AGU24 Press event schedule

AGU24 press events have ended, but you can watch recordings on AGU’s YouTube channel.

AGU Media Relations will host four press event types during AGU24:

  • Press conferences: Formal presentations of research news by a panel of experts, followed by Q&A. Live-streamed and recorded (Press conference room/Shaw)
  • Roundtables: Less formal discussions of new ideas and concepts or research topics. Brief presentations will open Q&A. Live-streamed and recorded (Roundtable room/Woodley Park)
  • Workshops: Hands-on opportunities to learn how to use specific data applications in reporting. In-person only; the instruction part of the program will be recorded. (Roundtable room/Woodley Park)
  • Media availability panels: Q&A with experts about ongoing project areas or missions. In-person only. (Roundtable room/Woodley Park)

Media must be registered for the meeting to attend press events, online or in person. More information about press activities at the 2024 Annual Meeting, including press registration, press releases and the on-site press room, is available in the AGU24 Online Press Center.

All times in Eastern Standard Time (UTC-5 hours)
Media availabilities are not live-streamed or recorded (in-person only). Passwords for Zoom events will be provided to registered press.
Workshops will be partially recorded and available on AGU’s YouTube channel.

Schedule at a glance 

Monday, 9 December 

10:00 a.m. Media Availability
Leveraging AI in Geosciences 

11:00 a.m. Roundtable  [Recording]
Chatbot Lab Assistants: Generative AI is Changing How We Do Science 

12:00 p.m. Lunch in press room 

1:30 p.m. Roundtable [Recording]
Extreme Weather and the Grid: Shoring Up Electricity Infrastructure in the Face of Wildfires, Hurricanes and More  

2:30 p.m. Media Availability
Securing a Sustainable Energy Future: GEMx Mineral Map of the US 

3:30 p.m. Workshop [Lesson recording]
Explore the Latest Freshwater Data from NASA and USGS 

Tuesday, 10 December 

9:00 a.m. Press Conference [Recording]
Science from the Shadow: NASA’s Initial Findings From the 2024 Solar Eclipse  

10:00 a.m. Media Availability
Chasing Atmospheric Rivers 

11:00 a.m. Press Conference [Recording]
NOAA 2024 Arctic Report Card 

12:00 p.m. Lunch in press room 

1:30 p.m. Roundtable [Recording]
Parker Solar Probe Preps for Record-Breaking Closest Approach to the Sun 

2:30 p.m. Media Availability
Perpetual Planet Expeditions: Advancing Knowledge through Exploration  

3:30 p.m. Workshop [Lesson recording]
How to Use NASA Data to Map Urban Heat and Drought 

4:30 p.m. Roundtable [Recording]
Experts to Discuss Geoengineering Ethics and COP29

5:30 p.m. AGU Journalism Awards reception – press room 

Wednesday, 11 December 

9:00 a.m. Press Conference [Recording]
The First Aircraft Crash Investigation on Another World – Results, and Legacy of the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter and the Future of Exo-Atmospheric Aviation 

10:00 a.m. Media Availability
NASA and IBM Team Up to Advance AI, Making Science More Accessible 

11:00 a.m. Press Conference [Recording]
The Waves That Changed the World: How the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami led to new science, better preparedness, international cooperation 

12:00 p.m. Lunch in press room 

1:30 p.m. Press Conference [Recording]
Space Debris: Preventing the Runaway ‘Kessler Syndrome’: Zoom 

3:30 p.m. Roundtable [Recording]
How Science Can Help Shore Up Urban Climate Adaptation Efforts 

4:30 p.m. Media Availability
Soil Carbon: Critical Tool for Environmental Resilience 

Thursday, 12 December 

9:00 a.m. Press Conference [Recording]
The Heart of Io’s Rage – What Makes the Most Volatile World in the Solar System Tick? 

10:00 a.m. Media Availability
The US Greenhouse Gas Center: Supporting cooperation in public and private GHG information 

11:00 a.m. Press Conference [Recording]
The View from the Top: Perseverance’s First Results from the Summit of Jezero Crater 

12:00 p.m. Lunch in press room 

1:30 p.m. Roundtable [Recording]
Social science of earthquakes, where the groundwater droughts are and more from the USGS

2:30 p.m. Media Availability
Empowering Women in Ocean Sciences to Expand Resiliency in Coastal Communities 

3:30 p.m. Workshop [Lesson recording]
World Water Map: Insights: Diving Deep(er) Into Water Journalism 

4:30 p.m. Media Availability
Understanding Arctic Sea Ice Melt, Clouds, and a Changing Climate with NASA’s ARCSIX Mission 

Friday, 13 December 

No events 

Breakfast provided; no lunch provided 

Full Program 

Monday 

10:00 a.m. Media Availability
Leveraging AI in Geosciences
In-person only 

Artificial intelligence is one of the most powerful technologies of our time and serves as a catalyst for advancing our understanding of Earth Systems at a speed like never before. Investments like the NSF AI Institute for Research on Trustworthy AI in Weather, Climate, and Coastal Oceanography (AI2ES) and the Collaborations in Artificial Intelligence and Geosciences (CAIG) program are focused on leveraging AI in the Geosciences research field. This panel will discuss how these efforts are driving AI innovation, fostering an AI-Ready workforce, and democratizing AI research resources for the Geosciences community and beyond. 

