental change record, or energy and economic resources. With the aim at integrating all this multidisciplinary research into a single forum of discussion, we offer this scientific session on Volcanic Islands, in which any geological and geophysical research on such complex environments will be more than welcome.
Public information:
Plan S, devised by a coalition of research funders with support from the European Commission and European Research Council, demands that by January 1, 2020 research supported by participating funders must be published in Open Access journals. Representatives from subscription-based and Open Access publishers, architects of Plan S, and researchers affected by it will debate questions surrounding the implementation of the plan and its consequences.
The panelists are David Sweeney, Heike Langenberg, Marc Schiltz and Brooks Hanson. They will present the case for and against mandatory OA followed by an open debate with questions and comments from the audience.
David Sweeney is Executive Chair of Research England, the biggest research funder in the UK. He has been invited to visit many countries to advise on research assessment and funding, particularly with respect to research impact. He is also co-chair of the Implementation Task Force for Plan S, the international initiative on full and immediate open access to research publications.
Heike Langenberg is the Chief Editor of Nature Geoscience. She started her editorial career in 1999 as an Associate, then Senior Editor at Nature handling manuscripts in the broad area of climate sciences. In 2007 she moved to Nature Geoscience to launch the journal in January 2008. A graduate in mathematics of the Philipps-Universität Marburg, Germany, she ventured into oceanography for her PhD at the University of Hamburg. Her postdoctoral research at various research institutes in Hamburg was focused on numerical simulations of the ocean and atmosphere at a regional scale.
Marc Schiltz is president of Science Europe, the European association of all major national public research funding and research performing organisations. In this role, he has contributed to setting the European agenda to foster Open Science and is one of the architects of Plan S. He is also leading the Luxembourg National Research Fund. He is a relentless advocate of science and research, serving on a number of external boards and committees, both at the national and international level. Having received a PhD in Crystallography from the University of Paris-Sud and an executive MBA from INSEAD, Marc has been active in research and higher education for more than 25 years and held research and faculty positions in several European countries.
Brooks Hanson is the Executive Vice President for Science for the American Geophysical Union (AGU), responsible for AGU’s publications, meetings, ethics and data programs, and Thriving Earth Exchange. He previously acted as Sr. Vice President for Publications at AGU, where he was responsible for AGU's portfolio of books and 21 journals and served as Deputy Editor for Physical Sciences at Science. Brooks received a Ph.D. in Geology from UCLA and held a post-doctoral appointment at the Department of Mineral Sciences at the Smithsonian Institution.
Public information:
The dialogue between scientists, institutions, policymakers and the general public is widely recognised as an essential step towards a fair and sustainable society. Nowadays, more than ever in human history, international cooperation is an essential requirement for protecting the planet, advancing science and ensuring an equitable development of the global economy.
Despite its importance, the above dialogue can be a challenge for scientists, who often cannot find a productive connection with governments and politicians. Scientific associations are a key link between researchers and policy makers, as they have the potential to establish a durable and profitable connection with institutions.
The EGU elected the dialogue with society as one of its priority missions. At its General Assembly, the EGU is launching an innovative symposium format, Science and Society (SCS), to host scientific forums specifically dedicated to connecting with high-level institutions and engaging the public and policymakers.
The conversation with Ilaria Capua and Mario Monti will focus on science and politics with a global perspective, and the impact of populism on European integrity and therefore scientific research. The discussion will elaborate on optimal strategies to deliver topical and clear scientific messages to key institutions.
Ilaria Capua is a virologist best known for her research on influenza viruses and her efforts promoting open access to genetic information on emerging viruses. In 2006, Science reported on Capua’s effort towards open access science, stating that she had “renewed the debate about how to balance global health against scientists’ needs to publish and countries’ demands for secrecy". She has been a member of the Italian parliament from 2013 to 2016 and a fake news victim. She is currently a full professor at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, US, and director of the UF One Health Center of Excellence.
Mario Monti served as a European Commissioner from 1995 to 2004, with responsibility for the internal market, services, customs, taxation and competition. He was Prime Minister of Italy from 2011 to 2013, leading a government of national unity to cope with the Italian debt crisis. Monti has also been Rector and is currently President of Bocconi University in Milan. His publications deal mainly with monetary and financial economics, public finance, European integration, competition policy. He is currently lifetime member of the Italian Senate.
During the conversation, Ilaria Capua and Mario Monti will present their vision with two 15-minute talks that will be followed by 20 minutes dedicated to questions from the audience and answers.
In October 2018, the IPCC published its special report on impacts of global warming of 1.5 deg C. Another recent, highly publicised study suggests that the planet could pass an irreversible threshold into a so called “Hothouse Earth” state for a temperature increase of as low as 2 degrees C above pre-industrial temperatures, while other studies and commentaries have emphasised the urgency on climate action, arguing that 2020 must be a turning point for global fossil fuel emissions, to increase the chance of maintaining a safe operating space for the humans on the planet. In 2018, the IPCC celebrated its 30th anniversary. The importance of taking action on human-induced climate change has been emphasised with governments around the world since the 1990s yet CO2 concentrations continue to rise and international initiatives have, to date, had limited and insufficient impact to avert some of the most serious consequences of climate change.
How close are we to one or more critical thresholds (cliff edge)? Is there time to avert passing one or more of these thresholds? What can the geoscience community do to reduce the risks? How important is bottom up versus top down action to ensuring the least worst outcome? These are some of the questions we will debate with world experts in their field and authors of the thought papers on these topics.
Public information:
In October 2018, the IPCC published its special report on impacts of global warming of 1.5 deg C. Another recent, highly publicised study suggests that the planet could pass an irreversible threshold into a so called “Hothouse Earth” state for a temperature increase of as low as 2 degrees C above pre-industrial temperatures.
In 2018, the IPCC celebrated its 30th anniversary. The importance of taking action on human-induced climate change has been emphasised with governments around the world since the 1990s yet CO2 concentrations continue to rise and international initiatives have, to date, had limited and insufficient impact to avert some of the most serious consequences of climate change that may pose an existential threat to modern civilisation.
How close are we to one or more critical thresholds? Is there time to avert passing one or more of them? What can the geoscience community do to reduce the risks? How important is bottom up versus top down action to ensuring the least worst outcome? These are some of the questions we will debate with world experts in their field and authors of the thought papers on these topics.
The Great Debate panellists are:
Prof. Myles Allen is Professor of Geosystem Science in the Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford. His research focuses on how human and natural influences on climate contribute to observed climate change and risks of extreme weather and in quantifying their implications for long-range climate forecasts. He was a Coordinating Lead Author on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Special Report on 1.5 degrees, having served on the IPCC’s 3rd, 4th and 5th Assessments, including the Synthesis Report Core Writing Team in 2014.
Prof. Sabine Fuss, Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change (MCC), Berlin. Sabine is an economist, currently leading a working group at the MCC. She holds a professorship on Sustainable Resource Management and Global Change at Humboldt University of Berlin. Her research interests are in sustainable development, land use change and climate change mitigation. She has been an IPCC Lead Author for the Special Report on 1.5°C global warming, serves on the steering committee of the Global Carbon Project and is a guest scholar at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis.
Erica Hope leads the cross-sectoral ‘2050 Task Force’ and governance programme of the European Climate Foundation (ECF) in Brussels, which seeks to build knowledge, political strategies and coalitions to drive the transition to a zero emissions society by mid-century. Erica has previously worked for the energy efficiency and UK programmes of the ECF, and before that led the policy and advocacy activities of NGO network Climate Action Network Europe on energy efficiency. From 2005-2009 she was researcher to Green MEP Caroline Lucas, and has also worked at the Institute for Public Policy Research in London.
Prof. Linda Steg is professor of environmental psychology at the University of Groningen. She studies factors influencing sustainable behaviour, the effects and acceptability of strategies aimed at promoting sustainable behaviour, and public perceptions of technology and system changes. She is member of Member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences (KNAW), and lead author of the IPCC special report on 1.5°C and AR6. She works on various interdisciplinary and international research programmes, and collaborates with practitioners working in industry, governments and NGOs.
Plastic pollution is recognized as one of the most serious and urgent problems facing our planet. Rates of manufacture, use and ultimately disposal of plastics continue to soar, posing an enormous threat to the planet’s oceans and rivers and the flora and fauna they support. There is an urgent need for global action, backed by sound scientific understanding, to tackle this problem.
This Union Symposium will address the problems posed to our planet by plastic pollution, and examine options for dealing with the threat.
Over the whole Earth history, the climate has encountered tipping points, shifting from one regulated system to the other. This tilting motion affects both climate and the carbon cycle and has played a major role in the evolution of the Earth climate, at all timescales. Earth History has been ponctuated by large climate changes and carbon cycle reorganizations, from large climate variations occurring in deep times (snowball events, terrestrialisation, Mesozoic and early Cenozoic warm episodes, quaternary glacial cycles…) to past and on-going abrupt events. Many potential triggers of those climate and carbon cycle shifts have been proposed and tested through modeling studies, and against field data, such as those directly or indirectly linked with tectonics (plate motion, orogenesis, opening/closing of seaways, weathering…) and orbital forcing. Given that the Earth climate is currently experiencing an unprecedented transition under anthropogenic pressure, understanding the mechanisms behind the scene is crucial.
Our aim is to point out the most recent results concerning how a complex system as the climate of the Earth has undergone many tipping points and what is the specificity of the future climate changes. Therefore, within this session, we would like to encourage talks discussing advances in our record and modeling of the forces triggering and amplifying the changes of Earth climate and carbon cycle across spatial and temporal scales.
This session aims to bridge the existing gap between the process-focused fields (hydrology, geomorphology, soil sciences, natural hazards, planetary science, geo-biology, archaeology) and the technical domain (engineering, computer vision, machine learning, and statistics) where terrain analysis approaches are developed.
The rapid growth of survey technologies and computing advances and the increase of data acquisition from various sources (platforms and sensors) has led to a vast data swamp with unprecedented spatio-temporal range, density, and resolution (from submeter to global scale data), which requires efficient data processing to extract suitable information. The challenge is now the interpretation of surface morphology for a better understanding of processes at a variety of scales, from micro, to local, to global.
We aim to foster inter-disciplinarity with a focus on new techniques in digital terrain analysis and production from any discipline which touches on geomorphometry, including but not exclusive to geomorphology (e.g., tectonic/volcanic/climatic/glacial), planetary science, archaeology, geo-biology, natural hazards, computer vision, remote sensing, image processing.
We invite submissions related to the successful application of geomorphometric methods, innovative geomorphometric variables as well as their physical, mathematical and geographical meanings. Submissions related to new techniques in high-resolution terrain or global scale data production and analysis, independent of the subject, as well as studies focused on the associated error and uncertainty analyses, are also welcome. We actively encourage contributors to present work “in development”, as well as established techniques being used in a novel way. We strongly encourage young scientists to contribute and help drive innovation in our community, presenting their work to this session.
We want to foster collaboration and the sharing of ideas across subject-boundaries, between technique developers and users, enabling us as a community to fully exploit the wealth of knowledge inherent in our digital landscape. Just remember, the driver for new ideas and applications often comes from another speciality, discipline or subject: Your solution may already be out there waiting for you!
Hydroclimatic variability is an emerging challenge with increasing implications on water resources management, planning, and the mitigation of water-related natural hazards. The above variability, along with the continuous development of water demands, and aging water supply system infrastructure make the sustainability of water use a high priority for modern society. In fact, the Global Risk 2015 Report of the World Economic Forum highlights global water crises as being the biggest threat facing the planet over the next decade.
To mitigate the above concerns we need to shed light on hydroclimatic variability and change. Several questions and mysteries are still unresolved regarding natural fluctuations of climate, anthropogenic climate change and associated variability, and changes in water resources. What is a hydroclimatic trend? What is a (long term) cycle? How can we distinguish between a trend and a cycle? Is such discrimination technically useful? How do human activities affect rainfall, hydrological change and water resources availability? How to set priorities and take action to ensure sustainability in light of variability and change?
The objective of this session is to explore hydrological and climatic temporal variability and their connections and feedbacks. More specifically, the session aims to:
1. investigate the hydrological cycle and climatic variability and change, both at regional and global scales;
2. explore the interplay between change and variability and its effect on sustainability of water uses;
3. advance our understanding of the hydrological cycle, benefiting from hydrological records and innovative techniques; and
4. improve the efficiency, simplicity, and accurate characterization of data-driven modeling techniques to quantify the impacts of past, present and future hydroclimatic change on human societies.
This session is sponsored by the International Association of Hydrological Sciences (IAHS) and the World Meteorological Organization – Commission for Hydrology (WMO CHy) and it is also related to the scientific decade 2013–2022 of IAHS, entitled “Panta Rhei - Everything Flows”.
The mid-Pleistocene Transition (MPT) is a crucial changes in climate dynamics, leading us into our current regime of long, asymmetric glacial cycles. However, evidence about the differences in how climate behaved before and after the MPT remains sparse and we also lack evidence to decide between theories that aim to explain the MPT. Here we hope to gather new datasets that compare climate on either side of the MPT or that offer new evidence about glacial cycles before it. Modelling and conceptual work about the causes of the MPT are also wlecome. Finally we would like to hear about work that paves the way for new projects, including plans and methodologies to obtain pre-MPT ice cores such as (but not limited to) the IPICS Oldest Ice challenge, like Beyond EPICA and other endeavours.
The occurrence of extremes such as droughts, flash floods, hailstorms, storm surges and tropical storms can have significant and sometimes catastrophic consequences to society. However, not all low probability weather/climate events will lead to “high impacts” on human or natural systems or infrastructure. Rather, the severity of such events depend also intrinsically on the exposure, vulnerability and/or resilience to such hazards of affected systems, including emergency management procedures. Similarly, high impact events may be compounded by the interaction of several, e.g., in their own right less severe hydro-meteorological incidents, sometimes separated in time and space. Or they may similarly result from the joint failures of multiple human or natural systems. Consequently, it is a deep transdisciplinary challenge to learn from past high impact events, understand the mechanisms behind them and ultimately to project how they may potentially change in a future climate.
The ECRA (European Climate Research Alliance) Collaborative Programme on “High Impact Events and Climate Change” aims to promote research on the mechanisms behind high impact events and climate extremes, simulation of high impact events under present and future climatic conditions, and on how relevant information for climate risk analysis, vulnerability and adaptation may be co-created with users, e.g., in terms of tailored climate services. For this aim, this Interdisciplinary and Transdisciplinary Session invites contributions that will serve to (i) better understand the mechanisms behind high impact events from a transdisciplinary and interdisciplinary perspective, e.g. case studies and the assessment of past high impact events, including detection and attribution; (ii) project changes to high impact events through, e.g. high resolution climate and impacts modelling (including economic modelling); (iii) produce climate information at the relevant scales (downscaling); and co-create climate services with users to help deal with the risk and/or impacts of high-impact events, e.g. risk analysis and climate adaptation. Abstracts that highlight recent advances from a transdisciplinary perspective for example through the innovation of climate services will be particularly encouraged. Authors and contributors to this session will be offered to present their work in a Special Issue of the journal “Sustainability”.
Tipping elements in the Earth's climate system are continental-scale subsystems that are characterized by a threshold behavior. It has been suggested that these include biosphere components (e.g. the Amazon rainforest and coral reefs), cryosphere components (e.g. the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets) and large-scale atmospheric and oceanic circulations (e.g. the thermohaline circulation, ENSO and Indian summer monsoon). Once operating near a threshold or tipping point, these components can transgress into a qualitatively different state by small external perturbations. The large-scale environmental consequences could impact the livelihoods of millions of people.
In this session, we aim to bring together experts presenting and discussing the state-of-the-art research on tipping elements in the Earth's climate system, both in empirical data and numerical modelling of past, present and future climate. Among other topics, issues to be addressed in this session include critical thresholds for specific tipping elements, typical time scales of tipping, interactions and feedbacks between tipping elements, the potential for tipping cascades as well as environmental and socio-economic impacts of tipping.
Public information:
Plan S, devised by a coalition of research funders with support from the European Commission and European Research Council, demands that by January 1, 2020 research supported by participating funders must be published in Open Access journals. Representatives from subscription-based and Open Access publishers, architects of Plan S, and researchers affected by it will debate questions surrounding the implementation of the plan and its consequences.
The panelists are David Sweeney, Heike Langenberg, Marc Schiltz and Brooks Hanson. They will present the case for and against mandatory OA followed by an open debate with questions and comments from the audience.
David Sweeney is Executive Chair of Research England, the biggest research funder in the UK. He has been invited to visit many countries to advise on research assessment and funding, particularly with respect to research impact. He is also co-chair of the Implementation Task Force for Plan S, the international initiative on full and immediate open access to research publications.
Heike Langenberg is the Chief Editor of Nature Geoscience. She started her editorial career in 1999 as an Associate, then Senior Editor at Nature handling manuscripts in the broad area of climate sciences. In 2007 she moved to Nature Geoscience to launch the journal in January 2008. A graduate in mathematics of the Philipps-Universität Marburg, Germany, she ventured into oceanography for her PhD at the University of Hamburg. Her postdoctoral research at various research institutes in Hamburg was focused on numerical simulations of the ocean and atmosphere at a regional scale.
