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BPRC News and Upcoming Events

Lonnie Thompson, Distinguished University Professor and Research Scientist at the Byrd Center, has won the 2012 Friendship Award from the People's Republic of China. The Friendship Award is China's highest award for "foreign experts who have made outstanding contributions to the country's economic and social progress". The award ceremony will be held 27-30 Sept. 2012 in Beijing, China.

Glass plates from explorer Knud Rasmussen's expedition to the southeast coast of Greenland in the early 1930s were recently re-discovered, and they are now being used to reconstruct glacier change in that region.

In this week's online edition of Nature Geoscience, Ohio State University researchers and colleagues in Denmark describe how they analyzed ice loss in the region by comparing the images on the plates to aerial photographs and satellite images taken from World War II to today.

Taken together, the imagery shows that glaciers in the region were melting even faster in the 1930s than they are today, said Jason Box, research scientist at the Byrd Center. A brief cooling period starting in the mid-20th century allowed new ice to form, and then the melting began to accelerate again in the 2000s.

More information is available from the OSU Research News article and from the Nature Geoscience link above.

Berry Lyons, of the Environmental Geochemistry Group at the Byrd Polar Research Center, was awarded the Distinguished Undergraduate Research Mentor Award along with four other faculty. Congratulations, Berry!

The Denman Undergraduate Research Forum also took place this week, and Paul Soltesz (Dept. of Geography, advisors: Bryan Mark, David Porinchu) took home third place for his research poster. Paul was also our 2012 G. McKenzie Undergraduate Scholarship winner. Other participants from our affiliated departments include Chris Sedlak (School of Earth Sciences, advisor: Nathan Stansell) and Josh Vidmar (Dept. of Geography, advisors: Bryan Mark, David Porinchu). View a list of the 2012 Denman Forum winners.

A team of Byrd Polar Research Scientists and their European colleagues are beginning their analysis of what are probably the first successful ice cores drilled to bedrock from a glacier in the eastern European Alps. With luck, that analysis will yield a record of past climate and environmental changes in the region for several centuries, and perhaps even covering the last 1,000 years. Expedition leader is Paolo Gabrielli, a research scientist at Byrd Polar; research team co-leader is Lonnie Thompson, Distinguished Professor of Earth Sciences at Ohio State.

Read more in the OSU Research News article.

Two Ohio State University climate scientists have been selected to receive this year's Benjamin Franklin Medal in Earth and Environmental Science from The Franklin Institute, a prestigious honor previously awarded to scientists such as Albert Einstein, Stephen Hawking, Jane Goodall and Jacques Cousteau.

Lonnie Thompson, distinguished university professor of earth sciences, and Ellen Mosley-Thompson, distinguished university professor of geography and director of the Byrd Polar Research Center, will receive the award during ceremonies in April, 2012. The award cites the Thompsons' "collective studies of ice cores from around the world which have improved the understanding of Earth's climate history, including the role of the tropics in global climate change".

For more information, view the OSU Research News article.

September 27, 2011, BPRC, Columbus, Ohio

Congratulations to Professor Ian Howat who is one of the recipients of the Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers, the highest honor bestowed by the United States government on science and engineering professionals in the early stages of their independent research careers. Read the press release: President Obama Honors Outstanding Early-Career Scientists

On the April 26th episode of Game Changers, host Brittany Westbrook highlights stories of innovation from The Ohio State University. Lonnie Thompson and Ellen Mosley-Thompson, two pioneers of climate research at Ohio State, explain their amazing ice core discoveries, the challenges of a typical drilling expedition and the physical demands of collecting history to document the realities of global climate science and advocate for cleaner energy solutions.

View the video segments below:

Some of the world's most accomplished leaders from academia, business, public affairs, the humanities, and the arts have been elected members of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Among those elected this year from Ohio State are: Ellen Mosley-Thompson, director, Byrd Polar Research Center and Distinguished University Professor of Geography; Clara Bloomfield, Distinguished University Professor, William G. Pace III Professor of Cancer Research, and cancer scholar and senior advisor, OSU Comprehensive Cancer Center; and Peter W. Culicover, Humanities Distinguished Professor in Linguistics.

