[DIALOGnews] DISCCRS News 2/23/2007
Ruth Ladderud
ladderra at whitman.edu
Fri Feb 23 14:02:37 CST 2007
DISCCRS News
2/23/2007
************************************
TABLE OF CONTENTS
RESOURCES and FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES
New AAAS statement on global Climate Change
http://news.aaas.org/index.php/news/am_board_statement/id=185
Polar Climate Working Group
http://www.ccsm.ucar.edu/working_groups/Polar or contact: David
A. Bailey, National Center for Atmospheric Research, E-mail:
dbailey at ucar.edu
Arctic Research in the U.S.
http://www.nsf.gov/publications/pub_summ.jsp?ods_key=nsf07137
(see RESOURCES 1 below)
SCIENCE NEWS
Reservoirs of Water Found Beneath Antarctic Ice Streams
http://environment.newscientist.com/article/dn11195-reservoirs-of-
water-found-beneath-antarctic-ice-streams.html or: http://
tinyurl.com/2cld5j
(see NEWS 1 below)
Record for Hottest January Isn't Broken...It's Smashed
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/
2003574774_warming16.html Or: http://tinyurl.com/365ywp
(see NEWS 2 below)
New Tests Will Help Detect Fish Virus
http://www.boston.com/news/science/articles/2007/02/15/
new_tests_will_help_detect_fish_virus/
(see NEWS 3 below)
Europeans Agree to Cut Emissions Sharply if U.S. and Others Follow Suit
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/21/business/worldbusiness/
21warm.html Or: http://tinyurl.com/ysze83
(see NEWS 4 below)
Freeze 'Condemned Neanderthals'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6341987.stm Or: http://
tinyurl.com/2bjf2n
(see NEWS 5 below)
Great Forests Hold Fateful Role in Climate Change
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/21/
AR2007022102095.html Or: http://tinyurl.com/2tsbu4
(see NEWS 6 below)
SUMMER PROGRAMS, COURSES, INTERNSHIPS, MEETINGS, OPPORTUNITIES
Workshop for Polar Early Career Scientists and Engineers- Arctic
Science Summit Week (ASSW)- March 14-19, 2007 - Dartmouth College -
Hanover, New Hampshire (USA)
http://www.assw2007.org
(see MEETING 1 below)
JOBS
Postdoctoral Fellowships (2) – IPY - Environment and Natural
Resources Institute - University of Alaska Anchorage - Anchorage, AK
(USA)
http://www.uakjobs.com/applicants/Central?quickFind=58410.
(see JOBS 1 below)
Research fellows - Research Programme on Climate Change Modelling and
Policy - Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM) – Venice and Milan (Italy)
(see JOBS 2 below)
***************************************************
Science News
(NEWS 1) Reservoirs of Water Found Beneath Antarctic Ice Streams
http://environment.newscientist.com/article/dn11195-reservoirs-of-
water-found-beneath-antarctic-ice-streams.html or: http://
tinyurl.com/2cld5j
NewScientist - Rivers of fa st-flowing water are gushing beneath
the West Antarctica ice sheet in an extensive arterial system of
rapidly filling and emptying lakes, new satellite images have revealed.
Researchers had predicted that the western ice sheet would
contain subglacial water stores, but the unprecedented scale of the
network and the speed of the water has surprised them. Crucially, the
lakes occur below fast-moving ice streams, which could have major
implications for glacial melt rates and associated sea-level rises.
"We've found substantial lakes under ice that's moving a couple
of metres a day. It's really ripping along," says Robert Binschadler
of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, US, who carried
out the study with colleagues. He presented the research at a meeting
of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in San
Francisco, California, US.
********************
(NEWS 2) Record for Hottest January Isn't Broken...It's Smashed
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/
2003574774_warming16.html Or: http://tinyurl.com/365ywp
Seattle Times - WASHINGTON - It may be cold comfort during a
frigid February, but last month was by far the hottest January ever.
The new record was fueled by a waning El Nino and a gradually warming
world, according to U.S. scientists who reported the data Thursday.
Records on the planet's temperature have been kept since 1880.
Spurred on by unusually warm Siberia, Canada, northern Asia and
Europe, the world's land areas were 3.4 degrees Fahrenheit warmer
than a normal January, according to the U.S. National Climatic Data
Center in Asheville, N.C.
The temperature of the world's land and water combined - the most
effective measurement - was 1.53 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than the
20th-century average of 53.6 for January, breaking the old record by
more than one-quarter of a degree. Ocean temperatures alone didn't
set a record.
********************
(NEWS 3) New Tests Will Help Detect Fish Virus
http://www.boston.com/news/science/articles/2007/02/15/
new_tests_will_help_detect_fish_virus/
Boston Globe (Registration Required) - ITHACA, N.Y. -- A new test
will help scientists quickly detect a fast-spreading aquatic virus
that threatens the Great Lakes fishing industry, according to its
developers at Cornell University.
