Press conferences
List of press conferences
- Monday, 28 April
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- Sinking coastal cities (PC1, 14:00–15:00)
- Hydrological challenges facing the planet (PC2, 15:10–16:10)
- Tuesday, 29 April
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- The changing Arctic (PC3, 12:00–13:00)
- The Anthropocene: are we living in the age of humans? (PC4, 13:00–14:00)
- Looking in to the past to predict future climate: new results from IODP and Past4Future programmes (PC5, 14:00–15:00)
- Sights and sounds: volcanoes on Earth and Mars (PC6, 15:30–16:30)
- Cassini and Saturn: the 10th anniversary and new results (PC7, 16:30–17:30)
- Wednesday, 30 April
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- Shedding light on lightning – in the lab and extrasolar objects (PC8, 09:00–10:00)
- The IPCC Assessment Climate Change 2013 and beyond: Making sense of recent climate change (PC9, 12:15–13:15)
- The new face of the Moon: science and exploration (PC10, 13:30–14:30)
- Thursday, 01 May
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- The unusual suspects – applying geoscience to crops, coffee, forensics and wine (PC11, 10:00–11:00)
- Fingerprints of life: from the early Earth to outer space (PC12, 11:00–12:00)
PC1 – Sinking coastal cities
Monday, 28 April, 14:00–15:00 (Stream)
Historically coasts, estuaries and rivers have been prime spots for locating human settlements. Today, these areas have some of the most bustling and economically prosperous cities on Earth, but does rapid urbanisation and population growth come with a price? Researchers in this press conference will discuss their work on sinking coastal cities – such as New Orleans, Bangkok, Venice and Shenzhen – many of which are also at risk from the effects of sea level rise. They will address the measurement of the rate of subsidence and its causes – human or natural – and the strategies we can put in place to mitigate the hazards associated with these sinking cities.
Participants:
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Gilles Erkens
Researcher, Deltares Research Institute and Utrecht University, The Netherlands -
Pietro Teatini
Researcher, Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering, University of Padova, Italy -
Peng Liu
Researcher, Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Spatial Information Smart Sensing and Services, Shenzhen University, China
PC2 – Hydrological challenges facing the planet
Monday, 28 April, 15:10–16:10 (Stream)
The availability of freshwater is widely seen as one of the major challenges facing society. Climate change and an increasing demand for water – due to a growing world population and intensive water use – are expected to make the problem worse, contributing to a sharp decline in water security around the world. Changing conditions demand that societies adapt, emphasising the need for more sustainable water-use policies and improved strategies for prevention from, and adaptation to, water-related risks. In areas where water scarcity is or will soon be acute, some even predict conflicts over water use. In this media briefing, a panel of hydrologists will answer questions about the hydrological challenges facing humanity and how recent initiatives plan to address them.
Participants:
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Hubert Savenije
President, International Association of Hydrological Sciences & Hydrologist and Water Resources Engineer, Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands -
Gerrit de Rooij
President, EGU Hydrological Sciences Division & Deputy Department Head, Soil Physics, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, Germany -
Günter Blöschl
EGU President & Chair of Hydrology and Water Resources Management at the Vienna University of Technology, Austria
PC3 – The changing Arctic
Tuesday, 29 April, 12:00–13:00 (Stream)
Polar sea ice is important in many ways: as a climate regulator, critical habitat and a platform for human activities. Rapid loss of Arctic sea ice could threaten these services and pose risks to both coastlines and infrastructure. With increasing changes to average world temperatures, how much do we know about the future of the Arctic sea ice? In this press conference, researchers reveal records of methane emissions during the last deglaciation and what they mean for the Earth’s carbon budget. They will also explore the likelihood of an ice free Arctic by 2035 and assess the balance of benefits and risks associated with changing Arctic sea ice cover.
Participants:
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Giuliana Panieri
Associate Professor in Environment and Climate, The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway -
Jean-Claude Gascard
Oceanographer Emeritus at CNRS (French National Centre for Scientific Research), Pierre and Marie Curie University, Paris, France Hajo Eicken -
Hajo Eicken
Professor, Geophysical Institute and Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Alaska Fairbanks, US
PC4 – The Anthropocene: are we living in the age of humans?
Tuesday, 29 April, 13:00–14:00 (Stream)
Humans have changed the face of the Earth like no species ever before. We move more sediment than natural processes such as erosion or rivers, we alter watercourses by building and removing dams, and our large-scale urbanisation has resulted in unprecedented changes in land use and levels of air pollution. But are we truly living in the Anthropocene, the geological age dominated by human influence? This press conference will centre around research into recognising and characterising the Anthropocene, focusing on new results that highlight the extent to which human activities have had a global and significant impact on the Earth’s ecosystems.
