UCAR/NCAR Junior Faculty Forum on Future Scientific Directions 2004
JUNE 23-25, 2004
at NCAR's Mesa Lab facility in Boulder, CO
The objective of this forum is to bring together junior faculty and members of NCAR's Early Career Scientists Assembly (ECSA) to discuss selected topics in the Geosciences. This forum is open to non-tenured faculty at U.S. universities with preference given to those within five years of their first professorial academic appointment. In addition to promoting scientific discussion, an intended goal of the forum is to encourage development of professional relationships between members of ECSA and UCAR institutions.
The topics chosen for this year's forum are as follows:
The role of coastal zones in global biogeochemical cycles
Sun - Climate Connection
FORMAT: The forum will consist of a plenary session that focuses on providing an overview of these topics, their inter-relationships, and place in Geoscience research. Representatives from government agencies will also be invited to present how these topics relate to priorities in funding for research in the Geosciences. Following this session attendees will divide into two groups - one for each topic - for in-depth presentations and discussion. All attendees are encouraged to give presentations. More detailed information on the objectives of each group are presented below. The forum will conclude with another plenary session where summary reports from each group will be presented.
Agenda: (All events are at the Mesa Lab if not otherwise noted)
- Wednesday, 23 June
- 8:00-9:00 - Registration/breakfast (Cafeteria)
- 9:00-9:30 - Welcome (Main Seminar Room)
- 9:30-10:00 - Introduction to topics (Main Seminar Room)
- 10:00-10:30 - Break/group photo (Mezzanine)
- 10:30-12:30 - Small group sessions (Director's conference room and Fleischman seminar room)
- 12:30-13:30 - Lunch (on your own)
- 13:30-16:00 - Small group sessions (Director's conference room and Fleischman seminar room)
- 16:10-17:40 - Funding agency talks (Main Seminar Room)
- Peter Milne's NSF funding presentation (PowerPoint)
- 17:40-19:30 - Ice breaker (Damon Room)
- Thursday, 24 June
- 9:00-12:00 - Small groups w/ break (Director's conference room and Fleischman seminar room)
- 12:00-13:00 - Lunch (on your own)
- 13:00-15:45 - Small groups (Director's conference room and Fleischman seminar room)
- 15:45-16:30 - Break/Large group informal discussion of topics (Main Seminar Room Mezzanine)
- 16:30-17:30 - NSF ethics committee (Main Seminar Room)
- 18:00+ - Optional gathering at Boulder Dushanbe Teahouse
- Friday, 25 June
- 9:00-11:00 - Small groups w/ break (Director's conference room and Fleischman seminar room)
- 11:00-12:30 - Large group presentations and discussion (Fleischman room)
- 13:30-15:00 - Workshop: Communicating through the Media, click here for schedule: (Chapman Room)
TOPIC DETAILS: The role of coastal zones in global biogeochemical cycles
The coastal zone represents the interface between atmosphere land and ocean, and includes coastal plains, estuaries, embayments and extends to the edge of the continental and island shelves. On a global scale the coastal zone represents ~20% of the earth's surface, but accounts for a significant fraction of the ocean productivity and fisheries, and is a likely source of chemically important gases and aerosols. Thus the coastal zones is probably critical for global biogeochemical cycles, but is poorly represented in global biogeochemical cycle models. Questions to be addressed:
- How do different coastal zones impact the carbon cycle?
- How does coastal productivity impact atmospheric chemistry, including aerosols?
- What aspects of coastal ecosystems are significant globally?
- Can coastal ecosystems be represented in global models?
- How do human perturbations impact coastal zone biogeochemistry?
Location: Fleishman building seminar room.
Tentative Agenda for small group sessions for Topic 1:
Wed AM: Welcome and introductions of all participants (please prepare a 3 minute presentation on your research interests.)
Wed PM: Presentations of preparations for each area (30 minutes each)
Thurs AM: Doug Capone of USC will give a presentation relating to our whitepaper, and he will join us for further discussion.
Thurs PM: Sybil Seitzinger of Rutgers University will give a presentation relating to our white paper and join us for further discussion.
Fri AM: Synthesize
Session chairs: Natalie Mahowald and Galen McKinley
Power point presentations:
Doug Capone "Doug-Forum.ppt"
Sybil Seitzinger "Sybil-Forum.ppt"
WG1 "WG1_Forum.ppt"
WG2 "WG2_Forum.ppt"
WG3 "WG3_Forum.ppt"
WG4 "WG4_Forum.ppt"
White paper: "Coastal_WP.doc"
References: "Coastal_References.doc"
Participants: "coastalparticipants.doc"
EOS report "2004EO450005.pdf"
TOPIC DETAILS: Sun - Climate Connection
This group will focus on the response of the earth's atmosphere and climate system to direct or indirect variations in solar radiative and/or particle output. Integrating modeling and observations, the goal is identifying future research required to fill gaps for a greater understanding of solar-induced phenomena from the magnetosphere down to the earth's surface.
- How well can we identify and quantify the effects of solar variability in the different regions of the earth's atmosphere?
- To what degrees does the current state-of-the-art in modeling reproduce the manifestation as well as propagation of effects of solar variability from the magnetosphere to the surface?
- What component of surface climate variability is attributable to solar forcing on different time scales?
Location: Director's conference room.
Session chairs: Caspar Ammann, Richard Cullather, Aiguo Dai, Giuliana de Toma, Hanli Liu, Dan Marsh, Drew Schindell and Mike Wiltberger