[DIALOGnews] DISCCRS News 6/29/2007
Ruth Ladderud
ladderra at whitman.edu
Fri Jun 29 13:05:20 CDT 2007
DISCCRS News
6/29/2007
************************************
TABLE OF CONTENTS
FORUM
New Website: World Ocean Forum On-Line Event: International Polar Year
http://www.thew2o.net/events/polaryear/index.html
The latest issue of C3 Views looks at the development of a vibrant
bioeconomy in Alberta (Canada).
www.climatechangecentral.com/default.asp?V_DOC_ID=846
MYRES Proposal Organizing Committee requests vote on Proposal
http://www.safl.umn.edu/myres08/
(see FORUM 1 below)
Jim Hansen: President Eisenhower and his scientists
(see FORUM 2 below)
Gloom and Doom in A Sunny Day
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/24/
AR2007062401374.html
(see FORUM 3 below)
Ecological and Environmental Anthropology (EEA) an online, peer-
reviewed journal, announces the publication of its 2007 issue.
Please visit our website: http://eea.anthro.uga.edu/index.php/eea/index
(see FORUM 4 below)
SCIENCE NEWS
UN Issues Desertification Warning
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6247802.stm Or: http://
tinyurl.com/278s9k
(see NEWS 1 below)
Drifting Icebergs Are Hotspots of Life
http://www.examiner.com/
a-793008~Drifting_Icebergs_Are_Hotspots_of_Life.html Or: http://
tinyurl.com/yozfgw
(see NEWS 2 below)
Undersea Search Begins for Life at Top of the World
http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0622/p01s03-stss.html Or: http://
tinyurl.com/2fmnjp
(see NEWS 3 below)
Experts Warn Darfur Is "An Early Warning" of Climate Change's Effects
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/
2003758040_darfur22.html Or: http://tinyurl.com/26gwnr
(see NEWS 4 below)
In Case We Can't Give Up the Cars -- Try 16 Trillion Mirrors
(see NEWS 5 below)
NASA Airborne Expedition Chases Climate, Ozone Questions
(see NEWS 6 below)
Ocean less of a buffer to global warming than thought
http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/archive/2007/May/05/local/
stories/11local.htm
(see NEWS 7 below)
Study: All forests not created equal
http://www.sciencedaily.com/upi/index.php?
feed=Science&article=UPI-1-20070625-10510400-bc-us-forests.xml or
http://tinyurl.com/2yuhl3
(see NEWS 8 below)
Greenhouse gas burial
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-06/ip-ggb062107.php
(see NEWS 9 below)
Desert Dust Cuts Mountain Snow, May Spur Warming
http://www.enn.com/today.html?id=13025&ref=rss
(see NEWS 10 below)
Study Sees Climate Change Impact on Alaska
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/28/us/28climate.html Or: http://
tinyurl.com/2agrul
(see NEWS 11 below)
JOBS
Asst Prof - Climate Science - University Of California - Santa
Barbara, CA (USA)
http://www.geog.ucsb.edu/about/positions/faculty.php
(see JOB 1 below)
Postdoc - Sea Ice Physics, Norwegian Polar Institute – Tromso (NORWAY)
(see JOB 2 below)
Program Director - Antarctic Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, National
Science Foundation - Arlington, Virginia (USA)
http://www.nsf.gov/publications/pub_summ.jsp?ods_key=e20070082a
(see JOB 3 below)
Antarctic Research Support Manager - Ocean Projects, Antarctic
Infrastructure and Logistics Division - National Science Foundation -
Arlington, Virginia (USA)
http://www.nsf.gov/about/career_opps/ (Please refer to
announcement number E20070087)
(see JOB 4 below)
Asst Prof/Assoc Prof - Marine Science/Aquarium Science – University
of Georgia – Savannah, GA (USA)
(see JOB 5 below)
Post-doc - Aerosol group - PM exposure and health effects -
University of Southern California – Los Angeles, CA (USA)
(see JOB 6 below)
Postdoc - meteorological modelling - Univ of Trier (Germany)
(see JOB 7 below)
PhD and Postdoc - 3D Modelling Of Lithosphere Extension - Department
of Geosciences - Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences -
University of Bergen (Norway)
(see JOB 8 below)
***************************************************
Forum
(FORUM 1) MYRES Proposal Organizing Committee requests vote on Proposal
http://www.safl.umn.edu/myres08/
We have proposed that the 2008 Meeting of Young Researchers in Earth
Sciences (MYRES) conference focus on “The Dynamic Interactions of
Life and It’s Landscape” but we need your vote to have this
specific proposal chosen!
The MYRES conference is a biannual, 4-day meeting planned and
hosted by younger members of the international Earth Sciences
community. The theme for each meeting is chosen by an open vote. Our
intention for this meeting is to bring together researchers from a
diverse range of disciplines to examine feedback loops between
ecology and geomorphology in order to identify the relevant space and
time scales for these geomorphic/biotic/anthropogenic interactions.
We have assembled a diverse, exciting roster of speakers and
discussion moderators and hope to make this meeting accessible to a
wide range of participants to tackle this emerging field and to
bridge international barriers in the geomorphic community.
Please visit our website (http://www.safl.umn.edu/myres08/),
click on the “VOTE NOW” tab, enter your email address and select
“Dynamic Interactions of Life and its Landscape” and VOTE! Voting
closes on July 14th.
********************
(FORUM 2) Jim Hansen: President Eisenhower and his scientists
President Eisenhower was arguably the last United States
President to seek and value advice of scientists. As discussed by
John Rigdon in June 2007 Physics Today, scientists played important
roles in the World Wars, but they did not have substantial access to
and influence upon policymakers. The brief window of influence under
Eisenhower was in the wake of Sputnik, being preconditioned by
Eisenhower's tenure as President of Columbia University, where he
grew to respect I.I. Rabi. Following Sputnik, Eisenhower established
the President's Science Advisory Committee with Rabi as chairman.
