Next week (12–17 April), over 12,000 scientists will gather in Vienna for the 2015 General Assembly of the European Geosciences Union (EGU), a meeting that provides an opportunity for journalists to hear about the latest research in the Earth and space sciences and to talk to scientists from all over the world. The press conference programme includes presentations on the latest results from ESA's Rosetta Mission and on changes in the Greenland Ice Sheet. Interested journalists can register on-site, free of charge, during the meeting. Those who cannot make it to Vienna can watch press conferences remotely through a live streaming link.

Contents

• Press conference schedule
• Live streaming
• Media registration and badge collection
• Meeting programme
• Programme highlights

Press conference schedule

Press conferences at the EGU General Assembly will be held at the Press Centre located on the Yellow Level (Ground Floor) of the Austria Center Vienna. All times are CEST.

Documents relating to the press conferences listed below, such as press releases and presentation slides, will be made available from the Documents page during the meeting.

LIST OF PRESS CONFERENCES

• PC2: New results from NASA's Dawn spacecraft at Ceres (Monday, 13 April, 13:00–14:00)
• PC3: Reducing emissions: renewable energies & carbon capture and storage (Monday, 13 April, 14:00–15:00)
• PC4: Greatest hits – water in social media, smartphones, GPS and popular music (Tuesday, 14 April, 10:00–11:00)
• PC5 – NEW: Water signatures on the Martian surface (Tuesday, 14 April, 11:00–12:00)
• PC1 – SCHEDULE CHANGE: Latest results from the ESA Rosetta mission (Tuesday, 14 April 12:00–13:00)
• PC6: Impacts of geoengineering on land, oceans and the atmosphere (Tuesday, 14 April, 13:00–14:00)
• PC7: Iceland's Bárðarbunga-Holuhraun: a remarkable volcanic eruption (Wednesday, 15 April, 9:00–10:00)
• PC8: Droughts and floods in a warming climate (Wednesday, 15 April, 12:00–13:00)
• PC9: Recent and future changes in the Greenland Ice Sheet (Thursday, 16 April, 12:00–13:00)

NEW RESULTS FROM NASA'S DAWN SPACECRAFT AT CERES
Monday, 13 April, 13:00–14:00

NASA's Dawn Mission recently orbited the asteroid Vesta, mapping its surface in detail and revealing a diversity of geologic features. Dawn is now orbiting Ceres, a dwarf planet and the largest object in the asteroid belt, which – unlike Vesta – is believed to contain large amounts of ice. The spacecraft has been orbiting and studying the dwarf planet since early March, looking for clues about how the two different objects, and the Solar System, formed. In this media event, the panel will present the latest data and images from the mission.

Participants:
Christopher Russell
Principal Investigator of the Dawn Mission, University of California, Los Angeles, USA
Martin Hoffmann
Science/Operations for the Framing Camera Team, Dawn Mission, Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Göttingen, Germany
Federico Tosi
Dawn Visible and Infrared Spectrometer team member, National Institute for Astrophysics (INAF), Rome, Italy

Related scientific session: PS4.1

REDUCING EMISSIONS: RENEWABLE ENERGIES & CARBON CAPTURE AND STORAGE
Monday, 13 April, 14:00–15:00

How can we reduce our carbon emissions while still ensuring energy security? One of the solutions is switching to renewable sources of energy. Researchers in Switzerland are looking into the potential for deserts to supply reliable renewable energy, while a team in the US is working on using carbon dioxide sequestered into a geothermal reservoir to produce electricity. Another way to reduce emissions is to use carbon capture and storage systems to sequester carbon dioxide that is produced in electricity generation from fossil fuels. Researchers have been looking into the issues that arise from storing carbon dioxide underground in the long term. Who owns the pore space in the rocks where captured CO2 is stored, and who could be liable if something goes wrong? The panel will present new findings and discuss these and other questions.

Participants:
Mercè Labordena
PhD Researcher, Department of Environmental Systems Science, ETH Zürich, Switzerland
Jeffrey Bielicki
Professor, The Ohio State University, Columbus, USA
Alexandra Gormally
Researcher, Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University, United Kingdom

Related scientific sessions: ERE1.2, ERE3.2, BG9.1

GREATEST HITS – WATER IN SOCIAL MEDIA, SMARTPHONES, GPS AND POPULAR MUSIC
Tuesday, 14 April, 10:00–11:00

The connection between water and social media, smartphones, GPS and popular music may seem unlikely, but the results presented at this press conference suggest otherwise. Researchers in the Netherlands are using tweets to produce real-time flood maps, a Swiss team has developed a smartphone app to measure river floods, and scientists in the US are using GPS data to measure hydrological quantities from sea level to soil moisture. Meanwhile in the UK, a team is looking into how rain, sun and other weather phenomena have inspired pop music. Come hear them talk about their findings at this media briefing.

