AGU 2008 Fall Meeting: Media Advisory 4

Final Press Conference List
Press Conference Visuals Online
Field Trip Itinerary

AGU Release No. 08–41
8 December 2008

Contacts:

Peter Weiss
Phone: +1 202 777 7507
E-mail: pweiss@agu.org
Maria-José Viñas
Phone: +1 202 777 7530
E-mail: mjvinas@agu.org

Moscone Convention Center, San Francisco, California 15–19 December 2008

Contents of this message:

  1. Final Press Conference List
  2. NEW! Press-conference visuals available to call-ins
  3. No scientific program books, Burn a CD!
  4. Field Trip Itinerary
  5. Reminder for PIOs: Sending Press Releases to Fall Meeting
  6. Don't Forget: NCSWA Holiday Dinner, Wed. 17 December
  7. Special Activities and Events
  8. Where Do I Pick Up My Press/News Media Badge?
  9. News Media Registration Information
  10. Who's Coming

Please see:

Media Advisory 1 for important information regarding visas for international reporters and hotel bookings at meeting rates (The deadline is 14 November 2008.)

Media Advisory 2 for information on searching for sessions and abstracts of interest to you.

Media Advisory 3 for press conference topics, NCSWA dinner details.

2008 Fall Meeting news media page

1. Final Press Conference List

The following schedule of press conferences is subject to change, before or during Fall Meeting. Press conferences may be added or dropped, their titles and emphases may change, and participants may change. All updates to this schedule will be announced in the Press Room (Room 2015, Level 2, just off the Lobby). Press conferences take place in the Press Conference Room (Room 3015), which is on Level 3, directly above the Press Room.

Times for press conferences are Pacific Standard Time. Session numbers at the end of each press conference listing may show only the first in a series of related sessions on the topic.

(Note to Public Information Officers: If you have prepared press releases or other handouts for press conferences listed below, please email electronic copies of the documents to Peter Weiss (pweiss@agu.org) so they can be made available online to reporters calling in from outside the meeting.)

New satellite to forecast weather—in space

Monday, 15 December
0800h

Someday soon you may be able to tune in to the daily space weather forecast. A new Air Force spacecraft is forecasting the times when upper atmospheric irregularities will disrupt satellite communications and degrade the GPS navigation system. The satellite — the Communication/Navigation Outage Forecasting System (C/NOFS) — was launched in April 2008. Six separate instruments measure critical parameters in the ionosphere that allow the prediction of electron density profiles and the presence of equatorial ionospheric turbulence.

Participants:

Donald Hunton
Chief, Space Weather Effects Section, Air Force Research Laboratory, Hanscom Air Force Base, Massachusetts, USA;

Odile de La Beaujardiere
Chief, Space Plasma Disturbance Specification and Forecast Section, Air Force Research Laboratory, Hanscom Air Force Base, Massachusetts, USA;

Roderick Heelis
Director, William B. Hanson Center for Space Studies, University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, Texas, USA;

Robert Pfaff
Research Scientist, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland, USA.

Sessions: SA11A, SA13A, SA14A, SA21A, SA24B

Preparing for local and regional climate change

Monday, 15 December
0900h

As the need to prepare for climate change becomes more pressing, scientists are advising local and regional leaders on adapting to a warmer future. Cities and states face an array of challenges, ranging from more frequent heat waves and droughts to higher costs for road maintenance, electricity, emergency services, and reliable water supplies. However, they have not taken a consistent approach to adapting to climate change. While some cities, such as Chicago, are mapping out their climate future, others lag far behind.

Participants

Jack Fellows
Vice President for Corporate Affairs, University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colorado, USA;

Jonathan Overpeck
Co-Director, Institute for Environment and Society, The University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA;

Donald Wuebbles
Professor of Atmospheric Sciences and Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois, USA.

Session PA12A

Antarctica: Back to the future

Monday, 15 December
1000h

By investigating Antarctica's deep past, researchers are providing deeper understanding of the region today, including possible future scenarios for Antarctica's vast ice sheets. Drillers find that 1 to 14 million years ago, the West Antarctic ice sheet responded dramatically, at times, to global warming events, implying the possibility of rapid sea level fluctuations in our modern era, up to as much as a 21 foot (6.4 meters) rise. A new analysis of GPS and other data indicates that current models for vertical motion of Antarctic bedrock due to glacial rebound are incorrect, possibly leading to more accurate estimates of polar-ice-sheet contributions to sea level change. Evidence for ancient periods of movement or lack thereof between East and West Antarctica offers potential new insights into plate tectonics, volcanism, and convection in the Earth's mantle. These studies are part of the International Polar Year — a scientific research campaign focused on the Arctic and Antarctic, which is slated to end in early 2009.

