The schedule of press conferences at the General Assembly of the European Geosciences Union (EGU) is now available. It includes media briefings on the latest research on plastic pollution, European climate, and health risks, as well as a press conference where scientists will announce the Antarctic location they found to drill for 1.5 million-year old ice. Among 1000 scientific sessions, the meeting programme features a Union symposium on climate tipping points, a debate on the safe operating space for the planet, and a session on science, politics and European (dis)integration featuring Mario Monti and Ilaria Capua. The meeting is taking place on 7–12 April at the Austria Center Vienna and is expected to attract more than 14,000 scientists from around the world. Journalists interested in attending should register online by tomorrow.

Contents

• Press conference schedule
• Meeting programme
• Programme highlights
• EGU Public Lecture
• Media registration

Press conference schedule

Press conferences at the EGU General Assembly will be held at the Press Centre located near Foyer F on the Yellow Level 0 (Ground Floor) of the Austria Center Vienna. All times are CEST (local time in Vienna).

PC1. Health risks: air pollution, emerging viruses, malaria mosquitoes (Monday, 8 April, 14:00)
PC2. Beyond EPICA: The quest for a 1.5 million year ice core (Tuesday, 9 April, 09:00)
PC3. Latest research on plastic pollution (Tuesday, 9 April, 10:30)
PC4. Monitoring the Earth from space: new findings (Tuesday, 9 April, 13:00)
PC5. The 2018 heatwave and new research on European climate (Tuesday, 9 April, 14:00)
PC6. Marks of the Anthropocene: past, present and future (Wednesday, 10 April, 09:00)
PC7. New hazards research: Anak Krakatau, glacial lakes and giant quakes (Wednesday, 10 April, 15:00)

A press conference on ESA Mars science may be added to the list of media events in the next few weeks.

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HEALTH RISKS: AIR POLLUTION, EMERGING VIRUSES, MALARIA MOSQUITOES
Monday, 8 April, 14:00

Climate change and increasing air and water pollution bring new health risks to human populations. In this press conference, journalists will hear about new findings on the impacts of air pollution on human health and premature mortality for different age ranges and different diseases in Europe. Another team will present new results on how the future distribution of Anopheles mosquitoes may increase malaria risk in some European countries. In another presentation, journalists will hear about new research in slums in sub Saharan Africa that found emerging virus communities in groundwater.

Participants:
Patricia Tarín-Carrasco
PhD Student, Department of Physics, University of Murcia, Spain
Elke Hertig
Associate Professor, Institute of Geography, University of Augsburg, Germany
Jan Willem Foppen
Associate Professor of Hydrology, IHE Delft Institute for Water Education, the Netherlands

Related scientific sessions: AS3.15, HS8.1.6, ITS4.2/CL4.21/HS11.21/OS2.11

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BEYOND EPICA: THE QUEST FOR A 1.5 MILLION YEAR ICE CORE
Tuesday, 9 April, 09:00

An ideal location has been found for drilling an ice core which goes as far back in Earth’s history as possible. Internationally leading ice and climate scientists of 14 institutions from ten European countries have been searching for this spot in Antarctica in the project Beyond EPICA – Oldest Ice funded by the European Commission. They are going to report on their Antarctic field campaigns that led to the choice of the drill site and give an outlook for the next step to recover an ice core. This ‘oldest ice’ would allow to improve our understanding of past processes in the climate system over the last 1.5 million years and improve prognoses for the future.

Participants:
Olaf Eisen
Coordinator Beyond EPICA – Oldest Ice (BE-OI) Coordination and Support Action, Alfred-Wegener-Institute, Bremerhaven, Germany
Carlo Barbante
Coordinator Beyond EPICA – Oldest Ice Core (BE-OIC), Institute for the Dynamics of Environmental Processes (IDPA–CNR) & University of Venice, Italy
Catherine Ritz
BE-OI scientist, Institute for Geosciences and Environmental research (IGE), Grenoble, France
Barbara Stenni
BE-OIC scientist, University of Venice, Italy

Related scientific session: CL1.09/CR1.10/NP4.7

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LATEST RESEARCH ON PLASTIC POLLUTION
Tuesday, 9 April, 10:30

Plastic is everywhere. This durable and widely used material is a persistent pollutant that contaminates rivers, can damage marine life and enter the food chain. In this press conference, researchers will present the first evidence of the occurrence of microplastic in a terrestrial glacier environment and the first global overview of microplastic distributions in rivers, lakes and estuaries. Moving from the land to the sea, we will hear about the latest global simulations of dispersion and accumulation of plastic in the oceans, including results of a 3D model of plastic distribution in the ocean waters. We will also hear about how marine plastic debris can be used to improve our understanding of ocean currents.

