EGU General Assembly 2022  

Climate literacy and awareness have greatly deepened over the past few years but how strongly they shape our values and therefore inform our decisions is still a weak link. Inaction today will result in an even heavier burden on today’s youth. How does it feel to be 15 years old in 2021?

As a team of researchers involved in a water-energy nexus project, we felt a compelling responsibility to work with young people to build their knowledge, awareness and skills to tackle climate change through water efficiency. We therefore decided to reach out to young people aged 15-17 to explore the climate action potential of saving water resources in a way that is meaningful and relevant to their circumstances. Looking beyond lecture-style activities but rather focusing on a dialogue that could support their efforts to tackle the climate crisis, we considered the following questions: How can we make our research agenda informative and relevant to young people? What kind of engagement activity can foster youth-centred learning, skills development and innovation processes to take climate action within the water-energy nexus?

A recent global trend of organising hackathons to find solutions to societal issues offered the perfect answer to our needs. In our submission we describe how the rationale behind the choice of a hackathon-style event was informed by pedagogy, social science and management theory. We illustrate the details of the 2-day Climate Action Hackathon we planned, organised and facilitated to a group of 15-17 years old students, members of Irish NGO ECO-UNESCO. Then, we present the outcomes of the hackathon and how we assessed the impacts. To conclude, we describe how the lessons learnt have been incorporated into three further future engagement projects at larger scale in Ireland, Wales and at European Union level.

How to cite: Bellini, R., Bello-Dambatta, A., Coughlan, P., Mc Nabola, A., Dreyer-Gibney, K., and Murali, M.: Dŵr Uisce Climate Action Hackathon – A cool connection, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-618, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-618, 2022.

If you are a geoscientist doing work to achieve impact outside academia or engaging different audiences with the geosciences, are you planning to make this publishable? If so, then plan. Such investigations into how people (academics, practitioners, other publics) respond to geoscience can use pragmatic, simple research methodologies accessible to the non-specialist, or be more complex. To employ a medical analogy, first aid is useful and the best option in some scenarios but calling a medic (i.e. a collaborator with experience of geoscience communication or relevant research methods) provides the contextual knowledge to identify a condition and opens up a diverse, more powerful range of treatment options. Here, we expand upon the brief advice in the first editorial of Geoscience Communication (Illingworth et al., 2018), illustrating what constitutes robust and publishable work in this context, elucidating its key elements. Our aim is to help geoscience communicators plan a route to publication, and to illustrate how good engagement work that is already being done might be developed into publishable research. 

Reference

How to cite: Illingworth, S., Hillier, J., Welsh, K., Stiller-Reeve, M., Priestley, R., Roop, H., and Lanza, T.: Geoscience communication - Planning to make it publishable, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-868, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-868, 2022.

In the past two years webinars on the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) proliferated, both as a contingent response to lockdown and travel restrictions, but also as a proactive strategy by diplomats, journalists, and researchers to promote their own views, agenda and representations about the dam. This study aims at contributing to debates on discursive water diplomacy and digital diplomacy, asking under which conditions can these webinars create a space for constructive (dialogic) conversation and conflict transformation. Relying on coding and analysis of a sample of webinars on the GERD organized between July 2020 and October 2021, as well as on semi-structured interviews to webinars’ organizers and speakers, the study sketches a typology of webinars – echo chambers, open offices, dialogic conversations – to elicit a reflection within the academic community on how we should engage in and contribute to these types of events in the “new normal” of a (post)lockdown world.

How to cite: Fantini, E.: The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam Webinar Diplomacy: echo chambers, open offices, or dialogic conversations?, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-933, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-933, 2022.

Understanding and managing wetlands is a matter of great importance, given the fragile nature of its habitats, survival issues under perturbation, and the need for sustainable use of its resources when competing with human print. These are environments particularly sensitive to a number of physical factors and they’re particularly suited to engage with climate change (e.g. sea-level rise and rising temperature), conservation (e.g., biodiversity, land-use management), and ecosystem services (e.g., carbon storage and water purification). Wetlands deserved raising interest in the last two decades by the scientific community, such as the ecogeomorphologic nature of its dynamics, value and resilience to natural and human drivers, and timescales of change. This interest is reflected in the existence of four EGU Assembly 2022 proposed sessions (BG2.3, GM6.2, GM6.3, GM6.4) particularly devoted to wetlands, where both natural and social perspectives can fit. Given both the scientific and the societal relevance of wetlands, how does communication between both spheres is or should be made? What do the experts think about this? Are they aligned with the deficit model and/or the dialogue model of science communication? This is the underlaying rationale for this study.

We propose to enquire the dozens of coastal experts attending EGU 2022 conference about the science communication of wetlands. Questions about wetland communication include, for example (not comprehensively): 1) What are the key topics to communicate about wetland for audiences; with questions discriminating adult, children (8-12 y) and teenagers (13-17y)? 2) Choose the two most important wetlands threatening factors to communicate; And the two least important factors. 3) Is knowing about coastal evolution more relevant than knowing the names of the most emblematic vegetation species? 4) What is the most usual way that you use to communicate about wetlands to the public?

We will collect data on wetland communication via an online questionnaire, with mostly closed-ended questions to allow a quicker analysis. We propose that a group of EGU attendees fill in the online questionnaire two days before and the first two days of the conference. The completion of the questionnaire allows anonymity. Fresh results from the survey will be presented and used as a base ground starting point for a discussion with conference participants about their own opinions.

How to cite: Matias, A., Pinto, B., and Carrasco, A. R.: Communicating about wetlands to the audiences: what do the experts think?, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-1512, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-1512, 2022.

Flood hazard is projected to at least double by 2050 as a consequence of the impacts of climate change, meaning many more societies and communities will need to be able to mitigate and adapt to the resultant increase in flood risk.

One often overlooked aspect of flooding is the experiences of children and young people who also deal with disasters first-hand and who often have a very different viewpoint than adults.  In 2014 researchers (Lloyd Williams et al., 2017) worked with flood-affected children, using creative and participatory methodologies to explore their experiences and tell their story. The research gave the young people the opportunity to express their voice on this issue and take action, including the production of Children’s Flood Manifestos that called for changes in UK flood management. A key feature of these manifestos was the call for all children to receive flood education as part of the school curriculum.

The research reported herein takes up that call by seeking new and innovative ways to engage young people with flood education. As part of the work, the children’s flood stories have been brought to life through the use of immersive storytelling and 360 technologies. In the Help Callum and Help Sali immersive videos, generated via the project, the viewer gets to experience the children’s stories first-hand and develop an understanding of some of the issues that young people face during flood events. As part of the immersive journey the viewer is asked to think about what would have helped the children and how we could all be better prepared for flooding. To complement these films, we have co-created a suite of learning resources with teachers, young people and England’s Environment Agency, including links to the National Curriculum and the Sustainable Development Goals, exploring how the videos can be used to communicate and contribute to better understanding, and subsequent action, in response to flood risk among a new generation of young people.

The paper will show you how it is possible to not only communicate your science but also demonstrate how working with young people can help to build agency, self-esteem and be a means to taking meaningful action.

Lloyd Williams, A., Bingley, A., Walker, M., Mort, M. and Howells, V., 2017. “That’s Where I First Saw the Water”: Mobilizing Children’s Voices in UK Flood Risk Management. Transfers, 7(3), pp.76-93.

How to cite: Parsons, K. J., Lloyd Williams, A., Skinner, C., and Parsons, D. R.: Immersive storytelling and the power of using 360 to amplify the experiences, agency and action of children and young people facing flood risk, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-1529, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-1529, 2022.

Communication and scientific dissemination can be very important if we want people to focus on specific items. This is also why we should question the ways in which we communicate an idea or a particular issue.