Participants:
Dirk Eilander
Junior Researcher and Consultant, Deltares, Delft, Netherlands
Salvador Peña-Haro
Hydraulic and Environmental Engineer, photrack AG, Zürich, Switzerland
Kristine Larson
Professor, Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, USA
Karen Aplin
Physicist, Physics Department, University of Oxford, United Kingdom

Related scientific sessions: HS1.1, EOS7, GI0.1

WATER SIGNATURES ON THE MARTIAN SURFACE
Tuesday, 14 April, 11:00–12:00

Recently, researchers found evidence that Mars had a large ocean early in its history, more than 4 billion years ago, by measuring water signatures in the planet’s atmosphere. Water has also left marks on Mars’ surface. A team in the US is looking for further evidence of an ancient ocean by searching for a set of bedforms, typically found in the deep-sea floor on Earth, on the Martian surface. Researchers in the Netherlands are looking for water signatures left on the surface much more recently, in the last few millions of years, during times when snow was widespread in the planet’s midlatitudes and was able to melt on some crater slopes. Another team, also in the Netherlands, are conducting lab experiments to show how groundwater may have shaped the Martian surface. The researchers will present their findings at this press conference.

Participants:
Svetlana Kostic
Professor, Computational Science Research Center, San Diego State University, USA
Tjalling de Haas
PhD Candidate, Faculty of Geosciences, Utrecht University, The Netherlands
Wouter Marra
Researcher, Faculty of Geosciences, Utrecht University, The Netherlands

Related scientific sessions: SSP3.1.1/GM7.6/HS9.7, GM10.1/PS9.5, SSP3.1.4/GM7.5/HS9.6

LATEST RESULTS FROM THE ESA ROSETTA MISSION
Tuesday, 14 April, 12:00–13:00

Rosetta, a mission of the European Space Agency (ESA) launched in 2004, is the first spacecraft to orbit around a comet and deploy a lander on its surface. The spacecraft arrived at Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in August 2014 and the lander, Philae, has been on the comet’s surface since November. In this press conference, the Rosetta science team will provide an update on the mission and present its latest results.

Participants:
TBA

Related scientific session: PS4.2

IMPACTS OF GEOENGINEERING ON LAND, OCEANS AND THE ATMOSPHERE
Tuesday, 14 April, 13:00–14:00

In the past few years, geoengineering – the deliberate manipulation of the Earth's environment – has been hailed as a quick fix for climate change. This press conference will look into the feasibility of using geoengineering techniques, from thinning clouds and reflecting sunlight to removing carbon from the atmosphere, and its side effects. How can geoengineering impact the oceans, the water cycle or land environments? Can it be seen as a viable solution to climate change? The panel will present new research findings and answer these and other questions.

Participants:
Ken Caldeira
Climate Scientist, Carnegie Institution for Science, Department of Global Ecology at Stanford University, USA
Helene Muri
Researcher, Section for Meteorology and Oceanography, Department of Geosciences of the University of Norway, Oslo, Norway
Hannele Korhonen
Head of the Atmospheric and Ocean Modelling Group, Finnish Meteorological Institute, Helsinki, Finland

Related scientific sessions: AS4.16/CL3.8, OS3.1

ICELAND'S BÁRÐARBUNGA-HOLUHRAUN: A REMARKABLE VOLCANIC ERUPTION
Wednesday, 15 April, 9:00–10:00

The Bárðarbunga-Holuhraun volcanic eruption started in August 2014 and ended in February, though there are still signs of movement in the caldera. It was a remarkable eruption, not only because scientists have monitored every step of it, but also because of the sheer amount of gas and lava the volcano has spewed out. The lava flow is the biggest in Iceland for over 200 years, while sulfur dioxide and other gases, emitted by the volcano in record amounts, have impacted air pollution across Iceland and have travelled as far as Ireland and Norway. In this press conference the panel will present new results about this eruption, looking into its effects and remarkable characteristics.

Participants:
Magnus T. Gudmundsson
Professor, Institute of Earth Sciences, University of Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland
Kristin S. Vogfjörd
Director of Research, Icelandic Meteorological Office, Reykjavik, Iceland
Sara Barsotti
Coordinator for Volcanic Hazard and responsible for the Icelandic State Volcano Observatory, Icelandic Meteorological Office, Reykjavik, Iceland

Related scientific sessions: GMPV6.1, GMPV5.4/TS2.8

DROUGHTS AND FLOODS IN A WARMING CLIMATE
Wednesday, 15 April, 12:00–13:00

Global warming is altering the Earth's water cycle, with more water evaporating to the atmosphere as temperatures increase. How will different levels of warming affect flood risk and drought occurrence? How will climate change affect the availability of water resources in Europe? And is there a more evident human footprint, namely air pollution, in changing rainfall patterns? Researchers are using state-of-the-art climate models to find out the answers to these questions and will present their results at this press conference.

