planetwater

• super awesome time-lapse of snow accumulation during storm http://bit.ly/eB1ElJ (h/t @DaveMosher and @mattdanzico ) (via @clasticdetritus) #

• @seismotom sorry, I was travelling, missed your tweet. Are you at the social media soiree tonight? in reply to seismotom #
• Off I go to #AGU10 tomorrow! Talk on Thu, 12:05pm in MW-3018: non-Gaussian K fields and macrodispersion. Can't wait to see fellow tweeters! #
• Hey @seismotom – I'd be up for #python beers anytime! in reply to seismotom #
• Movie with Hans Rosling: The #joy of #statistics http://ke-we.net/9cd. Full show at BBC: http://ke-we.net/9ce. How can I watch in Germany? #

It’s only the second day, and yet I am starting to feel it! It is quite easy to identify the highlight of the day: Bill Gray’s talk – the Langbein lecture. But after that? An awesome discussion around a poster. Some ok precipitation downscaling talks. A good talk by Ty Ferre on hydrogeophysics.

So what did Bill Gray have to say? Of course he gave a very precise introduction into the methodology he developed for upscaling by the thermodynamically constrained averaging theory (TCAT). In addition he made sure to get another point across: the challenges involved in attempting to establish a novel scientific methodology.

In his early career, Gray was actively involved in the change from finite difference methods to finite element methods. Finite elements are superior and it took quite some time and some work until the majority had accepted that finite elements are better. Bill Gray generalized based on this example: according to him most innovations need time and a lot of work by the people behind those new ideas, until they are established. He admitted that obviously not everything new will or can turn later into an established method. But at the same time he appealed to editors of journals to be very careful, and not dismiss something at first sight. Even if a proposed novel method seems to act against whatever current “state of the art” might be.

From Stuttgart via Zurich we made it to San Francisco. San Francisco greeted us with spectacular colours on the sky during sunset. There’s more people here than last year, now up to about 19 000 people!

Sven at his poster

Moscone South on the morning of the first day at AGU 2010

Here are three take-home points from day one (more detailed notes in opml here)

• very nice poster session in the morning! Geophysics and hydraulic conductivity, Mariotte bottle with a twist;
• I learned in the lecture by Charles C. Eriksen about the state of the art of measuring in the oceans;
• slightly disappointed by presentation sessions in the afternoon
• great talk by Julia Slingo, scientific director of the UK Met Office on “Society’s Growing Vulnerability to Natural Hazards and Implications for Geophysics Research”. Favourite quote on the volcano-eruption in iceland:

we haven’t done a full risk assessment, because we have never looked at the effects that unfavourable weather conditions might have on a not so unusual eruption.

• great social media soiree with lots of enthusiastic folks! Great inspiration!

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From 14 to 17 June 2011, the elite of Simulation Technology research spotlights the city of Stuttgart for one of the major events in the Academic Year 2011: the International Conference on Simulation Technology (SimTech 2011). For four days, the University of Stuttgart will be all about molecular simulations, multi-scale and multi-physics mechanics, numerical mathematics and interactive visualisation. These are just some of the research areas of SimTech – the Cluster of Excellence. More than 150 scientists from Stuttgart are currently conducting their high-class research within the cluster. At SimTech 2011, they present their latest results and start a discourse with researchers from the international community.

• @kwerfeldein ne, mit "lightbox" in der URL schaut's so aus http://twitpic.com/3dpri3 in reply to kwerfeldein #
• @kwerfeldein: Hilfe! warum steht in Deinen FlickR URLs am Ende of /lightbox/? Dann sehe ich nie direkt das Bild…nur wenn ich's lösche? in reply to kwerfeldein #
• #media makes headline of serious interview on #climate #change to "Coldest Winter in 1000 Years" – many copy blindly: http://ke-we.net/92l #
• The Guardian has a “water hub” http://ke-we.net/8xy #
• #Geology of Europe for non-Geologists (ebook): http://ke-we.net/8xv#/ #
• #Lead unsolved problem for #drinking #water since roman times. The world is heterogeneous! http://ke-we.net/8xt #
• Dalai Lama on #Tibetean Plateau: #climatechange – #Glaciers melt 3x faster than elsewhere: http://su.pr/16uav5 (via @circleofblue) #
• Hydrogeologists Without Borders has a new website! Check it out: http://www.hwbwater.org (via @WaterWired) #

International Symposium on Models and Modeling Methodologies in Science and Engineering: MMMse 2011

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March 27th – 30th, 2011 ~ Orlando, Florida USA.

Sorry folks, I missed the

• Geography Awareness Week: “Freshwater” (Nov 14 – 20), which included GIS Day
• Africa Water Week (Nov 22 – 26)
• World Toilet Day (Nov 19)

This made me think a little. How many “special” days are there?

• Here is a list of UN days
• here are some more days
• general holidays are listed at when-is.com

However, there seems to be an endless list of “special” days. Worldwaterday, WorldMathsDay, WorldBookDay, … What’s the point?

May17-18 Walla Walla, WA

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more on exempt wells at WaterWired

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