Osservatorio Artico is the first Italian online magazine focused on the Arctic region. In issues related to external affairs, economics, migration and climate change Italy usually looks more towards continental Europe, at the Mediterranean area and the Middle East.. However,  the Arctic region, even if it is far from Italian shores, is emerging dramatically into the Italian awareness, due to the relevance of global environmental issues. The Arctis is also important because the Italian Navy and the scientific and academic Italian world are increasingly conducting scientific research in the Arctic about climate change, the environment and hydrography.

Osservatorio Artico also aims to be the  main news channel  for this issue for a wide public. What happens so far away has direct implications for our climateand our economy. Changes in the Northern Sea Route will, in the next few years, change the Mediterranean commercial sea routes, modifying the pivotal role of Italy in the Mediterranean,  In addition, Italian cultural heritage, such as the Venetian Laguna, is under great threat, from sea level rise.

The Arctic is closer to Italy than it appears, and Osservatorio Artico aims to be a helpful tool for Italian speaks. Our collaborators live and work in several countries,  including the Arctic. We want also to reach a wider and different public, so we are navigating between newspaper and academic publishing. Our use of social media channels is very relevant to our aim of  building up a strong international network for information about the Arctic in Italy.

How to cite: parigi, R.: Communicating Arctic issues to the Italian public through a magazine, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-1825, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-1825, 2022.

Tech Scéal, an Irish initiative, exploring algorithmic justice, robotics, and the future of planetary science with migrant and refugee families. The topics and approaches were directly informed by the learners themselves through informal discussions held during the plenary period of the project. From these conversations, a series emerged which focused on creative coding and robotics as cultural tools and ways to imagine, create, and claim a more just and joyful technological future. Grounded in story work and a based on a role playing tabletop gaming format, learners set out to remake relationships with with technology in a way that leveraged and contributed to the cultural practices of their communities. This research project also supported playful intergenerational learning opportunities during the pandemic, where families could gather online to share stories and create new knowledge around subjects of personal interest. Results including the impacts on the identity, attitudes, and learnings of participants will be shared as well as key takeaways of working with participants from diverse migration backgrounds.

How to cite: Brown, A.: Exploring Algorithmic Justice and Planetary Science with Families from Diverse Migration Backgrounds, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-1914, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-1914, 2022.

It may seem strange, but the next generation of geological maps could be produced not for geologists, but for the non-expert public! In Hungary, as in most countries, geological maps were created to help find economically important raw materials. However, updates of outdated maps are becoming increasingly rare. Nowadays, exploration geologists do not even usually produce edited maps, as experts obtain information directly from models. With the changing methods, geologists are struggling to find the proper readership for geological maps.

At the same time, a new trend is beginning to unfold, which means a whole new group of people interested in geology. Mining has left behind plenty of well-explored geological sites in many regions that attract the attention of non-experts, simply because they are beautiful and interesting! These geosites, together with the natural attractions of geomorphology, are being exploited by a new branch of tourism: geotourism. The presentation of the most spectacular geosites for tourism and the linking of geology with natural and cultural heritage has led to the emergence of geoparks, which operate under the auspices of UNESCO since 2001.

Geotourists are typically not scientists, and although maps are the most effective way to guide them to geosites, specialized maps are too complicated for them. By reducing the thematic details and increasing the tourism content we can create a geotourist map for them. The genre of geo-hiking map is the most appropriate form of geotourist maps if outdoor activity is involved. These are hiking maps with simplified geological themes to assist individuals and guided walks. The genre appeared in Hungary as early as 1939, but for a very long time, until 2002, no similar map was produced [1, 2]. Subsequently, geotour atlases and hiking maps were published, indicating the genre’s advance [3]. Since the establishment of Hungary's first geopark in 2010, geotour guides have been trained and the demand for map visualization is growing. In addition to guided walks, individual hikers interested in geosites are increasingly common, tracked by interactive query sheets at some of the most popular sites on the Balaton Uplands [4].

Geotourism creates a market for maps and outlines possible ways of using geological maps in the form of geotourism maps. Geotourism, rather than mining, could be the new sector that creates the need for geological mapping, and since geoparks are not only about protecting geological heritage but also about providing education and activating local businesses, this could be more in line with UNESCO SDGs.

[1] Albert, G., Hegedűs, Á. (2021): A geological hiking map curiosity from 1939, Abstr. Int. Cartogr. Assoc., 3, 2, https://doi.org/10.5194/ica-abs-3-2-2021.

[2] Albert, G. (2004): Geoscientific results in “tangible” format: the geotourist map. Geodézia és kartográfia, 51(7), 27-30.

[3] Albert, G. (2019): The changing use-cases of medium and large-scale geological maps in Hungary, Proc. Int. Cartogr. Assoc., 2, 4, https://doi.org/10.5194/ica-proc-2-4-2019.

[4] Pál, M., Albert, G. (2021): Examining the Spatial Variability of Geosite Assessment and Its Relevance in Geosite Management. Geoheritage 13, 8, https://doi.org/10.1007/s12371-020-00528-6

How to cite: Albert, G. and Pál, M.: Geological maps for geotourism in Hungary, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-2018, 2022.

Just as there is a bias in the fossil record as to which organisms are preserved, there is a bias in who is represented in palaeontology’s history and whose perspective on the cultural significance of fossils is valued. This bias is echoed in the lack of diversity in the palaeontological community today, particularly in terms of racial or ethnic diversity.

A major contributory factor is that palaeontology’s history is entwined with and directly influenced by colonial histories, which have omitted the multifaceted ways in which a range of people and lands have contributed. This bias in the historical development of palaeontology, in particular its alignment to white, western, male privilege, has excluded and marginalised those outside this group in the historical record and today, and continues to impact the perception of fossils, palaeontology and palaeontologists by students, teachers and scientific and non-scientific publics.

We will present interdisciplinary work in progress on an arts-based approach to decolonising palaeontology. We are trialling a variety of practical, creative engagement activities via workshops that bridge art and science, in order to explore and integrate the scientific, cultural and historical significance of fossils.  

We are working with a range of audiences, with a particular focus on those currently under-represented in palaeontology. In doing so, we aim to shift perceptions of fossils and palaeontology and expand the accepted framework of cultural significance that fossils and palaeontology hold, thus contributing to a more inclusive and diverse palaeontological community in the future.

How to cite: Gill, F., Rees Koerner, E., and Andrew, S.: Bias in the Fossil Record: An arts-based approach to decolonising palaeontology, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-2923, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-2923, 2022.

A general challenge of science communication, when addressing complex concepts within e.g. earth science, is to choose an audience and tailor the experience to draw in the specific members of that audience. This can lead to the exclusion of audiences that do not feel spoken to, regardless of their innate interest in the subject. Having been faced with that challenge, I have adopted an alternate approach, by creating visually appealing illustrations to draw the attention of various types of audiences. The members can then choose a path of information from there, ranging from non-interaction with the scientific concept, over elementary-level explanation, up to peer-reviewed scientific publications. This approach can be beneficial in achieving wide engagement and allowing connected groups, e.g. parents and children, to learn together, each at their own level of interest and understanding. 

How to cite: van der Laan, L.: Illustrating Climate Science: the Case for Visual Representations of Complex Concepts, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-4915, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-4915, 2022.

Water quality is a key consideration for both socio-economic and environmental sustainability (UN Sustainable Development Goal 6: Clean Water and Sanitation). However due to both natural and anthropogenic pressures, water quality is known to be threatened in many regions around the world. In this GCRF funded project, Nuestro Rio (“Our River”), we focus on water quality across the Santa River basin in Peru. To gain insights into water quality perspectives in upstream rural regions as well as downstream, urban regions in the Santa Basin, we designed and launched a citizen science app to assess community perceptions and collect images of water quality (April - August 2021). Here we will reflect on the lessons learnt from our interdisciplinary, citizen-led data collection within rural Peruvian communities, with results aimed at improving our understanding and science communication practice within the region.

