It's Time to Step Up Your Game . . . Your Audience Needs You

As a trusted source of scientific information, broadcast meteorologists offer a uniquely influential and powerful means to combat misinformation and disinformation, which according to the World Economic Forum in Davos 2024, along with extreme weather now poses a global threat.

In the Fall 2024, Columbia University Press will release our new popular science book, tentatively entitled, Megalodons, Mermaids, and Climate Change: Answers to your ocean and atmosphere questions. We use frequently asked and zany questions we and our colleagues get about the ocean, marine life (including sharks), hurricanes, tsunamis, space weather, climate change, and more, along with humor and easy-to-understand language to combat misinformation. Our target audience is the non-choir, those who do not regularly participate, discuss, or engage in science learning . . . some of whom have loud voices.

In this session, we share some of our favorite answers about topics that broadcast meteorologists are asked to cover, some familiar and others that may be out of your area of expertise. We’ll share stories and information from scientific leaders in a wide variety of ocean and atmospheric fields and discuss the origin of misinformation and disinformation. We’ll also engage the audience in further conversation about information needs in areas such as climate change, space weather, and the oceans.