Up to 13 000 Earth scientists come to San Francisco each year to hold a meeting that covers all areas of the Earth Sciences – Atmosphere, Ocean, Vulcanology,… and for the past 3 years I have been part of it! It is quite fascinating to see the diversity of research that is being done and good to broaden one’s horizon by attending interesting sessions in different fields (“You want a little Martian atmosphere with that?”), something that cannot be easily done at other meetings.
But you better come well prepared: 3 books contain all session information and I usually need a full day to prepare the meeting and decide, where and when I want to go to which session. There are oodles of parallel sessions and one or the other sacrifice has to be made.
In addtion to my own poster and oral presentation, a colleague and myself carry 6 more posters of co-workers to present. It has been a busy week so far, but fun. Lots of good discussions, questions and input for current and future research. My oral presentation went well this morning (with a couple of dozen people attending) and just after that I went to see Al Gore giving a lecture to thousands of people 😉
His lecture was motivating and extremely well delivered, if a bit orchestrated, but I guess this is the “American touch”! Anyway, one more poster tomorrow and tonight I am off for seafood. I am in San Francisco after all and better enjoy it!