Panelists: 

  • Raleigh Martin, NSF Program Director 
  • David John II Gagne, head of the Machine Integration and Learning for Earth Systems (MILES) group at the NSF National Center for Atmospheric Research

Contact: Cassandra Eichner, U.S. National Science Foundation, [email protected] 

 

11:00 a.m. Roundtable
Chatbot Lab Assistants: Generative AI is Changing How We Do Science 

Watch recording

Science has widely employed machine learning to tackle analysis of big data, but generative AI opens new possibilities for the design and implementation of experiments. The explosive arrival of ChatGPT has fired up the imagination of the research community to put this new technology to work. 

In this press roundtable, panelists discuss how they are exploring the potential for large language models to participate in the process of science, with a focus on climate science applications. Join us to learn about early results, strengths, weaknesses and the future of AI-assisted science.  

Panelists: 

  • Ian Foster, University of Chicago and Argonne National Laboratory 
  • Michael Hendrickson, NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies 
  • Alexander Herron, NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies 
  • Jennifer A. Sleeman, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory 
  • Matthew J. Widlansky, University of Hawaii at Manoa  

Associated abstracts: 

Contact: Liza Lester, AGU, [email protected] 

 

1:30 p.m. Roundtable
Extreme Weather and the Grid: Shoring Up Electricity Infrastructure in the Face of Wildfires, Hurricanes and More  

Watch recording 

Extreme weather is growing more intense and striking more often. Increasingly powerful hurricanes threaten power outages, wildfires inflict public safety power shutoffs, and heat waves boost power demand while making energy production less efficient. Researchers at PNNL are working to prepare the grid for these challenges. Spying from satellite sensors that feed aerial imagery through AI systems, PNNL scientists peer through the smoke of active fires to help first responders map the shifting blaze’s path. They identify electricity infrastructure that needs protection and forecast changing fire risk. In other work, our researchers use open-source models to generate thousands of synthetic hurricane tracks, projecting a 50% spike in hurricane-induced power outages in some areas in the coming decades. And by interconnecting models that represent climate change, energy transition,  socioeconomic factors, and grid expansion, researchers help grid operators to prepare for a world where increasingly extreme weather challenges the grid.

Panelists: 

  • Karthik Balaguru, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (hurricanes)
  • Casey Burleyson, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (heat waves)
  • Kyle Larson, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (wildfire)
  • Julian Rice, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (hurricanes)

Associated abstracts: 

Contact: Brendan Bane, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, [email protected] 

 

2:30 p.m. Media Availability
Securing a Sustainable Energy Future: GEMx Mineral Map of the US
In-person only 

NASA and USGS have embarked on a bold new initiative to create the most comprehensive airborne mineral map in the United States. From 65,000 feet in the air, NASA is employing the same technology used to understand the depths of our universe to identify minerals that are critical to unlocking the sustainable technology of the future. On the ground below, USGS is pioneering ground-truthing mechanisms to align hyperspectral images from both airborne measurements and low-Earth orbit.  

Over the next several years, teams of elite pilots, researchers, engineers, and scientists will be working to put together a comprehensive map detailing mineralogical characteristics.  This resource will be publicly available and help local, state, tribal, and federal agencies make effective decisions regarding management of natural resource deposits; in addition, this map will prove essential in improving the domestic supply of components for critical technologies – creating new opportunities for the economy, enhancing national security, and working towards a clean energy future.  

Panelists: 

  • Ben Phillips, NASA HQ, Earth Surface and Interior Focus Area 
  • Darcy McPhee, United States Geological Survey, Earth Mapping Resources Initiative 
  • Kerry Cawse-Nicholson, NASA Jet Propulsion Lab 
  • Robert O. Green, NASA Jet Propulsion Lab 

Contact: Katie Jepson, NASA/KBR, [email protected] 

 

3:30 p.m. Workshop
Explore the Latest Freshwater Data from NASA and USGS
In-person only; recording will be available after the event 

In a hands-on session, researchers from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), and Ohio State University will walk reporters through two new freshwater data dashboards from the Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission.  