Participants:
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John Burrows
Professor of Physics and Chemistry of the Atmosphere, University of Bremen, Germany -
Tony Brown
Professor of Physical Geography, University of Southampton, UK -
Ronald Pöppl
Senior Lecturer, Geomorphological Systems and Risk Research, University of Vienna, Austria -
Jan Zalasiewicz
Senior Lecturer in Palaeobiology, University of Leicester, UK
PC5 – Looking in to the past to predict future climate: new results from IODP and Past4Future programmes
Tuesday, 29 April, 14:00–15:00 (Stream)
Global warming is an ever more pressing problem that calls for an improved understanding of the Earth’s climate. By looking into the past, researchers can better understand how the Earth system will respond in warmer climates and improve predictions of future climate change. In this press conference, researchers representing two projects – Past4Future and the Baltic Paleoenvironmental Expedition of the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) – will present their most recent results, which aim to better understand climate change dynamics in the last interglacial period and the last ice age, respectively.
Participants:
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Thomas Andrén
Co-chief scientist of the IODP Baltic Paleoenvironment Expedition & Associated Professor, School of Natural Sciences, Technology and Environmental Studies, Södertörn University, Sweden -
Aarno Kotilainen
Research Professor & Head of the Research Programme Marine Geology and Global Change, Geological Survey of Finland -
Dorthe Dahl-Jensen
Project coordinator, Past4Future & Researcher, University of Copenhagen, Denmark -
Emilie Capron
Palaeoclimatologist (Ice Cores), British Antarctic Survey, Cambridge, UK
PC6 – Sights and sounds: volcanoes on Earth and Mars
Tuesday, 29 April, 15:30–16:30 (Stream)
Volcanic eruptions remain one of the most exciting geological processes on Earth and within the Solar System, but they are also one of the most dangerous. Iceland’s Eyjafjallajokull’s eruption in 2010, for example, alerted for the widespread disruption such events can cause. This press conference highlights the hazards that volcanic ash can pose for Europe and what the acoustics of Strombolian eruptions can tell us about their cause. Researchers will also address the evidence for explosive supervolcanoes on the surface of Mars.
Participants:
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Adam Dingwell
Doctoral Student, Department of Earth Sciences, Uppsala University, Sweden -
Jörn Sesterhenn
Head, Computational Fluid Dynamics Group, Technical University of Berlin, Germany -
Joe Michalski
Aurora Fellow, Earth Sciences Department, Natural History Museum, London, UK
PC7 – Cassini and Saturn: the 10th anniversary and new results
Tuesday, 29 April, 16:30–17:30 (Stream)
Ten years ago, Cassini-Huygens, a mission lead by NASA, ESA and the Italian Space Agency (ASI), entered the Saturnian System. The Cassini spacecraft became the first orbiter of Saturn in July 2004 and the Huygens probe landed softly on the surface of Titan in January 2005. These events marked the beginning of an era of astonishing discoveries that have revolutionised our understanding of this gas giant, its ring system and its moons. Major findings of the Cassini-Huygens mission include Titan’s hydrocarbon seas and lakes, the cryo-volcanic activity of Enceladus, the dynamics of Saturn’s rings, Saturn’s North Polar hurricane, as well the overall variability of the Saturn’s System with the seasons. The press conference will address the newest missions results and will look back at key moments in the exploration of the Saturnian System.
Participants:
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Nicolas Altobelli
ESA (European Space Agency) Cassini Project Scientist -
Athena Coustenis
Cassini Co-Investigator, Laboratoire d'études spatiales et d'instrumentation en astrophysique (LESIA), Observatoire de Paris-Meudon, France -
Linda Spilker
Cassini Project Scientist -
Luciano Iess
Cassini Team Member, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy -
Tom Krimigis
NASA Principal Investigator, Cassini’s Magnetospheric Imaging Instrument & Head Emeritus and Principal Staff, Space Department, Applied Physics Laboratory, Johns Hopkins University
PC8 – Shedding light on lightning – in the lab and extrasolar objects
Wednesday, 30 April, 09:00–10:00 (Stream)
Lightning is a natural and frequent phenomenon on Earth, but how well do we understand it? Volcanic lightning, for example, is hard to measure directly since it occurs when ash-rich volcanic plumes are released by erupting volcanoes. Now, a team of researchers has, for the first time, generated volcanic lightning in the lab. The new method could further studies of the phenomenon and help develop lightning monitoring systems to forecast volcanic ash emissions into the atmosphere. Another team is studying lightning in extrasolar planets to better understand how atmospheres become electrically charged. They hope to find out the role lightning can play in generating the building blocks for life.