Participants

Steve Cande
Professor, Marine Geophysics, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, California, USA;

Ross Powell
Professor, Department of Geology and Environmental Geosciences, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, Illinois, USA;

Terry Wilson
Principal Investigator, Geological Sciences, Byrd Polar Research Center and School of Earth Sciences, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, USA.

Sessions: V11F, V13C

Deccan volcanism and the dinosaur extinction

Monday, 15 December
1100h

New paleontological data from India challenges the prevailing theory that the large Chicxulub meteorite impact in Yucatan, Mexico caused the mass extinction that wiped out the dinosaurs, among many other species. The data show that the K-T extinction coincided with the end of a major volcanism event in India. The volcanic outpouring spewed at least 30 times more sulfur dioxide, the suspected killing agent, than did the Chicxulub impact. In Mexico and Texas, melt rock spherules discovered in sediments well below the K-T boundary indicate that the Chicxulub impact predates the mass extinction by about 300,000 years, leaving no significant biotic effects.

Participants

Gerta Keller
Principal Investigator, Professor of Geology and Paleontology, Geosciences Department, Princeton University, Princeton, USA;

Vincent Courtillot
Director, Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris University of Paris 7 and Institut Universitaire de France, Paris, France;

Sunil Bajpai
Co-investigator, Professor, Department of Earth Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology, Uttarakand, India.

Sessions: V22B, V24A, V53A

Latest news from flybys of Saturn's geyser moon Enceladus

Monday, 15 December
1200h

Recent data from Enceladus are providing new views on activity in the moon's south polar region where water vapor and ice particles are ejected miles into space. Scientists are beginning to understand changes happening on and around the moon, which raise new questions about this dynamic small body. Panelists will discuss the new images and measurements, with emphasis on how the surface, plume, and magnetic environment of Enceladus may evolve over time.

Participants

Carolyn Porco
Cassini imaging team leader, Director, Cassini Central Laboratory for OPerationS (CICLOPS), Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colorado, USA;

Paul Helfenstein
Cassini imaging team associate, Senior Research Associate, Department of Astronomy, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA;

Christopher Russell
Cassini magnetometer science team member, Professor, Geophysics and Space Physics, University of California, Los Angeles, California, USA.

Sessions: P13D, P14A, P23B

Close look at a Martian arctic environment

Monday, 15 December
1300h

NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander spent more than five months this year examining a landing site on far-northern Mars. Phoenix dug to water-ice beneath the surface and analyzed the soil just above the ice for clues about the habitability of this permafrost environment. Analysis of the data from the mission will continue after the robotic spacecraft finishes its work at the end of the arctic summer. The Phoenix science team will report the latest conclusions it is drawing from the mission's data.

Participants

Peter Smith
Principal Investigator, NASA Phoenix Mars Lander, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA;

Aaron Zent
Lead Scientist, Phoenix Thermal and Electrical Conductivity Probe, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California, USA;

Raymond Arvidson
Lead Scientist, Phoenix Robotic Arm, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri, USA.

Sessions: P13F, U11B, U14A

New 'breathing' mode of atmosphere found

Monday, 15 December
1400h

Recent satellite measurements reveal a recurrent 'breathing', or expansion and contraction, of the Earth's upper atmosphere. Researchers have discovered that this multi-day breathing mode is associated with solar wind high speed disturbances that originate at the sun. This new solar-terrestrial connection could help improve predictions of satellite drag and of characteristics of the ionosphere that affect radio communications and GPS signals. The new findings may also have a bearing on climate and climate change. The evidence for 'breathing' is found in upper atmospheric density and composition, and in gases responsible for cooling the atmosphere.

Participants

Geoff Crowley
President/Chief Scientist, Atmospheric & Space Technology Research Associates (ASTRA) LLC, San Antonio, Texas, USA;

Martin G. Mlynczak
Senior Research Scientist, Climate Science Branch, Science Directorate, NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, Virginia, USA;

Jeffrey P. Thayer
Associate professor, Aerospace Engineering Sciences Department, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, USA.