Marc Schiltz is president of Science Europe, the European association of all major national public research funding and research performing organisations. In this role, he has contributed to setting the European agenda to foster Open Science and is one of the architects of Plan S. He is also leading the Luxembourg National Research Fund. He is a relentless advocate of science and research, serving on a number of external boards and committees, both at the national and international level. Having received a PhD in Crystallography from the University of Paris-Sud and an executive MBA from INSEAD, Marc has been active in research and higher education for more than 25 years and held research and faculty positions in several European countries.
Brooks Hanson is the Executive Vice President for Science for the American Geophysical Union (AGU), responsible for AGU’s publications, meetings, ethics and data programs, and Thriving Earth Exchange. He previously acted as Sr. Vice President for Publications at AGU, where he was responsible for AGU's portfolio of books and 21 journals and served as Deputy Editor for Physical Sciences at Science. Brooks received a Ph.D. in Geology from UCLA and held a post-doctoral appointment at the Department of Mineral Sciences at the Smithsonian Institution.
Public information:
The dialogue between scientists, institutions, policymakers and the general public is widely recognised as an essential step towards a fair and sustainable society. Nowadays, more than ever in human history, international cooperation is an essential requirement for protecting the planet, advancing science and ensuring an equitable development of the global economy.
Despite its importance, the above dialogue can be a challenge for scientists, who often cannot find a productive connection with governments and politicians. Scientific associations are a key link between researchers and policy makers, as they have the potential to establish a durable and profitable connection with institutions.
The EGU elected the dialogue with society as one of its priority missions. At its General Assembly, the EGU is launching an innovative symposium format, Science and Society (SCS), to host scientific forums specifically dedicated to connecting with high-level institutions and engaging the public and policymakers.
The conversation with Ilaria Capua and Mario Monti will focus on science and politics with a global perspective, and the impact of populism on European integrity and therefore scientific research. The discussion will elaborate on optimal strategies to deliver topical and clear scientific messages to key institutions.
Ilaria Capua is a virologist best known for her research on influenza viruses and her efforts promoting open access to genetic information on emerging viruses. In 2006, Science reported on Capua’s effort towards open access science, stating that she had “renewed the debate about how to balance global health against scientists’ needs to publish and countries’ demands for secrecy". She has been a member of the Italian parliament from 2013 to 2016 and a fake news victim. She is currently a full professor at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, US, and director of the UF One Health Center of Excellence.
Mario Monti served as a European Commissioner from 1995 to 2004, with responsibility for the internal market, services, customs, taxation and competition. He was Prime Minister of Italy from 2011 to 2013, leading a government of national unity to cope with the Italian debt crisis. Monti has also been Rector and is currently President of Bocconi University in Milan. His publications deal mainly with monetary and financial economics, public finance, European integration, competition policy. He is currently lifetime member of the Italian Senate.
During the conversation, Ilaria Capua and Mario Monti will present their vision with two 15-minute talks that will be followed by 20 minutes dedicated to questions from the audience and answers.
Tsunamis can produce catastrophic damage on vulnerable coastlines, essentially following major earthquakes, landslides or atmospheric disturbances. After the disastrous tsunamis in 2004 and 2011, tsunami science has grown significantly, opening new fields of research for various domains, and also in regions where the tsunami hazard was previously underestimated.
Numerical modeling, complemented with laboratory experiments, are essential to quantify the tsunami hazard based. To this end, it is essential to rely on complete databases of past tsunami observations, including both historical events and results of paleotsunami investigations. Furthermore, a robust hazard analysis has to take into account uncertainties and probabilities with the more advanced approaches such as PTHA.
Because the vulnerability of populations, of infrastructures and of the built environment in coastal zones increases, integrated plans for tsunami risk prevention and mitigation should be encouraged in any exposed coastline, consistent with the procedures now in place in a growing number of Tsunami Warning System.
The NH5.1/OS2.22/SM3.11 Tsunami session welcomes contributions covering any of the aspects mentioned here, encompassing field data, regional hazard studies, observation databases, numerical modeling, risk studies, real time networks, operational tools and procedures towards a most efficient warning.
A focus on recent tsunami events all over the globe is encouraged (including Palu 28 September, Zakynthos 26 October, Tadine, New Caledonia, 5 December), as well as on the achievements of recent research projects.
Oceanographic processes at coastal scales present a number of differences with respect to deep water oceanography, which result in higher prediction errors. In shallow water coastal domains the bottom topography, via the sea-bed boundary condition, exerts a strong control on the resulting wave and current fields. In addition to this, other factors need to be accounted for, such as the relevance of the tidal influence, stratification and mixing effects, land boundary condition (affecting the wind fields), the presence of distributed run off and point-wise river mouths. And yet it is in these coastal zones where the need for accuracy and reliability becomes crucial for planning socio-economic activities and for maintaining risk levels under present and future climate conditions.
A thorough characterisation of the physical processes taking place on the coastal region relies on the joint use of numerical modelling, in-situ observations and remote sensing, three approaches currently achieving rapid advances and which constitute the three basic pillars of this session. A coupled modelling approach to atmosphere, hydrodynamics and sediment transport, as well as the refinement of numerical strategies (nested meshes, finite-difference or finite-element discretization, variable grids, etc.), parameterizations and boundary conditions, can play a critical role in improving the quality of analyses and predictions. Marine observatories, providing the necessary information to drive and validate numerical models, are progressively aggregating into organised, trans-national infrastructures based on broadly accessible and interoperable data formats. The advent of new satellite capabilities (with increased resolution and enhanced technologies, like in the case of the Sentinel constellation) aiming at overcoming the typical limitations of remote sensing in coastal environments, allows starting a quantum leap in coastal oceanography. In fact, the joint use of these instruments can be particularly powerful for an increasing integration among the different aspects of coastal risk assessment, planning and response to climate change (as recommended by IPCC last reports).
This session proposes to discuss recent advances in these fields with emphasis on: integrated ocean-atmosphere-sediment modelling approaches and the physics of their coupling mechanisms; the hydrological, biogeochemical, geomorphological variability of coastal regions; the availability and use of coastal in-situ observations; and standards, procedures and data formats to make data ready for use in an integrated ocean processes monitoring system. We thus welcome presentations /posters also on: satellite/in-situ measurements, coastal assimilation, atmosphere-ocean-sediment model coupling and error/prediction limits as well as the contribution of coastal met-ocean science to operational oceanography. Applications to improve our knowledge on how these processes interact with coastal infrastructure or activities and applications of operational simulations combined with remote and in-situ data.
In October 2018, the IPCC published its special report on impacts of global warming of 1.5 deg C. Another recent, highly publicised study suggests that the planet could pass an irreversible threshold into a so called “Hothouse Earth” state for a temperature increase of as low as 2 degrees C above pre-industrial temperatures, while other studies and commentaries have emphasised the urgency on climate action, arguing that 2020 must be a turning point for global fossil fuel emissions, to increase the chance of maintaining a safe operating space for the humans on the planet. In 2018, the IPCC celebrated its 30th anniversary. The importance of taking action on human-induced climate change has been emphasised with governments around the world since the 1990s yet CO2 concentrations continue to rise and international initiatives have, to date, had limited and insufficient impact to avert some of the most serious consequences of climate change.
How close are we to one or more critical thresholds (cliff edge)? Is there time to avert passing one or more of these thresholds? What can the geoscience community do to reduce the risks? How important is bottom up versus top down action to ensuring the least worst outcome? These are some of the questions we will debate with world experts in their field and authors of the thought papers on these topics.
Public information:
In October 2018, the IPCC published its special report on impacts of global warming of 1.5 deg C. Another recent, highly publicised study suggests that the planet could pass an irreversible threshold into a so called “Hothouse Earth” state for a temperature increase of as low as 2 degrees C above pre-industrial temperatures.
In 2018, the IPCC celebrated its 30th anniversary. The importance of taking action on human-induced climate change has been emphasised with governments around the world since the 1990s yet CO2 concentrations continue to rise and international initiatives have, to date, had limited and insufficient impact to avert some of the most serious consequences of climate change that may pose an existential threat to modern civilisation.
How close are we to one or more critical thresholds? Is there time to avert passing one or more of them? What can the geoscience community do to reduce the risks? How important is bottom up versus top down action to ensuring the least worst outcome? These are some of the questions we will debate with world experts in their field and authors of the thought papers on these topics.
The Great Debate panellists are:
Prof. Myles Allen is Professor of Geosystem Science in the Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford. His research focuses on how human and natural influences on climate contribute to observed climate change and risks of extreme weather and in quantifying their implications for long-range climate forecasts. He was a Coordinating Lead Author on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Special Report on 1.5 degrees, having served on the IPCC’s 3rd, 4th and 5th Assessments, including the Synthesis Report Core Writing Team in 2014.
Prof. Sabine Fuss, Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change (MCC), Berlin. Sabine is an economist, currently leading a working group at the MCC. She holds a professorship on Sustainable Resource Management and Global Change at Humboldt University of Berlin. Her research interests are in sustainable development, land use change and climate change mitigation. She has been an IPCC Lead Author for the Special Report on 1.5°C global warming, serves on the steering committee of the Global Carbon Project and is a guest scholar at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis.
Erica Hope leads the cross-sectoral ‘2050 Task Force’ and governance programme of the European Climate Foundation (ECF) in Brussels, which seeks to build knowledge, political strategies and coalitions to drive the transition to a zero emissions society by mid-century. Erica has previously worked for the energy efficiency and UK programmes of the ECF, and before that led the policy and advocacy activities of NGO network Climate Action Network Europe on energy efficiency. From 2005-2009 she was researcher to Green MEP Caroline Lucas, and has also worked at the Institute for Public Policy Research in London.
Prof. Linda Steg is professor of environmental psychology at the University of Groningen. She studies factors influencing sustainable behaviour, the effects and acceptability of strategies aimed at promoting sustainable behaviour, and public perceptions of technology and system changes. She is member of Member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences (KNAW), and lead author of the IPCC special report on 1.5°C and AR6. She works on various interdisciplinary and international research programmes, and collaborates with practitioners working in industry, governments and NGOs.
The Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service (CMEMS) provides regular and systematic reference information on the physical state, variability and dynamics of the ocean and marine ecosystems for the global ocean and the European regional seas. This capacity encompasses the description of the current situation (analysis), the variability at different spatial and temporal scales, the prediction of the situation a few days ahead (forecast), and the provision of consistent retrospective data records for recent years (re-analysis and reprocessed datasets). CMEMS provides a sustainable response to European user needs in four areas of benefits: (i) maritime safety, (ii) marine resources, (iii) coastal and marine environment, (iv) weather, seasonal forecast and climate.
The session will cover research activities that are required to maintain CMEMS systems at the state of the art and prepare their long-term evolution (e.g. physical and biogeochemical modeling, coupling with coastal systems; coupling with sea-ice, atmosphere & waves; data assimilation both for physics and biogeochemistry).
We also welcome scientific presentations (i) on the verification, validation and uncertainty estimates of CMEMS products, (ii) on the use of CMEMS products for downstream applications and (iii) on the monitoring and long-term assessment of the ocean physical and biogeochemical states.
Presentations should not be limited to research teams directly involved in CMEMS and participation from external teams is strongly encouraged (e.g. from H2020 projects relevant to CMEMS and downstream applications, from projects on seasonal to multidecadal regional projections for the coastal ocean and marine ecosystems, from projects on ocean model forcing from river discharge of freshwater and nutrients), as well as presentations on the use of Sentinel products.
Plastic pollution is recognized as one of the most serious and urgent problems facing our planet. Rates of manufacture, use and ultimately disposal of plastics continue to soar, posing an enormous threat to the planet’s oceans and rivers and the flora and fauna they support. There is an urgent need for global action, backed by sound scientific understanding, to tackle this problem.
This Union Symposium will address the problems posed to our planet by plastic pollution, and examine options for dealing with the threat.
Over the whole Earth history, the climate has encountered tipping points, shifting from one regulated system to the other. This tilting motion affects both climate and the carbon cycle and has played a major role in the evolution of the Earth climate, at all timescales. Earth History has been ponctuated by large climate changes and carbon cycle reorganizations, from large climate variations occurring in deep times (snowball events, terrestrialisation, Mesozoic and early Cenozoic warm episodes, quaternary glacial cycles…) to past and on-going abrupt events. Many potential triggers of those climate and carbon cycle shifts have been proposed and tested through modeling studies, and against field data, such as those directly or indirectly linked with tectonics (plate motion, orogenesis, opening/closing of seaways, weathering…) and orbital forcing. Given that the Earth climate is currently experiencing an unprecedented transition under anthropogenic pressure, understanding the mechanisms behind the scene is crucial.
Our aim is to point out the most recent results concerning how a complex system as the climate of the Earth has undergone many tipping points and what is the specificity of the future climate changes. Therefore, within this session, we would like to encourage talks discussing advances in our record and modeling of the forces triggering and amplifying the changes of Earth climate and carbon cycle across spatial and temporal scales.
Due to the growing pressures on marine natural resources and the ecosystem services demand, the interest of scientific and politic world is moving to ensure the conservation of marine ecosystems and environmental sustainable development of anthropogenic activities. Recently the principal European policies meet these issues, focusing on maintaining/ reaching the good environmental status (GES) of water bodies (WFD/MSFD) and solving the conflicts between anthropogenic pressures and marine ecosystems (MSP).
Some of the anthropogenic activities could have a potential impact on marine environment altering the marine ecosystems equilibrium. Since the dynamical processes influence the pollutants dispersion, it is compelling to analyse the ecosystems status through the study of abiotic variables distribution at proper spatial and temporal resolution.
From this perspective a large amount of data obtained by global observation systems (e.g. GOOS, EMODNET…) is needed to properly analyse the environmental quality both in the coastal and open ocean areas.
The session focuses on marine ecosystems, abiotic and biotic factors affecting their dynamics, highlighting the effects of anthropogenic impacts.
The following topics will be discussed: quantitative analysis of the effects of pollution on biota considering their natural and anthropogenic sources; benthic and pelagic community dynamics; economic evaluation of natural capital.
In this session multidisciplinary approaches using data coming from multiple sources (mathematical model, in-situ and remote observations) are encouraged.
Studies regarding the marine strategy descriptors, with the aim to develop methods, technologies and best practices to maintain/restore biodiversity and to guarantee a sustainable marine resources use, are also welcome.
To address societal concerns over rising sea level and extreme events, understanding the contributions behind these changes is key to predict potential impacts of sea level change on coastal communities and global economy, and is recognized as one of the Grand Challenges of our time by the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP). To continue this discussion, we welcome contributions from the international sea level community that improve our knowledge of the past and present changes in sea level, extreme events, and flooding, and produce improved predictions of their future changes. We welcome studies on various drivers of sea level change and linkages between variability in sea level, heat and freshwater content, ocean dynamics, land subsidence from natural versus anthropogenic influences, and mass exchange between the land and the ocean associated with ice sheet and glacier mass loss and changes in the terrestrial water storage. Studies focusing on future sea level changes are also encouraged, as well as those discussing potential short-, medium-, and long-term impacts on coastal and deltaic environments, as well as the global oceans.
Marine geological processes cover a range of different disciplinary fields and their understanding usually requires an interdisciplinary approach. The interaction of geological, physical oceanographic, chemical and biological mechanisms in marine geological processes ranging from sediment erosion and deposition, to hydrothermal and fluid flow systems, to early diagenesis and geomicrobiology, is of specific interest. Such processes may take place in shallow or deep, in tropical and glacial environments, and they may be natural or partly human-influenced. Climate-induced perturbations in marine geological processes have occurred in present and past, and potentially will also occur in the future. Several of these processes may also have a profound human impact, such as tsunamis generated by tectonic or mass-slumping events, coastal erosion in response to changed currents or river discharge, and sediment gravity flow in deep waters affecting human infrastructures. /We encourage comprehensive and interdisciplinary abstracts within the broad field of marine geology and with direct relevance to marine processes or deposits concerned with rocks, sediments, and geo-physical and geo-(bio)chemical processes that affect them.
Plastic contamination has been reported in all realms of the environment from the tropics to the polar oceans. The consequences of this contamination may be severe for ecosystems and could adversely affect ecosystem services such as fisheries and even human health. Our poor knowledge of plastics sources, their composition, sizes, pathways, hot spots of accumulation and ultimate fate prevents an assessment of environmental risks and the development of appropriate mitigation strategies. In order to understand current distributions of plastics and the way they evolve in space and time, much better observations and common consistent measuring methods are required but simultaneously, observations must be combined with computational models from their sources on land to rivers, estuaries, oceans and sea ice. This requires improved standardized accurate observations and the development of advanced modelling capabilities to quantify and predict contamination levels.
The session aims to set up a forum for multi-disciplinary discussions to create a global picture of plastic contamination in the environment and to suggest approaches for future research, monitoring and mitigation of plastic pollutions impacts. The session will provide a framework to advise legislators and industry on the best ways to reduce the risks of serious damage from this contaminant.