View the list of the new Academy members announced on Tuesday (4/19).

A preliminary look at an ice field atop the highest mountain in the eastern European Alps suggests that the glacier may hold records of ancient climate extending back as much as a thousand years.

Researchers warn, however, that the record may soon be lost as global warming takes its toll on these high-altitude sites, according to a new study in the Journal of Glaciology.

Read the press release.

Please mark your calendars! The 2010 BPRC retreat will be held Monday, November 15th from 9:00am to 3:00pm. The venue will be the same location that we have had the meeting for the past several years.  If you need the location, or a map/directions please let an Office Staff member know.

BPRC Admin. Staff will set-up for the retreat from 9:00 – 9:30, so we won't actually get started until 9:30am, however please feel free to come at 9:00am to help with the set-up!

There will be coffee served in the morning and lunch will be served around noon.

Please forward your agenda items for the retreat to both Ellen and Michele.

Please RSVP to Michele (cook.942@osu.edu) no later than Oct. 31, 2010 if you plan on attending the retreat. If you do not RSVP we assume that you will NOT be attending.

Between 3 and 5 August, 2010, 275 square kilometers (106.2 square miles) of the front of the floating Petermann Glacier, far northwest Greenland, broke away. This is the largest single area loss observed for Greenland. Petermann is one of a few remaining floating glaciers in the Northern Hemisphere and among the largest. This area is more than three times that of Manhattan Island, New York.

The glacier effectively retreated 15 km (9 miles).

For more information, visit the article on the MODIS Team website.

The MODIS Team is part of the Polar Meteorology Group at the Byrd Polar Research Center.

Research scientists, including glaciologist Lonnie Thompson from the Byrd Polar Research Center, are currently on Indonesia's Puncak Jaya, the highest mountain between the Andes and the Himalayas. Puncak Jaya is located in the Western part of the island of New Guinea. Due to melting ice, Puncak Jaya is the only place left in the world where El Niño patterns have been recorded in the ice. Changes in climate in this area affect close to half of the world's population.

Follow along with the New Guinea project at the following resources:

• Blog: Racing Time on Oceania's Highest Peak from The Earth Institute at Columbia University
• Press Release: Scientists to Reap Ice from Indonesia High Peak
• Research article: Stone, Richard. Arduous Expedition to Sample Last Virgin Tropical Glaciers. Science 28 May 2010: 1084-1085, DOI: 10.1126/science.328.5982.1084.

Less ice covers the Arctic today than at any time in recent geologic history. That's the conclusion of an international group of researchers, who have compiled the first comprehensive history of Arctic ice. Leonid Polyak, a research scientist at the Byrd Polar Research Center, is lead author on the paper to be released in an upcoming issue of Quaternary Science Reviews. For decades, scientists have strived to collect sediment cores from the difficult-to-access Arctic Ocean floor, to discover what the Arctic was like in the past. Their most recent goal: to bring a long-term perspective to the ice loss we see today.

A news article on this publication is available from OSU Research News. More news sources on this research are available from the BPRC Press Coverage page.

This news is occurring alongside the latest report from the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) which reports that Arctic ice extent in 2010 may break the record low of 2007.

The folks at Beyond Penguins and Polar Bears, an NSF funded online magazine for K-5 teachers, have a podcast entitled "No Gloom, No Doom". Here's a preview on iTunes U.

Climate change is not only complicated, it can be pretty scary — for kids and adults alike. Educator and scientist Mark McCaffrey shares some tips for answering common misconceptions about climate, but avoiding the fear of climate change, by using activities that inspire and empower students.

The panel discussion is the final event in the series of public events celebrating 50 years of polar studies at Ohio State. Current Byrd Polar Research Center scientists will provide brief summaries of their current research and respond to a series of questions regarding their careers in the polar sciences. Ellen Mosley-Thompson, Director of the Byrd Polar Research Center, will moderate. Panelists are: David H. Bromwich (BPRC Polar Meteorology Group and Dept. of Geography), Bryan G. Mark (BPRC Glacier Environmental Change Group and Dept. of Geography) and Terry J. Wilson (BPRC Geological Sciences Group and School of Earth Sciences).

