GeoLog is our new blog

This week, the European Geosciences Union is re-launching its blog with a new name, web address and design. The new blog is GeoLog!

As with our official twitter account (first @egu2010, recently changed from @egu2011 to @EuroGeosciences), the previous blogs, egu2010.wordpress.com and egu2011.wordpress.com, were initially created in association with the annual EGU General Assembly. Posts, mostly about the meeting, were more frequent at and around the time of the General Assembly. But we want the EGU blog to be constantly updated thoughout the year, something Jennifer started already in the 2011 version, and to have a fixed name: GeoLog. Therefore, there will be no more posts on this EGU2011 blog.

GeoLog will bring news about the Union and its activities year-round, while keeping the regular posts about the General Assembly. Other posts include the weekly Imaggeo on Mondays, which highlights a picture from EGU’s open-access image repository, Imaggeo, and the monthly Geosciences column, featuring recent research in the earth, planetary and space sciences.

We have also imported all content of previous blogs into GeoLog so that readers can access all posts ever published on EGU blogs from this website. Please refer to the archives on the right-hand side (on the new blog) for information published in previous years.

If you don’t want to miss out on the blog’s regular updates, please subscribe to it (RSS button on the top right of the header) or follow the EGU on twitter, facebook, LinkedIn and Google+.

Logbook aboard the frigate Grand Turk (by JoJan, distributed by Wikimedia Commons)

Glacial Balance

Some of you may know me already since Jennifer was kind enough to introduce me in a previous blog post. For those of you who don’t, I am EGU’s Media and Communications Officer, who joined the EGU Executive Office in Munich in early September.

One of the perks of this job is receiving e-mails advertising interesting and exciting geosciences-related initiatives. In my first post on the EGU blog, I’d like to tell you about one of these, which popped up in my inbox just a few days ago.

The e-mail was from Ethan Steinman, a filmmaker based in Seattle, US, who wrote to me about his latest project, “Glacial Balance”. This documentary film shows the effects of climate change on Andean glaciers. In Ethan’s words:

“Glacial Balance” is a look at the effects of Andean glaciers on the lives of those depending on their existence. Getting to know the individuals and lives of those who will be first affected by the dwindling glacier reserve, the canaries in the mine. For our journey we will be accompanied by an international team of glaciologists and paleoclimatologists who will give us a perspective on what is really happening and what we can expect. Our end goal, to bring home the global warming debate and understand just how this will affect us, the viewer. Regardless of the city, country, racial or ethnic background… we will all be affected, unless action is taken.

The film features stunning views of the Andean landscape, and takes the viewer in an exciting journey through the Andes, from Argentina to Colombia. It includes interviews with famous personalities and renowned geoscientists, such as Al Gore and Dr. Lonnie Thompson, a member of the team accompanying Ethan to South America.

Ethan’s goal is to have the film completed in early March next year. At the moment, he’s trying to raise money for post-production expenses.

I’d love to see this documentary ready in time for EGU’s General Assembly in April, not only because I think it is a worthwhile and interesting project, but also because Ethan accepted to show it in the 2012 edition of the GeoCinema. There’s a campaign on at IndieGoGo, and I have donated already. Maybe you’d like to help Ethan out too?

This post expresses the personal opinion of the author, whose views may differ from those of the European Geosciences Union.

Job Opportunity at the EGU Executive Office

The EGU is seeking to appoint a Science Communications Fellow to start in January 2012. The successful candidate will work on the EGU Newsletter and assist the Media and Communications Officer in developing media-related and science information communications. The post is initially for six months and can be extended for a further six months.

Informal enquiries can be made to the Media and Communications Officer, Dr Barbara T. Ferreira (via email or on +49-89-2180-6703). Further information about EGU Fellowships can be found on the EGU website .

Applications should be submitted by email in a single file to Dr Barbara T. Ferreira.

Review of applications will begin on 15 October 2011 and will continue until the position is filled.