Water is life, but we have reliable water level measurements for only a few thousand lakes around the world, and little to no data on some of the planet’s important river systems. The international SWOT satellite is filling in that enormous gap. 

The two new data dashboards will make it easier to access SWOT’s data on freshwater levels around the world on a roughly 1.5- to 2-week timescale. Hosted by the Consortium of Universities for the Advancement of Hydrologic Science, one dashboard contains global river data from SWOT. The other dashboard, hosted by USGS, focuses on rivers and lakes in the United States. The USGS dashboard also includes the agency’s streamflow measurements taken by on-the-ground sensors.  

Panelist information 

Associated abstracts 

Contact: Jane J. Lee, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, [email protected] 

Tuesday 

9:00 a.m. Press Conference
Science from the Shadow: NASA’s Initial Findings From the 2024 Solar Eclipse  

Watch recording 

A composite of 11 photos of the progression of the solar eclipse.

This composite image of multiple exposures shows the progression of a total solar eclipse in Dallas, Texas on Monday, April 8, 2024. A total solar eclipse swept across a narrow portion of the North American continent from Mexico’s Pacific coast to the Atlantic coast of Newfoundland, Canada. A partial solar eclipse was visible across the entire North American continent along with parts of Central America and Europe. Credit: NASA/Keegan Barber

As the total solar eclipse darkened a swath of North America when the Moon blocked the light of the Sun on April 8, 2024, scientists had a unique opportunity to study the Sun, Earth, and their interactions. Scientists used a variety of vantage points to study the eclipse, including ground-based observations and airborne instruments on planes, balloons, and rockets. Citizen scientists located across North America also contributed thousands of data points to help NASA study this eclipse.  

Experts will share imagery and discuss the early results from NASA-funded eclipse projects, ongoing analysis and next steps of their research, and connections to the future of heliophysics research. 

Panelists: 

  • Kelly Korreck, NASA HQ, NASA Eclipse Program Manager 
  • Shadia Habbal, University of Hawaii 
  • Sarah Kovac, Southwest Research Institute 
  • Nathaniel Frissell, University of Scranton 
  • Jie Gong, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center  

Associated abstracts:  

Associated session: 

Contact: Sarah Frazier, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, [email protected] 

 

10:00 a.m. Media Availability
Chasing Atmospheric Rivers 

Atmospheric rivers are ribbons of water vapor in the sky that can deliver huge amounts of precipitation when they intersect with land, replenishing much needed water supply and often contributing to hazardous flooding. To study these weather phenomena, UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the National Weather Service lead a research and operations partnership that guides the deployment of US Air Force Reserve and NOAA “Hurricane Hunters” to fly aircraft on data-collecting missions to intercept these storms over the Pacific Ocean, as well as the modeling, data assimilation and scientific studies that use these data. This media roundtable will feature scientists from NOAA and Scripps Oceanography to discuss the latest updates to the Atmospheric River Reconnaissance “AR Recon” program, resulting forecast improvements, and Forecast-Informed Reservoir Operations, which uses data from AR Recon to provide the improved forecasts to help manage water levels in West Coast reservoirs.  (148 words) 

Panelists: 

  • F. Martin “Marty” Ralph, Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes at UC San Diego Scripps Institution of Oceanography  
  • Vijay Tallapragada, NOAA/NWS/NCEP, the Environmental Modeling Center 
  • Anna Wilson, Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes at UC San Diego Scripps Institution of Oceanography
     

Associated abstracts: 

Contact: Lauren Fimbres Wood, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego, [email protected] 

11:00 a.m. Press Conference
NOAA 2024 Arctic Report Card 

Watch recording 

Two dog teams mushing across the tundra with caribou near the trail of the 2022 Kobuk 440, an annual dog sled loop trail race from Kotzebue to Kobuk, Alaska that traverses Selawik National Wildlife Refuge in northwest Alaska. Credit: Screenshot from USFWS video/Lisa Hupp

The 2024 NOAA Arctic Report Card catalogs the impacts of climate change on a vital region that is warming more than three times faster than the rest of the world. This year’s report features timely updates on air temperature, sea ice extent, ocean temperature, plankton blooms, snow cover, tundra/ forest greenness, Greenland ice sheet and precipitation. New this year are essays on caribou, ice seals and the work of an Indigenous research center to conduct environmental observations. The report will highlight new records in air and sea surface temperature, permafrost warming and their impacts on Arctic communities and communities well beyond the Arctic. Now in its 19th year, the NOAA Arctic Report Card is authored by 97 scientists in 11 countries and is vital to decision-makers working to build climate resilience.  

