[DIALOGnews] DIALOG/DISCCRS Newsletter 06/23/2005
Susan Weiler
weilercs at whitman.edu
Thu Jun 23 16:18:09 CDT 2005
DIALOG and DISCCRS News
06/23/2005
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
SPECIAL Section: David Keeling and the History/Future of CO2 and
Climate Change
RESOURCES
Africa - Up in Smoke
http://www.neweconomics.org/gen/news_AfricaUpinSmoke.aspx
New US NSF Program: Developing Global Scientists and Engineers
http://www.nsf.gov/publications/pub_summ.jsp?ods_key=nsf04036
New Open Access Journal with the title "Climate of the Past"
www.climate-of-the-past.net.
SCIENCE NEWS
Charles D. Keeling, 77, Who Raised Global Warming Issue, Dies
http://tinyurl.com/dfejn
Death on the Nile: BBC Earth Report based on Award-winning article
Climate change needs urgent action, Daily Mail
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?
in_article_id=352882&in_page_id=1770
Plain, Simple, Primitive? Not the Jellyfish
http://tinyurl.com/8v3xa
Senate Passes Amendment to Combat Climate Change
http://tinyurl.com/83v46
FORUM
Leigh P (PAPER)-The ecological crisis, the human condition, and
community-based restoration as an instrument for its cure ESEP 2005:3-15
http://www.int-res.com/articles/esep/2005/E60.pdf
SUMMER PROGRAMS, COURSES, INTERNSHIPS, MEETINGS
A CLIOTOP Special Session (CLIOTOP = CLimate Impacts on Oceanic Top
Predators)
http://www.pml.ac.uk/globec/structure/regional/cliotop/cliotop.htm
Course Announcement: Polar Atmosphere Chemistry - Trace Gases and
Aerosols in the Arctic
http://www.unis.no/studies
JOBS
Research! America Science Policy Intern Position
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Special Section
Charles D. Keeling and the history/future of CO2 and climate change
Given David Keeling's recent death (see NY Times article in this
missive) and the upcoming celebration of the 1957/58 International
Geophysical Year (IGY); see http://www.cmdl.noaa.gov/obop/spo/
igy_history.html, http://www.nas.edu/history/igy/, the 2007/2008
International Polar Year (IPY); http://www.ipy.org/,
I thought (hope) many of you will want some "light" summer reading on
climate change, and possibly time something on Keeling, and the IGY/
IPY, into your courses or research plans.
The most accurate, informative, and readable sources I know
have been written by AIP History of Science Center Director, Spencer
T. Weart. He has a Ph.D. in physics and another degree the history of
science. He knows his stuff, and he knows how to write it!
Spencer's book, History of Global Warming, is fascinating, and
available cheaply from Amazon.com http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/
tg/detail/-/0674016378/qid=1119552106/sr=1-1/
ref=sr_1_1/102-6965740-7076114?v=glance&s=books. I consider this
book an absolute "must read" for anyone, at any level or discipline,
who is interested in climate change.
Spencer has a webpage that builds on the book: See http://
www.aip.org/history/climate/
This site is incredibly comprehensive. I advise new initiates to
start with his Summary: http://www.aip.org/history/climate/summary.htm
For those of you think funds were easy to get in the "good old
days", be sure to read Weart's piece on the history of funding for
CO2 measurements: http://www.aip.org/history/climate/Kfunds.htm
Of all the stories about Keeling, the one I love the best is one
from one of Spencer's articles, Weart, S.R. 1997. Global warming,
Cold War, and the evolution of research plans. Historical studies in
the physical and biological sciences 27(2): 319 - 356.
--FYI, this paper is absolutely *fascinating* reading!! If your
library does not carry this journal, you can request one from:
sweart at aip.org.
[NB, Keeling was enticed from Cal Tech, where he was doing a post-
doc, to Scripps, by Roger Revelle):
"...As Keeling measured carbon isotopes in the air at various
locations around California, laboriously refining his techniques, he
found much less variation than the Scandinavians. He came to suspect
that their data were unnecessarily noisy. With good locations and
techniques it might be possible to determine a stable number--the
true level of atmospheric carbon dioxide. Keeling brought this
hopeful idea into the IGY research plan in the spring of 1956, when
Revelle took him on to conduct the world survey. One of their aims,
as Keeling recalled it, would be to "establish a reliable 'baseline'
CO2 level which could be checked 10 or 20 years later." To detect a
rise of CO2 level during the 18-month term of the IGY scarcely seemed
possible.. Measuring the uptake of carbon dioxide by the oceans
remained as a second objective.
