[DIALOGnews] DIALOG/DISCCRS News 07/01/2005

[Sue Bennett]

DIALOG and DISCCRS News
07/01/2005
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
RESOURCES
NSF Grant Policy Manual
    URL : http://www.nsf.gov/publications/pub_summ.jsp?ods_key=nsf05131
NOAA Establishes New England Red Tide Information Web Site
    http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/redtide/ or www.noaa.gov.
Nice article about Keeling from Scripps Inst. Oceanography
    http://scrippsnews.ucsd.edu/article_detail.cfm?article_num=687
ONR Young Investigator Program Awardees
    http://www.onr.navy.mil/sci_tech/industrial/363/yip.asp.
Portal Oceanico: Gateway to Latin American and Caribbean Ocean  
Information
    http://portal.unesco.org/portaloceanico/ev.php
Efficacy of Climate Forcings Simulations by James Hansen et al.
    http://pubs.giss.nasa.gov/docs/2005/2005_HansenNazarenkoR.pdf

SCIENCE NEWS
How Much Excess Fresh Water was Added to the North Atlantic in Recent  
Decades?
    http://www.whoi.edu/.
Scant Light At Ocean Floor Feeds Bacteria
    http://tinyurl.com/8nnka
Warmer Air May Cause Increased Antarctic Sea Ice Cover

FORUM
US: ACLU, Science Under Siege
    http://www.aclu.org/Files/OpenFile.cfm?id=18533

SUMMER PROGRAMS, COURSES, INTERNSHIPS, MEETINGS
Workshop Announcement - Poles Together: Coordinating IPY Outreach and  
Education
    http://cybele.colorado.edu/ipyoe/IPYOE.pdf
Advanced Biology Training Course In Antarctica