This session will draw together data on plastic contamination across all sizes of plastics, from nano- and micro-plastics to large plastic fragments, and across all environments and locations. It will combine observations with state-of-the-art computational modelling to promote the fast advance of research and improve our understanding of how plastic pollution affects environments worldwide. We invite contributions on new methods and field observations, laboratory experiments, novel modelling approaches, related scientific initiatives and projects. New ideas for citizen-science involvement and for mitigation strategies to reduce plastic contamination of the environment are especially welcome.
Climate change in the Mediterranean region poses critical environmental issues and can affect many sectors of human activities. Contrasting climate trends, levels of exposure and vulnerability are present across this region with associated potential conflicts. Climate research is expected to contribute an increasingly precise information on the future climate and impacts of climate change in this region. A large set of instrumental records and climate proxies allows in many areas of the Mediterranean region to bridge present trends and past climate over a wide range of timescales. This session encourages contributions adopting a multidisciplinary approach and it aims to promote a dialogue between climatologists and researchers interested on the impacts of climate on human and natural systems. It aims at including contributions describing new scientific findings on the climate of the Mediterranean region, its dynamics, variability, change, and studies of climate related impacts on societies and ecosystems. The session considers different time scales (from paleoclimate to future model projections), different components (atmosphere, ocean, land and its hydrology) and factors (chemical, biological, anthropic) as well as highlights of sub-regional hotspots and climate processes.
Tipping elements in the Earth's climate system are continental-scale subsystems that are characterized by a threshold behavior. It has been suggested that these include biosphere components (e.g. the Amazon rainforest and coral reefs), cryosphere components (e.g. the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets) and large-scale atmospheric and oceanic circulations (e.g. the thermohaline circulation, ENSO and Indian summer monsoon). Once operating near a threshold or tipping point, these components can transgress into a qualitatively different state by small external perturbations. The large-scale environmental consequences could impact the livelihoods of millions of people.
In this session, we aim to bring together experts presenting and discussing the state-of-the-art research on tipping elements in the Earth's climate system, both in empirical data and numerical modelling of past, present and future climate. Among other topics, issues to be addressed in this session include critical thresholds for specific tipping elements, typical time scales of tipping, interactions and feedbacks between tipping elements, the potential for tipping cascades as well as environmental and socio-economic impacts of tipping.
Public information:
Plan S, devised by a coalition of research funders with support from the European Commission and European Research Council, demands that by January 1, 2020 research supported by participating funders must be published in Open Access journals. Representatives from subscription-based and Open Access publishers, architects of Plan S, and researchers affected by it will debate questions surrounding the implementation of the plan and its consequences.
The panelists are David Sweeney, Heike Langenberg, Marc Schiltz and Brooks Hanson. They will present the case for and against mandatory OA followed by an open debate with questions and comments from the audience.
David Sweeney is Executive Chair of Research England, the biggest research funder in the UK. He has been invited to visit many countries to advise on research assessment and funding, particularly with respect to research impact. He is also co-chair of the Implementation Task Force for Plan S, the international initiative on full and immediate open access to research publications.
Heike Langenberg is the Chief Editor of Nature Geoscience. She started her editorial career in 1999 as an Associate, then Senior Editor at Nature handling manuscripts in the broad area of climate sciences. In 2007 she moved to Nature Geoscience to launch the journal in January 2008. A graduate in mathematics of the Philipps-Universität Marburg, Germany, she ventured into oceanography for her PhD at the University of Hamburg. Her postdoctoral research at various research institutes in Hamburg was focused on numerical simulations of the ocean and atmosphere at a regional scale.
Marc Schiltz is president of Science Europe, the European association of all major national public research funding and research performing organisations. In this role, he has contributed to setting the European agenda to foster Open Science and is one of the architects of Plan S. He is also leading the Luxembourg National Research Fund. He is a relentless advocate of science and research, serving on a number of external boards and committees, both at the national and international level. Having received a PhD in Crystallography from the University of Paris-Sud and an executive MBA from INSEAD, Marc has been active in research and higher education for more than 25 years and held research and faculty positions in several European countries.
Brooks Hanson is the Executive Vice President for Science for the American Geophysical Union (AGU), responsible for AGU’s publications, meetings, ethics and data programs, and Thriving Earth Exchange. He previously acted as Sr. Vice President for Publications at AGU, where he was responsible for AGU's portfolio of books and 21 journals and served as Deputy Editor for Physical Sciences at Science. Brooks received a Ph.D. in Geology from UCLA and held a post-doctoral appointment at the Department of Mineral Sciences at the Smithsonian Institution.
Public information:
The dialogue between scientists, institutions, policymakers and the general public is widely recognised as an essential step towards a fair and sustainable society. Nowadays, more than ever in human history, international cooperation is an essential requirement for protecting the planet, advancing science and ensuring an equitable development of the global economy.
Despite its importance, the above dialogue can be a challenge for scientists, who often cannot find a productive connection with governments and politicians. Scientific associations are a key link between researchers and policy makers, as they have the potential to establish a durable and profitable connection with institutions.
The EGU elected the dialogue with society as one of its priority missions. At its General Assembly, the EGU is launching an innovative symposium format, Science and Society (SCS), to host scientific forums specifically dedicated to connecting with high-level institutions and engaging the public and policymakers.
The conversation with Ilaria Capua and Mario Monti will focus on science and politics with a global perspective, and the impact of populism on European integrity and therefore scientific research. The discussion will elaborate on optimal strategies to deliver topical and clear scientific messages to key institutions.
Ilaria Capua is a virologist best known for her research on influenza viruses and her efforts promoting open access to genetic information on emerging viruses. In 2006, Science reported on Capua’s effort towards open access science, stating that she had “renewed the debate about how to balance global health against scientists’ needs to publish and countries’ demands for secrecy". She has been a member of the Italian parliament from 2013 to 2016 and a fake news victim. She is currently a full professor at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, US, and director of the UF One Health Center of Excellence.
Mario Monti served as a European Commissioner from 1995 to 2004, with responsibility for the internal market, services, customs, taxation and competition. He was Prime Minister of Italy from 2011 to 2013, leading a government of national unity to cope with the Italian debt crisis. Monti has also been Rector and is currently President of Bocconi University in Milan. His publications deal mainly with monetary and financial economics, public finance, European integration, competition policy. He is currently lifetime member of the Italian Senate.
During the conversation, Ilaria Capua and Mario Monti will present their vision with two 15-minute talks that will be followed by 20 minutes dedicated to questions from the audience and answers.
In October 2018, the IPCC published its special report on impacts of global warming of 1.5 deg C. Another recent, highly publicised study suggests that the planet could pass an irreversible threshold into a so called “Hothouse Earth” state for a temperature increase of as low as 2 degrees C above pre-industrial temperatures, while other studies and commentaries have emphasised the urgency on climate action, arguing that 2020 must be a turning point for global fossil fuel emissions, to increase the chance of maintaining a safe operating space for the humans on the planet. In 2018, the IPCC celebrated its 30th anniversary. The importance of taking action on human-induced climate change has been emphasised with governments around the world since the 1990s yet CO2 concentrations continue to rise and international initiatives have, to date, had limited and insufficient impact to avert some of the most serious consequences of climate change.
How close are we to one or more critical thresholds (cliff edge)? Is there time to avert passing one or more of these thresholds? What can the geoscience community do to reduce the risks? How important is bottom up versus top down action to ensuring the least worst outcome? These are some of the questions we will debate with world experts in their field and authors of the thought papers on these topics.
Public information:
In October 2018, the IPCC published its special report on impacts of global warming of 1.5 deg C. Another recent, highly publicised study suggests that the planet could pass an irreversible threshold into a so called “Hothouse Earth” state for a temperature increase of as low as 2 degrees C above pre-industrial temperatures.
In 2018, the IPCC celebrated its 30th anniversary. The importance of taking action on human-induced climate change has been emphasised with governments around the world since the 1990s yet CO2 concentrations continue to rise and international initiatives have, to date, had limited and insufficient impact to avert some of the most serious consequences of climate change that may pose an existential threat to modern civilisation.
How close are we to one or more critical thresholds? Is there time to avert passing one or more of them? What can the geoscience community do to reduce the risks? How important is bottom up versus top down action to ensuring the least worst outcome? These are some of the questions we will debate with world experts in their field and authors of the thought papers on these topics.
The Great Debate panellists are:
Prof. Myles Allen is Professor of Geosystem Science in the Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford. His research focuses on how human and natural influences on climate contribute to observed climate change and risks of extreme weather and in quantifying their implications for long-range climate forecasts. He was a Coordinating Lead Author on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Special Report on 1.5 degrees, having served on the IPCC’s 3rd, 4th and 5th Assessments, including the Synthesis Report Core Writing Team in 2014.
Prof. Sabine Fuss, Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change (MCC), Berlin. Sabine is an economist, currently leading a working group at the MCC. She holds a professorship on Sustainable Resource Management and Global Change at Humboldt University of Berlin. Her research interests are in sustainable development, land use change and climate change mitigation. She has been an IPCC Lead Author for the Special Report on 1.5°C global warming, serves on the steering committee of the Global Carbon Project and is a guest scholar at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis.
Erica Hope leads the cross-sectoral ‘2050 Task Force’ and governance programme of the European Climate Foundation (ECF) in Brussels, which seeks to build knowledge, political strategies and coalitions to drive the transition to a zero emissions society by mid-century. Erica has previously worked for the energy efficiency and UK programmes of the ECF, and before that led the policy and advocacy activities of NGO network Climate Action Network Europe on energy efficiency. From 2005-2009 she was researcher to Green MEP Caroline Lucas, and has also worked at the Institute for Public Policy Research in London.
Prof. Linda Steg is professor of environmental psychology at the University of Groningen. She studies factors influencing sustainable behaviour, the effects and acceptability of strategies aimed at promoting sustainable behaviour, and public perceptions of technology and system changes. She is member of Member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences (KNAW), and lead author of the IPCC special report on 1.5°C and AR6. She works on various interdisciplinary and international research programmes, and collaborates with practitioners working in industry, governments and NGOs.
Plastic pollution is recognized as one of the most serious and urgent problems facing our planet. Rates of manufacture, use and ultimately disposal of plastics continue to soar, posing an enormous threat to the planet’s oceans and rivers and the flora and fauna they support. There is an urgent need for global action, backed by sound scientific understanding, to tackle this problem.
This Union Symposium will address the problems posed to our planet by plastic pollution, and examine options for dealing with the threat.
Over the whole Earth history, the climate has encountered tipping points, shifting from one regulated system to the other. This tilting motion affects both climate and the carbon cycle and has played a major role in the evolution of the Earth climate, at all timescales. Earth History has been ponctuated by large climate changes and carbon cycle reorganizations, from large climate variations occurring in deep times (snowball events, terrestrialisation, Mesozoic and early Cenozoic warm episodes, quaternary glacial cycles…) to past and on-going abrupt events. Many potential triggers of those climate and carbon cycle shifts have been proposed and tested through modeling studies, and against field data, such as those directly or indirectly linked with tectonics (plate motion, orogenesis, opening/closing of seaways, weathering…) and orbital forcing. Given that the Earth climate is currently experiencing an unprecedented transition under anthropogenic pressure, understanding the mechanisms behind the scene is crucial.
Our aim is to point out the most recent results concerning how a complex system as the climate of the Earth has undergone many tipping points and what is the specificity of the future climate changes. Therefore, within this session, we would like to encourage talks discussing advances in our record and modeling of the forces triggering and amplifying the changes of Earth climate and carbon cycle across spatial and temporal scales.
This session aims to bridge the existing gap between the process-focused fields (hydrology, geomorphology, soil sciences, natural hazards, planetary science, geo-biology, archaeology) and the technical domain (engineering, computer vision, machine learning, and statistics) where terrain analysis approaches are developed.
The rapid growth of survey technologies and computing advances and the increase of data acquisition from various sources (platforms and sensors) has led to a vast data swamp with unprecedented spatio-temporal range, density, and resolution (from submeter to global scale data), which requires efficient data processing to extract suitable information. The challenge is now the interpretation of surface morphology for a better understanding of processes at a variety of scales, from micro, to local, to global.
We aim to foster inter-disciplinarity with a focus on new techniques in digital terrain analysis and production from any discipline which touches on geomorphometry, including but not exclusive to geomorphology (e.g., tectonic/volcanic/climatic/glacial), planetary science, archaeology, geo-biology, natural hazards, computer vision, remote sensing, image processing.
We invite submissions related to the successful application of geomorphometric methods, innovative geomorphometric variables as well as their physical, mathematical and geographical meanings. Submissions related to new techniques in high-resolution terrain or global scale data production and analysis, independent of the subject, as well as studies focused on the associated error and uncertainty analyses, are also welcome. We actively encourage contributors to present work “in development”, as well as established techniques being used in a novel way. We strongly encourage young scientists to contribute and help drive innovation in our community, presenting their work to this session.
We want to foster collaboration and the sharing of ideas across subject-boundaries, between technique developers and users, enabling us as a community to fully exploit the wealth of knowledge inherent in our digital landscape. Just remember, the driver for new ideas and applications often comes from another speciality, discipline or subject: Your solution may already be out there waiting for you!
'Cosmic rays’ collectively describe particles that bombard the Earth from space. They carry information about space and, once near the Earth, interact with the magnetosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere and lithosphere. Secondary cosmic rays created within the atmosphere can provide information about our planet that is vital to science and society. Secondary neutron radiation plays an extraordinary role, as it not only carries information about solar activity, but also produces short and long living tracer isotopes, influences genetic information of living organisms, and is extraordinarily sensitive to hydrogen and therefore also to water. Given the vast spectrum of interactions of cosmic rays with matter in different parts of the Earth, cosmic-ray research ranges from studies of the solar system to the history of the Earth, and from health and security issues to hydrology and climate change.
Although research on cosmic-ray particles is connected to a variety of disciplines and applications, they all share similar questions and problems regarding the physics of detection, modeling, and environmental factors that influence the intensity. Questions that all disciplines have in common are, for example, “How does the cosmic-ray intensity and energy spectra change with time and location on Earth?”, “How to correct the signal for magnetospheric or atmospheric fluctuations?”, “What is the influence of local structures, water bodies, and surface conditions?”, “Which computer model for cosmic-ray propagation is correct?”, or “What can we learn from other types of cosmic-ray particles?”.
The session brings together scientists from all fields of research that are related to monitoring and modeling of cosmogenic radiation. It will allow sharing of expertise amongst international researchers as well as showcase recent advancements in their field. The session aims to stimulate discussions about how individual disciplines can share their knowledge and benefit from each other.
We solicit contributions related but not limited to:
- Health, security, and radiation protection: cosmic-ray dosimetry on Earth and its dependence on environmental and atmospheric factors
- Planetary space science: satellite and ground-based neutron and gamma-ray sensors to detect water and soil chemistry
- Neutron monitor research: detection of high-energy cosmic rays variations and its dependence on local and atmospheric factors
- Hydrology and climate change: low-energy neutron sensing to measure water in reservoirs at and near the land surface, such as soils, snow pack and vegetation
- Cosmogenic nuclides: as tracers of atmospheric circulation and mixing; as a tool in archaeology or glaciology for dating of ice and measuring ablation rates; and as a tool for surface exposure dating and measuring rates of surficial geological processes
- Detector design: technological advancements for the detection of cosmic rays
- Cosmic-ray modeling: advances in modeling of the cosmic-ray propagation through the magnetosphere and atmosphere, and their response to the Earth’s surface
- Impact modeling: How can cosmic-ray monitoring support environmental models, weather and climate forecasting, irrigation management, and the assessment of natural hazards
The Mars Science and Exploration Session will address the latest results on the interior, surface, atmosphere and ionosphere of Mars from recent and ongoing Mars missions, as well as the future exploration of the Red Planet. In particular, the session is primarily targeted at: (1) presentations on scientific investigations as well as theoretical models concerning the deep interior and subsurface structure and composition; the surface morphology and composition; the atmospheric composition, dynamics and climate; the ionospheric environment and its interaction with the solar wind; Phobos, water evolution, astrobiology and habitability of Mars; (2) discussions on scientific goals, long-term plans and proposed experiments for future missions to Mars, as well as results obtained from ground-based measurements. The session includes also a small subsession of a community effort for a receiving and curation facility of Mars Sample Return. Both broad solicited talks and contributed presentations will be included in the program.
The InSight mission to Mars landed in Elysium Planitia on November 26. InSight's scientific objective is the study of the Martian interior using two seismometers, a heat flow probe and geodetical measurements. Auxiliary instruments will collect meteorological and magnetic data for at least one Martian year.
This session provides initial results from Mars, status reports of instrument deployment and relevant pre-landing science.
NASA’s Juno mission is devoted to study the origin and evolution of
Jupiter, which are the keys to understand the fundamental processes
and conditions that governed our solar system during its formation.
Orbiting around Jupiter since July 4, 2016, Juno is the first
spacecraft in a polar
orbit around this gas giant. Its scientific payload includes
instrumentation to study the interior, the atmosphere, and to perform
the first in-situ exploration of Jupiter’s polar magnetosphere and
aurorae.
