Passcalians Attend AGU Fall Meeting

The annual Fall Meeting of the American Geophysical Union is one of the largest and most interesting scientific conferences in the world. Some 15,000 scientists - from students to professional researchers, from small environmental analysis groups to huge government entities like NASA and NOAA - and a small troop from IRIS - gathered at the Moscone Center in downtown San Francisco for a week in mid-December 2009 to share their studies and recent results with each other, and with anyone curious enough to listen in.

Fascinating research projects ranged from geomagnetism, oceanography and climate change, to volcanology, seismology, and tectonics. There were hundreds - if not thousands - of posters to peruse, booths to browse, and lectures to listen in on. The volume of information available was staggering.

The PASSCAL staff attended the meeting for several reasons, mainly to support the large IRIS booth and meet with our users. We offered general information for passers-by, and provided data training and consultations for users. The AGU meeting allowed us to meet and network with our IRIS colleagues, and to discuss pertinent issues with principal investigators, archivers, and other scientists. The Data Group arrived in town early to present a data archiving workshop, for interested AGU attendees.