Panelists:  

  • Rick Spinrad, NOAA Administrator 
  • Twila Moon, Lead editor of the 2024 Arctic Report Card, National Snow and Ice Data Center 
  • Brendan Rogers, Woodwell Climate Research Center 
  • Lori Quakenbush, Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Arctic Marine Mammal Program 
  • Lawrence R. Mudryk, Environment & Climate Change Canada 

Associated abstracts: 

Contact: Monica Allen, NOAA, [email protected] 

 

1:30 p.m. Roundtable
Parker Solar Probe Preps for Record-Breaking Closest Approach to the Sun 

Watch recording 

NASA’s Parker Solar Probe mission zips to its crescendo on Dec. 24, 2024, with the first of three closest passes of the Sun. The spacecraft will be just 3.8 million miles (6.1 million kilometers) from the Sun’s surface, blazing by at 430,000 mph (690,000 kph) — breaking its own records for speed and distance, and achieving humanity’s closest-ever approach to a star. 

Members of the Parker Solar Probe team from NASA and the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) – which built and operates the spacecraft and manages the mission for NASA – will preview this monumental exploration achievement. They’ll describe how Parker continues to thrive in one of the most extreme environments in the solar system while helping scientists answer the toughest questions about the Sun, like how the solar wind is generated at its source; understanding coronal heating and solar wind; and the birth and structure of coronal mass ejections. 

The final flybys will fill in some of the last missing pieces of these solar puzzles — while almost certainly sparking questions for future missions to answer and mysteries for the next generations of scientists to solve. 

Panelists:

  • Nour Rawafi, Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory 
  • Betsy Congdon, Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory 
  • Nicholeen Viall, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

Associated sessions:

Contact: Michael Buckley, Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, [email protected]  

 

2:30 p.m. Media Availability
Perpetual Planet Expeditions: Advancing Knowledge through Exploration  

Mountains. Rainforests. The ocean. These critical Earth systems provide some of the most basic needs for life on Earth: water, oxygen, a stable climate. But these systems are increasingly at risk due to global environmental challenges like climate change. 

To better understand these life-sustaining biomes and generate solutions to protect them, National Geographic Explorers under the Society’s Perpetual Planet Expeditions program have conducted groundbreaking scientific studies to Mount Logan, the highest peak in Canada and to the Amazon River Basin, the critical freshwater ecosystem that sustains the largest rainforest on Earth.  

In the session, the Explorers who led these expeditions will discuss their findings and what’s needed to protect, rebalance and restore our planet’s critical life-support systems. 

Panelists: 

  • Alison Criscitiello, University of Alberta  
  • Hinsby Cadillo-Quiroz, Arizona State University 
  • Thiago Silva, University of Stirling  
  • Julia Tavares, Uppsala University  

Associated abstracts: 

Contact: Dolly Maiah, National Geographic Society, [email protected]  

 

3:30 p.m. Workshop
How to Use NASA Data to Map Urban Heat and Drought
In-person only; recording will be available after the event 

Watch lesson recording

A map of the Washington DC area showing where the city is the hottest through intensity of red color.

A high school student in the San Francisco Bay Area created this visual of the July 2024 heatwave in Washington, DC, using data from ECOSTRESS. Credit: Jhanavi Hegde and Dr. Joshua B. Fisher

In this hands-on session, a team from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Chapman University will show participants how to download land surface temperature data files from the ECOSTRESS mission and visualize the data in QGIS to create urban heat maps. 

Asphalt and concrete warm and retain much more heat in the summer than natural surfaces. In this session, participants will produce maps of urban areas that show how much hotter roads and sidewalks, airport runways, asphalt playgrounds, and other built surfaces are than areas that have grass, trees, or other natural land cover. 

It is highly recommended, but not required, that workshop participants download and install QGIS to their laptops and register for an account with NASA Earthdata. More information can be found at https://www.observingearthfromabove.com.  

Speakers: 

  • Kerry Cawse-Nicholson, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
  • Josh Fisher, Chapman University  
  • Christine Lee, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory 

Contact: Jane J. Lee, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, [email protected] 

 

4:30 p.m. Roundtable
Experts to Discuss Geoengineering Ethics and COP29 

Watch recording

Join experts in climate science, ethics, and policy for a media roundtable on establishing a set of globally recognized ethical principles for climate intervention research.

At COP29, AGU’s delegation and its partners actively engaged with a diverse audience—including researchers, scientists, governments, nongovernmental organizations, philanthropic institutions, and the private sector—to promote and foster meaningful dialogue on the Ethical Framework Principles for Climate Intervention Research.

Released in October, the framework provides comprehensive guidelines to ensure climate intervention research is conducted responsibly, transparently, and equitably. The framework was facilitated by AGU and advised by a global panel of experts and draws on ethical precedents established in other emerging fields with unknown consequences, such as biomedical research and genetic engineering, to guide research, funding, and policy proposals.

