 Okay, we're back. We're live. We're here in Honolulu. This is, gee, I guess this is research in Manoa. And we're talking to Andrea Gabrielli, researcher at HIGP in SOWEST. That's the Hawaiian Institute of Geophysics and Planetology in SOWEST, the School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology at UH Manoa. And he is not here. He is joining us by Skype from New Orleans. In fact, he is covering the meeting of the American Geophysical Union, which is taking place in New Orleans right now. And we have the good fortune to connect up with him by Skype. So welcome to the show, Andrea. Looking great. Louisiana, the hub of this year's American Geophysical Union meeting. So why did you go? So here, I have my poster behind and I'm here at the Convention Center to report what is happening. What are the exciting discoveries of science that are being discussed here at the meeting? AGU is the largest meeting in the Earth and Space Sciences. The American Geophysical Union was founded in 1919 and it counts about 62,000 members worldwide. So it's an international association. But this year we have about, I was talking to some people here at the organizers of the meeting. We have about 24,000 attendees from a variety of countries. So this is an interesting story because this is the first time in a while that the meeting is actually moved from San Francisco because usually this meeting is held in San Francisco, California. But this year we're here in Louisiana. So some of the organizers of the meetings were mentioning that this is a wonderful opportunity to innovate the meeting and also to talk a little bit about science in other areas of the United States to engage the vibrant community that we have here in New Orleans and also talk a little bit about science on the Mississippi River. So talking about the various things that are happening here. So these are the news of this year meeting here on the banks of the Mississippi River. So what do you got behind you there, Andrea? What is that? This is just the poster that I presented yesterday. So this is some of the research that Robert Wright and Paul Lucy, John Porter and many other people at HIGP are dealing with. So volcanic gases and developing new spectrometers to measure fog in Hawaii and also forecasting volcanic eruptions all around the Earth. However, the meeting is not just about volcanoes, but we have planetary science. We have meteorology, atmospheric sciences. And particularly this year I was particularly struck by the fact that education and policy makers and policy making were also present. So that was kind of interesting. And particularly there are many undergraduate students who joined this year meeting. And I talked to some people from the University of Texas. They have undergraduate projects sponsored by NASA and other federal agencies who actually investigated the Northern Lights, the Aurora, to try and get spectra from the auroras. And so try to understand the composition, the particles that create aurora. So that was particularly exciting as we also have undergraduates this year. So that was something. And also the innovation this year is taking place by having experiments. Because walking, I believe we have some pictures as well. There is a picture. I think it's the second that I sent you earlier. Let's take a look at your pictures, OK? We're going to take them and I'll describe them to you. I want to show you how large this convention center is. OK, let's take the pictures and I'll describe them to you and then you can tell me what that picture is about, OK? Let's look at the first one. One second, Andrea, we're just getting the pictures up. The first one should be basically just the center of the convention center where there is the big AGU logo. And that's the place where basically we can see people can go and talk. But I also want to draw your attention and the attention of our viewers to the massive convention center because this one here in New Orleans is actually bigger than the convention center in San Francisco. And this one is about 1.1 million square feet. OK, we see a picture of the convention center now, Andrea. It is absolutely massive. We see a picture of the convention center now. It's got the AGU logo on it and there are people all around. So what is that to demonstrate for us? This one is just to show you the American Geophysical Union logo and actually the center of the meeting. But let's move on to the next picture because that's where we can see the convention center and how really massive it is. So we can have a glimpse of how large this meeting is. Yes, oh yes. It looks very big. The ceiling is not as high as the ceiling here. It's 1.1 million square feet and we have almost 24,000 attendees this year. So now we see the attendees. That's basically the poster hall section. So you can see there are many posters hanging, such as the one behind me. We can see many posters hanging, people sharing their research. And this is a wonderful occasion to basically learn more about specific field, learn new things, but also network because that's the place where new collaborations begin. They give birth to new collaborations between institutes, universities, and also federal agencies. Have you met anybody new? Absolutely. So there were some people from the INGV, the Italian National Institute of Volcanology, INGV, and people were there. They were particularly interested in our research that we're doing in Hawaii because they also have some sensors on Stromboli Volcano, on Atena Volcano in Italy, and also in Mexico. So they would like to compare results obtained from their instruments, which are mostly in the ultraviolet parts of the spectrum. So they work with UV lights with respect to our sensors, which are in the thermal infrared between 8 and 14 microns. Also, NASA scientists were interested in comparing our instruments to satellites and observations. So mostly the Goddard Space Center. And so that's just for me, but imagine, you know, I was talking to some friends of mine, we had a sourest reception dinner, or our friends and colleagues from Hawaii, both current and former, were able to meet in one specific venue. And I was talking to some of them, really, there is lots of things going on between universities and really new collaborations starting. It's just a wonderful experience. Have you made any new collaborations, Andrea? Have you established, you know, you guys sit at those tables we saw, you talked to each other about your projects, you share your latest discoveries? And Presto, you can have an agreement to make a collaboration. Are you seeking that? Have you found that? Have you established new collaborations with the