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Game worlds in modern computer games, while they include very Earth-like landscapes, are ultimately fake. Since games can be used for learning, we wondered if people pick up wrong information from games. Using a survey we tested if people with a background in geoscience are better than people without such a background at distinguishing if game landscapes are realistic. We found that geoscientists are significantly better at this, but the difference is small and overall everyone is good at it.

Welcome to the journal of Geoscience Communication! We decided to write this editorial in order to introduce ourselves (the executive editors of GC), to provide a history of its development, and to serve as a guideline for future authors who wish to submit to this journal. We hope that this article serves as a useful aid for people who are considering publishing in GC, as well as the wider geoscience community, and that it can act in the first instance as a FAQ for authors, editors, and readers alike.

Among social media platforms, Twitter is valued by scholars to disseminate scientific information. Using two 2018 geohazard events as examples, we show that collaborative open data sharing and discussion on Twitter promote very rapid building of knowledge. This breaks down the traditional ivory tower of academia, making science accessible to nonacademics who can follow the discussion. It also presents the opportunity for a new type of scientific approach within global virtual teams.

Worldwide there is intense interest in converting research excellence in universities into commercial success, but there has been scant attention devoted to exactly how individual scientists' workload and incentive structures may be a key barrier to this. Our work reveals the real challenge posed by a time-constrained university culture, better describes how work with business might fit into an academic job, and gives tips on working together in an user guide for scientists and (re)insurers.

As computing and geophysical sensor components have become increasingly affordable over the past decade, it is now possible to build a cost-effective system for monitoring the Earth's natural magnetic field variations, in particular for space weather events, e.g. aurorae. Sensors available to the general public are ~ 100 times less sensitive than scientific instruments but only 1/100th of the price. We demonstrate a system that allows schools to contribute to a genuine scientific sensor network.

Humanity's situation with respect to climate change is sometimes likened to that of a frog in a slow-boiling pot of water. But are we telling the frog what he needs to know? Most climate science is communicated to governments in the form of predictions of what is most likely to happen. I argue it should instead answer the following questions: what is the worst that could happen, and how likely will that become as time goes by? The risks and need to act will then become much clearer to see.

To many non-specialists, the science behind climate change can appear confusing and alienating, yet in order for global mitigation efforts to be successful it is not just scientists who need to take action, but rather society as a whole. This study shows how poets and poetry offer a method of communicating the science of climate change to the wider society using language that they not only better understand, but which also has the potential to stimulate accountability and inspire action.

Exploring a corpus of 320 888 news articles published by 32 worldwide newspapers in 2015, this paper shows the following: news covers a very small proportion of the total number of earthquakes occurring in a year; the duration of coverage is very short, which does not allow for proper coverage of long-term issues; and there is a typical framing of the news about earthquakes that introduces major biases in representation, impeding proper appropriation of the seismic risk by the public.

Early-career scientists (ECSs) are rarely invited to act as peer reviewers. Participating in a group peer review of the IPCC Special Report on Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate, PhD students spent more time reviewing than more established scientists and provided a similar proportion of substantive comments. By soliciting and including ECSs in peer review, the scientific community would reduce the burden on more established scientists and may improve the quality of that process.

The American Geophysical Union (AGU) is an Earth and space science professional society. Research conducted by AGU members ranges from the Earth’s deep interior to the outer planets of our solar system. However, little research exists on the AGU meeting itself. We apply network analysis and scientometrics to 17 years of AGU Fall Meetings to examine the network structure of the AGU and explore how data science can facilitate better scientific communication and collaboration.

Climate change is real, it is happening now, and it will not be stopped by the sole efforts of scientists. This study shows how poetry and open conversation can be used to develop a dialogue around mitigating climate change with different communities, including faith groups and people living with disabilities. Furthermore, it shows how this dialogue can help us to better understand the opportunities that these communities present in tackling the negative effects of human-made climate change.

