[DIALOGnews] DIALOG and DISCCRS News 01/13/2006
Susan Bennett
bennetsk at whitman.edu
Fri Jan 13 15:30:11 CST 2006
DIALOG and DISCCRS News
01/13/2006
************************************
TABLE OF CONTENTS
SCIENCE NEWS
Plants Exhale Methane, Contribute to Warming, Study Says from
National Geographic News
(see below)
Scientists Say Warming Decimates Frogs in Latin America
(see below)
Plants produce methane - Nature 439, 128 (12 January 2006) | doi:
10.1038/439128a
(see below)
Global Warming Can Trigger Extreme Ocean, Climate Changes
http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=105692
JOBS
Univ Catholique de Louvain (Belgium) - Post-Doc for "3-D Modelling of
the sea-ice ocean system and biogeochemical cycles in the Southern
Ocean"
(see below)
Center for Geosystem Research (Germany) - Postdoc Position (BAT2a) at
the Meteorological Institute (relating to integral radar volume data
descriptors).
(see below)
University of Southern California, Center for International Studies -
Postdoctoral Fellowships
(see below)
Atmospheric Modelling Postdoctoral fellowship at McGill University
(see below)
Post-Doctoral Position, Earth and Environmental Systems Institute,
The Pennsylvania State University
(see below)
UNC-Chapel Hill Assistant Professor - Environmental science and policy
(see below)
Univ Blaise Pascal (France) - Atmospheric Sci. Post-doc
(see below)
Tenure-Track Position, Green River Community College, Auburn, Washington
http://www.greenriver.edu/hr/Geology%20Instructor%202006.htm
Wellesley, Massachusetts - Mellon Post-Doctoral Fellow in Anthropology
http://aaanet.jobcontrolcenter.com/jobdetail.cfm?job=2261842.32
3 PhD positions in Microbial Ecology, Limnology/Department of Ecology
and Evolution, Uppsala University, Norbyv. 20, SE-75236 Uppsala, Sweden
http://www.ebc.uu.se/limno/index.html
Flint, Michigan: Environment Program Officer - Mott Foundation
Grantmaking for environmentally sustainable development
http://mott.org/e-job
Australia - Bureau of Meteorology, Research Scientist, Research
Centre, Climate Forecasting Group (Ref: 10223)
http://www.bom.gov.au/careers/
***************************************************
Science News
Plants Exhale Methane, Contribute to Warming, Study Says from
National Geographic News
Grasses and other green growth may produce 10 to 30 percent of
Earth's annual methane output, a new study reports, making plants a
surprising – and potentially significant - contributor to global
warming.
Until the data were unveiled in this week's Nature, scientists
had believed that plant-related methane formed only in oxygen-free
environments, such as bogs.
But a team of European researchers identified a large range of
plants that release methane under normal growing conditions. The gas
also seeps from dead plant material.
http://tinyurl.com/8z5kx
********************
Scientists Say Warming Decimates Frogs in Latin America
by Andrew Revkin
Scientists studying a fast-dwindling genus of colorful frogs in
Central and South America say that recent global warming has combined
with a spreading fungus to create a killing zone, driving many
species restricted to misty mountainsides to extinction.
The researchers said they had implicated widespread warming, as
opposed to local variations in temperature or other conditions
affecting the frogs, by finding that patterns of fungus outbreaks and
species loss in widely dispersed patches of habitat were synchronized
in a way that was statistically impossible to explain by chance.
Climate scientists have already linked most of the recent rise in
the earth's average temperature to the buildup of greenhouse
emissions from smokestacks and tailpipes. Thus the new findings,
according to the researchers and some independent experts on climate
and amphibians, show that human-driven warming is already fostering
outbreaks of disease and imperiling species with restricted habitats.
The study, led by J. Alan Pounds, the resident biologist at the
Monteverde Cloud Forest Preserve in Costa Rica, is to be published on
Thursday in the journal Nature.
In an accompanying commentary, two scientists not involved in the
research, Andy Dobson, a Princeton University ecologist, and Andrew
R. Blaustein, a zoologist at Oregon State University, said the
research provided "compelling evidence" that warming caused by human
activity was already disrupting ecology.
"The frogs are sending an alarm call to all concerned about the
future of biodiversity and the need to protect the greatest of all
open-access resources -- the atmosphere," they wrote.
