Join NASA in San Francisco to Celebrate Open Science

December 31, 2023, may mark the end of A Year of Open Science, but not before one of the largest Earth science gatherings takes place with the theme of Wide. Open. Science. From December 11 to 15, more than 25,000 Earth and space scientists, students, and those in affiliated fields will meet in San Francisco, California, for the annual American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting. The AGU’s flagship meeting provides an excellent opportunity to learn about the latest developments in open science, Earth science, data products, and much more.

Members of NASA’s Earth Science Data Systems (ESDS) Program and the agency’s Earth Science Division will demonstrate new data, tools, and services and describe how unrestricted access to one of the largest Earth science data collections on the planet fosters collaborative discoveries to better understand Earth’s interconnected processes. In addition, the Open Science Pavilion in the AGU Central Hall will provide skills and techniques to help attendees make their data and software more findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable (FAIR).

What follows is just a small taste of the many scheduled NASA ESDS AGU Fall Meeting activities. Please see the AGU Scientific Program and Schedule for all planned events and sessions. Can’t make it to the West Coast? No problem. You can attend many of the oral sessions, presentations, and lectures virtually.

The NASA Booth

The NASA Booth (#531) in the Moscone Center AGU Exhibit Hall will be a hub of activity. Throughout the meeting, booth visitors will be able to meet agency data providers, managers, and creators to learn more about data products and services and see demonstrations of tools and apps for working with NASA Earth science data.

The innovative NASA Hyperwall will be used for a wide range of presentations highlighting the latest science and technologies. Scheduled Hyperwall presentations include Keeping PACE with the NASA Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem Mission; the Open-Source Science Initiative; Exploring Earth Science Communication Through NASA’s Earth Information Center; Earth Science From and In the Sky: Airborne Science at NASA; and Unveiling the Frontier: Open Science and the Future of Space Biology for Human Exploration.

Formal Science Sessions

Every day of the Fall Meeting—from 8:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.—features oral sessions, lightning talks, poster sessions, plenaries, named lectures, and town halls. NASA Earth science is well-represented throughout the week.

Learn more about the ESDS Web Unification initiative, how this major undertaking will make it easier to work with NASA Earth science data, and how a variety of user experience (UX) research and design techniques are being used to gather feedback from the Earth science community as part of this effort.

A Town Hall on Monday, December 11, features the latest work of the Commercial SmallSat Data Acquisition (CSDA) program, which identifies, assesses, and acquires data from commercial providers to supplement NASA’s data collection. Another Town Hall on Wednesday, December 13, highlights the activities of the Satellite Needs Working Group (SNWG) and how it identifies innovative solutions that benefit the entire Earth Science community. Complimenting the SNWG Town Hall, a session about the SNWG Management Office (SNWG MO) within the ESDS Interagency Implementation and Advanced Concepts Team (IMPACT) will help you learn more about how new SNWG solution activities are implemented and contribute to the open science paradigm.

Speaking of IMPACT, along with presentations showcasing the work of this ESDS component (such as the latest developments in NASA’s Visualization, Exploration, and Data Analysis [VEDA] platform and work using the Multi-Mission Algorithm and Analysis Platform [MAAP]), IMPACT Project Manager Dr. Rahul Ramachandran will deliver the AGU’s Greg Leptoukh Lecture on Thursday, December 14. This AGU named lecture recognizes advances made by individual researchers in the field of informatics and their contributions to Earth and space science. [Editor's note: The Greg Leptoukh Lecture at the 2023 AGU Fall Meeting has been canceled; it will be held in January 2024.]

Pre-Conference Workshops

Even before the formal start of the meeting on December 11, in-person pre-conference workshops offer opportunities to learn more about NASA resources and data. Registration for pre-conference workshops closes on Friday, December 1.

Unfamiliar with NASA Earth science data or unsure how to start using the more than 100 petabytes of openly available data NASA offers? We have you covered! Join ESDS team members from across the program Sunday, December 10, for Getting Started with NASA Earth Science Data: From Beginner to Expert.

This workshop showcases commonly used data discovery, access, and application tools. NASA experts will provide strategies for finding and accessing Earth science data in the agency’s collection as well as guidance for using popular tools such as Giovanni, the Application for Extracting and Exploring Analysis Ready Samples (AppEEARS), and Earthdata Search.

See You in San Francisco (or Online)!

This is only a sample of what you’ll experience at the AGU Fall Meeting. NASA Earth science has a great program planned, and we look forward to sharing our data and discoveries with you. Register to attend today.