"Keeling scrupulously measured carbon dioxide variations in the
sea and air at various locations, but his heart went into the
atmospheric "baseline" value. 'Keeling's a peculiar guy,' Revelle
later remarked. 'He wants to measure CO2 in his belly....And he wants
to measure it with the greatest precision and the greatest accuracy
he possibly can.' And so Keeling made a small but crucial
modification to the IGY committee's research plan. As an observer
commented, Keeling 'proceeded to drive Revelle crazy' with demands
for more funds to reach what seemed as a pointless degree of
accuracy.... Indeed most IGY scientists thought such an instrument
was more costly than was needed to measure something that varied so
widely [based on Scandinavian studies mentioned in the Times article]."
Well, Revelle gave in to that "pointless degree of accuracy" and
the rest is history; It is also current events!!! Keeling
demonstrated a rise in atmospheric CO2 in a couple of years instead
of the 10-20 Revelle and others were hoping for. His data is so
accurate that no one has questioned it. HIs curve, and the ozone
measurements started by Joe Farman are probably the two most
societally important, certainly the best-known data sets to come out
of the IGY -- and are more important today than when the measurements
were started!
I deeply regret that Keeling did not live long enough to
participate in the IPY. I am even more sorry that he didn't live to
see his upward curve take a dive. I hope you live to see it!
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Resources
Africa - Up in Smoke
The latest report from the Working Group on Climate Change and
Development based in the UK, and made up of our leading environment
and development groups. link below. http://www.neweconomics.org/gen/
news_AfricaUpinSmoke.aspx
********************
New US NSF Program: Developing Global Scientists and Engineers
http://www.nsf.gov/publications/pub_summ.jsp?ods_key=nsf04036
********************
New Open Access Journal with the title "Climate of the Past"
This international scientific journal is published by the
European Geosciences Union (EGU). It is fully peer-reviewed and
dedicated to the publication and discussion of research articles,
short communications and review papers on the climate history of the
Earth.
Papers under review are published in "Climate of the Past
Discussions" (CPD), which is designed to allow an interactive public
discussion of the latest developments in the field and comments on
the papers prior to publication in CP. A free alert service can
inform you of the papers published in your areas of interest.
All papers are available free on-line from the moment of
publication. Publication is paid for by a small service charge with
no extra cost for color or additional material such as movies and
extended data sheets. Paper, bound volume and CD copies are
available at low cost. The Service Charges are waived for the first
25 papers with a max. of 1000 pages published in CPD!
Papers are published under the Creative Commons License which
allows any number of electronic and paper copies to me made for non-
commercial purposes. The authors and their employers retain the
copyright.
Further information is given in the web pages at www.climate-of-
the-past.net.
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Science News
Charles D. Keeling, 77, Who Raised Global Warming Issue, Dies
from The New York Times (Registration Required)
Dr. Charles D. Keeling, who set off current concerns of global
warming through measurements beginning in the 1950's that showed
steadily rising amounts of carbon dioxide in the air, died Monday at
his home in Montana. He was 77.
The cause was a heart attack after a short hike, said the Scripps
Institution of Oceanography in San Diego, where Dr. Keeling had long
worked.
Carbon dioxide, which traps heat in the atmosphere, is one of the
greenhouse gases. But when Dr. Keeling began his work, most
scientists did not think that emissions from cars and factories could
have a measurable effect on the earth's climate, assuming that nearly
all the carbon dioxide would be absorbed by plants or the oceans.
In 1955, Dr. Keeling camped out at Big Sur State Park in
California, collecting samples of air in flasks to measure their
carbon dioxide content. Three years later, he lugged the instrument
for measuring carbon dioxide to a weather station, two miles up, on
Mauna Loa in Hawaii.
