news archive

16.05.08:

Visiting Scientist Opportunity at NOAA Paleoclimatology

NOAA Paleoclimatology can support several visiting scientists this summer who would like to visit the World Data Center for Paleoclimatology located in Boulder, Colorado. Visits should take place between May and October 2008. One week or two week visits are envisioned however other lengths are possible. Travel costs and a small stipend will be provided. The ideal visit would produce either an analysis of existing data distributed by the Center, or the contribution of a new data set. Questions can be addressed to David Anderson (+1 303 497 6237, david.m.anderson@noaa.gov), and applications can be made by sending a one-paragraph description that includes proposed dates, a description of the proposed topic or activity and its significance, and why it would benefit from a site visit.

09.05.08:

Call for APECS U.S. Committees

The Association for Polar Early Career Scientists (APECS) is establishing a U.S. committee and invites you to participate. There are a number of national APECS committees already in existence (e.g., Canada, New Zealand, Portugal, UK, Sweden). There is also an Alaska APECS group but nothing for the rest of the U.S. We seek individuals from or working in the U.S. who are passionate about polar science, dedicated to progressing polar research and engaged in communicating science across a broad range of expertise. The steering committee will be composed of graduate students through young professors and will be advised by an advisory committee composed of more experienced scientists.

Steering committee positions that are currently available include: Chair, co-chair, treasure, web-programmer(s), outreach coordinator(s), information liaison(s), grant proposal writer(s), or any other position crafted by your enthusiasm in a particular area. Mainly, we need individuals who are willing to share the responsibility and benefit of creating a dynamic and active network of polar scientists.

Members of the advisory committee will be expected to help facilitate the involvement of early career scientists in national/international meetings, and the development of science programs and methods for successfully navigating the U.S. system of funding/science. The steering committee’s information liaison will help keep the advisory panel engaged in the U.S. APECS activities and will inform the advisory committee of APECS needs.

If you are interested in participating in either the steering committee or the advisory committee, please contact Rachael Mueller.

05.05.08:

PAGES Jobs Database

Browse or contribute paleoscience jobs. There are currently more than 20 student, post-doc and faculty jobs online... more

04.04.08:

New Methodologies and Interdisciplinary Approaches in Global Change Research

ESF Conference, 5-10 Nov. 2008, Porquerolles, France... more

17.03.08:

AmeriDendro 2008

First American Dendrochronology Conference, June 23-27, Canada. Abstract deadline 30 March 2008... more

13.03.08:

PAGES SSC: Call for nominations

PAGES welcomes nominations for a new SSC member for 2009 by 27 April 2008... more

11.03.08:

Summer School: ENSO dynamics and predictability

To be held 14-23 June 2008 in Hawaii, USA. Application deadline: 15 March 2008... more

06.02.08:

EPICA 2008 Open Science Conference

"Quaternary Climate: from Pole to Pole". Registration starts March 2008... more

04.02.08:

Funding for developing country scientists

To attend Proxy Uncertainty Workshop in Italy in July. Deadline 31 March 2008... more

17.01.08:

Urbino Summer School in Paleoclimatology

Past Climate Reconstruction and Modelling Techniques ... more

17.01.08:

Summer School scholarships

To attend 2008 ECORD Summer Schools in Urbino, Italy and Bremen, Germany. Deadline 29 Feb. 2008... more

10.01.08:

PAGES "Global & Planetary Change" special issue

Historical and Holocene glacier - climate variations... more

08.01.08:

PAGES sessions at EGU

Submit your abstract to one of PAGES co-sponsored sessions by 14 Jan. 2008... more

17.12.07:

Training for young marine scientists

Climate driving of marine ecosystem changes. Deadline 15 Jan. 2008... more

09.07.07:

PAGES Paleoclimate Book now online

Download all the chapters and figures from "Paleoclimate, Global Change and the Future "... more

10.05.07:

National PAGES: Morocco is now online!

go to: http://www.pages-igbp.org/about/national/morocco/

23.04.07:

Association of Polar Early Career Scientists

The Association of Polar Early Career Scientists (APECS) aims to bring together young researchers, and early career scientists and engineers from around the world with an interest in polar regions and the cryosphere. Many early career scientists, although sometimes well connected within their own specialization, often do not have strong contacts with other polar experts. This network aims to provide a forum for polar scientists to begin international and interdisciplinary collaborations early in their careers.

APECS was founded by three early-career scientists in 2006, as a directive from the International Polar Year (IPY) International Office:
Dr. Jenny Baeseman – a microbial ecologist studying life in extreme environments
Hugues Lantuit – a permafrost researcher
Dr. Rhian Salmon – an atmospheric chemist, and the Education and Outreach Coordinator for the IPY.

This network represents people with a wide range of scientific expertise and interests, including glaciology, geology, anthropology, sociology, atmospheric science, oceanography, polar biology, culture and heritage studies, linguistics, space studies, biogeochemistry, and paleontology, as well as studies in the broader cryosphere.

Visit http://www.kent.edu/Polar to become a member, share news, connect with other polar researchers, and find jobs and events that might be of interest For more information, please email APECS@kent.edu or contact Dr. Jenny Baeseman, Director, jbaesema@kent.edu.

11.04.07:

IGCP 490 grant for Java fieldtrip

IGCP 490 (The role of Holocene environmental catastrophes in human history) has chosen to sponsor the participation of some scientists to excursion B1 of the INQUA Congress. This fieldtrip, "Land-ocean and human interaction in the Sunda Strait area: reef and volcano-tsunami disaster of the 19th century", is taking place in the Sunda Strait, Indonesia, 5-11 August, starting from Djakarta and including the Krakatau. You do not need to be taking part in the INQUA Congress to attend the fieldtrip.

The award conditions are to:
- belong to a developing country or be a young scientist (maximum 3 years after PhD)
- submit a short abstract (200 words) about your research related to the IGCP 490 topic. (See http://www.mun.ca/canqua/igcp490/ for more information on IGCP 490 past activities and objectives.)
- contribute to a workshop and business meeting during one evening where your IGCP 490 research will be presented, and contribute by writing a section in the fieldtrip/business-meeting/workshop report.

Sponsorship is a large financial contribution to the costs of the fieldtrip (up to 2/3 of the total local costs). An award will be guaranteed after you receive a letter from us and we receive your part of the fieldtrip payment.

Please contact both the fieldtrip organizer Dr Wahyoe Hantoro (hantoro@geotek.lipi.go.id) and the IGCP 490 leader Prof. Suzanne Leroy (suzanne.leroy@brunel.ac.uk) before 26 May 2007.

14.03.07:

Northern Eurasian Paleoecological Workshop

As part of the QUEST Deglaciation Programme, Jesus College, Oxford & Oxford University Centre for the Environment (OUCE) is hosting a data-gathering workshop from 19-23 March 2007 for academics from the Former Soviet Union (FSU) working in palaeoecology. The primary objective of this workshop is to catalogue the unpublished macrofossil and pollen data from the FSU spanning the interval 21 kyr to present, and place it in a recently developed QUEST macrofossil database (web portal in preparation). The workshop has invited 10 academics from FSU who will participate in an intensive four-day programme focused around populating the database, group discussion, analysis of output and publication plans. The workshop is partly sponsored by PAGES.

If you have unpublished macrofossil data from the FSU and you would like to contribute to this workshop, please contact:

Heather Binney
School of Geography
University of Southampton
Highfield
Southampton SO17 1BJ
Email: h.a.binney@soton.ac.uk

12.03.07:

2007 Urbino Summer School in Palaeoclimatology

The International Marine Past Global Change Study (IMAGES) is sponsoring two Scholarships to allow outstanding young scientists to attend the Urbino Summer School in Palaeoclimatology (USSP) 2007. The Scholarships will each be worth up to €1000, to offset costs of registration, travel, subsistence and accommodation at the Schools. Preference will be given to PhD students or young post-doctoral research scientists.

Applications should be made to the USSP Office (ussp@uniurb.it) no later than 22 March 2007. They should consist of a short (1-2 page) curriculum vitae, a 1-page covering statement justifying the application, and two letters/references in support of the application. These references should be solicited by the applicant and must be received by the USSP Office by the deadline.

Applicants will be advised of the panel’s decision before the end of March 2007, in order for students to meet the deadlines (31 March 2007) for applications to the Summer School.