An Earth-based observation campaign of Jupiter and the solar wind has
been organised to boost Juno's scientific return.
This session welcomes presentation of outcomes from the Juno
measurements, the collaborative campaign during the first two year of
Juno’s prime mission and results from studies of other giants in the
solar system.
The session will focus on data analysis and on theoretical modelling
of Jupiter’s interior structure, its intense magnetic field and
plasma circulation, the atmospheric dynamics and composition, and on
the structure and evolutions of the planet's auroras. We also welcome
discussions about comparative planetology with other giants in the
solar system.
Public information:
Plan S, devised by a coalition of research funders with support from the European Commission and European Research Council, demands that by January 1, 2020 research supported by participating funders must be published in Open Access journals. Representatives from subscription-based and Open Access publishers, architects of Plan S, and researchers affected by it will debate questions surrounding the implementation of the plan and its consequences.
The panelists are David Sweeney, Heike Langenberg, Marc Schiltz and Brooks Hanson. They will present the case for and against mandatory OA followed by an open debate with questions and comments from the audience.
David Sweeney is Executive Chair of Research England, the biggest research funder in the UK. He has been invited to visit many countries to advise on research assessment and funding, particularly with respect to research impact. He is also co-chair of the Implementation Task Force for Plan S, the international initiative on full and immediate open access to research publications.
Heike Langenberg is the Chief Editor of Nature Geoscience. She started her editorial career in 1999 as an Associate, then Senior Editor at Nature handling manuscripts in the broad area of climate sciences. In 2007 she moved to Nature Geoscience to launch the journal in January 2008. A graduate in mathematics of the Philipps-Universität Marburg, Germany, she ventured into oceanography for her PhD at the University of Hamburg. Her postdoctoral research at various research institutes in Hamburg was focused on numerical simulations of the ocean and atmosphere at a regional scale.
Marc Schiltz is president of Science Europe, the European association of all major national public research funding and research performing organisations. In this role, he has contributed to setting the European agenda to foster Open Science and is one of the architects of Plan S. He is also leading the Luxembourg National Research Fund. He is a relentless advocate of science and research, serving on a number of external boards and committees, both at the national and international level. Having received a PhD in Crystallography from the University of Paris-Sud and an executive MBA from INSEAD, Marc has been active in research and higher education for more than 25 years and held research and faculty positions in several European countries.
Brooks Hanson is the Executive Vice President for Science for the American Geophysical Union (AGU), responsible for AGU’s publications, meetings, ethics and data programs, and Thriving Earth Exchange. He previously acted as Sr. Vice President for Publications at AGU, where he was responsible for AGU's portfolio of books and 21 journals and served as Deputy Editor for Physical Sciences at Science. Brooks received a Ph.D. in Geology from UCLA and held a post-doctoral appointment at the Department of Mineral Sciences at the Smithsonian Institution.
Public information:
The dialogue between scientists, institutions, policymakers and the general public is widely recognised as an essential step towards a fair and sustainable society. Nowadays, more than ever in human history, international cooperation is an essential requirement for protecting the planet, advancing science and ensuring an equitable development of the global economy.
Despite its importance, the above dialogue can be a challenge for scientists, who often cannot find a productive connection with governments and politicians. Scientific associations are a key link between researchers and policy makers, as they have the potential to establish a durable and profitable connection with institutions.
The EGU elected the dialogue with society as one of its priority missions. At its General Assembly, the EGU is launching an innovative symposium format, Science and Society (SCS), to host scientific forums specifically dedicated to connecting with high-level institutions and engaging the public and policymakers.
The conversation with Ilaria Capua and Mario Monti will focus on science and politics with a global perspective, and the impact of populism on European integrity and therefore scientific research. The discussion will elaborate on optimal strategies to deliver topical and clear scientific messages to key institutions.
Ilaria Capua is a virologist best known for her research on influenza viruses and her efforts promoting open access to genetic information on emerging viruses. In 2006, Science reported on Capua’s effort towards open access science, stating that she had “renewed the debate about how to balance global health against scientists’ needs to publish and countries’ demands for secrecy". She has been a member of the Italian parliament from 2013 to 2016 and a fake news victim. She is currently a full professor at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, US, and director of the UF One Health Center of Excellence.
Mario Monti served as a European Commissioner from 1995 to 2004, with responsibility for the internal market, services, customs, taxation and competition. He was Prime Minister of Italy from 2011 to 2013, leading a government of national unity to cope with the Italian debt crisis. Monti has also been Rector and is currently President of Bocconi University in Milan. His publications deal mainly with monetary and financial economics, public finance, European integration, competition policy. He is currently lifetime member of the Italian Senate.
During the conversation, Ilaria Capua and Mario Monti will present their vision with two 15-minute talks that will be followed by 20 minutes dedicated to questions from the audience and answers.
Tsunamis can produce catastrophic damage on vulnerable coastlines, essentially following major earthquakes, landslides or atmospheric disturbances. After the disastrous tsunamis in 2004 and 2011, tsunami science has grown significantly, opening new fields of research for various domains, and also in regions where the tsunami hazard was previously underestimated.
Numerical modeling, complemented with laboratory experiments, are essential to quantify the tsunami hazard based. To this end, it is essential to rely on complete databases of past tsunami observations, including both historical events and results of paleotsunami investigations. Furthermore, a robust hazard analysis has to take into account uncertainties and probabilities with the more advanced approaches such as PTHA.
Because the vulnerability of populations, of infrastructures and of the built environment in coastal zones increases, integrated plans for tsunami risk prevention and mitigation should be encouraged in any exposed coastline, consistent with the procedures now in place in a growing number of Tsunami Warning System.
The NH5.1/OS2.22/SM3.11 Tsunami session welcomes contributions covering any of the aspects mentioned here, encompassing field data, regional hazard studies, observation databases, numerical modeling, risk studies, real time networks, operational tools and procedures towards a most efficient warning.
A focus on recent tsunami events all over the globe is encouraged (including Palu 28 September, Zakynthos 26 October, Tadine, New Caledonia, 5 December), as well as on the achievements of recent research projects.
In October 2018, the IPCC published its special report on impacts of global warming of 1.5 deg C. Another recent, highly publicised study suggests that the planet could pass an irreversible threshold into a so called “Hothouse Earth” state for a temperature increase of as low as 2 degrees C above pre-industrial temperatures, while other studies and commentaries have emphasised the urgency on climate action, arguing that 2020 must be a turning point for global fossil fuel emissions, to increase the chance of maintaining a safe operating space for the humans on the planet. In 2018, the IPCC celebrated its 30th anniversary. The importance of taking action on human-induced climate change has been emphasised with governments around the world since the 1990s yet CO2 concentrations continue to rise and international initiatives have, to date, had limited and insufficient impact to avert some of the most serious consequences of climate change.
How close are we to one or more critical thresholds (cliff edge)? Is there time to avert passing one or more of these thresholds? What can the geoscience community do to reduce the risks? How important is bottom up versus top down action to ensuring the least worst outcome? These are some of the questions we will debate with world experts in their field and authors of the thought papers on these topics.
Public information:
In October 2018, the IPCC published its special report on impacts of global warming of 1.5 deg C. Another recent, highly publicised study suggests that the planet could pass an irreversible threshold into a so called “Hothouse Earth” state for a temperature increase of as low as 2 degrees C above pre-industrial temperatures.
In 2018, the IPCC celebrated its 30th anniversary. The importance of taking action on human-induced climate change has been emphasised with governments around the world since the 1990s yet CO2 concentrations continue to rise and international initiatives have, to date, had limited and insufficient impact to avert some of the most serious consequences of climate change that may pose an existential threat to modern civilisation.
How close are we to one or more critical thresholds? Is there time to avert passing one or more of them? What can the geoscience community do to reduce the risks? How important is bottom up versus top down action to ensuring the least worst outcome? These are some of the questions we will debate with world experts in their field and authors of the thought papers on these topics.
The Great Debate panellists are:
Prof. Myles Allen is Professor of Geosystem Science in the Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford. His research focuses on how human and natural influences on climate contribute to observed climate change and risks of extreme weather and in quantifying their implications for long-range climate forecasts. He was a Coordinating Lead Author on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Special Report on 1.5 degrees, having served on the IPCC’s 3rd, 4th and 5th Assessments, including the Synthesis Report Core Writing Team in 2014.
Prof. Sabine Fuss, Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change (MCC), Berlin. Sabine is an economist, currently leading a working group at the MCC. She holds a professorship on Sustainable Resource Management and Global Change at Humboldt University of Berlin. Her research interests are in sustainable development, land use change and climate change mitigation. She has been an IPCC Lead Author for the Special Report on 1.5°C global warming, serves on the steering committee of the Global Carbon Project and is a guest scholar at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis.
Erica Hope leads the cross-sectoral ‘2050 Task Force’ and governance programme of the European Climate Foundation (ECF) in Brussels, which seeks to build knowledge, political strategies and coalitions to drive the transition to a zero emissions society by mid-century. Erica has previously worked for the energy efficiency and UK programmes of the ECF, and before that led the policy and advocacy activities of NGO network Climate Action Network Europe on energy efficiency. From 2005-2009 she was researcher to Green MEP Caroline Lucas, and has also worked at the Institute for Public Policy Research in London.
Prof. Linda Steg is professor of environmental psychology at the University of Groningen. She studies factors influencing sustainable behaviour, the effects and acceptability of strategies aimed at promoting sustainable behaviour, and public perceptions of technology and system changes. She is member of Member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences (KNAW), and lead author of the IPCC special report on 1.5°C and AR6. She works on various interdisciplinary and international research programmes, and collaborates with practitioners working in industry, governments and NGOs.
Plastic pollution is recognized as one of the most serious and urgent problems facing our planet. Rates of manufacture, use and ultimately disposal of plastics continue to soar, posing an enormous threat to the planet’s oceans and rivers and the flora and fauna they support. There is an urgent need for global action, backed by sound scientific understanding, to tackle this problem.
This Union Symposium will address the problems posed to our planet by plastic pollution, and examine options for dealing with the threat.
Over the whole Earth history, the climate has encountered tipping points, shifting from one regulated system to the other. This tilting motion affects both climate and the carbon cycle and has played a major role in the evolution of the Earth climate, at all timescales. Earth History has been ponctuated by large climate changes and carbon cycle reorganizations, from large climate variations occurring in deep times (snowball events, terrestrialisation, Mesozoic and early Cenozoic warm episodes, quaternary glacial cycles…) to past and on-going abrupt events. Many potential triggers of those climate and carbon cycle shifts have been proposed and tested through modeling studies, and against field data, such as those directly or indirectly linked with tectonics (plate motion, orogenesis, opening/closing of seaways, weathering…) and orbital forcing. Given that the Earth climate is currently experiencing an unprecedented transition under anthropogenic pressure, understanding the mechanisms behind the scene is crucial.
Our aim is to point out the most recent results concerning how a complex system as the climate of the Earth has undergone many tipping points and what is the specificity of the future climate changes. Therefore, within this session, we would like to encourage talks discussing advances in our record and modeling of the forces triggering and amplifying the changes of Earth climate and carbon cycle across spatial and temporal scales.
Geodesy is becoming increasingly important for observing the hydrological cycle and its effects on solid Earth shape. Signals in geodetic data have revealed water's influence on other geophysical processes including earthquakes, volcanos, land subsidence, mountain uplift, and other aspects of long- and short-term vertical land motion. GPS and InSAR measurements, for example, respectively provide high temporal and spatial resolution to study natural hydrologically-related deformation and monitor anthropogenic groundwater extraction and recharge, and GRACE is helping to track changes in the global terrestrial water storage. Signals of loading from changes in surface and groundwater storage are seen from basin to continental scale. Additionally, novel use of GPS reflectometry is operational for monitoring soil moisture and snow depth at continuous GPS stations in the western USA and Canada. We encourage contributions describing new observations and models of hydrological signals in geodetic time series and/or imaging. These include but are not limited to studies exploring deformation induced by loading, aquifer extraction/recharge, poroelastic deformation and stress changes, techniques for removing hydrological signals from geodetic datasets, monitoring water resources, or teleconnections between hydrologic and other geophysical phenomena.
Transform faults form major active plate boundaries and are intrinsic features of plate tectonics and plate accretion. Submarine transforms are likely to be fundamental pathways for fluid circulation in depth, thus significantly contributing to the exchange between the lithosphere and the hydrosphere. This implies serpentinization and weathering that affect the mechanical properties in the deformation zone. An open question is the influence of the elemental exchange between the crust and ocean water on these processes, as well as the interactions with the biosphere, both at the surface and at depth. Continental transforms and strike-slip faults are often a site of major earthquakes, representing major hazards for the population. Here too, the role of weathering in the deformation zone is still unconstrained. Both types of faults are still poorly known in terms of structure, rheology and deformation. These features are seismically active zones, with large earthquakes often being recorded on the largest faults. Yet, little is known about the rupture process, seismic cyclicity and active deformation of transform faults. Recent works have shown that fracture zones, supposedly inactive features, can be reactivated and be the site of large earthquakes and deformation. Additional open questions are the way transform faults deform under far-field stresses, such as plate kinematic changes, and under more local stresses, what are the time constants of the processes and what are the primary controls of the tectonic and magmatic styles of the response. The tectonic and magmatic response of large offset transforms, particularly, is still largely unknown.
This session aims to present recent results on studies of these large features, especially on the rheology, deformation patterns, rupture processes, fluid circulation and physical properties of transform faults. We welcome observational studies on strike-slip and transform faults, both continental and oceanic, on fracture zones and on transform continental margins (structural geology and tectonics, geophysical imaging of the crust and lithosphere, petrology and geochemistry, seismology, fluid circulation and rock alteration, geodesy) as well as modelling studies, both analogue and numerical. Cross-disciplinary approaches are encouraged. The submission of abstracts divulging on-going international projects (drilling sites, seismic reflection imaging along strike-slip faults) are also welcome. This session is promoted by the Oceanic Transform Faults working group of InterRidge.
The InSight mission to Mars landed in Elysium Planitia on November 26. InSight's scientific objective is the study of the Martian interior using two seismometers, a heat flow probe and geodetical measurements. Auxiliary instruments will collect meteorological and magnetic data for at least one Martian year.
This session provides initial results from Mars, status reports of instrument deployment and relevant pre-landing science.
Subduction drives plate tectonics, generates the major proportion of subaerial volcanism, forms continents, and entrains surface material back to the deep Earth. Therefore, it is arguably the most important geodynamical phenomenon on Earth and the major driver of global geochemical cycles. Seismological data show a fascinating range in shapes of subducting slabs. Arc volcanism illustrates the complexity of geochemical and petrological phenomena associated with subduction. Surface topography provides insight in the orogenic processes related to subduction and continental collision.
Numerical and laboratory modelling studies have successfully built our understanding of many aspects of the geodynamics of subduction zones. Detailed geochemical studies, investigating compositional variation within and between volcanic arcs, provide further insights into systematic chemical processes at the slab surface and within the mantle wedge, providing constraints on thermal structures and material transport within subduction zones. However, with different technical and methodological approaches, model set-ups, inputs and material properties, and in some cases conflicting conclusions between chemical and physical models, a consistent picture of the controlling parameters of subduction-zone processes has so far not emerged.
This session aims to follow subducting lithosphere on its journey from the surface down into the Earth's mantle, and to understand the driving processes for deformation and magmatism in the over-riding plate. We aim to address topics such as: subduction initiation and dynamics; changes in mineral breakdown processes at the slab surface; the formation and migration of fluids and melts at the slab surface; primary melt generation in the wedge; subduction-related magmatism; controls on the position and width of the volcanic arc; subduction-induced seismicity; mantle wedge processes; the fate of subducted crust, sediments and volatiles; the importance of subducting seamounts, LIPs, and ridges; links between near-surface processes and slab dynamics and with regional tectonic evolution; slab delamination and break-off; the effect of subduction on mantle flow; and imaging subduction zone processes.
With this session, we aim to form an integrated picture of the subduction process, and invite contributions from a wide range of disciplines, such as geodynamics, modelling, geochemistry, petrology, volcanology and seismology, to discuss subduction zone dynamics at all scales from the surface to the lower mantle, or in applications to natural laboratories.
Earthquakes occur with great spatio-temporal variability, which emerges from the complex interactions between them. Significant progress is being made towards understanding spatio-temporal correlations, scaling laws and clustering, and the emergence of seismicity patterns. New models being developed in statistical seismology have direct implications for time-dependent seismic hazard assessment and probabilistic earthquake forecasting. In addition, the increasing amount of earthquake data available on local to global scales provides new opportunities for model testing.
This session focuses both on recent insights on the physical processes responsible for the distribution of earthquakes in space and time, and on new models and techniques for quantifying the seismotectonic process and its evolution. Particular emphasis will be placed on:
- physical and statistical models of earthquake occurrence;
- analysis of earthquake clustering;
- spatio-temporal properties of earthquake statistics;
- quantitative testing of earthquake occurrence models;
- implications for time-dependent hazard assessment;
- methods for earthquake forecasting;
- data analyses and requirements for model testing.
