 Welcome to EGU 22, Europe's largest year science event. For the first time, the annual EGU General Assembly is in hybrid format, allowing both in-person and online participation. After a two-year absence, we're glad to be able to meet so many of you in Vienna again and also welcome thousands of scientists from around the world joining us online to share and discuss research in the Earth, Planetary and Space Sciences. EGU promotes Earth, Planetary and Space Sciences through awards, education, outreach projects and policy recommendations. EGU is a bottom-up organization giving our members a strong voice in the Union's direction and activities. That's why, after the last two years online meetings, we considered your feedback and incorporated it into our plans for the future. Taking the first step in our journey to a new fully hybrid General Assembly format. This year's meeting format was also developed taking into account the changing pandemic situation and our desire to put the health and safety of our attendees first. We have improved last year's online platform whilst bringing back many of the in-person features that you told us you missed. You will notice a lot of changes in Vienna as we are working hard to keep our attendees safe and we thank all attendees for doing their bit to protect their fellow researchers by following our COVID-19 safety restrictions. Although we are sorry not to have the poster and V-Pico formats this year as part of our required hygiene plan, we are excited to see all the amazing science that you will share using the short oral presentations and through your online display materials. We've designed this year's format, the online platform, as well as the in-person representation of the scientific session to help promote scientific discussion and spark new ideas while also promoting inclusivity and equal accessibility for all participants as much as possible within the current circumstances. We hope you set aside enough time during this week to fully engage your colleagues and to explore the many additional activities we are offering. As well as all the scientific sessions, our volunteers and staff together with our conference partner Copernicus have once again worked extremely hard to bring you a wide range of additional activities and networking events to help you find and build your community. Make sure you take advantage of these different activities such as the short courses, the EGU Art Booth and the Data Help Desk as well as dozens of medals and award lectures that will showcase the latest research and give you chance to be part of the conversation. As a bottom-up volunteer-led organisation, our community is key. Your participation in EGU together with your feedback will help us build a legacy that enables equality of opportunities for all geoscientists and helps us fulfil our mission of realising a sustainable and just future for humanity and planet Earth.