For information on the Urbino Summer School in Palaeoclimatology:
http://www.uniurb.it/ussp/

21.02.07:

North American Pollen Atlas

The North American Pollen Atlas, just published, provides a comprehensive series of visualizations of modern pollen-climate and pollen-vegetation relationships, based on a network of over 4500 surface pollen samples. The intent of the Atlas is to aid paleoclimatic and paleoecological interpretations of fossil pollen diagrams. The atlas is priced at $48 and may be ordered from the American Association of Stratigraphic Palynologists (https://payment.palynology.org/#Contribution and scroll to bottom of 'Contribution' list). All income supports the AASP. On-ine PDFs of all Atlas pages may be viewed and downloaded at the NOAA Paleoclimatology website

The underlying surface pollen dataset is described by Whitmore et al. (2005, QSR), and can be downloaded from two mirrored sites at the University of Ottawa and Wisconsin If you have additional surface pollen samples, please consider sending them to Konrad Gajewski or Jack Williams. We are committed to maintaining and updating the surface sample database as a community service, and welcome additional data contributions.

19.02.07:

National PAGES: UK is now online!

go to: http://www.pages-igbp.org/about/national/uk/

12.02.07:

Sir Nicholas Shackleton Medal

The Sir Nicholas Shackleton Medal for outstanding young Quaternary scientists

INQUA has established the Sir Nicholas Shackleton Medal in recognition of the many contributions of Nick Shackleton, a giant in the field of Quaternary science. The medal will be awarded once every four years to an outstanding young Quaternary scientist, chosen by his or her peers and evaluated by a blue-ribbon committee of distinguished scientists. The medal, INQUA's first, honors Nick's distinguished career in Quaternary geochronology and paleoclimatology, which spanned 40 years and was based on isotopic studies of deep-sea sediment. Shackleton was showered with honors by his peers and the wider scientific community, thus a medal in his name seems appropriate and necessary. Nick served INQUA for 12 years, first as a Vice-President, then, from 1998 to 2003, as President, and most recently as Past-President.

Click here to download the full announcement and nomination form.

08.02.07:

1st QUEST Open Science Conference

Earth System Science OSC to be held in March 2007. Abstract deadline 13 February... more

30.01.07:

1st International Sclerochronology Conference

To be held in Florida, USA from 17-21 July 2007. Abstract deadline 15 March... more

18.01.07:

PAGES co-sponsored sessions at XVII INQUA Congress

Every four years the international Quaternary community gathers together for the INQUA (International Union for Quaternary Research) Congress. This is the largest gathering of its kind of Quaternary researchers. Session themes are broad, and such diverse topics as paleoclimate, archeology, glaciology, the carbon cycle and environmental reconstruction are covered.

This year’s congress will be held from 28 July - 3 August in Cairns, Australia. PAGES has 3 co-sponsored sessions:

1. Land-atmosphere-ocean linkages during past climatic changes
Interactions between ocean and atmosphere processes are crucial for the identification of feedbacks active in climate change. Integrated studies of marine and terrestrial proxies and detailed land-sea correlations are required to establish the sensitivity and phase response of these different systems. This symposium seeks to examine marine and terrestrial records on orbital to sub-millennial timescales with a particular interest in the southern continents and surrounding seas.
The symposium is jointly sponsored by the INQUA Commissions on Marine and Coastal Processes (Project 0420) and Palaeoclimate (Project 0409), the Past Global Changes (PAGES) project, and ARC Environmental Futures Network.

Convenors: Isabel Cacho (Spain), Thorsten Kiefer (Switzerland), Peter Kershaw (Australia) and Jan-Berend Stuut (Germany)

2. Past 2000 years in the Southern Hemisphere
One of the major requirements for developing a better understanding of future climate dynamics (climate modes, low-to-high latitude and longitudinal linkages, and global teleconnections) is to develop high resolution records of the recent past for comparison and model simulations. This session will focus on contributions that aid the understanding Southern Hemisphere reconstructions, especially of past climate-state parameters (temperature, precipitation, atmospheric pressure fields) and of past modes of climate variability, based on natural archives and documentary data within the late Holocene.

Convenors: Chris Turney (Australia), Ricardo Villalba (Argentina), Martin Grosjean (Switzerland), Neville Nicholls (Australia)

3. Human-environment interactions during the Holocene—a regional approach
There is a great deal of interest in determining the relative influence of climate and other natural processes and human impact on Holocene environments to provide a better basis for understanding and managing the present landscape, and prediction and modeling of future changes in climate and atmospheric composition. This session aims to attempt the decoupling of these influences through through complementary examination of specific regions from paleoenvironmental and archaeological perspectives. It is supported by PAGES Focus 4, IHOPE and the Environmental Evolution Commission of the International Geographical Union.

Convenors: Tim Denham (Australia), Carole Crumley (USA), John Dearing (UK), Andrei Velichko (Russia)

Abstract submission deadline: 31 January 2007
For more information, click here for the INQUA website

27.12.06:

Support for fieldwork in northern Sweden

Fieldwork Support Available
Access to Abisko Naturvetenskapliga Station (ATANS) Grant Program
Abisko Scientific Research Station

The Abisko Scientific Research Station (ANS) in Sweden announces the availability of funding for visiting scientists as part of the Access to Abisko Naturvetenskapliga Station (ATANS) grant program. ANS is located about 200 km north of the Arctic Circle within a range of terrestrial and freshwater environments.

Funded by the European Union (EU) Transnational Access Programme, ATANS provides travel and accommodation support for scientists from EU countries (outside Sweden) and associated states to conduct fieldwork at ANS.

Proposals are invited from established and young researchers, including PhD students, that relate to the natural environment (geosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, and cryosphere) of the Swedish subarctic. ANS encourages projects that:
- integrate or link existing research groups, such as collaborative IPY projects;
- focus on environmental processes during winter;
- are led by scientists from new EU-member states; and
- include first-time ANS users and research groups.

Applications may be downloaded from the ANS website and submitted via e-mail. Successful candidates will be notified within one month of the application deadlines.

Application Deadlines
for Winter/Spring Season: 31 December 2006
for Summer Season: 1 March 2007

For further information and to apply for funding, please go to:
http://www.ans.kiruna.se

or contact:
Christer Jonasson
Abisko Scientific Research Station
E-mail: christer.jonasson@ans.kiruna.se

11.12.06:

AMS Summer Policy Colloquium

Ten-day immersion in atmospheric policy Washington, DC, USA, June 2007... more

04.12.06:

GEOTRACES town meetings at AGU and ASLO:

You are invited to attend an open discussion of the GEOTRACES program in town-meeting format at the upcoming meetings of the AGU in San Francisco and ASLO in Santa Fe (details below).

GEOTRACES is an international program to study the global marine biogeochemical cycles of trace elements and their isotopes. Anticipated benefits of the program range from an improved understanding of the sources, sinks and internal cycling of essential micronutrients (e.g., Fe, Co, Zn) to a more reliable application of geochemical proxies used in paleoceanography.

The objectives of GEOTRACES intersect with those of several major international programs, such as SOLAS, IMBER, PAGES and CLIVAR, as well as with many national and regional initiatives (e.g., the Ocean Carbon and Biogeochemistry program in the USA). We anticipate substantial interaction between GEOTRACES and these programs, and hope to use the town meetings to foster that interaction.

GEOTRACES has recently completed its Science Plan (available at http://www.geotraces.org) and is now beginning to implement the first phase of the program, which will involve the intercalibration of methods used for sampling and analysis of trace elements and their isotopes.

Intercalibration is vital for the success of the program, to ensure that results obtained by different groups and in different regions can be compared in a meaningful way. This intercalibration effort is intended to serve the broader community of marine biogeochemists, whether or not an individual or group is involved in a GEOTRACES field program. Anyone interested in measuring trace elements and their isotopes in seawater and marine particles is encouraged to attend a town meeting, or to make their interests known by contacting us (geotraces@ldeo.columbia.edu).

Each town meeting will be divided into two parts:
1) A general introduction to GEOTRACES and its objectives, and
2) A discussion of the Intercalibration program.

