Improved Understanding of the Earth System and Its Implications

Earth System Science 2010: Global Change, Climate and People; Edinburgh, United Kingdom, 10-13 May 2010; More than 200 people avoided the persistent ash cloud from Eyjafjallajökull volcano and met in the United Kingdom for Earth System Science 2010 (see http://earthsystemscience2010.org for more on the proceedings). This was the first Open Science Conference of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme's Analysis, Integration and Modeling of the Earth System (AIMES) project. It was convened by Quantifying and Understanding the Earth System (QUEST), a U.K. Natural Environment Research Council-funded research program with close strategic links with the international activities of AIMES. This connection meant that QUEST's established Anglophone and European research community was greatly expanded, with conference contributors from Brazil, Japan, India, and China.