Other climate and amphibian experts, while saying the paper laid
out a compelling case for a climate-fungus link, cautioned that there
were several layers of remaining uncertainty that were not eliminated
by the analysis.
Among those, it is still unclear whether the lethal fungus, which
attacks amphibian skin, has long been in the affected areas and
dormant or is a recent arrival.
Over 110 species of brightly colored harlequin frogs, in the
genus Atelopus, once lived near streams in the American tropics, but
about two-thirds of them have vanished since the 1980's.
Implicated in many of those vanishings, as well as amphibian die-
offs around the world, is a chytrid fungus that grows on amphibian
skin from deserts to lowland tropical forests to mountainsides.
A paradox confronting biologists studying possible links to
climate change is that the fungus thrives best in cooler conditions,
challenging the theory that warming is contributing to the amphibian
declines.
But Dr. Pounds and his team, in studying trends in temperature
and disease around the American tropics and, in particular detail, in
the cloud-shrouded ridges of Costa Rica where he lives and works,
found patterns that they say explain the situation.
Rising cloudiness, a long-projected consequence as warming
increases evaporation, tends to keep days cooler by blocking some
sunlight and nights warmer by holding in some heat.
At intermediate elevations on the mountain slopes of places like
Costa Rica, the warming and cloud cover have created a favorable zone
for the spread of the chytrid fungus, where conditions are never too
cold or too warm, but just right, Dr. Pounds said in an interview.
Dr. Pounds, who has worked in the Costa Rican cloud forests for
two decades, has seen several easily spotted amphibian species vanish
altogether in that time.
He said that because the apparent harlequin frog extinctions have
occurred in lockstep in widely dispersed field sites, they are hard
to attribute to anything other than the broad warming trend linked by
other scientists to rising concentrations of greenhouse gases.
While the fungus is the bullet, he said, the broader ongoing
warming and resulting shifts in clouds are the trigger.
Stephen H. Schneider, a climate expert at Stanford University,
who has worked with Dr. Pounds on other studies and consulted on this
one, acknowledged that uncertainties remained but said that the work
was "a major step forward."
"It's like anything else that's complex," he said. "When you're
in the early phases of learning you look for multiple lines of
argument, and when they converge with basic theory you increase your
confidence in a connection."
That is what this paper has done, he said.
********************
Plants produce methane - Nature 439, 128 (12 January 2006) | doi:
10.1038/439128a
Methane finding baffles scientists - by Quirin Schiermeier, Munich
Plant production of greenhouse gas throws up questions for
climate models. The startling discovery that terrestrial plants
produce the greenhouse gas methane is sending scientists in two
disciplines, not to mention a few politicians, back to the drawing
board.
The newly revealed methane emissions have taken plant
physiologists by surprise, because far more energy is required to
create methane than, say, carbon dioxide in an oxygenated
environment. Climate researchers are also amazed that they could have
missed what is potentially a huge methane source ‹ up to a third of
all methane produced worldwide (see 'How could we have missed this?').
Until now, it was thought that plant matter produces methane only
through microbial activity in oxygen-free environments such as
swamps, flooded rice fields and ruminants' guts. But on page 187 of
this issue, Frank Keppler, a geochemist at the Max Planck Institute
for Nuclear Physics in Heidelberg, Germany, and his colleagues report
that grasses and leaves from various species release the gas under
normal aerobic conditions.
The source of the methane ‹ and why plants make it ‹ is unknown.
Some species make other volatile hydrocarbons such as isoprene, but
that reaction involves a specific enzyme, and only seems to kick in
when the plants need to dissipate excess energy. The methane
emissions that Keppler found rise smoothly with temperature up to 70 °
C, suggesting that no enzyme is involved.
"This seems to be a secondary chemical reaction with no specific
function for plant metabolism," says Elmar Weiler, a plant
physiologist at Ruhr University in Bochum, Germany. "It's a truly
surprising finding." But beyond its implications for botany, the
discovery could prove important for understanding and predicting
climate change ‹ and for our attempts to reduce greenhouse-gas
emissions. Methane is the second most important greenhouse gas in the
atmosphere after carbon dioxide, and levels have doubled over the
past 200 years, mainly as a result of increased agricultural activity.
