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Avoiding Dangerous Climate Change:
Geoengineering or Mitigation?
The Symposium and Related Events
Thursday November 19
5 – 7pm Trottier Symposium Leacock 132 Auditorium free admission, no reservations necessary
Panellists: Prof. James Fleming Colby College, Prof David Keith, Director, ISEEE and Environmental Systems and Group, Calgary Alberta Prof Alan Robock, Department of Environmental Sciences, Rutgers University, Dr. Phil Rasch, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory – Moderator, Nigel Roulet (Geography McGill)
7 – 8pm Public Reception, hosted by Dr. Lorne Trottier and Dean Grant Leacock lobby
Friday, November 20
9:30 – 11:30am Earth System Science host talks – panellists and ESS experts – Burnside Hall #426
1 – 2:30pm Trottier Symposium Roundtable – panellists and other scientific experts Leacock room 232
The Global Environmental and Climate Change Centre (GEC3) 2009-10 Seminar Speaker Series presents:
Dr. Laxmi Sushama
Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, UQAM
Global Environmental and Climate Change Centre (GEC3)
Abstract:
Interactions between the atmosphere and the underlying surface are important and determine the evolution of many simulated near-surface variables. Efforts are underway within the Canadian Regional Climate Modelling and Diagnostics (CRCMD) network to increase the range and physical realism of land surface processes represented in the Canadian RCM (CRCM). In particular, a number of key feedback processes known to play important role in the Canadian high-latitude will now be included in the CRCM. This implies modelling in unison various interacting components of the climate environment that have been traditionally modelled in isolation, such as near-surface permafrost. This talk will provide an overview of the evolution of land surface schemes, and in particular the ongoing activities related to improving representation of land surface processes and thus land-climate interactions in CRCM.
Friday, November 6, 3:30 p.m.
Room 426, Burnside Hall
McGill University
All are welcome to attend.
“An Analysis of a Technology-led Climate Policy as a Response to Climate Change”
BY Isabel Galiana, Ph.D. candidate & Prof. Chris Green
WHICH WAS PREVIOUSLY SCHEDULED TO BE HELD ON FRIDAY, OCTOBER 30th, 2009 3:30 p.m. HAS BEEN CANCELLED.
Global Environmental and Climate Change Centre & Lightfoot Institute Presents a Lecture by:
H. Douglas Lightfoot
“Fueling our adaptations to climate change”
At this point energy supply is more important than climate change. Without a secure and affordable energy supply neither developed nor developing societies can cope with today’s changing climate. This seminar considers the feasibility of existing and new energy technologies in terms of meeting our challenges to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and deal with the impacts of climate change we are already experiencing.
Friday, October 2, 2009 3:30 p.m. Room 426, Burnside Hall-805 Sherbrooke Street West
All are welcome to attend.
The Global Environmental and Climate Change Centre (GEC3) 2008-09 Seminar Speaker Series presents:
Dr. Robert Newton
Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory
The Earth Institute at Columbia University
Palisades, NY
http://www.ldeo.columbia.edu/user/bnewton
“Deconstructing Water in the Canadian Basin: Not as easy as it looks”
Thursday, April 23, 2009
2:00 p.m.
Room 426, Burnside Hall
McGill University
805 Sherbrooke St. West
Montreal, QC H3A 2K6
Abstract: There is a cottage industry in using suites of tracers to deconvolve water samples from the Arctic and sub-Arctic region into their components: Atlantic Water, Pacific Water (a.k.a.: Bering Strait Inflow), Sea-Ice Melt, and Meteoric Water (composed of river runoff and precipitation). Those of us who play this trade typically cite errors on the order of 5 to 10 percent on individual mass fractions. However, estimates of the Pacific and Atlantic fractions can differ by nearly a factor of two for samples from the same water types.
The contradiction apparently revolves around exactly how one chooses end members. Digging deeply into these choices offers some insight into water transformations on the Arctic shelves and, more generally, into how subtle this process of water mass decomposition can be if one pays attention to the details.
All welcome.
The Global Environmental and Climate Change Centre (GEC3) 2008-09 Seminar Speaker Series presents:
Dr. Christian Mätzler
Institute for Applied Physics (IAP)
University of Bern
Bern, Switzerland
http://www.iap.unibe.ch
“Passive-microwave research related to the hydrologic cycle”
Friday, April 17, 2009
3:30 p.m.
Room 426, Burnside Hall
McGill University
805 Sherbrooke St. West
Montreal, QC H3A 2K6
Abstract: The research activity of the Microwave Unit at IAP has been focused on microwave radiometry for 40 years. Investigations in remote sensing started by exploratory signature studies in the frequency range from 1 to 100 GHz mainly of surface emissivities and of dielectric properties of natural media with focus on snow, ice, water, soil, vegetation and atmospheric water. The work led to the development of forward models, an example being the Microwave Emission Model of Layered Snowpacks (MEMLS), to surface-based investigations of the atmosphere, and to the development and validation of retrieval methods of satellite-based radiometer data. After a general introduction the presentation will be focussed on (1) long-term observations of tropospheric water vapour and liquid water of clouds and precipitation, and (2) on surface-based radiometry at 1.4 GHz in support of ESA’s Soil-Moisture and Ocean-Salinity Mission to be launched soon. Matzler Abstract
Join us for coffee at 3:15 p.m.
All welcome
The Global Environmental and Climate Change Centre (GEC3) 2008-09 Climate Change Impacts and Adaptations Speaker Series presents:
Dr. Klaus Keller
Department of Geosciences
Pennsylvania State University
Friday, March 27, 2009
3:30-4:30 p.m.
Room 426, Burnside Hall
805 Sherbrooke Street West
McGill University
Join us for coffee at 3:15 p.m.