Current tests for the viral hemorrhagic septicemia virus involve
culturing cells and can take up to a month. The new technique, which
measures viral genetic material, takes only 24 hours to identify the
virus, said Paul Bowser, a Cornell professor of aquatic animal medicine.
"Earlier detection of the virus will provide us with a powerful
research and diagnostic tool that will greatly aid in efforts to
limit the impact of VHSV," Bowser said Thursday. The researchers hope
to have the technique validated by the end of 2007.
********************
(NEWS 4) Europeans Agree to Cut Emissions Sharply if U.S. and Others
Follow Suit
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/21/business/worldbusiness/
21warm.html Or: http://tinyurl.com/ysze83
New York Times (Registration Required) - PARIS, Feb. 20 - Seeking
to persuade other nations to curb greenhouse gas emissions, European
Union ministers pledged Tuesday to raise their own targets if
industrialized countries like the United States made similar efforts.
European governments would be ready to cut emissions 30 percent
below 1990 levels by 2020, from a current pledge of 20 percent, but
only if other heavy polluters joined in, said Sigmar Gabriel, the
German environment minister, who led a meeting in Brussels that
formally endorsed the European targets.
Germany, the biggest European economy, was already prepared to
cut its emissions even further if there was a broader agreement, Mr.
Gabriel said, noting that the German Parliament had supported a 40
percent target.
********************
(NEWS 5) Freeze 'Condemned Neanderthals'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6341987.stm Or: http://
tinyurl.com/2bjf2n
BBC News Online - A sharp freeze could have dealt the killer blow
that finished off our evolutionary cousins the Neanderthals,
according to a new study. The ancient humans are thought to have died
out in most parts of Europe by about 35,000 years ago.
And now new data from their last known refuge in southern Iberia
indicates the final population was probably beaten by a cold spell
some 24,000 years ago. The research is reported by experts from the
Gibraltar Museum and Spain.
They say a climate downturn may have caused a drought, placing
pressure on the last surviving Neanderthals by reducing their
supplies of fresh water and killing off the animals they hunted.
********************
(NEWS 6) Great Forests Hold Fateful Role in Climate Change
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/21/
AR2007022102095.html Or: http://tinyurl.com/2tsbu4
Washington Post (Registration Required) - PINE FALLS, Manitoba --
Here on the edge of the silent and frozen northern tier of the Earth,
the fate of the world's climate is buried beneath the snow and locked
in the still limbs of aspen trees. Nearly half of the carbon that
exists on land is contained in the sweeping boreal forests, which
gird the Earth in the northern reaches of Canada, Alaska, Scandinavia
and Russia.
Scientists now fear that the steady rise in the temperature of
the atmosphere and the increasing human activity in those lands are
releasing that carbon, a process that could trigger a vicious cycle
of even more warming.
The prospect of the land itself accelerating climate change
staggers scientists, as well as woodsmen such as Bob Austman, who
stopped recently in a quiet stand of birch on the edge of the boreal
forest to examine a jack rabbit's tracks. "There are big forces out
there," he said succinctly.
***************************************************
Summer Programs, Courses, Internships, Meetings, Opportunities
(MEETING 1) Workshop for Polar Early Career Scientists and Engineers-
Arctic Science Summit Week (ASSW)- March 14-19, 2007 - Dartmouth
College - Hanover, New Hampshire (USA)
http://www.assw2007.org
The Early Career Scientists and Engineers Program is designed to
provide international networking opportunities for early career polar
scientists and engineers during the Arctic Science Summit Week 2007
(ASSW) being held Wednesday, March 14 through Tuesday, March 20 at
Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire. Students currently
working on a graduate degree in polar science and scientists and
engineers who have obtained their graduate degree within the last
five years are welcome to participate.
In addition to participating in the regular ASSW program,
students and early career professionals are invited to attend the
Early Career Scientists lunch on Wednesday, 14 March, the Early
Career Science Symposium with contributed oral and poster
presentations by early career scientists on Saturday, 17 March, and
other events to be announced at the conference.
Participants in the Early Career Scientists and Engineers Program
are invited to present oral and poster presentations by submitting
title, authors (including full contact information), and abstract of
not more than 100 words via the conference website. Abstracts must be
submitted by Wednesday, 28 February 2007.
When registering, attendees are also requested to identify
themselves as students or early career scientists and engineers by
sending name, full contact information, and the dates of arrival and
departure at ASSW via the "Contact Us" link on the conference website
at: http://www.assw2007.org Registration Deadline: Wednesday, 7 March
2007
The purpose of ASSW is to provide opportunities for international
coordination, collaboration and cooperation in all areas of arctic
science and to combine science and management meetings. ASSW 2007 is
an inaugural event for U.S. participation in the International Polar
Year.