The finding doesn't change ideas about the total amount of
methane being released into the atmosphere. But scientists had
thought they knew about all the significant methane sources and how
much each contributed (see Global change: A green source of
surprise). Now it seems that their figures were very wrong. As a
rough estimate, Keppler reckons that global vegetation may be
releasing between 60 million and 240 million tonnes of methane each
year ‹ up to a third of the total amount that enters the atmosphere.
"The surprising thing to me is the amount of methane they found,"
says Martin Heimann, director of the Max Planck Institute for
Biogeochemistry in Jena, Germany. "It means we neglected a big
driving force for the climate."
It is too early to say exactly how the revelation might influence
predictions for future climate change, but it's unlikely to be good
news. The fact that plant methane emissions rise with temperature,
and that plants are likely to grow faster in a warmer climate anyway,
could lead to a big rise in methane emissions from natural sources,
says Johannes Lelieveld, an atmospheric researcher at the Max Planck
Institute for Chemistry in Mainz, Germany.
The finding also restricts our options for reducing methane
emissions, he points out, because measures such as growing rice in
drier fields are likely to prove less effective than had been
thought. "If natural greenhouse-gas sources are greater than we
thought, the scope for climate politics becomes narrower," he says.
"You wouldn't cut down forests just because trees release methane."
***************************************************
Jobs
Planktonnet: Great listserv for aquatic-science jobs
To subscribe to the list, send an empty email to:
planktonnet-subscribe at yahoogroups.com
Or, visit http://groups.yahoo.com/group/planktonnet/ and click on
'Join this group'
Univ Catholique de Louvain (Belgium) - Post-Doc for "3-D Modelling of
the sea-ice ocean system and biogeochemical cycles in the Southern
Ocean"
The Institut d'Astronomie et de Geophysique G. Lemaitre of the
Universite Catholique de Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium, invites
applications for a postdoctoral fellowship in "3-D Modelling of the
sea-ice ocean system and biogeochemical cycles in
the Southern Ocean"
The successful candidate will be in charge of the physical
component of the model but will also take part in the coupling
between the physical and biogeochemical modules as well as in the
analyses of the results of the coupled model.
The research will be made in collaboration with the Universite
Libre de Bruxelles, the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, the Musee Royal
d'Afrique Centrale and the Universite de Liege in the framework of a
new project funded by Belgian Science Policiy.
The postdoctoral fellowship is for 12 months. Suitable candidates
will posses a Ph.D. in physical oceanography, atmospheric science,
applied mathematics, or a related discipline.
Applications should include detailed curriculum vitae, a letter
describing relevant experience and research interests, and 2 letters
of recommendation. Review of applications will begin March 1, 2006
and will continue until a candidate is selected.
Application materials and questions should be sent to:
H. Goosse, Institut d'Astronomie et de Geophysique G. Lemaitre
(Unite ASTR)
2, chemin du Cyclotron, B-1348 Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium
Phone: +32-10-473295, fax: +32-10-474722, e-mail:
goosse at astr.ucl.ac.be,
Web : http://www.astr.ucl.ac.be/index.php?page=hgs%23HomePage
ASTR's web site: http://www.climate.be.
********************
Center for Geosystem Research (Germany) - Postdoc Position (BAT2a) at
the Meteorological Institute (relating to integral radar volume data
descriptors).
The Center for Geosystem Research (ZEGEF, Zentrum für
Geosystemforschung, see www.earth-systems.de) of the Rheinische-
Friedrich-Wilhelms University Bonn offers a Postdoc Position (BAT2a)
at the Meteorological Institute.
The position is funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG,
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft) in the framework of the AQUARadar
cluster proposal (for more information see www.meteo.uni-bonn.de/
projects/aquaradar). AQUARadar has the goal to improve quantitative
precipitation estimates (QPE) from ground-based precipitation radars.
AQUARadar involves partner projects from the universities Bonn,
Hamburg, Karlsruhe, Mainz and Munich, the German Institute for Air
and Space Transport (DLR, Deutsches Zentrum für Luft und Raumfahrt)
Oberpfaffenhofen and the German Weather Service (DWD, Deutscher
Wetterdienst).
The position is offered for an initial period of two years. An
extension of the AQUARadar is intended.
The successful applicant will work together with a partner
project in applied mathematics at the University Bonn on the
development of integral radar volume data descriptors and their
relation to surface precipitation. He/She will also contribute to the
overall coordination of the project cluster.
