[Aqualist] Travel support for Past Climates symposium

[Tim Barrows]

TRAVEL SUPPORT FOR YOUNG AUSTRALIAN QUATERNARY RESEARCHERS


Limited funding is now available to support two 
young Australian-based Quaternary science 
researchers to attend the Past Climates symposium 
in Wellington, New Zealand 15-17 May, 2009 
(www.paleoclimate.org.nz/pastclimates/index.html). 
Return airfare costs from an east coast 
Australian departure point to Wellington will be 
covered by these grants. The selected individuals 
will possess a good track record of proactively 
pursuing a Quaternary specialisation in either 
ice core, marine, or terrestrial palaeoscience, 
or climate modelling incorporating palaeodata, 
and will be based at an Australian institution. 
Funding is contingent on accepting a co-shared 
young scientist leadership role in the 
AUS-INTIMATE programme. Primary duties of this 
new leadership position will be to liase with 
Australian-based Quaternary scientists, engage in 
generating interest in INTIMATE within Australia, 
and assist in bridging to New Zealand based 
researchers involved in INTIMATE 
(www.paleoclimate.org.nz/intimate_project.html). 
This project is currently in its second phase of 
INQUA funding, and is serving to integrate ice 
core, marine, and terrestrial records of past 
climate changes from 30 ka – Present toward a 
better understanding of drivers of Southern 
Hemisphere climate and inter-hemisphere climate links.

The successful applicants will have the 
opportunity to present their current research at 
the Past Climates workshop, and will also have 
their workshop registration fees waived. 
Selection will be based on previous track record 
or strength of current research project, and the 
willingness to take on the AUS-INTIMATE 
leadership role. Interested parties should direct 
a brief letter of consideration, including an 
explanation of why funding is requested, and a CV 
to Drew Lorrey (a.lorrey at niwa.co.nz) by April 15, 2009.

More details about the workshop and invited speakers are outlined below.



George Denton – University of Maine
Professor Denton’s primary interest is the 
geological history of large ice sheets and 
smaller mountain glaciers. George has spent more 
than 30 field seasons in Antarctica, and also led 
projects dealing with the alpine glacier history 
of the Chilean Andes and the Southern Alps of New 
Zealand. Professor Denton is one of the foremost 
empirical scientists in Quaternary geology, and a 
climate theoretician as well. Collaborations with 
Wally Broecker and Peter Huybers have resulted in 
fundamental insights into abrupt ocean-atmosphere 
reorganizations in glacial cycles, and 
identifying the critical role of the Southern Hemisphere in climate change.

Wallace Broecker – Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University
Broecker’s research has focused on the role of 
the oceans in climate change, and recently on 
abrupt climate change and climate modes. He is 
best known for his development and popularization 
of the ocean “conveyor belt”, linking the 
circulation of the global oceans. In 1975, he 
inadvertently coined the phrase global warming 
when he published a paper titled: “Climate 
Change: Are we on the brink of a pronounced 
Global Warming?” He co-authored the book “Fixing 
Climate: What past climate changes reveal about 
the current threat - and how to counter it”, 
published in 2008. He has received many awards 
for his extraordinary contributions to 
geochemistry and the science of climate change.

Chris Turney – University of Exeter
Text Box:Chris Turney has worked on 
reconstructing climatic change in New Zealand and 
the timing of human colonisation in Australia and 
Southeast Asia. Chris was awarded the first Sir 
Nicholas Shackleton Medal by the International 
Union for Quaternary Research (INQUA) for 
outstanding Quaternary scientist for his 
pioneering research into past climate change and 
dating the past. In 2008 he released a popular 
science book titled “Ice, mud and blood: lessons from climates past”.
Jeff Severinghaus – Scripps Institution of 
Oceanography, University of California, San Diego
Jeff Severinghaus is the director of the 
Climate-Ocean Atmosphere Program at Scripps. His 
research interests are in quantifying abrupt 
climate change and determining the mechanisms for 
millennial climate oscillations using atmospheric 
gas compositions and isotopes from air trapped in 
ice cores from Greenland and Antarctica.

Peter Huybers – Harvard University
In his work Peter Huybers seeks to understand 
past climates and their variations by combining 
observational analysis with theory from the 
oceanic, atmospheric and earth sciences. His 
research deals with past climate on time scales 
from centuries to millions of years. Current 
topics include interactions between ice, 
volcanoes and the carbon cycle; orbital forcing 
of climate change in the Southern Hemisphere; and 
ocean circulation during the last glacial maximum.

Timothy Barrows – Australian National University
Tim Barrows’ career has oscillated from the 
terrestrial to the marine. Initially working on 
marine sediment cores in the southwest Pacific 
Ocean, he then completed a PhD on glacial 
deposits in southeastern Australia, before 
switching back to marine sediments for his Post 
doc, aimed at reconstructing sea surface 
temperatures during the last glacial. This has 
provided an ideal background to integrate marine 
and terrestrial records from the Southwest Pacific region.

Lionel Carter – Antarctic Research Centre, 
University of Victoria, Wellington (VUW)
Lionel Carter has been a key player in the 
understanding of glacial/interglacial 
paleo-oceanographic changes in the New Zealand 
region and how these changes in the southwest 
Pacific region fit into the global oceanic 
system. He was the Chief Scientist on the Ocean 
Drilling Program Leg 181 east of New Zealand, and 
is an active member of the US Margins and 
Antarctic Drilling (ANDRILL) programs. These 
research programs relate past atmospheric 
circulation and terrestrial variability to 
environmental variations in the ocean.

Anthony Fowler – University of Auckland
Anthony Fowler’s speciality is the development of 
kauri tree ring chronologies. His research has 
improved our understanding of kauri growth 
processes and climatic sensitivity, and how this 
iconic species can be used to reconstruct aspects 
of the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO). He 
and his colleagues at University of Auckland 
produced a 4000-year long calendar dated kauri 
record.  He integrates information from tree 
rings, speleothems and lake sediments to 
investigate circulation variability and climate 
change in New Zealand for the Late Holocene.

Nancy Bertler – Antarctic Research Centre, 
VUW/Geological and Nuclear Sciences (GNS)
Nancy Bertler is the New Zealand representative 
of the International Trans Antarctic Scientific 
Expedition (ITASE) which aims to determine the 
spatial variability of Antarctic climate over the 
last 200 yrs-1000 yrs. Her research focuses on 
Southern Hemisphere climate and ocean 
teleconnections, particularly associated with 
ENSO phenomena and Pacific Decadal Oscillation in 
the Pacific Ocean and the Southern Ocean region. 
Nancy is also in charge of the New Zealand ice 
core facility that opened at GNS in 2008.

Matt McGlone – Landcare Research
Matt McGlone is a world leader in the use of 
fossil plant pollen to reconstruct vegetation 
history. His work helped to date human arrival in 
New Zealand and the impacts on the landscape of 
early Maori and Europeans through deforestation. 
His research has also highlighted the effects of 
past circulation changes, ENSO variability and 
seasonality on vegetation and the landscape. Matt 
is also one of New Zealand’s leading champions of 
ecology and conservation, and has actively 
promoted better understanding of the origins, 
diversity and distribution of native species.