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How are melting ice sheets causing sea level rise and what can we do about it? The ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica, along with glaciers and ice caps around the world, are melting faster than anticipated as a result of climate change caused by greenhouse gases from human activities. This rapid evolution--resulting from complex interactions between the atmosphere, the ocean, and ice--has been captured in great detail by a growing body of observational platforms that include satellites, aircraft, underwater floats, and autonomous gliders.

In this public lecture, Dr. Eric Rignot will cover how and why the ice sheets are melting and what we can do about it. Practical solutions exist that are economically viable and ethically desirable, including transforming our energy production system and developing scalable carbon sequestration strategies. At stake is whether the world will be irreversibly committed to a multiple meter rise in sea level with potentially catastrophic consequences.

The talk is part of Space Science Week 2019—a three-day gathering of five subcommittees of the Space Studies Board, the Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board, and the Board on Physics and Astronomy to discuss issues and advances in their fields.

Seminar 5 in the Series: From Science to Solutions: The State of the Carbon Cycle, the 2nd State of the Carbon Cycle Report (SOCCR2).

Abstract:

Rising carbon dioxide (CO2) has decreased seawater pH at long-term observing stations around the world, driving ocean acidification that has already affected some marine species and altered fundamental ecosystem processes. Further effects are likely. While atmospheric CO2 rises at approximately the same rate all over the globe, its non-climate effects on land vary depending on climate and dominant species. In terrestrial ecosystems, rising atmospheric CO2 concentrations are expected to increase plant photosynthesis, growth, and water-use efficiency, though these effects are reduced when nutrients, drought or other factors limit plant growth. Rising CO2 would likely change carbon storage and influence terrestrial hydrology and biogeochemical cycling, but concomitant effects on vegetation composition and nutrient feedbacks are challenging to predict, making decadal forecasts uncertain. Consequences of rising atmospheric CO2 are expected to include difficult-to-predict changes in the ecosystem services that terrestrial and ocean systems provide to humans. Continued persistence of uptake of carbon by the land and ocean is uncertain. Climate and environmental change create complex feedbacks to the carbon cycle and it is not clear how feedbacks modulate future effects of rising CO2 on carbon sinks. These are several mechanisms that could reduce future sink capacity.

About the Speaker:

Dr. Melanie Mayes is a Senior Staff Scientist and Team Leader with the Environmental Sciences Division and the Climate Change Science Institute at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee. She holds Joint Faculty Appointments with the Departments of Biosystems Engineering & Soil Science, and Earth & Planetary Sciences at the University of Tennessee. She is interested in diverse research at the intersection of water, soil minerals, solute chemistry, and biological cycling, and she designs experiments to build better models to represent natural processes. Her current research involves improving the representation of terrestrial carbon cycling processes in Earth system and process models, developing techniques to incorporate metagenomic information into nutrient cycling models, and investigating technologies to reduce mercury loading and methylmercury generation in surface and ground water systems.

Webinar Access:

We will use Adobe Connect. To join the session, go to https://noaabroadcast.adobeconnect.com/nosscienceseminars, enter as "Guest", and please enter your first and last name. Users should use either IE or Edge on Windows or Safari if using a Mac. Audio will be available thru the computer only; no phone. Questions will be addressed in the chat window. This Webcast will be recorded, archived and made accessible in the near future.

Abstract:

The rapid and pervasive loss of Arctic sea ice has several potential impacts to ice-associated marine mammals. Declines in sea ice cover are also occurring in concert with expanding anthropogenic activities that may have compounding effects on Arctic marine ecosystems. This talk will examine intersecting issues of recent sea ice loss, Arctic marine mammal responses, and new anthropogenic risks associated with an increasingly navigable Arctic. Dr. Hauser will provide several case studies to illustrate how changes in the timing and extent of sea ice cover affect distribution, migration timing, and foraging behavior of two Pacific Arctic populations of beluga whales. Results suggest diverse and flexible responses by belugas in the face of rapidly changing sea ice conditions, which are in line with other emerging trends from the Pacific Arctic region. Second, she will discuss a recent vulnerability assessment of 80 populations of seven Arctic marine mammal species to vessels in the increasingly ice-free Northwest Passage and Northern Sea Route, which quantified the heterogeneity of risk across species, populations, and regions. Finally, these results will be discussed in the context of ongoing conversations about the future resilience of Arctic marine mammals in changing sea ice ecosystems.

Speaker Details:

Dr. Donna Hauser is a Research Assistant Professor at the International Arctic Research Center, University of Alaska Fairbanks where she pursues interdisciplinary and collaborative research in Alaskan marine ecology. Her research has examined the habitat use, distribution, and behavior of marine mammals for over 15 years. Having grown up in Anchorage, Alaska, her research is firmly rooted in Alaska and focused on the marine mammals that are critical ecosystem components as well as traditional cultural, nutritional, and spiritual resources across the state’s coastal regions.

