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Ice Sheets: Byrd Polar and Climate Outreach Newsletter – Winter 2015

February 17, 2015

Ice Sheets: Byrd Polar and Climate Outreach Newsletter – Winter 2015

Team of Scientists Assembling Equipment on a Sled

This newsletter is also available as a PDF that includes images. 20150301V5.pdf

Greetings,

The new year brought a new name to the center – now officially the Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center. You will see more changes over the coming weeks with a redesigned website, a new hallway connecting  the original portion of Scott Hall and the Polar Rock Repository (PRR), and a field testing of crowdfunding. While more information about the new website and crowdfunding will be shared at the BPCRC retreat later this month, a new logo created for the PRR is displayed here.

Regards,

Jason Cervenec

cervenec.1@osu.edu

 

News & Information

Important Media Manager Information from Polar Archives

All Media Manager (MM) services will end on July 1, 2015. Per the College of Arts and Sciences, “Please note that these are hard deadlines and we cannot offer any further extensions. Our CIO has asked us to make sure that everyone is aware of these hard deadlines due to the fact that the MM platform is running on software that is no longer supported by the vendor and as a result no longer meets the minimum security standards at OSU.”

The good news is that the OSU Libraries are currently working to implement an image management system. The Collections of the Polar Archives are OSU Library collections and will therefore be automatically migrated to the new system. What is unclear at this time is whether this new system will be available to outside groups, like BPCRC. If you are currently a collection owner and are ready to transition your collection to the Polar Archives or would like to walk through your options, please contact Laura Kissel at 688-8173 or via e-mail at kissel.4@osu.edu

 

Opportunities

2015 Byrd Postdoctoral Fellowship Program

Applications are being accepted through Friday, March 13, 2015 for the Byrd Postdoctoral Fellowship Program. This program was established through a major gift from the Byrd Foundation in memory of Rear Admiral Richard Evelyn Byrd and Marie Ames Byrd, his wife. This program provides fellowships at The Ohio State University for postdoctoral researchers with superior academic backgrounds who are pursuing advanced research on topics relevant to polar and alpine environments as well as global climate change. Postdoctoral fellows must have received their Ph.D. within five years of selection. Except for fieldwork and other fellowship related research activities that require absence from campus, Byrd Fellows are expected to be in residence at the Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center during the tenure of their fellowship. Background information and submission instructions are online.

2015 Rick Toracinta Graduate Scholarship in Atmospheric Science

Applications are being accepted through March 16, 2015 for the Toracinta scholarship. Dr. E. Richard (Rick) Toracinta was a talented research scientist with the Polar Meteorology Group of the Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center at The Ohio State University. In addition to his polar work, Rick had a passion for severe weather and was a volunteer storm chaser on the Great Plains during many springs. This scholarship commemorates Rick's lasting interest in the atmosphere as well as his desire to be a teacher. Requirements and application instructions are online.

Volunteers Needed

E-mail Jason Cervenec at cervenec.1@osu.edu if you are interested in volunteering with any of the programs listed below.

March 31st Latin American Night – As usual, this year’s Latin American Night will feature food, three speakers whose research is focused on Latin America – Alfonso Fernández, Ollie Wigmore, and Chris Gardner, and tours. Two changes to the program include the addition of a brief Latin American music performance and featuring of additional research groups on our tours. We are looking for individuals who would like to give an overview of their group’s work to individuals on the tour.  

April 11th Science Olympiad State Tournament - Both morning and afternoon times are available. No prior Science Olympiad experience is necessary and all training will be provided the day of the event. BPCRC has organized and run the Dynamic Planet event for the past three years.

April 25th Earth Day at the Columbus Zoo & Aquarium – Both morning and afternoon times are available. We will run a series of hands-on activities for families and youth. One training session will be provided before the event.   

May 9th International Migratory Bird Day at the Grange Insurance Audubon Center – This event will take place from 10 to 1 or 11 to 2 (details are still being arranged) and features hands-on activities for families and youth. One training session will be provided before the event.

 

Multimedia

Did you miss a Fall program? It might be online…

A number of our Fall programs were recorded and are available online. We invite you to view the programs, share them with others, or include them as part of a course.

Videos with Slides Posted on BPCRC’s Vimeo Account

  • Climate Change in West Antarctica: Are we heading for a dramatic rise in sea level? by David Bromwich of BPCRC  https://vimeo.com/112978617
  • Remembrance of Dr. John Mercer of the Byrd Polar Research Center by David Elliot of BPCRC  https://vimeo.com/112982968
  • How the History of Antarctica’s Heroic Age Can Contribute to Contemporary Ecological Research in the McMurdo Dry Valleys by Adrian Howkins of Colorado State University  https://vimeo.com/112683379
  • Presentation by Joel Barker of BPCRC as part of the Climate Conversation held in January at  the Methodist Theological School in Ohio  https://vimeo.com/118840235

Media Coverage

Ian Howat published a “Brief Communication: Sudden drainage of a subglacial lake beneath the Greenland Ice Sheet” in The Cryosphere in January and Chiara Uglietti (Byrd Fellow), Paolo Gabrielli, and Lonnie Thompson published “Widespread pollution of the South American atmosphere predates the industrial revolution by 240 y” in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Both papers were covered by national and international news organizations.