Rigdon describes a conversation of James Killian with Eisenhower
in Walter Reed Hospital shortly before Eisenhower's death, with the
former President surrounded by instruments relevant to cardiac care,
and his heartbeats visible on an oscilloscope. Eisenhower asked
about "my scientists" and said "You know, Jim, this bunch of
scientists was one of the few groups that I encountered in Washington
who seemed to be there to help the country and not to help themselves."
Rigdon is probably right about the lack of substantial influence
of scientists on national policymakers today. Congress does not call
on the National Academy of Sciences for broad assessment on how to
deal with global climate change, nor does the President call on a
Science Advisory Committee. Unless the public becomes sufficiently
concerned to demand otherwise, it seems that special interests will
continue to have undue sway in energy/climate policies.
Until community advisory pathways are sought, we can still try to
provoke needed discussions in various ways. "How Can We Avert
Dangerous Climate Change" is a slightly edited version of recent
congressional testimony to which I have added a number of references
that I did not have time to compile prior to the testimony.
This paper has been submitted to the physics electronic preprints
ArXiv where it will be permanently available at http://arxiv.org/
abs/0706.3720
It is encouraging that recent discussions in Congress have at
least recognized the demerits of proposals such as corn-based ethanol
to fuel automobiles and coal-to-liquid fuels. In the absence of an
overall strategy, it is still useful to avoid big steps in the wrong
direction.
I will be on travel the next two weeks.
Jim
********************
(FORUM 3) Gloom and Doom in A Sunny Day
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/24/
AR2007062401374.html
Op Ed in Washington Post By Emily Yoffe - Monday, June 25, 2007 -
It was a mild January evening, and people had filled the restaurant's
outdoor patio. As our group walked past the tables, one of my friends
said, "This terrifies me." I don't know if she was reassured later by
the chilly April, but we are all supposed to be terrified of the
weather now.
In "An Inconvenient Truth," Al Gore tells us that unless drastic
global changes are made, our cities will be inundated and those of us
who haven't drowned will face a world wracked by cataclysmic weather
and swarming with pestilence. One of his devotees, actor Leonardo
DiCaprio, is coming out with his own environmental horror movie
warning of human extinction if we continue living as we are. This
would have a negative effect on the box office, but extinction might
be preferable to the future Gore envisions.
(continued...)
Also: Response from John McQuaid (Huffington Post)
The Global Warming Alarm: Too Shrill?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-mcquaid/the-global-warming-
alarm_b_53604.html
********************
(FORUM 4) Ecological and Environmental Anthropology (EEA) an online,
peer-reviewed journal, announces the publication of its 2007 issue.
Please visit our website: http://eea.anthro.uga.edu/index.php/eea/index
*EEA* is currently accepting submissions for 2008 from diverse
disciplines including anthropology, conservation biology, ecology,
environmental studies, geography, political science, and sociology,
as well as practitioners who specialize in conservation, health,
resource management and other issues in human ecology. The mission
of *EEA* is to engage in the exploration of the complex, dynamic, and
multifaceted relationships between humans and their social and
physical environments. We hope to provide fertile ground for the
integration of the various subfields of anthropology and foster
interdisciplinary dialog among academics within anthropology,
scholars in other social and natural science fields, and non-academic
professionals in all fields engaged in the study of human-environment
relationships. Through the online format of this journal, we strive
to be on the cutting edge of technological innovations that aid in
the dissemination of research in ecological and environmental
anthropology. In addition to traditional written articles, we
encourage submissions that take full advantage of the medium and push
the boundaries of conventional scholarly communication, from audio/
visual presentations to online symposia. Peer-reviewed submissions
will present original research, critical reviews of published works,
and new eco-cultural models and paradigms.
Interested contributors should refer to our web site for
submission guidelines: http://eea.anthro.uga.edu/index.php/eea/about/
submissions#onlineSubmissions. Electronic submissions are preferred
and should be sent to eea at uga.edu.
***************************************************
Science News
(NEWS 1) UN Issues Desertification Warning
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6247802.stm Or: http://
tinyurl.com/278s9k
BBC News Online - Tens of millions of people could be driven from
their homes by encroaching deserts, particularly in sub-Saharan
Africa and Central Asia, a report says. The study by the United
Nations University suggests climate change is making desertification
"the greatest environmental challenge of our times."
If action is not taken, the report warns that some 50 million
people could be displaced within the next 10 years. The study was
produced by more than 200 experts from 25 countries.
This report does not pull any punches, says BBC environment
reporter Matt McGrath. One third of the Earth's population - home to
about two billion people - are potential victims of its creeping
effect, it says.
********************
(NEWS 2) Drifting Icebergs Are Hotspots of Life
http://www.examiner.com/
a-793008~Drifting_Icebergs_Are_Hotspots_of_Life.html Or: http://
tinyurl.com/yozfgw
San Francisco Examiner - WASHINGTON - Icebergs that break off
Antarctica and drift away turn out to be hotspots of life in the cold
southern ocean, researchers report. Climate warming has led to an
increase in the number of icebergs breaking away from the Antarctic
in recent years, and a team of researchers set out to study the
impact the giant ice chunks were having on the environment.
Turns out, the melting ice also dumps particles scraped off
Antarctica into the ocean, providing a pool of nutrients that feed
plankton and tiny shrimplike creatures known as krill.
Indeed, the researchers led by Kenneth L. Smith Jr., of the
Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute in Moss Landing, Calif.,
found an increase in life forms surrounding a pair of icebergs they
studied. The abundance extended nearly 2 1/2 miles away from the
drifting ice, they report in this week's online edition of the
journal Science.