We expect from the applicants an outstandig PhD in meteorology,
oceanography, physics, or geophysics.
Handicapped persons with comparable qualifications will be
favoured. The University Bonn explicitly urges women to apply for the
position.
Please send us a complete curriculum vitae, certificates of
degrees, and a cover letter detailing why you are interested in this
project. Applications can be send, also electronically, until the end
of January 2006 to
Prof. Dr. Clemens Simmer, Meteorologisches Institut
Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität
Auf dem Hügel 20, 53121 Bonn
csimmer at uni-bonn.de
http://www.meteo.uni-bonn.de/staff/CSimmer/
********************
University of Southern California, Center for International Studies -
Postdoctoral Fellowships
The Center for International Studies here at USC offers two Post-
Doctoral Fellowships for 2006-07. The competition is open to junior
scholars: those who received a Ph.D. within the last 3 years or who
will have completed/defended a dissertation by August 2006. The post-
doc is especially useful for a candidate needing time to turn that
PhD dissertation into a publishable book or set of journal articles,
free of teaching or other responsibilities.
The fellowship pays a competitive stipend, plus moving and other
expenses. It offers an office in the center, access to all university
resources, and participation in the intellectual life of the School
of International Relations, the Center for International Studies, and
other centers and departments on campus.
Further information is available on the CIS website at
www.usc.edu/cis. Please encourage your most promising finishing PhD
students to apply.
********************
Atmospheric Modelling Postdoctoral fellowship at McGill University
The Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences of McGill
University, Montreal, Canada, invites applications for a postdoctoral
fellowship on the theme: "Three-dimensional modelling of past and
future trends in the stratosphere"
The successful candidate will work with a new, fast three-
dimensional chemistry-climate model to simulate the past and future
trends in the stratosphere using an ensemble simulation approach.
The successful candidate must have a PhD in atmospheric sciences
or in a related discipline awarded within the three years preceding
the start date of this postdoctoral fellowship. Experience with
numerical modelling and/or stratospheric processes is an advantage.
The postdoctoral fellowship is for two years, starting in July
2006 or at a later date upon agreement.
Review of applications will begin February 1, 2006 and will
continue until the position is filled.
The interested candidate should send a curriculum vitae, a list
of publications, a short research interest statement, and must
arrange two recommendation letters to be sent separately to:
Dr. M. Bourqui
Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences
McGill University
Burnside Hall, Office 815
805, Sherbrooke Street W.
H3A 2K6 Montreal
Phone: (514) 398 5450 Fax: (514) 398 6115
Email: michel.bourqui at mcgill.ca
http://www.meteo.mcgill.ca/bourqui
Further information on the project can be found at http://
www.meteo.mcgill.ca/bourqui/postdocposition2006.pdf Information on
postdoctoral regulations at McGill University is provided at http://
www.mcgill.ca/gps/postdoc/.
McGill University is an international English-speaking
university. It is located in Montreal, one of the most cosmopolitan
cities of North America. Information about McGill and the Department
of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences is available at http://
www.mcgill.ca/meteo.
********************
Post-Doctoral Position, Earth and Environmental Systems Institute,
The Pennsylvania State University
A postdoctoral position is available to work on the interactions
between climatic change and terrestrial ecosystems. Topics include
the potential effects of warming, changes in precipitation, increased
CO2 concentrations, and/or increased concentrations of O3 in the
lower atmosphere on the structure and functioning of ecosystems. We
are seeking an innovative individual who will become a catalyst for
interactions among ecologists and climate scientists. The scientist
will have considerable freedom to develop their own research projects
within the broader context of the research programs of the
Northeastern Regional Center of the Department of Energy's National
Institutes for Climatic Change Research.
The successful candidate should have a strong background in
terrestrial ecology, atmospheric sciences, or a closely related
field. Strong quantitative skills, particularly the ability to work
with complex databases and numerical models, are required.
Experience with terrestrial ecology, statistics, geospatial analyses,
and inverse methods in the earth sciences is especially desirable.
Strong collaborative skills will be necessary.
The initial appointment is for one year, with good potential for
continued support. The position is available immediately.
Applications received by 20 January, 2006 will receive full
consideration. The salary will be competitive, commensurate with
experience, and will comply with Pennsylvania State University
guidelines.