In the local news, comments by Bryan Mark and Andrew Collins were featured in a story (Cold-weather pros break down how to bundle up) in The Columbus Dispatch about cold weather gear and Ryan Crumley and Laura German modeled gear in an accompanying photo spread. Dongyue Li was featured in an article (Science quite helpful when constructing a snowman) in The Columbus Dispatch about the perfect snow composition for building a snowman.

Aaron Wilson and Ellen Mosley-Thompson on NBC4 coverage of the NASA and NOAA announcement of 2014 being the hottest year in recorded history (2014 Sets Global Heat Record) and Joel Barker and David Bromwich featured in a story on the same topic in The Columbus Dispatch (2014 sets record as Earth keeps heating up).

The work of BPCRC outreach is mentioned in The Columbus Green Community Plan: Green Memo III released by the City of Columbus in January 2015. Lastly, our Facebook and Twitter post of Ohio State fans cheering on the Buckeyes in Antarctica received widespread re-posting.  A copy of the original post is below.

 

Upcoming Programs & Events

February 19 “TV Weathercasters as Climate Educators: Making the Global Local” by Edward Maibach from George Mason University at 11 am in Journalism Building Room 360

February 19 Taking Ohio’s Temperature: Assessing Local Health Impacts of Climate Change” featuring David Bromwich at 7 pm at COSI

February 23 BPCRC Retreat in Scott Hall

March 6th Severe Weather Symposium at the Ohio Union All Day (registration required)

March 31st Latin American Night at BPCRC with presentations from Alfonso Fernández and Ollie Wigmore, dinner, tours, and a musical performance at 5:30 at BPCRC (registration required)

April 6th “Summary of the Work of the White House Task Force on Climate Change Preparedness and Resilience” by Paula Brooks at 3:30 pm in 177 Scott Hall

April 14th Ellen Peters from OSU’s Department of Psychology will present “Why we don't believe science: A perspective from decision psychology” in 177 Scott Hall at 3:30 pm

Byrd Bites Brown Bags for Spring Semester 2015

All brown bags take place in the BPRC Learning Center (177 Scott Hall) at noon. This is a friendly environment to explain your research, describe recent field experiences, or practice for a conference talk.

Wednesday, February 18th • Alfonso Fernandez

Talk Title TBA

Friday, March 20th  •  Emilie Beaudon

Talk Title TBA

Monday, March 23rd • Alvaro Montenegro

Talk Title TBA

Thursday, April 16th • Aaron Wilson

Improving the GRACE-measured mass balance of Antarctica with Polar WRF and GPS RO assimilation.

Environmental Professionals Network Breakfasts

Tuesday, February 24. 2015 and Tuesday, March 10, 2015 at 7:30 am at the 4-H Center

Cleaning Up America’s Rivers and Blueprint for Urban Water Security and the Alliance for Watershed Stewardship - Tools for Local to Global Action and Blueprint Columbus, Clean Streams, Strong Neighborhoods Update will be the February and March programs respectively. If you are interested in attending, please RSVP at epn.osu.edu. These monthly breakfasts are a great way to meet other professionals on campus and from around Central Ohio.

Summer Workshops for Educators

The center will host two workshops for educators in summer 2015. The first will be on argument writing for science, history and English language arts teachers and the second will be on science principles for studying Earth’s past. A flier for the first workshop is included on the last page of this newsletter.

 

Newsletter

If you would like to add announcements, information, or photos to the newsletter, please e-mail them to cervenec.1@osu.edu.

 

IMPENDING DEADLINES…

NASA: Earth and Space Science Fellowship 2015 Renewal  

            Solicitation NESSF15R                                               Due 3/16/15

NASA: Surface Water and Ocean Topography Science Team  

            Solicitation NNH15ZDA001N-SWOT NOI                         Due 4/15/15

NSF: Science of Learning - Collaborative Networks (SL-CN)

            Solicitaton 15-532                                                       Due 3/18/15

NSF: Antarctic Research

            Solicitation 15-529                                                      Due 4/15/15

NSF: Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Pathways into Geoscience

            Solicitation 15-526                                                      Due 3/16/15

 

As always, you can check out funding sources any time at http://research.osu.edu/researchers/ funding/.