Italians or otherwise? Yeah, we basically, we discussed about writing new proposals for asking for more funds to really carry out, carry on and continue doing these research as really, you know, trying and better forecast volcanic eruptions using sensors and instruments developing and furthering our advances in technology and really trying and developing new sensors. Yeah, you know, Andrea, you know, one of the big topics of discussion I'm sure at the AGU, and you referred to it a minute ago, is making application for grants and trying to get research money. And I know there must be discussion here in New Orleans at the AGU right now today about federal funding, because this administration has been less than generous in federal funding and maybe has cut some of the federal funding. So what is the discussion on the floor about federal funding from this administration right now? Well, most of the, every administration has basically different areas of, you know, they tend to send more money towards one's particular topic or another. This one is particularly trying to develop military applications. So I was talking to various people and, for example, our research in HIGP is also involved in developing sensors for, you know, various applications. One of them is actually the military, because the sensors which we are developing are imaging spectrometers. So they can be used to also to, well, we use them to identify gases, but they can also be used to identify materials, camouflage targets. So Paul Lucy actually at our institute is doing some of this, exactly some of these research specifically for military applications. So really there is a shift in what is important and what is, you know, trying to keep up with the federal fundings and everything. Are there federal agencies there with you? Are you talking to representatives of the government? Can you engage with them on the possibility of grants and research money for these projects? Well, I talked to some people from the, again, NASA and also the National Science Foundations about these things, but also there are specific sessions here at HGU where people can basically are trained on how to write proposals. So really these are very useful, especially for the younger scientists who really can learn the niches, you know, and where really you can apply for having grants money and how to actually receive this money to carry on this research, which is very useful. Yeah, this is very important. So you may come home with some money. Am I right? Ah, we'll see. We'll see how these collaborations that I mentioned earlier will evolve in the future. But for now it seems that most, again, in HIGP are well represented here. We have many people presenting research to show new results, showing new science being created. And so really it seems to be doing pretty good at these meetings. How many people are there from SOEST and HIGP? What sort of contingent do you have around you? We have about 100 different presentations. So it's a pretty big number, you know, and a variety of people here are here talking about volcanoes, talking about lava flows, talking about planetary science, talking about meteorites and lunar geology and planetary geology and geosciences. So it's really a very nice hub to really discuss science. Well, I know that at these programs you have presentations also. You have, of course, posters, but is anybody from Hawaii presenting? Absolutely, yeah. There are various presentations that people can attend. And some people present, prefer posters as it really, you can stand next to a poster and really talk to all the people passing by because it's really well organized. There is an app, it's an AGU app on your phone where basically you can check presenters and topics and it's really organized. There is a number behind every poster so you can really walk towards the posters that you are interested in and really you can talk to the right people at the right time. So posters are a really good occasion for networking because you can really stand next to your poster and talk for hours to various people. Talks are very good for conveying information and showing images. There is not a lot of time usually to answer questions and answering questions. So usually at talks you have to catch up with presenters afterwards and there are various areas that are specifically arranged in the convention center where you can have such meetings. So it's really well organized and New Orleans is doing a wonderful job in AGU as well in organizing this meeting. Andrea, we're going to take a short break now. We come back, I want to talk more about New Orleans. I want to talk more about how it is today, how it is for you, what kind of experience it is these days because obviously since the hurricane it's changed. We'll take a minute break. We'll be right back with Andrea Gabrielli of HIGP. Good afternoon, my name is Howard Wigg. I am the proud host of Code Green, a program on Think Tech Hawaii. We show at 3 o'clock in the afternoon every other Monday. My guests are specialists from here and the mainland on energy efficiency which means you do more for less electricity and you're generally safer and more comfortable while you're keeping dollars in your pocket. Andrea, we're back. We're live with Andrea Gabrielli. He's from HIGP. He's a researcher and he joins us by Skype from New Orleans at the meeting, this fabulous meeting of the American Geophysical Union which is taking place in New Orleans right now. So Andrea, we're going to take a look at more of your pictures but first I wanted to talk to you about the exhibits. What do you see on the exhibits here at the AGU meeting? Yeah, so we talked a little bit about science, a little bit the science that is being presented. We talked about federal funding but also one area, one big area of the Convention Center is actually used by exhibitors to present new products. So basically there are a variety of industries and also federal agencies and also journals which scientists might use to publish their research in which basically are there to talk about innovations and new products. So I believe we have some pictures as well of these exhibits. We're looking at one picture, Andrea. We're looking at one picture right now. It's a picture of a number of exhibits on the floor. It's up from a mezzanine looking down on these various exhibits. So these are some aerial pictures that I took and you can really see the extent of these exhibitor units. So basically drones is a pretty interesting topic that is really hot right now here at AGU. I went and talked to some companies and organizations about their drones and these are really, really expensive, thousands