Proposal: Geoscience
Interpretations differ as to whether geosciences include space and planetary science. From the list of AGU journals or the 2012 list of EGU General Assembly sessions, it probably should. However, it may not be clear to all whether this is included or not. In my experience, space and atmospheric sciences are quite related and often at the same university department or scientific institute, for example:
- NASA Earth Science
- ESA Earth Observation
- DLR Atmospheric Physics
- Finnish Meteorological Institute Space Science
- Luleå University of Technology Space Technology including atmospheric science
- etc.
Even if literally speaking, GEO-sciences relate to Earth, the field does in practice extend to the solar system, as atmospheric science can be conducted on Venus and geology on Mars, but it's still Geoscience. Many topics are shared between the two, for example, the Radiative Transfer equation originates from the study of stars, but is of utmost importance for Earth observation. We can learn about Earth by studying other planets, and the Earth interacts with the space around it, not least with the Sun. Therefore:
I propose to explicitly include Space Physics and Planets in the Geoscience proposal. More precisely, I propose to follow the scope as lined out by the different sections in the Journal of Geophysical Research.
Comments and discussions welcome :).
See also: Would it be worth including space & planetary sciences? [in Astronomy & Astrophysics]