An effective volcanic risk management is a collective responsibility for all individuals and groups who work or live in areas with volcanic activity. This includes scientists, authorities, civil protection specialists, communication professionals, sociologists, psychologists, health specialists, urban and territorial planners, economists, educators, and the general public. While some may have more specific roles and responsibilities in this effort, communication professionals can make a significant contribution to volcanic risk management efforts.

Journalists and the media have the ability to impact the success of volcanic risk management efforts and can potentially save lives by accurately reporting on and informing the public about volcanic hazards. In order to fulfill this role effectively, media professionals should be knowledgeable about the unique characteristics of volcanoes and the methods used to volcanic risk management. However, it is important to note that the media also has a responsibility to critically evaluate and report on the effectiveness of risk management efforts. This dual role of the media can be complex, but it is essential for ensuring transparency and accountability.

This research aims to assess the level of understanding and interest that media professionals have about volcanoes and volcanic risk managment in Spain, and to examine the potential and desired role of the media in enhancing the effectiveness of volcanic risk management efforts.

In order to evaluate the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of journalists regarding volcanoes, volcanic risk management, and communication in Spain, we developed an online questionnaire. The questionnaire consists of approximately 25 questions and can be completed in about 15 minutes. Approximately 24% of the questionnaire consists of general questions such as residence, gender, age, education level, etc. Questions and comments related to volcanoes and volcanic risk management make up approximately 42% of the questionnaire, while the remaining 32% focus on communication and the role of the media in volcanic risk management in Spain. The questionnaire was released on December 26 and by the end of the year 2022, a total of 105 journalists had completed it. Here we present some preliminary results obtained including qualitative data on needs and sentiment towards volcanic risk.  

How to cite: Rodríguez-Pérez, C., Pérez, N. M., Rodríguez, F., and Solana, C.: Journalists, Communication and Volcanic Risk Managment in Spain, EGU General Assembly 2023, Vienna, Austria, 23–28 Apr 2023, EGU23-4553, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-4553, 2023.

As scientific models continue to grow in complexity and the level of detail they capture, so too does the size and complexity of the data outputs. Managing the overwhelming amounts of data and curating it into key insights and messages following FAIR (findability, accessibility, interoperability, and reusability) data principles can promote effective communications among scientific teams. This talk presents the ongoing development of “Foresight”, an online platform to visualize and interact with data outputs from the Global Change Intersectoral Modeling System (GCIMS) eco-system of human-Earth system models. The presentation discusses the challenges of managing data storage, selecting and curating key visualizations, as well as the balance between providing simplified digestible results while still ensuring transparency and access to reproducible and detailed results.

How to cite: Khan, Z., Vernon, C., Zhao, M., Waite, T., and Niazi, H.: Foresight – Global Change Analytics: Communicating complex science through interactive dashboards, EGU General Assembly 2023, Vienna, Austria, 23–28 Apr 2023, EGU23-4534, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-4534, 2023.

One of the challenges to establishing and maintaining momentum for community-driven science communication efforts is engaging participation from the wider scientific community. Launched in early 2022, the s-Ink project (www.s-Ink.org) aims to make high-quality (geo)scientific figures freely available via an accessible online platform. The platform hosts figures that can be searched and downloaded by the entire community, including students, researchers, teachers, the media, and the general public. Hosted content is intentionally broad in nature, and can include data visualisations, animations, artistic impressions, icons, templates, and more. Guidelines for generating accessible, eye-pleasing, modifiable, and scientifically-effective graphics are provided. As such, it is envisaged that the initiative will be of direct use to the entire geo(science) community; somewhat of a holy grail of science communication. Importantly, all content on s-Ink.org has metadata and is available via a Creative Commons licence, so those who create the images (and the sources that they are based on) will receive credit.

s-Ink.org is currently coordinated by three scientists, working on a volunteer-based approach with non-permanent contracts (one a free-lancer, two with the backing of employers). In order to make the community aware of the resource and to increase the number and breadth of content hosted, we have actively pursued several avenues since launch. These include establishing a social media account, running free graphics short-courses and providing graphic-specific feedback, applying for small funding opportunities (to run short-courses and for gift cards to compensate students, where applicable, such as from the Norwegian iEarth consortium), directly inviting creators, presenting dedicated abstracts at conferences (such as at EGU), spreading the word via mailing lists and through colleagues and networks, and mentioning the resource during invited presentations (e.g. by using graphics). We have also written a pre-print that has been posted on the EarthArXiv server (Crameri et al., 2022, https://doi.org/10.31223/X51P78) with more details. To-date, there are nearly 200 individual graphics available from 13 contributing creators. However, this is far fewer than the number of course students (over 50 to-date) and reach that we aimed for and envisaged at launch. In this presentation, we will present some of the lessons learned to-date from our experience, present some of the access statistics (e.g. the latest website traffic and figure downloads). We wish to engage in a discussion about other small-scale science outreach initiatives, and invite feedback about how best to continue our initiative.

