New course on Atmospheric Processes

Posted on by December 5, 2014

University of Helsinki, Division of Atmospheric Sciences is pleased to announce the intensive course “Atmospheric Processes and Feedbacks and Atmosphere-Biosphere Interactions” to be held at the Hyytiälä Forestry Field Station in Southern Finland on March 16-26, 2015.

Similar to our annual Autumn/Winter Schools, the course is based on intensive work in small groups, with MATLAB being the main tool for statistical analysis.

This course has the following main topics:
– feedback loops related to atmosphere-biosphere interactions
– day-time nucleation in Hyytiälä boreal forest environment
– exceptionally warm winter 2013-2014

Some of the transferable skills the course strives to improve:
– statistical analysis and MATLAB
– multidisciplinary approach
– project management
– collaborative learning
– broadening of the personal comfort zone
– introduction to SMEAR II measurement station

The course involves 1-2 short relevant lectures per day, with the main emphasis placed on intensive group work and final report written after the course. The course is aimed at PhD students in atmospheric/biospheric sciences. During the course the students will utilize long-term aerosol, air ion, trace gas, meteorological and ecophysiological data measured at several stations in order to learn advanced data treatment and data analysis methods. The main tool is MATLAB.

Place: Hyytiälä Forestry Field Station, Southern Finland
(http://www.helsinki.fi/hyytiala/english/)
Time: March 16-26, 2015 (tentative travel day to Hyytiälä March 15!)
Teachers: Prof. Markku Kulmala is the leading teacher, with other lecturers Credits and accrediting body: 5 ECTS, University of Helsinki
Exam: Students write a scientific report based on the results from analysis done during the course

The course will be held in cooperation with Doctoral Programme in Atmospheric Sciences (ATM-DP), Impact of Biogenic versus Anthropogenic emissions on Clouds and Climate: towards a Holistic UnderStanding (BACCHUS), Cryosphere-Atmosphere Interactions in a Changing Arctic Climate (CRAICC), Pan-Eurasian Experiment (PEEX), Biosphere-Carbon-Aerosol-Cloud-Climate Interactions, Nordic graduate school (CBACCI), Cosmics Leaving OUtdoor Droplets Network (CLOUD), and Aerosols, Clouds and Trace gases Research InfraStructure Network (ACTRIS).

Registration for the course will open in early January 2015, and more information will be distributed in due time. Meanwhile, for any questions/clarifications, please contact Tuomo Nieminen at tuomo.nieminen@helsinki.fi

Professor position at Lund University

Posted on by August 13, 2014

Lund University announces an opening:

Professor in Physical Geography with a specialisation in Ecosystem Exchange Processes

The Department of Physical Geography and Ecosystem Science (INES) requires a professor whose main tasks are to carry out and lead research, as well as to strengthen, integrate and further develop existing research activities and foci. The successful candidate is also expected to participate in undergraduate and postgraduate education.
The research at INES focuses on climate and environmental changes, their impacts and feedbacks within the coupled Earth system. The research encompasses a range of spatial and temporal scales and geographic contexts, including extensive studies of Arctic and boreal environments. The research is organised within four related areas or themes: (1) Terrestrial, aquatic and atmospheric processes within the climate system; (2) Ecosystem modelling and climate impact studies; (3) Earth observation and monitoring (remote sensing and field studies); (4) Geographic information science.
INES has a central role within the Integrated Carbon Observation System (ICOS), a European infrastructure, being the host of a central facility for data management, dissemination and outreach, the Carbon Portal. This is expected to influence research activities of the department in a medium to long-term perspective.
In coming years we aim to further strengthen collaboration among the four main research areas of the department, listed above, as well as promoting integration between terrestrial, aquatic, marine and atmospheric research in pursuit of an enhanced understanding of ecosystem-climate interactions within the Earth system.
The successful applicant is expected to take a leading role in promoting, strengthening and further developing established research areas at the department. He/she is expected to actively seek and raise research funding from Swedish and international funding agencies.
The applicant is also expected to develop close collaboration with research teams in adjacent fields at the department, for example ecosystem modelling and remote sensing, and to be active in national and international research collaborations.
The applicant is expected to participate in undergraduate teaching and the development of courses at undergraduate and postgraduate levels, and to supervise postgraduate students.

Read all information in the document: Professor advert 14-625

3 IT positions at Lund University

Posted on by August 27, 2014

Lund University is hiring 3 IT specialists for work in climate and environmental research. All vacancies are permanent positions, and are based at the Department of Physical Geography and Ecosystem Science (INES) in Lund, Sweden.

* 1 system architect for the ICOS Carbon Portal (Ref NPA 2014/385)

http://www.lu.se/lediga-anstallningar-forhandsgranskning?x=0&Dnr=622353&Type=E

* 1 software engineer for the ICOS Carbon Portal (Ref NPA 2014/386)

http://www.lu.se/lediga-anstallningar-forhandsgranskning?x=0&Dnr=622356&Type=E (closed)

* 1 scientific programmer for support to the INES modeling groups (Ref NPA 2014/376)

http://www.lu.se/lediga-anstallningar-available-jobs?x=0&Dnr=621611&Type=E (closed)

The ICOS Carbon Portal is a part of ICOS, a new European infrastructure within the atmospheric sciences focusing on greenhouse gases. The Carbon Portal is the distribution channel for ICOS data, and will offer advanced tools for search and discovery, visualization of data and results, and interfaces for downloading ICOS data products. Questions about the Carbon Portal should be addressed to Alex Vermeulen (alex.vermeulen@nateko.lu.se) and Anders Lindroth (anders.lindroth@nateko.lu.se).

