American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting in San Francisco
Eleanor Darlington
Loughborough University, Department of Geography
American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting in San Francisco
In December 2014 I attended the American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting in San Francisco, thanks to financial support from the Challenger Society. With 23,000 delegates in attendance, this was certainly my first mega-meeting! I presented a poster on my PhD research, which uses sediment plumes to monitor meltwater delivery from a tidewater glacier in Svalbard. Presenting at the AGU meeting provided a platform to explore potential collaborations and post-doctoral opportunities.
It was fantastic to be able to put my work into the wider context of contemporary research, in addition to hearing about research from other discipline, completely irrelevant to my own. The diversity of science presented was astounding! I was also able to volunteer at the Explorer Station run by the Association of Polar Early Career Scientists. This family outreach event attracted hundreds of people from the local area, of all ages. We spoke about research and experiences in the field. The younger visitors made Play-Doh animals to place on the Arctic and Antarctic maps.
Profile
Eleanor is nearing PhD completion at Loughborough University. Her research focuses on ice-ocean interactions of tidewater glaciers in Svalbard, using both remote sensing and in-situ measurements. In addition, she has been actively involved with education and outreach through the UK Polar Network and the International Polar Foundation.
Latest News
Potential Availability of NERC Ship Time During the 25/26 Programme Year
The NERC Marine Facilities Programme for 2025/2026 for the RRS Discovery and the RRS James Cook has been published on the Marine Facilities Planning website.
The RRS Discovery programme currently contains a 79 day alongside slot between the 2nd of November 2025 and the 19th of January 2026, which is available for science delivery if funded science projects can make use of this time. Due to the location of the vessel, the ship is most likely to be able to deliver fieldwork in the North and East Atlantic regions. Some support for science capability within the National Marine Equipment Pool is potentially available, although there is no capacity for use of autonomous vehicles or remotely operated vehicles. Any fieldwork within Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs) will need the appropriate diplomatic clearance submitted to coastal states at least 6 months in advance, and to NMF with sufficient lead time for processing via the FCDO.
If interested in making use of this ship time, please contact NERC Marine Planning (marineplanning@nerc.ukri.org) ASAP to start discussions.
THE MARINE FACILITIES ADVISORY BOARD – CAN YOU HELP?
The Marine Facilities Advisory Board advises the National Oceanography Centre on marine facilities and services, including the Natural Environment Research Council’s National Marine Equipment Pool (NMEP), the British Oceanographic Data Centre and the British Ocean Sediment Core Research Facility.
NOC Association AGM 2025
NOC Association (NOCA) AGM 2025
The 14th AGM of the NOC Association will be held on Thursday 15th and Friday 16th May 2025. This free, on-line event will take place on Zoom, across two consecutive mornings, each starting at 10:00 and ending at 12:30. Although discussion topics are being finalised, we will focus on national capability (NC) science, ships, and autonomous vehicles, and how the community can engage. There will be an update on AtlantiS and on the new marine science scoping group. All are warmly welcome to join. To participate, please complete your registration here. For enquiries: Jackie Pearson, Secretary to NOCA: jfpea@noc.ac.uk