How to cite: Shephard, G. E., Crameri, F., and Straume, E. O.: Ongoing experiences in establishing and maintaining a grass-roots science outreach initiative; the s-Ink.org graphics repository, EGU General Assembly 2023, Vienna, Austria, 23–28 Apr 2023, EGU23-10129, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-10129, 2023.

Science communication is important for researchers, including those working in the geosciences. However, much of this work takes place in “shadowlands” that are neither fully seen nor understood. With the increasing expectation in academia that all researchers should participate in science communication, there is an urgent need to address some of the major issues that lurk in these “shadowlands”. Here the editorial team of Geoscience Communication seeks to shine a light on the “shadowlands” of geoscience communication and suggest some solutions and examples of effective practice. The issues broadly fall under three categories: 1) unclear or harmful objectives; 2) poor quality and lack of rigor; and 3) exploitation of science communicators working within academia. Ameliorating these will require: 1) clarity in objectives and audiences; 2) adequately training science communicators; and 3) giving science communication equivalent recognition to other professional activities.

How to cite: Gani, S., Arnal, L., Beattie, L., Hillier, J., Illingworth, S., Lanza, T., Mohadjer, S., Pulkkinen, K., Roop, H., Stewart, I., Stiller-Reeve, M., von Elverfeldt, K., and Zihms, S.: The shadowlands of science communication in academia — definitions, problems, and possible solutions, EGU General Assembly 2023, Vienna, Austria, 23–28 Apr 2023, EGU23-5568, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-5568, 2023.

Informal science learning has been shown to increase interest in and understanding of geoscience. Creative geoscience communication efforts through collaboration with the arts and cultural performances are an effective tool in reaching new and under-engaged audiences to increase science capital.

Given that groundwater is largely unobservable to the naked eye, people’s conceptions of groundwater and other underground resources are typically naive and in the absence of visible cues, spatial reasoning plays an important role in the development of people’s understanding and conceptions of groundwater when constructing mental models of groundwater environments. Here we present an immersive science communication experience, “Inception Horizon”, as a case study in creative public engagement with groundwater and karst systems through the interlinked medium of song, performance and short film. The science communication project took place over a three year period, involving 30 members of the Mellow Tonics community choir and composer Norah Constance Walsh in the creation of an original musical piece, two performances (one above ground and one in a cave) and the creation of an accompanying short-film of the same name.

“Inception Horizon” follows the path of atmospheric water above karstified terrain, through the soil and into the layers of rock that lie beneath. It seeps, drips and then gains traction, creating and passing through various pathways with its laminar and then increasingly turbulent flow. Over time it carves out a vast cave before finding its way back to the air via a spring. The concept of an inception horizon features strongly in the music of the work - this is the crucial point that facilitates the initial passage of water and then stretches out like a constant ceiling above further descending erosion. Whispers of the corrosive forces at work echo in the space against an overall trajectory of descent, until the final upwards rush when the audience can breathe again.

Evaluation of audience members and choir members was carried out using mixed-methods: Q&A audio recordings on hand-held mic, on-camera interviews, a post-event survey email to all attendees and choir members, and mood boards. Evaluation found that 89% of attendees indicated that the event increased their understanding of karst, and 63% of attendees reported an improvement in confidence about Earth Science issues. Using a logic modelling approach as part of a wider Theory of Change, the evaluation results are taken as an indication of increased empowerment in earth sciences, showing that engagement through the arts can be used as an important medium on the pathway towards informed decision making on water resources. In terms of demographics the Inception Horizon events were successful in attracting attendees from both STEM (42%) and Arts/Music (32%) backgrounds, with the latter being a key audience due to their high cultural capital, but not necessarily high science capital.

How to cite: McAuliffe, F., Gill, L., and Walsh, N. C.: Inception Horizon: a case study in the science communication of groundwater through song, EGU General Assembly 2023, Vienna, Austria, 23–28 Apr 2023, EGU23-7765, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-7765, 2023.