Carbon dioxide levels rise and fall over the course of a day, and
his first measurement at Mauna Loa showed an average concentration of
315 parts per million. His measurements also showed that carbon
dioxide levels rise and fall with the seasons, following the ebb and
flow of vegetation in the Northern Hemisphere.
But his measurements also showed that carbon dioxide levels were
rising year after year. That upward trend of carbon dioxide, known as
the Keeling Curve, has now reached nearly 380 parts per million and
is continuing to rise.
Dr. Keeling's work to establish long-term monitoring of carbon
dioxide concentrations in a way that provided a running global
average was simple in concept but profound in its impact, according
to many climate experts.
"It became clear very quickly that his measured CO2 increase was
proportional to fossil fuel emissions and that humans were the source
of the change," said Dr. James E. Hansen, director of NASA's Goddard
Institute for Space Studies in New York. "He altered our perspectives
about the degree to which the earth can absorb the human assault."
The current debate over global warming centers on how much
warming the increased carbon dioxide will generate, but few have
disputed Dr. Keeling's underlying carbon dioxide data.
"I don't think I'm aware of any controversy about Dave's
measurements, and that's really kind of remarkable," said Dr. Walter
Munk, an oceanographer and colleague of Dr. Keeling at Scripps for
three decades. "Dave was a stickler for every detail in connection
with his experimental work."
A small gap in the carbon dioxide data from February through
April 1964 tells of Dr. Keeling's tenacity in fighting for his
experiment.
"His government funding sources told him in effect that 'You have
shown that atmospheric carbon dioxide is increasing, now find some
other interesting science to do,' " said Dr. F. Sherwood Rowland, a
professor of chemistry at University of California, Irvine. "He
fought to continue his measurement series, with support from many
other scientists, and was back taking data in May of 1964."
Born in Scranton, Pa., Charles David Keeling received his
bachelor's degree in chemistry from the University of Illinois in
1948 and his doctorate in chemistry from Northwestern University in
1954.
The director of Scripps then, Roger Revelle, was among the first
to become concerned about the possible warming effects of carbon
dioxide and recruited Dr. Keeling, who had already begun his
measurements of carbon dioxide at Big Sur, to Scripps in 1956.
More recently, in 1996, Dr. Keeling and colleagues showed that
seasonal swings of carbon dioxide levels in the Northern Hemisphere
were becoming larger, possibly a sign that the growing season is
beginning earlier because of global warming.
Dr. Keeling was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in
1994 and received the National Medal of Science in 2002.
Dr. Keeling is survived by his wife, Louise; four sons, Andrew,
of Zurich; Ralph, of San Diego who followed in also doing atmospheric
research at Scripps; Eric, of Missoula, Mont.; and Paul of Vancouver,
British Columbia; a daughter, Emily, of Boulder, Colo.; and six
grandchildren. [See http://tinyurl.com/dfejn for the article and a
nice photo of Keeling and his wonderful plot of atmospheric CO2 Vs Time]
********************
Death on the Nile: BBC Earth Report based on Award-winning article
Airs Saturday June 25!!!!
Nadia El-Awady, Managing Science Editor of IslamOnline.net and
winner of the first WASH Media Award, is featured in "Death on the
Nile", an episode of the BBC World Earth Report, to be aired on
Saturday, June 25. The programme highlights Ms. El-Awady’s
investigation of the growing pollution of the Nile River delta. BBC
World cameras follow Ms. El-Awady through the villages of Egypt's Al-
Monofiya governorate as she speaks with villagers, government
officials and local doctors. She also visits an industrial city in
the region and follows industrial waste from its source to discover
where it is being dumped, causing harmful effects on the health and
environment in the surrounding areas.
The BBC programme is based on the article "The Nile and its
People" written by Nadia El-Awady for IslamOnline.net. Her story won
the first prize in the WASH Media Award 2004, a competition organized
by the Geneva-based Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council
(WSSCC), and presented to the author at the first Global WASH (Water,
Sanitation and Hygiene for all) Forum in Dakar, Senegal, in 2004.
The programme will be aired at the following times: GMT: 01:30,
08:30, 13:30, 20:30; SAT (South Arabia Time): 4:30, 11:30, 16:30, 23:30.