Participants:
Roberto Sergio Azzoni
Professor, Department of Environmental Science and Policy, University of Milan, Italy
Stefan Krause
Professor of Ecohydrology and Biogeochemistry, School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham, United Kingdom
Alethea Mountford
PhD Student, Earth, Ocean and Planetary Sciences Group, School of Natural and Environmental Sciences, Newcastle University, United Kingdom
Erik van Sebille
Associate Professor in Oceanography and Climate Change at the Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Research, Department of Physics, Utrecht University, the Netherlands

Related scientific sessions: ITS5.2/OS4.13/EOS10.2/BG3.18/GM6.6/HS11.63, SCS2/HS1.2.13/OS4.36, CR7.2/BG1.49/HS2.3.7

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MONITORING THE EARTH FROM SPACE: NEW FINDINGS
Tuesday, 9 April, 13:00

Technology advances now allow us to see the Earth from space in unprecedented detail and scientists are increasingly using satellite data to help us learn about our planet. At a presentation in this press conference, journalists will hear preliminary findings from work that used satellite data from the Landsat archive to reconstruct 35 years of forest mortality for all of continental Europe. A team from Italy will report on new techniques to monitor ground deformation of active volcanoes from space, using Copernicus Sentinel-1 data, while a UK team will report on their method to detect marine litter using data from the Sentinel-2 satellite. In a final presentation, we will hear the first results from the Atmosphere-Space Interactions Monitor (ASIM), a suite of instruments on the International Space Station observing flashes of gamma-rays and lightning into the stratosphere powered by thunderstorms.

Participants:
Cornelius Senf
Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU), Vienna, Austria
Francesco Casu
Researcher, Institute for Electromagnetic Sensing of the Environment, National Research Council of Italy (IREA-CNR), Naples, Italy
Lauren Biermann
Earth Observation Scientist, Plymouth Marine Laboratory, UK
Torsten Neubert
Principal Investigator of the ASIM Mission and Chief Consultant, Technical University of Denmark, National Space Institute/DTU Space, Kgs Lyngby, Denmark

Related scientific sessions: BG2.3, NH6.1/GI3.20/HS11.38, NH1.2/AS1.29, ITS5.2/OS4.13/EOS10.2/BG3.18/GM6.6/HS11.63 

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THE 2018 HEATWAVE AND NEW RESEARCH ON EUROPEAN CLIMATE
Tuesday, 9 April, 14:00

The 2018 heatwave in North America, Europe and Asia saw extreme temperatures that caused loss of life, severe wildfires, and damage to infrastructures. A presentation in this press conference will look into the role human-induced climate change played in causing this record-breaking heatwave. Zooming in on Europe, another presentation will outline the key results from the European State of the Climate 2018 report. Following this, scientists will reveal striking new findings on the future evolution of Alpine glaciers and present new research on past and future snow conditions in Europe. Changing focus and looking into the European past, a final presentation will show what research into past climate conditions and construction activity can tell us about disease, famine and war in Europe from 1250 to 1699.

Participants:
Martha Marie Vogel
Researcher, Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Science, ETH Zurich, Switzerland
Freja Vamborg
Senior Scientist at the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, Reading UK
Harry Zekollari
Researcher, Laboratory of Hydraulics, Hydrology and Glaciology (VAW), ETH Zurich, Switzerland; Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL), Birmensdorf, Switzerland; Department of Geoscience and Remote Sensing, Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands
Sven Kotlarski
Senior Scientist, Federal Office of Meteorology and Climatology MeteoSwiss, Zurich, Switzerland
Fredrik Charpentier Ljungqvist
Researcher, Department of History and Bolin Centre for Climate Research, Stockholm University, Sweden

Related scientific sessions: CR1.1/CL3.07, CL4.23, CL1.38/BG2.41, OS4.11, CL5.01

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MARKS OF THE ANTHROPOCENE: PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE
Wednesday, 10 April, 09:00

Many scientists argue we are living in the Anthropocene, a geological epoch shaped by human actions. In this press conference, journalists will hear about marks human activities have left, and continue to leave, on our planet. In one presentation, reporters will find out about a new 3D model of anthropogenic sediments under the city of Vienna, dating back up to more than 2,000 years ago. In another presentation, researchers will show evidence of elevated levels of radionuclides (fallout from Chernobyl and nuclear weapons testing) in glaciers across the globe. Another team will show how pesticides sprayed in crops are leaving residues in honey, pollen and beeswax. Finally, journalists will hear about how climate change and the urban heat island effect may leave the urban poor more exposed to deadly heat in major cities worldwide.

Participants:
Kira Lappé
PhD Student, Department of Geodynamics and Sedimentology, University of Vienna, Austria
Caroline Clason
Lecturer in Physical Geography, School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Science and Engineering, University of Plymouth, United Kingdom
Yolanda Picó
Professor of Nutrition and Food Science, University of Valencia, Spain
Steffen Lohrey
Institute for Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning (ILaUP), Technical University of Berlin, Germany

Related scientific sessions: ITS5.1/SSP2.1/CL3.01/GM6.7/SSS13.32, CR7.2/BG1.49/HS2.3.7, SSS8.5/BG2.67/HS8.3.15, NH1.9/AS4.31

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NEW HAZARDS RESEARCH: ANAK KRAKATAU, GLACIAL LAKES AND GIANT QUAKES
Wednesday, 10 April, 15:00

On 22 December 2018, a deadly tsunami struck Indonesia’s Sunda Strait, after activity at Anak Krakatau caused a piece of the western flank of the volcano to collapse to the sea. In this press conference, journalists will hear about new findings on this devastating eruption tsunami. In another presentation, reporters will learn about new research into giant earthquakes, a hazard able to affect large areas. They will find out about the largest quakes to have occurred on our planet, what caused them, and how frequent they may be. Finally, reporters will hear about an often poorly understood hazard in a presentation that will provide the first assessment of glacial lake outburst flood risk across the entire Tibetan Plateau and will identify glacial lakes that pose more of a threat to human settlements.