One key insight we gained throughout the project is that direct interactions with local participants during fieldwork offers invaluable benefits that largely outweigh the monetary and temporal costs and, at the same time, addresses the research fatigue in the region through quality instead of quantity. The Nuestro Rio app and dataset is the result of a year-long interdisciplinary and international collaboration. Whilst the data collection through the app resulted in 350 data entries, the majority of these entries were associated with fieldwork and direct engagement with communities. Uptake of the app by participants who did not directly engage with researchers in the field was poor, demonstrating the importance of relationship building and direct interaction that can help to bridge barriers such as insufficient ability to handle technology or a lack of trust. Furthermore, as a topic for data collection, we found water quality to be a complex concept to gather perceptions on. The term water quality was interpreted differently by various groups of respondents, and often needed clarification during the field-based data collection, especially in rural areas. This issue also confirms the importance of fieldwork to capture this diversity and provide direct communication with participants for better understanding. Our results also indicated a community desire for engagement and openness to the co-design of solutions. The lessons learned from this project offer important considerations for the design of future citizen engagement for data collection and dissemination around environmental issues such as water quality in this region.

How to cite: Rangecroft, S., Dextre, R. M., Richter, I., Kelly, C., Turin, C., Fuentealba, B., Grados Bueno, C. V., Camacho Hernández, M., Morera, S., Martin, J., Guy, A., and Clason, C.: Citizen-led water quality data collection: Experiences from the Santa River basin, Peru, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-5628, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-5628, 2022.

How to cite: Reijnders, D., van Sebille, E., and Bijl, P. and the KlimaatHelpdesk Team: KlimaatHelpdesk.org: Connecting citizens with climate questions to experts with answers, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-5705, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-5705, 2022.

Do we miss something about «traditional” media such as handwritten letters and photography before the digital age? Some of the authors remember this age fondly, and we wanted to see if this fondness could be translated into a science dialogue project with school classes.

We designed and carried out a communication process with 4 classes at different schools across Europe. During this process, each class would interact with a single scientist primarily via hand-written questions & letters, and a Polaroid photo album. The scientists would make this unique, one-of-a-kind album whilst on board a research expedition in the Barents Sea. We asked the question whether this process might show any benefits to the school students involved.

To answer this, we asked the students to write up their thoughts on communicating with a scientist in this way. We analysed the texts and found that most students thought the letters and polaroid albums were a “beautiful experience”. Others commented on how important it is to actually put pen to paper and write, since they use (almost) only digital media these days. Most importantly, the students learnt different elements of the science connected to the research expedition, but also about the scientific process in general. And, equally important, some of the students were surprised and thankful that the scientists took the time to communicate with them in such a personal way.

These results could possibly have been achieved using other media, however the hand-written letters and Polaroids seemed to work very well. They also seemed to conjure up some of the personal memories that we have about communication not so long ago. Maybe there is something to be said for slowing things down with our science communication projects and making them more personal and unique. This is something that snail-mail and making photo albums forces us to do.

How to cite: Stiller-Reeve, M., Panieri, G., Argentino, C., Waghorn, K., Vadakkepuliyambatta, S., and Kalenitchenko, D.: Hand-written letters and polaroid photo albums linking geoscientists with school classes., EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-6412, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-6412, 2022.

A new campus for geosciences will be built in the center of Munich, which will also house an innovative exhibition on geosciences, the Forum der Geowissenschaften. A team of scientists, curators and museum educators began planning the exhibition last year.

Topics from all sub-fields of geoscience and geoscientific research are to be presented in an exciting and informative way for a broad spectrum of visitors. A catalogue of topics and content for the forthcoming permanent exhibition is currently in preparation. Since the topics that the team of experts find most interesting do not always coincide with the interests of the general public, potential visitors should be involved in the planning process, too. For this purpose, an online survey was conducted. The aim of this survey was to obtain an overview of geo-topics that would be considered particularly exciting and relevant by the future public. The survey should reveal which topics visitors would like to see in the future Forum der Geowissenschaften and which information they expect to find in the exhibition.

Existing email distribution lists of museums in Munich, the Bavarian Natural History Collections, the university and other partner institutions were used to call for participation in the survey. The distribution lists used suggest that this survey targeted a field of participants that included the so-called ‘interested layperson’, teachers, and people directly related to geological research.

Participants were asked to rate a wide range of topics according to their interest on a Likert scale from ‘very interested’ to ‘not interested’. In addition, open questions asked participants to name other topics they found interesting.

More than 750 evaluable responses were received. First results, which are presented here, indicate very heterogeneous interests of the different age groups and professions. In addition, the interest in the different topics can be interpreted in relation to the self-assessed prior knowledge in geosciences but also in relation to demographic data such as gender and place of residence.

All in all, the survey provides a comprehensive database that will help to refine the exhibition concept and to design further communication measures. However, the data also stimulates a discussion about whether topics are considered by participants to be of little interest because these topics may have been communicated inadequately and ineffectively to date. If this is the case, the    geosciences need to find new, modern approaches to science communication in order to arouse curiosity about these topics, which are often of great social relevance.

How to cite: Seybold, L., Schneider, S., Junge, M., Kaliwoda, M., Simon, G., Koelbl-Ebert, M., and Baumann, A.: Evaluating Visitor’s Expectations and Interests in the realm of Earth Sciences – Results From an Online Survey, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-9051, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-9051, 2022.

Educational research shows participation issues across Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) are due to whether students see these fields and their potential career opportunities as for “people like me”. These perceptions form early and remain relatively stable with age, which has led to recommendations for increased provision and quality of careers education/engagement at both primary and secondary levels. Space-related roles should be rife for inclusion in careers education resources. However, we find that current UK careers resources concerning the space sector do not perhaps best reflect the diversity of roles present and may in fact perpetuate misconceptions about the usefulness of science. We present the development process of a new space careers resource, detailing how we have attempted to improve the diversity of space-related careers highlighted as well as addressing the key issues and recommendations raised by recent educational research.

How to cite: Archer, M., Waters, C., Dewan, S., Foster, S., and Portas, A.: Developing a new space sector careers resource based on educational research recommendations, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-9729, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-9729, 2022.

The study of ultraviolet (UV) solar radiation is a matter of great interest in countries such as Spain, where the amount of solar radiation received throughout the year is really high.

According to Intersun (WHO’s Global-UV-Project), outreach programmes are urgently needed to raise awareness of the damaging effects of UV radiation. Furthermore, it highlights the inclusion of young people and children in target groups since the overexposure to UV radiation usually occurs before the age of 18. That excessive exposure in the early years can lead to serious effects in adulthood such as skin cancers and cataracts. It is therefore essential to make youngsters aware of the dangers that overexposure to UV radiation entails and the need to follow healthy habits when performing outdoor activities.

The Research Group “Physics of the Atmosphere, Climate and Radiation of Extremadura” (AIRE) from the Universidad de Extremadura (UEx, Spain), is involved in several projects related to the measurement of UV radiation and the study of its effects on human health.

One of their current projects focuses on disseminating information to the general public about the harmful effects of this radiation, as well as providing some behavioural guidelines to prevent them.

The most innovative action taking place to achieve this objective is the implementation of outreach workshops targeted to elementary and secondary school students. In these hands-on workshops, the students participate in the performance of simple experiments that illustrate methods of protection from the UV radiation. By using UV-sensors, filters, low cost UV indicators and 3D-printed devices which are sensitive to UV radiation, the students learn the effectiveness of the different protective measures, such as sunglasses, sunscreen, clothes, umbrellas, etc.

The interactive approach based on visual and simple experiments is very attractive to students and results key for their engagement. This format also stimulates their interest in science and its applications. The structure of the workshops is also original since the instructors are current and former university students from the Physics Degree at UEx. They demonstrate to the undergraduate students how to perform the aforementioned UV experiments. As a result, these students can also pass on this knowledge and healthy guidelines among their peers and relatives in other contexts like summer camps, gatherings, etc. The small age gap between facilitators and participants plays a significant role in conveying this important message more effectively: to avoid the harmful effects of the overexposure to solar radiation showing scientific evidence and increasing interest in science at a young age.

