Press conferences

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Monday, 24 April 2017

• Screaming clouds (PC1, 10:30–11:00 CEST)
• Cities’ resilience to a changing climate (PC2, 13:00–14:00 CEST)

Tuesday, 25 April 2017

• Water hazards: how floods and storms impact us and how we impact water resources (PC3, 09:00–10:00 CEST)
• Polar regions: Arctic sea-ice future, Antarctic ice-shelf stability, and glacial landforms (PC4, 10:00–11:00 CEST)
• Plastic litter: how it’s transported, reaches the food chain, and what we can learn from it (PC5, 11:00–12:00 CEST)
• The grand finale of Cassini’s mission at Saturn (PC6, 15:30–16:30 CEST)

Wednesday, 26 April 2017

• Geoarcheology: Finding traces of human presence in caves, soils and landscapes (PC7, 10:00–11:00 CEST)
• Food security: how extreme weather and other hazards affect what we drink and eat (PC8, 11:00–12:00 CEST)

Monday, 24 April 2017, 10:30–11:00 CEST (Stream)

In this press conference we will learn how the spectacular colours of bright, mother-of-pearl clouds inspired a famous painting.

Participants:

• Helene Muri
  Researcher, Department of Geosciences, University of Oslo, Norway (presenting on behalf of Svein Fikke, Meteorological Consultant, Lørenskog, Norway)

Related scientific sessions:

AS1.34

Monday, 24 April 2017, 13:00–14:00 CEST (Stream)

Cities are usually warmer than their surrounding areas, an effect known as urban heat island. Roads and buildings absorb and trap more solar radiation than the soil and vegetation more prevalent in rural locations, which causes temperatures in cities to increase. In addition, human activities such as heating, cooling and transportation, add to this effect. How will climate change affect urban areas, and what can we do about it? In this press conference, we’ll find out how much global warming will worsen the urban heat island effect, and how weather, air pollution and future climate can affect an essential service in cities: ambulances. We will also hear about a technique to fight increasing urban temperatures: a 17th century Japanese practice.

Participants:

• Hendrik Wouters
  Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Leuven, Belgium
• Francis Pope
  Lecturer, University of Birmingham, United Kingdom
• Anna Solcerova
  PhD Researcher, Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands

Related scientific sessions:

NH9.7/AS4.33/CL2.28/HS11.34, CL3.07/AS4.27, CL2.02

Tuesday, 25 April 2017, 09:00–10:00 CEST (Stream)

Coastlines are often impacted by storms, with low-lying coastal areas being particularly prone to flooding. This risk is expected to increase in a warmer world, as sea level rises and storms become more intense and frequent. In this press conference we will hear about a 300-year storm record and how it can help people living in European coastlines better prepare for future storms. Another team will present a map of global coastal flood hazards, which will make it easier for coastal populations to understand their flood risk and how it might change in the future. Moving from the coast inland, we’ll hear about another water-related hazard: threats to freshwater resources. The third presentation at this press conference will focus on how drought and wars in the Middle East have affected water bodies in the region. Finally, the fourth presentation will describe the results of a study published in Nature Geoscience. The results of this study remain under embargo until the start of the press conference.

Participants:

• Paolo Ciavola
  Associate Professor, Department of Physics and Earth Sciences, University of Ferrara, Italy and Consorzio Futuro in Ricerca, Italy
• Dirk Eilander
  Researcher, Deltares, Inland Water Systems, The Netherlands
• Mejs Hasan
  PhD Student, Department of Geology, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, United States
• James Kirchner
  Professor, Department of Environmental System Sciences, ETH Zurich, Switzerland, and Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL, Birmensdorf, Switzerland

Related scientific sessions:

NH9.1/CL2.26, CL3.07/AS4.27, HS6.3

Tuesday, 25 April 2017, 10:00–11:00 CEST (Stream)

The polar regions, at the north and southern extremes of our planet, are some of the most unique and fragile areas on Earth. The Arctic is warming twice as fast as the global average, with drastic consequences for the sea-ice cover in the region, which hit its lowest annual extent on record in 2016. A talk at this press conference will look into what 2016 Arctic sea ice can tell us about future sea-ice conditions in the region. We will also hear about how future Arctic sea-ice cover will differ for 1.5 and 2°C, the two global warming limits in the Paris Agreement. Moving south, another presentation will look into the impact that warm winds (Foehn winds) are having on the weather, climate and ice shelves in Antarctica, specifically Larsen C. This ice shelf is located in the Antarctic Peninsula, the fastest warming region on Earth in the late 20th century, and is at risk of collapse. This press conference will end with the presentation of a new seabed map of the polar regions, an atlas of submarine glacial landforms with stunning images.