The politicization of climate change science has increased over the last decades. In this commentary, we argue that the role of climate scientists in our societies needs to adapt to this development. We share our experiences from leaving our offices to interact with diversified people on our running and cycle paths from the polar regions to the Paris climate summit. Based on these experiences, we suggest key components for successful communication with non-academic audiences in the 21st century.

Early warning systems for natural hazards have the potential to save lives and improve people's resilience to disasters. However, challenges remain in disseminating and communicating more complex warnings with longer lead times to decision makers and individuals at risk. Research was undertaken to analyse and understand the current flood early warning system in Nepal, considering available data and forecasts, information flows, early warning dissemination, and decision-making for early action.

Results from reviewing 15 popular video games demonstrate a combination of accuracies and inaccuracies that could impact on people’s self-learning of volcanoes. Several volcanic features are represented to varying degrees of accuracy (stratovolcanoes and calderas, lava flows, volcanic ash, and lava bombs), whereas health risks are often inaccurate. Suggested applications of the findings for educational environments are given, such as group projects in open-world games.

The Global Land and Marine Observations Database aims to produce a comprehensive land-based meteorological data archive and inventory. Data sources contained stations in incorrect locations; therefore, we developed the Geo-locate project, enlisting the help of undergraduate geography students. The project has resolved 1926 station issues so far. Due to the success of the Geo-locate project, we encourage other organizations to engage university students to help resolve similar data issues.

This study demonstrates how the popular mediums of video games, virtual reality, and science festivals can be combined with research data to produce useful tools for engaging the public with geosciences. Using the Flash Flood! simulation, it is demonstrated that the approach produces positive engagements and increases curiosity about flood risk and geomorphology; this is hoped to "plant the seeds" for fruitful engagements in the future with relevant agencies.

Seasonal hydrological forecasts (SHF) can predict floods, droughts, and water use in the coming months, but little is known about how SHF are used for decision-making. We asked 11 water sector participants what decisions they would make when faced with a possible flood event in 6 weeks' time. Flood forecasters and groundwater hydrologists responded to the flood risk more than water supply managers. SHF need to be tailored for use and communicated more clearly if they are to aid decision-making.

Urban centres worldwide are adversely affected by flooding and air pollution. Effective communication between experts and citizens is key to understanding and limiting the impact of these hazards, as citizens have valuable knowledge based on their day-to-day experiences. In this study, we compare five different communication formats that can facilitate the required dialogue and explore the best ways and optimal circumstances in which these can be implemented.

Research projects with exciting field components present unique public engagement opportunities. In this case study, we draw lessons and recipes from our educational programme with schools, coupled with a research project and aimed at showing students how science works. Co-creation with scientists gets the students enthusiastically engaged. The outcomes include students getting more interested in science and science careers and researchers getting experience in education and public engagement.

The UK Met Office ran an online game to highlight the best methods of communicating uncertainty in their online forecasts and to widen engagement in probabilistic weather forecasting. The game used a randomized design to test different methods of presenting uncertainty and to enable participants to experience being lucky or unlucky when the most likely scenario did not occur. Over 8000 people played the game; we found players made better decisions when provided with forecast uncertainty.

At the 14th IEEE International eScience Conference domain specialists and data and computer scientists discussed the road towards open weather and climate science. Open science offers manifold opportunities but goes beyond sharing code and data. Besides domain-specific technical challenges, we observed that the main challenges are non-technical and impact the system of science as a whole.

In this study, online entries about earthquakes are analyzed from a popular website in Turkey. The topic of several earthquakes in Turkey and its surrounding areas is the focus of the study. The experiences of the users during the earthquakes are converted into seismic intensity values, which are compared with the models that are used for the prediction of the same metric. It has been found that people's experiences are correlated with the predictions up to certain distances.

Training can deter people from joining a citizen science project but may be needed to ensure good data quality. In this study, we found that an online game that was originally developed for data quality control in a citizen science project can be used for training as well. These findings are useful for the development of training strategies for other citizen science projects because they indicate that gamified approaches might be valuable scalable training methods.

