American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting: San Fransisco
Richard Smith
National Oceanography Centre, University of Southampton
Photo caption
San Francisco: Home to 23,000 Earth and Space scientists for one week every December!
In December 2016 I headed to San Francisco to attend the American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting. The science began before I even arrived, with some stunning views of Hudson Bay sea ice out of the plane window! Arriving at the conference, I felt a real sense of excitement for the week ahead – this is the largest Earth and space science conference in the world, with over 23,000 attendees this year.
The range of science on show was phenomenal. At any one time, there are dozens of scientific talks taking place across 26 subject areas. This was one of my favourite features of the conference: as well as attending lots of talks and checking out lots of posters in my field (palaeoceanography and palaeoclimate), I was able to explore a whole range of different fields, often spotting connections to my work that I hadn’t thought about before.
A highlight for me was, of course, giving a talk on my research. I shared some of the key results of my PhD project, focusing on the oceanographic history of the North Atlantic way back in time, 23 million years ago. My results also provide new insight into the Oligocene-Miocene Transition, an interval when the Antarctic ice sheet doubled in size over around 100,000 years, before melting back to its original size, causing a dramatic rise in global sea level.
I also had the privilege of hearing several senior figures from the broader world of science speak. Climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe spoke about lessons she’d learned about communicating her research to the wider public. Later in the week, Marcia McNutt, president of the National Academy of Sciences gave an inspirational talk about the power of convergent research and working across disciplines. Talks from Jerry Brown, Governor of California, and Sally Jewell, Secretary of the Interior in the Obama Administration, were incredibly inspiring, talking about the power of science even in these turbulent political times.
I’m incredibly grateful to the Challenger Society for their travel award, without which I wouldn’t have been able to attend this conference.
Profile
Richard is a final-year PhD student at the National Oceanography Centre, University of Southampton. His research is in the field of palaeoceanography, studying behaviour of the oceans in Earth’s geological past. To do this, he analyses material drilled from a sediment core at a site around 4km deep in the North West Atlantic, off Newfoundland. A variety of geochemical, biological and sedimentary indicators help reconstruct ocean conditions around the Oligocene-Miocene boundary, 23 million years ago.
Before starting his PhD studies, Richard completed a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Natural Sciences at the University of Cambridge. As part of his Master’s thesis, he spent a month working at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts.
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Marine Data Management, Governance and the MEDIN toolset
The Marine Environmental Data and Information Network (MEDIN) and OceanWise are delighted to invite you to attend our popular free online training workshop: ‘Marine Data Management, Governance and the MEDIN toolset’ on the 19th – 23rd of May 2025.
Workshop on the contribution of UK Arctic Ocean science to the International Polar Year 32/33
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The purpose of this workshop is for the UK Ocean Science community to discuss and then draft a prospectus document outlining the priority Arctic research questions the community would like to address during the run up to, throughout and beyond the International Polar Year 32/33. Additionally, to identify what unique strengths and technologies the UK has to help fill these knowledge gaps.
The second day of the workshop will be dedicated to writing groups, one for each of the priority research questions identified - from both the pre-meeting questionnaire (HERE) and day one discussion. By the end of the meeting, each group will have produced draft text and sourced supporting figures for the prospectus.
Post meeting, the draft will be opened for comments and suggestions from everyone, regardless of whether they were able to attend the workshop or not. It will then be shared with UK funders (UKRI, FCDO, DSIT, ARIA) and potential international programmes with whom we would like to collaborate (e.g. Arctic 2050, Norway). It will form a basis from which wider integration with terrestrial, atmospheric and cryosphere communities can be built, e.g. at the UK Arctic Science Meeting in September in Northumbria.
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Challenger Society Council Position Vacancy
The Challenger Society for Marine Science (CSMS) are pleased to announce an exciting opportunity to support the next generation of ocean scientists and innovators. CSMS are looking for a new Council member to fill the Student Travel Awards and Stepping Stones Portfolio. The successful applicant will administer the travel and research grants available for Early Career Researchers.
The role involves:
- Receiving applications for the two schemes and responding to applicant inquiries
- Soliciting and compiling input from the rest of the Council for assessing the applications
- Communicating with successful and unsuccessful applicants for the two schemes
- Working with the Honorary Treasurer on allocating funds to successful applicants
- Following up with award winners on their reporting requirements
- Attending Council meetings four times a year (in person or online) and contributing to discussions and decision making for CSMS
The usual term for Council members is three years.
For more information about the CSMS Council, please follow this link: https://www.challenger-society.org.uk/The_Council
For more information about our Early Career Researcher grants and awards, please follow this link:
https://www.challenger-society.org.uk/Stepping_Stones
and
https://www.challenger-society.org.uk/Travel_awards
If you are interested in applying or have any questions regarding the role, please contact kathen@bas.ac.uk