I came into AGU with a full understanding of how big of a conference it is. This did not, however, prepare me for the throngs of people or, more importantly, navigating the posters, presentations and exhibits. Deciding what I am going to dedicate my time to each day is a challenge, as there are always a wide variety of topics that are interesting. There are the presentations on modeling vegetation, climate, glaciers, etc. There are presentations on Arctic systems science. There are presentations on wildfire and succession. It is a scientists dream, but I find myself dwelling on everything that I am missing.

Moscone Center

Despite the wide array of topics, I have found that Polaris has a big presence in the biogeosciences aspect of AGU. It was exciting to attend a session in which multiple Polaris researchers had presentations. The Y4 has been well represented here. Yesterday, Karin, Han and Craig presented their posters. Watching them interact with other scientists and explain their little piece of research in Arctic systems science was exhilarating. Tomorrow, Ellen and I present ours. I must admit a great deal of nerves. Although, I know that it will be an overwhelmingly positive experience, I still worry that the big names in Arctic science will ask questions that I can’t answer. But you have to be realistic about these things. No one has all the answers and hard questions will help guide my future questions and work.