This is an early advisory for planning and budgeting purposes about two important upcoming meetings. Please reserve the dates; we expect that both meetings will provide a variety of newsworthy presentations.

1999 Fall Meeting
Moscone Convention Center
San Francisco, California
December 13-17, 1999

This is probably the last major scientific meeting of the millennium (for those who accept that the millennium ends this year; for purists, we will do it again in December 2001). It will run a full five days, Monday-Friday.

We are planning a special pre-meeting excursion for science writers on Sunday, December 12, to investigate hydrological issues affecting San Francisco Bay. It will likely include a visit to the Corps of Engineers Bay Model in Sausalito and a cruise on the Bay aboard a USGS research vessel. With advance ticket purchase and a Saturday airport arrival in San Francisco, most out-of-town participants will actually save money as compared with flying in on Sunday.

The meeting will cover all of the earth and space sciences, plus two new thematic areas: biogeosciences and education and public policy. You can consult a descriptive list of special sessions by topic on the AGU web site at www.agu.org/meetings/fm99spss.html]. We will, of course, organize a series of press conferences on newsworthy topics and provide a guide to sessions you might want to cover, depending on your individual interests.

We will provide more specific information on Fall Meeting in October.

2000 Ocean Sciences Meeting
Henry B. Gonzalex Convention Center
San Antonio, Texas
January 24-28, 2000

The Ocean Sciences meeting is sponsored jointly by AGU and the American Society of Limnology and Oceanography and is convened in even numbered years. The Monday-to-Friday sessions cover a broad range of topics, including newsworthy research results. The list of special sessions for this meeting may be consulted on the AGU web site at www.agu.org/meetings/os00spss.html].

AGU will operate a press room and organize press conferences at Ocean Sciences. Further information will be provided in November.

Future media advisories will include hotel information and a form for press registration on line.

Reporters and public information officers seeking a list of presenters at either meeting from a particular institution, city, state, or country should send requests to Harvey Leifert. They can only be fulfilled, of course, after the deadlines for abstracts have passed and sessions have been fully organized.