Science communication exists on a spectrum: from dissemination to dialogue. While participation is likely to be the most effective way of helping to truly diversify science, there is still a need for geoscience communication initiatives that exist across this spectrum. In this Katia and Maurice Krafft Award lecture I will present an overview of my research into using poetry and games as facilitatory media to help disseminate knowledge, develop dialogue between scientists and non-scientists, and engender participation amongst diverse publics, including those audiences that have previously been marginalised by the geosciences.

By presenting a series of case studies, published works, and works in progress, I aim to demonstrate how this creative approach can help to address a lack of diversity in the geosciences. This lack of diversity should be paramount to anyone who is involved in either the geosciences or geoscience communication, not only because it is ethically the ‘right thing’ to do, but because ultimately greater diversity results in better science.

In addition to my own research, I will also explore how the work that we are doing with the EGU journal Geoscience Communication is supporting others in developing innovative and effective research and practice in this space, and how this in turn is helping to provide greater recognition for science communication in the geosciences.

How to cite: Illingworth, S.: From Dissemination to Participation – A Creative Approach to Geoscience Communication, EGU General Assembly 2023, Vienna, Austria, 23–28 Apr 2023, EGU23-3055, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-3055, 2023.

GeoLatinas is a member-driven organization that inspires, embraces and empowers Latinas to thrive in Earth and Planetary Sciences (E&PS) by creating initiatives to address and overcome career progression barriers for the representation of the Latin American community. The GeoLatinas’ Voice your needs survey, conducted in English and Spanish, showed in 2020 that many respondents in our community (42%) found language barrier as one of the most pressing issues.

Perceiving English as the main communication language in the science community creates a barrier for non-native English speakers, hindering their inclusion and representation. Bilingual education in Latin American schools is uncommon. The high cost of learning and obtaining proof of English proficiency, results in limited access to higher education. The English barrier is also a challenge when publishing in indexed journals or presenting research at international events. Consequently, education and employment opportunities for aspiring scientists and professionals decrease. 

GeoLatinas transforms the language barrier into an opportunity by communicating in English, Spanish, and Portuguese, thus contributing to a diverse E&PS community. Specifically, we continuously develop strategies to overcome language-related issues like: (1) English as a requirement for inclusion and recognition in the science community; (2) lack of access to opportunities for Non-English speaking experts and non-experts; and (3) limited recognition of Latin American scientists’ work.

Initiatives addressing the first issue include Conversando con GeoLatinas (Chatting with GeoLatinas), a space to improve English and Spanish conversational skills; Dry Runs & Peer Review, a comprehensive database of native English, Spanish and Portuguese-speaking reviewers, allowing members to receive feedback on written and oral pieces; and GeoSeminars, where leaders of GeoLatinas por Mexico host presentations in Spanish and English, with diverse experts sharing their knowledge with a broader community online. Lastly, collaborations with Nature Reviews Earth and Environment help our members publish short scientific articles in English, and Spanish or Portuguese.

Regarding the second issue, the GeoLatinas Blog gives members and invited experts a platform to share their research and thoughts on diverse topics in blogs available in our three languages. In addition, GeoLatinas has fostered partnerships for specific translations to Spanish, such as Eos.org short science articles (with science communication production entity Planeteando); and also to English, like the booklet GEAS: Women who study the Earth (with the ENGIE project).

Confronting the third issue, the GeoLatinas’ social-media based initiative Friday Feature in Geo has broadcasted over 160 profiles highlighting the work and contributions of Latinas in E&PS across all career stages. Together with the GeoLatinas around the world podcast in Spanish and Portuguese, we inspire and inform new generations, sharing funding opportunities and experiences from latinx scholars.

As a multicultural organization, we see strength in our differences and leverage them diversifying the E&PS. Together, we nurture our multilingual communication skills and use them as high-value traits for the scientific community. By embracing our heritage and communicating science in our native languages, GeoLatinas brings down the language barrier, democratizes science communication and increases Latin American representation in science.

How to cite: Barragán-Montilla, S., Navarro-Perez, D., Guatame-Garcia, A., Avila-Velasquez, D. I., Jimenez Soto, G., and Caballero-Gill, R. P.: GeoLatinas: bringing down the language barrier to increase Latin American representation and democratize science communication in Earth and Planetary Sciences, EGU General Assembly 2023, Vienna, Austria, 23–28 Apr 2023, EGU23-5172, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-5172, 2023.

