First day of #AGU20 featured a science roll call and a post-election plenary

The first day of #AGU20 was filled with dozens of events, workshops, town halls and a special plenary on the 2020 U.S. election. Registration is now 23,000+ from 113+ countries. Thanks to everyone who is participating as an attendee and presenter and making this meeting dynamic and engaging.

If you’re looking for our suggestions on what to do tomorrow (2 December), please visit this From the Prow post.

Individual presentations and posters are all now available.

A few tips for a better experience based on feedback from day 1:

• Once you login, complete your profile by clicking on your initials in the upper right of the main AGU Fall Meeting Lobby and select your time zone. This will synch the program navigation in the lobby to your local time.
• Follow #AGU20 across social media—we’ll be answering questions that use this hashtag.
• The best search and navigation through the program are through the full program and schedule (registration and login required). All presentations, including posters, are linked there, and all recording will be posted here also.

We officially opened #AGU20 with a welcome from AGU CEO Randy W. Fiser and a scientific roll call of AGU’s sections, members and special guests. It was great to hear from AGU members around the world about their amazing science and inspiring work. But don’t worry if you missed it, you can catch it again on 7 December.

Our first plenary, Science in the Public Sphere: A Panel Discussion of the Implications for the Scientific Enterprise in the Aftermath of the 2020 U.S. Election, gave us all new insight into what we can expect from the new administration and the role science can play in shaping policy. You can watch a recording on our Facebook page if you aren’t registered to attend #AGU20. Otherwise, attendees can watch after logging into the Fall Meeting page.

AGU’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion programming began, including with a session discussing the movie “Picture a Scientist” including by the producer and several of the scientists consulted for the movie. If you missed this, you can sign up for a second viewing ticket (at your convenience over the weekend of 12 December) then join another discussion the last week of the meeting on Monday, 14 December 3pm-4pm PST.

The first of Innovative sessions:  INV02 – Global Environmental Measurement and Monitoring Technologies: Current Capabilities and Future Needs. This was broken into 3 panels covering the exciting future around distributed monitoring in hydrology, arctic science, and urban pollution and greenhouse gas monitoring and highlighted the need for public engagement and co-creation. The session was introduced by Member of Parliament, Carol Monaghan, United Kingdom & Scotland, and included 2018 Nobel in Physics Laureate, Donna Strickland, University of Waterloo.

Some news coming out of #AGU20 so far includes:

• Increased Plate Tectonic Activity May Have Warmed the Miocene Climate. Eos, 1 December. New research looks at how changes in rates of tectonic degassing may have been responsible for rapid, extreme warming during the Miocene Climatic Optimum and the long cooling period that followed.
• New diamond and gold deposit found in Nunavut shows similarities to world’s richest gold mine, researchers say. CTV News, 29 November. A group of Canadian researchers, who discovered diamonds in a small rock sample found in an unrealized gold deposit in Nunavut, say their findings hint at the possibility of new deposits in the area that are similar to the world’s richest gold mine.

If you haven’t checked out the online platform, be sure to login and look around. Check out “What’s On” or browse the poster gallery and recorded oral session presentations. We have some suggested itineraries to help you plan your #AGU20 schedule and you can also start scheduling networking opportunities with other attendees.