Participants:
Lorenzo Alfieri
Researcher, Institute for Environment and Sustainability, European Commission Joint Research Centre, Ispra, Italy
Wouter Greuell
Researcher, Wageningen University and Research Centre, Earth System Sciences, Wageningen, The Netherlands
Yusuke Satoh
Postdoctoral Research Scholar, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Vienna, Austria
Debbie Polson
Research Associate, University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Related scientific sessions: NH9.13, CL3.2, CL4.12/HS7.9

RECENT AND FUTURE CHANGES IN THE GREENLAND ICE SHEET
Thursday, 16 April, 12:00–13:00

Over the past few decades, the Arctic region has warmed more than any other on Earth. The Greenland Ice Sheet is losing mass faster than ever before, and is expected to keep melting with consequences for global sea-level rise and ocean circulation. In this media briefing, researchers present new results on the factors that influence the Greenland Ice Sheet's rapid and profound changes – from snow darkening and glacial lakes to clouds – at present and in the years to come.

Participants:
Kristof Van Tricht
PhD Student, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, KU Leuven – University of Leuven, Belgium
Amber Leeson
Research Fellow, Centre for Polar Observation and Modelling, University of Leeds, United Kingdom
Marco Tedesco
Associate Professor, Earth & Atmospheric Science Department, The City College of New York, USA

Related scientific sessions: CL2.6, CR3.2

Note that the list above is subject to change. Please check the press conferences page, or the information panels at the Vienna Press Centre, for the most up-to-date information.

Live streaming

All press conferences, and some scientific sessions, are being live streamed online. Videos for press conferences will be available from http://www.egu2015.eu/webstreaming.html, and from the press conferences page.

If you are a journalist or freelance writer and you wish to ask questions remotely during the live view, you can do so using the chat window you'll find below the web stream for each press conference. Please provide your name and affiliation and indicate who your question is for when asking. Be courteous and respectful and make sure to protect your private information as the chat is public. During each press conference, a member of the EGU press team will monitor the chat and read your questions out loud.

More details on how to access press conferences remotely are available from the Webstreaming page.

Media registration and badge collection

Journalists, science writers and public information officers are invited to register on-site, free of charge, during the meeting. The registration counter for media participants ('Press & Media') is located in Hall Z of the Austria Center Vienna (ACV) near the main registration area. This is also where you can collect your badge if you have registered online.

The list of journalist and public information officers who have registered online is available here.

Media registration gives access to the Press Centre, interview rooms and other meeting rooms, and includes a public transportation ticket for Vienna and the programme book. At the Press Centre, media participants have access to high-speed Internet (LAN and wireless LAN), as well as breakfast, lunch, coffee and refreshments, all available free of charge. Food options will be more varied this year, including salads, fresh fruit, sweets and savoury snacks.

Further information about media services at the General Assembly is available at http://media.egu.eu. For information on accommodation and travel, please refer to the appropriate sections of the EGU 2015 General Assembly website.

Meeting programme

All sessions (over 800) and abstracts (over 14,500) are available online and fully searchable. You can access the programme on the EGU 2015 website.

The programme is searchable by name of a scientist, keywords (e.g.: Greenland, duck), session topic (e.g.: Natural Hazards, Atmospheric Sciences), and other parameters. Further, you can select single contributions or complete sessions from the meeting programme to generate your personal programme. 

Programme highlights

In addition to the sessions flagged in the press conference programme, the EGU press officer has prepared a list of sessions and abstracts that media participants may wish to check out while searching for additional stories, which is available online. Sessions featured in the list include two debates, 'The thirsty 10 billion: Are we managing?' and 'Negotiating climate policy – resigning to resiliance?', as well as other Union-wide sessions. 

Some of these programme highlights will be live streamed; please refer to http://www.egu2015.eu/webstreaming.html for more information.

Reporters may also find the list of papers of media interest, selected by session conveners, useful.

The European Geosciences Union (EGU) is Europe’s premier geosciences union, dedicated to the pursuit of excellence in the Earth, planetary, and space sciences for the benefit of humanity, worldwide. It is a non-profit interdisciplinary learned association of scientists founded in 2002. The EGU has a current portfolio of 16 diverse scientific journals, which use an innovative open access format, and organises a number of topical meetings, and education and outreach activities. Its annual General Assembly is the largest and most prominent European geosciences event, attracting over 12,000 scientists from all over the world. The meeting’s sessions cover a wide range of topics, including volcanology, planetary exploration, the Earth’s internal structure and atmosphere, climate, energy, and resources. The EGU 2015 General Assembly is taking place in Vienna, Austria, from 12 to 17 April 2015. For information regarding the press centre at the meeting and media registration, please check http://media.egu.eu.

If you wish to receive our press releases via email, please use the press release subscription form at http://www.egu.eu/news/subscribe/. Subscribed journalists and other members of the media receive EGU press releases under embargo (if applicable) 24 hours in advance of public dissemination.

• Media services at the General Assembly
• EGU 2015 General Assembly website