The panel discussion will be held from 3:30-5:00 pm in 1120 Thompson Library. This event is open to the public and undergraduate students are especially encouraged to attend and ask questions of the panel. Contact Lynn Lay (e-mail) or by phone at 614-292-6715.

Congratulations to Ellen Mosley-Thompson, research scientist at the Byrd Center and Professor in the Department of Geography, on being designated a 2010 Distinguished University Professor!

Although Ellen has always been considered distinguished to all who know and work with her, we are thrilled that The Ohio State University is formally recognizing her contributions to research, teaching and service over the past 30+ years.

Congratulations on this well-deserved distinction, Ellen! There will be a celebration planned to honor Ellen over the summer – details to follow.

The ribbon-cutting at the new Polar Frontier will occur at 10 a.m. on Thu., May 6th. You should arrive at least a half hour early, since you'll need to walk from the main entrance through the North America region to the new Polar Frontier entrance. The work of three BPRC research groups is featured in the interpretive building, developed with support from the OSU Excellence in Engagement grant and matching funds from Battelle. Representations of Arctic seafloor sediments illustrate Dr. Leonid Polyak's investigations of past conditions. Dr. Mary Davis, part of the Ice Core Paleoclimatology group at BPRC was also consulted about how ice cores provide clues of Earth's climate history. Finally, Aaron Wilson created new graphics as output from the Polar Weather Research and Forecasting model to show surface temperature and pressure conditions over the entire Arctic Ocean. Information about these displays will also be available soon from the BPRC homepage.

Lisle Rose is a retired diplomat and author of a dozen books and a number of articles on U.S. cold war, naval, and polar history.  Mr. Rose will be signing his book Explorer: The Life of Richard Byrd (University of Missouri Press, 2008), immediately following his lecture. The book will be available for purchase on site.

Rose will present The Adventure of Science, the Science of Adventure: Richard E. Byrd and the Assault on Antarctica on Wednesday April 28 at 3:30 PM in the Thompson Library, Eleventh Floor (Room 1120).

On Monday March 29, 2010 at 7:00 PM, Drs. Lonnie Thompson and Bryan Mark will discuss their research in the region of the Cordillera Blanca of Peru. They extend a cordial invitation to members of the OSU faculty, staff, and students native to or interested in changes in South America to participate in this event. Both will offer a short presentation of their work and invite questions after each presentation.

For more information and/or to RSVP, please visit the presentation web page.

Please share this invitation with friends, family, and colleagues who might be interested.

Lonnie Thompson, professor of earth sciences and research scientist with the Byrd Polar Research Center, has been elected as a foreign member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

More information is available from OSU Research News.

Multiple news sources covered a research paper published today in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences: "Glacier loss on Kilimanjaro continues unabated". The research paper explains that the ice sheet that capped Mt. Kilimanjaro was 85% smaller than the one in 1912. These glaciers may be gone within 20 years. The research paper's authors include Lonnie Thompson, Henry Brecher, Ellen Mosley-Thompson, Doug Hardy and Bryan Mark.

Visit our Press Coverage page for more links to the news articles.

Indrajit Bhattacharya of the Byrd Polar Research Center recently published a research paper linking Greenland melt area with the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.

More information is available from the Remote Sensing Lab's Greenland Melt Data website.

Abstract

The surface melt-area time-series (1979-2008) of the Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS) shows large spatio-temporal variability. The overall melt-area time-series is characterized by a step-like increase in 1995. The melt-area trend for the entire ice-sheet between 1979-1994 is 7.64x10³±4.79x10³ km²/year, which is 8-times higher than the period between 1995-2008 (9.64x10²±1.10x10⁴ km²/year). This step-like increase of melt area in 1995 coincides well with mean summer air temperature patterns at 8 coastal sites. We find that the melt area and temperature change in 1995, both coincide to a general sign-reversal in the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) index in 1995. We also find that the northerly sectors of the ice sheet do not clearly coincide with changes in the NAO suggesting the influence of NAO is being felt predominantly on the central-eastern and central-western sectors of the ice sheet.

