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Posted by: machi Feb 2 2012, 11:03 PM

It looks, that LPSC abstracts for this year are now available - http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2012/programAbstracts/view/.
As last year, I made two files for downloading abstracts via download manager (I'm using http://www.freedownloadmanager.org/download.htm).
One is for sessions and second one is for automatic download of all pdfs between indexes 1001 and 2999.

Posted by: Phil Stooke Feb 3 2012, 04:49 AM

Tons of fantastic stuff!

Phil

Posted by: ngunn Feb 7 2012, 10:47 PM

Yes, but nobody's talking about it. I've already posted links to three abstracts on Titan, but from the rest of the solar system there is no comment so far. Am I breaking a taboo? Do we refrain from discussing the abstracts until the conference is held? If so, please tell me and I'll get in line. I was hoping some headlines would be highlighted by our experts on Mars at least.

Posted by: machi Feb 8 2012, 12:30 AM

"Am I breaking a taboo? Do we refrain from discussing the abstracts until the conference is held?"

I don't think so. I don't know what others are doing, but I'm now busy with my new project and I'm systematically digging in abstracts and papers.
But I saw few LPSC abstracts and I have already few favorites. For example abstract http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2012/pdf/1150.pdf.
Visible (from HiRISE) basalt columns on Mars! That's really something special. Furthermore few hours before I found this abstract, I was watching older R. Attenborough's documentary "Building the Earth" in which I saw amazing scotland's basalt columns!

Edit: I added direct link to the abstract.

Posted by: elakdawalla Feb 8 2012, 01:09 AM

This is a good question to ask, but you are not. There's been some controversy in recent years about professional societies attempting to enforce an embargo on abstracts that were freely available online. But that's not how embargoes work. An embargo is part of an agreement between a journalist and somebody with privileged information. If the journalist agrees not to publicize the information until a set date, then the person gives the privileged information to the journalist, under embargo. But you cannot enforce an embargo upon people who have not agreed to these terms. It makes no sense to post material publicly and then tell people they cannot discuss it. Here's a good place to read about the notion of things being "http://embargowatch.wordpress.com/category/freely-available-but-embargoed/." Some scientists may be uncomfortable about these things being discussed because they fear the http://www.planetary.org/blog/article/00003219/, but both Science and Nature now have explicit policies stating that discussion of ongoing work at conferences and in abstracts does not constitute prior publication.

Posted by: Phil Stooke Feb 8 2012, 01:45 AM

I'll just mention a few faves. No links (I don't have time right now to search them out).

There's one on volcanic channels on Mercury - one big channel had been shown before but a couple of other small ones are highlighted now.

Several on landing sites for future missions on Mars, a few of them with potential rover traverses.

Several on future landing sites on the Moon, at the north pole, in Cabaeus, on the rim of Tycho, in Amundsen... one on Luna-Glob landing sites has them slightly different from those proposed last November.

Lots on Vesta, including geologic maps of many quadrangles.

I was hoping to see more on Hartley 2's nucleus but was out of luck on that.


Phil

Posted by: antipode Feb 9 2012, 09:01 PM

I love these 'abstracts' because they are more like mini papers! (requiring 'abstracts of the abstract' which made me laugh).

Hours of good reading - especially the Martian glaciology, Mercurian volatiles and Titan climate stuff.

However, THIS really caught my interest (and given Emily's comment above I'll supply the link)

http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2012/pdf/1713.pdf

I'd never seen a projection of Dione's south pole before. Plus those putative extinct (dormant?) 'tiger stripes', a pedestal crater, and a funky looking cryovolcano. Very cool stuff.

P

Posted by: MarcF Feb 9 2012, 09:28 PM

Nothing about the Uranian or Neptunian systems
Is there no research/interest at all about these Worlds at the moment ?
Marc.

Posted by: elakdawalla Feb 9 2012, 09:37 PM

LPSC is a geology conference, primarily about unpublished work in progress, and there's really not much geology that can be done on those systems that hasn't already been done on Voyager images. For sure there is interesting work being done from telescopes, but you wouldn't present that at LPSC; you'd go to AAS or DPS.

Posted by: ngunn Feb 9 2012, 10:09 PM

There is a degree of unbuttoned informality about the whole event. The organisers give sessions quirky titles and in the mini-papers the scientists can use language freely, sometimes coining new words, and invoke extra-scientific cultural references for effect: comic, serious, or both at once. Such things might not pass peer review but they do not detract from the science in any way, quite the opposite in fact. The party mood is infectious even for a distant onlooker.

Thanks to antipode and others for the pointers to interesting topics. I loved the Martian basalt columns. I have a small piece of a much narrower basalt column in my attic rock collection (Carboniferous, Fife, Scotland).