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Climate change needs urgent action, Daily Mail
Prime Minister Tony Blair's efforts to alleviate poverty in
Africa will ultimately fail unless urgent action is taken to halt
dangerous climate change, according to a coalition of aid and
environmental groups. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/
news/news.html?in_article_id=352882&in_page_id=1770
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Plain, Simple, Primitive? Not the Jellyfish
from The New York Times (Registration Required) via Sigma Xi
Science in the News
Message from Sue Weiler: This is a great article showing how to
simply describe something very complex. I think it serves as a good
model here in the US, to show how difficult it is to explain the
natural world without evolution. Those of you outside the US are
lucky that evolution is not being questioned as it is in the U.S.
Jellyfish have traditionally been considered simple and
primitive. When you gaze at one in an aquarium tank, it is not hard
to see why.
Like its relatives the sea anemone and coral, the jellyfish looks
like a no-frills animal. It has no head, no back or front, no left or
right sides, no legs or fins. It has no heart. Its gut is a blind
pouch rather than a tube, so its mouth must serve as its anus.
Instead of a brain, it has a diffuse net of nerves.
But new research has made scientists realize that they have
underestimated the jellyfish and its relatives - known collectively
as cnidarians (pronounced nih-DEHR-ee-uns). Beneath their seemingly
simple exterior lies a remarkably sophisticated collection of genes,
including many that give rise to humans' complex anatomy. http://
tinyurl.com/8v3xa
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Senate Passes Amendment To Combat Climate Change
from The New York Times (Registration Required)
WASHINGTON, June 21 - Acting to address the contentious subject
of global climate change, the Senate passed an amendment to pending
energy legislation on Tuesday calling for voluntary reductions in
some emissions and spending money to promote technology to reduce
pollution.
The measure, adopted by a vote of 66 to 29, was the least
stringent of three competing amendments intended to address climate
change.
Its passage followed a setback for environmentalists late Monday
night, when Senator Pete V. Domenici, the New Mexico Republican who
is chairman of the energy committee, declined to support another
amendment imposing mandatory reductions in fossil-fuel emissions that
scientists link to global warming. Mr. Domenici explained that he
favored the idea, but worried that opposition might scuttle the
energy bill. http://tinyurl.com/83v46
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Summer Programs, Courses, Internships, Meetings
A CLIOTOP Special Session
(CLIOTOP = CLimate Impacts on Oceanic Top Predators) will be
organized during the next AGU-ASLO-TOS OCEAN MEETING in Honolulu,
Hawaii (20-27 february 2006 the program will soon be posted on the
AGU website http://www.agu.org/meetings/os06/). This CLIOTOP Special
Session (conveners: O. Maury, P. Lehodey; R. Murtuggude) invites
presentations on all aspects related to one of the five CLIOTOP
Working Groups:
WG1 - Early life history of top predators
WG2 - Physiology, behaviour and distribution of top predators
WG3 - Trophic pathways in open ocean pelagic ecosystems
WG4 - Synthesis and modeling
WG5 - Socio-economic aspects of managing and responding to
climate impacts on oceanic top predator species
This Special Session will be the first important Scientific Event
organized by CLIOTOP and a very good opportunity to have a global
view of the CLIOTOP related research diversity and major focuses. We
highly encourage you to consider coming to this meeting and
presenting your work. Find out more about CLIOTOP at: http://
www.pml.ac.uk/globec/structure/regional/cliotop/cliotop.htm
********************
Course Announcement: Polar Atmosphere Chemistry - Trace Gases and
Aerosols in the Arctic
University Centre in Svalbard - 21 November - 21 December 2005 -
Norway
For further details about the course and registration is
available at: http://www.unis.no/studies
A short course in polar atmosphere chemistry will be offered
between 21 November and 21 December 2005 at the University Centre in
Svalbard. The course will be based in Longyearbyen (78 N) but an
excursion to the Zeppelin atmospheric monitoring station at Ny
Alesund (79 N) will be a central part of the course. The course is
intended for graduate students and doctoral students. Young
scientists can also apply.
For further information, please contact: Kim Holmen, Norwegian
Institute for Air Research (NILU) E-mail: kjh at nilu.no
***************************************************
Forum
Leigh P (PAPER)-The ecological crisis, the human condition, and
community-based restoration as an instrument for its cure ESEP 2005:3-15
ABSTRACT:
We have entered an unprecedented period in human history. By the
vigor of our consumption and procreation, the human species has
modified our global environment at wide regional and global scales.