Science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) subjects have historically struggled to be inclusive and accessible to students from diverse backgrounds. The field of geoscience, in particular, has also had challenges in diversity with respect to staff and student recruitment. The consequence of non-inclusive practices still propagates today, with certain demographics not engaging in STEM activities. As a result, there needs to be conscious efforts to adopt equity, diversity, and inclusive (EDI) initiatives for subjects such as geoscience to grow. In this submission, we outline the steps we have taken to break down known (and unknown) barriers to education in the teaching of a science outreach course to a diverse student body. Our outreach course, Think Like A Scientist, has been running in a number of English prisons since 2019, and starts in Canada in 2023. This course won the EGU Outreach Award in 2019. Although the programme is tailored to the restrictive prison environment, the application of its core principles to education are fundamental EDI practices that could be beneficial to a wide audience. In this submission, we outline our reasoning for specific pedagogical choices in the classroom when working with students that have low confidence in STEM education, and we highlight the need for engagement that is not only relatable, accessible, and inclusive but also offers encouragement. An accompanying publication of this work was published in Geoscience Communication in 2022 (https://doi.org/10.5194/gc-5-355-2022).

How to cite: Heron, P. and Williams, J.: Building confidence in STEM students through breaking (unseen) barriers, EGU General Assembly 2023, Vienna, Austria, 23–28 Apr 2023, EGU23-8581, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-8581, 2023.

The IMPACT workshop series was developed in direct support of the 2050 Framework for Scientific Ocean Drilling and its call to "communicate far-reaching scientific ocean drilling knowledge to the broader community." IMPACT's goal is to build relationships and collect information from an array of different voices. Collectively, the Scientific Ocean Drilling IMPACT workshop series strives to chart the future course of science communication and outreach for scientific ocean drilling.

The summer 2021 virtual workshops explored STEM education and science communication, engaging workshop participants as collaborators, while paying special attention to issues related to diversity and inclusion. The 2022 IMPACT in-person workshop built on and drew from the summer 2021 virtual workshops to move the community forward in its approach to broader impacts for scientific ocean drilling. The findings from the workshop series are helping to create a blueprint for a science communication strategy that is an integral part of implementation of the 2050 Framework for Scientific Ocean Drilling.

In this paper we present a set of strategies with actionable plans for the next 5 years and beyond, through the evolution of 5 “Big Idea” topics and 19 projects that resulted from group brainstorming. Each idea is being led by a community-based group, who have worked to identify possible funding streams, partners and desired outcomes. This grassroots approach gives strength to the proposed ideas, coming from the community and charting the course for the community going forward.

How to cite: Cotterill, C., Cooper, S., White, L., and Haas, D.: Using the expertise within our communities to advance the IMPACT of scientific ocean drilling, EGU General Assembly 2023, Vienna, Austria, 23–28 Apr 2023, EGU23-7048, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-7048, 2023.

Unfolding climate crisis, loss of biodiversity, mounting trash heaps, dwindling resources: our common home is in a deep crisis. Research tells us what we need to do for building a sustainable society: limit the consumption of resources to the carrying capacity of the planet, circulate materials in the technosphere and power sustainable material cycles with renewable energy. However, conditions, pathways and constraints are not very tangible, intuitive or aspirational. Envisioning how we may live, interact, collaborate, move around and work within a sustainable circular economy is important to drive change towards a desirable future. This presentation showcases a co-creation process for such visions, bringing together the imaginative power of school children with the bio-physical perspectives of scientists. The process builds on design thinking approach, divergent-convergent ideation and allows different parts of the future scenarios come together over time. The visions will be created over the course of one term in a gifted program at public schools, preserved in an illustrated children's book and further developed into a curriculum unit for schools. As such it aims at science communication, integration in formal education and may lead to new research directions for investigating and enabling the co-created visions.

How to cite: Desing, H., Ivanova, M., Zingg, M.-M., Hischier, R., and Rogalla, M.: Co-creating circular futures – developing scenarios with school children's imagination and scientists' biophysical perspectives, EGU General Assembly 2023, Vienna, Austria, 23–28 Apr 2023, EGU23-9097, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-9097, 2023.

Understanding how warming temperatures will alter the Arctic region and how these changes impact other parts of the globe are both scientifically valid and societally relevant. However, many perceive the Arctic Ocean and related environmental issues as remote, disconnected, and irrelevant to their lives. This is partly because scientific research in the Arctic Ocean is often undertaken with little input from or communication with the public. In particular, school communities which act as important gateways to the public, have few opportunities to engage in and contribute to knowledge generation and sharing related to the Arctic Ocean.