Sessions: SA21B, SA23A, SA24B

Geoscientific data for the revitalization of Afghanistan

Monday, 15 December
1500h

New data are available that will help support the revitalization and prosperity of Afghanistan. Scientists will report on Afghanistan’s current and future climate scenarios, water availability issues, and significant natural resource potential, including the location and quantity of oil, gas and non-fuel mineral resources. This research will help better define areas for future exploration and development and are important components in creating effective mitigation and adaptation strategies in response to climate change.

Participants

James F. Devine
Senior Advisor for Science Applications, U.S. Geological Survey, Office of the Director, Reston, Virginia, USA;

Mohammad Ibrahim Adel Dip-Eng
Minister of Mines, Islamic Republic of Afghanistan;

Professor John (Jack) Shroder
Assistant Dean, International Studies and Department of Geography and Geology, University of Nebraska at Omaha, Omaha, Nebraska, USA.

Session: NS22A

Titan's chilly volcanoes

Monday, 15 December
1600h

Are ice volcanoes oozing from Titan and replenishing its atmosphere with methane? Or are these flow-like features the icy-debris that have been lubricated by rain and collapsed into sinuous piles like mudflows? New observations of Titan have given Cassini scientists some hot leads on this icy subject.

Participants

Jonathan Lunine Cassini-Huygens Interdisciplinary Scientist, Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona, Tucson, USA;

Bob Nelson Cassini-Huygens Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer Investigation Scientist, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, USA;

Jeffrey Moore Planetary Geologist, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California, USA;

Rosaly Lopes Cassini-Huygens Radar Team Investigation Scientist, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, USA.

Sessions: P11D, P21A, P52A

Surprise contact with magma

Tuesday, 16 December
0800h

Drillers of a commercial geothermal well in Hawaii have unexpectedly struck underground molten rock at shallow depth. Magma rose several meters up the drill hole, cooled to a glass, was re-drilled, and rose again several times before drilling was terminated. Scientists involved in the geothermal project may have directly observed, for the first time, the process by which granitic rock differentiates from basalt— thought to be one of the ways that granitic rocks making up much of the continents are formed. Because magma is unusually hot compared to rock found deeper by other geothermal projects, this unexpectedly accessible high-heat source may lead to novel means for extracting geothermal energy.

Participants

William Teplow,
Consulting Geologist, US Geothermal Inc. (of Boise, Idaho), Oakland, California, USA;

Bruce Marsh
Professor, Earth & Planetary Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, USA;

Lucien Y. Bronicki
Chairman and Chief Technology Officer, Ormat Technologies Inc., Reno, Nevada, USA.

Sessions: V23A

Arctic in flux: New insights from the International Polar Year

Tuesday, 16 December
0900h

Continuing climate changes in the Arctic received renewed scientific attention during the International Polar Year (IPY) — a scientific research campaign focused on the Arctic and Antarctic, which is slated to end in early 2009. This briefing presents early results from a range of Arctic studies conducted during IPY based on climate models and new observations taken from sea, land, and space. Findings include the discovery of new seeps of the greenhouse gas methane along the East Siberian Arctic Shelf, large increases in tundra greenness along North America's Arctic coasts, a lengthening snowmelt season and a second year of ice mass loss in Greenland, and evidence that the predicted amplification of Arctic warming due to decreasing sea ice has already begun.

Panelists:

Igor Semiletov
Research Associate Professor, International Arctic Research Center, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, Alaska, USA;

Julienne Stroeve
Research Scientist, National Snow and Ice Data Center, Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, USA;

Marco Tedesco
Director, Cryospheric Processes and Remote Sensing Laboratory, Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, City College of New York, New York, New York, USA;

D. A. (Skip) Walker
Greening of the Arctic Principal Investigator, Alaska Geobotany Center, Institute of Arctic Biology, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, Alaska, USA.