At the close of the twentieth century, global warming, biodiversity
losses, ozone and freshwater depletion, to name a few, are now
recognized as human-induced wide-scale environmental transformations.
In spite of admirable efforts to arrest some of these processes and
restore environmental vitality, the pace at which humans modify their
environment continues with considerable intensity. The future health
of the biosphere for sustaining all life may be drifting close to the
margins as environmental crises increase within a single generation.
These destructive propensities have deep cultural and psychological
roots that divide us from the rest of the environment. Significant
social change is needed for improving our collective relationship
with the earth. Humans, with our unique capacity for self-reflection,
are beginning to understand that the underpinnings to our current
ecological problems lie within our attitudes, values, ethics,
perceptions, and behaviors. New ways to reconceptualize our unity
with the biosphere, understand downstream impacts, and link social
behavior with environmental transformations are increasing with
corresponding intensity. Community-based restoration is a powerful
means for facilitating this trend, by reconnecting communities with
their landscape, empowering citizenry, and fostering an environmental
ethos based on ecopsychological health.
Full text available free of charge at: http://www.int-res.com/
articles/esep/2005/E60.pdf
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Jobs
Research!America Science Policy Intern Position
This paid, non-exempt, full-time, three-month position in our
Alexandria, Virginia office reports to the coordinator of science
policy. Target start date is early September 2005. The intern will
assist the organization with its mission to make medical and health
research a higher national priority through education, advocacy and
public policy activities.
Job Description
The science policy intern will:
* Track relevant policy issues, including FY 2006 appropriations
legislation
* Perform background research and write to support the
development of products, newsletter articles and the web site
* Complete and present a self-directed project on a science
policy topic relevant to the mission of Research!America
* Participate in building and developing Research!America's
Congressional database
* Provide administrative and project management support as
requested
Eligibility
College seniors, graduate students or recent graduates with a
science, political science, public policy or related degree (or
degree goal) who seek science policy experience. Ideal candidates
have a strong academic background and excellent oral and written
communication skills. Familiarity with the medical, health and non-
life sciences research sectors and the federal policy structures that
impact the funding and regulation of research is preferred.
Candidates must have experience with Microsoft Office Suite software
and PowerPoint. Compensation
Research! America offers a competitive stipend commensurate with
experience.
To Apply
Post mail, fax or e-mail résumé and cover letter, including
academic status and specific area(s) of interest and expertise, reason
(s) for wanting to be a Research! America intern; availability; one
writing sample; and three references with contact information by July
15, 2005, to:
Emily T. Connelly, Coordinator of Science Policy
Re: Science Policy Internship
Research!America
1101 King Street, Suite 520
Alexandria, VA 22314
703-739-2372 fax
econnelly at researchamerica.org
No phone calls, please.
**************************************************
This newsletter has been developed by C. Susan Weiler to distribute
information of potential interest to recent PhDs engaged in
interdisciplinary aquatic science or climate-change research, and to
build an international sense of community among recent grads. It
provides an international forum for the exchange of information and
opinions regarding research, professional and social issues. The
views and opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the
funding agencies or sponsoring societies. Dr. Weiler reserves the
right to edit or reject material submitted to the list.
Please submit announcements of interest to recent PhDs to
phd at whitman.edu. Send a short message in the body of an e-mail
message, and link to any appropriate websites. Do not send attachments.
Moving? Send address changes to dialog at whitman.edu or
disccrs at whitman.edu
**********
C. Susan Weiler, Ph.D.
Office for Earth System Studies Tel: 509-527-5948
Whitman College Fax: 509-527-5961
Walla Walla, WA 99362
weiler at whitman.edu
Programs for Recent PhDs http://aslo.org/phd.html
DIALOG poster http://www.aslo.org/phd/dialogposter.pdf
DISCCRS poster http://www.aslo.org/phd/disccrsposter.pdf
Workshop Report, Meeting the Needs of
Interdisciplinary Ph.D. Graduates in a
Changing Global Environment
http://marcus.whitman.edu/~weilercs/biocomplexity/
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