Participants:

• Julienne Stroeve
  Senior Research Scientist, University of Colorado, National Snow and Ice Data Center, United States
• James Screen
  Senior Lecturer, Department of Mathematics, University of Exeter, United Kingdom
• Jenny Turton
  PhD Student, British Antarctic Survey and University of Leeds, United Kingdom
• Kelly Hogan
  Marine Geophysicist, British Antarctic Survey, United Kingdom

Related scientific sessions:

CL3.04, CR2.1, CL4.07/AS1.14/BG9.18/CR1.7/HS11.3, CL1.23/BG9.14/CR6.3/OS2.5

Tuesday, 25 April 2017, 11:00–12:00 CEST (Stream)

In modern societies, plastic has uses in thousands of products, from food packaging and clothing to furniture and electronics. Because of how prevalent its use is, millions of tons of plastic debris end up in landfills every year around the world. When plastic waste is not properly managed or disposed, it can pollute soils, rivers and the oceans, affecting the natural environment, including animals and humans. This press conference will feature a presentation about how microplastics can accumulate in the terrestrial food chain. Another presentation will reveal how much plastic is delivered by rivers into the sea. Finally, we will hear about what plastic debris washed up in coastal areas can tell us about past storms.

Participants:

• Esperanza Huerta
  Researcher at El Colegio de la Frontera Sur, Agroecologia, Campeche, Mexico & Guest Researcher at Wageningen University, The Netherlands
• Christian Schmidt
  Researcher at the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ, Department of Hydrogeology, Germany
• Lasse Sander
  Researcher at the Wadden Sea Research Station, Alfred-Wegener-Institut, Helmholtz Center for Polar and Marine Research, Germany

Related scientific sessions:

OS4.7, SSP4.7/CL1.08/NH2.9/SM1.4, NH1.5/AS4.37/CL4.19/HS11.27/SM10.9/SSS10.16

Tuesday, 25 April 2017, 15:30–16:30 CEST (Stream)

On 22 April, the final close flyby of Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, will propel the Cassini spacecraft across the planet’s main rings and into its Grand Finale series of orbits. This marks the start of the final and most audacious phase of the mission as the spacecraft dives between the innermost rings of Saturn and the outer atmosphere of the planet to explore a region never before visited; the first of 22 ring plane crossings occurs on 26 April. The mission will end on 15 September 2017 when the spacecraft plunges into Saturn’s atmosphere and burns up, in order to protect moons of Saturn that could have conditions suitable for life. During this press briefing, a panel of Cassini scientists will discuss what to expect during Cassini’s Grand Finale, as well as presenting some science highlights from the mission, including updates from the ring-grazing orbits that began in November 2016.

Participants:

• Athena Coustenis
  Cassini Co-Investigator, Laboratoire d'études spatiales et d'instrumentation en astrophysique (LESIA), Observatoire de Paris-Meudon, France
• J. Hunter Waite
  Cassini Plasma Spectrometer & Ion and Neutral Mass Spectrometer Principal Investigator, Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, Texas, USA
• Luciano Iess
  Cassini Team Member, Università La Sapienza, Italy
• Nicolas Altobelli
  ESA (European Space Agency) Cassini Project Scientist

Related scientific sessions:

PS3.1

Wednesday, 26 April 2017, 10:00–11:00 CEST (Stream)

What can we learn about human history and evolution, and its impact, by analysing rocky caves, sediments, or features in the landscape? Research featured at this press conference explores a newly discovered rock shelter in Spain. The Abrigo del Molino holds clues for when the last Neanderthals occupied the Iberia Peninsula, which could help us find out if they mingled with anatomically modern humans. Another presentation will look into how soils are affected when we bury the dead underground: What can the chemical signals of decomposed human remains tell us about different mortuary customs? And how can nutrients of human origin affect the local ecology? A final presentation will go into how battles can leave long-term scars in landscapes. The research focuses on the First World War Verdun battlefield, in France, and how – 100 years on – flora and fauna are taking over shell craters, trenches, shelters and gun sites.

Participants:

• Martin Kehl
  Researcher, Institute of Geography, University of Cologne, Germany
• Ladislav Smejda
  Assistant Professor, Department of Ecology, Czech University of Life Sciences, Czech Republic
• Rémi De Matos Machado
  PhD Researcher, Geography Laboratory, University Paris-Diderot, France

Related scientific sessions:

SSP4.7/CL1.08/NH2.9/SM1.4, GM7.3/CL1.09/SSS3.11, SSS3.4

Wednesday, 26 April 2017, 11:00–12:00 CEST (Stream)

Many of the goods consumed in Europe, including staples such as coffee or rice, are produced outside its borders, making Europe’s economy dependent on water resources elsewhere in the world. Researchers have studied how vulnerable some key products are to drought and water scarcity, which climate change and weather extremes are making more likely in many of the regions where European goods originate from. They will outline their findings during the press conference. Another team has looked into the question: How can countries mitigate climate change by reducing greenhouse emissions in agriculture without compromising food security? Researchers will detail some of the options at the press conference. Finally, we will hear about how climate change and other natural disasters, such as earthquakes, storms or fires, affect the production of one of Europe’s most popular drinks: wine.

Participants:

• Ertug Ercin
  Project Manager, Water Footprint Network, The Netherlands
• Stefan Frank
  Research Scholar, Ecosystems Services and Management, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), Austria
• James Daniell
  Researcher, Geophysical Institute, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany

Related scientific sessions:

NH9.1/CL2.26, HS4.6/CL3.02, SSS9.14/BG9.46/CL3.13