Confirmed solicited speaker: Danijel Schorlemmer (GFZ - German Research Center for Geosciences, Potsdam, Germany)
Public information:
Plan S, devised by a coalition of research funders with support from the European Commission and European Research Council, demands that by January 1, 2020 research supported by participating funders must be published in Open Access journals. Representatives from subscription-based and Open Access publishers, architects of Plan S, and researchers affected by it will debate questions surrounding the implementation of the plan and its consequences.
The panelists are David Sweeney, Heike Langenberg, Marc Schiltz and Brooks Hanson. They will present the case for and against mandatory OA followed by an open debate with questions and comments from the audience.
David Sweeney is Executive Chair of Research England, the biggest research funder in the UK. He has been invited to visit many countries to advise on research assessment and funding, particularly with respect to research impact. He is also co-chair of the Implementation Task Force for Plan S, the international initiative on full and immediate open access to research publications.
Heike Langenberg is the Chief Editor of Nature Geoscience. She started her editorial career in 1999 as an Associate, then Senior Editor at Nature handling manuscripts in the broad area of climate sciences. In 2007 she moved to Nature Geoscience to launch the journal in January 2008. A graduate in mathematics of the Philipps-Universität Marburg, Germany, she ventured into oceanography for her PhD at the University of Hamburg. Her postdoctoral research at various research institutes in Hamburg was focused on numerical simulations of the ocean and atmosphere at a regional scale.
Marc Schiltz is president of Science Europe, the European association of all major national public research funding and research performing organisations. In this role, he has contributed to setting the European agenda to foster Open Science and is one of the architects of Plan S. He is also leading the Luxembourg National Research Fund. He is a relentless advocate of science and research, serving on a number of external boards and committees, both at the national and international level. Having received a PhD in Crystallography from the University of Paris-Sud and an executive MBA from INSEAD, Marc has been active in research and higher education for more than 25 years and held research and faculty positions in several European countries.
Brooks Hanson is the Executive Vice President for Science for the American Geophysical Union (AGU), responsible for AGU’s publications, meetings, ethics and data programs, and Thriving Earth Exchange. He previously acted as Sr. Vice President for Publications at AGU, where he was responsible for AGU's portfolio of books and 21 journals and served as Deputy Editor for Physical Sciences at Science. Brooks received a Ph.D. in Geology from UCLA and held a post-doctoral appointment at the Department of Mineral Sciences at the Smithsonian Institution.
Public information:
The dialogue between scientists, institutions, policymakers and the general public is widely recognised as an essential step towards a fair and sustainable society. Nowadays, more than ever in human history, international cooperation is an essential requirement for protecting the planet, advancing science and ensuring an equitable development of the global economy.
Despite its importance, the above dialogue can be a challenge for scientists, who often cannot find a productive connection with governments and politicians. Scientific associations are a key link between researchers and policy makers, as they have the potential to establish a durable and profitable connection with institutions.
The EGU elected the dialogue with society as one of its priority missions. At its General Assembly, the EGU is launching an innovative symposium format, Science and Society (SCS), to host scientific forums specifically dedicated to connecting with high-level institutions and engaging the public and policymakers.
The conversation with Ilaria Capua and Mario Monti will focus on science and politics with a global perspective, and the impact of populism on European integrity and therefore scientific research. The discussion will elaborate on optimal strategies to deliver topical and clear scientific messages to key institutions.
Ilaria Capua is a virologist best known for her research on influenza viruses and her efforts promoting open access to genetic information on emerging viruses. In 2006, Science reported on Capua’s effort towards open access science, stating that she had “renewed the debate about how to balance global health against scientists’ needs to publish and countries’ demands for secrecy". She has been a member of the Italian parliament from 2013 to 2016 and a fake news victim. She is currently a full professor at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, US, and director of the UF One Health Center of Excellence.
Mario Monti served as a European Commissioner from 1995 to 2004, with responsibility for the internal market, services, customs, taxation and competition. He was Prime Minister of Italy from 2011 to 2013, leading a government of national unity to cope with the Italian debt crisis. Monti has also been Rector and is currently President of Bocconi University in Milan. His publications deal mainly with monetary and financial economics, public finance, European integration, competition policy. He is currently lifetime member of the Italian Senate.
During the conversation, Ilaria Capua and Mario Monti will present their vision with two 15-minute talks that will be followed by 20 minutes dedicated to questions from the audience and answers.
In October 2018, the IPCC published its special report on impacts of global warming of 1.5 deg C. Another recent, highly publicised study suggests that the planet could pass an irreversible threshold into a so called “Hothouse Earth” state for a temperature increase of as low as 2 degrees C above pre-industrial temperatures, while other studies and commentaries have emphasised the urgency on climate action, arguing that 2020 must be a turning point for global fossil fuel emissions, to increase the chance of maintaining a safe operating space for the humans on the planet. In 2018, the IPCC celebrated its 30th anniversary. The importance of taking action on human-induced climate change has been emphasised with governments around the world since the 1990s yet CO2 concentrations continue to rise and international initiatives have, to date, had limited and insufficient impact to avert some of the most serious consequences of climate change.
How close are we to one or more critical thresholds (cliff edge)? Is there time to avert passing one or more of these thresholds? What can the geoscience community do to reduce the risks? How important is bottom up versus top down action to ensuring the least worst outcome? These are some of the questions we will debate with world experts in their field and authors of the thought papers on these topics.
Public information:
In October 2018, the IPCC published its special report on impacts of global warming of 1.5 deg C. Another recent, highly publicised study suggests that the planet could pass an irreversible threshold into a so called “Hothouse Earth” state for a temperature increase of as low as 2 degrees C above pre-industrial temperatures.
In 2018, the IPCC celebrated its 30th anniversary. The importance of taking action on human-induced climate change has been emphasised with governments around the world since the 1990s yet CO2 concentrations continue to rise and international initiatives have, to date, had limited and insufficient impact to avert some of the most serious consequences of climate change that may pose an existential threat to modern civilisation.
How close are we to one or more critical thresholds? Is there time to avert passing one or more of them? What can the geoscience community do to reduce the risks? How important is bottom up versus top down action to ensuring the least worst outcome? These are some of the questions we will debate with world experts in their field and authors of the thought papers on these topics.
The Great Debate panellists are:
Prof. Myles Allen is Professor of Geosystem Science in the Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford. His research focuses on how human and natural influences on climate contribute to observed climate change and risks of extreme weather and in quantifying their implications for long-range climate forecasts. He was a Coordinating Lead Author on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Special Report on 1.5 degrees, having served on the IPCC’s 3rd, 4th and 5th Assessments, including the Synthesis Report Core Writing Team in 2014.
Prof. Sabine Fuss, Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change (MCC), Berlin. Sabine is an economist, currently leading a working group at the MCC. She holds a professorship on Sustainable Resource Management and Global Change at Humboldt University of Berlin. Her research interests are in sustainable development, land use change and climate change mitigation. She has been an IPCC Lead Author for the Special Report on 1.5°C global warming, serves on the steering committee of the Global Carbon Project and is a guest scholar at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis.
Erica Hope leads the cross-sectoral ‘2050 Task Force’ and governance programme of the European Climate Foundation (ECF) in Brussels, which seeks to build knowledge, political strategies and coalitions to drive the transition to a zero emissions society by mid-century. Erica has previously worked for the energy efficiency and UK programmes of the ECF, and before that led the policy and advocacy activities of NGO network Climate Action Network Europe on energy efficiency. From 2005-2009 she was researcher to Green MEP Caroline Lucas, and has also worked at the Institute for Public Policy Research in London.
Prof. Linda Steg is professor of environmental psychology at the University of Groningen. She studies factors influencing sustainable behaviour, the effects and acceptability of strategies aimed at promoting sustainable behaviour, and public perceptions of technology and system changes. She is member of Member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences (KNAW), and lead author of the IPCC special report on 1.5°C and AR6. She works on various interdisciplinary and international research programmes, and collaborates with practitioners working in industry, governments and NGOs.
Plastic pollution is recognized as one of the most serious and urgent problems facing our planet. Rates of manufacture, use and ultimately disposal of plastics continue to soar, posing an enormous threat to the planet’s oceans and rivers and the flora and fauna they support. There is an urgent need for global action, backed by sound scientific understanding, to tackle this problem.
This Union Symposium will address the problems posed to our planet by plastic pollution, and examine options for dealing with the threat.
Over the whole Earth history, the climate has encountered tipping points, shifting from one regulated system to the other. This tilting motion affects both climate and the carbon cycle and has played a major role in the evolution of the Earth climate, at all timescales. Earth History has been ponctuated by large climate changes and carbon cycle reorganizations, from large climate variations occurring in deep times (snowball events, terrestrialisation, Mesozoic and early Cenozoic warm episodes, quaternary glacial cycles…) to past and on-going abrupt events. Many potential triggers of those climate and carbon cycle shifts have been proposed and tested through modeling studies, and against field data, such as those directly or indirectly linked with tectonics (plate motion, orogenesis, opening/closing of seaways, weathering…) and orbital forcing. Given that the Earth climate is currently experiencing an unprecedented transition under anthropogenic pressure, understanding the mechanisms behind the scene is crucial.
Our aim is to point out the most recent results concerning how a complex system as the climate of the Earth has undergone many tipping points and what is the specificity of the future climate changes. Therefore, within this session, we would like to encourage talks discussing advances in our record and modeling of the forces triggering and amplifying the changes of Earth climate and carbon cycle across spatial and temporal scales.
What role did climate dynamics play in human evolution, the dispersal of Homo sapiens within and beyond the African continent, and key cultural innovations? Were dry spells, stable humid conditions, or rapid climate fluctuations the main driver of human evolution and migration? In order to evaluate the impact that different timescales and magnitudes of climatic shifts might have had on the living conditions of prehistoric humans, we need reliable and continuous reconstructions of paleoenvironmental conditions and fluctuations from the vicinity of paleoanthropological and archaeological sites. The search for the environmental context of human evolution and mobility crucially depends on the interpretation of paleoclimate archives from outcrop geology, lacustrine and marine sediments. Linking archeological data to paleoenvironmental reconstructions and models becomes increasingly important.
As a contribution towards a better understanding of these human-climate interactions the conveners encourage submission of abstracts on their project’s research on (geo)archaeology, paleoecology, paleoclimate, stratigraphy, and paleoenvironmental reconstructions. We especially welcome contributions offering new methods for dealing with difficult archive conditions and dating challenges. We hope this session will appeal to a broad audience by highlighting the latest research on paleoenvironmental reconstructions in the vicinity of key sites of human evolution, showcasing a wide variety of analytical methods, and encouraging collaboration between different research groups. Conceptual models, modelling results and model-data comparisons are warmly welcomed, as collaborative and interdisciplinary research.
Prof. Dr. Daniel M. Deocampo (Department of Geosciences, Georgia State University, Atlanta) will talk on 'Silicate diagenesis and environmental change in eastern Africa: Examples from key hominin localities'.
Dr. Alice Leplongeon (Institute of Advanced Studies & Department of Cultural Heritage, University of Bologna) will talk about how technological variability, environmental change, and human dispersals may be linked, particularly in the Late Pleistocene in eastern Africa, north-eastern Africa and the Levant.
Geoscience witnessed a flurry of major breakthroughs in the 19th and 20th century, leading to major shifts in our understanding of the Earth system. Such breakthroughs included new concepts, such as plate tectonics and sequence stratigraphy, and new techniques, like radiometric dating and remote sensing. However, the pace of these discoveries has declined, raising the question of whether we have now made all of the key geoscience breakthroughs. Put another way, have we reached “Peak Geoscience” and are we now in a time of synthesis, incremental development and consolidation? Or are there new breakthroughs on the horizon? If so what will these developments be?
One key remaining challenge is the management of the inherent uncertainties in geoscience. Despite the importance of understanding uncertainty, it is often neglected by interpreters, geomodellers and experimentalists. With ever-more powerful computers and the advent of big data analytics and machine learning, our ability to quantify uncertainty in geological interpretation, models and experiments will be crucial.
This session aims to bring together those with an interest in the future of geoscience. We welcome contributions from any field of geoscience which either demonstrate a new, disruptive geoscience breakthrough or provide insights into where the next breakthrough will come. We encourage contributions associated with uncertainty in geoscience models and data, machine learning or big data analytics.
Marine geological processes cover a range of different disciplinary fields and their understanding usually requires an interdisciplinary approach. The interaction of geological, physical oceanographic, chemical and biological mechanisms in marine geological processes ranging from sediment erosion and deposition, to hydrothermal and fluid flow systems, to early diagenesis and geomicrobiology, is of specific interest. Such processes may take place in shallow or deep, in tropical and glacial environments, and they may be natural or partly human-influenced. Climate-induced perturbations in marine geological processes have occurred in present and past, and potentially will also occur in the future. Several of these processes may also have a profound human impact, such as tsunamis generated by tectonic or mass-slumping events, coastal erosion in response to changed currents or river discharge, and sediment gravity flow in deep waters affecting human infrastructures. /We encourage comprehensive and interdisciplinary abstracts within the broad field of marine geology and with direct relevance to marine processes or deposits concerned with rocks, sediments, and geo-physical and geo-(bio)chemical processes that affect them.
The Anthropocene is a topic of broad and current interest that is being discussed across various disciplines, within Earth Sciences, but also in the humanities and in the media. Its significance and usefulness as the youngest epoch of the Geological Time Scale is examined by the Working Group of the Anthropocene of the Subcommission on Quaternary Stratigraphy, part of the International Commission on Stratigraphy. A multidisciplinary and transdisciplinary approach for investigating and discussing the Anthropocene is feasible, including not only various Earth Sciences disciplines such as stratigraphy, sedimentology, geochemistry and palaeontology, but also archaeology, geography, geomorphology and various disciplines of the humanities and the arts. This session invites transdisciplinary and interdisciplinary contributions on the significance, usefulness and application of the term, as well as case studies including proposals on possible GSSPs (Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point) for a definition of the Anthropocene as part of the Geological Time Scale. The session will foster transdisciplinary dialogue and interdisciplinary cooperation and understanding on the scale and reach of anthropogenic changes within the Earth System.
Public information:
Plan S, devised by a coalition of research funders with support from the European Commission and European Research Council, demands that by January 1, 2020 research supported by participating funders must be published in Open Access journals. Representatives from subscription-based and Open Access publishers, architects of Plan S, and researchers affected by it will debate questions surrounding the implementation of the plan and its consequences.
The panelists are David Sweeney, Heike Langenberg, Marc Schiltz and Brooks Hanson. They will present the case for and against mandatory OA followed by an open debate with questions and comments from the audience.
David Sweeney is Executive Chair of Research England, the biggest research funder in the UK. He has been invited to visit many countries to advise on research assessment and funding, particularly with respect to research impact. He is also co-chair of the Implementation Task Force for Plan S, the international initiative on full and immediate open access to research publications.
Heike Langenberg is the Chief Editor of Nature Geoscience. She started her editorial career in 1999 as an Associate, then Senior Editor at Nature handling manuscripts in the broad area of climate sciences. In 2007 she moved to Nature Geoscience to launch the journal in January 2008. A graduate in mathematics of the Philipps-Universität Marburg, Germany, she ventured into oceanography for her PhD at the University of Hamburg. Her postdoctoral research at various research institutes in Hamburg was focused on numerical simulations of the ocean and atmosphere at a regional scale.
Marc Schiltz is president of Science Europe, the European association of all major national public research funding and research performing organisations. In this role, he has contributed to setting the European agenda to foster Open Science and is one of the architects of Plan S. He is also leading the Luxembourg National Research Fund. He is a relentless advocate of science and research, serving on a number of external boards and committees, both at the national and international level. Having received a PhD in Crystallography from the University of Paris-Sud and an executive MBA from INSEAD, Marc has been active in research and higher education for more than 25 years and held research and faculty positions in several European countries.
Brooks Hanson is the Executive Vice President for Science for the American Geophysical Union (AGU), responsible for AGU’s publications, meetings, ethics and data programs, and Thriving Earth Exchange. He previously acted as Sr. Vice President for Publications at AGU, where he was responsible for AGU's portfolio of books and 21 journals and served as Deputy Editor for Physical Sciences at Science. Brooks received a Ph.D. in Geology from UCLA and held a post-doctoral appointment at the Department of Mineral Sciences at the Smithsonian Institution.
Public information:
The dialogue between scientists, institutions, policymakers and the general public is widely recognised as an essential step towards a fair and sustainable society. Nowadays, more than ever in human history, international cooperation is an essential requirement for protecting the planet, advancing science and ensuring an equitable development of the global economy.
Despite its importance, the above dialogue can be a challenge for scientists, who often cannot find a productive connection with governments and politicians. Scientific associations are a key link between researchers and policy makers, as they have the potential to establish a durable and profitable connection with institutions.
The EGU elected the dialogue with society as one of its priority missions. At its General Assembly, the EGU is launching an innovative symposium format, Science and Society (SCS), to host scientific forums specifically dedicated to connecting with high-level institutions and engaging the public and policymakers.