Meeting times and locations:

Fall AGU, San Francisco:
Monday evening, 11 December 2006, from 18:30 - 19:30, Salons 4 - 6, Marriott Hotel

ASLO, Santa Fe
Wednesday morning, 7 February 2007, from 10:00 - 11:00, Mesa A Room, Hilton Hotel

The international GEOTRACES science steering committee (SSC) will meet in San Francisco immediately following the AGU meeting, so the town meeting in San Francisco will provide an opportunity for the community to raise issues to be considered by the SSC.

Anyone wishing to be added to the GEOTRACES e-mail list can do so by sending a request to geotraces@ldeo.columbia.edu.

Bob Anderson
Gideon Henderson
Co-chairs, GEOTRACES SSC

04.12.06:

NERC Arctic Field Station 2007

Opportunities exist for researchers in UK universities, research institutes and other recognized organizations (and their international collaborators) to carry out environmental research relevant to the NERC remit at the Ny-Ålesund Arctic research base in the Svalbard Archipelago. This location is particularly suitable for ecological research, glacial/periglacial geomorphology, hydrology and atmospheric chemistry.

The station will be open for the period June to September 2007. The station may also open in March or April if required.

The closing date for applications for the summer season (June - September) is 31 March 2007, but those wishing to use the facility in March/April should notify the station manager and submit their application as soon as possible.

For further information and the application procedure, see the NERC webpage:
http://www.nerc.ac.uk/research/areas/polar/aos/arctic-station-ao.a

23.11.06:

Call for Participation: Permafrost Young Researchers Network

The Permafrost Young Researchers Network (PYRN) is a collaborative program of the International Permafrost Association that connects members of the research community. PYRN, which was formed one year ago, invites participation from young scientists engaged in the study of permafrost.

Hosted by Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, PYRN provides information on conferences, fellowships, position announcements, funding sources, recently completed theses and dissertations, and other resources of interest to permafrost scientists. The network currently consists of over 200 young researchers from 27 countries. Those involved or interested in permafrost research are welcome to join.

Future activities of PYRN include coordinating programs for young researchers during IPY and planning for the 9th International Conference on Permafrost to be held in Fairbanks, Alaska, in summer 2008.

For further information and to join the network, please go to:
http://www.pyrn.org/

or contact:
Hugues Lantuit
Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research
E-mail: hlantuit@awi-potsdam.de

20.11.06:

Special Issue: Past Climates workshop

"Journal of Quaternary Science" special issue published on the Australasian paleo workshop (June 2005)... more

06.11.06:

AGU Town Meeting, 11 Dec. 2006

Drilling in the Earth's Continental Crust - Research Accomplishments and Opportunities... more

19.10.06:

06/07 Short-courses at UCL

We would like to draw your attention to the 2006/2007 short-course programme in Environmental Palaeoecology and Aquatic Ecology being offered by the Environmental Change Research Centre, University College London. This programme is in collaboration with Queen Mary College (QMUL) and the Centre of Ecology and Hydrology (CEH). Registration is now open and the courses available include:

Quantitative Environmental Palaeoecology

Introduction to Planktonic Foraminiferal Analysis

Introduction to Benthic Foraminiferal Analysis

Introduction to Diatom Analysis (Courses in January and June)

Introduction to Pollen Analysis

Introduction to Plant Macrofossil Analysis

Introduction to Palaeoceanography

Introduction to Fish Ecology

Chironomids: Water Quality and Climate Change

Introduction to the Ecology and Identification of Aquatic Macrophytes

Ostracod Analysis

Stable Isotopes and Environmental Change

Numerical Analysis of Biological and Environmental Data

For full details, dates and an application form for the courses please visit http://www.ecrc.ucl.ac.uk/shortcourses or contact the Course Co-ordinator David Hunt (d.s.hunt@ucl.ac.uk).

27.09.06:

PAGES looking for a new Science Officer

PAGES is seeking a Science Officer for its International Project Office in Bern, Switzerland... more

21.08.06:

Quantitative Environmental Palaeoecology Course

9-20 October 2006, London, UK. An introduction to lake sediment records in reconstructing past environments... more

21.08.06:

Last British and Irish Ice Sheet

Annual Discussion Meeting of the Quaternary Research Association (UK) will be held from 4-5 Jan. 2007... more

10.05.06:

LOTRED-SA 1st PAGES Workshop

4-7 October 2006, Mendoza, Argentinia: Reconstructing Past Regional Climate Variations in South America over the late Holocene... more

26.04.2006:

MedCLIVAR events related to PAGES activities

1.) MedCLIVAR call for proposals for an ESF young scientist exchange program:

MedCLIVAR will be soon able to announce a call for "young scientist exchange projects" within the approved ESF (European Science Foundation) program. In the present preliminary stage, only pre-proposals are required. However, because of the  tight  timing of the actual call, interested candidates are suggested to submit a preproposal now.
Grants will be assigned for exchange of researchers and imply a period (about 5 months) to be spent in a host institution. About 8 grants, each not exceeding 7500 euros, will be selected. A grant proposal implies the agreement between two  Institutions supporting MedCLIVAR on a common research project. The two  proponents should not belong to the same country. The two institutions  requesting a grant should write a joint project and identify two  members acting as responsible scientists.
Priority is given to projects  involving countries that are  members of ESF, but participation from other countries is welcome.  The MedCLIVAR ESF Steering Committee  will select  successful applications.
The grant preproposal should be sent to piero.lionello@unile.it

Please note the following:
- deadline for preproposal: 21st May
- period of the project: 2nd half 2006
- subject of the grant has to be related to the 1st MedCLIVAR workshop (see below)
Moreover, the participation to the 1st workshop "Reconstruction of past  Mediterranean climate:   Unexplored sources of high resolution data in historic time" is required. In future, other calls will be announced for projects not addressing these priorities.
- obligation: final report

Preproposal:
The preproposal should contain in a single attachment the following documentation:
- name of the proposed grant holder with CV (max 750 word) and publications
- name of the two responsible scientists with CV (max 750 words) and publications
- description of the project (max two pages)
- short description of the two involved institutions  and facilities in
- relation with the proposed research program (max 750 words)

The deadline for the actual proposals will be announced at a later stage.  Likely, unless further information will be required, it will be possible to confirm the pre-proposal without need to produce a new documentation.

2.) MedCLIVAR workshop on Reconstruction of past Mediterranean climate: Unexplored sources of high resolution data in historic time

The first MedCLIVAR workshop is planned to be held from 09/11/06 to 13/11/06 November in Baeza  (Jaen, Spain), Universidad Internacional de Andalucia .  The title of the  workshop is "Reconstruction of past Mediterranean climate:   Unexplored sources of high resolution data in historic time"
The main aim of the workshop is to identify sources of early instrumental data, pre-instrumental observations, documentary and natural proxies, which have not been previously explored and/or identified and can be relevant for the reconstruction of the Mediterranean climate or weather extremes of the past Millennium with high resolution (annual or higher).

This workshop should be considered as a starting point for a "Past regional variability Activity" in the Mediterranean region similar to the already started PAGES-Initiative for southern South America (LOTRED-SA). The workshop is supposed to act as a bridge for community building within the Mediterranean region - especially incorporating scientists / data from the north African / Arabian community. The workshop and the initiative are expected to create a link between paleo / data / and modelling scientists, therefore strengthening the community building effort of the PAGES/CLIVAR intersection. Thus, blending and interaction of all these communities will be of considerable value for progress in understanding past climate variability in the Mediterranean area.

The workshop will be a meeting point for:
- a) Scientists with previous experience in the field. They will provide relevant examples which will be used as case studies in the workshops.
- b) Scientists, archivists, officials, etc.. able to identify archives, institutions and natural sites with potential interest for the workshop objectives, specially from northern African and Eastern Mediterranean countries.
- c) Climate Modellers interested in the use of these regional data.

The main expected outcomes will include:
- A list of persons and institutions responsible for potential sources of past climatic data in the Mediterranean non previously identified or explored. It is expected that the core group will develop further steps in community building activities - probably starting an Initiative on "Past regional variability in the Mediterranean" as a joint MedCLIVAR/PAGES activity.
- Preliminary guidelines to build a freely accessible database of high-resolution climatic data and proxies relevant for past climate reconstruction in the Mediterranean.
- Papers in PAGES Newsletters with a summary of the workshop report and/or selected contributions.
- Identification of areas with potential for submission of Projects dealing with Past Mediterranean climate (EU or other sources).

