Stephan Matthiesen

EarthTemp session at EGU 2015

In 2015, I again organise a session on measuring the surface temperatures of Earth at the General Assembly of the European Geoscientific Union (EGU) on 12-17 April 2015 in Vienna. It continues the session that we have offered successfully in the last two years. Abstracts can be submitted through the EGU website; the deadline is 7 January.

The idea for the session "Taking the temperature of the Earth: Temperature Variability and Change across all Domains of Earth's Surface" came up in the EarthTemp project which brings together researchers from all over the world who investigate the surface temperatures of Earth from different perspectives. The term "surface temperature" may refer to different quantities even at a single place on Earth, e.g. the air temperature or the temperature of the sea surface,and it can be measured by different means, e.g. directly with thermometers or remotely by satellite, using infrared radiation. These different temperatures are not identical, but related to one another by physical processes. The conference session will help to bring these different approaches together to increase our understanding of surface temperatures. This is not only important for measuring global warming; good temperature measurements are also essential for a range of practical applications - agriculture in developing countries can benefit, as can the health services in cities affected by heat waves.

In the last two years, the submitted presentations and posters covered an amazing range of topics - not only have I learned an awful lot, but it was also great fun convening the session. It is a pleasure and an honour to be involved again in 2015.