Several of these outreach workshops have taken place in educational centres, as well as on specific events such as the Science Week, the Researcher’s Night and the Day of Women and Girls in Science. This is a way to involve citizens to actively participate in scientific processes.

This work was supported by Junta de Extremadura and European Regional Development Fund (ERDF A Way of Doing Europe) projects IB18092 and GR18097 and by R+D+i grants RTI 2018-097332-B-C21 and RTI 2018-097332-B-C22 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033/ and "ERDF A Way of Doing Europe".

How to cite: Cancillo, M. L., Serrano, A., Monserrat, J. F., Piedehierro, A. A., Andreu, S., González, C., Alonso, F. J., and García, J. A.: Activities for the prevention of harmful effects due to overexposure to ultraviolet radiation targeted to youngsters and children, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-10691, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-10691, 2022.

The International Association of Geomagnetism and Aeronomy (IAGA) is one of the associations under the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics and acts as a non-governmental body to serve scientists and decision-makers in research establishments, government agencies, intergovernmental bodies, and private enterprise. IAGA promotes the work of Earth and space scientists studying the magnetic and electrical properties of the Earth, other planets, the Sun and their phenomena, and interplanetary bodies. IAGA encourages free exchange of scientific information, facilitates international collaboration in research, and is committed to supporting education and outreach.

Since December 2019, IAGA has had a dedicated social media group (under the Interdivisional Commission on Education and Outreach - ICEO) to promote the work of the organisation and encourage the building of an online community. The IAGA social media platforms now include Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, and a blog. With half the world’s population always online, it has become imperative to shift research to a virtual platform and adapt so the general public can access information about science in new ways. IAGA’s social media platforms started as an alternative version of mailing lists but have expanded into creating original posts, such as interviews with IAGA members. The IAGA Social Media working group was formally formed in January 2021 with the main aims to provide an easily accessible platform for news and an online community for IAGA members; to increase awareness of the varied work of IAGA, both within the community (to support cross-disciplinary research) and to the general public; and to promote the work of early career researchers and under-represented groups in IAGA 

In the time of a global pandemic, this working group is forging international connections, advertising opportunities, sharing news, and continuing to grow. The working group wish to share scientific successes of IAGA members and promote their work to the scientific community and broader audience. We hope to inspire young adults to be involved in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Maths) community. In this work, we provide some analytics of our social media accounts and examples of techniques that have worked well.

How to cite: Rogers, H., Sharan, S., Di Chiara, A., Kamenikova, T., Leichter, B., Pinheiro, K., and Sanaka, S.: Insights from the work of the International Association of Geomagnetism and Aeronomy (IAGA) Social Media Working Group, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-11381, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-11381, 2022.

Antarctica is a continent distant for many, yet its continuous presence on news broadcasts and social media means the general public often have questions about the latest science, its relevance to individuals, and its uncertainties. However, scientific literature surrounding these questions is often not appropriate for a wider audience beyond academia due to the inaccessibility of journal articles and the complex jargon used. These limitations can hinder the research impact of a particular study. Finding a method of summarising complex, yet important research which may be of interest to a non-scientist is often challenging, however ESRI StoryMap Collections provide an opportunity to share science in an interactive and engaging format.

The AntarcticGalciers.org website was set up in 2012 to promote public understanding of glaciers and climate change. This website is used as an educational resource by teachers, students, and the public globally. However, we noticed that there was a gap in the up-to-date resources available about Antarctica aimed at UK KS3 (ages 11-14) students, despite the curriculum including Antarctica as part of a polar biome module.

The free AntarcticGlaciers StoryMap Series, funded by the Antarctic Science Bursary, is compiled of four StoryMap Collections which summarise the latest scientific research and concepts about Antarctica to a KS3 audience. These are divided into four themes: The Physical Geography of Antarctica, Wildlife of Antarctica, Climate Change and Antarctica and People and Antarctica. We used interactive GIS-based activities to contextualise aspects of the research and supplemented with a running commentary explaining what this research means in a plain language format. In addition to the GIS and written summaries of literature, we included other multimedia content, including talking head videos. This enables more complex research themes to be explored in more detail, without the user being overwhelmed with the written information.

Despite this project being aimed at a KS3 audience, the resources have been manufactured in a way which is accessible for any non-specialist with an interest in learning about up-to-date science of Antarctica.

How to cite: Boyall, L., Davies, B., and Thornton, J.: Exploring Antarctic research through ESRI StoryMap Collections, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-11581, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-11581, 2022.

EGU General Assembly is one of the world’s biggest conferences dedicated to geosciences. It gathers experts from all science fields connected to the study of past, present and future climates. Many of them have an historic perspective on their area of expertise: such knowledge is useful to develop an integrated view of the history of climate sciences.

As our first attempt for EGU2020 was canceled by the COVID-19 due to no in-person meeting, we propose to EGU2022 attendees to help building a collective timeline of the history of climate science. Everyone is invited to come to our poster to add to the printed timeline a scientific breakthrough in her/his field of expertise. This will be an opportunity to chat together on climate science history and to construct together a wider picture of climate sciences.

The final cut of the timeline produced during EGU2022 will be available on our new web page EarthBreath (https://earthbreath.fr), and our Twitter English (@eb_climate_data) and French (@eb_climat_fr) accounts.

EarthBreath is a non-profit initiative that we develop for promoting climate and Earth sciences to diverse publics.

How to cite: Tournadre, B.: Your collective timeline of climate science history, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-11886, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-11886, 2022.

The Royal Meteorological Society is the UK’s Professional and Learned Society for weather and climate. We work to strengthen the science and raise awareness of the importance of meteorology, support meteorological professionals and inspire enthusiasts. In line with our charitable purpose, science communication is fundamental to many of the activities ongoing at the Society. To name just a few relevant initiatives, the Society holds 65+ events each year, runs an enthusiast blog, runs an annual weather photography competition, and publishes several non-academic books.

We will highlight our recent efforts to communicate journal content to a broader audience; primarily research published in one of our own eight journals, but also landmark reports. Activities include: regularly sharing new articles on social media, producing press releases and organising press briefings, creating short plain language ‘research summaries’ for our website, producing freely available back-to-basics style articles in our member journal with accompanying podcast episodes, and hosting a variety of multidisciplinary events around a range of research article types. We have also been able to use the content published in our journals to support and inform our climate change communication training delivered to broadcast meteorologists and journalists at various media organisations. We will evaluate the impact of our engagement and the audience reach for these activities to better inform future projects at the Society.

How to cite: Mallinson, H.: Exploring different routes for communicating scientific research to broader audiences, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-11948, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-11948, 2022.

Imagine, a global climate crisis is happening – but nobody cares! With this presentation I want to take you on a journey into the heads of those people who will probably never be with us in academia, who will never enter university. To these people, climate change is not plausible – and they are right: Climate change is a systemic risk, and as such it is crossing borders, complex, stochastic, and there are tipping points, all of which leads to a general implausibility for those who are not quite into science. And I want to take you on a journey through 100 years of scientists failing to make people understand.
With this presentation I want to contribute to a better general understanding of what went wrong in our communication efforts and how we can improve. This reflection takes place on two levels:

• The level of communication: (Geo-)science communication has to be very clear about the difference between the right and the almost right word. Furthermore, it has to be very clear about the difference between informing people and making people understand.
• The level of the characteristics of climate change: The first level is even more important whenever we are dealing with systemic risks like climate change. In our communication efforts, we will have to pay more attention to the pitfalls and paradoxes of systemic risks than we have done so far. Probably the greatest paradox is that we are simply fearing the wrong: We are afraid of things that are highly unlikely (like getting robbed) whilst underestimating risks that are highly probable (like climate change) but not plausible on first sight.