Sessions: C41B, U23F

Largest breach of Earth’s solar storm shield discovered

Tuesday, 16 December
1000h

New studies reveal that two large leaks often form in the magnetic field that shields our planet from severe space weather. Researchers will discuss findings indicating where, how, and why this breach of the shield occurs. The discovery of the breach and its cause overturns established thinking about how most solar particles penetrate Earth's magnetic field. The findings are expected to aid scientists to predict when solar storms will be severe. Based on these results, space-weather specialists expect fiercer storms during the upcoming solar cycle. Data from NASA's THEMIS fleet of spacecraft (Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms)were used to discover the size of the leak.

Participants

David Sibeck
THEMIS Project Scientist, Space Weather Laboratory, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center; Greenbelt, Maryland, USA;

Wenhui Li
Research Scientist, Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans, and Space, University of New Hampshire, Durham, New Hampshire, USA;

Marit Oieroset
Associate Research Physicist, Space Sciences Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, California, USA;

Joachim (Jimmy) Raeder
Associate Professor, Department of Physics & Space Science Center, University of New Hampshire, Durham, New Hampshire, USA.

Sessions: SM23A, SM24A, SM31B, SM31C, SM51B, SM54A

Orbiting Carbon Observatory: Workshop for journalists

Tuesday, 16 December
1100h

Scientists with NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO), scheduled to launch in January, will give reporters a carbon-cycle-science crash course to illuminate the atmospheric chemistry and other processes the observatory will study. David Crisp will speak on the mission concept, instruments, and measurement approach. Scott Denning will discuss the use of the mission's data for studies of the global carbon cycle. Reporters will learn about carbon dioxide “sources” and “sinks,” processes that influence carbon dioxide concentrations in Earth's atmosphere over space and time, and how carbon dioxide and climate are linked. OCO is NASA's first spacecraft dedicated to making high-precision measurements of carbon dioxide, the principal human-produced driver of climate change.

Participants:

David Crisp
OCO Principal Investigator, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, USA;

Scott Denning
OCO Science Team Associate, Department of Atmospheric Sciences, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA.

Related Sessions: A32B, A41D, A43F, U41B

International Year of Astronomy

Tuesday, 16 December
1300h

A project to churn out a million, low-cost, high-quality telescopes for ordinary citizens next year is one way astronomers, the United Nations, and others are celebrating the 400th year since Galileo Galilei made the first telescope observations of the heavens. Besides the $10 Galileoscope, other facets of the International Year of Astronomy (IYA) include a global campaign to measure light pollution by naked eye and digital sky-brightness-meter, a 100-hour worldwide observation marathon in April focused largely on Saturn, and other events. Organizers of the year-long celebration say they hope to provide 10 million people with their first look through an astronomical telescope in 2009. Films, webcasts, podcasts, and myriad educational programs also aim to boost astronomy understanding, and interest. More than 130 countries and 29 space agencies are participating in IYA.

Participants

Stephen Pompea Manager of Science Education, National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO), Tucson, Arizona, USA;

Connie Walker Senior Science Education Specialist at NOAO, Tucson, Arizona, USA;

James Manning Executive Director, Astronomical Society of the Pacific, San Francisco, California, USA;

Leslie Lowes Educational Outreach Specialist, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, USA.

Sessions: ED43B, ED51C

Abrupt climate change

Tuesday, 16 December
1500h

Scientists have recently taken a comprehensive look at abrupt climate changes that stand out in the geologic record as so rapid and large that, should they recur, they would pose clear risks to society's ability to adapt. The speakers will unveil findings and conclusions of a new report from the U.S. Climate Change Science Program. It weighs prospects for societal disruption from four types of abrupt climate change: rapid melting of glaciers and ice sheets with consequent rise in sea level; widespread and sustained changes to the hydrologic cycle, including drought and flooding; abrupt weakening of the northward flow of warm, salty water in the upper layers of the Atlantic Ocean; and rapid release to the atmosphere of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas.

Participants

Thomas R. Armstrong
Senior Advisor for Global Change Programs, U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, Virginia, USA;

Peter U. Clark
Professor, Department of Geosciences, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon, USA;

Andrew Weaver
Professor and Canada Research Chair in Climate Modeling and Analysis, School of Earth and Ocean Sciences, University of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada;

Edward R. Cook
Senior Scholar and Director, Tree-Ring Laboratory, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University, Palisades, New York, USA;

Edward Brook
Professor, Department of Geosciences, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon, USA.

No related sessions.