JOBS
Policy Advocate, North American Affairs
    www.ieta.org
Intern With A Background In Climate Change: UNIDO/MEA/Kyoto Protocol  
Team
    www.unido.org/employment
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Resources
NSF Grant Policy Manual-Grant Policy Manual
    URL : http://www.nsf.gov/publications/pub_summ.jsp?ods_key=nsf05131
    Type : Policies and Procedures Subtype : NSF-wide
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NOAA Establishes New England Red Tide Information Web Site
    Taken from CORE weekly newsletter
    To assist the public and news media in understanding the current  
red tide event in New England, NOAA established a special NOAA New  
England Red Tide Information Center Web site.
    The site provides a capsule summary of the event and its  
potential harmful impacts on humans and shellfish; links to major  
news releases; information about the Magnuson-Stevenson Act  
provisions that apply; closure maps of both federal and state  
shellfish waters; and important state agency sites that are providing  
localized information. Additionally the site provides information  
concerning NOAA's scientific response effort, general seafood safety  
information and where to report any marine mammal strandings or deaths.
    The last section of the site provides scientific information from  
NOAA's major response partner, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution,  
and several other sources. The site will be periodically updated as  
needed during the continuing bloom event. To view the site, visit  
http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/redtide/ or www.noaa.gov.
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Nice article about Keeling from Scripps Inst. Oceanography
    http://scrippsnews.ucsd.edu/article_detail.cfm?article_num=687
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ONR Young Investigator Program Awardees
    The Office of Naval Research (ONR) recently announced its 2005  
Young Investigator Program awardees. In all, there were 28 recipients  
from 11 categories of the science and technology disciplines  
selected. The following recipients were from the ocean, atmosphere  
and space departments:
    ·Dr. Kelly Benoit-Bird, College of Oceanic and Atmospheric  
Sciences, Oregon State University
    ·Dr. Fabrice Veron, College of Marine Studies, University of  
Delaware
    ·Dr. Kathleen E. Wage, Department of Electrical and Computer  
Engineering, George Mason University
    ·Dr. Mak A. Saito, Department of Marine Chemistry and  
Geochemistry, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
    Young Investigator awards are designed "to attract to naval  
research outstanding new faculty members at institutions of higher  
education, support their research and encourage their teaching and  
research careers." The awards are for as much as $100,000 a year for  
three years, with the possibility of additional support for capital  
equipment or collaborative research with a Navy laboratory.  To view  
the list of awardees or to find out how to apply, visit http:// 
www.onr.navy.mil/sci_tech/industrial/363/yip.asp.
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Portal Oceanico: Gateway to Latin American and Caribbean Ocean  
Information
    We kindly invite you to Visit PORTAL OCEANICO, the gateway to one  
of the most complete sources of Ocean information in Latin America  
and the Caribbean. Portal Oceanico, Chief Editor -  http:// 
portal.unesco.org/portaloceanico/ev.php
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Efficacy of Climate Forcings Simulations by James Hansen et al.
    The paper "Efficacy of climate forcings" has been accepted for  
publication in J. Geophys. Res.  Diagnostics maps and graphs for all  
of the GCM runs in that paper are available at http:// 
data.giss.nasa.gov/efficacy/ , conveniently arranged to correspond to  
the tables in the paper.  Here are links to the accepted paper and  
its figures, which can also be obtained from the above GISS data web  
page by clicking on the paper title under References.
    A PDF of the paper recently published in Science (Earth's Energy  
Imbalance) is available at http://pubs.giss.nasa.gov/docs/ 
2005/2005_HansenNazarenkoR.pdf
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Science News
How Much Excess Fresh Water was Added to the North Atlantic in Recent  
Decades?
    From CORE weekly newsletter
    Large regions of the North Atlantic Ocean have been growing  
fresher since the late 1960s as melting glaciers and increased  
precipitation, both associated with greenhouse warming, have enhanced  
continental runoff into the Arctic and sub-Arctic seas.  Over the  
same time period, salinity records show that large pulses of extra  
sea ice and fresh water from the Arctic have flowed into the North  
Atlantic. But, until now, the actual amounts and rates of fresh water  
accumulation have not been explicitly known.
    In a paper published June 17 in Science, Ruth Curry of the Woods  
Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and Cecilie Mauritzen of the  
Norwegian Meteorological Institute quantified for the first time how  
much additional fresh water caused the observed salinity changes in  
the northern North Atlantic Ocean, how fast it entered the Atlantic  
circulation, and where that fresh water was stored.  They report that  
patterns of fresh water accumulation over the past four decades  
suggest that a freshening threshold important to the ocean  
circulation and its poleward transport of heat could be reached in a  
century, although future impacts of global warming and glacial  
melting make prediction imprecise at this time. For complete story,  
visit http://www.whoi.edu/.
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Scant Light At Ocean Floor Feeds Bacteria
from The Los Angeles Times (Registration Required) via Sigma Xi  
Science in the News
    The black bottom of the ocean floor might be the last place one  
would expect to find bacteria that depend on light for their growth,  
but an international team of researchers said this week that they had  
found such photosynthetic bacteria there, surviving on faint light  
from volcanic geysers.
    Because many researchers believe life on Earth may have  
originated at such submarine geysers, the surprising finding could  
expand our understanding of how that life evolved and about the  
potential for life elsewhere in the universe.
    Microbiologist J. Thomas Beatty of the University of British  
Columbia and his colleagues report the discovery in this week's issue  
of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. http:// 
tinyurl.com/8nnka
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Warmer Air May Cause Increased Antarctic Sea Ice Cover
AGU/NASA joint press release
    WASHINGTON - Predicted increases in precipitation due to warmer  
air temperatures from greenhouse gas emissions may actually increase  
sea ice volume in the Antarctic's Southern Ocean. This finding from a  
new study adds evidence of potential asymmetry between the two poles  
and may be an indication that climate change processes may have  
varying impacts on different areas of the globe.
      "Most people have heard of climate change and how rising air  
temperatures are melting glaciers and sea ice in the Arctic," said  
Dylan C. Powell, lead author of the paper and a doctoral candidate at  
the University of Maryland Baltimore County. "However, findings from  
our simulations suggest a counterintuitive phenomenon. Some of the  
melt in the Arctic may be balanced by increases in sea ice volume in  
the Antarctic."
      For the first time, the authors of the paper, published this  
month in the Journal of Geophysical Research (Oceans), used satellite  
observations from NASA's Special Sensor Microwave/Imager to assess  
snow depth on sea ice and assimilated the satellite observations into  
their model to improve prediction of precipitation rates. By  
incorporating satellite observations into this new method, the  
researchers say they achieved more stable and realistic
precipitation data, to counter the great variability in precipitation  
data sets typically found in the polar regions.
