American Geophysical Union
The spring AGU meeting this year is in Acapulco, Mexico.. It is a joint affair with nearly a dozen Latin American societies. About 2,300 scientists have registered. This makes it smaller than some of the earlier joint meetings the AGU has held in the last four years to enhance scientific outreach. Certainly not as huge as the joint meeting with European societies four years ago in Nice, France, where some 10,000 scientists attended. Security at that event was insane, due to invasion/war in Iraq. No such problems in Acapulco. Although Mexican police/army trucks cruising oceanfront boulevard watching for drug lords are almost as frequent as buses. My long walk along the coast late last night turned up nothing but great pork posole and fine cazadores tequila. To many US-named fast-food spots along the way though. But at least a trendy little tequilaria like a coffee stand. Balmy doesn´t fully describe weather. Only a 2 degrees F spread predicted, from 82 to 84, day and nite. High humidity, full clouds. It´s Chabuso (read tropical storm) season. Hopefully, that doesn´t mean an earthquake. We sit atop one of THE most active quake zones. And new research revealed at the meeting raises the spector of a strange calm before a tectonic storm. Off to 14th floor hotel room. Hoping the building engineers did their job right decades ago when with this slightly frayed resort sprouted high-rises.