Peak oil and future climate change scenarios

Wednesday, 17 December
0900h

What causes the largest uncertainty in projections of future climate change? By a large margin, it turns out to be ignorance of fossil fuel reserves and the rate of their burning. Panel member David Rutledge has shown that total reserves of fossil fuel are well below conventional estimates, and that as a result future atmospheric CO2 will remain below 460 parts per million (ppm), thus keeping global temperature change below 2 degrees Celsius. Panel member Pushker Kharecha has used the GISS climate model of Jim Hansen to show that even if all the known oil and natural gas is burned, atmospheric CO2 would not exceed 450 ppm provided that emissions of CO2 from coal and unconventional fossil fuels are constrained and phased out by 2050. Panel member Ken Caldeira has shown that oil exhaustion is actually bad news for climate change since it will drive the transportation sector to adopt liquefied coal as a fuel, which has a carbon footprint much larger than oil's.

Participants

Pushker A. Kharecha
Associate Research Scientist, NASA GISS / Columbia Univ. Earth Institute, New York, New York, USA;

Ken Caldeira
Department of Global Ecology, Carnegie Institution, Stanford, California, USA;

David Rutledge
Professor, Division of Engineering and Applied Science, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA.

Session: U42A

Geoengineering through solar radiation management

Wednesday, 17 December
1000h

Even if society gave geoengineering with aerosols the green light today, it would be impossible to carry out, as there is no existing technology to put sulfur gases into the stratosphere. However, scientists are beginning to study how to design and introduce aerosol particles into the stratosphere to block solar radiation. New work investigates how the gases would form particles and what their sizes and properties would be. It also looks at how such aerosols would evolve in the atmosphere, circulate around the world, and finally exit the atmosphere.

Participants

Alan Robock Professor II, Department of Environmental Sciences, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA;

Richard P. Turco Professor, Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, USA;

David Mitchell Associate Research Professor, Division of Atmospheric Sciences, Desert Research Institute, Reno, Nevada, USA;

David Keith Professor, Energy & Environmental Systems Group, University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada;

Adrian F. Tuck Visiting Professor, Physics Department, Imperial College London, United Kingdom.

Sessions: U41E, U43A

Urban areas and global change

Wednesday, 17 December
1600h

Urban areas have only recently been highlighted as important components in global change science. While the spatial extent of cities is a very small fraction of the Earth surface, the panelists argue that cities may play a pivotal role in mitigation and adaptation efforts. The session will also highlight the opportunities for carbon storage and sequestration in urban areas.

Participants

Galina Churkina
Senior scientist, Leibniz-Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research, Müncheberg, Germany;

Patricia Romero Lankao
Social Scientist, the Institute for the Study of Society and Environment, Boulder, Colorado, USA;

Amy Townsend-Small
Postdoctoral Investigator, University of California, Department of Earth System Science, Irvine, California, USA;

James T. De Lanoy
National Science Foundation Intern, Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory, New York, and George Mason University, Atmospheric, Oceanic, and Earth Sciences, Fairfax, Virginia, USA.

Sessions: B41D, B43D

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spots key mineral

Thursday, 18 December
1100h

Researchers using a powerful spectrometer on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter have found a mineral offering new clues to the planet's watery past. This new report adds to a series of signs detected during the orbiter's first two-year science phase pointing to a complex history of climate change and environmental diversity on Mars, persisting into the present.

Participants:

Bethany Ehlmann Collaborator, Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, USA;

Scott Murchie Principal Investigator, Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, Maryland, USA;

Richard Zurek Project Scientist, NASA Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, USA.

Sessions: P43D, P31D, P32B, P41B

Environmental consequences of the changing global food system

Thursday, 18 December
1300h

Demand for food, feed, and biofuels is placing increasing pressure on the planet's terrestrial, freshwater and marine ecosystems. Globalization and the commodity trade are also creating linkages between land use decisions and environmental degradation in distant regions of the planet. The participants in this press conference will discuss different aspects of these problems including the effect of food production on the nitrogen cycle (Galloway), the environmental costs of animal-based food production (Martin), the effect of biofuel cultivation on land conservation (Baker), the land use requirements and environmental impacts of proposed solutions to climate change (Jacobson).

Participants

James Galloway
Sidman P. Poole Professor of Environmental Sciences, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, USA;

Pamela Martin
Assistant professor, Department of Geophysics, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA;

Justin Baker
Research Associate, Center on Global Change, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, USA;

Mark Z. Jacobson
Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, California, USA.