Participants:
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Corrado Cimarelli
Researcher in Physical and Experimental Volcanology, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Germany -
Christiane Helling
Principal Investigator, LEAP (Life, Electricity, Atmosphere, Planets) Project, University of St Andrews, UK
PC9 – The IPCC Assessment Climate Change 2013 and beyond: Making sense of recent climate change
Wednesday, 30 April, 12:15–13:15 (Stream)
At EGU 2014, the Working Group I of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (WGI IPCC) is convening three scientific sessions and a Union Session to mark the completion of a five year effort by thousands of scientists worldwide. In this press conference, the Co-Chair of WGI IPCC will summarise the lessons learnt from the past assessment and reflect on the implications for future assessments carried out by the IPCC. The Head of the Technical Support Unit will report on the assessment process and highlight particular challenges. Finally, WGI authors will discuss two issues regarding recent climate change: (i) the ‘warming pause’ observed during the past 15 years, and (ii) the role of man-made climate change in recent extreme weather events. The latest research findings are put into the context of the comprehensive assessment by IPCC completed in September 2013.
Participants:
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Thomas Stocker
Co-Chair Working Group I, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Climate and Environmental Physics, University of Bern, Switzerland -
Gian-Kasper Plattner
Head Technical Support Unit Working Group I, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), University of Bern, Switzerland -
Jochem Marotzke
Max Planck Institute of Meteorology, Hamburg, Germany -
Myles Allen
Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford, UK
PC10 – The new face of the Moon: science and exploration
Wednesday, 30 April, 13:30–14:30 (Stream)
Lunar science and exploration is experiencing a revival with a number of missions under study or planned for launch within the next decade from China, Europe, the US, and other countries. In this press conference, researchers will present new results from recent lunar missions, including updates on the Chinese lander Chang’e 3 and the Yutu rover. They will also talk about the latest research discoveries using data from orbiters such as NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, GRAIL (Gravity Recovery And Interior Laboratory) and ESA’s SMART-1 (Small Missions for Advanced Research in Technology-1), the first European mission to the moon. The panel will also discuss key questions relating to future lunar research and robotic and human exploration of the Moon.
Participants:
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Bernard Foing
Senior Exploration Officer, European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC), European Space Agency (ESA), and Executive Director of the International Lunar Exploration Working Group (ILEWG) -
James Head
Professor of Geological Sciences, Brown University, US -
Dave Smith
GRAIL Deputy Principal Investigator, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and MIT, US -
Harald Hiesinger
Professor, Institute of Planetology, University of Münster, Germany
PC11 – The unusual suspects – applying geoscience to crops, coffee, forensics and wine
Thursday, 01 May, 10:00–11:00 (Stream)
From the sustainable management of Earth’s resources to the monitoring of volcanoes and landslides, the geosciences have made important contributions to society. But Earth science applications are far more wide-reaching. In this press conference, researchers will present results highlighting how the study of isotopes in human hair can further investigations of murder cases, and will report on the effects of climate change on grape quality and vine behaviour. Other panelists will explain how biochar made from coffee residues can absorb soil pollutants and how computer games can help map croplands around the globe, essential to improving estimates of future food availability.
Participants:
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Jim Ehleringer
Director, Stable Isotope Ratio Facility for Environmental Research, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, US -
Urtzi Leibar
Researcher, Environment Quality Department, Neiker-Tecnalia, Derio, Spain -
Hrissi Karapanagioti
Researcher, Department of Chemistry, University of Patras, Greece -
Steffen Fritz
Group Leader, Earth Observation Systems, Ecosystems Services and Management, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Vienna, Austria
PC12 – Fingerprints of life: from the early Earth to outer space
Thursday, 01 May, 11:00–12:00 (Stream)
Billions of years ago, cyanobacteria transformed the chemistry of our planet, a period known as the Great Oxidation Event. This episode was a pivotal point in Earth’s history, opening the evolutionary door to oxygen-breathing animals. Until recently, the event was thought to have taken place 2.3-2.4 billion years ago. But recent results have pushed this milestone back, resetting the date for the origin of oxygen-releasing photosynthesis and highlighting the long-lasting and dynamic nature of the transition from an oxygen-poor to an oxygen-rich world. This press conference explores new research on when and how Earth came to have an oxygen-rich atmosphere, and discusses what the conditions for life in our planet can tell us about the possible habitability of other worlds, particularly of ocean-bearing planets.
Participants:
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Kurt Konhauser
Professor of Geomicrobiology, Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Alberta, Canada -
Emmanuelle Javaux
Professor, Geology Department, University of Liège, Belgium -
Lena Noack
Post-doc, Royal Observatory of Belgium, Brussels, Belgium - Timothy Lyons