Highlights:

  • Key takeaways from the report
  • Upcoming actions and key considerations for progressing the Framework both domestically and internationally

Panelists: 

  • Lisa J. Graumlich, President, AGU 
  • Janice R. Lachance, Interim CEO and Executive Director, AGU 
  • Margaret Leinen, Director, Scripps Institution of Oceanography and Vice Chancellor for Marine Science, UC San Diego; Ethical Framework Advisory Board Member 

Contact: Samson Reiny, AGU, [email protected]  

Wednesday, 11 December 

9:00 a.m. Press Conference
The First Aircraft Crash Investigation on Another World – Results, and Legacy of the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter and the Future of Exo-Atmospheric Aviation 

Watch recording

The Wright Brothers were the first to perform a powered-controlled flight on Earth. They were also the first to crash. NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter was first to perform powered-controlled flight on another planet. Ingenuity was also the first to crash on another planet. Unanswered questions have swirled around what happened on that sol (Martian day) in Jezero Crater.  

Originally designed as a technology demonstration to perform up to 5 test flights over 30 days, the first aircraft on another world operated from the Martian surface for almost three years, where it performed 72 flights, and flew more than 14 times farther than planned while logging more than two hours of total flight time. 

To better understand what occurred in Mars’ crimson skies on that final flight, JPL assembled a team of experts. Their work constitutes the first investigation of the crash of an aircraft flying somewhere other than Earth.  

The results of the investigation – which will appear in a publicly-available NASA white paper on the same date (or soon after). These results are expected to help in the design and planning of future aircraft missions to other worlds. 

Also to be covered is the future of exo-atmospheric aviation including the progress of NASA’s Dragonfly rotorcraft mission to Saturn’s moon Titan. 

Panelists: 

  • Lindsay Hays, NASA HQ
  • Travis Brown, Jet Propulsion Laboratory 
  • Havard Grip, Jet Propulsion Laboratory 
  • Teddy Tzanetos, Jet Propulsion Laboratory 

Contact: DC Agle, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, [email protected] 

 

10:00 a.m. Media Availability
NASA and IBM Team Up to Advance AI, Making Science More Accessible 

NASA collects scientific data from over 150 missions that study our home planet, Moon, Sun and beyond. Now, thanks to a collaboration between NASA and IBM, gaining insights from these data is becoming more accessible than ever. Through a family of open-source artificial intelligence foundation models, called Prithvi, NASA and IBM are helping scientists, developers, and business by lowering the barrier of entry to using NASA’s scientific data and accelerating discovery. Representatives from NASA and IBM will be available to discuss: 

  • How NASA and IBM’s Geospatial Foundation Model, the largest geospatial model on open-source AI platform, Hugging Face, is enabling downstream applications like wildfire burn scar mapping, urban heat mapping and locust breeding ground tracking 
  • How their newest model, the Prithvi Weather-Climate model can be customized for a variety of applications — and run on a desktop computer. 
  • What’s coming next for the Prithvi AI foundation model family 

More information about the and their downstream applications will be presented in several papers, sessions and posters throughout AGU24. 

Panelists: 

  • Kevin Murphy, NASA HQ 
  • Rahul Ramachandran, AI/ML Theme Lead, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center 
  • Madhuilka Guhathakurta, AI/ML Lead for Heliophysics, NASA HQ 
  • Tsengdar Lee, Weather and Atmospheric Dynamic Research Area Lead, NASA HQ 
  • Juan Bernabe-Moreno, Accelerated Discovery Lead for Climate and Sustainability, IBM 

Associated abstracts: 

Contact: Amanda Adams, NASA, [email protected] 

 

11:00 a.m. Press Conference
The waves that changed the world: How the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami led to new science, better preparedness, international cooperation 

Watch recording 

Tsunami aftermath in Banda Aceh, Indonesia, where only a few structures remained standing. Credit: Hokkaido University, Yuichi Nishimura

December 2024 marks the 20th anniversary of the devastating tsunami that swept across the Indian Ocean and, after landfall, killed more than 227,000 people across 15 countries. The 2004 Tsunami changed our understanding of the science of tsunamis and how we prepare to face these natural disasters. This press conference will highlight the anniversary, but also cover the current state of tsunami science and research. We will also discuss international partnerships that currently work to provide information on tsunamis, including the International Tsunami Information Center (ITIC). Speakers will include experts who have worked on tsunami forecasting, warning systems, hazard assessment and modeling over the last two decades. 