      "On any given day, sea ice cover in the oceans of the polar  
regions is about the size of the U.S.," said Thorsten Markus, a co- 
author of the paper and a research scientist at NASA's Goddard Space  
Flight Center. "Far-flung locations like the Arctic and Antarctic  
actually impact our temperature and climate where we live and work on  
a daily basis."
    According to Markus, the deep and bottom water masses of the  
oceans make contact with the atmosphere only at high latitudes, near  
the poles. Polar processes, such as sea ice formation, are driving a  
huge, global, ocean heat pump, called thermohaline (or saline)  
circulation. To a large extent, this heat pump impacts the climate at  
lower latitudes.
    Typically, warming of the climate leads to increased melting  
rates of sea ice cover and also increased precipitation rates. With  
increased precipitation rates and consequently deeper snow, the snow  
load on the Antarctic sea ice becomes heavy enough that it suppresses  
the ice below sea level. This results in even more and even thicker  
sea ice when the snow refreezes as more ice.
    The paper indicates that some climate processes appear to actually
be counterintuitive. "We used computer-generated simulations to get  
this research result. I hope that in the future we'll be able to  
verify this result with real data through a long-term ice thickness  
measurement campaign," said Powell. "Our goal as scientists is to  
collect hard data to verify what the model is telling us. It will be  
critical to know for certain whether average sea ice thickness is  
indeed increasing in the Antarctic as our model indicates, and to
determine what environmental factors are spurring this apparent  
phenomenon."
   Achim Stoessel of Texas A&M University, the third co-author on  
this paper, advises that "while numerical models have improved  
considerably over the last two decades, seemingly minor processes  
like the snow-to-ice conversion still need to be better incorporated  
in models as they can have a significant impact on the results and  
therefore on climate predictions."
      Citation: Powell, D. C., T. Markus, and A. Stoessel, Effects of  
snow depth forcing on Southern Ocean sea ice simulations, J. Geophys.  
Res.,  110, C06001, doi:10.1029/2003JC002212.
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Summer Programs, Courses, Internships, Meetings
Workshop Announcement - Poles Together: Coordinating IPY Outreach and  
Education
    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
    Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES)
    National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC)
    For further information, please go to: http://cybele.colorado.edu/ 
ipyoe/IPYOE.pdf
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Advanced Biology Training Course In Antarctica
    "Integrative Biology and Adaptation of Antarctic Marine Organisms"
    This National Science Foundation sponsored course will be held in  
Antarctica at the United States' McMurdo Station for one month,  
starting January 2006.  This is an international course, open to all  
nationalities.  Applications are invited from graduate students,  
postdoctoral fellows, and other research scientists who are  
interested in the study of extreme environments and the biology of  
Antarctic organisms.  The course will accommodate up to 20 students.   
Full scholarships are available to each student accepted into the  
course to cover the cost of travel from home institution to  
Antarctica, and room and board while in Antarctica.  The emphasis of  
the Antarctic Biology Course is on integrative biology, with  
laboratory- and field-based projects focused on adaptations in an  
extreme polar environment.  A diverse teaching faculty will offer  
students the possibility of working on a wide range of Antarctic  
organisms (bacteria, algae, invertebrates, and fish), as well as  
working at several different levels of biological analysis (molecular  
biology, physiological ecology, species diversity, and evolution).   
Deadline for receipt of completed applications is September 1, 2005.   
For more information and on-line applications, please see -- http:// 
antarctica.usc.edu/.
    Message from Sue Weiler: This course has been offered for several  
years now and is *fabuolous* -- great location, great participants,  
great teachers and mentors. If you are interested in Antarctic  
biological research, don't miss this one!!
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Forum
US: ACLU, Science Under Siege
    submitted by Sue Weiler
    Earlier this month, the American Civil Liberties Union issued a  
report titled "Science Under Siege: The Bush Administration's Assault  
on Academic Freedom and Scientific Inquiry." If you are interested,  
the report can be accessed at: http://www.aclu.org/Files/OpenFile.cfm? 
id=18533
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Jobs
Policy Advocate, North American Affairs
    International Emissions Trading Association
    The International Emissions Trading Association (IETA) comprises  
over 100 international companies from OECD and non-OECD countries  
including 28 members in Canada.  IETA is dedicated to ensuring that  
the objectives of the United Nations Convention on Climate Change and  
ultimately climate protection are met through the establishment of  
effective systems for trading in greenhouse gas emissions by  
businesses, in an economically efficient manner while maintaining  
societal equity and environmental integrity.
    The Association is looking for a dynamic individual to act as our  
Policy Advocate for North America.  Working in Ottawa, the individual  
will provide policy planning and implementation support for IETA’s  
advocacy efforts with governments in Canada and the U.S.
     Specific responsibilities include:
    •    Developing a plan to encourage governments to adopt an  
approach to emissions trading which is workable, can be linked to  
international plans (i.e. CDM’s etc…) and is consistent with already  
established IETA principles.
    •    Assisting in the implementation of this approach by working  
with government and member firms to ensure that emissions trading is  
an important part of Canada’s Climate Change response.
    •    Working with IETA members and potential members to explain  
the work and gain their support and assistance in advocating IETA’s  
priorities.
    •    Assisting in developing a comprehensive response to existing  
position papers from government and other sectors.
    •    Developing an understanding of the linkages between Canada’s  
plan and those of other regions and countries.
    The successful candidate will be capable of working with minimal  
supervision in a result-oriented environment.  Extensive knowledge of  
the various components of emissions trading and experience in a  
related field is desired.
    Please send your CV and a covering letter including compensation  
expectations to Olivia Eckersley at eckersley at ieta.org.  For  
additional information visit our website at www.ieta.org
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Intern With A Background In Climate Change: UNIDO/MEA/Kyoto Protocol  
Team
   An intern with a background in climate change and the Kyoto  
Protocol, focusing on the project-based mechanisms (CDM/JI) and  
emissions trading, is urgently needed to work with UNIDO/MEA/Kyoto  
Protocol team on the development and implementation of technical  
assistance and global forum projects in this area. This is an  
opportunity for a graduate student looking for hands-on internship  
experience in climate change/Kyoto Protocol issues and the experience  
of working in an international organization. Excellent drafting  
skills in English are essential.  The duration of the internship is  
at least three months, starting from July 2005. For the terms of  
internship and details of the application process, please visit our  
web site at www.unido.org/employment
    Peter Pembleton
    Climate Change Project Manager
    Multilateral Environmental Agreements Branch
    UNIDO
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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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