Sessions: U43C, U53B

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2. NEW! Press-conference visuals available to call-ins

Call-ins by reporters to the press conferences are welcome. Below are phone numbers and the access code for doing so. Also, this will be the first AGU Fall Meeting from which we will offer press-conference presentations, including video, to off-site journalists via the Web. Details of how to access those presentations are also below.

How to call in:

From USA and Canada, call toll-free: +1 888-481-303 2
When prompted, enter this code: 115139

(Code is same for all press conferences, but you must place a separate call for each one, even in consecutive hours.)

(From other countries, to find toll-free access numbers, go to http://www.btconferencing.com/btc/infocentre/, click on Information Center tab. Under User Guides, click on Global Access Numbers for BTMeetMe, click on “Click here to view the global access numbers for your region”. Then click on our 888-481-3032 U.S./Canada access number to get the list of other countries' access #s.)

From anywhere else not included in toll-free service above: 1-617-801-9600 (toll call)

If you have problems calling in, try BT Conferencing Help Desk: +1 866 766 8777(US), +1 617 801 6700 (Global).

Instructions for accessing press conferences online:

  1. If you don't have it already, download into your computer the Adobe Flash player (It's a quick download), available for free from: http://get.adobe.com/flashplayer/
  2. At the time of the press conference of interest, access this Web address with your browser: http://www.agu.org/meetings/fm08/pressconference/

You will see a split screen, with a window on top that will show PowerPoint slides, including videos, as they are presented by the speakers. Below the window is a grey bar that you can move up or down with your cursor. Beneath the bar, you will find links to documents (handouts, scientific papers, etc.) relevant to the press conference and available for immediate downloading from the Web by clicking on the links. (After downloading a file, use the BACK arrow on your browser to get back to the list of links.)

To the right of the window is another link to send an email to AGU press officers at FM08pressconfs@gmail.com. We very much appreciate if, each time you watch a press conference, you would please click on the link, type in your name and media outlet, and hit Send. That will help us know who is participating remotely in our press conferences. Also we invite you to email us if you are having difficulty, or if you have a question or comment that is not for the speakers. However, if you have questions for the speakers, please pose them over the phone during the question-and-answer (Q&A) period after the presentations.

Please note: Audio of the press conference will be available to you simultaneously via your telephone and via the Web (i.e. your computer). However, because PowerPoint images will arrive at your computer delayed relative to the speakers’ voices on the phone, we recommend that during presentations you both watch the PowerPoints and listen to the speakers via your computer only. Please then switch back to the phone during the Q&A.

  1. Finally, this will be the first AGU Fall Meeting from which we are offering press-conference PowerPoints, including video, to off-site journalists via the Web. We ask that you please bear with us if any glitches arise in the process. We also thank you in advance for your participation, your tolerance, and any constructive feedback you might offer.
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3. No scientific program books, Burn a CD!

AGU has discontinued the use of sets of printed books that describe the detailed scientific program of the Fall Meeting. Instead, the full scientific program and all 15,730 abstracts will be provided only on the meeting Web site and on CDs.

You are encouraged to create your own CD of the detailed scientific program in advance of the meeting. The downloadable file of the full meeting program and abstracts (plus instructions for burning it onto a CD) is available at: http://www.agu.org/meetings/fm08/index.php/Program/HomePage.

The Press Room (Room 2015) will have available to members of the news media a limited supply of CDs with the detailed scientific program. The Press Room will also provide copies of a single book of general information regarding the meeting. It contains a summary schedule, session overviews ('Meeting Highlights'), an author index, maps, floor plans, and other information.

Details of the scientific program will also be available via 64 computer kiosks (“Program Look-up Stations”) located throughout the Moscone Center West and North buildings.

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4. Quake 'n' Creep Measurements Field Trip Schedule

This excursion into the world of state-of-the-art techniques and tools for precisely measuring movements (and some other aspects) of the Earth's crust will visit several field sites and the Menlo Park campus of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). Participants will get up close and personal with borehole strain meters, GPS-based gauges, creep meters, seismometers, and more — trying their hands at using a GPS instrument and finding out what geoscientists learn from the data.

