AGU Fall Meeting: Abstracts and Sessions Now Online; Book Hotels by 2 November; Sunday – Press Field Trip (Tentative), Save the Date!

4 October 2012

Joint Release

Moscone Convention Center
San Francisco, California
3–7 December 2012

Contents of this message:

For important information regarding visas for international reporters and hotel bookings at meeting rates, please see: Media Advisory 1.

1. Abstracts and Sessions Now Online and Searchable

All 1,819 sessions and 21,497 abstracts for the 2012 Fall Meeting have been posted on the AGU website.

To search the scientific program, use the itinerary planner (you can log on as a guest).

Reporters and public information officers may use the itinerary planner to search for abstracts or sessions of particular interest to them, by looking up any the following parameters on the tool linked to above:

  • Name of a scientist
  • Name of an institution (e.g., university, government agency)
  • Geographic location (e.g., city, state, province, or country)
  • Keywords in session or presentation title (e.g., volcano, Vesta, aerosol). Please use semicolons to separate multiple search terms.
  • Session topic (e.g., Natural Hazards, Ocean Sciences)

Many sessions are sponsored jointly by two or more of AGU’s scientific sections. “Union” sessions are expected to have the most interdisciplinary appeal. Checking the box next to the name of a section (e.g., Planetary Science, Seismology) under “Show only: [Select Topic]” limits the sessions displayed to only those sponsored by that section.

Clicking on the plus sign next to any session that your search turns up will open a list of presentations associated with your search criteria in that session. Clicking on the “view presentation” link below a particular presentation will open its abstract, including name and contact information for the lead author.

AGU will also provide a printed book with a schedule including session titles and times, an author index, listings of town hall meetings and other activities/events, maps, floor plans, and other general information about the meeting on site during the meeting. Copies of the book will be made available to members of the news media in the Press Room; the book does not include abstract information. Daily, newspaper-style print listings of all presentations for each day, including the abstract titles, will also be available at the meeting.

2. Reminder: Hotel Reservation Deadline

Please note that the deadline for booking hotel rooms at preferential meeting rates is 2 November. For information on available hotels, rates, amenities, and a map of the area, see the travel and housing website.

3. Save the Date: Press Field Trip (Tentative), Sunday, 2 December

[The following notice is provided on behalf of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the California Department of Water Resouces. This is not an AGU event.]

FORECASTING POWERFUL STORMS
SUNDAY, 2 DECEMBER

NOAA and the California Department of Water Resources (CDWR) are collaborating to improve forecasts of powerful air currents, known as atmospheric rivers, which can deliver major impacts when passing over land areas. These currents drive “pineapple express” storms that can cause major floods and debris flows – and also fill a region’s reservoirs.
By early December, NOAA expects to finish installation of the first permanent weather station built specifically for monitoring atmospheric rivers. It’s called the Atmospheric River Observatory (ARO), and it is currently under construction in Bodega Bay, Calif., about 90 minutes north of San Francisco. Come visit this new installation on 2 December, the Sunday before the AGU Fall Meeting begins, to learn how the ARO and other new instruments across the state will improve flood forecasting to help save lives and property.
Photo opportunities will include a wind-profiling radar, snow-level radar, GPS water vapor gauge and other instruments. A chartered bus will take interested journalists and their scientist-guides from the Moscone Center to Bodega Bay and back, leaving about 10 am and returning about 4 pm. NOAA and CDWR are providing this field trip at no cost to journalists.

*PLEASE NOTE: This event will be tentative until late October. To reserve a spot, please reply by 10 October to Linda Joy, NOAA Research Public Affairs, [email protected], 301-734-1165.

4. Enhanced Virtual Press Room

The AGU Fall Meeting Virtual Press Room is the online place for journalists to find meeting-related materials such as press releases and press-conference PowerPoint presentations, plus images, videos, scientific papers, etc. This year, AGU is enhancing the Fall Meeting Virtual Press Room to enable public information officers (PIOs) and press officers to directly upload press releases and other materials to the site. The enhanced Virtual Press Room will open closer to Fall Meeting. A subsequent media advisory will include instructions for PIOs/press officers on how to upload materials to the site, and instructions for journalists on how to search the site’s contents.

5. Reminder: New press conference times

In previous years, press conferences, workshops, and speaker availabilities at AGU’s Fall Meeting have been scheduled to start every hour, on the hour, throughout the business day. This year, we are changing the start times so that the press conferences align more closely with the meeting’s scientific sessions. The new schedule will also allow for breaks throughout the day.

The new press conference schedule will have eight 1-hour slots per day (although not all will be filled each day). Press events will start at: 0800h, 0900h, 1030h, 1130h, 1330h, 1430h, 1600h, and 1700h, Monday through Thursday.

A complete press conference schedule will be announced closer to the meeting.

6. News Media Registration Information

News media registrants receive, at no charge, a badge that provides access to any of the scientific sessions of the meeting, as well as to the Press Room, Quiet Room, and Press Conference Room. No one will be admitted without a valid badge.

Registrants are encouraged to preregister online and may also book housing and purchase ticketed events (such as the AGU Honors banquet) as part of the process — see Item 7 below for links and additional information about online registration.

Full instructions for picking up preregistered badges and for registering on-site will be included in a future advisory, as will the specific locations of rooms for press activity and events.

PLEASE NOTE: This year, both badge pick-up and on-site registration will take place in Moscone South. The Press Room and Press Conference Room will remain in Moscone West.

Eligibility for press/news media registration is limited to the following persons:

  • Working press employed by bona fide news media outlets who regularly report news on the Earth and space sciences. These registrants must present a press card, business card, or a letter from an editor of a recognized news media outlet assigning you to cover Fall Meeting.
  • Freelance science journalists and science bloggers who present evidence of three (3) bylined news reports in the Earth and space sciences intended for the general public and published in 2012.
  • Public information/press officers of scientific societies, educational institutions, and government agencies.

Note:  Scientists who will be presenting at the meeting and who are also reporting from the meeting for bona fide news media outlets may be issued News Media credentials at the discretion of AGU Public Information Staff. Everyone who presents at the meeting must also register for the meeting and pay the appropriate fee as a presenter.

Representatives of publishing houses, the business side of news media, political action committees or similar, and for-profit corporations must register at the main registration desk at the meeting and pay the appropriate fees, regardless of possession of any of the above credentials; they will not be accredited as News Media at the meeting.

All press badges will be issued solely at the discretion of the AGU Public Information Office.

7. News Media Registration Form

Members of the news media are encouraged to preregister online to expedite the process of receiving your badges when you arrive. The News Media Registration Form is set up for online submission only. To preregister, please click here.

The last day for online preregistration is Monday, 26 November 2012. You may also register onsite in the Moscone South building (specific location in the building to be provided in a future advisory).

8. Who’s Coming

The online list of journalists who have preregistered for the meeting is updated daily.