Call for Sessions for EGU General Assembly 2012

The public call for sessions for the European Geosciences Union General Assembly 2012 has been issued. The EGU GA 2012 will be held at the Austria Center Vienna (ACV) from 22 April to 27 April 2012. The details are below, the web page to visit to submit sessions is Call for Sessions page of the EGU General Assembly 2012 website.

We hereby invite you, from now until 16 Sep 2011, to take an active part in organizing the scientific programme of the conference.

Please suggest (i) new sessions with conveners and description and (ii) modifications to the skeleton programme sessions. Explore the Programme Groups (PGs) on the left hand side, when making suggestions. Study those sessions that already exist and put your proposal into the PG that is most closely aligned with the proposed session’s subject area.

If the subject area of your proposal is strongly aligned with two or more PGs, co-organization is possible and encouraged between PGs. Only put your session proposal into one PG, and you will be able to indicate PGs that you believe should be approached for co-organization.

If you have questions about the appropriateness of a specific session topic, please contact the Officers for the specific EGU2012 Programme Group. To suggest Union Symposia, Great Debates, Townhall Meetings or Short Courses, please contact the Programme Committee Chair (Gert-Jan Reichart).

In case any questions arise, please contact EGU2012 at Copernicus.

EGU GA 2011 Feedback Survey: please complete

The EGU General Assembly 2011 was again a great success with 4,333 oral and 8,439 poster presentations in a dozen union wide and 520 disciplinary sessions, along with townhall meetings, short courses, splinter meetings, etc. At the conference 10,725 scientists from 96 countries participated, of which 28% were students, 15,000 copies of EGU Today distributed, keen media presence and reporting, and thousands of visits to the webstreams as well as to the EGU 2011 blog. We thank all of you very much for your attendance and your active contribution to this great event.

Last year, we had a GA feedback form and asked 24 questions. We received 1,819 responses (results), which were examined carefully and helped us in many important decisions.

This year, we again would like to ask EGU GA participants to take 10-15 minutes of time to complete the short questionnaire here. If you an abstract accepted for the General Assembly 2011 but did not attend we’re also interested in your views.

Your input is genuinely invaluable in shaping the EGU GA 2012, to be held 22–27 April 2012, Vienna, Austria. Thank you very much in advance!

Geocinema films available online (3/3)

This is the last in a series of posts (Part 1, Part 2) with descriptions and online locations of Geocinema films. A film’s inclusion in the Geocinema does not mean that EGU endorses any opinions expressed in the film. If you have a film you’d like to submit for the Geocinema at the EGU GA 2012 look out for the call.

Inspection Exercise in Jordan, 6 mins [Online]
This film discusses a simulated on-site inspection exercise that was carried out in regards to monitoring compliance of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty.

Listening for Nuclear Noise, 5 mins [Online]
This film discusses some of the technology used to monitor compliance of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty. In particular the technology that goes into a typical infrasound monitoring station, this particular station is located in the Bavarian Forest.

EISCAT_3D, our window to geospace, 7 min [Online]
FFAB:UK, together with EISCAT Scientific Association, has produced an information film about the EISCAT_3D project. It explains the background, the concept, and some of the new science that will be possible when the EISCAT_3D facilities are completed.

Earth System Trailer, 7 mins [Online]
Trailer for a documentary feature about climate, what the scientists know, what is unknown and what needs to be done to improve our stewardship of this planet. ESS trailer explores the need for next generation supercomputing to develop climate models which are a prerequisite to predicting climate change with scientific certainty.

SNORTEX – Snow reflectance transition experiment, 10 mins [Online]
The video introduces the SNORTEX (Snow Reflectance Transition Experiment) campaign taken place in Sodankylä (lat. 67.4N), Finland, in spring 2009. An overview on the background, objectives and expected scientific outcome of the campaign is given. Experimental methods and equipment employed in ground-based and air-borne measurements of snow reflectance and characterization of snow properties are presented.