********************
(NEWS 3) Undersea Search Begins for Life at Top of the World
http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0622/p01s03-stss.html Or: http://
tinyurl.com/2fmnjp
Christian Science Monitor - Ice-covered and isolated, the Arctic
Ocean has been stingier with its deepest secrets than any other of
Earth's oceans. It might as well be on another planet.
Now, armed with a unique set of robotic tools, an international
team of scientists is heading there to hunt for life along a little-
explored gash in the ocean floor known as the Gakkel Ridge.
A decade ago, the project would have seemed quixotic. But since
then, scientists have uncovered evidence suggesting that spots along
this oddball ridge might be capable of supplying the heat and
nutrients to support colonies of creatures that thrive in the pitch-
black water thousands of feet below the surface. Once that evidence
emerged, the search for basic life in one of the world's most
inaccessible places became a must, say several of the scientists
involved. The voyage begins July 1.
********************
(NEWS 4) Experts Warn Darfur Is "An Early Warning" of Climate
Change's Effects
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/
2003758040_darfur22.html Or: http://tinyurl.com/26gwnr
Seattle Times - DAMRAT SURMI, Sudan - Decades of drought helped
trigger Darfur's violence as rival groups fought over scarce water
and arable land. Now, experts fear the war and its refugee crisis are
making the environment worse, leaving the land increasingly
uninhabitable and intensifying tensions.
Darfur's disaster could be repeated in much of North Africa and
the Middle East, experts say, because growing populations are
straining a limited water supply. Data show rainfall steadily
declining in the region, possibly because of weather changes linked
to global warming.
"The consciousness of the world on the issue of climate change
has to change fast," said Muawia Shaddad, of the Sudan Environment
Conservation Society. "Darfur is just an early warning."
********************
(NEWS 5)
In Case We Can't Give Up the Cars -- Try 16 Trillion Mirrors
WSJournal June 22, 2007- What if we wait too long to act on global
warming? What if nothing we do is enough? Already, scientists are
working up plans of last resort: stratospheric sprays of sulfur,
trillions of orbiting mirrors and thousands of huge off-shore
saltwater fountains.
Each is designed to counteract global warming by deliberately
deflecting sunlight, rather than by retooling the world's economy to
eliminate carbon-rich oil, coal and natural gas.
Some scientists argue that such actions might be easier and
relatively cheaper. Until recently though, whenever University of
Maryland economist Thomas Schelling, recipient of a 2005 Nobel Prize,
raised such geo-engineering ideas, "half the audience thought I was
crazy and the other half thought I was dangerous," he said. As global
temperatures rise and greenhouse-gas emissions accelerate, however,
even wild ideas are becoming respectable.
One now under more serious scrutiny was inspired by volcanoes.
Climate researcher Tom Wigley at the National Center for Atmospheric
Research in Boulder, Colo., and Nobel Prize-winning chemist Paul
Crutzen at the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Mainz, Germany,
last year proposed that an overheated planet could be safely cooled
by an artificial haze of sulfur particles, which would reflect solar
radiation. The 1991 eruption of Mt. Pinatubo spewed enough sulfates
to lower the average world temperature by almost one degree
Fahrenheit for a year, with no apparent ill effects. A sulfate
sunshade might cost $400 million a year.
Earlier this month, researchers at the Carnegie Institution of
Washington, D.C., released the most precise computer studies yet
evaluating the controversial sunshade idea. Their findings, reported
in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,
revealed that a last-ditch engineering effort to block sunlight could
reverse global warming -- at least temporarily. Indeed, it could
lower average temperatures to levels not seen since 1900. "Every
study we do seems to indicate it would work," said Carnegie climate
modeler Ken Caldeira.
Dr. Caldeira and his colleague Damon Matthews at Concordia
University in Montreal calculated the effects of curbing solar
radiation instead of CO2 emissions over the next 75 years. They
tested 11 different scenarios in a complex computer simulation of the
world's climate. They didn't weigh the merits of any particular
engineering plan but instead evaluated the broad effects of lowering
solar radiation as a counterweight to rising carbon-dioxide
emissions. In every case, the planet quickly cooled, often in as
little time as five years.
The computer scenarios also revealed the quandaries of climate
control without emissions reductions. Even on a cooler planet, oceans
still would become more acidic because excess carbon dioxide would
continue to leach into sea water, endangering marine wildlife and
commercial fisheries. Regional rainfall also would be disrupted, the
researchers reported. The world would become much drier.
All in all, geo-engineering is no substitute for reducing
greenhouse gases because it can only suppress the symptoms of global
warming, the scientists calculated. It might even make things worse.
"If the system failed, for technical or political reasons, you would
be compressing a century's worth of climate change into a decade or
so," said Dr. Caldeira. Depending on the scenario they tested, the
rebounding climate could heat up 10-to-20 times faster than today, or
as much as 7 degrees Fahrenheit per decade.
"The dangers clearly are very large," said ocean chemist Peter Brewer
at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute. Even the most
fervent proponents of geo-engineering are reluctant to sound
enthusiastic.
"Nobody likes geo-engineering at all," added University of
Arizona astronomer Roger Angel. Even so, Prof. Angel proposed a plan
in the journal Science last year to cool Earth by orbiting 16
trillion tiny mirrors -- at a cost also in the trillions. "Just as
insurance, we ought to be thinking about it," Prof. Angel said.
Many geo-engineering advocates are desperate for a safety net,
worried that people can't cut greenhouse gas emissions quickly enough
to make a difference. Since 2000, world-wide CO2 emissions have risen
at a faster rate than the most pessimistic trends envisioned by the
United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Carnegie
researchers reported last month. "I don't think we can globally
reduce emissions enough," said Dr. Wigley. "Forget the politics; I
don't think we can do it technologically."