To address this issue, the 2022 AKMA2 OceanSenses expedition (11-23 May) bridged researchers with other societal actors including schoolteachers and artists to integrate different kinds of knowledge and co-create educational materials that allow for a closer connection to the Arctic Ocean. Since our five senses (touch, sight, smell, hearing, and taste) are the primary channels through which we experience the world, the educational materials developed during this expedition were based on these senses.

We created a series of lesson plans to engage learners of different ages (from kindergarten to secondary education) to explore different aspects of the Arctic Ocean. Lesson topics range from ocean acidification and seafloor methane seep environments to Arctic ecosystems and food webs. Each lesson takes a unique approach to introduce and explore the lesson topic. For example, the lesson based on “smell” is a boardgame that covers some of the chemicals found in the deep ocean. Players work collaboratively to identify chemical compounds (e.g., methane and sulfur) by smelling already prepared testers. The lesson based on “hearing” encourages students to make sounds of their own to re-create and discuss a selection of sounds recorded on board and in the ocean by the expedition participants. For the lesson based on “touch”, students use modelling clay to sculpt enlarged foraminifera (single cell organisms that live in the ocean), allowing them to feel and learn about these very small organisms that scientists use to learn about past environments. In the “sight” lesson, students learn how water filters out color in the sea and how organisms adapt to live in different light conditions. They do this by searching for marine organisms made from paper cutouts with different colors while wearing blue goggles in a dark room.

In this presentation, we share and discuss examples of our multisensory lesson plans. These lesson plans and accompanying materials will be available on the expedition website (https://akma-project.com/akma2-oceansenses) by April 2023.  

How to cite: Mohadjer, S., Panieri, G., Stiller-Reeve, M., Aune, V., Clerici, M., Holm, V. D., Losleben, K., Maric, F., Os, V., Poto, M. P., Poddevin, V., and Zimmermann, H. J.: OceanSenses 2022: Using Our Primary Senses to Connect with the Arctic Ocean , EGU General Assembly 2023, Vienna, Austria, 23–28 Apr 2023, EGU23-9377, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-9377, 2023.

Geoscience is vital to our society’s sustainable future. In Ireland, students are introduced to geoscience at Post-Primary level in the non-compulsory subject of geography, yet there are limited resources available to assist geography teachers on their teaching of current  topics and developments in geoscience. To address this, iCRAG (the Science Foundation Ireland Research Centre in Applied Geosciences) and Geological Survey Ireland, part of the Government of Ireland, developed the Geoscience for Leaving Certificate Geography Continuing Professional Development Course. The course was piloted in 2021, continued in 2022, and due to successful outcomes, it is planned to run in the future. In this presentation we will outline the design and delivery of the course, and share our experience, evaluation data and learnings. The CPD course pairs teachers with geoscience practitioners  to co-create a curriculum-aligned geoscience educational resource. The participants are given freedom over the topic and nature of the resource but it should assist in the teaching of  the Irish Leaving Certificate (Key Stage 5, UK or grades 11-12, USA). In the co-creative partnership, teachers contribute their curriculum expertise and pedagogical experience, and geoscientists contribute their subject knowledge and current research. The course runs over six evening sessions every two weeks and it is split into four different phases – learning, design, development, and presenting. So far, the CPD course has resulted in the co-creation of twelve resources: one field guide, one story map, two module plans and eight lesson plans, which are publicly available. Furthermore, selected evaluation data from the 2021 iteration of the course shows that students’ ability to identify geoscience related subjects within the geography curriculum had increased by 33%, and 100% of the teachers that attended felt more confident in teaching geoscience subjects after taking part. We hope to present further evaluation data from the 2022 iteration at EGU 2023.

How to cite: Sinclair, E., McAuliffe, F., Power, S., and Dubois Gafar, A.: Co-creating curriculum-aligned geoscience resources with teachers, for teachers, EGU General Assembly 2023, Vienna, Austria, 23–28 Apr 2023, EGU23-15929, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-15929, 2023.

Despite being a very common experience for most people, rainfall essentially remains a mystery for them. They unfortunately remain unaware of the underlying complexity of this geophysical field which exhibits extreme variability over wide ranges of scales in both space and time. 

In order to overcome this lack of knowledge and push people to pay more attention to rainfall and more generally their geophysical environment, we designed and implemented “rainfall snacks”. It basically consists of a snack designed as a small drop of science, in which each item conveys a simple take home message on rainfall. 