of dollars drones. They can fly cameras to take pictures. There are radars to actually map sea floors. There are environmental sensors, really cutting-edge technologies that are being presented and that are based on the research that is carried out by the scientists. So we really can see a variety of sensors, environmental sensors to measure temperature, humidity, trunk on climate change and we can also, and drones too. And one of the applications that is really being discussed here at AGU is to use hyperspectral imaging, which is one of my areas of research for example, and agriculture. Because basically these drones can be used to fly over crop fields to monitor the emission and absorption feature in the infrared to actually determine whether plants are stressed or not in terms of water needs. So this is something really interesting. There are some major discussions also on food security and exactly on how to use new sensors and new technology in terms of food production. So that was something interesting that I learned at the meeting as well. Yeah, you know, when you talk about drones, Andrea, and you talk about sensors from drones that are some distance from what you want to test, that would be kind of a long-distance sensor. That would be a sensor that could see or somehow sense things at hundreds of feet or maybe more. But then you have also sensors that have to be right up close. Am I right to assume there's a kind of distinction there? A sensor that could work for hundreds of feet or miles and a sensor that needs to be right up on top of whatever it's sensing. Absolutely. And I talked to some people because the goal here and when safety allows, you know, you can basically bring this sensor close to the things that you want to monitor. Now, in case of gases, it's dangerous and we prefer remote measurements. But on other occasions, it's really needed to go close and to measure. And here, what scientists are interested in that these sensors needs to be compact, needs to be small, needs to be field portable. And also this is another tendency. I talked to many people in this exhibit hall about the importance of having compact sensors. So this is another. There are now microcomputers. Arduino is a, which is an Italian invention. That's really making a way, really a small computer. Raspberry Pi, people are talking about these new computers and new technologies to really make these sensors small and compact. You know, when you go to a meeting like AGU, you not only get to network and you get to collaborate and you get to find out what the other guys are doing, but you also get to confirm that your work is where it should be, that your work is up at the frontier, that you are pushing the frontier. So are you able to confirm that here at the AGU meeting here in 2017? Can you say that you have had confirmation that your work is right up at the frontier of science? Not only my work, but the work of thousands of other people. Absolutely. Because I, you know, this is really, this is really an occasion where you can learn about different fields. Because sometimes, you know, being in a university, in a university you are focused on one particular research. But in this meeting, this is again the largest meeting of all the earth and space sciences. So basically, you really can learn new things and new things even on different fields. And so this is where you really realize how important this science, this science that is being discussed here, how important it is, how important this science being discussed. So aren't you, you've met a lot of people, you've seen the commercial exhibits, you've heard the presentations. I'm sure you've seen a lot of posters. Do you have a little list, a little list that you will do, little things that you will do when you come back home? And what's on the list? When you get back to Honolulu, what would you be doing based on what you learned at this convention? Well, probably, I'm going to, I have a small list, mostly again a list of connections that I made. So follow up on emails, you know, discuss more about what's for the future, what's really, again we mentioned this proposal, this grant applications and everything, and really to really continue carrying out this science. Hawaii was well represented, there was a source to stand right there and also the convention center, and I was happy to see that, I was happy that Hawaii was, you know, not only represented by the scientists that are here, but also represented by these stands to really, you know, make some advertisement of our outreach about our possibilities and our convention center. I attended a Geological Society of America in Honolulu and were very well organized and I talked to some people there. So I was happy to see that SOAS was also present there. Well, you know, it strikes me that SOAS is really at the front end and you probably have had confirmation. Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. That's also the confirmation. But not only SOAS, we mentioned people presenting research, we mentioned the exhibits. Now, also another area of the meeting is used by universities and university departments who actually present the research that is being carried out there. I saw University of Alaska Fairbanks, University of Texas, University of Arizona State University, they had a big stand right there. So really, and even international, the British Royal Society was there. So really a variety of variety, lots of variety. Yeah. How about the schools in Louisiana? How about the schools in New Orleans? Are they represented? Anybody from Chile? Absolutely, absolutely. And again, this is a... It's really... I mentioned before the fact that the meeting was moved from San Francisco to New Orleans and this is really a fantastic occasion also to engage the local universities here to talk about, for example, the science on the Mississippi River, the... For example, the environmental areas here in the Delta of the Mississippi, the unique wildlife that is present here, the swamps, the Louisiana swamps, and really the unique creatures that live here. So not only technology, as you can see. Well, Andrea, this has been a great discussion. Really appreciate you phoning in with Skype. It's lovely to be able to connect with you while you're far away at a conference like the AGU conference. I hope that when you get back, we can talk further. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy not only the conference but the joys of Louisiana and especially New Orleans. It's a great city even now. Thank you so much, Andrea Gabrelli, HIGP researcher. Thank you very much, Dave. Merry Christmas and see you soon. Thank you. Aloha, Andrea.