Who would have thought that I’d come to AGU to see a movie? Sunday night about 100 AGU members watched the documentary “TARA: Journey to the Heart of the Climate Machine.” The start of this 90 minute video was delayed nearly half an hour as we struggled with US versus European DVD formats. We finally borrowed a PC from someone who had come to watch the video and put the lapel microphone next to the PC speaker. The audience, as international as AGU is, was patient and the late start even allowed more people to come and watch the video.

The video, directed by Emmanuel Roblin and Thierry Ragobert, is an award winning documentary of the EU DAMOCLES (Developing Arctic Modeling and Observing Capabilities for Long-term Environmental Studies) project that chronicles the two year effort of an intentionally stranded research vessel in the Arctic that travels with the ice floes, eventually passing close to the North Pole, collecting valuable climate data.  It’s an exciting adventure story that highlights the impact of climate change on Arctic Sea ice.

The video was introduced by David Carlson, Director of the International Polar Year, who helped us understand the context of the voyage.

If you missed this video, there is another showing on today (Tuesday, 15 December) at 18:30 in Moscone South 301. The is also another documentary to view for free (at 12:30 today in Moscone South 302) called “Hubble’s Amazing Rescue.” That film is a NOVA production about the space walks that included an AGU scientist and gave the Hubble telescope new life.

So, even if you hadn’t planned to see a movie while at the Fall Meeting, I strongly encourage you to take advantage of either of these engaging free movies, brought to you by the AGU Public Information office.

—Randy Richardson, Professor, Department of Geosciences, University of Arizona; and Chair, AGU Public Information Committee