[Aqualist] Abstract for UNSW talks at The Palaeo Advancements on the East Coast (PAEC) seminar series

[Chris Turney]

HI everyone,

We've had a request for the abstracts of today's talks so have pasted them
below.

Title: Palaeo-perspectives on fire regimes in two regions of south-eastern
Australia.



Author:  Scott Mooney, Associate-Professor, School of Biological, Earth and
Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales





Abstract: This presentation will discuss the implications of long,
high-resolution analyses of sedimentary charcoal across the Snowy Mountains
and Sydney Basin regions. The overall aim is to consider how fire
regimes of the recent past compare to millennial-scale records and to
examine the potential drivers of fire in these ecosystems. Composite
charcoal records in each of these two regions support the hypothesis
that climate variability is primarily responsible for the fire regimes
of the past. This insight is then used to consider likely future changes to
fire in eastern Australia.





Title: The Role of Tree Ring Drought Atlases in Climate Change Research:
State of the Art and Future Developments



Author:  Edward R. Cook, Ewing Lamont Research Professor, Lamont-Doherty
Earth Observatory, Columbia University, New York



Abstract: Hydroclimatic variability is a complex spatiotemporal process
that requires the generation of high-resolution climate field
reconstructions to capture its full range of space-time variability over
the Common Era. While it is possible to generate these ‘drought atlases’
from complex multi-proxy arrays of paleoclimate indicators, the greatest
success to date has come from using dense networks of exactly dated,
moisture-sensitive, annual tree-ring chronologies for reconstruction.  The
‘North American Drought Atlas’ (NADA) is the archetype in this regard. It
has been used to identify the occurrence of unprecedented megadroughts over
the past millennium in North America, associate these extreme events to
severe cultural impacts in the American West, and map them out in a form
that is useful for climate model experiments. The NADA archetype has been
successfully extended to Asia in the form of the ‘Monsoon Asia Drought
Atlas’ (MADA) and to European and Mediterannean regions in the form of the
‘Old World Drought Atlas’ (OWDA).  Collectively, the NADA, MADA, and OWDA
cover most of the Northern Hemisphere land area, with the remaining voids
in Asia expected to be filled in the near future. This leaves the Southern
Hemisphere (SH) as the next frontier of drought atlas development. To this
end, the Australia-New Zealand Drought Atlas (ANZDA), covering the eastern
half of Australia and New Zealand, has recently been completed and efforts
are now being made to develop the necessary tree-ring network for
completing the Western Australia Drought Atlas (WADA). South America and
Africa are the other SH land areas to do. There is limited opportunity to
produce a drought atlas for Africa because of the lack of suitable tree
species there. However, South America has a well-developed tree-ring
network for producing a South American Drought Atlas (SADA) and efforts are
underway now to make this happen. The completion of a near-global drought
atlas will provide important new insights into the natural and
anthropogenic origins of hydroclimatic variability and forcing at
continental, hemispheric, and global scales. In addition, the drought
atlases will provide vital evaluations of climate model simulations of
hydroclimatic variability, along with improved assessments of future risks
and impacts.


All the best,

Chris
On Tuesday, February 14, 2017, Chris Turney <turneychris at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi everyone,
>
>
> Apologies for any cross-posting.
>
>
> Just a quick reminder. The next double act for the *Palaeo Advancements
> on the East Coast* seminar series is taking place this Thursday (the 16
> February) at the University of New South Wales. A map for campus can be
> found at http://fmtoolbox.unsw.edu.au/comms/KensingtonCampus.pdf. For
> those of you driving, probably the best place to park is the top floor of
> multi-storey car park (H25) which has paid spaces for visitors and can be
> accessed via Gate 11 off Botany Street.
>
>
> *Date: Thursday, 16 February 2017*
>
> *Time: Commencing 3 pm *
>
> *Venue: Central Lecture Block 2 (CLB2, Building E19), University of New
> South Wales (Kensington Campus)*
>
>
> *Seminar 1 by Associate Professor Scott Mooney (UNSW):*
> Palaeo-perspectives on fire regimes in two regions of south-eastern
> Australia
>
> *Seminar 2 by Dr Ed Cook (Director, Tree-Ring Laboratory, Lamont-Doherty
> Earth Observatory, Columbia University): *The role of tree ring drought
> atlases in climate change research: State of the art and future developments
>
>
> This is a completely open event and we’d welcome anyone to attend. The
> meetings are completely informal with plenty of tea and coffee. At the end
> of the talks we’ll take a trip down to The White House (next to the Fig
> Tree Theatre on the Kensington Campus; near Gate 4) and have drinks and a
> cheap eat.
>
>
> With many of us in the throes of Discovery grant writing, this should be a
> great afternoon for taking a well earned break, catching up with friends
> and sharing some ideas!
>
>
> Hope to see you there.
>
>
> All the very best,
>
>
> Chris Turney (UNSW)
>
> Tim Cohen (UoW)
>
> Sylvia Frisia (Newcastle)
>
> Damian Gore (Macquarie)
>
> Monika Markowska and Pauline Treble (ANSTO)
>
> Dan Penny (Sydney)
>
> Greg Skilbeck (UTS)
>
>
> *Chris Turney FRSA FGS FRGS*
>
> Professor of Earth Sciences and Climate Change
>
> Co-ordinator of the Earth’s Past Future <http://earthspastfuture.com/>
> Program
>
> Founding Director and Scientific Advisor to CarbonScape
> <http://carbonscape.com/>, *refining carbon sustainably*
>
>
> Check out my latest research paper
> <http://www.nature.com/articles/srep39979>
>
> You can read my most recent article for *The Conversation* here
> <https://theconversation.com/csiro-cuts-as-redundancies-are-announced-the-real-cost-is-revealed-59895>
>
>
> Follow the Intrepid Science team in the field
> <http://www.intrepidscience.com/>, reporting science when it happens, *where
> it happens*
>
>
> Palaeontology, Geobiology and Earth Archives Research Centre (PANGEA) and
> Climate Change Research Centre (CCRC), School of Biological, Earth and
> Environmental Sciences (BEES),
>
> University of New South Wales
>
> NSW 2052 Australia
>
>
> www.christurney.com
>
>
> ***
>
>
> Slartibartfast: *Science has achieved some wonderful things of course,
> but I'd far rather be happy than right any day.*
>
> Arthur Dent: *And are you?*
>
> Slartibartfast: *No. Thats where it all falls down of course.*
>
> Arthur Dent: *Pity. It sounded like quite a good lifestyle otherwise.*
>
>
>
> *The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy*, by the great Douglas Adams
>