Some funds will be available for supporting a limited number of participants. Please note that  participation will be eventually restricted to a maximum number.  An email confirming interest for the workshop  should be send within May 15 to P.Lionello "piero.lionello@pd.infn.it" and  to R.Garcia-Herrera "rgarciah@fis.ucm.es".


The email should  contain
1) a description of position and title of the participant
2) an indication of  which workshop theme she/he is willing to contribute (with  reference to the themes in the workshop description)
3) an email  address for future contact.
4) A request if financial support is needed for the participation
5) a brief CV (750 words max )
6) a list of most recent publications, preferably  on subjects related to the MedCLIVAR workshop. item 4), 5) and 6) are not mandatory at this stage, but they will be required for the final application.

A  mailing list will be prepared on the basis of the received information. Scientists in this list will be contacted for the final application and further details.

The description of the workshop and the instructions will also be published in the MedCLIVAR web page: http://clima.casaccia.enea.it/medclivar/

19.04.2006:

Call for Proposals: Climate Change Adaptation

Call for Proposals: Climate Change Adaptation

Outline proposals are invited for climate change adaptation projects to
participate in Advancing Capacity to Support Climate Change Adaptation (ACCCA).

Click here for information about the ACCCA project, the call for proposals, and an application form. The call will also be available for download from www.accca.unitar.org.
 
Proposals are sought for projects in Africa and Asia that would:
 
* Identify and prioritize climate risks of targeted stakeholders and identify the climate influenced decisions that they face;
* Assess available knowledge about risks and adaptation opportunities, as well as synthesize the knowledge in terms that are directly relevant to stakeholder concerns and decision-making needs;
* Develop, test and disseminate risk communication materials that are designed to assist adaptation decisions;
* Use the risk communication materials in stakeholder forums to develop recommendations for climate change adaptation and promote their adoption;
* Identify critical knowledge gaps that impede effective adaptation decisions and design assessment activities that would generate new knowledge to fill them.

Deadline for application: 22 May 2006. Applicants must use the form included in the call.

Available funding: 9 projects are expected to be awarded grants of up to USD 70,000 each. Project development grants of up to USD 5000 are also available.

Eligibility: The lead applicant must be employed with an institution based in a developing country of Africa or Asia; proposals must have at least two institutional partners that include one stakeholder organization and one scientific organization.

Project Period: Projects selected for awards are expected to begin in January 2007 and be completed by June 2008 (18 month duration).

Contacts: For further information, please contact Annie Roncerel
<annie.roncerel@unitar.org> or Neil Leary <nleary@agu.org>.

24.03.2006:

Science and QSR papers - CAPE

In mid-October of 2002, the IGBP-PAGES CAPE (CircumArctic PaleoEnvironments) Working Group held a workshop to discuss and synthesize data on the last interglacial in the Arctic. Two Science papers and one Quaternary Science Reviews paper have emerged from that workshop.

1) CAPE Last Interglacial Project Members (in press) Last Interglacial Arctic Warmth Confirms Polar Amplification of Climate Change, Quaternary Science Reviews.

This paper is a synthesis of all of the existing data on the Arctic Marine Stage 5e records, with extensive tables and regional summaries of what the data tell us about an Arctic warmer than  
now. It documents the mass movement of treeline, sea ice limit, precipitation and temperature change. Importantly, it argues that thermohaline circulation was still operating despite having a smaller Greenland Ice Sheet.

2) Otto-Bliesner, B.L., Marshall, S.J., Overpeck, J.T., Miller, G.H., Hu, A. & CAPE Last Interglacial Project Members (2006) Simulating Arctic Climate Warmth and Icefield Retreat in the Last Interglaciation, Science 311, 1751-1753.

Arctic warming and melting of polar glaciers in the future will be significant but the magnitude is uncertain. This paper uses a global climate model, dynamic ice sheet model, and paleoclimatic data, to evaluate Northern Hemisphere high latitude warming and its impact on Arctic icefields during the Last Interglaciation. Simulated climate matches paleoclimatic observations of past warming, and the combination of physically-based climate and ice sheet modeling with ice core constraints indicate that the Greenland Ice Sheet and other circum-Arctic ice fields likely contributed 2.2 to 3.4 meters of sea level rise during the Last Interglaciation.

3) Overpeck, J.T,  Otto-Bliesner, B.L., Miller, G.H., Muhs, D.R., Alley, R. & Kiehl, J.T. (2006) Paleoclimatic Evidence for Future Ice Sheet Instability and Rapid Sea Level Rise, Science 311, 1747-1750.

Sea-level rise from melting of polar ice sheets is one of the largest potential threats of future climate change. Polar warming by the year 2100 may reach levels similar to 130,000 to 127,000 years ago that were associated with sea level several meters above modern; both the Greenland Ice Sheet and portions of the Antarctic Ice Sheet may be vulnerable. The record of past ice sheet melting indicates that the rate of future melting and related sea level rise could be faster than widely thought.

20.03.2006:

ESSP Open Science Conference

Contribute an abstract to a PAGES session by 1 May 2006... more

16.03.2006:

African workshop special issue

"Quaternary International" special issue published on the African paleoperspectives workshop (Kenya 2004)... more

13.03.2006:

NSF 06-549 "Antarctic Research" Solicitation

Support of projects in Antarctica (2007-2008 austral summer) or in USA (early 2007).

The National Science Foundation solicitation "Antarctic Research" (NSF 06-549) has been released:
http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=5519&org=ANT&from=home

The "Antarctic Research" solicitation is for support of projects in Antarctica during the 2007-2008 austral summer or projects in the United States beginning in early 2007. The proposal submission deadline is Wednesday, 7 June 2006.

The goals of the U.S. Government in Antarctica are to expand fundamental knowledge of the region, to foster research on global and regional problems of current scientific importance, and to use Antarctica as a platform from which to support research. For projects involving fieldwork, the U.S. Antarctic Program supports only that research that can be done exclusively in Antarctica or that can be done best from Antarctica. The program also supports analytical research performed at home organizations.

NSF recently released the solicitation "International Polar Year" (NSF 06-534) http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=13615, which focuses on specific emphases areas in science, education, and outreach. However, IPY-relevant proposals (as outlined in the National Academy of Science vision document, http://www.us-ipy.org) that are outside these emphasis areas may be submitted to this Antarctic Research solicitation.

Additional information concerning other NSF IPY-related funding opportunities is available online at: http://www.nsf.gov/od/opp/ipy/ipyinfo.jsp

For information concerning other Federal agencies and their IPY programs, please go to the U.S. government interagency IPY site at: http://www.us-ipy.gov/

01.03.2006:

QUEST-INSU Announcement of Opportunity

Understanding the ice-core record of changing atmospheric composition - UK-French proposals invited... more

25.02.2006:

PAGES OSM special issue

Participate in discussion on latest submissions to open-access journal "Climate of the Past"... more

25.01.2006:

LOTRED-South America is online

This new group addresses last millennium's climate dynamics of southern South America... more

20.01.2006:

PAGES Jobsite goes hands-on

Put your paleoscience job offer directly online with our new web interface. Free, quick, simple... more

16.01.2006:

New Science Structure for PAGES

View outline and comment ... more

20.12.2005:

PAGES Newsletter

The latest PAGES Newsletter "Climate Forcings", a joint production of PAGES and CLIVAR, is available online... more

06.12.2005:

An International Paleolimnology Association?

At the 2003 International Paleolimnology Symposium held in Finland, there was widespread support for the development of an international society or association of paleolimnologists. This effort was led by Rick Battarbee, and a small ad hoc committee was formed at the Finland meeting to further explore the formation of a paleolimnology association. The first draft of a constitution and mission (written by Prof. John P. Smol, Queen's University, Canada) is available at http://www.umanitoba.ca/geoscience/paleolim/ipa.html. The goal is to initiate discussion and comments on the constitution and mission, and to vote on and approve the final text at the 10th International Paleolimnology Symposium in Duluth in June 2006. Minor comments can be sent to John Smol, more detailed comments should be sent to the entire Paleolimnology Forum.

