I am back from AGU in San Francisco and once again it has been an excellent opportunity to see what is going on in the Earth Sciences. Apart from the experience with my own presentations – here are some additional impressions.
What was Hot at AGU (in my research domain)?
- IPY is coming up – it is everywhere
- Mexico City as a location for research
- Organic compounds in the atmosphere (more and more)
- Snow related stuff (parameters measured are mostly inorganic or snow properties related, some big transects reported
- Satellite and aircraft measurements are dominating for data acquisition, localized measurements are mostly used for validation purposes
- Error assessment, measurement limitations due to the technique used is not much of an issue
- Mass spectrometry with soft ionization techniques
Apart from the scientific topics, educational issues dominated the meeting. Projects, how scientists can contribute to high school education, teaching tools were very much a la mode, although I am not sure, how some of these very spectacular projects hosted in some remote corner of the globe can actually contribute to scientific knowledge of high-school students, but they sure are a possibility to present a hands-on approach to science.