The 2009 winner of the Rick Toracinta Graduate Scholarship in Atmospheric Science has been announced. Congratulations to Ellyn McFadden for receiving the 3rd scholarship. Please visit the link listed previously for more information.

BPRC's Berry Lyons will be speaking at the International Symposium on Terminus Lakes on Wednesday, October 28. The symposium runs from October 26 - 29 in Reno, Nevada.

Symposium Overview: "The Symposium will explore the latest research available on closed basin lakes in the western United States and across the globe. The Symposium will highlight recent research findings from the Walker Basin Project, a comprehensive research project that explored the best means to get additional water to Nevada’s Walker Lake while maintaining the basin’s economy and ecosystem."

More information is available on the symposium website listed above.

Also see: Article from OSU Research News

"I am delighted to announce that Ellen Mosley-Thompson has been selected to serve as the director of the Byrd Polar Research Center (BPRC) effective October 1, 2009. The Byrd Polar Research Center, currently celebrating 50 years of research excellence, is an internationally-recognized, premier polar and alpine research center emphasizing the role of cold regions in the global climate system. BPRC's mission is to conduct exceptional multidisciplinary research, offer enhanced educational opportunities, and provide outreach activities that build and strengthen Ohio State’s programs in polar processes and earth system science.

Ellen will lead BPRC in continued pursuit of excellence in its outstanding research programs, producing national and international contributions in understanding climate variability, detecting and interpreting changes in modern physical and biological systems, and predicting future environmental changes and their consequences for society. She will provide leadership in strengthening existing research programs, developing research in new areas, and encouraging collaborative activities within the center and the university. She will also foster relationships with current funding agencies as well as explore additional funding opportunities.

Ellen is a world-renowned expert in global climate change and its effects leading to the loss of the world's glaciers. She is a professor and University Distinguished Scholar in geography and is a senior research scientist at the Byrd Polar Research Center. She has spent more than 30 years performing research at Ohio State and has led eight expeditions to Antarctica and six to Greenland to retrieve ice cores. Among her many honors and awards, Ellen was recently named to the National Academy of Sciences and elected as a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union.

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Berry Lyons for the leadership that he has provided as director of the Byrd Polar Research Center since 1999. Under Berry's leadership, BPRC broadened its visibility and research focus to provide a more global perspective. His work in the areas of environmental geochemistry of trace metals, the causes and rates of chemical weathering, and the impact of urbanization on water resources has advanced the mission of BPRC. Berry will become the director of the School of Earth Sciences effective October 1, 2009.

Please join me in congratulating Ellen as she begins her exciting and well-deserved role as director of the Byrd Polar Research Center."

—Dr. Caroline Whitacre, Vice President for Research, Office of Research

Berry Lyons and Bryan Mark have visited Chile in the past month to talk about climate change research. Their colleagues have organized an international workshop on climate change:

Climate Change in Magellan and Antarctic Regions: Evidence and Challenge for the Future

The meeting will take place from October 27-31 in Punta Arenas, Chile.

Earth Sciences 580, the online climate change course offered by Carol Landis through the Office of Continuing Education, has issued a report on the Summer Quarter course. Students around the US and even India participated, and some left comments and testimonials. View the report on the course web page.

NOVA scienceNOW, an hour-long series on PBS in its fourth season, recently interviewed Ellen and Lonnie Thompson from the BPRC Ice Core Group. They discuss why it's vital to collect ice cores now and answer questions on climate, glaciers, and ice cores.

View or download the video segment

View the Ask the Expert Q&A section

Earth Sciences 580, the online climate change class that began on June 15, is well underway. The 3-credit graduate-level course is offered through the Office of Continuing Education under contract with the School of Earth Sciences at Ohio State.

Seventeen people from around the U.S.A. and one person in India are participating in the pilot version of the course. Participants hail from Massachusetts, Washington, Texas, Illinois, New Mexico, Colorado, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, and Washington D.C. They offer a range of backgrounds and experiences including: three elementary teachers, a lab manager, a greenhouse engineer, a staff person for the Organization of American States (OAS), three high school teachers, two former participants with NSF Polar Programs (ANDRILL and PolarTREC), and a former salesperson for carbon offsets.