Imagine, a global climate crisis is happening – and our communication is effective, thus the majority of people understands what is at stake. However, doing more of the same will not bring us to this stage. We might have to change the way we communicate and reach out.

How to cite: von Elverfeldt, K.: Imagine it's climate crisis - and nobody gives a sh**! Some reflections on climate change communication, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-12116, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-12116, 2022.

Social media platforms enable scientists to engage with a range of public audiences from science-oriented professionals to less aware, topic-interested lay publics. Increasingly, short videos, including vlogs, have proven a valuable communication method thanks to their audiovisual nature, which allows their creators to move beyond traditional, written scientific content. In particular, recent work has shown that embedding multimedia storytelling into science communication strategies such as vlogs is a powerful means of conveying the relatable ‘human face’ behind the science. However, creating video content can be daunting for many scientists who are unfamiliar with stepping across the art-science divide. Developing an effective video is an art that one can only learn by making videos and receiving feedback from professional media producers and the intended audience.

Accordingly, to enhance vlog capabilities amongst earth scientists and share EGU abstract content beyond the science community, we have led vlog training short courses with EGU attendees to develop their skills in video-making for science-interested, but not topic-aware, audiences. The objectives of the short course were: to explore the processes of designing, storyboarding, and filming effective vlogs, grounded in science communication theory and practice. Short course attendees used their training to produce a vlog of their EGU abstract to document the motivations, tribulations, and human nature behind the science – a side that conference abstracts rarely convey. Vlogs were promoted via social media platforms to EGU conference participants and science-interested audiences beyond. 

By embedding reflection and discussion throughout, as part of a co-production approach, here we evaluate: 1) the art and guiding principles for producing an effective vlog, 2) the practice of training earth scientists to develop vlogs, including challenges and considerations for further dissemination of this approach.

How to cite: Adamson, K., Cortes, J., Fantini, E., and Postma, R.: Turn your scientific abstract into a vlog: evaluating best-practice in vlog production, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-12367, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-12367, 2022.

In the face of major environmental issues such as climate change, air pollution, and biodiversity loss, communication of relevant expertise and experiences is extremely important. However, we also need to reflect on the scope, biases, limitations, and outright absences of the stories and storytellers. I propose a framework in which we consider four levels of environmental storytelling: (1) what stories are told? (e.g., funding agency priorities, editorial decisions), (2) whose stories are told? (people affected by theme selected, e.g., geography, race, socio-economic factors, gender), (3) who gets to tell the stories? (storytellers: journalists, communicators, scientists; their expertise and lived experience), and (4) what is the audience for the stories? (e.g., language, platform, jargon level, cost). By commission or omission, all these factors are part of the storytelling. All storytelling, including science communication, can become richer by reflecting on these multiple levels of storytelling.

I am developing this storytelling framework by drawing from my experience of hosting the Atmospheric Tales podcast (https://atmospherictales.com/) — a podcast which is now in its third year and features guests and interviewers from around the world with expertise and experiences on diverse themes related to climate change and air pollution including science, policy, advocacy, activism, etc.

How to cite: Gani, S.: The four levels of environmental storytelling, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-13106, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-13106, 2022.

How to cite: Munerol, F., Avanzi, F., Panizza, E., Altamura, M., Gabellani, S., Polo, L., Mantini, M., Alessandri, B., and Ferraris, L.: "Water and Us": tales and hands-on laboratories about water and conflicts to educate on sustainable water resources management, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-13110, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-13110, 2022.

‘Coasts for Kids’ (coastsforkids.com) is a series of animations developed as part of a collaborative experience between children and their families, coastal scientists, teachers, community artists, coastal managers, and illustrators. The videos are targeted at Primary School kids and wider audiences. It was co-ordinated by scientists in the NW of England in partnership with Sefton Council and the Southport Eco Centre (UK). The scientific committee included coastal geomorphologists, physical geographers, coastal ecologists, and human geographers from Universities in the UK, Australia, Canada, Spain, France and Mexico. Educational & community support was an essential part of the project and included teachers, author and community artists, illustrators, and coastal managers.

The episodes were narrated by school children aged 6-8 years old from the Merseyside area (Liverpool City Region, UK). The aim of the project was to empower kids (and adults) to understand some of the complex interactions regulating coastal dynamics at a variety of temporal and spatial scales, and to trigger awareness and interest on coasts from an early age. The episodes have reached hundreds of thousands in online media and have been watched in many countries including the UK, Spain, Australia, Canada, Portugal, Turkey, Ireland, Netherlands, Argentina, Mexico, Brazil, Germany, Colombia, South Africa, etc. The series was endorsed by the NW Regional Flood and Coastal Committee in England and became part of KS2 education packages (e.g., the Flooding Education Package at The Flood Hub and the Countryside Classroom). The language of the videos was adapted and carefully selected by our educational committee for its inclusivity, inviting diversity, and representativity, which is something particularly important in STEM disciplines.

This talk will discuss the key elements of the success of C4K, including the steps undertaken by the transdisciplinary team (families, kids, scientists, and teachers) to develop the videos and make the final resource freely available to download and share. Important core elments in the project also included efforts to maximise kids' abilities to link ideas and develop their own understanding of coastal environments.

How to cite: Delgado Fernandez, I.: Coasts for Kids (C4K): a transdisciplinary science communication effort, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-13427, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-13427, 2022.

In November 2014 the Rosetta mission by the European Space Agency (ESA) sent a spacecraft to comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko. The data published from the mission inspired me as an artist to create a set of artwork about 67P, including paintings, sculptures and musical collaborations. During this seven-year-long project, I collaborated with scientists from ESA and NASA. Acting as an interpreter from science to non-scientists I implement scientific data into my artwork. Allowing my work to be interactive via Augmented Reality (AR) I invite my viewers to study about the Rosetta mission via art. 

For the return of the comet in 2021 I have created two new paintings. This time I am starting a conversation about the origins of life on Earth, suggesting that comets perhaps played a big role. Colonies of bacteria grown in my art lab have become a part of my paintings.

During the EGU conference in 2022, I would like to display a series of large watermedia paintings. All of the paintings were created with special water that I generated to be close in composition to the water on the comet. 

Work sizes: 70”x52”; 90”x258” (largest piece, if the space allows).

A few of the works could be experienced with AR, instruction to which will be provided to viewers. AR is inspired by the spectroscopic data of an instrument onboard the spacecraft Rosetta. An image with a sound will be visible for viewers via their smart devices. 

If space allows, a music video could be displayed during the exhibition. This video was a collaboration project between myself, a clarinetist from Wales, a composer from Japan and a film editor from New York. This piece is inspired by the sonification of the magnetometry readings of the comet. 

A poster and a public talk can also be provided.

How to cite: Smirnova, E.: Exploring Comet 67P through art and science, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-717, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-717, 2022.

Glacier Gifts is a project designed to bring together scientific researchers in the UK and Peru with author and creative, Diane Samuels, to activate public exploration of current environmental research on the impacts of climate change and glacier retreat in Peru. Through a series of virtual creative writing workshops facilitated by Diane, we have collated and edited a collection of pieces, written by our team of researchers and by Diane, for public dissemination, with an aim of stimulating engagement of diverse audiences beyond the scientific community. During the workshops we practised free-writing and word-collage, inspired by key words, phrases, stories, and images of the environment and culture of the Peruvian Andes, producing raw material which was subsequently crafted to combine individual and collective voices in our book. The collection is also illustrated with personal photographs by team members, and original artwork by Caroline Clason. Glacier Gifts draws upon both lived experience in Peru and scientific engagement with the challenges of glacier change and water security in the Andes, linking to the SIGMA: Peru and Nuestro Rio research projects. Glacier Gifts emotionally, imaginatively, and factually, shares the personal, collective, local, and global impacts of environmental change in this climate-sensitive region of the mountain cryosphere, providing an opportunity for scientific narrative to reach a wider, non-academic audience enveloped within a creative experience.

