CFCAS and McGill announce new air quality and climate change research

Research part of efforts to help Canada mitigate and adapt to the impacts of climate change

McGill University is pleased to announce $526,000 in funding from The Canadian Foundation for Climate and Atmospheric Sciences (CFCAS) to support two groundbreaking research projects that will advance Canada’s science and technology objectives while helping prepare for the effects of climate change.

This funding is part of the $5.5 million recently awarded by CFCAS to promote research across Canada on increasing knowledge and training in air quality, extreme weather, climate sciences or marine environmental prediction. The competition focused on research that could guide environmental policy or adaptation strategies. Funds were awarded to research on air quality, northern science, weather prediction and forecasting, or climate change and water resources. Multidisciplinary collaborative research is encouraged, as well as partnerships with researchers in the health or social sciences as appropriate.
This is the Foundation’s seventh and final competition under its current mandate and is funded entirely by interest revenues of CFCAS investments. CFCAS has invested more than $115 million across Canada over the past eight years to support a suite of research projects.

www.mcgill.ca

International Arctic Change 2008 Conference: Quebec City 9-12, December 2008.

The ArcticNet Network of Centres of Excellence of Canada and its national and international partners are welcoming the international Arctic research community to Quebec City for the International Arctic Change 2008 Conference. Coinciding with the pinnacle of the International Polar Year and the 400th anniversary of Quebec City, Arctic Change 2008 welcomes researchers, students, policy makers and stakeholders from all fields of Arctic research and all countries to address the global challenges and opportunities brought by climate change in the circum-Arctic. With over 600 participants expected to attend, Arctic Change 2008 will be the largest trans-sectoral international Arctic research conference ever held in Canada.The conference will be held at the Quebec City Convention Centre from 9-12 December 2008.

Call for Abstracts: The Arctic Change 2008 International Organizing Committee invites abstract submission for both oral and poster presentations to fill the 36 multidisciplinary topical sessions offered within the scientific program and covering a wide range of Arctic research topics. Abstracts are being accepted until Friday, 26 September 2008. Abstract submission guidelines are available by clicking here.

Registration: On-line registration for the conference is now available on the Arctic Change 2008 website.

www.arctic-change2008.com

CEATI International: Climate Change Impacts on Hydroelectric Water Resource Management Workshop, October 8-9, 2008, Holiday Inn Montreal-Midtown

Hydropower plays an important role in the future supply of renewable energy. Climate change can have a profound impact on small and large scale hydroelectric power production. Therefore, water managers must be informed of the potential impacts of climate change on their river systems.

The goal of this year’s workshop is to bridge the gap between scientists and practitioners studying climate change impacts on short, medium and long term water resource planning.

For more information, including a detailed program, please visit the CEATI International website

www.ceati.com

1 Hearing tests for polar bears

Scientists in California are testing the hearing of polar bears to try to find out whether the noises associated with melting Arctic ice could affect their ability to survive.

By Peter Bowes
BBC News, San Diego
September 30, 2008

In the wild, polar bears live in one of the quietest places on Earth. For much of the time, the Arctic is a bitterly cold, silent world.But global warming is changing that. Ice, which is crucial to the bears' survival, is disappearing and people are moving in.

Read more at www.news.bbc.co.uk

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2 Alberta researchers claim their machine removes CO2 from air

By Kelly Cryderman,
Canwest News Service
September 29, 2008

CALGARY - A team of University of Calgary researchers say they have built a simple machine that can capture carbon dioxide right out of the air, and that could operate anywhere on the planet.

Read more at www.canada.com

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3 Hundreds of methane 'plumes' discovered

British scientists find more evidence of climate threat

By Steve Connor, Science Editor
The Independent
September 25, 2008

British scientists have discovered hundreds more methane "plumes" bubbling up from the Arctic seabed, in an area to the west of the Norwegian island of Svalbard. It is the second time in a week that scientists have reported methane emissions from the Arctic.

Read more at www.independent.co.uk

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4 Europe warms fast: Med drier, north ever wetter

By Alister Doyle
Reuters
September 28, 2008

OSLO (Reuters) - Europe is warming faster than the world average and governments need to invest to adapt to a changing climate set to turn the Mediterranean region arid and the north ever wetter, a study showed on Monday.

Read more at www.reuters.com

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5 An accurate picture of ice loss in Greenland

Delft University of Technology
September 25, 2008

Press release - Researchers from TU Delft joined forces with the Center for Space Research (CSR) in Austin, Texas, USA, to develop a method for creating an accurate picture of Greenland’s shrinking ice cap. On the strength of this method, it is now estimated that Greenland is accountable for a half millimetre-rise in the global sea level per year.

Read more at www.tudelft.nl

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6 Hot Times

Alicia Newton
Nature Reports Climate Change
September 11, 2008

Proc. Natl Acad. Sci USA 105, 13252–13257 (2008)
Hot times

A new global temperature reconstruction, undertaken as a follow-up to the infamous 1998 'hockey stick' curve, confirms that the past two decades are the warmest in recent history. The original graph was a focal point of the 2001 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change assessment report and became a symbol of fierce debates over the evidence for global warming.

Read more at www.nature.com

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The next update from the Northern Climate ExChange will be sent out Wednesday, October 8, 2008

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