Press conferences

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Tuesday, 05 May 2020

• Centennial perspectives: A celebration of Marie Tharp’s legacy (PC1, 16:00–17:00 CEST)

Wednesday, 06 May 2020

• Epic journeys: New insights into wildlife and human migrations (PC2, 16:00–17:00 CEST)
• Journey to the Centre of the Earth (PC3, 17:15–18:15 CEST)

Tuesday, 05 May 2020, 16:00–17:00 CEST (Stream)

Marie Tharp’s pioneering contributions to seafloor mapping helped reveal Earth’s submarine landscape, from the mid-ocean ridge system to trenches and transform faults, in unprecedented detail. Her contributions with Bruce Heezen led to an understanding of seafloor spreading and played a key role in the acceptance of the theory of plate tectonics. This press conference will honour Tharp’s achievements and examine how her life’s work has revolutionised our understanding of Earth’s oceans.

Participants:

• Vicki Ferrini
  Research Scientist, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University, United States
• Mathilde Cannat
  Marine geoscientist, Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris, France
• Paul Wessel
  Professor, SOEST, University of Hawai’I at Manoa
• Florian Schmid
  Postdoctoral researcher, GEOMAR – Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, Germany

Related scientific sessions:

TS14.1/GD6.8, TS6.4/GD6.4/SSP2.17, TS6/2

Wednesday, 06 May 2020, 16:00–17:00 CEST (Stream)

Whether by land, by air, or by sea, many wild animals make extraordinary long-distance journeys. Ancestral, and even some modern, humans have likewise undertaken equally impressive odysseys across and between continents. In this press conference journalists will hear how variability in soil nutrients may help drive migrations of more than a million wildebeest and hundreds of thousands of zebras and antelope in the East African Serengeti. Another team will present new results on the use of low-cost sensors to detect the vocalisations of individual African Bush Elephants to monitor their movements in South Africa. We will also hear how a group of researchers is testing forecasts of present-day human migrations in response to climate change, research that could soon increase the effectiveness of much-needed humanitarian aid.

Participants:

• Oliver Lamb
  Postdoctoral researcher, Department of Geological Sciences, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, United States
• Eileen Eckmeier
  Professor, Department of Geography, LMU Munich, Germany
• Philippe Gaspar
  Mercator-Ocean, Operational Oceanography
• Lisa Thalheimer
  PhD student, Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford, United Kingdom

Related scientific sessions:

GI1.1, SSS8.8, NH9.6, SSP1.9/GM10.4

Wednesday, 06 May 2020, 17:15–18:15 CEST (Stream)

Inspired by the work of geologist Charles Lyell, Jules Verne penned this classic example of ‘subterranean fiction’ in which the characters descend into the planet’s interior, witness battling prehistoric creatures, and experience many more adventures before returning to the surface via an eruption of Italy’s Stromboli volcano. This lighthearted press conference will guide journalists on an equally enthralling exploration of a fantastic fossil discovery, new results from studies of the Earth’s interior, and findings from Mount Stromboli’s 2019 eruptions.

Participants:

• Filippo Zaniboni
  Senior Assistant Professor, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Bologna, Italy
• Malcolm Hart
  Emeritus Professor, School of Geography, Earth & Environmental Sciences, University of Plymouth, United Kingdom
• Anne Davaille
  CNRS Research Director, University of Paris-Saclay, France
• Paula Koelemeijer
  Royal Society University Research Fellow and Proleptic Lecturer, Department of Earth Sciences, Royal Holloway University of London, United Kingdom

Related scientific sessions:

SSP1.1, EOS7.1, ITS5.2/OS4.13/EOS10.2/BG3.18/GM6.6/HS11.63, GD2.1/EMRP1.24/GMPV4.2/SM4.12, NH5.1