In order to fulfil the overall purpose, few basic principles are followed for each item / activity: 1) They have a clear and simple take home message on a given rainfall feature. 2) The studied feature is immediately visible at first sight, for example by systematic comparison between two situations to highlight the targeted feature very easily. 3) The snack somehow mimics or enables to visualise actual data, and a more scientific display of the corresponding data is prepared for discussion (pictures, graphs). When possible, we used data tailored to the target audience, i.e. coming from a place they know. 4) The activity is designed as a whole from an initial game to actively engage the audience to the tasting / savouring and the scientific explanation.

Snacks with four different items were tested:

• Rainfall Drop Size Distribution variability with cookies (macaron / “baci di dama”) representing drops variability in shape and in the actual size in their fall.
• Rainfall monthly distribution and its variability, using glass with liquid (champagne, soda, water…) height corresponding to rainfall depth during a month
• Rainfall intermittency at various time scales using small cakes decorated with two different colours
• Spatial pattern of convective vs. stratiform event represented by fruits or cream coverage of tarts. 

Each item has been tested in various contexts (family / friends meetings, lab meetings), and improved step by step. Presentation will describe in detail each “rainfall snack item”, and discuss the implementations and improvements.

We found that people prefer a game approach, and this increases their active involvement and curiosity: they have to think more about the topic and to use their own reasoning, and this stimulates asking questions. The tasty food is a good motivation to participate (and to win the game). Although we did not really expect this at the beginning, it also sometimes enabled us to initiate a dialogue on what we did as researchers and as such bring research closer to the general public. In general, rainfall snacks enable us to communicate some science in a rather innovative, tasty and good looking way.

How to cite: Gires, A. and Dallan, E.: Design and implementation of “rainfall snacks”: new opportunity for conveying drops of science, EGU General Assembly 2023, Vienna, Austria, 23–28 Apr 2023, EGU23-9073, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-9073, 2023.

The upcoming MicrobeX-Science Center in Zirl, close to Innsbruck (Tyrol, Austria), is focused on microorganisms governing our daily life. The storyline is crossing atmospheric microbiology related to climate change, food microbiology and environmental biotechnology like biomethanisation and wastewater treatment. A most central role, however, will have soil microbiology that is related to the effects of microorganisms on climate, in particular soil greenhouse gas production and uptake, plant-growth promoting rhizobacteria related to environmentally sound alternative agriculture, and also to microbially produced volatiles like geosmin, the scent of soil. Soil biodiversity will also be addressed, in relation to deadwood (until its microbial decomposition into the very first humus form, the so-called lignoform), soil-dwelling myxobacteria and erosion-preventing mycorrhizae. The talk will show how soil microorganisms will be embedded in a storyline that aims at promoting the public interest in microbiology, and microbes in geo- and in particular in soil sciences, with the challenging purpose of generally raising awareness about the central role of (soil) microbes in the past, presence and future.

How to cite: Insam, H., Strutzmann, C., and Ascher-Jenull, J.: MicrobeX-Science Center to feature soil and its microbes, EGU General Assembly 2023, Vienna, Austria, 23–28 Apr 2023, EGU23-241, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-241, 2023.

Climate awareness is the starting point for understanding how climate change triggers and contributes to the climate crisis. A public that is aware is made up of citizens who are able to manage the best way to learn about the climate system and its changes and to understand how climate interacts with the individual and collective sphere of each person. Climate awareness provides everything citizens need to play an active role in addressing the negative impacts of climate change on people's lives, seize opportunities and be conscious actors in the present we are living and the future we shape for younger generations. Given the multidisciplinary, cross-cutting and all-comprehensive dimension of the interaction between climate and socio-economic systems (both on a local and global scale), improving Climate awareness requires more than just making reliable information and data available. There is an urgent need for strategic perspectives, critical thinking, and innovative outreach platforms and tools. 

To answer this challenge, the CMCC is implementing an outreach and communication strategy that addresses the complexity of the issue by implementing a multi-platform approach to climate literacy. The target audiences for this approach are as diverse as many social actors are involved in the process of improving their own climate literacy and, thus, contribute to the spread of more advanced climate awareness. These include public opinion as a whole, but specific initiatives and languages should be used to target specific audiences, such as students, journalists, policymakers, and civil society. Thus, the CMCC multi-platform approach addresses the climate crisis in the relationships between target audiences and media in their cultural, social, historical, economic and technological contexts. We present a series of concrete and ongoing initiatives that make up an integrated climate literacy strategy combining storytelling of climate impacts and adaptation solutions, the journalistic vision of a magazine, visual storytelling, podcast, art/science dialogue, science/communication collaboration about IPCC reports and the building of a community/network of climate communication initiatives through a climate communication international award.