Science@ESA: Solar System, Siblings of Earth and the Moon and Titan, 54 mins total [Online, with others]
In these Science@ESA vodcasts Rebecca Barnes looks at the Solar System. We’ll discover the scale and structure of the Solar System, find out why we explore it and introduce the European missions launched on a quest to further investigate our local celestial neighbourhood. We’ll look at two of the terrestrial planets: Venus and Mars, explore their similarities and differences to Earth and find out about the European missions that are helping to unravel their mysteries. Finally we’ll look at the Earth’s Moon and Titan, two very different natural satellites in our Solar System, and find out about the two ESA missions that have explored them.

Huygens probe landing on Earthlike world, 5 mins [Online]
This short film documents spectacular descent of ESA’s Huygens on Saturn’s giant moon Titan.

Geocinema Films available online (2/3)

Did you miss a particular film during the GeoCinema at the European Geosciences Union General Assembly 2011? Here’s the second post containing where to see films that are available online. A film’s inclusion in the Geocinema does not mean that EGU endorses any opinions expressed in the film.

Royal NIOZ, Fathoming the Sea, 10 mins [Online]
Once again a prominent scientific institute called Zcenes help in making science accessible for all who are fascinated by marine sciences. “After NWO, Utrecht University, European Science Foundation and NSF/IODP (USA), NIOZ, the Royal Dutch Maritime Research Centre, has asked us to produce a film focusing on how oceans work, global climate history, the dynamics of the coastal Waddenzee and the significance of Dutch maritime research”.

Drill Bits, 20 mins in total 5 mins for each section [Online, listed by geographical location]
Drilling into Lake Peten Itza (Guatemala) for paleoclimate studies on drill core. Scientific drilling into Lake Malawi (Malawi) for paleoclimate studies. Drilling through the San Andreas Fault at seismogenic depths. Scientific Drilling at Hawaii to investigate Hot Spot volcanism.

We are prepared – Tsunami Early Warning System, 5 mins [Online]
Describes the installation of a Tsunami Early Warning System (GITEWS) in Indonesia and shows some of the different components. It reflects the interaction as well as the human factor.

Deep Sea Observatories: Internet in the Ocean, 9 mins [Online, with other similar movies]
ESONET movie to show observatories preparation and deployment on ESONET sites.

Ocean Under Observation, 9 mins [Online, with other similar movies]
This movie explain why now we have to go a step forward in the earth and Sea observation by developing and implementing deep sea observatories that are able to provide real time or near real time data continuously, with a high sampling frequency and on long term, (more than 10 years).

Signs of Life on Mars, 5 mins [Online]
A musical video to inspire the next generation of explorers.

Geocinema Films available to view online (1/3)

Did you miss a particular film during the GeoCinema at the European Geosciences Union General Assembly 2011? Quite a few of the films are available online. In this series of posts the descriptions and online locations of these films will be discussed. A film’s inclusion in the Geocinema does not mean that EGU endorses any opinions expressed in the film.

River Trip with Family, 5 mins [Online]
Water is life! A family experiences the element “water” in a series of different settings during a boat cruise on a river. The film gives an overview of the benefits hydrology provides to society in the context of the so-called State’s provision of general public services. It was produced by the German Federal Institute of Hydrology (BfG), on behalf of the Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Affairs (BMVBS) to commemorate the anniversary “200 Years of Hydrology in Germany”.

Stefano Mancuso: The roots of plant intelligence, 14 mins [Online]
Plants behave in some oddly intelligent ways: fighting predators, maximizing food opportunities … But can we think of them as actually having a form of intelligence of their own? Italian botanist Stefano Mancuso presents intriguing evidence.

Greg Stone: Saving the ocean one island at a time, 17 mins [Online]
Aboard Mission Blue, scientist Greg Stone tells the story of how he helped the Republic of Kiribati create an enormous protected area in the middle of the Pacific — protecting fish, sealife and the island nation itself.