Waterhackweek is a 5-day hackweek to be held at the University of Washington in partnership with the University of Washington eScience Institute. Participants will learn about open source technologies used to analyze water-related datasets. Mornings will consist of interactive lectures, and afternoon sessions will involve facilitated exploration of datasets and hands-on software development. Successful applicants will pay a $100 registration fee and be expected to cover lodging, travel expenses and some meals. Financial support may be available based on need.

What to expect from WaterHackWeek 2019:
- Peer-learning collaborations
- New skills and tools, including the latest technology and software
- Personalized mentorship from professional data scientists
- Interdisciplinary applications of data tools
- Access to an interactive library of custom tutorials
- Dedicated time and space to explore new ideas

To best benefit from the program, participants are expected to have some experience in Python programming and with analysis of water data (e.g., time series data, remote sensing analysis, vector mapping, modeling, etc.).

Applications are open: Please apply by Monday, November 26, 2018.

The workshop is jointly organized by the WCRP Working Group on Coupled Modelling (WGCM) CMIP Panel and the European Commission Horizon 2020 project PRIMAVERA (PRocess-based climate sIMulation: AdVances in high-resolution modelling and European climate Risk Assessment) and EUCP (European Climate Prediction system).

Following the format of the WCRP CMIP5 model analysis workshop held in 2012, the workshop focus will be on:

• Multi-model CMIP6 analyses and evaluation that take advantage of the large suite of CMIP6 experiments.
• Efforts to connect model development and analysis to identify Earth system model improvements that help reduce systematic biases and/or increase the realism of models.
• Methods for multi-model analysis.
• Climate change impacts.

The workshop will be structured around the three scientific questions:

• How does the Earth system respond to forcing?
• What are the origins and consequences of systematic model biases?
• How can we assess future climate change given climate variability, predictability and uncertainty in scenarios.

Short-presentation/poster format:

The workshop will consist of a series of seven half-day sessions of three hours each. Each session will begin with 20-25 presenters given a 3 minute time slot to show no more than one slide summarizing the main conclusions of their poster. The rest of the half-day session will consist of viewing posters of that session. In addition, there will be a plenary talk each day.

Participation is limited by the size of the venue (~200 people) and format of the workshop. Abstracts will be accepted based on relevance to the workshop focus.

The tools and techniques for making monthly and season scale climate forecasts are rapidly changing, with the potential to provide useful forecasts at the month and longer range. We will review recent climate conditions around Alaska, review some forecast tools and finish up the Climate Prediction Center's forecast for April 2019 and the spring/early summer season. Feel free to bring your lunch and join the gathering in person or online to learn more about Alaska climate and weather.

Available online or in-person at: Room 407 in the Akasofu Building on the UAF Campus in Fairbanks.

We strongly encourage pre-registration for webinars. The audio portion of the call is through a toll-free phone line and the slide presentation is streamed via computer. Follow the link above to register.

The Association of Polar Early Career Scientists (APECS) is proud to announce the much awaited 5th annual APECS International Online Conference to go live on 15 May 2019. This year’s theme, “Breaking Barriers: Promoting Interdisciplinarity in Polar Science” aims to encourage collaboration between early career scientists from varied disciplines, working in the polar and alpine regions.

Science is about understanding the nature and mechanism of the world. But, understanding the mechanisms related to the “three poles” requires an integrated approach. Interdisciplinarity was one of the main discussion topics during the 2nd APECS World Summit, and it was clear that to achieve big results several tools from different disciplines must be incorporated. One example is climate change; to truly understand climate change and its impacts, we need to bring together the relevant disciplines of climate, environment, social sciences, and others under a multidisciplinary ceiling and assess various ways to understand its complex and interrelated causes and effects. No single approach will work for all. Climate change is not the only topic that can benefit from the integration of cross-disciplinary expertise; understanding how polar oceans function, how continents and alpine regions form, contamination pathways, and many other questions related to the three poles calls for interdisciplinarity. With that intent, APECS calls for ECRs to come forward with their interdisciplinary take on an otherwise contemporary science, by presenting their approach to developing research goals, methods, and outcomes as a short presentation in our one-day Online Conference.

Abstracts must be submitted prior to 22 March 2019 at 23:59 GMT. We will notify you with regards to the success of your abstract by 15 April 2019.

Please follow the link above for more information.

The 51st International Liege Colloquium on Ocean Dynamics will take place in Liège, Belgium from 6th May to 10th May 2019.

Polar oceans are facing profound changes. The Arctic Ocean and the waters west of the Antarctic Peninsula are at the forefront of global warming, while the rest of the polar oceans will face changes in the very near future. The changes to face are not limited to a raise in atmospheric temperature and modification in the freshwater budget. Increases of economic activities (shipping, tourism, fisheries and mineral extraction), contaminants and invasive species also put polar oceans at risk. Changes are already witnessed in terms of ice shelves volume, wind patterns and precipitation, sea ice extent, ocean circulation, ocean acidification and freshening, primary productivity, biodiversity and community structure or ecosystem functioning. As polar oceans are key components of the Earth system, changes there will have global impacts such as sea level rise, changes in low latitudes oceanic productivity, and oceanic CO2 uptake, among other ecosystem services.