In this study we investigate what poetry written about volcanoes from the 1800s to the present day reveals about the relationship between humanity and volcanoes, including how it evolved over that time frame. This analysis reveals that the human–volcano relationship is especially centred around the sense of identity that volcanoes provide to humans, which may follow from both positive and negative events, and has a spiritual element to it.

We use time series data from the first United Kingdom Earth System Model (UKESM1) to create six procedurally generated musical pieces for piano. Each of the six pieces help to explain either a scientific principle or a practical aspect of Earth system modelling. We describe the methods that were used to create these pieces, discuss the limitations of this pilot study and list several approaches to extend and expand upon this work.

This paper presents a unique capacity-building event (the pressure cooker) which identified lessons for both organisers and participants about interdisciplinary working in geohazard risk communication. The paper highlights the importance of testing different approaches to build capacity across different disciplines for complex challenges, like risk communication. Examples are provided about the impact the event had on participants, organisers and supporters in both the short and long term.

We study the impact of an educational seismology program on earthquake awareness and preparedness in Nepal. We see that educational activities implemented in schools are effective at raising awareness levels and in improving adaptive capacities and preparedness for future earthquakes. Knowledge also reached the broader community though social learning, leading to broadscale awareness. The result observed in this study is encouraging for the continuation and expansion of the program.

Environmental research infrastructures are key to monitoring the growth conditions of environmentally sensitive activities. Based on literature and a case study, the paper reviews the main methods used for assessing the performance of infrastructures via their economic impacts. A framework is proposed for analysing assessment methods per impact category and by area of relevance. Further progress requires more data on environment and sensitive activities to improve the efficiency of the methods.

The Environment Agency (EA), responsible for flood risk management in England, is moving towards the use of probabilistic river flood forecasts. By showing the likelihood of future floods, they can allow earlier anticipation. But making decisions on probabilistic information is complex and interviews with EA decision-makers highlight the practical challenges and opportunities of this transition. We make recommendations to support a successful transition for flood early warning in England.

Inspiring young people to take part in the discovery and delivery of science is of paramount importance not only for their well-being but also for their future human development. To address this need, an outreach model entitled OH-Kids was designed to empower pupils through the development of high-quality STEM learning experiences based on a research project. The model enhances students attitude towards science.

CCS media coverage in Germany was dominated by other stakeholders than science itself. If science will remain a proactive element of science communication, new approaches for future science PR have be deduced. Among these is a more differentiated understanding of target audiences and regional concerns. Furthermore, science communication has to gain a better understanding of sociocultural contexts to become more effective and successful.

In this paper, we present a practical approach to atmospheric sciences and air pollution based on project-based learning as a methodological foundation. For this goal, we visited 10 secondary schools where we presented the activity and introduced a laboratory practice based on the method of measuring tropospheric ozone with strips that react with ozone and turn a specific grade of blue. We analyse the advantage of this practice as a learning technique through surveys.

The Space Sound Effects Short Film Festival integrated near-Earth space environment research into culture through independent film. By running a film festival challenging filmmakers to incorporate the sounds of space, creative works were produced which have gone on to be screened at numerous established film festivals and events internationally. These events introduced non-science audiences to this area of research which affects their everyday lives, having several unanticipated impacts on them.

Earth Girl Volcano is a casual strategy interactive game about saving communities at risk of volcanic hazards. The easy-to-play game features a friendly animated visual style and an engaging simulation of volcanic events. The game was designed by a multidisciplinary team to appeal to mainstream non-technical audiences, and it was inspired by the experiences of disaster survivors and civil defense teams. Players can learn through gameplay about disaster preparedness and response.

