American Geophysics Union 2008 Fall Meeting15-19 December, The Moscone Center, San Francisco

摘要

The American Geophysics Union web-site (www.agu.org) describes the AGU'svision as "a worldwide scientific community that advances, through unselfishcooperation in research, an understanding of Earth and space that is used for thebenefit of humanity". This broad scope was reflected in the 25 separate programsincluded in the AGU 2008 Fall Meeting ranging over the spectrum from "PlanetarySciences" to "Study of the Earth's Deep Interior." The meeting attracted more than16,000 participants and involved almost 1200 separate sessions over 5 days. Thismassively parallel event was easily accommodated within San Francisco'sMoscone Center, which was large enough to also be hosting the Annual Meeting ofthe American Society for Cell Biology. Even though the inter-session pedestriantraffic at times resembled the arrival hall at Heathrow Airport the entire meetingwent like clockwork—a tribute to the detailed planning of the meeting organisers.