All welcome
Abrupt Climate Change: Would We See it Coming Early Enough?
Abstract: Model simulations and the geological record suggest that the Earth System can change abruptly and with little warning time in response to small and smooth forcing. The potential collapse of the North Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (MOC) due to anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions exemplifies such a climate threshold response. Currently, the MOC sensitivity to anthropogenic forcing is deeply uncertain posing unique challenges to the design of climate risk management strategies. Here we analyze three questions. Would the currently implemented MOC observation system deliver an actionable early warning sign of MOC changes before the system has been committed to a threshold response? How could the MOC observation system be improved to deliver earlier and more precise warning signals? What are economically efficient risk management strategies in the face of uncertainty and learning about climate thresholds? Keller Extended Abstract
Bio: Dr. Keller is the director of the Center for Climate Risk Management at Penn State. Before joining Penn State, he worked as a research scientist and lecturer at Princeton University and as an engineer in Germany. Professor Keller graduated from Princeton with a Ph.D. in Civil and Environmental Engineering. He received a Masters Degrees from M.I.T. and Princeton, as well as an Engineer’s degree from the Technische Universität Berlin. His research focuses on potentially abrupt climatic change, including oceanography, biogeochemistry, economic analysis, and decision-making under uncertainty. Keller Biosketch
The Global Environmental and Climate Change Centre (GEC3) 2008-09 Climate Change Impacts and Adaptations Speaker Series presents:
Dr. Karen O’Brien
Dept. of Sociology and Human Geography
University of Oslo, Norway
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
12:00-1:00 p.m.
Room 426, Burnside Hall
805 Sherbrooke Street West
Montreal, QC
coffee at 11:45 a.m. – all welcome
The Human Dimensions of Climate Change: Is it Time to go Deeper?
Abstract:The IPCC Fourth Assessment Report presents a sobering picture of climate change impacts and vulnerability to observed and projected changes. It explains the science behind the changes and considers the responses that can be taken both to mitigate the rate and magnitude of change, and to adapt to the changes that are now considered inevitable. If modern science is to be trusted, then society faces overwhelming challenges in the coming decades —challenges that most people find very difficult to grasp. Responding to climate change in a way that successfully prevents or minimizes ecological and social disasters will require societal transformations to occur at a breadth, depth, and speed that is probably unmatched in human history. Climate change does not merely challenge a “business as usual” approach to economic growth and development, it raises fundamental ethical questions, including issues of equity, justice and human security. For academic research to make valuable contributions to bringing about changes in both understanding and policy, there is a need for more innovative approaches, drawing on different disciplines and types of knowledge. In this lecture, I will discuss some of the social challenges of responding to climate change, and explain why it is time for human dimensions research to go much deeper, exploring how culture, values, and worldviews influence systems and behaviors. I will explain why I think an integral approach can help us to better understand and address some of the contradictions and paradoxes that are impeding action towards a sustainable future.
Bio: Dr Karen L. O’Brien is a Professor in the Department of Sociology and Human Geography at the University of Oslo, Norway and chair of the Global Environmental Change and Human Security (GECHS) project of the International Human Dimensions Programme on Global Environmental Change (IHDP). Her current research focuses on climate change vulnerability and adaptation, and on the role that values and worldviews play in responding to environmental change. She has recently published a book with Robin Leichenko on “Environmental Change and Globalization: Double Exposures” (Oxford University Press, 2008).
Global Environmental and Climate Change Centre Presents:
Understanding Global Climate Models: Basics for the Non-Climate Scientist
a free lecture series offered
Mondays and Wednesdays, Jan 12-28, 2009
4 – 5:30 pm
Room 306, Burnside Hall
805 Sherbrooke Street West
McGillUniversity
register by email: angela.mansi@mcgill.ca (please indicate title and institutional affiliation)
Did you ever think,“Where did Al Gore get the information to show those global climate change predictions in his documentary, An Inconvenient Truth?” Do you ever wonder how the figures are actually generated? OK, so you may know that the “data” comes from complex, expensive, computer-driven global climate change models, but did you know that there are many models and their predictions may vary? And, how can we interpret the output of these models on a regional scale when they produce a single data point for an area ~ the size of New Brunswick? By answering all of these questions, and then some, this special crash course aims to give academics, NGOs and policy-makers a better appreciation of the science of climate prediction and its utility for policy-makers across all disciplines.
Poster
PROGRAM:Jan 12 – Evolution of climate models and critical aspects of climate science (Dr. Zav Kothavala, Le Centre ESCER, UQAM)
Jan 14 – State of the art in global climate modeling” (Dr. Greg Flato, Canadian Centre for Climate Modelling and Analysis , Environment Canada)
Jan 19 – TBA
Jan 21 – Making it finer – adjusting the scale of climate model projections through “Downscaling” (Dr. Philippe Gachon, Research Scientist, Adaptation & Impacts Research Division, Environment Canada)
gachon_abstract_bio
Jan 26 – “Don’t confuse me with numbers: Model outputs for policy-makers” (Dr. Ian Campbell, Director, Plant Health Science, Canadian Food Inspection Agency)
campbell_abstract_bio
Jan 28 – “Climate Change: a Collision of Science, Politics, Economics and Ethics” (Ken Denman, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Sponsored jointly with Canadian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society Speaker Tour)
denman_abstract_bio
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About GEC3 ~ C3EG The Global Environmental and Climate Change Centre (GEC3) is a cross-disciplinary, multi-university research centre bringing together more than 40 researchers from six Quebec universities to study processes, modelling and impact of environmental and climate change. Our member institutions are: McGill University, Université de Montréal, Université du Québec à Montréal, Université de Sherbrooke, Université Laval, and Université du Québec à Rimouski.
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