For Nobel laureate Schelling, the political advantages of geo-
engineering outweigh its technical risks. It may be easier to launch
a climate-control project than to persuade people all over the world
to stop using fossil fuels. "It drastically converts the whole
subject of climate change from one of regulation involving six
billion people to a simple matter of a budgetary agreement about how
to manage the modest cost," Prof. Schelling said. "I think geo-
engineering is going to be the deus ex machina that will save the day."
In case of climate emergency, please break glass. Inside, find
contingency plans.
********************
(NEWS 6) NASA Airborne Expedition Chases Climate, Ozone Questions
June 27, 2007 - RELEASE: 07-144
WASHINGTON -- NASA's Tropical Composition, Cloud and Climate
Coupling (TC4) field campaign will begin this summer in San Jose,
Costa Rica, with an investigation into how chemical compounds in the
air are transported vertically into the stratosphere and how that
transport affects cloud formation and climate.
The study will begin the week of July 16 with coordinated
observations from satellites, high-flying NASA research aircraft,
balloons and ground-based radar. The targets of these measurements
are the gases, aerosols and ice crystals that flow from the top of
the strong storm systems that form over the warm tropical ocean.
These storm systems pump air more than 40,000 feet above Earth's
surface, where it can influence the composition of the stratosphere,
home of our planet's protective ozone layer.
The outflow of these storms also produces vast swaths of icy
cirrus clouds that play an important role in how much infrared energy
is trapped in Earth's atmosphere. Scientists want to document the
full life cycle of these widespread clouds -- down to the size and
shape of their tiny ice crystals -- to better understand how Earth
will react to a warming climate.
"This campaign is an unprecedented opportunity to use NASA's
complete suite of satellite and airborne Earth-observing capabilities
to investigate a largely unexplored region of the atmosphere," said
Michael J. Kurylo, a TC4 program scientist at NASA Headquarters,
Washington. "This tropical transitional layer of the atmosphere
between the troposphere and the stratosphere plays a key role in both
climate change science and atmospheric ozone chemistry. The data will
yield new insights into the composition of this layer and the impact
of the deep clouds that penetrate the atmosphere up into this layer."
The effort runs through Aug. 8. It is NASA's largest Earth
science field campaign of the year.
"A mission this complex, with three aircraft, deployment sites in
Costa Rica and Panama, and more than 400 people involved, can be a
real challenge," said Mission Project Manager Marilyn Vasques of NASA
Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif.
Soaring high above the cloud systems will be a NASA ER-2
aircraft, which can reach an altitude of 70,000 feet, or 3 miles into
the stratosphere. A NASA WB-57 aircraft will fly into the cirrus
clouds and sample the chemical make-up of the storm systems' outflow.
NASA's DC-8 aircraft will probe the region between the troposphere
and the stratosphere (known as the tropopause transitional layer)
with remote-sensing instruments. It also will sample cloud particles
and air chemistry at lower altitudes. A weather radar and
meteorological balloons will be deployed in Panama to support the
campaign. Additional balloons will be launched from Costa Rica and
San Cristobal Island in the Galapagos Archipelago.
Observations from seven satellites will complement the aircraft
measurements with large-scale views of many different features of the
atmosphere. For example, the Aura spacecraft will focus on the
chemical composition of the tropopause transitional layer and measure
ozone, water vapor, carbon monoxide and particles. NASA's Aqua
satellite will map thin cirrus clouds, some of which are so faint
they are nearly invisible to the naked eye. Instruments on the
CALIPSO and CloudSat satellites will pierce the atmosphere to provide
vertical profiles of clouds and aerosol particles that can change how
clouds form.
Along the coasts of Colombia and Panama south of Costa Rica, the
warm summer waters of the Pacific Ocean are a fertile breeding ground
for the type of heat-driven, or convective, storm systems the mission
is targeting. Clouds produced by these maritime systems produce heavy
rainfall and cloud tops that can reach into the transitional layer.
Mission scientists want to know what effect a warming climate
with rising ocean temperatures will have on the intensity of these
storm systems. Another unknown is how aerosol particles swept up in
these systems change the clouds and are, in turn, affected by the
clouds.
These tropical convective systems also may play a role in the
recovery of the ozone layer. Estimates of ozone destruction in the
stratosphere typically minimize the impact of short-lived chemical
compounds that presumably could not survive the long journey there.
Mission scientists will investigate whether the rapid movement of air
in these strong convective systems provides an express route for
ozone-destroying compounds to reach the stratosphere.
The Earth Science Division at NASA Headquarters is sponsoring the
$12 million mission. Costa Rica's National Center for High
Technology, San Jose, and the University of Panama, Las Tablas, are
cooperating with NASA on the mission as are other U.S. agencies, such
as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the
National Science Foundation.
For more information about NASA's TC4 mission, visit: http://
www.espo.nasa.gov/tc4
********************
(NEWS 7) Ocean less of a buffer to global warming than thought
http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/archive/2007/May/05/local/
stories/11local.htm
A new study of Pacific Ocean plankton throws a wrench into
scientists' understanding of how the world's oceans will respond to
climate change.
While researchers have long viewed the seas as a deposit for
carbon dioxide - the lead cause of human-influenced warming in the
atmosphere - two deep-water expeditions looking at plankton suggest
the ocean might not be able to store as much carbon as previously
thought.
"Without long-term carbon storage at depth, the ocean can do
little to stem the increase in atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide,"
said Ken Buesseler a biogeochemist at Woods Hole Oceanographic
Institute in Massachusetts who led the study.
UC Santa Cruz was also involved in the research, which was
published in the April 27 edition of the journal Science.
The publication comes as an international panel of scientists
commissioned by the United Nations warns that greenhouse gas levels
must be stabilized or dire environmental damage will result.
