What Happens When You Put Thousands Of Weather Geeks In A Building?
Have you ever wondered what happens to your brain after spending all day for four days listening to presentations that last for 15 minutes each and are given by different speakers from all over the world? Well, for me I usually come to the end of that four days with more questions than answers, but that can actually be a good thing. I guess I should not expect anything different from a gathering of thousands of people who approach the fields of weather and climate from a variety career types and with very diverse objectives. Nor does it help you have to run around a huge conference center to make sure to see presentations from 20 people I knew personally who were presenting. So what should one really expect from a meeting that has a conference program as big as, or maybe even bigger, than a advertisement laden fashion magazine?
The answer I am sure is very different for everyone, especially given the broad spectrum audience. Is it really possible to satisfy a broadcast meteorologist, an atmospheric aerosols researcher, a climate model statistics specialist, and an energy trader all at once? Well with presentation titles like…
- Intraseasonal predictions of tropical cyclone activity in the North Atlantic Ocean
- Seeing the world through a political lens: the connection between weather and climate change perceptions and beliefs
- Improving long-range hydropower forecasts in snowmelt dominated basins
- Determining radiative heating profiles from satellite data using statistical classification and cluster analysis
…they certainly do try. I think for someone with focused work areas or highly planned agendas the conference can make sure they are exposed to the latest research, findings, news, techniques, etc. For me however it is a little tougher. My work touches a wide spectrum of areas, so I find myself both needing and wanting to see presentations amongst a broad range of various conference tracks. This usually translates into hoping to have just a handful of A-HA moments, and while I had a couple of AHH moments things just seemed to not live up to expectations this year.
What is even worse, I don’t have any major news events to share with you the reader. Most of the items I saw directly or was told about by others were what I would consider ‘incremental’ advances. Now, for some people even seemingly incremental advances can be major news on their relative scale, but in the grand scheme of things or for layperson they are likely to seem like baby steps. So while it was good to see old friends and colleagues, learn some new things and even present some of my own research, I departed the 90th Annual AMS meeting feeling a bit underwhelmed.
Photo Courtesy: UCAR
In reflection, probably the most memorable event was a tribute to Joach Kuettner. Now it is unlikely you have ever heard of this man, but seeing many of the most distinguished scientists in fields of meteorology and climatology come together and pay tribute to this man of 100 years was quite impressive. It was a resounding reminder of how sometimes it is the names we never hear about that have some of the greatest influence and impact. This man’s story is quite intriguing and I recommend starting here for some follow up reading if you are so inclined.
Next time we will delve back into the Climate & Business with a posting about ‘organization contribution’. In our previous post in March of last year we first touched on this concept, and it is time to dig into the topic in more detail. Until then, don’t take things at face value – question, debate, be skeptical, learn and come to your own well informed opinion!