Panelists: 

  • Nelly Florida Riama, Deputy Head of Geophysics, BMKG, Indonesia 
  • Laura Kong, NOAA National Weather Service 
  • Vasily Titov, NOAA Oceanic and Atmospheric Research 
  • Nathan Wood, United States Geological Survey 

Contact: Alison Gillespie, NOAA, [email protected] 

 

1:30 p.m. Press Conference
Space Debris: Preventing the Runaway ‘Kessler Syndrome’ 

Watch recording

While only pieces of space debris larger than 10 centimeters can be reliably tracked, those as small as one centimeter can damage or even destroy a satellite. There are now an estimated 1 million pieces of debris this size, as well as 26,000 softball-sized pieces with a collision energy comparable to a large bomb, in Low Earth Orbit. Because high-altitude debris can remain in orbit for decades, it accumulates over time, increasing the risk of additional collisions, which would create still more debris and hence more collisions. If current trends are extrapolated, the number of catastrophic collisions could rise significantly, leading to a runaway cascade of accumulating space debris known as the Kessler Syndrome, which could jeopardize the use of Low Earth Orbit and human spaceflight. This media event will highlight the regulatory and scientific aspects of space debris in Low Earth Orbit. 

Panelists: 

  • Daniel Baker, Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, University of Colorado Boulder 
  • Thomas Berger, University of Colorado Boulder Space Weather Technology, Research and Education Center 
  • David Malaspina, Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, University of Colorado Boulder 
  • Tsige Atilaw, University of Michigan 

Associated session: 

Contact: Terri Cook, LASP/CU Boulder, [email protected] +1 (303) 817-0443 and Sara Pratt, [email protected], +1 (303) 735-6614 

 

3:30 p.m. Roundtable
How Science Can Help Shore Up Urban Climate Adaptation Efforts 

Watch recording 

By 2050, 90 percent of Americans are projected to live in cities, which already face severe challenges like heat waves, rising sea levels, and food and water shortages. However, cities are also well-positioned to serve as hubs for developing and implementing strategies to address these environmental vulnerabilities. Scientists at Berkeley Lab, including Andrew Jones, use quantitative models and data analysis to understand the connections between climate and urban systems in order to advance resilience strategies. Their research explores topics ranging from impacts of extreme precipitation on urban flooding, and how reflective roofs, walls, and pavement can protect urbanites from heat waves, reduce air conditioning use, and save water. The researchers also collaborate with social scientists, including fellow Berkeley Lab scientist Kripa Jagannathan, urban infrastructure experts such as Naresh Devineni from the City College of New York, and practitioners from the resource management community, such as Abby Sullivan, the Chief Resilience Officer for the City of Philadelphia. They collaborate to understand how science can more effectively provide actionable insight into strategies for increasing resilience of energy, water, food, and urban systems. In this roundtable session, the panelists will address opportunities for science and collaborative science-stakeholder partnerships to inform solutions targeting urban environmental resilience. 

Panelists:  

  • Andrew Jones, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory  
  • Naresh Devineni, City College of New York  
  • Abby Sullivan, City of Philadelphia 

Associated abstracts: 

Contact: Christina Procopiou, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, [email protected]  

 

4:30 p.m. Media Availability
Soil Carbon: Critical Tool for Environmental Resilience 

Soil stores three times more carbon than the atmosphere, making it a critical component of the global carbon cycle. Berkeley Lab scientists are advancing research to better understand soil’s carbon sink capacity and its potential to help support environmentally resilient landscapes. This media availability will highlight innovative approaches, including tracking carbon fluxes at varying soil depths under changing temperatures and exploring enhanced rock-weathering techniques to boost carbon storage in agricultural landscapes. Researcher Margaret Torn will discuss Berkeley Lab’s work in experimental forests, greenhouses, and digital models, offering insights into soil carbon pathways and its role in supporting environmental resilience across natural and managed systems. 

Panelists: 

  • Margaret Torn, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory 

Associated abstracts: 

Contact: Jeremy Snyder, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, [email protected]  

Thursday, 12 December 

9:00 a.m. Press Conference
The Heart of Io’s Rage: What Makes the Most Volatile World in the Solar System Tick? 

Watch recording

Planetary scientists have long debated what drives Io’s molten fury.  

NASA’s Juno mission to Jupiter recently executed two flybys of the most volcanic body in our solar system – the first close flybys of the Jovian moon in over two decades. Data collected during the flybys from Juno’s high-precision radio frequency experiment provided groundbreaking insight into one of the most outstanding questions in planetary science – how are the volcanoes of Io powered?  Is the most volcanic world in our solar system powered by a global magma ocean – or is something else driving them? 

If Io does have a global magma ocean driving its volcanism, this would be the first direct evidence of such in our solar system (planetary scientists have suggested this may be common in the early evolution of Earth, our own moon and other bodies throughout the Universe). If the alternative were true – the 100’s of volcanoes and lava lakes that litter the surface of the innermost Galilean moon must be driven by individual channels of magma similar to present-day Earth’s volcanoes.  