The conversation with Ilaria Capua and Mario Monti will focus on science and politics with a global perspective, and the impact of populism on European integrity and therefore scientific research. The discussion will elaborate on optimal strategies to deliver topical and clear scientific messages to key institutions.
Ilaria Capua is a virologist best known for her research on influenza viruses and her efforts promoting open access to genetic information on emerging viruses. In 2006, Science reported on Capua’s effort towards open access science, stating that she had “renewed the debate about how to balance global health against scientists’ needs to publish and countries’ demands for secrecy". She has been a member of the Italian parliament from 2013 to 2016 and a fake news victim. She is currently a full professor at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, US, and director of the UF One Health Center of Excellence.
Mario Monti served as a European Commissioner from 1995 to 2004, with responsibility for the internal market, services, customs, taxation and competition. He was Prime Minister of Italy from 2011 to 2013, leading a government of national unity to cope with the Italian debt crisis. Monti has also been Rector and is currently President of Bocconi University in Milan. His publications deal mainly with monetary and financial economics, public finance, European integration, competition policy. He is currently lifetime member of the Italian Senate.
During the conversation, Ilaria Capua and Mario Monti will present their vision with two 15-minute talks that will be followed by 20 minutes dedicated to questions from the audience and answers.
Progressively stricter requirements in geophysical prospecting, in urban and inter-urban monitoring make it important to look continuously for innovative solutions to new and old complex problems. In particular, investigation and monitoring of pollution, hydrological resources, energy efficiency, cultural heritage, cities and transportation infrastructures nowadays require technological and methodological innovations of geophysical and sensing techniques in order to properly understand the limits of the current state of art and to identify where possible the most convenient strategies to overcome limitations of current approaches. This goal can be achieved either with more advanced solutions in a general sense or with dedicated solutions, particularly suitable for the specific problem at hand.
Integrated prospecting, refined data processing, new models, hardware innovations, new ICT information and telecommunications systems can and should cooperate with each other in this sense. It is important that the scientific community finds a moment for considering the connection between adjacent aspects of the same problem, e.g. to achieve improved geophysical data, safe and reliable environmental and structural monitoring, improved processing as much as possible.
The session “ Innovative instrumentations, techniques, geophysical methods and models for near surface geophysics, cities and transportation infrastructures aims to propose one such moment, where multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary competences can interact with each other, possibly finding possible new ways to cooperate and to exchange experiences reciprocally to reach sustainable solutions.
In October 2018, the IPCC published its special report on impacts of global warming of 1.5 deg C. Another recent, highly publicised study suggests that the planet could pass an irreversible threshold into a so called “Hothouse Earth” state for a temperature increase of as low as 2 degrees C above pre-industrial temperatures, while other studies and commentaries have emphasised the urgency on climate action, arguing that 2020 must be a turning point for global fossil fuel emissions, to increase the chance of maintaining a safe operating space for the humans on the planet. In 2018, the IPCC celebrated its 30th anniversary. The importance of taking action on human-induced climate change has been emphasised with governments around the world since the 1990s yet CO2 concentrations continue to rise and international initiatives have, to date, had limited and insufficient impact to avert some of the most serious consequences of climate change.
How close are we to one or more critical thresholds (cliff edge)? Is there time to avert passing one or more of these thresholds? What can the geoscience community do to reduce the risks? How important is bottom up versus top down action to ensuring the least worst outcome? These are some of the questions we will debate with world experts in their field and authors of the thought papers on these topics.
Public information:
In October 2018, the IPCC published its special report on impacts of global warming of 1.5 deg C. Another recent, highly publicised study suggests that the planet could pass an irreversible threshold into a so called “Hothouse Earth” state for a temperature increase of as low as 2 degrees C above pre-industrial temperatures.
In 2018, the IPCC celebrated its 30th anniversary. The importance of taking action on human-induced climate change has been emphasised with governments around the world since the 1990s yet CO2 concentrations continue to rise and international initiatives have, to date, had limited and insufficient impact to avert some of the most serious consequences of climate change that may pose an existential threat to modern civilisation.
How close are we to one or more critical thresholds? Is there time to avert passing one or more of them? What can the geoscience community do to reduce the risks? How important is bottom up versus top down action to ensuring the least worst outcome? These are some of the questions we will debate with world experts in their field and authors of the thought papers on these topics.
The Great Debate panellists are:
Prof. Myles Allen is Professor of Geosystem Science in the Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford. His research focuses on how human and natural influences on climate contribute to observed climate change and risks of extreme weather and in quantifying their implications for long-range climate forecasts. He was a Coordinating Lead Author on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Special Report on 1.5 degrees, having served on the IPCC’s 3rd, 4th and 5th Assessments, including the Synthesis Report Core Writing Team in 2014.
Prof. Sabine Fuss, Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change (MCC), Berlin. Sabine is an economist, currently leading a working group at the MCC. She holds a professorship on Sustainable Resource Management and Global Change at Humboldt University of Berlin. Her research interests are in sustainable development, land use change and climate change mitigation. She has been an IPCC Lead Author for the Special Report on 1.5°C global warming, serves on the steering committee of the Global Carbon Project and is a guest scholar at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis.
Erica Hope leads the cross-sectoral ‘2050 Task Force’ and governance programme of the European Climate Foundation (ECF) in Brussels, which seeks to build knowledge, political strategies and coalitions to drive the transition to a zero emissions society by mid-century. Erica has previously worked for the energy efficiency and UK programmes of the ECF, and before that led the policy and advocacy activities of NGO network Climate Action Network Europe on energy efficiency. From 2005-2009 she was researcher to Green MEP Caroline Lucas, and has also worked at the Institute for Public Policy Research in London.
Prof. Linda Steg is professor of environmental psychology at the University of Groningen. She studies factors influencing sustainable behaviour, the effects and acceptability of strategies aimed at promoting sustainable behaviour, and public perceptions of technology and system changes. She is member of Member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences (KNAW), and lead author of the IPCC special report on 1.5°C and AR6. She works on various interdisciplinary and international research programmes, and collaborates with practitioners working in industry, governments and NGOs.
Plastic pollution is recognized as one of the most serious and urgent problems facing our planet. Rates of manufacture, use and ultimately disposal of plastics continue to soar, posing an enormous threat to the planet’s oceans and rivers and the flora and fauna they support. There is an urgent need for global action, backed by sound scientific understanding, to tackle this problem.
This Union Symposium will address the problems posed to our planet by plastic pollution, and examine options for dealing with the threat.
Over the whole Earth history, the climate has encountered tipping points, shifting from one regulated system to the other. This tilting motion affects both climate and the carbon cycle and has played a major role in the evolution of the Earth climate, at all timescales. Earth History has been ponctuated by large climate changes and carbon cycle reorganizations, from large climate variations occurring in deep times (snowball events, terrestrialisation, Mesozoic and early Cenozoic warm episodes, quaternary glacial cycles…) to past and on-going abrupt events. Many potential triggers of those climate and carbon cycle shifts have been proposed and tested through modeling studies, and against field data, such as those directly or indirectly linked with tectonics (plate motion, orogenesis, opening/closing of seaways, weathering…) and orbital forcing. Given that the Earth climate is currently experiencing an unprecedented transition under anthropogenic pressure, understanding the mechanisms behind the scene is crucial.
Our aim is to point out the most recent results concerning how a complex system as the climate of the Earth has undergone many tipping points and what is the specificity of the future climate changes. Therefore, within this session, we would like to encourage talks discussing advances in our record and modeling of the forces triggering and amplifying the changes of Earth climate and carbon cycle across spatial and temporal scales.
This session aims to bridge the existing gap between the process-focused fields (hydrology, geomorphology, soil sciences, natural hazards, planetary science, geo-biology, archaeology) and the technical domain (engineering, computer vision, machine learning, and statistics) where terrain analysis approaches are developed.
The rapid growth of survey technologies and computing advances and the increase of data acquisition from various sources (platforms and sensors) has led to a vast data swamp with unprecedented spatio-temporal range, density, and resolution (from submeter to global scale data), which requires efficient data processing to extract suitable information. The challenge is now the interpretation of surface morphology for a better understanding of processes at a variety of scales, from micro, to local, to global.
We aim to foster inter-disciplinarity with a focus on new techniques in digital terrain analysis and production from any discipline which touches on geomorphometry, including but not exclusive to geomorphology (e.g., tectonic/volcanic/climatic/glacial), planetary science, archaeology, geo-biology, natural hazards, computer vision, remote sensing, image processing.
We invite submissions related to the successful application of geomorphometric methods, innovative geomorphometric variables as well as their physical, mathematical and geographical meanings. Submissions related to new techniques in high-resolution terrain or global scale data production and analysis, independent of the subject, as well as studies focused on the associated error and uncertainty analyses, are also welcome. We actively encourage contributors to present work “in development”, as well as established techniques being used in a novel way. We strongly encourage young scientists to contribute and help drive innovation in our community, presenting their work to this session.
We want to foster collaboration and the sharing of ideas across subject-boundaries, between technique developers and users, enabling us as a community to fully exploit the wealth of knowledge inherent in our digital landscape. Just remember, the driver for new ideas and applications often comes from another speciality, discipline or subject: Your solution may already be out there waiting for you!
Arid to sub-humid regions contribute ca. 40 % to the global land surface and are home of more than 40 % of the world’s population. During prehistoric times many important cultures had developed in these regions. Due to the high sensitivity of dryland areas even to small-scale environmental changes and anthropogenic activities, ongoing geomorphological processes but also the Late Quaternary palaeoenvironmental evolution as recorded in sediment archives are becoming increasingly relevant for geomorphological, palaeoenvironmental and geoarchaeological research. Dryland research is also boosted by methodological advances, and especially by emerging linkages with other climatic and geomorphic systems that allow using dryland areas as indicator-regions of global environmental change.
This session aims to pool contributions from the broad field of earth sciences that deal with geomorphological processes and different types of sediment archives in dryland areas (dunes, loess, slope deposits, fluvial sediments, alluvial fans, lake and playa sediments, desert pavements, soils, paleosols etc.) at different spatial and temporal scales. Besides case studies from individual regions and archives, methodical and conceptual contributions, e.g. dealing with the special role of eolian, fluvial, gravitational and biological processes in dryland environments, their preservation over time in the sedimentary records, and emerging opportunities and limitations to resolve past and current dynamics, are especially welcome in this session.
Citizen science (the involvement of the public in scientific processes) is gaining momentum in one discipline after another, thereby more and more data on biodiversity, earthquakes, weather, climate, health issues among others are being collected at different scales that can extend the frontiers of knowledge. Successful citizen observatories can potentially be scaled up in order to contribute to larger environmental and policy strategies and actions (such as the European Earth Observation monitoring systems) and to be integrated in GEOSS and Copernicus. Making credible contributions to science can empower citizens to actively participate in environmental decision making, can raise awareness about environmental issues and can help bridge the science-society gap. Often, citizen science is seen in the context of Open Science, which is a broad movement embracing Open Data, Open Access, Open Educational Resources, Open Source, Open Methodology, and Open Peer Review to transparently publish and share scientific research - thus leveraging Citizen Science and Reproducible Research.
Both, open science in general and citizen science in particular, pose great challenges for researchers, and to support the goals of the various openness initiatives, this session looks at what is possible nowadays and what is ready for application in geosciences. Success stories, failures, best practices and solutions will be presented, in addition to various related networks. We aim to show how researchers, citizens, funding agencies, governments and other stakeholders can benefit from citizen science and open science, acknowledging the drawbacks and highlighting the opportunities available for geoscientists.
In this session, we are looking for successful approaches of working with citizen science and open science to bridge the gap between a multitude of stakeholders in research, policy, economy, practice and society at large by finding emerging environmental issues and empowering citizens. This session shall be an open space to exchange experiences and to present either successful examples or failed efforts. Learning from others and understanding what to adopt and what to change help the participants in their own undertakings and new initiatives, so that they become future success stories.
We want to ask and find answers to the following questions:
Which approaches can be used in Earth, Planetary and Space Sciences?
What are the biggest challenges and how to overcome them?
What kind of citizen scientist involvement and open science strategies exist?
How to ensure transparency in project results and analyses?
How to evaluate successful bridging of the science-society-gap?
A growing population is exerting an unprecedented pressure on water and energy resources, maximizing food production and reducing the impact on ecosystem services. Sociotechnical and socioecological variables are not just terms of our current scientific and technologic dictionary but key variables to increase agricultural productivity and fulfil food and fiber supplies in a dissimilar world experiencing climate, land use, market and social changes. With more than 45 % of the world’s agricultural production, irrigation has integrated scientific advancements in soil-plant-water relationships, engineering technologies of variable rate and sub-drip irrigation and innovation that have impacted farmers across the world. Furthermore, in the past decade, we have experienced the massification of proximal and remote sensing, modeling and field data, as well as the “explosion” of robotics, artificial intelligence and information technologies, genetics and high throughput phenotyping --all built upon previous experiences are creating the conditions necessary to innovate in irrigation and contribute to tackle local-to-global challenges.
The proposed session sets the scene for a sustainable irrigation in a changing world. This scenario is based on the integration of applied and basic research, which enables irrigation’s science, engineering and design revolutionize “again” food production with a clearer purpose of preserving water, energy and ecosystem services:
On the one hand, water demands for irrigation have steadily increased since the last decades of the twentieth century, and has created conflicts among water users over a finite water resource jeopardizing food and energy security. Additionally, projected climate change foresees warmer temperatures and shifting precipitation patterns which all together will modify stationary assumptions used to manage water supply, increasing water demands, shifting cropping regimes and triggering volatile markets and socioeconomic responses across the world. Consequently, soil and water productivity could be drastically reduced and thus, food, energy, and ecosystem services too.
On the other hand, technologic developments and innovation on monitoring and predicting future food, water, energy and ecosystems states highlight the role irrigation may play in creating a resilient agriculture to a volatile and complex environment. The following questions need to be addressed: (1) How water and natural resources will be managed for the sustainability of irrigated agriculture? (2) How well irrigated agriculture will adapt to water scarcity scenarios? (3) How information technologies and innovation are contributing to integrate complex systems (i.e. FEWES), maximize food production, optimize water and energy consumption and preserve the ecosystem services? A key element in answering such questions has been and will be the improvement of water, energy and fertilizer use efficiency. The increase of water, energy and fertilizer use efficiency, the accurate estimation in evapotranspiration, and the maintenance of the agroecosystem productivity and ecosystem services will be key topics in the present session. Likewise, the use of other water resources such as treated wastewater, both from industrial and domestic origin, is becoming a source for irrigation in semi-arid and arid regions where the future of irrigated agriculture is threatened by existing or expected water shortages of fresh water and rising concerns of potential water quality hazards to the environment and/or humans.
Within the above framework, this session offers an opportunity to present studies or professional works regarding irrigated agriculture with disciplinary and multidisciplinary approaches including (but not exclusively) the following key topics:
• Efficiency and productivity of water irrigation and fertigation
• Scale-dependent and driven resilience in irrigated working landscapes
• Resilience in coupled natural and human systems where ground and surface water and land are limiting resources for irrigation
• Traditional, novel, and transitional technologies for irrigation management and improvement
• Pros and cons of marginal water use in irrigated agriculture
• Better agronomic and irrigation management practices for soil biodiversity and natural ecosystems improvements and recovery.
• Information technologies and complex system integration as alternatives to tackle current irrigation problems
• Data science, robotics, artificial intelligence and high throughput phenotyping, proximal and remote sensing, and modeling in irrigated agriculture
• Agro-hydrological models and decision support systems to improve decisions in irrigation management and in safe surface water-groundwater interactions.
Cities all over the world are facing rising population densities. This leads to increasing fractions of built-up and sealed areas, consequencing in a more and more altered and partly disrupted water balance - both in terms of water quantities and qualities. On top, climate change is altering precipitation regimes.
This session focuses on according urban ecohydrological problems and approaches to solve them spanning from technical to nature-based solutions in different time and spatial scales from the building to the whole city.
The Anthropocene is a topic of broad and current interest that is being discussed across various disciplines, within Earth Sciences, but also in the humanities and in the media. Its significance and usefulness as the youngest epoch of the Geological Time Scale is examined by the Working Group of the Anthropocene of the Subcommission on Quaternary Stratigraphy, part of the International Commission on Stratigraphy. A multidisciplinary and transdisciplinary approach for investigating and discussing the Anthropocene is feasible, including not only various Earth Sciences disciplines such as stratigraphy, sedimentology, geochemistry and palaeontology, but also archaeology, geography, geomorphology and various disciplines of the humanities and the arts. This session invites transdisciplinary and interdisciplinary contributions on the significance, usefulness and application of the term, as well as case studies including proposals on possible GSSPs (Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point) for a definition of the Anthropocene as part of the Geological Time Scale. The session will foster transdisciplinary dialogue and interdisciplinary cooperation and understanding on the scale and reach of anthropogenic changes within the Earth System.