The oceans research was prompted by two monthlong voyages to
probe the ocean's twilight zone - the murky waters between the sunny
surface and the profoundly dark deep sea, about 300 to 3,000 feet
below the surface.
"We know very little about this layer, the twilight zone, where
organic material either passes through or gets burned up and returns
as carbon dioxide to the atmosphere," said Mary Silver, a UC Santa
Cruz marine biologist. She was part of the team of scientists that
sampled plankton in the warm waters off Hawaii and in the frigid
northwest Pacific, off the coast of Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula.
Plankton, a humble drifter that feeds many of the ocean's larger
creatures, outweighs all other marine life in the deep ocean. Some
plankton, such as algae and cyanobacteria, sop up man-made carbon
dioxide in the atmosphere.
Half of the carbon dioxide that humans produce is locked away in
oceans, Buesseler said.
When plankton dies, it can fall to the ocean floor, preventing
its carbon biomass from returning to the Earth's atmosphere.
Alternatively, other organisms such as bacteria can gobble up the
dead plankton as it descends through the ocean's twilight zone.
Eventually, that carbon will re-enter the atmosphere.
Those two possibilities determine how much carbon the oceans can
keep from reaching the atmosphere. Once at the ocean's floor, dead
plankton - also called marine snow - can remain there for centuries
or millennia because of low water circulation.
To gauge the ocean's role as a carbon graveyard, the
international team of researchers collected ocean samples at various
depths in the ocean's twilight zone during voyages in 2004 and 2005.
"We worked our little tails off for a month collecting water
samples over the side, and trawling nets," Silver said.
At one site, off the coast of Hawaii, the team discovered that
just 20 percent of the carbon stored in marine snow made it through
the twilight zone to the ocean's floor. While in the northwest
Pacific, off the coast of Japan, more than 50 percent of the dead
matter went uneaten.
That difference could complicate efforts to predict how the
oceans will guard against the effects of climate change.
The make-up of the marine snow could explain the difference
between the two sites. The colder site, near Russia, had larger and
heavier and bits of plankton waste that sunk to the ocean floor faster.
Furthermore, the warmer waters in Hawaii may have spurred
bacteria to consume more of the marine snow and kept the carbon afloat.
If global warming increases ocean temperatures and makes them
more like the Hawaiian site, less carbon would make its way to the
bottom of the ocean.
The difference could have a profound effect on climate, Buesseler
said. "Temperatures would rise faster than current models would
predict"
********************
(NEWS 8) Study: All forests not created equal
http://www.sciencedaily.com/upi/index.php?
feed=Science&article=UPI-1-20070625-10510400-bc-us-forests.xml or
http://tinyurl.com/2yuhl3
Science magazine - BOULDER, Colo., June 25 (UPI) -- A U.S.-led
science team has determined forests in northern mid- and upper-
latitudes are less effective than tropical forests in reducing global
warming.
The study, led by Britton Stephens of the National Center for
Atmospheric Research, concluded that intact tropical forests are
removing an unexpectedly high proportion of carbon dioxide from the
atmosphere, thereby partially offsetting carbon entering the air
through industrial emissions and deforestation.
"This research fills in another piece of the complex puzzle on
how the Earth system functions," said Cliff Jacobs of the National
Science Foundation. "These findings will be viewed as a milestone in
discoveries about our planet's 'metabolism.'"
Stephens and colleagues analyzed air samples collected by
aircraft around the world for decades and found some 40 percent of
the carbon dioxide assumed to be absorbed by northern forests is
instead being taken up in the tropics.
"Our study will provide researchers with a much better
understanding of how trees and other plants respond to industrial
emissions of carbon dioxide, which is a critical problem in global
warming," Stephens said. "This will help us better predict climate
change and identify possible strategies for mitigating it."
********************
(NEWS 9) Greenhouse gas burial
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-06/ip-ggb062107.php
Deep coal seams that are not commercially viable for coal
production could be used for permanent underground storage of carbon
dioxide (CO2) generated by human activities, thus avoiding
atmospheric release, according to two studies published in
Inderscience's International Journal of Environment and Pollution. An
added benefit of storing CO2 in this way is that additional useful
methane will be displaced from the coal beds.
Finding ways to store (sequester) the greenhouse gas CO2,
indefinitely, is one approach being investigated in efforts to reduce
atmospheric CO2 levels and so help combat climate change. CO2 might
be pumped into oil wells to extract the last few drops of oil or be
placed deep underground in brine aquifers or unmineable coal seams.
Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's National Energy
Technology Laboratory have carried out initial investigations into
the potential environmental impacts of CO2 sequestration in
unmineable coal seams. The research team collected 2000 coal samples
from 250 coal beds across 17 states. Some sources of coal harbor vast
quantities of methane, or natural gas. Low-volatile rank coals, for
instance, average the highest methane content, 13 cubic meters per
tonne of coal.
The researchers found that the depth from which a coal sample is
taken reflects the average methane content, with much deeper seams
containing less methane. However, the study provides only a
preliminary assessment of the possibilities. The key question is
whether methane can be tapped from the unmineable coal seams and
replaced permanently with huge quantities of carbon dioxide; if so,
such coal seams could represent a vast sink for CO2 produced by
industry. The researchers point out that worldwide, there are almost
3 trillions tonnes of storage capacity for CO2 in such deep coal seams.
To replicate actual geological conditions, NETL has built a
Geological Sequestration Core Flow Laboratory (GSCFL). A wide variety
of CO2 injection experiments in coal and other rock cores (e.g.,
sandstone) are being performed under in situ conditions of triaxial
stress, pore pressure, and temperature. Preliminary results obtained
from Pittsburgh No. 8 coal indicate that the permeability decreases
(from micro-darcies to nano-darcies or extremely low flow properties)
with increasing CO2 pressure, with an increase in strain associated
with the triaxial confining pressures restricting the ability of the
coal to swell. The already existing low pore volume of the coal is
decreased, reducing the flow of CO2, measured as permeability. This
is a potential problem that will have to be overcome if coal seam
sequestration is to be widely used.