The modeling groups at INES work with the development and application of computer-based models for simulation of vegetation, ecosystems and climate in Europe and on a global scale. Questions about the modeling group activities should be addressed to Ben Smith (benjamin.smith@nateko.lu.se).

Note that two applications should be submitted by August 17, 2014. The System Architect submission deadline is September 1, 2014.

Scientific highlight: InGOS paper in Nature Geoscience

Posted on by March 10, 2014

Recent paper on newly detected ozone-depleting substances in the atmosphere in Nature Geoscience. Read it here,

New research, performed within the framework of InGOS and related projects, published today in the journal Nature Geoscience reveals that more than 74,000 tonnes of three new chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and one new hydrochlorofluorocarbon (HCFC) have been released into the atmosphere.

CFCs are the main cause of the hole in the ozone layer over Antarctica. Laws to reduce and phase out CFCs came into force in 1989, followed by a total ban in 2010. This has resulted in successfully reducing the production of many of these compounds on a global scale. However, legislation loopholes still allow some usage for exempted purposes.

The identification of the four new gases discovered in this research, is very worrying as they will contribute to the destruction of the ozone layer. We don’t know where the new gases are being emitted from and this should be investigated. Possible sources include feedstock chemicals for insecticide production and solvents for cleaning electronic components.

The UEA press-release on the article

The paper received quite some attention in the press:

BBC
New Scientist
The Guardian
Financial times
Wall Street Journal
Le Monde

Autumn School: Data Assimilation in Biogeochemical Cycles

Posted on by February 6, 2014

20-27 Sept 2014, ICTP, Trieste, Italy

The International Space Science Institute’s (ISSI) Working Group on “Carbon Cycle Data Assimilation: How to Consistently Assimilate Multiple Data Streams” is organizing an Autumn School on ‘Data Assimilation in Biogeochemical Cycles’. The location will be the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics(ICTP) in Trieste, Italy. The Autumn School will take place from 20 September until 27 September, 2014.

Scope: The Autumn School will support the training of young scientists building the next generation’s researcher in the growing field of data assimilation in biogeochemical cycle science. It will be organised as a 6-day long school with two 1.5 hours blocks of lectures in the morning and two 1.5 hours blocks of exercises in the afternoon. Topics to be covered include biogeochemical cycles in the Earth System, modelling of dynamical systems, data assimilation methods and its application in biogeochemical modelling. Students have the opportunity to present their work during a poster session.

Target Audience: The school is mainly oriented at Early Career Scientists (i.e. experienced PhD students and young scientist within their first PostDoc) with a maximum of 40 participants.

Provisional list of lecturers:
Frederic Chevalier, LSCE, France
Martin Heimann, MPI for Biogeochemistry, Germany
Sander Houweling, SRON, Netherlands
Fortunat Joos, University of Bern, Switzerland
Thomas Kaminski, FastOpt, Germany
Anna Michalak, Stanford, USA
Andreas Oschlies, GEOMAR, Germany
Bernard Pinty, JRC, Italy
Peter Rayner, U Melbourne, Australia
Marko Scholze, Lund University, Sweden
Sönke Zaehle, MPI for Biogeochemistry, Germany

Registration is open until 1st May 2014 and includes submission of a short CV, motivation letter (max 1 page), and names and contact details of two referees!

Applicants will be informed on their admission to the Autumn School in June 2014. Register here!

Costs and funding: Most of the costs (accommodation, catering, organization and lectures) will be covered by ESF TTORCH funds with co-funding from INGOS and iLEAPS. The students will have to arrange and pay themselves the travel and its costs. In exceptional cases limited funds are available to provide financial support to cover travel costs. Students are advised to contact one of the organisers (Martin Heimann, Martin.Heimann@bgc-jena.mpg.de, or Marko Scholze, marko.scholze@nateko.lu.se) for financial support.

DIAL system proves potential

Posted on by February 5, 2014

DIAL

 

 

 

Partner UEDIN works on a DIAL remote sensing device that potentially will allow to measure vertical gradients of CO2 and CH4 up to several kilometers height. The first prototype results look very promising and even shows potential for using the device for boundary layer height and aerosol observations. Read more in the deliverable report.

A time-versus-range image showing variation in the return signal of the DIAL prototype of power over an interval of 9 min

A time-versus-range image showing variation in the return signal of the DIAL prototype of power over an interval of 9 min. The bottom blue region is the lowest 200m where the system is “blind” due to its optical design. The red and yellow region on top of that shows the scattering by gases and aerosols in the boundary layer (up to 920 m), followed by the residual layers in the lower troposhere. The top layer of red and yellow arise from mid-level clouds. Return signals from clouds have been received from heights up to 5.8 km.

 

Methane on the Rise—Again

Posted on by February 5, 2014

In Science, InGOS scientist Euan Nisbet and co-authors published a perspective on the developments in the global methan concentrations, that appear to rise sharply again, after stagnation in the last 20 years.

Main conclusion is that both natural  and antropogenic emissions have increased since 2007, with rising emissions mainly originating from the tropics (9-14 Tg/year) and the northern mid-latitudes (6-8 Tg/year).

InGOS members can download the Science paper below. All others are referred to Science magazine.

InGOS mid-term review

Posted on by January 17, 2014

As you might know InGOS was subject to the standard FP7 external mid-term review over the first 24 months, the period 1 October 2011- 1 October 2013. The result of the review was very positive!

We just received the official letter from the European Commission with the result of the review. The full review report was written by the external reviewer (Prof. Wilfried Winiwarter from IIASA).

We, InGOS the project office and the Work Package leaders, look forward to work with our project partners on the implementation of all the useful recommendations in the review report, which will help to make InGOS an even bigger success!