How to cite: Clason, C., Rangecroft, S., Grados Bueno, C., Dextre, R. M., Hoyos, E., Hurtado Quispe, K., and Samuels, D.: Glacier Gifts: adventures in creative writing in the Peruvian Andes, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-1267, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-1267, 2022.

Everyone, be it scientists, students, teachers, media outlets, or the public, regularly turn to a “google” image search when exploring a scientific concept. Yet, the recovered images are often suboptimal in terms of [1] scientific quality and accuracy, and/or [2] the aesthetics and artistic value. One such common example from the solid Earth sciences, is the (false) impression that the Earth’s mantle is molten, red, and that mantle plume upwellings exclusively coincide with mid-oceanic ridges. Another common issue might be that the labels or content are not sufficient for the users purpose (e.g. axes not indicated, features not labelled). Furthermore, scientists often spend a lot of time and energy in making images (whether for manuscripts, presentations or outreach) and are willing to share their image for anyone to re-use or modify. However, a central, convenient means to share them is lacking and, crucially, them to be readily found by others. To help address this, we have created the online s-Ink collection (s-Ink.org; Crameri et al., in submission). It is a free, community-driven exchange platform for high quality, science-related graphical products. We document several key graphical quality measures to ensure that submissions maximise accessibility (e.g. via scales or colour choices), broaden applicability (e.g. through modifiable vector-based options), and facilitate creativity (e.g. via graphic design principles). Products can include conceptual illustrations, templates, data visualizations, animations, icons, and more. Contributions will be shared with the entire community under a clearly stated license, so that individual efforts will be acknowledged. The content can be downloadable either directly from the s-Ink website or via a link to an external site or repository (for example, in the case of large or pre-existing content). With this abstract we will showcase the website, discuss data and science visualization, encourage feedback and invite contributions all EGU22 attendees.

How to cite: Shephard, G. E., Crameri, F., and Straume, E. O.: Introducing s-Ink.org – a community portal for sharing quality science graphics, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-3292, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-3292, 2022.

The material behaviours that underpin artistic work with glass have striking similarities to those of volcanic glasses, silicate melts, and magmas. This similarity presents a compelling opportunity for collaboration between glass artists and volcanologists to better understand silicate melts, and thereby to elucidate volcanic processes.

Using silicate melts as an experimental material is advantageous, because it allows us to investigate coupled thermorheological effects that are not well captured by the more widely used low-temperature magma analogue materials such as syrups and oils. Here we present work focussed on adapting and refining the artistic, kiln-based process of bubble entrapment and the precision manipulation of gas phases in glass. These techniques have previously been used to create glass art pieces involving complex bespoke figures formed from gas trapped within layers of glass. We expand the use of this technique to investigate bubble rise dynamics in soda-lime-silicate glass under non-isothermal conditions; varying temperature to slow or accelerate the bubble rise.

We present a scaled mathematical model that provides an excellent description of the experimental data even in case of complex changing temperature environments similar to the long, slow annealing stages of glass art production. Scaling analysis is used to show how our experiments using artistic soda-lime-silica glass can be scaled to volcanic environments. This allows a better understanding of bubble motion in magmas under variable temperature conditions, such as those in shallow basaltic lava lakes, flows, or the uppermost parts of magma plumbing systems.

This art-science collaboration used artistic skills and knowledge to validated our model, and tested the limits of the artistic technique: the use of kiln-based heating programs and the glass used by artists. Overall, the advantages of using kiln-based art techniques and skills for volcanology is clear. But we also find that there is a deep mutuality to glass art collaborations, such that the art techniques can be refined via the scientific model development. Ultimately, when working to better understand the behaviours of a complex material such as glass, the approaches of the artist and the scientist are very similar, and our project shows that the presumed disciplinary divide may be less divisive than expected.

How to cite: Jackson, L., Wadsworth, F., and Mitchell, J.: Kilns of the Earth: Glass art collaborations to further understanding in volcanology, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-4070, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-4070, 2022.

The seas and oceans cover 70% of the planet and are critical resources for humanity. Responsibly harnessing the seas and oceans while conserving them for future generations requires a deep understanding of the oceans and, potentially, necessitates major changes in how we (as humanity) interact with them. How do we form a bond between people and the sea? What is the role of maritime education and outreach? Do we need to forge an emotional bond (“a love for the sea”), and what are the roles of scientists, artists and educators in forging this bond? How can we engage different communities, creatively overcoming cultural, technological and financial barriers? These are some of the questions that were posed at the 8th Haifa Conference on Mediterranean Sea Research of the Leon H. Charney School of Marine Sciences at the University of Haifa, Israel (July 14-15^th, 2021) dedicated to the combination of marine research, science education and art. While art is often used as a means for making research accessible to the public, the aim here was to create a dialog and perhaps a joint outcome between the disciplines. To achieve this goal, five groups of three individuals that included a scientist, educator and artist who deal with similar topics in their daily practice, but from very different perspectives, were formed. These joint topics (time, communication, sound, vision and education) formed the core topical sessions of the conference. The conversations between the individuals were filmed, edited and shown during the conference and each group was invited to present their findings during the first day of the conference. A poster session was set up to allow creative, artistic ideas to be submitted by students who were asked to think about how to present their research outside the box. The conference was broadcast live across the globe on social media simultaneously in English, Hebrew and Arabic (many of the talks are available at https://www.seahaifa2021.com/).  The second day of the conference was devoted entirely to community activities that took place across the country and were open to the general public. These ranged from lectures at the Maritime museum to a workshop on how to make bread from seaweed. The methodology developed for this conference, its results and some thoughts for future activities will be presented here.

How to cite: Lazar, M., Sher, D., Tsadka, M., and Charit Yaari, N.: SEA – Science Education and Art – lessons learned from an interdisciplinary conference, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-4255, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-4255, 2022.

Airborne particulate species less than 2.5 micrometers in diameters known as PM_2.5 are considered to be the most deadly form of air pollution, contributing to millions of premature deaths per year globally. However, due to the small size of these damaging airborne particulate species drawing public attention to the issue is challenging. This study aims to increase the public awareness of PM_2.5 through an art-science collaboration. Conceptual artist Nattress uses her bicycle as a performative tool to pedal on low and high infrastructure routes around the city of York, UK. The roads around the circumference of the University of York and York St John University are known highly polluted areas that are often heavily congested. The bicycle was equipped with a MiniVol TAS sampler and a Plume Labs Flow 2 sensor gathering data over the course of three months. The filters collected were extracted and analysed by atmospheric scientist Bryant through an established method used for PM_2.5 filter samples, using ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography, high-resolution mass spectrometry to identify known compounds within the samples. The process of collection and extraction were documented and the filters also photographed and investigated under a microscope.

This arts-science collaboration seeks to uncover if there are any striking differences in air pollution levels on regular bus routes to both campuses as well as alternative rural routes. This study proposes that the data and information gathered will be incorporated onto a digital map of York to reveal collection locations and routes as well as pollution concentrations and compounds present within filter samples. Combining this data with photos and video snapshots of each performance ride will improve the public's ability to see for themselves pollution within their city. This interdisciplinary collaboration would also increase our understanding of environmental hazards facing cyclists and the benefits of a healthier environment through improved infrastructure. This study will help monitor and creatively disseminate exactly what cyclists and the public are exposed to and will help to inform effective solutions.

Despite ongoing evidence that suggests art enhances our understanding of science and data, there is still much to analyse regarding impact and personal realisation for action. This study provides initial evidence that the public engages with creative and visual outcomes that aim to make the invisible, visible. 