07.11.2005:

2005 START Fellowship/Visiting Scientist Program Announcement

Announcement of Opportunity, START Fellowship/Visiting Scientist Program (Round 14)

This program, funded by DGIS, the Netherlands, is designed to increase the number of developing country scientists who will conduct research, and contribute to START regional research networks and the Joint and Core Projects of the Earth System Science Partnership (IGBP, WCRP, IHDP, and DIVERSITAS). Research bearing on policy issues and sustainable development is encouraged.
START Fellowships are offered at the graduate and post-graduate levels to young scientists (under 35 years of age at the time of application) from Africa, Asia, and Oceania. START fellows may work under senior mentors in leading institutions in any part of the world, where research is conducted on relevant regional aspects of global change. Long-term collaboration between the individuals and institution involved is also a desired outcome of the programme. The duration of these fellowships is ordinarily 4-8 months.

A parallel activity, the START Visiting Scientist Award, provides more senior scientists from developing countries an opportunity to undertake short-term visits to major international institutions to become acquainted with recent advances in research and develop long-term programmatic linkages and partnerships. The duration of these awards is usually 1-2 months.

Both the fellowship and visiting scientist awards will provide economy-class, roundtrip airfare and a modest subsistence allowance.

Nominations/Applications
The following information must be included in applications for the START Fellowship and Visiting Scientist Programmes:

1) The START Fellowship/Visiting Scientist Application Form [available from the START website (www.start.org) in various formats or by request; 3 pages].
2) A brief description (3-5 pages) of the proposed fellowship/visiting scientist program, including expected outcomes and an explanation of how the project may contribute to national/regional policy making. Linkages to the international global change research programmes should be made explicit.
3) Indication of willingness of host institution to receive fellow or visiting scientist (e.g. letter of support; 1 page);
4) Curriculum vitae of candidate, including relevant qualifications and experience (1-2 pages); and
5) Proposed budget requirements (airfare and subsistence as appropriate for host country). All budget items should be justified (1 page).

Applications (of no more than 12 pages total) can be submitted electronically, via fax, or by mail (postmarked by the deadline). Electronic submission is strongly encouraged.

DEADLINE for the fourteenth round of awards is: December 16, 2005.

For further information, contact:
Ms. Patricia Sipher, Program Coordinator
International START Secretariat
2000 Florida Avenue, NW, Suite 200
Washington, DC 20009 USA
Tel: (1-202) 462-2213; Fax: (1-202) 457-5859
E-mail: psipher@agu.org

The START Fellowship/Visiting Scientist Award Program is made possible through funds from The Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs. We thank The Netherlands for its continued support of START programmes.

31.10.2005:

New CalCurve - CalPal_2005_SFCP

An update of the Cologne Radiocarbon Calibration Program can be downloaded from the site http://www.calpal.de. The update includes new dialogs for Archaeological 14C-Database Management (MultigroupComposer), as well as for mixed Archaeological 14C and TL-U/Th-Database Management (MultimethodComposer). Both dialogs allow the graphic representation of up to 10 archaeological data groups with max 1000 dates each. A new visual tool (Reservoir-Explorer) gives more support in the construction of Glacial calibration curves using the CalCurveComposer. We have included an interface from CalPal to the GIS-Program Globalmapper (http://www.globalmapper.com), to allow the convenient construction of high-resolution archaeological site-distribution maps based e.g. on the freely available SRTM High-Resolution Radar Satellite data. Finally, we have included in CalPal the most recent 14C-age calibration data sets INTCAL04 (March 2005) and Fairbanks0805 (Aug 2005) and have built and integrated the corresponding calibration curves.

06.10.2005:

Adaptation and mitigation: responses to climate change. 5th International NCCR Climate Summer School

27 August - 1 September 2006, Grindelwald, Switzerland

The NCCR Climate, Switzerland's Centre of Excellence in Climate and Climate Impact Research, invites young scientists to join leading climate researchers in a scenic Swiss alpine setting for key-note lectures, workshops and poster sessions on the occasion of the fifth NCCR Climate Summer School 2006.

The topics covered at the NCCR Climate Summer School 2006 will include:
* Economics of climate change: an overview
* Dealing with climate impacts in the past, climate scenarios for the future
* Mitigation and adaptation: combined strategies, instruments and implementation
* Game theory and applications
* Induced technological change
The Summer School invites young researchers from all fields of climate and climate impact research. The courses cover a broad spectrum of climate impact research issues and foster cross-disciplinary links. Each topic includes keynote plenary lectures and workshops with in-depth discussion in smaller groups. All Summer School participants are expected to present a poster of their research and there will be ample opportunity for discussion. There will be an excursion to exciting research sites.

Lecturers confirmed:
L. Barreto (PSI, CH), C. Carraio (U Venice, I), O. Edenhofer (PIK, D), R.B. Howarth (Dartmouth C., USA), M. Grubb (Cambridge U, UK), P. Heck (SwissRe,CH), M. Hoel (U Oslo, N), C. Kemfert (HU Berlin, D), G. Müller-Fürstenberger (U Bern, CH), N. Nakicenovic (TU Vienna, A), G. Stephan (U Bern, CH), Ph. Thalmann (EPFL, CH), C. Pfister (U Bern, CH), J.M. Reilly (MIT, USA), C. Schär (ETHZ, CH), S. Seneviratne (ETHZ, CH), H. Wanner (U Bern, CH), A. Wokaun (PSI, CH), L. Viguier (EPFL, CH).

The Summer School is open to young researchers (PhD students and Post-Docs) worldwide. Participation is highly competitive and will be limited to a maximum of 70. A small number of grants will be available for students from developing countries.

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS: 20 DECEMBER 2005
Successful applicants will be notified in February 2006.

On-line information, preliminary programme and application forms are available at
http://www.nccr-climate.unibe.ch

NCCR Climate, University of Bern, Erlachstrasse 9a, CH-3012 Bern, Switzerland
Tel: +41 31 631 31 45, Fax: +41 31 631 43 38, mailto:nccr-climate@giub.unibe.ch

2005-09-26:

Short-courses in Environmental Palaeoecology and Aquatic Ecology

We would like to draw your attention to the 2005/2006 short-courses in Environmental Palaeoecology and Aquatic Ecology being offered by the Environmental Change Research Centre, University College London in collaboration with Queen Mary College (QMUL) and the Centre of Ecology and Hydrology (CEH). Registration is now open and the courses available include:

ENVIRONMENTAL PALAEOECOLOGY

Quantitative Environmental Palaeoecology
Introduction to Benthic Foraminiferal Analysis
Introduction to Pollen Analysis
Introduction to Plant Macrofossil Analysis
Palaeoceanography
Introduction to Diatom Analysis (Courses in February and June)
Ostracod Analysis
Stable Isotopes and Environmental Change

AQUATIC ECOLOGY

Introduction to Diatom Analysis (Courses in February and June)
Introduction to the Ecology and Identification of Aquatic Macrophytes
Chironomids: Water Quality and Climate Change
Introduction to Fish Ecology
Numerical Analysis of Biological and Environmental Data

For full details, dates and an application form for the courses please visit http://www.geog.ucl.ac.uk/ecrc/teaching.stm or contact the course co-ordinator David Hunt at d.s.hunt@ucl.ac.uk

2005-08-30:

AnalySeries 2.0.3 is now available online

AnalySeries 2.0.3 is now available online at: http://www.lsce.cnrs-gif.fr/soft-lsce/index-en.html.
This new version works on Mac OSX but should also work on older Mac OS9.5 systems.
The file is posted as a stuffit archive. If you experience problems downloading, first download it as a file to your disk, then open it with Stuffit Expander (a free utility: e.g. at http://www.stuffit.com/mac/expander/).
If you bookmark or refer to the AnalySeries web page, please do so ONLY at http://www.lsce.cnrs-gif.fr/soft-lsce/index-en.html since other pages may change.

For further information please contact Didier Paillard (didier.paillard@cea.fr).

2005-08-25:

DISCCRS Climate-Change PhD network

The Dissertations Initiative for the Advancement of Climate-Change Research, or DISCCRS (pronounced "discourse") brings together graduates from the physical/natural and social sciences engaged in climate-change/impacts research to foster understanding across disciplines and catalyze formation of an interdisciplinary, international collegial network. Register your dissertation abstract to become part of the DISCCRS network and receive the electronic newsletter at http://aslo.org/phd.html.
Contact Susan Weiler, weiler@whitman.edu, for more information.