How to cite: Buonocore, M., Santin, S., Carlon, O., Mazzai, A., Michielin, D., Acierno, A., Glauda, A., and Bassetti, F.: Increasing climate awareness through science/communication collaboration: the CMCC multi-platform approach, EGU General Assembly 2023, Vienna, Austria, 23–28 Apr 2023, EGU23-10926, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-10926, 2023.

Climate change communication has been and remains to be challenging, even when there is no controversy amongst actual climate science experts anymore. However, it is an uphill battle in cases where the science is less clear or where consensus has emerged only very recently. Exemplified for global and regional (or national for that matter) warming levels to date (with reference to the quasi-preindustrial baseline 1850-1900), I will demonstrate what sci-comm problems we face and which ways there are to resolve it. This includes the discussion of strategies to raise awareness within the expert community as well as suggestions for clear, salient and perhaps emotional communication to the public (or media for that matter). The fact that we get ever close to the 1.5°C warming threshold adds considerable urgency to the issue.

I will first introduce the method(s) to estimate the human-induced level of global and regional warming, i.e. how much of the observed warming of the past 150 years is attributable to anthropogenic climate change. I will then highlight the comms failures along the lines of erring on the side of least drama and ask the question when such tendency to 'remain on the safe side' are bordering on actual (unconscious) misinformation. In the second step, I will present results from a questionnaire where we have sampled the climate change knowledge of school students (age 14-19), with particular regard to the attributable warming fraction of global and regional climate. The results will be discussed in light of the unclear messaging from scientists, followed by what I think are the best long-term strategies to improve the situation.

How to cite: Haustein, K.: Are we past the point where it is acceptable to err on the side of least drama?, EGU General Assembly 2023, Vienna, Austria, 23–28 Apr 2023, EGU23-9424, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-9424, 2023.

Twenty years ago in 2003 the climateprediction.net project was launched. It gave members of the public the opportunity to engage in climate modelling and climate prediction by downloading a comprehensive climate model and running it on their PCs. Participants contributed their results to a large perturbed-parameter ensemble and thus supported an exploration of uncertainty in climate projections. What the project did not do was give the participants much opportunity for participating in the experimental design or data analysis.

Nowadays the questions regarding uncertainty in model-based predictions remain. Unlike twenty years ago, however,  there are many more individuals in our societies who have skills in computing, statistics, physics, geophysics etc. and who have an interest in research but are not part of the research community and don’t want a career in academia. Here I will present a potential project to engage such individuals in exploring and quantifying uncertainty in real-world extrapolatory forecasts of the climate system - that’s to say of climate change. Key to this would be the use of a range of simple, low-dimensional stochastic models founded on the Hasselmann model. Participants would be asked to both code and run ensembles of various versions of the model to explore physical science uncertainties in feedback processes, ocean heat uptake, the scale and type of the stochastic forcing, and even the structure of the model. They would participate in a collection of standardised experiments - common across multiple individuals - to allow for verification of results but they would also be encouraged to run their own experiments and to propose extensions to the main project in collaborative teams.

Such a project would provide a route to enable skilled and interested individuals throughout society to participate in climate research and also to contribute to the wider communication and understanding of the climate prediction and uncertainty quantification problems. This proposal is for a citizen science project that takes scientific engagement to a new level - a project that enables those in society who want to contribute as active researchers to do so but on a voluntary basis without the pressures and demands of a typical academic career.

How to cite: Stainforth, D. A.: A proposal for engaging amateur scientists in climate forecasting, EGU General Assembly 2023, Vienna, Austria, 23–28 Apr 2023, EGU23-14431, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-14431, 2023.

Mineral dust can travel thousands of kilometers up in the atmosphere from the Saharan desert all the way to Finland, landing through snowfall and freezing rain. Inspired by events like the one that occurred in Finland on 23 February 2021 (Meinander et al., 2022), an initiative is being developed to promote knowledge about aerosol science among schoolchildren through activities in the fields of arts and science.

“Learning through atmospheric events: Citizen science and citizen arts educational material”, is the first Finnish Meteorological Institute-led project, funded by the Kone Foundation aiming at bringing science and arts together in the form of educational materials for different educational levels around the topic of desert dust transportation and deposition, connecting to its climate implications.

The project aims are varied and try to respond to scientific and societal questions and needs: 1) to be better prepared for future citizen science campaigns, by disseminating knowledge and clear sample collection guidelines, adapted for different age groups; 2) highlighting the human and artistic aspects of natural processes and events, therefore, connecting with the emotional side of living in a changing world and environment.
By having citizens contribute and helping scientists understand climate change and atmospheric processes, we also aim to engage society in the process of science-making, building trust in scientific institutions, and raising awareness about climate change. 

