Upcoming Events
Wednesday, March 12, 2008, 3 pm: Lianhong Gu, Oak Ridge National Laboratory Scientist, will speak about:
"The keeper and breaker of the global carbon cycle since the industrial revolution"
When: Wednesday, March 12, 2008, at 3 pm.
Where: 5th floor of Marshall Building, Room 531.
What: Dr. Lianhong Gu is a R&D Staff Scientist at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory's Environmental Sciences
Division who specializes in carbon cycle. Dr. Lianhong Gu will give an informal seminar entitled "The keeper and breaker of the global carbon
cycle since the industrial revolution".
Abstract: Terrestrial and oceanic sinks currently absorb a substantial portion of the
industrial carbon dioxide emitted to the atmosphere, preventing the
realization of the full climatic impact of fossil-fuel emissions. The
dynamics of these sinks critically influence the future trajectory of
climate change. There have been growing concerns on the potential weakening
of terrestrial carbon sinks due to autumn warming, droughts, wild fires,
and deforestation and of oceanic sinks due to the reduced carbonate
buffering capacity and climate change. In this talk, I will show that the
global carbon sink strength (GCSS, the annual sum of net oceanic and
terrestrial sinks with land-use emissions included) has been accelerating
since 1900 up to the present (2006), following a relatively stable period
of small global source since the industrial revolution (~ 1750). A very
tight linear relationship exists between GCSS and atmospheric CO2 for the
whole 256-year period. However, the partition of GCSS into land and oceanic
sink components and land-use emissions indicates that the carbon uptake by
undisturbed terrestrial ecosystems may have already saturated with respect
to rising atmospheric CO2.
In addition to the long-term trend, I will show that the Mount Pinatubo
eruption in 1991 had a huge impact on the global carbon cycle and was
responsible for the two largest carbon uptake records ever observed since
the industrial revolution.
Past Events
Tuesday, March 5, 2008, 12:30 pm: Brad Christoffersen (University of Arizona and Amazon- PIRE) spoke at the UA EEB departmental seminar on: "How important is root functioning for modeling of water,energy, and carbon fluxes across Amazonia?"
When: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Department (EEB) Tuesday Noon Seminar Series, Tuesday, March 5, 2008 at 12:30 pm.Where: University of Arizona, BioSciences West, Room 208.
What: UA EEB graduate student and Amazon-PIRE fellow Brad Christoffersen spoke about: "How important is root functioning for modeling of water,energy, and carbon fluxes across Amazonia?"
Abstract: Amazon forests play a central role in maintaining global climate stability as a potent driver of the hydrological cycle and as a large store of carbon. Recent work in land surface models has linked deep roots and hydraulic redistribution by roots (HR) in the Amazon basin to significant improvements in model predictions of water and carbon fluxes, and hence global climate. More recently, model revisions of parameterizations of belowground hydrology have produced similar improvements. While such modifications produce qualitatively similar results, they represent different belowground mechanisms which I propose to assess under simultaneous incorporation into a land surface model. A factorial model experiment driven by observed meteorology at a network of sites will help tease apart the relative role of revised hydrology, deep roots and HR. Model results will then be compared to a multi-year dataset from a network of eight eddy covariance measures of water, energy, and carbon balance in the Amazon, bounding a large range of vegetation types, precipitation seasonality, and land uses. This work is the first to intercompare different belowground mechanisms of root functioning in light of recent improvements to model hydrology, and will contribute to a more accurate representation of biogeophysics and carbon cycling in coupled models.
February 25-26, 2008: International Workshop in Brazil: Interactions Between Climate,Forests, and Land Use in the Amazon Basin: Modeling and Mitigating Large-Scale Savannization
When: From Monday, February 25 until Tuesday, February 26, 2008.Where: Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil.
Who:Dr. Michael T. Coe and Dr.Daniel C. Nepstad, Woods Hole Research Center, are organizing this 2008 NSF/Moore Modeling Workshop.