The research team has also investigated some of the possible side-
effects of sequestering CO2 in coal mines. They tested a high
volatility bituminous coal with produced water and gaseous carbon
dioxide at 40 Celsius and 50 times atmospheric pressure. They used
microscopes and X-ray diffraction to analyze the coal after the
reaction was complete. They found that some toxic metals originally
trapped in the coal were released by the process, contaminating the
water used in the reaction.
"Changes in water chemistry and the potential for mobilizing
toxic trace elements from coal beds are potentially important factors
to be considered when evaluating deep, unmineable coal seams for CO2
sequestration, though it is also possible that, considering the depth
of the injection, that such effects might be harmless" the
researchers say. "The concentrations of beryllium, cadmium, mercury,
and zinc increased significantly, though both beryllium and mercury
remained below drinking water standards." However, toxic arsenic,
molybdenum, lead, antimony, selenium, titanium, thallium, vanadium,
and iodine were not detected in the water, although they were present
in the original coal samples.
********************
(NEWS 10) Desert Dust Cuts Mountain Snow, May Spur Warming
http://www.enn.com/today.html?id=13025&ref=rss
Reuters - WASHINGTON -- Desert dust blown onto Rocky Mountain
peaks has cut the duration of snow-cover by a month or more, and the
same thing is probably happening in the Alps and Himalayas,
researchers reported Monday.
In a phenomenon likely to spur global warming, the reflective
white of snow is replaced by darker dust deposits that absorb the
sun's rays, heating up the lower atmosphere, said Tom Painter, a
scientist at the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Colorado.
Speaking by telephone from Mont Blanc in Switzerland, Painter
described an orange tinge he had seen on the snow of nearby Dome de
Miage, which he attributed to dust carried from the Sahara in Africa.
Painter said he had observed dust-laden snow on the Tien Shan
Mountains in China, and the same likely held true for parts of the
Himalayas.
"I don't know of any mountain ranges that are not experiencing
dust deposition," Painter said.
Dust in small doses can help to form snowflakes, but the dust
that cuts the length of snow-pack in the Rockies by about 20 to 35
days a year comes in a swirling blanket, spawned by wind storms in
desert or drought-stricken areas, Painter and his co-authors wrote
online in Geophysical Research Letters.
The fact that dust deposits can melt mountain snow by decreasing
the ability to reflect sunlight has long been established; what is
new, Painter said, is the degree to which this affects snow cover.
One month less of snow "is an enormous change," he said.
The desert dust-mountain snow system warms up the lower
atmosphere in what climate scientists call a positive feedback loop,
Painter explained: "The hotter it gets, the less snow cover you
have ... and that provides a darker surface that can absorb more
solar radiation and that warms things even more."
The cause for the diminished snow cover in Colorado's San Juan
Mountains is dust carried from the Colorado Plateau, some 200 miles
away, where Colorado, Utah, Arizona and New Mexico come together in
an area known as Four Corners, the researchers said.
The underlying reason for the increased dust is changes in land
use starting in the mid-19th century, Painter said.
"About 75 percent of the Western United States has been affected
by grazing, by agriculture, by mining," he said. "Generally these
lands were pretty stable prior to the large-scale introduction of
grazing and agriculture."
Without natural grasses to stabilize the soil, more of it turned
to desert and more dust blew into the mountains.
Most climate models predict more drying and warming in the U.S.
desert Southwest, causing soil moisture to decrease, which means less
vegetation to stabilize the soil and probably more dust emission,
Painter said.
This, in turn, could mean even more intense snow melt, earlier in
the year, spurring the whole cycle, he said.
********************
(NEWS 11) Study Sees Climate Change Impact on Alaska
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/28/us/28climate.html Or: http://
tinyurl.com/2agrul
New York Times (Registration Required) - Many of Alaska's roads,
runways, railroads and water and sewer systems will wear out more
quickly and cost more to repair or replace because of climate change,
according to a study released [Wednesday].
Higher temperatures, melting permafrost, a reduction in polar ice
and increased flooding are expected to raise the repair and
replacement cost of thousands of infrastructure projects as much as
$6.1 billion for a total of nearly $40 billion - about a 20 percent
increase - from now to 2030, according to the study by the Institute
for Social and Economic Research at the University of Alaska Anchorage.
The cost estimates are based on the needs of nearly 16,000 pieces
of public infrastructure, including airports and small segments of
roads. The researchers speculated that in the distant future the
costs would level off as the agencies adapted their practices to the
warmer climate.
***************************************************
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) Asst Prof - Climate Science - University Of California -
Santa Barbara, CA (USA)
http://www.geog.ucsb.edu/about/positions/faculty.php
University of California, Santa Barbara, Department of Geography,
invites applications for a tenure-track position for a tenure-track
position at the Assistant Professor level in Climate Science
effective July 1, 2008, Ph.D. required. The Department seeks
candidates whose research and teaching interests focus on
understanding coupled climate processes using numerical modeling and
observations. Research focus areas include climate scale interactions
of the atmosphere with terrestrial, oceanic and/or cryospheric
processes; global climate change and its feedbacks with regional
climates; climate impacts on humankind and potential feedbacks; and
the role of the mesoscale atmospheric processes in climate and
climate change. The successful applicant should be versed in the use
of observational data (e.g., remote sensing, historical or paleo
records) as well as in the numerical and/or mathematical modeling of
climate. It is expected that the candidate should be able to (1)
conduct state of the art research in association with the diverse
group of scholars in the Departments of Geography, Earth Science and
Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology, the Institute for
Computational Earth System Science, the Marine Science Institute, and
the Donald Bren School of Environmental Science and Management; (2)
help focus interdisciplinary graduate training and research programs
in the study of Earth's climate and its changes; and (3) to teach
classes at both the graduate and undergraduate level in physical
geography and atmospheric sciences. Application deadline is October
15, 2007.