Participants:
David Tappin
Marine Geologist, British Geological Survey, Nottingham, United Kingdom
Álvaro González
Postdoctoral Researcher, Complex Systems Group, Centre de Recerca Matemàtica, Bellaterra (Barcelona), Spain
Simon Allen
Researcher, Department of Geography, University of Zurich, Switzerland

Related scientific sessions: NH2.1/GMPV5.18, NH4.2/SM3.4, ITS4.8/AS4.46/BG1.41/CL3.13/CR1.12/GM5.6

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

Meeting programme

All sessions and side events (over 1000) and abstracts (around 17,000) that make up the programme of the EGU General Assembly are available online on the main meeting website.

The programme is searchable by scientist name, keywords (e.g.: Greenland, turtle), session topic (e.g.: climate, planetary sciences), and other parameters. You can generate your personal programme by selecting single contributions or complete sessions from the meeting programme.

To provide a better experience for all attendees at its General Assembly, the EGU has made changes to the meeting schedule compared to previous years. The new schedule features posters, orals and PICOs in parallel, uses time blocks of 105 minutes, and includes a dedicated networking slot.

Programme highlights

Of highlight this year is the session ‘Science, politics and European (dis)integration: a conversation of geoscientists with Ilaria Capua and Mario Monti’ at lunchtime on Wednesday 10 April. If you’d like to interview or question Former Italian Prime Minister and European Commissioner Mario Monti and Former Italian Parliamentarian Ilaria Capua after their session is over, please inform the EGU Media and Communications Manager Bárbara Ferreira at media@egu.eu.

Other Union-wide sessions, including great debates, that could be relevant for media participants are:

• Past and future tipping points and large climate transitions in Earth history
• From fundamental Atmospheric Composition Research to Societal Services/30 years of the WMO Global Atmosphere Watch Programme
• Plastics in the Hydrosphere: An urgent problem requiring global action
• The safe operating space for the planet and how to ensure it is not passed
• Plan-S: Should scientific publishers be forced to go Open Access?
• Science in policymaking: Who is responsible?

Aside from these sessions, reporters may wish to check the sessions of media relevance selected by the EGU press officer. These sessions include presentations media participants may wish to check while searching for newsworthy research to report on.

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

EGU Public Lecture

For only the second time, the EGU is organising a side event aimed at the wider public in Vienna during the EGU General Assembly. Insa Thiele-Eich, a meteorologist and climate researcher, at the Meteorological Institute, University of Bonn, and an astronaut in training, will give a lecture (in German) titled ‘Vom Alltag zwischen Atmosphäre und Orbit – ein Bericht’. The event will be held at the Vienna Natural History Museum on Thursday 11 April. For more information, please check the museum's website.

Media registration

Members of the media, public information officers and science bloggers (conditions apply) are now invited to register for the meeting online, free of charge. Media registration gives access to the Press Centre, interview rooms, and all scientific sessions. It also includes a public transportation ticket for central Vienna, valid from Monday to Friday. At the Press Centre, media participants have access to a working space with a dedicated wireless network and a press conference room. In addition, breakfast, lunch, coffee and refreshments are available free of charge.

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

Online registration is open until tomorrow (14 March 2019). We strongly encourage all media participants to register in advance via this site to facilitate badge collection on arrival to the conference centre, the Austria Center Vienna. You can pick up your badge in the registration counters on Sunday afternoon or all day Monday (from 07:30) to Thursday. You may also register on-site during the meeting.

Further information about media services at the General Assembly is available at https://www.egu.eu/gamedia/2019/. For information on accommodation and travel, please refer to the appropriate sections of the main EGU General Assembly 2019 website.

Please note that the Vienna City Marathon (40,000 participants) will take place in Vienna on Sunday, 7 April, resulting in many hotels being fully booked the night before. Furthermore, another large conference is taking place from 9 to 14 April 2019 in Vienna. Therefore, we strongly recommend booking accommodation as soon as possible.

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 with headquarters in Munich, Germany. The EGU publishes a number of 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 14,000 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 General Assembly 2019 is taking place in Vienna, Austria, from 7 to 12 April 2019. For information and press registration, please check https://www.egu.eu/gamedia, or follow the EGU on Twitter and Facebook.

If you wish to receive our press releases via email, please use the Press Release Subscription Form at https://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.

• EGU General Assembly 2019 media page
• Press conferences 2019
• Media registration
• Scientific programme