The answer not only impacts Jovian science. It also has implications for theories on other planetary bodies that have been impacted by volcanism early in their evolution.  

The Juno science team knows the answer. 

The news briefing will be based on several Juno science papers reporting results from Juno’s investigation of Io, some of which will be tailored for release during the week of AGU. Among them will be the Nature “Io’s Tidal Response Precludes a Shallow Magma Ocean” and “Observations of Loki Patera by Juno during close flybys.” 

Other Io findings that will be chronicled during the briefing includes new discoveries about Io’s interior by Juno’s MWR instrument, science results on a newly discovered volcano, and what the flybys of Io tell us about how Io drives Jupiter’s magnetosphere. 

Panelists: 

  • Delia Santiago-Materese, NASA HQ 
  • Scott Bolton, Southwest Research Institute 
  • Ryan Park, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory 
  • Alessandro Mura, National Institute for Astrophysics 
  • Heidi Becker, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory 

Associated abstracts: 

Contact: DC Agle, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, [email protected] 

 

10:00 a.m. Media Availability
The US Greenhouse Gas Center: Supporting cooperation in public and private GHG information 

The U.S. Greenhouse Gas Center (US GHG Center) is a collaborative, multi-agency effort from NASA, EPA, NIST, and NOAA, designed to improve the quality, transparency, and accessibility of greenhouse gas data. This session features highlights on how U.S. government agencies are working alongside the private sector to coordinate enhanced measurement, reporting, and analysis of GHG information. 

Experts from NIST, NASA, and Carbon Mapper, a nonprofit focused on filling data gaps and improving global monitoring of greenhouse gases, discuss how cooperative efforts in technology design and development, data validation, and measurement standardization can support greater transparency and interoperability across government and private remote sensing data. 

Speaking to their leading role in airborne measurement of greenhouse gases, a NOAA expert will discuss the agency’s recently-announced partnership with United Airlines to equip a commercial aircraft with high-tech monitoring instruments, and how data collected from domestic passenger flights can improve monitoring and understanding of greenhouse gases. 

Panelists: 

  • Lesley Ott, NASA, U.S. Greenhouse Gas Center 
  • James Whetstone, NIST 
  • Colm Sweeney, NOAA 
  • Riley Duren, Carbon Mapper 

Associated abstracts: 

Contact: Aries Keck, NASA HQ, Earth Science Division, [email protected] and Kelsey Paquin, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, [email protected]  

 

11:00 a.m. Press Conference
The View from the Top: Perseverance’s First Results from the Summit of Jezero Crater 

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The week of AGU 2024, NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover will likely reach the highest point in its mission.  Summiting the rim of Jezero Crater (it took three months of careful navigation – and a lot of slipping and sliding in Martian regolith) has been a goal of the Perseverance science team since the mission was conceived. Why? According to the mission’s project scientist Ken Farley: “The view will be great, but the science results promise to be even greater.” 

The impact of that created Jezero Crater billions of years ago excavated Martian bedrock – placing 10 trillion tons of the Red Planet’s insides on and near the newly excavated crater’s rim. These rocks offer up a geologic bonanza from the basement of time as they’re not only the oldest rocks of the mission, but among the oldest in the solar system. During its exploration of the crater rim, the Perseverance science team expects to encounter a wide diversity of samples coming from different locations and depths of the Jezero region.  

The Perseverance AGU 2024 briefing will include early science results from the crater’s rim, plans for exploration of the crater’s rim, and the latest science from the floor of Jezero Crater.  

The briefing will also highlight a novel AI application – how Perseverance’s “Simple Planner” tool enables the rover to autonomously reschedule activities in response to changes in environmental conditions (such as Mars being warmer than expected, or rover energy/State of charge being higher than expected) as well as execution variations (e.g. activities taking longer or shorter than expected or failing). The energy savings created by Simple Planner translates into more time for science collection and significantly longer drives. 

Panelists: 

  • Lindsay Hays, NASA HQ 
  • Ken Farley, Caltech 
  • Candice Bedford, Purdue 
  • Justin Maki, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory 

Associated abstracts: 

Associated sessions: 

Contact: DC Agle, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, [email protected] 

 

1:30 p.m. Roundtable
Social science of earthquakes, where the groundwater droughts are and more from the USGS

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Of the 800+ presentations that were led by U.S. Geological Survey scientists at AGU, USGS has selected four compelling topics led by USGS scientists to spark conversations with the media. Learn more about noteworthy USGS work on contemporary issues facing the nation – discovering critical minerals in the U.S., earthquake science, water quality and drought, and carbon sequestration and greenhouse gas emissions from federal lands.