The world annual consumption of pesticides has amounted to 2.7 × 106 tons in recent years. Agricultural land is the first recipient of pesticides after its application; even if the pesticides are applied in accordance with the regulations, only a minor amount reaches its objectives, while the rest represent possible environmental contaminants and short or long-term harvest products, with a wide range of possible negative impacts. For many pesticides or their degradation products, soils become the non-point source of groundwater contamination (leaching of soluble compounds and compounds linked to colloids) and / or surface water (runoff of soluble compounds, compounds bound to colloids and soil particles, transport from groundwater). On the other hand, these pesticides represent a potential risk for soil biota, such as nematodes, microorganisms and plants.
The purpose of the session is to share the knowledge generated by researchers whose interest lies in the role of soil in the destination and the behavior of emerging contaminants, including pesticides.
This session will include contributions from different areas:
1. Development, validation and application of analytical methods for pesticides and their degradation / transformation products in water, soil, sediment, air and food samples for direct consumption or fresh consumption.
2. Studies of adsorption, desorption, physical transport, synergies, etc. between soil and organic pollutants of agricultural production (pesticides, pharmaceutical products, other emerging pollutants, which favor their environmental availability.
3. Field tests, monitoring and modeling of environmental destinations of pesticides.
4. Effects of mixtures of pesticides and pesticides on non-target organisms and interactions of various classes of pesticides detected in the natural environment.
5. Evaluation of risks of environmental contamination by pesticides.
6. Assessments regarding climate change on the fate and behavior of pesticides.
The scientific session “Soils as a non-point source of contamination by pesticides or their degradation products” will provide an opportunity to research teams working in different parts of the world to discuss their findings within the settings of a large conference.
The purpose of this session is to: (1) showcase the current state-of-the-art in global and continental scale natural hazard risk science, assessment, and application; (2) foster broader exchange of knowledge, datasets, methods, models, and good practice between scientists and practitioners working on different natural hazards and across disciplines globally; and (3) collaboratively identify future research avenues.
Reducing natural hazard risk is high on the global political agenda. For example, it is at the heart of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (and its predecessor the Hyogo Framework for Action) and the Warsaw International Mechanism for Loss and Damage Associated with Climate Change Impacts. In response, the last 5 years has seen an explosion in the number of scientific datasets, methods, and models for assessing risk at the global and continental scale. More and more, these datasets, methods and models are being applied together with stakeholders in the decision decision-making process.
We invite contributions related to all aspects of natural hazard risk assessment at the continental to global scale, including contributions focusing on single hazards, multiple hazards, or a combination or cascade of hazards. We also encourage contributions examining the use of scientific methods in practice, and the appropriate use of continental to global risk assessment data in efforts to reduce risks. Furthermore, we encourage contributions focusing on globally applicable methods, such as novel methods for using globally available datasets and models to force more local models or inform more local risk assessment.
Public information:
Plan S, devised by a coalition of research funders with support from the European Commission and European Research Council, demands that by January 1, 2020 research supported by participating funders must be published in Open Access journals. Representatives from subscription-based and Open Access publishers, architects of Plan S, and researchers affected by it will debate questions surrounding the implementation of the plan and its consequences.
The panelists are David Sweeney, Heike Langenberg, Marc Schiltz and Brooks Hanson. They will present the case for and against mandatory OA followed by an open debate with questions and comments from the audience.
David Sweeney is Executive Chair of Research England, the biggest research funder in the UK. He has been invited to visit many countries to advise on research assessment and funding, particularly with respect to research impact. He is also co-chair of the Implementation Task Force for Plan S, the international initiative on full and immediate open access to research publications.
Heike Langenberg is the Chief Editor of Nature Geoscience. She started her editorial career in 1999 as an Associate, then Senior Editor at Nature handling manuscripts in the broad area of climate sciences. In 2007 she moved to Nature Geoscience to launch the journal in January 2008. A graduate in mathematics of the Philipps-Universität Marburg, Germany, she ventured into oceanography for her PhD at the University of Hamburg. Her postdoctoral research at various research institutes in Hamburg was focused on numerical simulations of the ocean and atmosphere at a regional scale.
Marc Schiltz is president of Science Europe, the European association of all major national public research funding and research performing organisations. In this role, he has contributed to setting the European agenda to foster Open Science and is one of the architects of Plan S. He is also leading the Luxembourg National Research Fund. He is a relentless advocate of science and research, serving on a number of external boards and committees, both at the national and international level. Having received a PhD in Crystallography from the University of Paris-Sud and an executive MBA from INSEAD, Marc has been active in research and higher education for more than 25 years and held research and faculty positions in several European countries.
Brooks Hanson is the Executive Vice President for Science for the American Geophysical Union (AGU), responsible for AGU’s publications, meetings, ethics and data programs, and Thriving Earth Exchange. He previously acted as Sr. Vice President for Publications at AGU, where he was responsible for AGU's portfolio of books and 21 journals and served as Deputy Editor for Physical Sciences at Science. Brooks received a Ph.D. in Geology from UCLA and held a post-doctoral appointment at the Department of Mineral Sciences at the Smithsonian Institution.
Public information:
The dialogue between scientists, institutions, policymakers and the general public is widely recognised as an essential step towards a fair and sustainable society. Nowadays, more than ever in human history, international cooperation is an essential requirement for protecting the planet, advancing science and ensuring an equitable development of the global economy.
Despite its importance, the above dialogue can be a challenge for scientists, who often cannot find a productive connection with governments and politicians. Scientific associations are a key link between researchers and policy makers, as they have the potential to establish a durable and profitable connection with institutions.
The EGU elected the dialogue with society as one of its priority missions. At its General Assembly, the EGU is launching an innovative symposium format, Science and Society (SCS), to host scientific forums specifically dedicated to connecting with high-level institutions and engaging the public and policymakers.
The conversation with Ilaria Capua and Mario Monti will focus on science and politics with a global perspective, and the impact of populism on European integrity and therefore scientific research. The discussion will elaborate on optimal strategies to deliver topical and clear scientific messages to key institutions.
Ilaria Capua is a virologist best known for her research on influenza viruses and her efforts promoting open access to genetic information on emerging viruses. In 2006, Science reported on Capua’s effort towards open access science, stating that she had “renewed the debate about how to balance global health against scientists’ needs to publish and countries’ demands for secrecy". She has been a member of the Italian parliament from 2013 to 2016 and a fake news victim. She is currently a full professor at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, US, and director of the UF One Health Center of Excellence.
Mario Monti served as a European Commissioner from 1995 to 2004, with responsibility for the internal market, services, customs, taxation and competition. He was Prime Minister of Italy from 2011 to 2013, leading a government of national unity to cope with the Italian debt crisis. Monti has also been Rector and is currently President of Bocconi University in Milan. His publications deal mainly with monetary and financial economics, public finance, European integration, competition policy. He is currently lifetime member of the Italian Senate.
During the conversation, Ilaria Capua and Mario Monti will present their vision with two 15-minute talks that will be followed by 20 minutes dedicated to questions from the audience and answers.
In October 2018, the IPCC published its special report on impacts of global warming of 1.5 deg C. Another recent, highly publicised study suggests that the planet could pass an irreversible threshold into a so called “Hothouse Earth” state for a temperature increase of as low as 2 degrees C above pre-industrial temperatures, while other studies and commentaries have emphasised the urgency on climate action, arguing that 2020 must be a turning point for global fossil fuel emissions, to increase the chance of maintaining a safe operating space for the humans on the planet. In 2018, the IPCC celebrated its 30th anniversary. The importance of taking action on human-induced climate change has been emphasised with governments around the world since the 1990s yet CO2 concentrations continue to rise and international initiatives have, to date, had limited and insufficient impact to avert some of the most serious consequences of climate change.
How close are we to one or more critical thresholds (cliff edge)? Is there time to avert passing one or more of these thresholds? What can the geoscience community do to reduce the risks? How important is bottom up versus top down action to ensuring the least worst outcome? These are some of the questions we will debate with world experts in their field and authors of the thought papers on these topics.
Public information:
In October 2018, the IPCC published its special report on impacts of global warming of 1.5 deg C. Another recent, highly publicised study suggests that the planet could pass an irreversible threshold into a so called “Hothouse Earth” state for a temperature increase of as low as 2 degrees C above pre-industrial temperatures.
In 2018, the IPCC celebrated its 30th anniversary. The importance of taking action on human-induced climate change has been emphasised with governments around the world since the 1990s yet CO2 concentrations continue to rise and international initiatives have, to date, had limited and insufficient impact to avert some of the most serious consequences of climate change that may pose an existential threat to modern civilisation.
How close are we to one or more critical thresholds? Is there time to avert passing one or more of them? What can the geoscience community do to reduce the risks? How important is bottom up versus top down action to ensuring the least worst outcome? These are some of the questions we will debate with world experts in their field and authors of the thought papers on these topics.
The Great Debate panellists are:
Prof. Myles Allen is Professor of Geosystem Science in the Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford. His research focuses on how human and natural influences on climate contribute to observed climate change and risks of extreme weather and in quantifying their implications for long-range climate forecasts. He was a Coordinating Lead Author on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Special Report on 1.5 degrees, having served on the IPCC’s 3rd, 4th and 5th Assessments, including the Synthesis Report Core Writing Team in 2014.
Prof. Sabine Fuss, Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change (MCC), Berlin. Sabine is an economist, currently leading a working group at the MCC. She holds a professorship on Sustainable Resource Management and Global Change at Humboldt University of Berlin. Her research interests are in sustainable development, land use change and climate change mitigation. She has been an IPCC Lead Author for the Special Report on 1.5°C global warming, serves on the steering committee of the Global Carbon Project and is a guest scholar at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis.
Erica Hope leads the cross-sectoral ‘2050 Task Force’ and governance programme of the European Climate Foundation (ECF) in Brussels, which seeks to build knowledge, political strategies and coalitions to drive the transition to a zero emissions society by mid-century. Erica has previously worked for the energy efficiency and UK programmes of the ECF, and before that led the policy and advocacy activities of NGO network Climate Action Network Europe on energy efficiency. From 2005-2009 she was researcher to Green MEP Caroline Lucas, and has also worked at the Institute for Public Policy Research in London.
Prof. Linda Steg is professor of environmental psychology at the University of Groningen. She studies factors influencing sustainable behaviour, the effects and acceptability of strategies aimed at promoting sustainable behaviour, and public perceptions of technology and system changes. She is member of Member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences (KNAW), and lead author of the IPCC special report on 1.5°C and AR6. She works on various interdisciplinary and international research programmes, and collaborates with practitioners working in industry, governments and NGOs.
Plastic pollution is recognized as one of the most serious and urgent problems facing our planet. Rates of manufacture, use and ultimately disposal of plastics continue to soar, posing an enormous threat to the planet’s oceans and rivers and the flora and fauna they support. There is an urgent need for global action, backed by sound scientific understanding, to tackle this problem.
This Union Symposium will address the problems posed to our planet by plastic pollution, and examine options for dealing with the threat.
Over the whole Earth history, the climate has encountered tipping points, shifting from one regulated system to the other. This tilting motion affects both climate and the carbon cycle and has played a major role in the evolution of the Earth climate, at all timescales. Earth History has been ponctuated by large climate changes and carbon cycle reorganizations, from large climate variations occurring in deep times (snowball events, terrestrialisation, Mesozoic and early Cenozoic warm episodes, quaternary glacial cycles…) to past and on-going abrupt events. Many potential triggers of those climate and carbon cycle shifts have been proposed and tested through modeling studies, and against field data, such as those directly or indirectly linked with tectonics (plate motion, orogenesis, opening/closing of seaways, weathering…) and orbital forcing. Given that the Earth climate is currently experiencing an unprecedented transition under anthropogenic pressure, understanding the mechanisms behind the scene is crucial.
Our aim is to point out the most recent results concerning how a complex system as the climate of the Earth has undergone many tipping points and what is the specificity of the future climate changes. Therefore, within this session, we would like to encourage talks discussing advances in our record and modeling of the forces triggering and amplifying the changes of Earth climate and carbon cycle across spatial and temporal scales.
'Cosmic rays’ collectively describe particles that bombard the Earth from space. They carry information about space and, once near the Earth, interact with the magnetosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere and lithosphere. Secondary cosmic rays created within the atmosphere can provide information about our planet that is vital to science and society. Secondary neutron radiation plays an extraordinary role, as it not only carries information about solar activity, but also produces short and long living tracer isotopes, influences genetic information of living organisms, and is extraordinarily sensitive to hydrogen and therefore also to water. Given the vast spectrum of interactions of cosmic rays with matter in different parts of the Earth, cosmic-ray research ranges from studies of the solar system to the history of the Earth, and from health and security issues to hydrology and climate change.
Although research on cosmic-ray particles is connected to a variety of disciplines and applications, they all share similar questions and problems regarding the physics of detection, modeling, and environmental factors that influence the intensity. Questions that all disciplines have in common are, for example, “How does the cosmic-ray intensity and energy spectra change with time and location on Earth?”, “How to correct the signal for magnetospheric or atmospheric fluctuations?”, “What is the influence of local structures, water bodies, and surface conditions?”, “Which computer model for cosmic-ray propagation is correct?”, or “What can we learn from other types of cosmic-ray particles?”.
The session brings together scientists from all fields of research that are related to monitoring and modeling of cosmogenic radiation. It will allow sharing of expertise amongst international researchers as well as showcase recent advancements in their field. The session aims to stimulate discussions about how individual disciplines can share their knowledge and benefit from each other.
We solicit contributions related but not limited to:
- Health, security, and radiation protection: cosmic-ray dosimetry on Earth and its dependence on environmental and atmospheric factors
- Planetary space science: satellite and ground-based neutron and gamma-ray sensors to detect water and soil chemistry
- Neutron monitor research: detection of high-energy cosmic rays variations and its dependence on local and atmospheric factors
- Hydrology and climate change: low-energy neutron sensing to measure water in reservoirs at and near the land surface, such as soils, snow pack and vegetation
- Cosmogenic nuclides: as tracers of atmospheric circulation and mixing; as a tool in archaeology or glaciology for dating of ice and measuring ablation rates; and as a tool for surface exposure dating and measuring rates of surficial geological processes
- Detector design: technological advancements for the detection of cosmic rays
- Cosmic-ray modeling: advances in modeling of the cosmic-ray propagation through the magnetosphere and atmosphere, and their response to the Earth’s surface
- Impact modeling: How can cosmic-ray monitoring support environmental models, weather and climate forecasting, irrigation management, and the assessment of natural hazards
The Sun’s corona is the birthplace of the solar wind, coronal mass ejections and solar energetic particles which all are fundamental drivers of space weather. The key physical processes at the origin of these phenomena (i.e., heating and acceleration of the coronal plasma) have not been clarified to date. After the successful launch of NASA’s Parker Solar Probe (PSP) mission on August 12, 2018, the spacecraft will gradually reduce its distance to the Sun over the next years using seven Venus gravity assists and will reach a distance of less than 10 solar radii in 2024. Combining the PSP observations with data from the upcoming ESA Solar Orbiter mission, with remote sensing observations from SDO, STEREO and Proba2, with other in-situ data, e.g., from ACE and DSCOVR, with ground-based observations and with theoretical models will be a challenging and exciting task to help unravel unanswered science questions about the physics of the corona, solar wind and energetic particles. At times of the EGU General Assembly in early April 2019, PSP will have completed its first perihelion around the Sun end of 2018, with an unprecedented distance of 35 solar radii, and will just be beyond its 2nd perihelion. This session invites oral and poster contributions on all aspects of research addressed to the exploration of our near-Sun environment, including first observations from PSP and in preparation of the upcoming SO mission.
Public information:
Plan S, devised by a coalition of research funders with support from the European Commission and European Research Council, demands that by January 1, 2020 research supported by participating funders must be published in Open Access journals. Representatives from subscription-based and Open Access publishers, architects of Plan S, and researchers affected by it will debate questions surrounding the implementation of the plan and its consequences.
The panelists are David Sweeney, Heike Langenberg, Marc Schiltz and Brooks Hanson. They will present the case for and against mandatory OA followed by an open debate with questions and comments from the audience.
David Sweeney is Executive Chair of Research England, the biggest research funder in the UK. He has been invited to visit many countries to advise on research assessment and funding, particularly with respect to research impact. He is also co-chair of the Implementation Task Force for Plan S, the international initiative on full and immediate open access to research publications.
Heike Langenberg is the Chief Editor of Nature Geoscience. She started her editorial career in 1999 as an Associate, then Senior Editor at Nature handling manuscripts in the broad area of climate sciences. In 2007 she moved to Nature Geoscience to launch the journal in January 2008. A graduate in mathematics of the Philipps-Universität Marburg, Germany, she ventured into oceanography for her PhD at the University of Hamburg. Her postdoctoral research at various research institutes in Hamburg was focused on numerical simulations of the ocean and atmosphere at a regional scale.
Marc Schiltz is president of Science Europe, the European association of all major national public research funding and research performing organisations. In this role, he has contributed to setting the European agenda to foster Open Science and is one of the architects of Plan S. He is also leading the Luxembourg National Research Fund. He is a relentless advocate of science and research, serving on a number of external boards and committees, both at the national and international level. Having received a PhD in Crystallography from the University of Paris-Sud and an executive MBA from INSEAD, Marc has been active in research and higher education for more than 25 years and held research and faculty positions in several European countries.