The course will be offered each quarter in the 2009-2010 academic year, under contract with the Office of Continuing Education. A similar course is being developed for Continuing Education Units (CEUs) or Professional Development Units (PDUs) for those who do not need to earn credits.

For more information about the course, please contact Carol Landis.

Lonnie Thompson, of the BPRC's Ice Core Paleoclimatology Group, received an Honorary Doctor of Science Degree from Northwestern University. Thompson received the degree at Northwestern's spring commencement on Friday, June 19th.

Ellen Mosley-Thompson, of the BPRC's Ice Core Paleoclimatology group, was elected as a fellow of the American Geophysical Union for 2009. View a list of fellows elected in 2009.

Prof. Mosley-Thompson was elected as a member of the National Academy of Sciences on April 28th, 2009. This is a wonderful recognition of her outstanding research in polar sciences and paleoclimatology.

Read press release
More information from OSU Research

Congratulations to all Denman Undergraduate Research Forum participants for their great effort and excellent poster presentations!

Byrd Polar students took first and second place in the MPS division.

Pictured (click to enlarge) is Pat Burns with his first place poster (Advisor/co-authors: Dr. Bryan Mark, Henry Brecher and Kyung-In Huh) and Bill Magee (Advisor: Terry Wilson).  Both students are also affiliated with the School of Earth Sciences. SES student Justin Von Bargen (Advisor/co-authors: Dr. Anne Carey, Steve Goldsmith) won third.

Congrats to all the participants and winners from everyone at BPRC!

Our own Ellen Mosley-Thompson is the marquee speaker for the annual Edward J. Taaffe Physical Geography Colloquium TODAY.

Thursday, Oct 9 at 3:30pm
100 Stillman Hall
A reception will follow in the Derby foyer.

Information with downloadable abstract can be found on the Geography Colloquium webpage.

Congratulations to Dr. C. K. Shum on receiving the 2008 University Distinguished Scholar Award. Shum is a professor in the School of Earth Sciences. "His work on climate change is celebrated. Shum has received many awards and distinctions, most recently for his work as a member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) that won the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize."

Spring 2008 Course Offerings from Geology and BPRC:

Climate System Modeling: Basics and Applications: Geography 820.01
5 credit hours
Instructor: David H. Bromwich, Professor (bromwich.1@osu.edu)
Schedule: TR 3:00 - 5:00pm, Byrd Polar Research Center, Scott Hall Room 0140 on West Campus.
Call number: 10250-1.   

Stable Isotope Biogeochemistry: EarthSci 622
5 credit hours
Instructor: Dr. Andréa G. Grottoli, Assistant Professor (Grottoli.1@osu.edu)
Schedule: TR 11:30am - 1:18pm, plus 1 hour lab TBA;  room ML252
Call number: 17442-2

Interdepartmental Seminar in Polar and Alpine Studies:
The Uncertain Future of Ice: Exploring Sources of Uncertainty in Prognostic Models of the Cryosphere: Earth Sci. 896
Instructor: Dr. Ian Howat, Assistant Professor (ihowat@gmail.com)
Schedule: 3 hours/week, time and place TBA.  Please contact Dr. Howat with any questions.

February 12, 2008

The Thompson's were awarded the 2008 Dan David Prize today. The Dan David Prize, given annually by Tel Aviv University in Israel, awards a prize of US$1 million to each of three recipients for achievements having an outstanding scientific, technological, cultural or social impact in the world. Each year fields are chosen within three "time dimensions": Past, Present and Future. The Thompson's were announced as laureates in the Future (Geosciences) category.

From the announcement: 

"The 2008 Dan David Prize honors Ellen Mosley-Thompson and Lonnie G. Thompson, jointly, in the field of Geosciences for their separate and joint efforts in studying the geological and environmental records in ice cores ranging from the polar regions to the highest tropical and subtropical mountains on six continents and remote islands; and for providing high-resolution environmental histories that contribute to the understanding of complex interactions in the Earth's outer envelopes, such as the fast melting of mountain glaciers worldwide and the retreat and disintegration of polar icecaps."