Learn about progress on Earth Mapping Resources Initiative (Earth MRI), a program to fast-track study and mapping of minerals that are critical for industry and energy security in the United States. This partnership-based program, started in 2019, accelerated in recent years and has strengthened federal, state and private sector capacity by providing new data on areas with potential critical minerals in the United States.

Talk with one of the authors of the recent USGS report on greenhouse gas emissions associated with federal lands. The report provides insights to emissions during the years 2005 to 2022, offering a unique in-depth analysis into the portion of U.S. emissions associated with federal lands. Learn directly from one of the authors what the latest trends are, and how this report complements our understanding of nationwide trends in emissions.

The USGS has long been a national leader in understanding water availability. Learn more about a national study of groundwater drought variation in the U.S., showing many decreases in groundwater drought in the Northeast, and many increases in groundwater drought in the Southeast.

Early warning systems are an important part of earthquake risk reduction. Learn how USGS social science is helping to continuously inform and advance the development of messaging, public education, and response for the ShakeAlert system, an earthquake early warning system that the USGS and partners provide in California, Oregon, and Washington.

Panelists:

  • Geoff Plumlee, U.S. Geological Survey Chief Scientist
  • Jane Hammarstrom, U.S. Geological Survey
  • Peter Warwick, U.S. Geological Survey
  • Melissa Lombard, U.S. Geological Survey
  • Sara McBride, U.S. Geological Survey

 

2:30 p.m. Media Availability
Empowering Women in Ocean Sciences to Expand Resiliency in Coastal Communities 

Our oceans are changing. Sea levels are rising, posing higher risks of coastal flooding, erosion and landslides. Panelists will discuss initiatives, such as Coastlines and People Hubs for Research and Broadening Participation (CoPe), that leverage a concerted effort to broaden participation in scientific research to not only understand those changes, but to discover effective ways to build resiliency. This includes the U.S. National Science Foundation’s (NSF) initiatives to empower women in ocean sciences and a coordinated approach to resilience in the ocean and beyond. 

Panelists: 

Contact: Cassandra Eichner, U.S. National Science Foundation, [email protected] 

 

3:30 p.m. Workshop
World Water Map: Insights: Diving Deep(er) Into Water Journalism
In-person only; recording will be available after the event 

Join the National Geographic Society, Utrecht University and Esri for an interactive workshop to explore World Water Map: Insights, a powerful new resource for water data journalism that accounts for “every drop, for every geography, every day.” 

World Water Map: Insights builds on the original World Water Map with enhanced capabilities for exploring water availability trends across scales — from global to the hyper-local level.  

  • Through a live demo and hands-on activities, participants will learn how to: 
  • Analyze data on water withdrawal, balance, supply-demand “gaps” and sector-specific demand. 
  • Model past, present and future water availability, and project scenarios through 2100.  
  • Create compelling graphics, animations and reports for your stories. 

Panelists will also share real-world applications of the tool, from DC’s Potomac Watershed to the Colorado River, illustrating how it informs nuanced reporting on water scarcity and climate resilience. 

Whether you cover water’s role in climate resilience, agriculture, urban planning, or public health, this workshop will provide actionable insights and tools to enrich your storytelling with nuanced data and compelling visuals. 

Panelists: 

  • Marc Bierkens, National Geographic Explorer, Utrecht University 
  • Paul Nwulu, Senior Director, National Geographic Society  
  • Alex Tait, National Geographic Society 
  • Sean Breyer, ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World, Esri 

Associated abstracts: 

Contact: Stephanie Miceli, National Geographic Society, [email protected] 

 

4:30 p.m. Media Availability
Understanding Arctic Sea Ice Melt, Clouds, and a Changing Climate with NASA’s ARCSIX Mission 

The NASA-sponsored Arctic Radiation Cloud Aerosol Surface Interaction Experiment (ARCSIX) mission flew three aircraft specially equipped with scientific instruments 750 miles north of the Arctic Circle gathering observations of surface sea ice, clouds, and aerosol particles during the start of seasonal sea ice melt in the spring and at the height of melt during the summer. 

One of the main science goals of the ARCSIX team was to study how the presence of certain types of clouds that are not easily characterized by satellites might influence the rate of melting. 

Understanding this relationship, and the role clouds play in the system, will help scientists improve satellite data and better predict future changes in the Arctic climate that affect the atmospheric system around the world. 

Panelists:  

  • Patrick Taylor, ARCSIX Deputy Mission Science Lead, NASA Langley Research Center 
  • Linette Boisvert, ARCSIX Crysophere Lead, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center 
  • Sebastian Schmidt, ARCSIX Mission Science Lead, University of Colorado at Boulder 

Associated abstracts: 

Contact: Charles Hatfield, NASA Langley Research Center, [email protected]  

No press events will be held on Friday, 13 December