Brooks Hanson is the Executive Vice President for Science for the American Geophysical Union (AGU), responsible for AGU’s publications, meetings, ethics and data programs, and Thriving Earth Exchange. He previously acted as Sr. Vice President for Publications at AGU, where he was responsible for AGU's portfolio of books and 21 journals and served as Deputy Editor for Physical Sciences at Science. Brooks received a Ph.D. in Geology from UCLA and held a post-doctoral appointment at the Department of Mineral Sciences at the Smithsonian Institution.
Public information:
The dialogue between scientists, institutions, policymakers and the general public is widely recognised as an essential step towards a fair and sustainable society. Nowadays, more than ever in human history, international cooperation is an essential requirement for protecting the planet, advancing science and ensuring an equitable development of the global economy.
Despite its importance, the above dialogue can be a challenge for scientists, who often cannot find a productive connection with governments and politicians. Scientific associations are a key link between researchers and policy makers, as they have the potential to establish a durable and profitable connection with institutions.
The EGU elected the dialogue with society as one of its priority missions. At its General Assembly, the EGU is launching an innovative symposium format, Science and Society (SCS), to host scientific forums specifically dedicated to connecting with high-level institutions and engaging the public and policymakers.
The conversation with Ilaria Capua and Mario Monti will focus on science and politics with a global perspective, and the impact of populism on European integrity and therefore scientific research. The discussion will elaborate on optimal strategies to deliver topical and clear scientific messages to key institutions.
Ilaria Capua is a virologist best known for her research on influenza viruses and her efforts promoting open access to genetic information on emerging viruses. In 2006, Science reported on Capua’s effort towards open access science, stating that she had “renewed the debate about how to balance global health against scientists’ needs to publish and countries’ demands for secrecy". She has been a member of the Italian parliament from 2013 to 2016 and a fake news victim. She is currently a full professor at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, US, and director of the UF One Health Center of Excellence.
Mario Monti served as a European Commissioner from 1995 to 2004, with responsibility for the internal market, services, customs, taxation and competition. He was Prime Minister of Italy from 2011 to 2013, leading a government of national unity to cope with the Italian debt crisis. Monti has also been Rector and is currently President of Bocconi University in Milan. His publications deal mainly with monetary and financial economics, public finance, European integration, competition policy. He is currently lifetime member of the Italian Senate.
During the conversation, Ilaria Capua and Mario Monti will present their vision with two 15-minute talks that will be followed by 20 minutes dedicated to questions from the audience and answers.
In October 2018, the IPCC published its special report on impacts of global warming of 1.5 deg C. Another recent, highly publicised study suggests that the planet could pass an irreversible threshold into a so called “Hothouse Earth” state for a temperature increase of as low as 2 degrees C above pre-industrial temperatures, while other studies and commentaries have emphasised the urgency on climate action, arguing that 2020 must be a turning point for global fossil fuel emissions, to increase the chance of maintaining a safe operating space for the humans on the planet. In 2018, the IPCC celebrated its 30th anniversary. The importance of taking action on human-induced climate change has been emphasised with governments around the world since the 1990s yet CO2 concentrations continue to rise and international initiatives have, to date, had limited and insufficient impact to avert some of the most serious consequences of climate change.
How close are we to one or more critical thresholds (cliff edge)? Is there time to avert passing one or more of these thresholds? What can the geoscience community do to reduce the risks? How important is bottom up versus top down action to ensuring the least worst outcome? These are some of the questions we will debate with world experts in their field and authors of the thought papers on these topics.
Public information:
In October 2018, the IPCC published its special report on impacts of global warming of 1.5 deg C. Another recent, highly publicised study suggests that the planet could pass an irreversible threshold into a so called “Hothouse Earth” state for a temperature increase of as low as 2 degrees C above pre-industrial temperatures.
In 2018, the IPCC celebrated its 30th anniversary. The importance of taking action on human-induced climate change has been emphasised with governments around the world since the 1990s yet CO2 concentrations continue to rise and international initiatives have, to date, had limited and insufficient impact to avert some of the most serious consequences of climate change that may pose an existential threat to modern civilisation.
How close are we to one or more critical thresholds? Is there time to avert passing one or more of them? What can the geoscience community do to reduce the risks? How important is bottom up versus top down action to ensuring the least worst outcome? These are some of the questions we will debate with world experts in their field and authors of the thought papers on these topics.
The Great Debate panellists are:
Prof. Myles Allen is Professor of Geosystem Science in the Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford. His research focuses on how human and natural influences on climate contribute to observed climate change and risks of extreme weather and in quantifying their implications for long-range climate forecasts. He was a Coordinating Lead Author on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Special Report on 1.5 degrees, having served on the IPCC’s 3rd, 4th and 5th Assessments, including the Synthesis Report Core Writing Team in 2014.
Prof. Sabine Fuss, Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change (MCC), Berlin. Sabine is an economist, currently leading a working group at the MCC. She holds a professorship on Sustainable Resource Management and Global Change at Humboldt University of Berlin. Her research interests are in sustainable development, land use change and climate change mitigation. She has been an IPCC Lead Author for the Special Report on 1.5°C global warming, serves on the steering committee of the Global Carbon Project and is a guest scholar at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis.
Erica Hope leads the cross-sectoral ‘2050 Task Force’ and governance programme of the European Climate Foundation (ECF) in Brussels, which seeks to build knowledge, political strategies and coalitions to drive the transition to a zero emissions society by mid-century. Erica has previously worked for the energy efficiency and UK programmes of the ECF, and before that led the policy and advocacy activities of NGO network Climate Action Network Europe on energy efficiency. From 2005-2009 she was researcher to Green MEP Caroline Lucas, and has also worked at the Institute for Public Policy Research in London.
Prof. Linda Steg is professor of environmental psychology at the University of Groningen. She studies factors influencing sustainable behaviour, the effects and acceptability of strategies aimed at promoting sustainable behaviour, and public perceptions of technology and system changes. She is member of Member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences (KNAW), and lead author of the IPCC special report on 1.5°C and AR6. She works on various interdisciplinary and international research programmes, and collaborates with practitioners working in industry, governments and NGOs.
Plastic pollution is recognized as one of the most serious and urgent problems facing our planet. Rates of manufacture, use and ultimately disposal of plastics continue to soar, posing an enormous threat to the planet’s oceans and rivers and the flora and fauna they support. There is an urgent need for global action, backed by sound scientific understanding, to tackle this problem.
This Union Symposium will address the problems posed to our planet by plastic pollution, and examine options for dealing with the threat.
Over the whole Earth history, the climate has encountered tipping points, shifting from one regulated system to the other. This tilting motion affects both climate and the carbon cycle and has played a major role in the evolution of the Earth climate, at all timescales. Earth History has been ponctuated by large climate changes and carbon cycle reorganizations, from large climate variations occurring in deep times (snowball events, terrestrialisation, Mesozoic and early Cenozoic warm episodes, quaternary glacial cycles…) to past and on-going abrupt events. Many potential triggers of those climate and carbon cycle shifts have been proposed and tested through modeling studies, and against field data, such as those directly or indirectly linked with tectonics (plate motion, orogenesis, opening/closing of seaways, weathering…) and orbital forcing. Given that the Earth climate is currently experiencing an unprecedented transition under anthropogenic pressure, understanding the mechanisms behind the scene is crucial.
Our aim is to point out the most recent results concerning how a complex system as the climate of the Earth has undergone many tipping points and what is the specificity of the future climate changes. Therefore, within this session, we would like to encourage talks discussing advances in our record and modeling of the forces triggering and amplifying the changes of Earth climate and carbon cycle across spatial and temporal scales.
Transform faults form major active plate boundaries and are intrinsic features of plate tectonics and plate accretion. Submarine transforms are likely to be fundamental pathways for fluid circulation in depth, thus significantly contributing to the exchange between the lithosphere and the hydrosphere. This implies serpentinization and weathering that affect the mechanical properties in the deformation zone. An open question is the influence of the elemental exchange between the crust and ocean water on these processes, as well as the interactions with the biosphere, both at the surface and at depth. Continental transforms and strike-slip faults are often a site of major earthquakes, representing major hazards for the population. Here too, the role of weathering in the deformation zone is still unconstrained. Both types of faults are still poorly known in terms of structure, rheology and deformation. These features are seismically active zones, with large earthquakes often being recorded on the largest faults. Yet, little is known about the rupture process, seismic cyclicity and active deformation of transform faults. Recent works have shown that fracture zones, supposedly inactive features, can be reactivated and be the site of large earthquakes and deformation. Additional open questions are the way transform faults deform under far-field stresses, such as plate kinematic changes, and under more local stresses, what are the time constants of the processes and what are the primary controls of the tectonic and magmatic styles of the response. The tectonic and magmatic response of large offset transforms, particularly, is still largely unknown.
This session aims to present recent results on studies of these large features, especially on the rheology, deformation patterns, rupture processes, fluid circulation and physical properties of transform faults. We welcome observational studies on strike-slip and transform faults, both continental and oceanic, on fracture zones and on transform continental margins (structural geology and tectonics, geophysical imaging of the crust and lithosphere, petrology and geochemistry, seismology, fluid circulation and rock alteration, geodesy) as well as modelling studies, both analogue and numerical. Cross-disciplinary approaches are encouraged. The submission of abstracts divulging on-going international projects (drilling sites, seismic reflection imaging along strike-slip faults) are also welcome. This session is promoted by the Oceanic Transform Faults working group of InterRidge.
Geoscience witnessed a flurry of major breakthroughs in the 19th and 20th century, leading to major shifts in our understanding of the Earth system. Such breakthroughs included new concepts, such as plate tectonics and sequence stratigraphy, and new techniques, like radiometric dating and remote sensing. However, the pace of these discoveries has declined, raising the question of whether we have now made all of the key geoscience breakthroughs. Put another way, have we reached “Peak Geoscience” and are we now in a time of synthesis, incremental development and consolidation? Or are there new breakthroughs on the horizon? If so what will these developments be?
One key remaining challenge is the management of the inherent uncertainties in geoscience. Despite the importance of understanding uncertainty, it is often neglected by interpreters, geomodellers and experimentalists. With ever-more powerful computers and the advent of big data analytics and machine learning, our ability to quantify uncertainty in geological interpretation, models and experiments will be crucial.
This session aims to bring together those with an interest in the future of geoscience. We welcome contributions from any field of geoscience which either demonstrate a new, disruptive geoscience breakthrough or provide insights into where the next breakthrough will come. We encourage contributions associated with uncertainty in geoscience models and data, machine learning or big data analytics.
The InSight mission to Mars landed in Elysium Planitia on November 26. InSight's scientific objective is the study of the Martian interior using two seismometers, a heat flow probe and geodetical measurements. Auxiliary instruments will collect meteorological and magnetic data for at least one Martian year.
This session provides initial results from Mars, status reports of instrument deployment and relevant pre-landing science.
Subduction drives plate tectonics, generates the major proportion of subaerial volcanism, forms continents, and entrains surface material back to the deep Earth. Therefore, it is arguably the most important geodynamical phenomenon on Earth and the major driver of global geochemical cycles. Seismological data show a fascinating range in shapes of subducting slabs. Arc volcanism illustrates the complexity of geochemical and petrological phenomena associated with subduction. Surface topography provides insight in the orogenic processes related to subduction and continental collision.
Numerical and laboratory modelling studies have successfully built our understanding of many aspects of the geodynamics of subduction zones. Detailed geochemical studies, investigating compositional variation within and between volcanic arcs, provide further insights into systematic chemical processes at the slab surface and within the mantle wedge, providing constraints on thermal structures and material transport within subduction zones. However, with different technical and methodological approaches, model set-ups, inputs and material properties, and in some cases conflicting conclusions between chemical and physical models, a consistent picture of the controlling parameters of subduction-zone processes has so far not emerged.
This session aims to follow subducting lithosphere on its journey from the surface down into the Earth's mantle, and to understand the driving processes for deformation and magmatism in the over-riding plate. We aim to address topics such as: subduction initiation and dynamics; changes in mineral breakdown processes at the slab surface; the formation and migration of fluids and melts at the slab surface; primary melt generation in the wedge; subduction-related magmatism; controls on the position and width of the volcanic arc; subduction-induced seismicity; mantle wedge processes; the fate of subducted crust, sediments and volatiles; the importance of subducting seamounts, LIPs, and ridges; links between near-surface processes and slab dynamics and with regional tectonic evolution; slab delamination and break-off; the effect of subduction on mantle flow; and imaging subduction zone processes.
With this session, we aim to form an integrated picture of the subduction process, and invite contributions from a wide range of disciplines, such as geodynamics, modelling, geochemistry, petrology, volcanology and seismology, to discuss subduction zone dynamics at all scales from the surface to the lower mantle, or in applications to natural laboratories.
Public information:
Plan S, devised by a coalition of research funders with support from the European Commission and European Research Council, demands that by January 1, 2020 research supported by participating funders must be published in Open Access journals. Representatives from subscription-based and Open Access publishers, architects of Plan S, and researchers affected by it will debate questions surrounding the implementation of the plan and its consequences.
The panelists are David Sweeney, Heike Langenberg, Marc Schiltz and Brooks Hanson. They will present the case for and against mandatory OA followed by an open debate with questions and comments from the audience.
David Sweeney is Executive Chair of Research England, the biggest research funder in the UK. He has been invited to visit many countries to advise on research assessment and funding, particularly with respect to research impact. He is also co-chair of the Implementation Task Force for Plan S, the international initiative on full and immediate open access to research publications.
Heike Langenberg is the Chief Editor of Nature Geoscience. She started her editorial career in 1999 as an Associate, then Senior Editor at Nature handling manuscripts in the broad area of climate sciences. In 2007 she moved to Nature Geoscience to launch the journal in January 2008. A graduate in mathematics of the Philipps-Universität Marburg, Germany, she ventured into oceanography for her PhD at the University of Hamburg. Her postdoctoral research at various research institutes in Hamburg was focused on numerical simulations of the ocean and atmosphere at a regional scale.
Marc Schiltz is president of Science Europe, the European association of all major national public research funding and research performing organisations. In this role, he has contributed to setting the European agenda to foster Open Science and is one of the architects of Plan S. He is also leading the Luxembourg National Research Fund. He is a relentless advocate of science and research, serving on a number of external boards and committees, both at the national and international level. Having received a PhD in Crystallography from the University of Paris-Sud and an executive MBA from INSEAD, Marc has been active in research and higher education for more than 25 years and held research and faculty positions in several European countries.
Brooks Hanson is the Executive Vice President for Science for the American Geophysical Union (AGU), responsible for AGU’s publications, meetings, ethics and data programs, and Thriving Earth Exchange. He previously acted as Sr. Vice President for Publications at AGU, where he was responsible for AGU's portfolio of books and 21 journals and served as Deputy Editor for Physical Sciences at Science. Brooks received a Ph.D. in Geology from UCLA and held a post-doctoral appointment at the Department of Mineral Sciences at the Smithsonian Institution.
Public information:
The dialogue between scientists, institutions, policymakers and the general public is widely recognised as an essential step towards a fair and sustainable society. Nowadays, more than ever in human history, international cooperation is an essential requirement for protecting the planet, advancing science and ensuring an equitable development of the global economy.
Despite its importance, the above dialogue can be a challenge for scientists, who often cannot find a productive connection with governments and politicians. Scientific associations are a key link between researchers and policy makers, as they have the potential to establish a durable and profitable connection with institutions.
The EGU elected the dialogue with society as one of its priority missions. At its General Assembly, the EGU is launching an innovative symposium format, Science and Society (SCS), to host scientific forums specifically dedicated to connecting with high-level institutions and engaging the public and policymakers.
The conversation with Ilaria Capua and Mario Monti will focus on science and politics with a global perspective, and the impact of populism on European integrity and therefore scientific research. The discussion will elaborate on optimal strategies to deliver topical and clear scientific messages to key institutions.
Ilaria Capua is a virologist best known for her research on influenza viruses and her efforts promoting open access to genetic information on emerging viruses. In 2006, Science reported on Capua’s effort towards open access science, stating that she had “renewed the debate about how to balance global health against scientists’ needs to publish and countries’ demands for secrecy". She has been a member of the Italian parliament from 2013 to 2016 and a fake news victim. She is currently a full professor at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, US, and director of the UF One Health Center of Excellence.
Mario Monti served as a European Commissioner from 1995 to 2004, with responsibility for the internal market, services, customs, taxation and competition. He was Prime Minister of Italy from 2011 to 2013, leading a government of national unity to cope with the Italian debt crisis. Monti has also been Rector and is currently President of Bocconi University in Milan. His publications deal mainly with monetary and financial economics, public finance, European integration, competition policy. He is currently lifetime member of the Italian Senate.
During the conversation, Ilaria Capua and Mario Monti will present their vision with two 15-minute talks that will be followed by 20 minutes dedicated to questions from the audience and answers.