I thought the Byrd Polar Research Center might be interested in my forthcoming book, Unknown Waters, A Firsthand Account of the Historic Under-Ice Survey of the Siberian Continental Shelf by USS Queenfish (SSN-651). It is scheduled to be released by the University of Alabama Press to book dealers/sellers in February of 2008. The late Captain William R. Anderson, skipper of USS Nautilus (SSN-571) during her historic 1958 transpolar voyage wrote the foreword and Clive Cussler (famous writer and discoverer of the Confederate submarine Hunley), Dr. Don Walsh (Mariannas Trench dive in Trieste in 1960 with Piccard) , Gary Weir - former Historian of the U. S. Navy, and Admirals John H. Nicholson (USS Sargo - 1st all-winter Arctic Ocean expedition) and George Steele (USS Seadragon - 1st survey of the Northwest Passage and 1st Atlantic to Pacific Transpolar voyage) have all written superb "book jacket" comments.

                                                                   Alfred S. McLaren

                                                                   Captain, USN (Ret.), Ph.D.

                                                                   alfredsmclaren@aol.com

• Addressing "climate skeptics"
• Defining,describing and understanding "uncertainty"
• Providing a long-term context for climate change
• Future climate scenarios and regional variability
• The process and creation of the report 

Jason Box, glaciologist and climatologist at the Byrd Polar Research Center, appeared on The Today Show on NBC this morning. Matt Lauer reports from Greenland on the abrupt melting of Greenland's ice cap. The Today Show is exploring climate change in a segment called Ends of the Earth, which is running from 7:00 - 9:00 AM on Monday November 5th and Tuesday November 6th.

To view Jason's segment, visit the Ends of the Earth website and click on the Matt Lauer reports from Greenland video under "View from the Arctic".

"Two National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded scientists, a U.S. Antarctic Program glaciologist and a recipient of the national Medal of Science, will receive the Lowell Thomas Award from the New York-based Explorers Club on Oct. 18 in recognition of their work at the frontiers of climate research.

The awards are presented by the president of the Explorers Club to groups of outstanding explorers who have distinguished themselves in a particular field. Five of this year's eight awardees are federal government scientists or receive their primary funding from the federal government. This year's awards theme is 'Exploring Climate Change.'"

"W. Berry Lyons, an NSF grantee, director of the Byrd Polar Research Center at Ohio State University and lead principal investigator for the McMurdo Dry valleys Long-term Ecological Research (LTER) project will be honored for his studies of the geochemistry of global climate change."

For more information: Explorers Club to Honor NSF-Funded Researchers and Glaciologist for Climate-Science Breakthroughs

He will give a lecture on Wed. Oct. 17 at 3:30pm in Room 240 Scott Hall. The title of his talk is Antarctic System Science - Early Results and Emerging Priorities.

Abstract:
In the mid-1990's NSF funded the "Research on Ocean Atmosphere Variability and Ecosystem Response in the Ross Sea" (ROAVERRS) experiment to take a "systems-wide" approach to understanding the Antarctic marine ecosystem. In this talk I will discuss our results from this field program and then I will use it to illustrate the broader landscape of how the government sets research priorities and how these priorities feed into the federal budget process.

Dr. Diane McKnight will be interviewing for the BPRC Directorship 21-24 Oct. 

She will give a lecture on Monday, Oct. 22 at 3:30pm in 240 Scott Hall. The title of her talk is Glacial Meltwater Streams of the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica:  Ecosystems Waiting for Water 

The McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica contain many glacial meltwater streams that flow for 6 to 12 weeks during the austral summer and link the glaciers to the lakes on the valley floors.  Dry valley streams gain solutes longitudinally through weathering reactions and microbial processes occurring in the hyporheic zone, evident as a damp area underneath and adjacent to the stream. The lower boundary of the hyporheic zone is determined by the depth to permafrost. On sunny days, stream temperatures can reach 15 °C, and advection of this warm water can erode the frozen lower boundary of the hyporheic zone. In cold summers, streamflow is fed mostly by melt from the faces of the source glaciers and a large portion of this meltwater may be stored in the hyporheic zone and then lost through sublimation, rather than discharged to the lakes. Some streams have thriving microbial mats composed of cyanobacteria and diatoms. These mats are freeze-dried through the winter and begin photosynthesizing with the onset of flow.  To evaluate the longer term persistence of cynaobacterial mats, we diverted flow to an abandoned channel, which had not received substantial flow for approximately two decades. We observed that cyanobacterial mats became abundant in the reactivated channel within a week, indicating that the mats had been preserved in a cryptobiotic state in the channel. Over the next several years, these mats had high rates of productivity and nitrogen fixation compared to mats from other streams. These stream-scale experimental results indicate that the cryptobiotic preservation of cyanobacterial mats in abandoned channels in the dry valleys allows for rapid response of stream ecosystems to climatic and geomorphological change.    

Bryan Mark at BPRC is running Geography 820.01 (Current Issues in Climate, Water, and Carbon) during Autumn quarter. The seminar, open to graduate students from all disciplines, will involve critically reviewing current research related to climate, hydrology and the carbon cycle.

Call#: 21506-1
Credits: 3 or 5
Location: Scott Hall 136
Time: Wednesday 3:45-6pm^*

The climate system mediates the exchange of energy and matter at the Earth’s surface and vitally couples people to their physical and biological environment. Water, as solid, liquid and vapor, plays a key role in the atmospheric transfer of heat, and is an essential resource for human society. A growing level of scientific understanding about how humans influence climate through the moderation of the carbon cycle raises concern for the future, and implicates policy responses. The very real prospect of human induced climate change has placed a new premium on interdisciplinary scientific research to better understand the complex nature of climate changes over time, anticipate future impacts, and explore the policy dimensions.

In this seminar, open to graduate^** students from all disciplines, we will engage such concerns by critically reviewing current research related to climate, hydrology and the carbon cycle. A goal will be to develop scientific literacy on issues that have broader impacts to society. Emphasis will be placed on communicating concepts clearly and sharing ideas across disciplines. We will also highlight research conducted on The Ohio State University campus, where many different academic units are engaged with related projects, and a recently proposed interdisciplinary program has been top-ranked for timely investment in excellence by the Provost (http://oaa.osu.edu/TIE2.php). Specific course content will be directed by student interests, but some possible questions to be addressed include:

What are the observable changes in the climate system, and how might they impact human society? Is abrupt climate change caused by humans? How do climate changes impact the water cycle, and availability of water resources? Are storms increasing in frequency or intensity as a result of human-induced warming? How do aerosol concentrations impact cloud development? What large scale teleconnections link the atmosphere and hydrosphere, and how are they impacted under changing climate? How might alternative energy development improve or degrade water quality? What adaptation strategies and policy responses are being considered to deal with these complex problems?

Class requirements: There are no prerequisites. Each student will develop his/her own case studies to engage an issue of their choice, select readings from the current and historical literature, and lead class discussion. Those completing 5 credits will summarize their research in a term paper. Attendance and active participation will be required during the weekly class that will convene in the state-of-the-art Learning Center at the Byrd Polar Research Center (140 Scott Hall).

^*class time subject to change, depending on student demand

^**upper level undergraduates may also be admitted with the instructor’s permission

Tuesday September 4, 2007

BPRC researcher Bryan Mark (Assistant Professor of Geography) and former OSU postdoctoral researcher Jeff McKenzie (McGill University) have employed measurements of changes in stable isotope ratios in streams on the western side of the Cordillera Blanca in northern Peru to show that discharge has increased by 1.6% in recent years compared to historical data.  The results demonstrate the utility of using stable isotopes to distinguish glacial- from non-glacial- melt contributions in watersheds, and also confirm predictions of short-term increases in discharge as glaciers melt.  Long-term decreases in stream discharge due to the acceleration of glacial melt may have potentially devastating effects on populations that rely on the streams for water resources.  The research, undertaken as part of OSU's Climate Water and Carbon (CWC) Initiative, will be published in a forthcoming issue of the journal Environmental Science and Technology.