Qualified applicants should send their complete curriculum vitae,
statement of research and teaching interests, and names of three
referees with addresses preferably by email to:
climate_search at geog.ucsb.edu or by mail to: Search Committee
, Department of Geography, University of California, Santa Barbara,
CA 93106-4060
********************
(JOB 2) Postdoc - Sea Ice Physics, Norwegian Polar Institute –
Tromso (NORWAY)
Application Deadline: Friday, 13 July 2007
The Norwegian Polar Institute (NPI), Polar Climate Program,
invites applications for a 2.5-year postdoctoral research position in
sea ice physics.
The successful applicant will conduct research on climate-related
physical processes in sea ice, with special focus on the surface
albedo feedback process. Studies will include detailed sea ice and
snow physics observations, optical measurements with
spectroradiometers, and observations of the relevant physical and
meteorological parameters and fluxes in the atmosphere-ice-ocean
system. Substantial parts of the fieldwork will be conducted on ship-
based drifting ice stations. The main area of this work will be the
Arctic Ocean, the Greenland Sea and Fram Strait, and adjacent seas.
This work will be a part of the Norwegian activities within the
International Polar Year (IPY) 2007-2008 on the project " integrated
Arctic Ocean Observing System (iAOOS) Norway: Closing the Loop."
Close collaboration with other national project partners (e.g.
Norwegian Meteorological Institute) and international partners on
this project and closely related projects, such as DAMOCLES (EU), is
expected. The candidate must be willing to participate in scientific
cruises and fieldwork in the Arctic.
NPI seeks candidates with background in areas including snow
physics, sea ice physics, optical properties of sea ice, and their
roles in the climate system. The applicant must hold a PhD or possess
equivalent experience within sea ice physics or related fields.
Experience from sea ice fieldwork/cruises and data analysis is an
asset. The position is open and the successful candidate may start at
the earliest possible time. Female scientists are encouraged to apply
for the position.
Applications should include a CV, names of at least two referees,
list of publications, and details of the relevant qualifications and
experience. NPI prefers that an electronic application be submitted
at: http://www.jobbnorge.no
Paper copies may be sent to: Norwegian Polar Institute, Polar
Environmental Centre, 9296 Tromso, Norway
NPI is Norway's central institution for research, environmental
monitoring, and mapping of the polar regions. NPI is the Norwegian
authorities' consultant and supplier of knowledge, and contributes to
the best possible administration of Norwegian polar areas.
Approximately 115 persons are employed at NPI in Tromso, Svalbard,
and Dronning Maud Land, East Antarctica (DML).
For further information about iAOOS, please go to: http://
www.iaoos.no/
For further information about this position, please contact:
Sebastian Gerland, Phone: +47-7775-0554 E-mail: gerland at npolar.no
********************
(JOB 3) Program Director - Antarctic Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences,
National Science Foundation - Arlington, Virginia (USA)
http://www.nsf.gov/publications/pub_summ.jsp?ods_key=e20070082a
Application Deadline Extended To: Monday, 9 July 2007
The Division of Antarctic Sciences in the Office of Polar
Programs at the National Science Foundation seeks an outstanding
scientist for the position of Program Director, Antarctic Ocean and
Atmospheric Sciences Program. The Program Director will lead,
develop, and manage a world-class, proposal-driven research program
across the broad range of sub-fields of Antarctic ocean, atmospheric,
and climate sciences. The incumbent will be responsible for proposal
evaluation, project development and support, program planning, and
related administrative duties.
Applicants must have a PhD or equivalent experience in ocean,
atmospheric, or climate sciences, preferably with knowledge of
Antarctic or polar sciences. In addition, six years of successful
research or related experiences beyond the PhD are required.
Deployment to the Antarctic is required. Consequently, applicants
must be able to pass a comprehensive medical and dental examination
to qualify for travel to the Antarctic.
Applicants may also obtain a copy of the full announcement by
contacting Myra Loyd at 703-292-4363. Hearing impaired individuals
may call TDD 703-292-8044.
********************
(JOB 4) Antarctic Research Support Manager - Ocean Projects,
Antarctic Infrastructure and Logistics Division - National Science
Foundation - Arlington, Virginia (USA)
http://www.nsf.gov/about/career_opps/ (Please refer to
announcement number E20070087)
NSF's Office of Polar Programs seeks qualified candidates for the
position of the Antarctic Research Support Manager—Ocean Projects in
the Antarctic Infrastructure and Logistics Division. The incumbent
annually will plan, develop, and coordinate operations support plans
for up to 50 scientific projects that are supported on one of two
research vessels, as well as other special projects that are
supported on land by these vessels or are on other contracted or
foreign nation vessels.
Appointment to this position will be made under the Excepted
Authority of the NSF Act. For the AD-4 level, applicants must have a
Ph.D. or equivalent experience in an appropriate field.
Please refer to announcement number E20070087, for position
requirements and application procedures located on NSF's Division of
Human Resource Management website at http://www.nsf.gov/about/
career_opps/ Applicants may also obtain additional information about
the announcements by contacting Yvonne Woodward on 703-292-4386.
Hearing impaired individuals may call TDD (703) 292-8044.
Applications must be received by 7/24/2007.