Applications are invited from recent PhD graduates doing climate-change/impacts research for the Spring 2006 DISCCRS II Symposium in Pacific Grove, CA (application deadline Oct. 2, 2005). Get the poster at: http://www.aslo.org/phd/disccrsposter.pdf.

2005-08-22:

PROPER course 5

Within PROPER a series of five courses are organized covering the most relevant
aspects related to Paleo- Climate research from the basics to the latest developments.
The courses will be hosted at different locations throughout Europe. PROPER invites
applications for course 5

> flyer.jpg

2005-08-02:

START/PACOM Call for Proposals 2006

START/PACOM announces its 2006 Call for Proposals, supported through funds from the National Science Foundation/United States Climate Change Science Project (NSF/USCCSP). This call is open to African scientists in the area of global environmental change research.

Click here to download the Call and application form.

2005-07-22:

The Academy of Science for the Developing World (TWAS)

International Programme for Higher Education & Research (IPHER)

TWAS's expanding Fellowship and Associateship schemes have been grouped under a new title: the "International Programme for Higher Education & Research" (IPHER). This now over-arching designation should make it easier for applicants to find the program most suited to their requirements. IPHER now boasts some 250 fellowships tenable in developing countries such as Brazil, China and India. Additional programs with Mexico and Pakistan are due to start in the near future. Click here for an overview table.

2005-06-16:

Invitation to Co-Author Holocene Thermal Maximum Paper

Paleoenvironmental Arctic Sciences (PARCS)

In 2002 a number of arctic paleoclimatological researchers got together in Boulder, Colorado to work on a synthesis of data pertaining to the timing and duration of the Holocene Thermal Maximum (HTM) in the Arctic.
The meeting and resulting research was supported by the NSF Paleoenvironmental Arctic Sciences (PARCS) program. Since that time, a synthesis of the HTM in the western Arctic (between 0 and 180 W) has been published (Kauffman et al. 2004 Quaternary Science Reviews) and proven very useful.

It is appropriate to complete this work with a methodologically similar synthesis of the eastern Arctic (0-180 E). There remains PARCS funding for this effort and we want to invite you to contribute as a co-author for a synthesis aimed at Quaternary Science Reviews that will be a linked publication to the western HTM paper. We hope this will really be a joint effort by Circumpolar Arctic PaleoEnvironments (CAPE), PARCS, Quaternary Environments of the Eurasian North (QUEEN), Pan-Arctic Cycles, Transitions, and Sustainability (PACTS) researchers etc. that transcends all our research groups and efforts.

We are seeking records that:
1. Pertain to summer thermal conditions from Fennoscandia, Svalbard, Northern Russia, and western to central Siberia that come from sites at 65 N latitude or higher. The focus will be terrestrial, but marine records are welcome.
2. Records can be quantitative proxy temperatures or qualitative thermal indicators such as coniferous tree pollen records.
3. Provide continuous or near-continuous records, with at least three radiocarbon or other dating controls (bracketing the HTM if evidence of an HTM is present).
4. Extend back at least to 10,000 14C yr BP.
5. If your record is temperature sensitive, but does not show any HTM, that is fine. It is important to know in which regions there was no strong HTM.
6. We would like original 14C ages in addition to Cal ages if possible.
7. We would ask for the record in digital form, the georeference for the site, the publication reference, and your estimates of the timing of initiation and termination of the HTM.
8. If you have multiple sites in one region please do include all of them.
9. Finally, we would need a paragraph or two of text describing your record/regional pattern.

We really want to make this as easy as possible for contributors. The data sets will be collated and mapped by Konstantine Kremenetski at UCLA and Matt Duval at the Data Management Office of the PARCS Program. I, and Darrell Kauffman, will work on the text and all contributors will be co-authors and will review the manuscript prior to submission.
Konstantine will also be obtaining published records from the literature, however, if you want to make sure your records are included and you want to be a co-author, please contribute directly.
We do hope you will contribute to this effort. Please send me a reply e-mail ASAP and we will send you a pdf of the western HTM paper and other specific information to help make your contribution easy.

Much thanks!
Glen MacDonald, University of California Los Angeles (macdonal@geog.ucla.edu)
Darrel Kauffman, Northern Arizona University
Konstantine Kremenetski, University of California Los Angeles
Matt Duval, Bates College

2005-06-16:

APN Annual Regional Call for Proposal

The APN Annual Regional Call for Proposal (ARCP) 2005 has been launched. Kindly check out the APN website for more details: http://www.apn-gcr.org/en/indexe.html
 
Second Strategic Phase (2005-2010)

2005 Annual Regional Call for Proposals (ARCP)

The Asia-Pacific Network for Global Change Research (APN) is an inter-governmental network whose mission is to enable investigation of change in the Earth’s life support systems as it occurs in the Asia-Pacific region to:
1.     Identify, explain and predict changes in the context of both natural and anthropogenic (human-induced) forcing;
2.     Assess potential regional and global vulnerability of natural and human systems; and
3.     Contribute, from the science perspective, to the development of policy options for appropriate responses to global change that will also contribute to sustainable development.
 
The APN is inviting proposals for funding from April 2006, and is able to provide a limited amount of financial support for research and other activities that fall within its areas of interest.

2005-06-16:

University of the Sea prepares to launch

The French vessel Marion Dufresne will be partly converted into an Australian-led University of the Sea for a historic research voyage this month, conducting research and teaching activities.
The research ship’s facilities will enable students to receive an intensive grounding in marine research during the two-week trip from Port Moresby to Darwin.
Patrick De Deckker will lead a team of three academics and 19 postgraduate students [7 Australians and 11 from the Asia-Pacific region]. Patrick and colleagues from the University of Sydney and University of Technology, Sydney, attracted support from a variety of sources to conduct this first voyage.

> more infos about UOS.doc

The voyage can be followed online at: http://uos.anu.edu.au

2005-06-16:

START-PACOM Doctoral Fellowship Awards

The International START Secretariat and the Pan African START Committee (PACOM) wish to announce fellowship opportunities for outstanding young African scientists engaged in global environmental change research leading to doctoral dissertation (see attached application form). These fellowships are supported through a grant from the Norwegian Agency for Development (NORAD) to START for regional capacity building for global environmental change research in Africa.  Awards will be for up to two years of study leading to completion of Ph.D. dissertation or for the final year of graduate study combined with one-year of post-doctoral research. Candidates must have completed at least one year of study toward a Ph.D. to be eligible for this award. Proposals should focus on some aspect of global environmental change in Africa.   Awards will provide for tuition, research materials, and a small living allowance. 
Applicants must be currently enrolled in a graduate degree program leading to a Ph.D. degree in an African university and have completed one year of doctoral study program.  Applicants must have completed their Master‚s degree (or equivalent). Candidates must be 35 years of age at time of application or younger. Applicants must be pursuing a doctoral degree related to environmental change in Africa.
Application Deadline is August 15, 2005. For further details see the International START website (www.start.org).

> Announcement.doc

2005-06-08:

New Open Access Journal Climate of the Past

Climate of the Past (CP) is an international scientific journal dedicated to the publication and discussion of research articles, short communications and review papers on the climate history of the Earth. CP has recently been launched by the European Geosciences Union (EGU) and follows the innovative two-stage publication concept of the EGU which involves a scientific discussion forum.

The main subject areas are:
• reconstructions of past climate based on instrumental and historical data as well as proxy data from marine and terrestrial (including ice) archives;
• development and validation of new proxies, improvements of the precision and accuracy of proxy data;
• theoretical and empirical studies of processes in and feedback mechanisms between all climate system components in relation to past climate change on all space and time scales;
• simulation of past climate and model-based interpretation of palaeo climate data for a better understanding of present and future climate variability and climate change;

Full information under http://www.climate-of-the-past.net .

2005-05-12:

National PAGES: China is now online!

go to: www.pages-igbp.org/china

2005-04-21:

Vega Medal

The Swedish Society for Anthropology and Geography is proud to announce that Professor Francoise Gasse will be awarded the Vega medal in gold by the Swedish King Monday 25th of April. She is the first female scientist to receive this medal. In honor of her research, a symposium is organized at the Royal Academy of Sciences in Stockholm entitled "Paleo-views of a modern problem: Quaternary changes in water resources in arid zones of the Old World".

