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IMG_5266(1).JPG (Credit: Caitrin Pilkington, EGU23 Press Conferences)

Media at the EGU General Assembly
Vienna, Austria | 14–19 April 2024 Press conferences

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European Geosciences Union

www.egu.eu

Press conferences

List of press conferences

Monday, 15 April 2024
Tuesday, 16 April 2024
Wednesday, 17 April 2024
Thursday, 18 April 2024

PC1 – Climate compatible energy in an uncertain future

Monday, 15 April 2024, 14:00–15:00 CEST (Stream)

The European Green Deal zero emissions target, emphasised by the recent energy crisis, puts decarbonisation high up also on the priority lists of policymakers and industries. In this press conference, scientists will show how to best re-purpose coal mines, and decarbonise passenger transport without ignoring equity issues. They will also expose the benefits and risks of an approaching hydrogen economy, and the vulnerability of Swiss hydropower systems to climate variability.

Participants:

PC2 – Food security, water woes, and tire-d lettuce

Monday, 15 April 2024, 16:00–17:00 CEST (Stream)

Especially when it becomes scarce or unhealthy, food is an issue that is always critical. In this press conference, scientists share real-time impacts of climate variability and trade disruptions on food security; claim a better understanding of the use of reclaimed water for agricultural irrigation in Spain; and accelerate research to better understand tire-derived compound uptake in lettuce.

Participants:

PC3 – Unveiling Antarctica’s secrets: new research brings us one step closer to predicting the future of the icy continent

Tuesday, 16 April 2024, 10:00–11:00 CEST (Stream)

In this press conference, we present ground-breaking research findings that shed light on environmental change in Antarctica. In one study from the highly-studied Brunt Ice Shelf, researchers are combining ice cores, seismic surveys and modelling techniques to unravel the mysteries of iceberg calving, providing valuable insights into the processes driving this phenomenon. A second study, part of the UK-US-led International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration used seismic surveys to visualise the bedrock beneath Thwaites Glacier. The results of this study will feed into models which will give us new insights into the future of this unstable glacier. These studies represent significant strides in our understanding of the changes taking place in Antarctica, and their potential implications for global sea level rise.

Access the British Antarctica Survey Press Releases here:

Scientists one step closer to predicting iceberg calving

New insights into the bed beneath remote Antarctic glacier

Participants:

PC4 – By Jove! New revelations about Jupiter's planetary system

Tuesday, 16 April 2024, 11:30–12:30 CEST (Stream)

How much do we really know about one the largest planet in our Solar System? As new discoveries emerge from NASA’s Juno mission, observing the Jovian moon Io, another study examining asteroid fragments provides new data about the gas giant itself. An unique family of rare meteorite fragments has revealed the influence that Jupiter’s instability had on the evolution of our Solar System, particularly the asteroid belt between us, as late as 60-100 myr after its formation. Even as these fragments provide new understanding of Jupiter, NASA’s Juno Mission delivers brand new thermal data that indicates the presence of endogenic heat flow on Io, providing new information about the moon’s composition.

Participants:

PC5 – Learning from the ancients: journeys, giants and calcium build-up

Tuesday, 16 April 2024, 15:30–16:30 CEST (Stream)

Traces of past human settlements and dispersal patterns are only rare if one does not know where to find them. In this press conference, scientists reveal a wide variety of newly uncovered traces, ranging from huge erratic boulders in the young glacial area of Poland, limescale in ancient Roman aqueducts, to the evidence carried by tiny pollen grains and even tinier cosmogenic nuclides. With this data, we gain new insight into geoscience influenced myths of frost giants, the pathways of Greek nomads and human dispersal patterns across Eurasia, and how water resource management and adaptations to climate crises were a problem for ancient settlements too.

Participants:

PC6 – Preparing for our hot and windy future

Wednesday, 17 April 2024, 14:00–15:00 CEST (Stream)

In this press conference, scientists explain how Artificial Intelligence (AI) helps to keep track of tropical-like cyclones across the Mediterranean Sea, so-called ‘Medicanes’, and how having a truly in-depth look at damage datasets can actually prevent financial losses when windstorms hit Europe. Researchers will also outline how climate models are underestimating summer warming in Western Europe, and that recently observed extreme heatwaves will likely be dwarfed by future events.

Participants:

PC7 – Life in space: Habitability in our solar system and beyond

Thursday, 18 April 2024, 14:00–15:00 CEST (Stream)

Our planet protects us from cosmic rays, solar flares, micrometeorites and huge temperature variations. But what if the planetary shield is not strong enough, or what if we venture out into space itself?! In this press conference, scientists discuss the observation of biosignatures on distant exoplanets and where is the best Lunar real estate. For those who decide to remain on spaceship Earth, scientists outline how they predict sunspots and other extreme space weather with the help of advanced Machine Learning technology and.... a regular clock.

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