Lee Hotz: Inside an Antarctic time machine, 10 mins [Online]
Science columnist Lee Hotz describes a remarkable project at WAIS Divide, Antarctica, where a hardy team are drilling into ten-thousand-year-old ice to extract vital data on our changing climate. Talk from TED.com, distributed under a Creative Commons License.

Rob Dunbar: Discovering ancient climates in oceans and ice, 18 mins [Online]
Rob Dunbar hunts for data on our climate from 12,000 years ago, finding clues inside ancient seabeds and corals and inside ice sheets. His work is vital in setting baselines for fixing our current climate — and in tracking the rise of deadly ocean acidification.

Michael Specter: The danger of science denial, 17 mins [Online]
Vaccine-autism claims, “Frankenfood” bans, the herbal cure craze: All point to the public’s growing fear (and, often, outright denial) of science and reason, says Michael Specter. He warns the trend spells disaster for human progress. Talk from TED.com, distributed under a Creative Commons License.

IODP 318 Wilkes Land Expedition, 20 mins [Online]
From January to March 2010, the JOIDES Resolution sailed on IODP Expedition 318 to the Antarctic coastline of Wilkes Land. During this two-month voyage a team of top international scientists explored the history of Antarctic climate changes over the past 53 million years. By drilling for unprecedented sediment cores from the bottom of the Southern Ocean, scientists can begin to understand the process behind the transition from the greenhouse world into the present icehouse world and it’s impact on global climate. This 20 minute documentary tells their story; the adventures at sea, the scientific operations and life on board.

Job Vacancy at the EGU Office, Munich

The European Geosciences Union (EGU)
is seeking to appoint a
MEDIA AND COMMUNICATIONS OFFICER

The EGU is Europe’s premier geosciences union, dedicated to the pursuit of excellence in the geosciences and the planetary and space sciences for the benefit of humanity, worldwide. The EGU has a General Assembly which attracts over 10,000 scientists each year, a diverse portfolio of 15 scientific journals which use an innovative “open access” format, a number of thematic meetings, and education and outreach activities.

The Media and Communications officer will coordinate media-related and science information communications between the EGU and its membership, the working media, and the public at large. Responsibilities include the set up and operation of a press office, development of a progressive communications plan for relevant scientific information display and dissemination, editorship of the EGU newsletter, and onward development and management of the EGU website and social media tools. Activities can involve the use of classic as well as new methods of disseminating media and interacting with the various stakeholders.

The successful applicant will have the following: an academic degree (e.g., MA, MSc, PhD), preferably in communication science, journalism, or the geosciences; professional experience in science journalism; evidence of ability to build a dynamic network of contacts within the EGU scientific community as well as in the working media; expert command of English.

The Media and Communications Officer will work under direction of the EGU Executive Secretary and the EGU Council. Work will take place in the EGU Office in Munich, Germany, with support of a computer programmer and a web developer. The position will be for three years initially, with a probation period of one year, and will be renewable for consecutive periods of three years. Remuneration is according to the German public service pay scale and can be up to E13 TV-L, depending on expertise and experience.

Applications should include

• CV including a summary of relevant experience and expertise.
• Letter of motivation and statement of vision for EGU Media and Communications (maximum two pages).
• Contact details of three referees.

Informal enquiries can be made to Dr Philippe Courtial (email: executive-secretary@egu.eu).

Applications should be submitted by email in a single file to Dr Philippe Courtial.

Review of applications will begin 1 June 2011 and will continue until the position is filled.

A start date will be negotiated with the successful candidate and the position will preferably start within 3 months after interview.

Contact:
Dr Philippe Courtial
EGU Executive Office
Luisenstr. 37
80333 Munich (Germany)
executive-secretary@egu.eu
Phone: +49 (0)89 2180-6549

A pdf of the vacancy details (as above) is also available.