2005-03-25:

Pollen Database

Online searchable neotropical pollen database launched.

The Neotropical Paleoecology Research Group is pleased to announce the launch of its searchable pollen database on the web.

The purpose of this database is to assist in the identification of Neotropical pollen and can be quizzed according to family or genus, or as a multiple access key.  The database contains photographs of >1000 taxa most commonly found in fossil pollen spectra.

This data base is searchable in a read only format without any software requirements.  However, if you wish to edit or modify the database in any way then FileMaker 5 or higher is required.

It should be noted that this database is an ongoing project and it is by no means a complete guide to Neotropical pollen.  In addition, there are undoubtedly small glitches and typing errors within the program and database.  We would encourage people to inform us of these when they are encountered.

To register to download the pollen database please follow links from our web page, http://www.fit.edu/biology/bushlab/index.html

2005-03-14:

Joint USDA-NASA Interagency Research Announcement Land Cover/Land Use Change

Notice of Intent Deadline: 28 April 2005
Full Proposal Deadline: 1 August 2005

The announcement is available here

The joint USDA-NASA interagency research announcement for Land Cover/Land Use Change (LCLUC) is out. This research opportunity addresses the Land Use/Land Cover Change (LULCC) element of the U.S. Climate Change Science Program and is the the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service (CSREES) contribution to the U.S. Climate Change Research Initiative.

Both NASA LCLUC and CSREES are interested in studies on land cover and land use that are coupled to climate variability and global change and are likely to affect the resources and services that agriculture, forest, and rangelands provide to society and the natural environment.
Within the announcement is a statement saying "Of particular interest are studies of environmental and human impacts related to LULCC in the Arctic region." From the USDA/CSREES standpoint, this is USDA's contribution to SEARCH for this year.

The solicitation does not call for proposals on LULCC impacts on carbon cycles except for studies that link carbon and water cycles with emphasis on LULCC. The solicitation does not call for proposals on LULCC impacts on water cycles except for studies on freshwater resources and water quality in non-arid regions of the world undergoing significant changes in land exploitation.

Dr. Nancy Cavallaro (ncavallaro@csrees.usda.gov) is the USDA/CSREES point of contact for this competition. A required notice of intent is due on 28 April 2005 and the full proposals are due on 1 August 2005.

For further information, please contact:
Louie Tupas
National Program Leader
Global Change and Climate
CSREES, USDA
Phone: 202-401-4926
Fax: 202-401-1706
E-mail: ltupas@csrees.usda.gov
URL: www.csrees.usda.gov

2005-03-03:

IntCal04 calibration curve and CALIB 5.0 release

Calibrated radiocarbon ages are the basis for comparison between many records in paleoclimatological, geophysical, and archaeological studies. It is therefore necessary to have a standard radiocarbon calibration curve for intercomparisons to be valid. The radiocarbon community has recognized this need and hence has adopted an international standard for calibration, IntCal04 which was ratified at the 18th International Radiocarbon Conference in Wellington New Zealand. The importance of the quality of the data set used for calibration cannot be overstated. The IntCal04 working group and the journal "Radiocarbon" is thus pleased to announce the release and publication of "IntCal04: Calibration Issue" as a special issue of "Radiocarbon" (v46, n3, 2004). Concurrent with the IntCal04 release and consistent with previous incarnations of IntCal is a revision and update of the calibration software program CALIB.

Please visit www.radiocarbon.org to download IntCal04 and links to internationally standardized and accepted radiocarbon calibration software programs (BCal, CAL25, CALIB, OxCal).

The IntCal issue and release of the IntCal04 data sets would not have been possible without the financial assistance of the Leverhulme Trust, and the University of Arizona/Radiocarbon. The NSF's Earth System History Program funded revision and updating of CALIB.

2005-02-28:

PAGES relevant conference report on the 8 International Conference on Paleoceanography

Biarritz, France 5-10 September 2004
in: EOS (Vol.86; No.7, 15th February 2005)

Download the pdf

2005-02-24:

New paleoceanography data available from the World Data Center for Paleoclimatology

The World Data Center for Paleoclimatology has recently updated its paleoceanography data. The contributed data is available via the web query and map interface at: www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo/paleocean.html.

The database now contains 1,434 sites from 260 contributors and several hundred different variables. Comments are welcome to paleo@noaa.gov.

PAGES encourages you to contribute your recently published data to the database. Information on contributing can be found at: www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo/contrib.html.

2005-01-17:

National PAGES: Africa, Kenya and Japan are now online!

go to: www.pages-igbp.org/africa
go to: www.pages-igbp.org/kenya
go to: www.pages-igbp.org/japan

2005-01-05:

INQUA Call for Proposals 2005

The International Union for Quaternary Research (INQUA) has announced its open call for funding proposals for 2005. INQUA normally provides seed monies for the development of research projects that will seek major support elsewhere. Priorities for INQUA funds include international conferences and workshops, especially where they are integral parts of approved projects.
Young scientists and scientists from developing countries are given priority for travel assistance.

If you have a research-driven project proposal that can take advantage of the PAGES Open Science Meeting to be further developed, we encourage you to consider applying for INQUA funding. For example, you might use the opportunity for team members to meet and present research results.

Full INQUA guidelines and application forms can be found at: http://www.inqua.tcd.ie/projects.html

Application deadline is 1 March 2005.

2004-12-10:

Mia J. Tegner Grants in Marine Environmental

Marine Conservation Biology Institute is embarking on the third year of the Mia J. Tegner Memorial Research Grants in Marine Environmental History and Historical Ecology. To date MCBI has awarded 17 grants, each $6000 and below (http://www.mcbi.org/Advancing/Advancing.htm#mia).
This program provides funding for high-quality, results-oriented research projects in the areas of marine environmental history and historical ecology. To our knowledge, this is the first dedicated program for funding research in this neglected and important area of study.

This grants program is dedicated to the memory and scientific legacy of Mia J. Tegner, a marine biologist from Scripps Institution of Oceanography who lost her life in January 2001 while carrying out research in the waters of Southern California. Dr. Tegner's primary research focused on the ecology of kelp forest communities. She studied the ecology and restoration of abalone populations in southern California, and her long time series of observations made significant contributions to the scientific understanding of the effects of ocean climate on nearshore ecosystems. Dr. Tegner was a Pew Fellow in Marine Conservation and a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Her work, her dedication to the field of marine biology and her contribution to a seminal paper on historical ecology, was the inspiration for creating this program to both insure Dr. Tegner's legacy and honor her memory.

Applications are due by January 28, 2005. Please view additional details and application guidelines at: http://www.mcbi.org/Advancing/Tegner_grant_announcement%202004.htm.

2004-12-03:

ePalaeontology - new website

There has recently been established a new international palaeotological portal "ePalaeontology". It is the electronic heart of a community of online palaeontologists.

The whole material is published in accord with the Creative Commons License.
This allows sharing of the material and the contents with others.
ePalaeontology freely makes available usable scientific material for your own research. In the Downloads it is possible to freely find files of images and scientific software.

Everybody is invited to contribute to this interesting project of search and sharing of the paleontological resources.

In order to offer the best and most varied service to the increasing number of users, ePalaeontology is currently considering the option of acepting external contributions (news, articles, links suggestions etc.) from its users.

The ePalaeontology website is http://www.epalaeontology.com

2004-10-22:

Call for Proposals - Global Change Research in Africa

START, through funding from the United States Climate Change Science Project (Global Change Research Program), is pleased to announce the attached Call for Proposals. Proposals are being solicited from scientists based at African institutions for research projects related to:

1) Climate Variability and Climate Change in Africa
2) Impacts/Adaptations/Vulnerability to Global Change
3) Land Use and Ecosystem Change
4) Bio-geochemical Fluxes, and
5) Biodiversity.

Proposals must fall within the research frameworks of START's sponsoring programs (IHDP, IGBP, and WCRP). Proposals should also address the joint research issues of the Earth System Science Partnership: Water Systems, the Global Carbon Cycle, and Global Change and Food Security.

International collaboration is encouraged. Proposals will be accepted until 17 December 2004 as per the attached instructions.