How to cite: Bryant, D., Nattress, C., and Hamilton, J.: The art-science interface: making York's air pollution visible, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-5038, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-5038, 2022.

Snow crystals are among the most delicate and aesthetically beautiful things in nature. Looking at their geometrically unique features has inspired photographers and scientists for more than two centuries. However, being made of frozen water, their beauty is usually ephemeral and can usually only be captured in pictures. In this project, we present a system and a procedure to permanently preserve the highly detailed imprints of snow and ice crystals using special kinds of glue and a custom built cooling device. The resolution of the imprints is even high enough to reveal the inner structure of the sometimes only millimeter sized features.  We collected more than 100 snow crystals from Antarctica and the Arctic so far. It should be emphasized that this includes samples from both polar winters, captured during a scientific overwintering stay on Neumayer Station III (Antarctica) and on the MOSAiC cruise (Arctic). This makes the collection truly unique. Additionally we also found a way to preserve imprints of larger glacier ice and ice core samples. This enables to highlight the ancient air bubbles and fine glacier ice microstructure (e.g. sub-millimeter crystal grain boundaries) without the need to keep them frozen. The current focus of this ice core sample preparation is an ice core from Skytrain Ice Rise in West Antarctica, reaching back to ice ages of about 150 000 years before present. The samples we prepare from this core have mainly been used in laser-ablation ion coupled plasma spectrometry for chemical impurity analysis.  We incorporate both the snow crystals and the ice core samples into art objects. The objects not only highlight the delicate beauty of the ice, but also refer to the fragility and delicate balance of the environments they originate from. This is supported by the integration of other materials that have been in use in the polar regions, for example discarded parts of scientific and technical equipment. We consider the artistic presentation as a pathway not only to communicate the fascination of our scientific work and results, but also to bring people closer to the sometimes uncomfortable truths of climate change. We therefore aim to use the artistic presentation of the snow and ice samples to communicate the dramatic impacts of climate change, especially in the polar regions, to a non-scientific audience. 

How to cite: Hoffmann, H. and Hoffmann, T.: The Cryosity project – Artistical preservation of snow crystals and glacier ice samples from Antarctica and the Arctic, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-6156, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-6156, 2022.

Visualizing hydroclimatic data through maps, curves, diagrams or any other graphical means is an integral part of most scientific analyses. While less frequently attempted, it is also possible to listen to the data through the process of sonification; and rather than just making sounds, why not trying to make music out of them?

Overall, the process of transforming a dataset into music involves two main steps. The first one is to define a mapping between data values and sound properties (typically, the volume or the pitch of notes). This is very similar to the approach used to visualize data (think about using the size or the color of a symbol to represent data). The second step is to arrange the raw result of this first sonification step in order to make it 'sound good' and -hopefully- transform it from sound to music. 

This poster will present a few musical pieces created from hydroclimatic data we use as part of our scientific activity, such as:

• the most basic time series used in catchment hydrology (https://vimeo.com/481648928)
• the impact of El Nino on precipitation (https://vimeo.com/440621263)
• an exploration of the Dry Valleys of Antarctica (https://vimeo.com/653705727)
• an ubiquitous statistical tool (https://vimeo.com/532773848)
• and more (https://globxblog.inrae.fr/)

Data sonification can be looked at from many interesting angles. From a scientific perspective, it is another way to extract information from data. From a musical perspective, it is a device to create the backbone of musical pieces. From an education and communication perspective, it is an engaging starting point to present scientific concepts or results. In addition, the process of sonifying data is a great way to learn new skills in many topics, including signal processing, musical theory or computer science, just to name a few.

How to cite: Renard, B. and Le Bescond, C.: The Music of Water, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-9759, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-9759, 2022.

Often scientists think of creating visuals like graphs, tables, and charts to better convey their research or make it more appealing to a broader public. However, some data or scientific concepts are complex and difficult to grasp. Instead, art is a universal language. This has led to a tremendous growth in data visualisation using art in the last decade.

At the University of Reading, a team of scientists are collaborating with environmental scientist and visual artist, Nerea Ferrando, to enliven the important story of deadwood for forest functioning. Deadwood refers to trees, or parts of a tree, that are dying or have died. Research in this field is increasingly showing that deadwood stabilises forests, sustains productivity, stores carbon, and provides food and a home for thousands of species, including invertebrates, fungi, as well as birds and mammals. Yet, despite its enormous ecological significance, deadwood remains one of the most threatened habitats in managed forests. Its amount, quality, and diversity is usually heavily reduced by forestry as a common strategy to control pests or make sites accessible.

The artist is creating a series of works to bring to light this less visible part of the forest and help communicate specific aspects of the research findings, such as its unrecognized role in the carbon cycle, the impact of deadwood on biodiversity, or exposing contradictory views on best management practices.

Ultimately, the science-artwork seeks to promote consciousness and awareness of the value of deadwood and the benefits it provides. Raising awareness is essential because, to date, deadwood continues to receive little attention and the adoption of management strategies that create or maintain a variety of deadwood are needed to protect forest health.

How to cite: Ferrando Jorge, N., Shannon, V., Clark, J., Shaw, L., Vanguelova, E., and Morison, J.: Using art to enliven research on deadwood, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-10135, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-10135, 2022.

“Language [is] absolutely teeming with metaphors that are often invisible to us,” writes Melanie Mitchell, in her book, Artificial Intelligence: A Guide for Thinking Humans. “But our understanding of essentially all abstract concepts comes about via metaphors based on core physical knowledge.” As significant work in both geography and the arts demonstrate, our engagement with the physical, material environment shapes our understanding of and our relationship to the world, ourselves, and both human and nonhuman others. Our sense of place is deeply informed by our embodied experiences and our visual surrounds, which are socially constructed and culturally replicated. These concepts are continuously revealed by the pervasiveness of and dependence upon physical metaphor to scaffold language, art, and thought. Rapidly advancing computational technology, however, has irrigated a culture that is profoundly unmoored from these physical and material relationships. While the internet has successfully democratized information, bringing to fruition the knowledge utopia many envisioned at its genesis, and supercomputing has revolutionized the processing and visualizing of immense datasets at incredible speeds, modern computing has also drastically widened the gap between the lay public and the means of knowledge production. The research process, from start to finish, has become so specialized, opaque, reshaped, and repackaged for broad audiences that the average person can no longer connect with its resulting data—can no longer imagine the ice cores, weather balloons, permafrost samples, sea level trackers, or recording devices awaiting the calls of birds long-extinct that lay behind the inhuman line graphs and bar charts spelling our demise. This outsourcing, digitizing, abstracting, and hyper-personal target marketing of information has crippled a system of knowledge-production and communication built on relational trust and a recognition of personal, experience-based truths within larger, institutional messaging. Further, prior work shows that individual belief systems emerge from complex socio-cultural milieus, of which one dominant component is the beliefs of an individual’s immediate community—those they trust as a result of long-standing relationships. Knowledge of and beliefs about the world are fundamentally grounded in physical, personal experience, in place, and in community relationships. In an era of hyper-polarization, digital abstraction, and pressing climate challenges, how might ethical communication practices expand and evolve to more effectively engage with diverse communities already facing the multifarious repercussions of climate change? How can we leverage the physical, the material, and the communal to reestablish the connection between environmental data—and its subsequent insights—with its original source? I propose that a reconceptualization of scientific visualization, based in the fine arts, has the potential to bridge this gap. Here, I explore the potentials of integrating visualization with traditional collectivist art practices—drawing on literature from the arts and from geography, participatory mapping, and communications—with the directed aim of improving conceptual understanding and producing actionable insights in key vulnerable communities for climate resilience.

How to cite: Zeller, S.: Collective Art Practice for Communications-Directed Climate Visualization, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-10638, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-10638, 2022.