Wendy Kingerlee, wkingerlee@whrc.org, is in charge of logistics.
Workshop Overview: The purpose of the workshop, entitled "Interactions Between Climate, Forests, and Land Use in the Amazon Basin: Modeling and Mitigating Large-Scale Savannization", is to review the state of our knowledge of these interactions in the Amazon and to design a science plan that could significantly narrow the gaps in this knowledge.
This workshop is hosted by the Woods Hole Research Center and sponsored by the United States National Science Foundation and the Moore Foundation.
February 18-22, 2008: International Workshop in Brazil: Aerosols in the Amazon - Changes and their Consequences from Past and Future Human Activities
When: From Monday, February 18 until Friday, February 22, 2008.Where: Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil.
Who: Dr. Scot Martin (chair), Harvard University's David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies (DRCLAS) and Dr. Paulo Artaxo, University of Sao Paulo (USP), among others, are organizing this international workshop. Please refer to its website for more information.
Workshop Overview and Goals: Amazonian aerosol particles (including their formation, transformations, and effects on clouds and radiation) are very important as a climate regulator in the southern hemisphere. Therefore, understanding the effects on them of past and future human activities is a priority for planning strategies to mitigate the impacts of climate change. The goals of the workshop are to define research priorities, consider new research approaches, and address mechanisms for international collaboration, in particular to past and future changes arising from human activities, especially as tied to economic development plans for the region.
Wednesday December 12, 2007, 7pm: Informal meeting at the 2007 AGU Fall Meeting to discuss LBA-MIP
Where: Buena Vista Meeting Room, The Galleria Park Hotel, 191 Sutter Street, San Francisco, CA 94104. Here is a map from the Moscone Center area to The Galleria Park Hotel.What: Informal meeting with refreshments at the 2007 AGU Fall Meeting to discuss progress and next steps for the LBA Model Biogeochemical/Vegetation Intercomparison Project (LBA-MIP ) for the Amazon of South America. This project was created to bring together modeling groups to promote understanding on how the different models simulate the ecosystems and biogeophysical processes within LBA. This initiative is led by Luis Gustavo de Goncalves, Inez Fung, Humberto da Rocha and Scott Saleska.
Monday, November 26, 2007, 4:30 pm: Paul Moorcroft (Harvard University and Amazon-PIRE) speaks at the UA EEB departmental seminar on: "How close are we to a predictive science of the biosphere?"
When: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Department (EEB) Monday Seminar Series, Monday, November 26, 2007 at 4:30 pm.Where: University of Arizona, Biosciences West, Room 301.
What:Dr. Paul Moorcroft is a Professor of Biology at Harvard University who specializes in terrestrial ecosystem dynamics and the response of terrestrial ecosystems to global change. "How close are we to a predictive science of the biosphere?" was the title of his talk.
Tuesday, Nov. 27, 2007, 12:30 pm: Joost van Haren (University of Arizona and Amazon- PIRE) speaks at the UA EEB departmental seminar on: "Influence of tropical tree species on soil biogeochemistry"
When: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Department (EEB) Tuesday Noon Seminar Series, Tuesday, November 16th, 2007 at 12:30 pm.Where: University of Arizona, BioSciences West, Room 208.
What:UA graduate student Joost van Haren spoke about "Influence of tropical tree species on soil biogeochemistry".
Friday morning, November 16th, 2007:
Celebration of International Collaboration at Biosphere 2
The Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Department (EEB) and Biosphere 2
invite you to celebrate international collaboration, showcasing the PIRE
Program in Amazon - Climate Interactions during the UA International
Education Week 2007.
When: morning of Friday, November 16th, 2007.
Where: Tropical Forest Biome of Biosphere 2 (Vans left the UA Main
Campus at 9:20 am for the Biosphere 2 and returned at 2:20 pm.)
What: Our research team offered a tour of Biosphere 2 (B2), focusing on
how B2 Tropical Forest Biome will contribute to our Partnership for
International Research and Education in the Amazon of Brazil.