The focus of this project is on an exploratory approach carried out by a multidisciplinary team from diverse fields and backgrounds. The outcome is Oranssi Lumi (the name deriving from the orange snow phenomenon), an initiative created within the project, in which the core team, in contact with other researchers and educational professionals, ideates and designs informative, inspiring educational materials through a framework of steps. The core team developed the structure, visual identity, and contents of the educational materials in a series of co-creation workshops, with helpful feedback from a group of educators supporting the project. The direct collaboration with education professionals guarantees that the contents and activities are framed within the Finnish educational curriculum for grades 1-9. The materials will contain scientific knowledge and activities connected to artistic and scientific disciplines inspired by the dust transport and deposition phenomenon. The materials will be available in Finnish, Swedish, and English, and suitable to be used in the context of a classroom or other informal learning environments. More information about the initiative can be found through Oranssi Lumi’s communication channels (IG @oranssi_lumi).

This work was supported by the Kone Foundation through the granted project “Learning through atmospheric events: Citizen science and citizen arts educational material”.

References: Meinander, O. et al. Saharan dust transported and deposited in Finland on 23 February 2021, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-4818, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-4818, 2022.

How to cite: Piedehierro, A. A., Montalvao, I., Fiebig, I., Meinander, O., and Kouki, H.: Oranssi Lumi: Learning through Atmospheric Events, EGU General Assembly 2023, Vienna, Austria, 23–28 Apr 2023, EGU23-11760, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-11760, 2023.

What kind of ways are there for research and civil society to improve climate safety together? This presentation examines how academics and civil society actors can co-design research-based solutions for supporting a safer climate. The term ‘climate safety’ is used instead of the more commonly used ‘climate security’ to highlight the human security aspects of the matter, as well as to refer to the concept of ‘safer space’ aiming to create a safe environment for a more inclusive climate change discussion and action.

In addition to scientific data, sustainability transformation requires action, political will and cultural change. Therefore it is important to study and create new theoretical and physical spaces at the intersection of science, art and civil society, and to emphasize two-way communication. Civil society plays a key role in strengthening society's crisis resilience in general, which is also important for climate change mitigation and adaptation. Civil society’s versatile role extends from large-scale assistance to authorities in (climate) crisis situations to creative and independent solutions of local communities. By strengthening civil society’s understanding of science and their voice regarding climate change, we are able to strengthen society’s crisis resilience in terms of climate change and related direct, cascading and transition impacts on security.

The presentation is based on and showcases practical examples from the work of the Initiative for a Safer Climate, a new network that brings together researchers, civil society organizations and arts. The network is based in Finland and it is part of the outreach activities of the Atmosphere and Climate Competence Center consisting of University of Helsinki, Tampere University, University of Eastern Finland and the Finnish Meteorological Institute.

How to cite: Rantanen, R.: Research and civil society collaboration - working together for a safer climate, EGU General Assembly 2023, Vienna, Austria, 23–28 Apr 2023, EGU23-17548, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-17548, 2023.

I joined the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) as a 22-year-old radio reporter in the city of Cambridge, in the east of England. At the time, I had the intention of becoming another John Cole, the late, great political editor of the BBC. Politics and social issues were what fascinated me. But a chance meeting one spring afternoon with a scientist at the city’s famous Laboratory of Molecular Biology changed the direction of my career. I was stunned by what this man had achieved (he would later win a Chemistry Nobel) and committed to becoming a journalist specialising in the reporting of science. This was problematic as I’d had no real science education at school. But seven years with the Open University as a mature student put that right, and in 1998 I found myself in the position of leading the science coverage on the fledgling BBC News website. I’ve been a full-time science hack ever since. When I started in journalism my tools were a reel-to-reel recorder, a typewriter and several sheets of carbon copy paper to produce my radio scripts in duplicate. Today, as I approach the end of my career, I operate in a fully digital newsroom with mp3 recorders, cloud computing and AI. My medal lecture will detail the journey from the old to the new. I will pass on some of the lessons learned (which should be of interest to those wanting to interact with journalists) and consider some of the challenges ahead for my profession.

How to cite: Amos, J. C. D. A.: From carbon copy paper to AI: 36 years as a reporter for the BBC, EGU General Assembly 2023, Vienna, Austria, 23–28 Apr 2023, EGU23-17598, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu23-17598, 2023.