The 51st Liège colloquium on ocean dynamics will address the observation and prediction of these changes and their consequences.

More specifically, the following topics will be covered:

• Measuring anthropogenic impact and pollutants. This spans from measurement of physical parameters, trace contaminants, inventory of climate related gases, micro plastics measurement, bio-indicators, monitoring economic activities.
• Observing changes. Remote sensing is key to monitor sea ice and ice sheet shrinkage, ocean warming and freshening, changes in ocean circulation and environmental forcing. In parallel, several initiatives (e.g. AMAP, SOOS, SOCCOM, ASPeCt, ANTOS, INTAROS, SAON, CAFF, BEPSII among others) have developed to reinforce monitoring of the polar oceans and provide insights on current changes.
• Assessing impacts. Anthropogenic forcing are impacting physical processes and biogeochemistry but also biodiversity and foodweb functioning. Tracking changes in an evolutionary perspective is challenging.
• Specific cryosphere-oceans interaction. At the interface between land and polar oceans, ocean interactions with ice sheets and sea ice are key in controlling ice-sheet balance, sea level rise and water mass transformation rates.
• Enlarge our temporal perspective: paleo-oceanographic changes. Ocean sediment records provide paleoclimate proxy indicators of past changes. These benchmarks allow a better grasp on current changes in term of level, significance and rapidity.
• Predicting future changes. Modeling is a major tool to understand past and present changes and to predict future changes from a local to a global perspective. More specifically, simple ocean model, ice sheet or sea ice- ocean coupled model, biogeochemical model, dynamic energy budget, species/trait distribution model among others are well suited to investigate changes in polar oceans.
• Teleconnection and global perspective. As a result of the teleconnection of polar oceans to the global ocean, changes in polar oceans can propagate more globally. Assessing such impacts is critical to understand actual and future changes of the global ocean.
• Several tools can be used to mitigate or limit the impact of some anthropogenic pressures: enforcement of conservation measures, marine protected areas, sewage treatment, education and awareness raising that need to be further developed to tackle polar ocean changes.

Special sessions on dedicated projects are welcome.

Papers dealing with the above-described subject are welcome and will be published in a special issue.

Abstract submission deadline: 21st March 2019.

Registration and abstract submission is now open for the 8th Astrobiology Society of Britain Conference that is being hosted by Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom on the 25-26th April 2019.

The two day conference aims to promote discussion on UK astrobiology. Abstracts for oral and poster presentations will be accepted in ALL aspects of Astrobiology (including research, applied impact and outreach). The keynote theme is 'The habitability of cold and icy environments', aiming to facilitate discussion between planetary scientists and researchers within the terrestrial cryosphere.

There will be a linked UK Space Agency sponsored early career event for PhD students/early career scientists on the afternoon of Wed 24th April, where representatives from different sectors of the UK Space sector (academia, government, industry) will discuss their different career pathways, alongside a workshop to develop key skills for effectively communicating science to different audiences and media.

PhD students will receive a discounted conference registration fee if they submit an abstract for a talk or poster. Accommodation subsidies will also be available for those attending the early career event. See website above for further details.

Abstract deadline: 20th March 2019.

The International Glaciological Society will hold the next International Symposium on Sea Ice in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, 18–23 August 2019.

Sea ice plays a critically important yet highly dynamic role in global climate, polar marine ecosystems, globalization and indigenous cultures. Ongoing dramatic changes to the sea-icescape and freshwater–marine coupling, particularly involving ice sheets, glaciers, ice shelves, sea-ice loss and continental runoff, have major implications for climate within and beyond the polar regions, environmental and ecological integrity, and regional and global socioeconomic development. This symposium presents a timely opportunity to show recent advances in our knowledge and technological capabilities in sea-ice related research. In addition, the symposium will encourage holistic discussions amongst scientists, stakeholders and policy makers regarding the most recent changes, long-term trends and variability in the sea-ice environment in both hemispheres, and how best to engage and communicate with the general public.

True to tradition, the symposium will include oral and poster sessions interlaced with ample free time to facilitate the interactions of the participants. Additional activities include an opening Icebreaker, a Banquet dinner and a selection of activity during the mid-symposium Wednesday afternoon break (21 August). A post-symposium excursion to Churchill, Manitoba is also planned.

Participants who wish to present a paper (oral or poster) at the Symposium will be required to submit an abstract by 20 March 2019. Abstracts need to be submitted via the IGS website. Accepted abstracts will be posted on the Symposium website.

For more information, please follow the link above.