********************
(JOB 5) Asst Prof/Assoc Prof - Marine Science/Aquarium Science –
University of Georgia – Savannah, GA (USA)
POSITION DESCRIPTION: Savannah State University, a unit of the
University System of Georgia, located in Savannah, Georgia, seeks a
faculty member to serve as lead instructor for a new aquarium science
certificate program. The position involves developing and teaching
new courses (e.g. Aquaculture/aquarium systems design and life
support, Nutrition, disease and health management, Water and
environmental quality, Aquarium science internship), possible other
relevant teaching assignments, developing advertising and recruitment
materials and recruiting, coordinating student internships at partner
national, regional, and/or local public aquaria, and contributing to
implementation of a Savannah State University/The Georgia Aquarium
Cooperative Agreement. We seek an individual who can also advise
undergraduate students, graduate students, and develop research
programs. Marine Science degree programs, faculty, and other
information are all available at http://www.savstate.edu/scitech/
scmath/html/marine/index.html.
MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS: Applicants should have earned a Ph.D.
degree in a field related to marine sciences.
APPLICATION DEADLINE/START DATE: Review of applications will
begin September 4, 2007. Position begins in January 2, 2008.
HOW TO APPLY: Send application including a current curriculum
vita, names, addresses, email addresses, and telephone numbers of
three references, and a letter summarizing research/teaching
experience, career goals, and ability to teach undergraduate and
graduate classes currently offered at SSU to: Chair, Marine Science
Faculty Search Committee, Post Office Box 20600, Savannah State
University, Savannah, GA 31404
********************
(JOB 6) Post-doc - Aerosol group - PM exposure and health effects -
University of Southern California – Los Angeles, CA (USA)
Starting this fall (around September 2007), we will have 3 new
post doctoral positions available in the aerosol group at USC
(<http://www.usc.edu/aerosol>www.usc.edu/aerosol). Funding for these
positions will be for approximately 3-4 years, renewed annually,
depending on performance. The work will be in the area of PM exposure
and health effects and will be funded by the California Air Resources
Board and the EPA Southern California Particle Center.
Aerosol Group Web Site: www.usc.edu/aerosol
***********************
(JOB 7) Postdoc - meteorological modelling - Univ of Trier (Germany)
We are currently seeking a scientist for meso/microscale
simulations. The work is part of the DFG priority programme
'Quantitative precipitation forecast' <http://www.meteo.uni-bonn.de/
projekte/SPPMeteo>. The main goal of the project is to examine the
influence of the orography and surface conditions associated with
mesoscale mountains for convection. The simulations will be performed
using our FOOT3DK model, which is run in a LINUX environment.
We offer a 50% position TV-L EG13 (formely BAT-IIa) for one year
with a possible prolongation for three years.
We expect:
- experience of computer programming in Fortran and LINUX
- some familiarity with numerical modelling of the atmosphere
- analytical skills and team spirit
Of advantage is also knowledge in mesoscale meteorology, cloud
physics and flow dynamics. The place of employment is Trier, your
office can be located at Trier or Köln.
Deadline for applications is 11 August 2007.
Please send your application to: University of Trier, Fac. of
Geography / Geosciences, Dept. of Environmental Meteorology, 54286
Trier, Germany Or per email to menkhaus.klima at uni-trier.de
For further information please contact the project leaders: Prof.
Dr. Günther Heinemann, University of Trier, Fac. of Geography /
Geosciences, Dept. of Environmental Meteorology Email:
heinemann at uni-trier.de Tel.: +49 (0)651/201-4623
Or Prof. Dr. Michael Kerschgens, Institut für Geophysik und
Meteorologie, Universität zu Köln Email: mk at meteo.uni-koeln.de
Tel.: +49 221 470-3683, -3682 (secretary)
Fax: +49 221 470-5161
******************
(JOB 8) PhD and Postdoc - 3D Modelling Of Lithosphere Extension -
Department of Geosciences - Faculty of Mathematics and Natural
Sciences - University of Bergen (Norway)
One research fellow (PhD student) position, for a period of 3
years, ref no 07/8898.
One post doctoral fellow position, for a period of 3 years, ref
no 07/9703.
The successful candidates for the postdoc and research fellowship
positions will be engaged in the research project “Numerical
Modelling in 3D of Rift Segmentation, Rift Propagation, and Oblique
Rifting” funded by the Research Council of Norway (NFR). The project
will be executed in close collaboration with research partners in the
Dalhousie Geodynamics Group (Prof. Christopher Beaumont) and in
Rennes University (Prof. Jean Braun).
The main goal of the project is to enhance the understanding of
the evolution of sedimentary basins and passive margins in 3
dimensions. Newly developed 3D finite element techniques will be used
to model study: 1) rift segmentation; 2) rift propagation; and 3)
orthogonal versus transtensional extensional deformation.
Candidates must have a suitable background in earth science,
physics, or an equivalent quantitative background. Experience in
computational fluid/solid dynamics, extensional tectonics, and/or in
application and development of finite element modelling is desirable.
Additional information about the position is available from Prof.
Ritske Huismans, Phone: +47 55 58 81 17, Email:
ritske.huismans at geo.uib.no and in attached pdf document.
Applications should include (all in 3 copies): 1) Application
letter including a statement of interest (related to the list of
research tasks above) and indicating a preferred starting date. 2)
Curriculum vitae including one set of certified copies of
certificates. 3) A list of published and unpublished works. 4)
Three copies of scientific works (printed or non-printed) that the
applicant wishes to be considered by the evaluation committee. 5)
Names and contact information of three references.
The application may be written in Norwegian or English and should
be marked with the appropriate reference number.
Applications should be sent to the Department of Earth Sciences,
Attn: Heidi Espedal, University of Bergen, Allégaten 41, N-5007
Bergen, Norway, email: Heidi.Espedal at geo.uib.no
Closing date for application is 31 August 2007
**************************************************
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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