Sunday, 14 December

0800–1730h (approximately)

0815h: Participants assemble, receive badges and printed materials, then board bus. Allow time to park or allow for BART and Muni Sunday schedules.

0830h Sharp!: Bus departs.

0835h–0905h: Brisbane — Quarry at San Bruno Mountain Park — Borehole strainmeter site: Here we'll see an installation for making very sensitive measurements of crustal strain/seismic/ ground tilt/crustal pore pressure that can be used to detect seismic and aseismic slip. Earthquake prediction will also be one of the discussion topics at this stop and a variety of instruments will be on hand for viewing.

0935h–1035h: Filoli — This historic mansion is the only place on the San Francisco peninsula where scientists have been able to estimate the long-term slip rate of the San Andreas fault from geologic data. Our guides will explain the methods used and why this rate estimate is so important. In a creek bed, there is an exposure of the San Andreas fault where people can walk up and put their hands on it.

1110h–1330h: USGS Menlo Park — Here we'll rotate through three stations (two presentations and lunch (A,B, and C)), moving to the next station every 45 minutes. Field trip participants choose which group to be in based on when they wish to have lunch.):

A) Seismic network operations tour — View where the Northern California seismic network monitoring takes place. We’ll talk about the network and USGS products for the news media and general public, including ShakeMap, Pager, NetQuakes. Earthquake Early Warning will be discussed.

B) Rock Physics laboratory — In this lab, large slabs of rock are used to simulate earthquakes in order to learn about earthquake nucleation, rupture, and other processes. Analysis of samples from the SAFOD (San Andreas Fault Observatory at Depth) scientific borehole are also being conducted here to investigate characteristics of an active fault zone.

C) Lunch

1400–1430h: Plate Boundary Observatory (PBO) in Rancho San Antonio open space preserve. We'll view this instrument installation and talk about GPS — How does GPS work, where do we collect data, how do we use the data. Participants will get an opportunity to set up a portable GPS site.

1535h–1615h: Creep-Meter Installation in Fremont on the ruins of nineteenth-century Palmdale winery (wrecked by the 1906 earthquake). The winery's ruins sit on top of the Hayward fault. Underground creep meters provide real-time monitoring of micrometer-scale motions of the fault. Movement in the old foundation walls are clearly visible. We will use a cell phone to access ground-motion data in near real-time.

1630h–1730h: Return to San Francisco's Moscone Center via East Bay Bridge

Note: This schedule is tentative and subject to change with regard to time, presenters, topics, and sites visited.

Confirmed and Wait-listed Participants

Those currently Confirmed and on the Wait List are noted in Who's Coming (linked from Item 10, below). If we can clear any Wait Listed people in the coming days, they will be so notified. Those still on the Wait List on 13 December are encouraged to arrive at the starting point by 0800h, to be eligible to take the place of any no-shows.

If you are Confirmed and your plans change so that you cannot participate, please inform Peter Weiss as soon as possible. Between 12 and 14 December, call him at +1-202-378-3053 (cell); leave a message, if necessary.

The trip will take place if it’s sunny or there is light rain—but not in a storm or high winds. Please check the weather forecasts for San Bruno and Fremont, and take a raincoat, poncho, or umbrella—and appropriate foot gear—if there is a likelihood of rain.

Reminder to all: Please eat breakfast before the trip. Lunch is provided by AGU. The bus will carry extra beverages, available both before and after lunch.

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5. Reminder: NCSWA Holiday Dinner, Wednesday, 17 December

For further information, see: http://www.ncswa.org/dinner_12-08.html

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6. Reminder to PIOs: Sending Press Releases to Fall Meeting

Public information officers of universities, government agencies, and research institutions are encouraged to disseminate press releases and related documentation at Fall Meeting. We recommend around 50 copies of printed materials and three-to-five copies of broadcast quality video.

The easiest way to get these materials to the Press Room is to take them yourself, if you are going to Fall Meeting, or to give them to one of your scientists, with instructions to deliver them to the AGU Press Room (Room 2015) Moscone West, from Monday, 15 December.

If you prefer, you may send these materials by FedEx, UPS, or DHL to the following address:

Peter Weiss
Guest (arriving 12/12/08)
c/o Sir Francis Drake Hotel
450 Powell Street
San Francisco, California 94102

Phone: +1-415-392-7755

Shipments to the above address should be timed to arrive on Friday, 12 December, or after. They will be displayed from Monday, 15 December or as soon as received (if later than Monday).