Please send a curriculum vitae including list of publications (a
sample publication is welcome but not required), the names and
addresses of three references, and a short (one to two page)
statement of research interests and long-term goals to:
Linda Decker, Administrative Assistant
Northeastern Regional Center of the DOE
National Institute for Climatic Change Research
2217 Earth and Engineering Sciences Building
The Pennsylvania State University
University Park, PA 16802
Email: ldecker at psu.edu
Phone: 814-863-9563 Fax: 814-865-3191
Penn State is committed to affirmative action, equal opportunity,
and the diversity of its workforce.
********************
UNC-Chapel Hill Assistant Professor - Environmental science and policy
Assistant Professor - Department of Environmental Sciences and
Engineering School of Public Health - University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill Applications are invited for a tenure-track position at
the rank of assistant professor in the department's environmental
policy and management area, with a focus on applications of
scientific and/or engineering analysis in management and policy
decisions. The successful candidate will have at least one degree in
science or engineering and a PhD in environmental engineering,
science, health, policy or closely related field. She or he will play
a major role in the teaching and research mission of the Department
of Environmental Sciences and Engineering and be committed to the
education and professional development of students with career
interests at the intersection of policy analysis, science,
engineering and/or health. The area of environmental policy
specialization is open, with the successful candidate having
opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration with other units in
the School of Public Health, the School of Medicine, the Carolina
Environmental Program, the School of Business, the College of Arts
and Sciences, and other academic programs. Applications will be
accepted until the position is filled. Women and minorities are
particularly encouraged to apply. Academic appointments at the
University of North Carolina typically begin on July 1. For
consideration, send application with cover letter:
CV and names of two references to:
Dr. Douglas Crawford-Brown, Search Committee Chair
c/o Ann Goodwin
Environmental Sciences and Engineering
School of Public Health
106 Rosenau Hall, CB#7431
Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7431
E-mail: ese at unc.edu or douglas_crawford-brown at unc.edu
http://www.sph.unc.edu/envr
********************
Univ Blaise Pascal (France) - Atmospheric Sci. Post-doc
Post-Doctoral Research Position at the Laboratoire de
Météorologie Physique, University Blaise Pascal in Clermont-Ferrand,
France.
GPS Atmospheric Applications Upgrades, With the European GALILEO
System
Water vapour is an important parameter in numerous physical and
dynamical processes of the atmosphere (radiative transfer, cloud
formation, convection, precipitations, etc.). However, it is
extremely variable both in space and time, and is still one of the
least easily or routinely measured parameter. Beyond its geophysical
positioning function, GPS allows to estimate atmospheric water
vapour. Indeed, knowing pressure and temperature, it is possible to
convert the electromagnetic wave propagation delay due to the
atmosphere into integrated water vapour. Thus, GPS can be viewed as a
very valuable instrument to study atmospheric water vapour as it
provides continuous, high time resolution measurements in all weather
conditions. GPS estimates of water vapour compare well with other
instruments measurements.
For research purposes, GPS provides adequate documentation of the
time evolution of the water vapour field, enables the restitution of
the 3-D water vapour field through tomography when a dense network of
GPS stations is available, and should allow the determination of
humidity profiles when combined with another instrument, in
particular with a wind profiler.
With the advent of the European GPS system GALILEO and its
additional frequencies, opportunities for improved atmospheric
characterization and parameter estimation can arise: ionospheric
contribution, water vapor signature at low elevation angles, etc.
Thus, the proposed post-doctoral position is dedicated to assess
the possible upgrades to tropospheric parameter retrieval with the
Galileo GPS system.
This position is a one year contract at the Laboratoire de
Météorologie Physique, University Blaise Pascal in Clermont-Ferrand,
France.
http://wwwobs.univ-bpclermont.fr/atmos/
Desired starting date is summer 2006. It offers an academic
environment within a small dedicated research laboratory and a
competitive salary. Clermont-Ferrand is located in the Auvergne
region in central France at the doors of the pristine Massif Central
natural area.
Interested candidates with a PhD in physical meteorology or
remote sensing must provide their Curriculum Vitae, a statement of
interest including their qualifications, expectations and
availabilities for the job, as well as three references to:
Dr. Joël Van Baelen, LaMP/OPGC, 24 avenue des Landais, 63177
Aubière Joel.Vanbaelen at opgc.univ-bpclermont.fr
All candidacy received before March 31, 2006, will be reviewed
with all due attention.
**************************************************
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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