The resilience of our cities to climate risks relies on the capacity of urban communities to communicate. This paper presents a study aimed at understanding how to assess the impact of public outreach campaigns on urban resilience. The paper reviews resilience assessment methods, highlights those frameworks that consider communication impacts, and presents a range of experiments aimed at testing novel resilience communication indicators.

The paper describes an informal education activity focusing on coastal dynamics to engage with 10-year-old students. It combines science concepts, storytelling, and creative dance through six exercises translating wave generation, propagation, and sediment transport. Benefits from these types of activities range from engagement with science to acknowledgement of individual differences. Results of a questionnaire (112 students) show evidences of engagement and willingness to participate further.

Geoscientists can struggle to communicate with non-geoscientists, especially around contentious geoscience issues. We compare the thoughts and feelings of geoscientists and non-geoscientists around the subsurface, mining/quarrying, drilling and flooding. We find that geoscientists focus more on human interactions when thinking about these processes, while non-geoscientists focus more on economic and environmental impacts. Understanding these differences and similarities can help enable dialogue.

Air is as valuable a resource as water. We defined a novel index, the Clean aIr Index (CII), to evaluate air cleanliness in terms of a global standard. Japan was chosen as a study area. The air cleanliness of Tokyo was 1.5 and 2.3 times higher than that of Seoul and Beijing, respectively. Extremely clean air occurred to the west of the Pacific coast and in the southern remote islands of Tokyo during summer. CII can be valuable, e.g., for encouraging sightseeing in and migration to fresher air.

In this age of environmental awareness, it is interesting to see how the ecological movement was created by a saint and an artist. The unlikely team of St. Francis and Giotto were revolutionaries – the former, with his ideas on natural philosophy, and the latter, who portrayed the geological landscape in a way that made any viewer aware of the majesty of God's creation. These two created a lasting legacy as they shaped our perspective on the environment over 700 years ago.

The EMusic project aims to use music as a tool to explain, to a wide audience, the role of geophysics and geology in our society. By means of the sonification of the electromagnetic (EM) response of the Earth, we are able to accompany people on an imaginary voyage into the subsurface so that they can travel into the depths and into the past. In this way, the audience can learn about the geological evolution of the site, which is used as a natural stage, from where the EM data were collected.

The Global South is vulnerable to natural hazards like floods and droughts, but creativity could support community preparedness. We mapped 267 papers that use a variety of art forms. They aim to raise the public's awareness or instigate adaptation by participants. In our pilot in South Africa, community members developed stories about preparing for future drought. This led to an imagination of future events, conversations about adaptation, intergenerational exchange, and increased awareness.

We organized an exhibition on the climate crisis using high-quality images shot by scientists, who are amateur photographers, during their campaigns in glacier regions. Working-age people, attracted by the gorgeous images, received the message that such beauty is in danger of vanishing. Twice, the visitors could talk directly with the experts to discuss geoscience, photography, and aesthetic choices and, of course, climate change, a problem that each of us has to play a part in to solve.

We investigate the potential use of Thinglink, an interactive imagery-based web platform, for the study of rocks, minerals, and fossils under the microscope. We disseminated a prototype which allowed users to view rock samples through a "virtual" microscope and gathered feedback from staff and students. Results were overwhelmingly positive and imply real interest in this style of resource. Such resources could help to enhance accessibility and inclusivity and could complement existing teaching.

We explore how earthquakes affect everyday life through a multidisciplinary approach that incorporates historical, artistic and scientific perspectives. The effects of distant earthquakes are investigated using data collected on a seismometer located in the Wills Memorial Building tower in Bristol. We also explore historical accounts of earthquakes and their impact on society, and, finally, we use the data collected by the seismometer to communicate artistically the Earth's tectonic movements.

This paper focuses on the use of games and illustrations in scientific outreach. This approach tries to make scientific concepts attractive to the general public by trying to reach people of all ages and social backgrounds. In this work, we would like to give a brief overview of some didactic tools, retracing the choices made while ideating them, thanks mainly to close collaboration with artists and illustrators.