Remaining materials may be collected from Room 2015 on Friday, 19 December, at 1300h, after which they will be scrapped.

(Please note: If you have prepared press releases or other handouts specifically for press conferences taking place at the meeting, please email electronic copies of the documents to Peter Weiss (pweiss@agu.org) so they can be made available online to reporters calling in from outside the meeting.)

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7. Special activities, events, and lectures

Remember: too much work and not enough play makes Jack a dull boy (it dulls Jill, too)! The Fall Meeting is not only about scientific presentations and press conferences; there are also interesting special activities and events that are open to the public and free—and you’re invited to attend:

Movie: Crude

Sunday, 1900h–2100h, Monday 1930h–2130h
San Francisco Marriott, Yerba Buena Salons 10–11
Winner of AGU's 2008 Walter Sullivan Award

Come watch this engaging and informative Australian documentary on the history of oil. This 90-minute film follows a carbon atom through Earth’s biosphere over the past 160 million years. The atom's wanderings reveal the story of how oil formed and of the potential, unwelcome consequences of oil's prodigious use by industrial society today.

Movie and panel: A Sea Change

Monday, 1220–1340h
San Francisco Marriott, Yerba Buena Salons 10–11

Follow the quest for answers of a retired educator who worries about his grandchild's future, and who travels from Alaska to Norway to understand acidification of the ocean that threatens marine ecosystems. The screening of a 28-minute summary of this documentary, which premieres in 2009, will be followed by a panel discussion on science communication with the filmmakers, a journalist, and AGU scientists interviewed in the film.

Public Lecture: “Phoenix in Winter Wonderland”

Thursday, 1900h–2000h
Dr. Peter Smith, University of Arizona and the Mars Phoenix mission
Exploratorium Museum
Palace of Fine Arts, 3601 Lyon Street, San Francisco

Phoenix recently completed a five-month-long investigation of the Martian arctic and found water ice just beneath the dry surface soil. Comparing Antarctic dry valleys with the Martian polar plains leads to the conclusion that liquid water helped create the minerals in the soil. Snow has been observed falling from overlying clouds and frost is seen on the surface. Water is clearly part of the climate cycle and leads to the question: Is this a location where life is possible on Mars? (Shuttle bus to the Exploratorium leaves from Moscone West at 1815h)

Plus: Lectures by prominent scientists.

For a complete list, visit http://www.agu.org/meetings/fm08/index.php/Program/HomePage and scroll down to check the “Union Lectures” and “Section and Focus Group Lectures”

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8. Where Do I Pick Up My Press/News Media Badge?

Online registration has closed. Members of the news media who have preregistered online for the meeting and are on the Who's Coming list (see Item 10 below) must pick up their Press/News Media badges in the main registration area (Moscone West, Level 1), not in the Press Room. Look for the booth marked Media/Press. It will be located to the right in the Level 1 lobby. Do not get on the main registration lines.

Others who have not registered online may register on site at the Media/Press registration booth. If you are registering on site, you must fill out a News Media Registration Form at the Media/Press booth. Please be sure to have appropriate proof of your status, per Item 9, below. Your badge will be prepared at the booth. News media registration is complimentary.

The Moscone West building is at the corner of 4th and Howard Streets.

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9. News media registration information

Eligibility for press registration is limited to the following persons:

Note: Representatives of publishing houses, for-profit corporations, and the business side of news media must register at the main registration desk at the meeting and pay the appropriate fees, regardless of possession of any of the above documents. They are not accredited as Press at the meeting. Scientists who are also reporters and who are presenting at this meeting (oral or poster session) may receive news media credentials if they qualify (see above), but must also register for the meeting and pay the appropriate fee as a presenter.

News media registrants will receive a badge that provides access to any of the scientific sessions of Fall Meeting, as well as to the Press Room and Press Conference Room. No one will be admitted without a valid badge. Please be prepared to show identification.

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10. Who's coming

The online list of journalists who have preregistered for the Meeting is updated daily and may be seen at: http://www.agu.org/meetings/fm08.old/index.php/News/HomePage
(Scroll down to see list.)

Because online registration has closed, no further names will be added to this list.

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