This December, AGU24 returns to Washington, D.C., bringing together more than 25,000 Earth and space scientists, educators, policymakers, journalists, and communicators from over 100 countries. With the theme “What’s Next for Science”, this year’s meeting, held from December 13–19, continues to foster pathways for discovery, collaboration, and action on global challenges, including climate change and advancing equity, diversity, inclusion, and belonging in the sciences.
We are thrilled to announce that the LEMONTREE project will have a strong presence at AGU24, with several of our researchers showcasing cutting-edge science, sharing research, and engaging with the broader scientific community. From UC Berkeley, we have Trevor Keenan, Ngoc Nguyen, and Maoya Bassiouni; from Texas Tech University, Nick Smith and his PhD student Isa Beltran; from Pittsburgh University, Amin Hassan; and from Seoul National University, Youngryel Ryu. Their presentations will highlight various topics, from advancements in machine learning for ecosystem science to remote sensing innovations, the physiological responses of vegetation to global change, and creative approaches to climate communication and mental health. Below is an overview of our sessions, oral presentations, and posters.
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Sessions Convened by LEMONTREE Researchers
- Emerging Machine Learning Approaches for Process Understanding in Ecosystem Sciences I (Oral)
📍 Friday, December 13 | 08:30–10:00 | B51A, Room 150 B, Convention Centre
Conveners: Trevor Keenan & Maoya Bassiouni
Session Details - Emerging Machine Learning Approaches for Process Understanding in Ecosystem Sciences II (Poster)
📍 Friday, December 13 | 13:40–17:30 | B53B, Hall B-C, Poster Hall
Conveners: Trevor Keenan & Maoya Bassiouni
Session Details - Vegetation Canopies: Physiology, Structure, Function (Oral)
📍 Tuesday, December 10 | 14:10 | B23L. 150B Convention Center
Convener: Nick Smith
Session Details - Vegetation Canopies: Physiology, Structure, Function (Poster)
📍 Tuesday, December 10 | 08:30 | Poster Hall
Convener: Nick Smith
Oral Presentations
- Maoya Bassiouni: Acclimation of Photosynthetic Capacity to CO₂ Explains Long-Term Declines in Leaf Nitrogen
Long-term declines in leaf nitrogen concentrations have raised concerns about nutrient limitations on ecosystem productivity. Maoya’s research, leveraging data from European forest plots, suggests that plants are reallocating nitrogen strategically as they acclimate to rising CO₂ and changing climates. This novel framework offers insights for Earth system models, challenging the prevailing narrative that elevated CO₂ exacerbates nitrogen limitations.
📍 Tuesday, December 10 | 14:50–15:00 | B23L-04, Room 150B Convention Centre. Details
- Maoya Bassiouni: Contemplating the biosphere’s breath to dissolve climate anxiety. This presentation explores the intersection of art, science, and mental health in addressing climate anxiety. Using FLUXNET’s data on biosphere “breathing,” Maoya highlights how creative inquiry can transform disorientation into empowerment, helping society reframe environmental challenges with a sense of interconnectedness and calm.
📍 Thursday, December 12 | 16:10–16:20 | Sy44A-02, Independence D, Marriott Marquis. Details
- Youngryel Ryu: Remote Sensing of Coupled Fluxes Across Scales: New Opportunities (Invited)
Youngryel presents advancements in the Breathing Earth System Simulator (BESS), a model integrating GPP, ET, RECO, and NEE. Updates include 10 m flux mapping, incorporation of forest age, and diurnal variations derived from geostationary satellites. The talk emphasizes BESS’s role in improving predictions of carbon flux variability and its applications for understanding coupled ecosystem processes.
📍 Thursday, December 12 | 14:10–14:25 | B43H-01, Room 150A, Convention Centre. Details.
Poster Presentations
- Ngoc Nguyen: FLUXPULSE: Detecting Rain-Induced Carbon Emissions Across Biomes. Ngoc’s work focuses on the FLUXPULSE project, which uses machine learning to identify how rainfall events trigger carbon emissions across diverse ecosystems. This research enhances our understanding of precipitation’s role in ecosystem carbon dynamics.
📍 Friday, December 13 | 13:40–17:30 | B53B, Poster Hall
- Nick Smith: Improving Predictions of Photosynthetic Acclimation on Ecosystem Processes
Nick’s poster highlights methods to better predict how photosynthetic acclimation impacts terrestrial ecosystem processes under global change. His work integrates data-driven insights to refine models of plant response to environmental shifts.
📍 Tuesday, December 10 | 08:30 | B21N, Poster Hall
- Isa Beltran: Dynamic Responses of Acquisitive Species to Precipitation in Semi-Arid Grasslands
Isa explores how plant communities in semi-arid grasslands respond dynamically to precipitation under eutrophication. Her findings shed light on how water availability drives species composition and ecosystem resilience.
📍 Friday, December 13 | 08:30 | B51G, Poster Hall
- Amin Hassan: Understanding the variability in Potential Evapotranspiration (PET) products for U.S. watersheds.
Amin examines the variability of potential evapotranspiration (PET) across 648 U.S. watersheds using seven PET datasets, highlighting significant differences driven primarily by variations in input data, particularly net radiation.
📍 Monday December 9| H160-IV | Online Poster Presentation. Details
- Jospeh Ovwemuvwose: Uncertainty in land carbon fluxes simulated by CMIP6 models from inconsistent treatments of crop distributions and photosynthetic pathways.
This study highlights the need for improved constraints in Earth System Models, as differences in vegetation distribution and photosynthetic pathways (C3 vs. C4) across models contribute to uncertainties in simulating land carbon fluxes and trends in carbon isotopic discrimination.
📍 Thursday December 12| B42E-06 | eLightning Theatre, Convention Centre. Details
If you’re attending AGU24, we hope to see you there! If not, you can stay updated with our highlights and insights by following us on X: @Lemontree_UofR or BlueSky: @lemontree-uofr.bsky.social.
Above: The LEMONTREE team at AGU2022