Farmers manage 88% of Wales’ land area, maintaining and enhancing the natural environment for aesthetic enjoyment and wellbeing of the wider population. Their provision of ecosystem services ranges from habitat creation and management to water storage to reduce flood impacts and carbon capture. The benefits of sustainable farming in the UK have gained particular relevance as climate change is expected to increase summer storm intensity and temperature, with increased sediment runoff and reduced river water quality. To improve understanding of Welsh farmers’ perspectives on sustainable farming actions and develop targeted information delivery, we discussed decision-making processes towards sustainable farming actions and suggestions for the future of Welsh farming with farmers in three catchments (Monmouthshire, Pembrokeshire, and Anglesey).  Outputs presenting information on sustainable farming actions were revised following participant feedback, with revisions including watercolour drawings of Welsh farmland with sustainable farming actions, which demonstrated implementation in the Welsh landscape without identifying specific sites. A broader understanding of the tensions experienced by farmers coping with climate change and economic pressures as understood through discussion with farmer-participants was communicated through a mosaic sculpture ‘The Farmer’s Voice,’ which was co-designed with farmers and scientists, together with a professional artist, including incorporation of anonymised phrases from participants in Welsh and English. An initial series of possible designs was created following initial interviews, and the final design was chosen after consultation with farmer-participants. Anonymised feedback on sustainable farming and climate change from further workshops was used to inform more detailed technical drawings. In particular, the role of design and management of tree planting schemes and the historic role of farmers in caring for the environment through coppicing and hedgerow maintenance emerged as significant themes during the project. Technical drawings were approved by farmer-participants, who also suggested inclusion of phrases in Welsh and English. The final sculpture, co-designed in partnership with farmers, scientists, and a professional artist, was created from copper wire, recycled glass, and Welsh slate, representing an abstract tree demonstrating farmer resilience through and need for support and nourishment in the face of climate change. The sculpture will be exhibited at the Royal Welsh Show 2022.

How to cite: Follett, E., Turnbull, P., Davis, L., Wilson, C., and Cable, J.: Environmental resilience in rural Wales (UK): the role of art in scientist-artist-farmer engagement, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-11481, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-11481, 2022.

We present an ongoing series of pop-up exhibitions in residential care homes around Windsor, United Kingdom (UK).  Each display was created to give communities access to science and an understanding of research taking place in their local area. The artworks were created by artist Hugo Dalton from a residency with Prof. Sarah L Dance at the University of Reading, UK. They depict areas of her team’s research into mapping urban flooding by the River Thames. To contextualise the research and to spark interest with elderly viewers, historical watercolours of the area were also exhibited in collaboration with the Royal Collection Trust, Windsor. The watercolour genre has origins which coincide with the beginning of the Industrial Revolution: Watercolour and the picturesque movement can be seen as an early form of climate awareness.  

The scientific research that the collaboration builds on includes a method for detecting flooding in urban areas by merging near real-time satellite observations of flooding from Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) with model-derived flood hazard maps. Watercolour, as a painting medium, mirrors that the way that the data are used: Artists, like scientists, layer together different types of raw information to produce a coherent distillation for the viewer. Dalton painted in the exact locations where the scientific case studies were conducted, and developed these sketches in the studio into a series of artworks paired with scientific information.

For the art installation a frameless mobile fixing system was developed, working closely with the care home staff. This allowed artworks to be easily removed from the wall and inspected up close for residents with limited sight, or moved into the rooms of bed-bound residents. The reverse side of each had a short explanatory text.  Members of care home staff visited the artist’s studio to gain a deeper insight into the art and science. They could then recount this knowledge to their communities, becoming citizen advocates. Staff also used the artworks as starting points for activities.

This science-art collaboration empowers communities to understand and feel proud of science in their local area. The project’s wide reach extended beyond the residents to those who visited the homes, including relatives and their children.  Each paired set of artworks formed a talking point and enlivened the visual surroundings. Being geographically linked to their location the artworks provided a way for residents to share their lived experience of climate change. The future aim is to partner with other venues, including public houses and village halls to widen audience engagement.

How to cite: Dance, S. L., Dalton, H., Carolin, C., Clark, J., Ferrando Jorge, N., Hooker, H., and Mason, D.: Assimilated Watercolours: Pop up art exhibitions in Care Homes, EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-11694, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-11694, 2022.

As human populations rapidly urbanise and urban ecosystems and geosystems continue to degrade, there is an urgent need to green the greyest parts of our cities for biodiversity and climate change adaptation, as well as to create spaces where humans can interact and engage with nature. Although scientists and ecologists are often asked to inform designers, engineers and manufacturers engaged in integrated greening of grey infrastructures, it is rare for science-design collaborations to lead innovation and implementation in this field. We outline a long-term multidisciplinary project in which proven ecosystems engineering science was used as a starting point for a co-creating a collaborative, innovative multifunctional design; this co-design process can influence ecosystems engineering practices at various scales. 

Working on infrastructure projects involves people who speak very different languages and who have very different priorities and practical agendas working collaboratively. This can bring tensions as well as potentialities, both of which can affect implementation of innovation at scale. Increasingly, calls are being made by ecologists, social scientists and local communities for more reflexive practices in urban ecosystems projects which are working across traditional boundaries, to help steer a way through these complexities. Engaging in these processes is not an optional extra but a necessary part of the changes we need to make together. Responding to urgent demands to improve climate resilience, empower communities, and reduce the "extinction of experience of nature" facing many humans in urban areas, while also alleviating the effects of climate change on humans and built infrastructures, is daunting for practitioners. We reflect on our collaborative practice with academics and practical designers, mould makers and manufacturers, to share our learnings and introduce a visual / technical science-design process guide. We hope this will be valuable to those seeking collaborative ways of working on science-design projects that have practical infrastructure applications. 

How to cite: Naylor, L. A., Clive, R., and Metcalfe, D.: Reflecting on how science-design processes at the interface between ecology-geomorphology-art-design-manufacturing-engineering can lead to important innovations and models of practice., EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-12162, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-12162, 2022.

The challenges of plastic waste-related river pollution in the Brantas River basin in East Java, Indonesia, are the focus of concern for a core group of water managers, scientists, engineers, and environmental activists. But some of the most operable solutions to plastic waste pollution fall largely on the shoulders of citizens, who take on the bulk of solid waste management through community models, influence over allocation of government funding at the village level for waste management, and daily improvisation related to waste disposal from the household. Nevertheless, generally low community interest in solid waste management and river health is a commonly-cited barrier to the scaling up of available community-based waste management models – an issue repeatedly mentioned by social scientists, river activists, and government agents alike. Disinterest is attributed to a low level of knowledge about river health, inability to visualize sources and resultant problems due to river flows, and the absence of effective science communication targeting the communities who are both most affected by and most influencing of plastic waste streams.

The Brantas XOXO project initiated by Ecoton, a river action NGO, couples photography, sculpture, and performative community art with practical waste management solutions in a traveling exhibit. Brantas XOXO aims to inspire interest and action in plastic waste amongst riverine communities and empower citizens to participate in policy deliberation and solution-finding. Within the traveling exhibit, three art installations are coupled with exhibits highlighting community-based solutions for waste reduction, waste management, and river education to create an engaging context for science communication. An immersive plastic bottle tunnel sculpture, constructed from plastic waste taken from the Brantas, demonstrates the average amount of bottle waste produced by one resident of the Brantas basin in a year – much of which ends up in water resources - in order to visually communicate the scale of plastic waste. A photography exhibition includes images of life on the river, river pollution, and impacts of plastic pollution on riverine life. Last, a community problem tree sculpture invites participants to share their concerns and hopes for river health in a collaborative sculpture. These community inputs are to be collated and included in deliberations over a joint problem analysis with government agencies and industry. The three art exhibits are also complemented by additional Brantas XOXO stations focused on river water quality testing and monitoring, community models for waste management, and bulk or non-plastic alternative goods for household consumption (e.g., refillable cooking oil, cloth diapers).