***************************************************
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'
********************
(JOB 1) Postdoctoral Fellowships (2) – IPY - Environment and Natural
Resources Institute - University of Alaska Anchorage - Anchorage, AK
(USA)
http://www.uakjobs.com/applicants/Central?quickFind=58410.
The following two postdoctoral fellowships are available on
International Polar Year 2007-2008 projects led by the Environment
and Natural Resources Institute at University of Alaska Anchorage:
Soil Ecology, Soil Biogeochemistry
The incumbent will conduct and supervise experimental work
elucidating the consequences of deeper snow, shrub increases, and
effects on soil-plant dynamics. The fellow will join a team that has
conduced long-term experiments at Toolik Lake, Alaska since 1994 as
part of ITEX (International Tundra Experiment) and has established a
new set of experimental snow depth treatments that will be used in
this research. A significant portion of the research focus will be on
winter ecology. A PhD or previous postdoctoral research experience in
soil ecology, soil microbiology, soil biogeochemistry, or a closely
related field, with a background in tundra ecosystem studies is desired.
Physiological Plant Ecology
The incumbent will conduct and supervise experimental work
elucidating the consequences of deeper snow, shrub increases, and
warmer summer temperature effects on leaf-level gas exchange,
ecosystem carbon cycling, community composition, plant growth, and
plant-soil water relations. The position involves field studies at
Toolik Lake, Alaska and in northwest Greenland. The fellow will join
a team that has conducted long-term experiments at Toolik Lake since
1994 as part of ITEX and in northwest Greenland since 2002. A
significant portion of the research focus will be on winter ecology.
A PhD or previous postdoctoral research experience in physiological
plant ecology, plant physiology, plant community ecology, or plant
mineral nutrition, with a background in tundra ecosystem studies is
desired.
The successful applicants for both positions will be expected to
assist in supervising graduate and undergraduate students and to
assist the project PIs with project management. The salary for both
positions is between $3,500-$3,700 USD per month plus full benefits
depending on experience.
To apply for either position, please submit a letter of interest
highlighting applicable research experience, curriculum vitae, and
the names of three references to Jeff Welker at: afjmw1 at uaa.alaska.edu.
For further information about the Environment and Natural Resources
Institute, please go to: http://www.uaa.alaska.edu/enri/ or contact:
Jeff Welker, E-mail: afjmw1 at uaa.alaska.edu
Applications are due by Monday, 26 February 2007. The position is
available beginning 1 April, 2007.
********************
(JOBS 2) Research fellows - Research Programme on Climate Change
Modelling and Policy - Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM) – Venice
and Milan (Italy)
The Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM), an Italian research
institute that carries out research on sustainable development,
invites applications for two junior research fellowship positions in
its Programme on Climate Change Modelling and Policy. The main area
of research is integrated assessment models.
Position 1. The required candidate is expected to have a good
general background in applied and theoretical economics, possibly
with previous experience in computable general equilibrium modelling.
He/she will work in a modelling team dealing with economic impacts of
climate change, in several dimensions: sea level rise, energy demand,
tourism, etc. Variants of the GTAP-E model are used as a common
platform for the simulations exercises. Both static and dynamic model
versions are developed. Candidates must have a Ph.D. in economics or
be near its completion, and experience in integrated climate
modelling and general equilibrium models. Duties will be performed at
the FEEM offices in Venice, Italy.
Position 2. The required candidate is expected to have a good
general background in applied and theoretical economics, possibly
with previous experience in dynamic modelling. He/she will work in a
modelling team dealing with economy, energy and climate change. A
background in energy engineering will be considered as an appreciable
asset. Candidates must have a Ph.D. in economics/energy engineer or
be near its completion, and experience in modelling. An outline of
the modelling done so far is available at http://www.feem-web.it/
witch/ . Duties will be performed at the FEEM offices in Milan, Italy.
The candidates will interact with researchers of different
nationalities, and will write and present scientific papers. Part of
the activities are realized in the context of European research
projects.
Very good written and spoken English is essential for these
positions.
FEEM offers an international and interdisciplinary environment,
the possibility to develop an innovative research programme and a
world-wide network of research institutions in the field of climate
change. A full range of the activities of FEEM and its Programme on
Climate Change Modelling and Policy is available at http://www.feem.it/.
Appointments may begin immediately and will last at least one
year. The candidates are expected to join FEEM for no less than one
year.
Applicants should send a detailed curriculum vitae with a full
list of publications and at least one letter of recommendation to:
Monica Eberle, monica.eberle at feem.it.
**************************************************
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
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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