Download instructions:
for MSWord (.doc)
for AcrobatReader (.pdf)

This information is also available through the START website: www.start.org

2004-10-18:

Online Registration and Abstract Submission for the OSM2005 meeting is now open!

Online Registration
Online Abstract Submission

2004-10-15:

Announcement of Opportunity: START Fellowship/Visiting Scientist Program (Round 13)

This program, funded by DGIS, the Netherlands, is designed to increase the number of developing country scientists who serve as active partners in global change research in START regional networks and in the Joint and Core Projects of the Earth System Science Partnership (IGBP, WCRP, IHDP, and DIVERSITAS).  Through this effort, these scientists will also be able to contribute to related aspects of sustainable development for their respective countries and regions... more

2004-09-16:

Contribute to the EPICA challenge at the fall AGU

Predict greenhouse gas concentrations back to 700kyr... more

2004-09-16:

New PAGES Newsletter

PAGES News issue 2004/2 is now available online. Click here for more information.

2004-09-15:

National PAGES: Turkey is now online!

go to: www.pages-igbp.org/turkey

2004-08-19:

PAGES Book Winners

Congratulations to the following 10 people who were selected at random from the 450 PAGES subscribers who submitted their expertise online before 30 June 2004. They have won a copy of the IGBP-PAGES book "Paleoclimate, Global Change and the Future".

Tatiana Blyakharchuk
Declan Conway
Brian Haskell
Karen Hammes
Björn Holmqvist
Fei Huang
Dieter Kelletat
Xixi Lu
Louis Maher
Vera Markgraf

2004-08-10:

Announcement

3rd Call for Proposals of the EU Sixth Framework Programme (FP6), FP6-2004-Global-3 (sub-priority 1.1.6.3 "Global Change and Ecosystems") was published on 16 June 2004 and closes 26 October 2004 (first stage).     more...

2004-06-09:

Revision of the Geological Time Scale;
Implications for the "Quaternary"

The International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS) intends to extend the Neogene System to the present and eliminate Quaternary as a formal chronostratigraphic unit in the new Geological Time Scale. Brad Pillans, President of the INQUA Commission on Stratigraphy and Chronology, has made a proposal to ICS and INQUA to redefine the Quaternary as a Subsystem of the new Neogene System. Dr. Pillans' proposal has been circulated to INQUA members and the larger community of earth scientists interested in the late Cenozoic and is included in next issue of Quaternary Perspectives. An alternative position, advocating that we stand our ground and demand that the Quatenary be retained as a System separate and distinct from the Neogene, is presented in the same issue by Phil Gibbard, Chair of the ICS Subcommission on Quaternary Stratigraphy....     more...

2004-06-09:

National PAGES: Czech Republic is now online!

go to: www.pages-igbp.org/czechrepublic

2004-06-09:

2004 START Young Scientist Award Announcement

The International START Secretariat is soliciting nominations/applications for the CY 2004 START Young Scientist Awards.  These awards recognize the research accomplishments of outstanding young scientists from developing countries in Africa, Asia, Oceania, and the Mediterranean. Nominations must be for young scientists who have published a paper in an established peer-reviewed journal (preferably in English).  In keeping with START's mission of conducting research on regional aspects of global change, the paper must be on an aspect of global change in the context of the research projects of START's program sponsor, the Earth System Science Partnership comprising the International Human Dimensions Programme on Global Environmental Change (IHDP - www.ihdp.uni-bonn.de), the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP - www.igbp.net), the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP - www.wmo.ch/web/wcrp/wcrp-home.html) and DIVERSITAS (www.diversitas-international.org).____more...

2004-06-09:

Workshop Funding

PLEASE NOTE: THE DEADLINE FOR THE SECOND AND LAST CALL FOR 2004 HAS BEEN MOVED FORWARD TO 15 SEPTEMBER 2004!____more...

2004-06-01:

Out now: Our website statistics for 2004

These are the statistics from January 01, 2004 to May 01, 2004 (122 days) compared with the last ones from December 02 to May 03.

769 people visit the PAGES website each day!____more...

2004-06-01:

The new Paleo Perspective on Abrupt Climate Change has just been released

The site is intended for a non-technical audience in order to provide an overview of the
paleo record of abrupt events, contextualize key data sets, and frame about what is
known and unknown about the mechanisms and time-scales involved .

Please feel free to let us know your comments about the site as there are some
enhancements we would like to make in the future.

go to: http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo/abrupt

2004-05-24:

National PAGES: Ethiopia is now online!

go to: www.pages-igbp.org/ethiopia

2004-05-01:

Special session at the 2004 AGU meeting
(13-17 December in San Francisco)

Title: Paleoecological Approaches to Late Quaternary Climate Change and Landscape Evolution in the Circumarctic

2004-04-28:

National PAGES: Lithuania is now online!

go to: www.pages-igbp.org/lithuania

2004-04-01:

Georg Hoffmann has arrived

go to: http://www.pages.unibe.ch/people/guestscientists.html

2004-03-31:

Call for Comments (LRC-LacCore)

The Limnological Research Center (LRC) at the University of Minnesota, with funding from NSF and the University, has been operating the National Lacustrine Core Repository (LacCore) since the summer of 2000. The mission of LacCore is to curate sediment cores from lakes around the world and archive the data for use by the global community of scientists interested in the study of past environment and climate in lake sediment cores. LacCore was founded on the belief that lake sediment archives provide continental paleoclimatic and paleoenvironmental information that are of scientific and societal value, and the study and data archiving of these cores is most efficiently accomplished with the existence of a national facility where 1) an array of state of the art equipment are available free of charge to the community and 2) a dedicated, trained staff is present to assist visiting scientists in documenting, curating and sampling lake sediment cores.

We at LacCore would like to ask the members of the paleoclimate community for input regarding the value of the lake sediment cores and the need for a dedicated Repository with an integral Core Laboratory. LRC considers the operation of the LacCore to be primarily a service to the lake sediment community and would appreciate knowing how this service is perceived. More information about LacCore can be found at http://lrc.geo.umn.edu/LacCore/laccore.html.

We will post verbatim on the LacCore Webpage comments received by laccore@umn.edu.
To be of most use, we would appreciate receiving comments by May 31, 2004

2004-03-24:

RECLIDO, the Spanish network of climate reconstruction from documentary sources, has recently launched their website.

Visit their website at: http://www.ucm.es/info/reclido/

The abundant and convincing evidences on climatic change have originated in the last
years a growing interest in the study of climate in the past. The short length of the
instrumental records has increased the interest in the use of climate reconstruction
techniques like dendrochronology, the study of the ice cores, the corals lake sediments,
etc. Among all of them, the use of documentary sources presents evident advantages,
allowing better temporal resolution than other most of the techniques.

2004-03-23:

National PAGES: New Zealand is now online!

go to: www.pages-igbp.org/newzealand

2004-03-03:

Pre-publication offer on DPER volumes

We are very pleased to announce a special (temporary) PRE-PUBLICATION offer for the purchase of the next three volumes of the DPER (Developments in Paleoenvironmental Research) Series.

Volumes 6 through 8, scheduled to be published this September, are NOW available for order at the special price of $55US (Euro50) per book!
Please see details of this special offer at the DPER Web site
(http://home.cc.umanitoba.ca/~mlast/paleolim/dper.html)

This offer is available only for credit card purchases, and the special order form (available at the above web site) must be completed and returned to Kluwer at the address or fax given on the form.

The titles/editors of these three volumes

Volume 8: Long-Term Environmental Change in Arctic and Antarctic Lakes
Edited by R. Pienitz, M. S. V. Douglas and J. P. Smol
Hardbound, ISBN 1-4020-2125-9, ~500 pages

Volume 7: Image Analysis, Sediments and Paleoenvironments
Edited by P. Francus
Hardbound, ISBN 1-4020-2061-9, 338 pages

Volume 6: Past Climate Variability through Europe and Africa
Edited by R. W. Battarbee, F. Gasse and C. E. Stickley
Hardbound, ISBN 1-4020-2120-8, ~600 pages

The detailed table of contents for these books are available at the web site above.

Finally, Volume 9 in this DPER series ("Earth Paleoenvironments: Records Preserved in Mid-and Low-Latitude Glaciers", edited by L. DeWayne Cecil et al.) will be available later this summer and is available for order ($88USD) from Kluwer.