Abstracts: CMOS
Ottawa, 2016-2017
(in
language
given)
McBean:
Addressing the Global 2030 Agenda for climate change, disaster risk
reduction and sustainable development goals requires understanding the
interrelationships among the environment, economy, society, cultures
and beyond. These are complex and to "see the future" we need to
bring together transdisciplinary teams, across the natural, social,
humanitarian, engineering and health sciences, while maintaining
disciplinary excellence. These are challenges now being addressed
in international science.
The
international research programs - Future Earth, Integrated Research on
Disaster Risk and Urban Health and Well Being - are moving ahead and
will be further linked. The International Council for Science and
the International Social Sciences Council are enroute to merger.
These issues and opportunities will be discussed.
Brunet:
Over the last decade or so, predicting the weather, climate and
atmospheric composition has emerged as one of the most important areas
of scientific endeavour. This is partly because the remarkable increase
in skill of current weather forecasts has made society more and more
dependent on them day to day for a whole range of decision making. Also
it is partly because climate change is now widely accepted, and the
realization is growing rapidly that it will affect every person in the
world profoundly, either directly or indirectly.
One of the important endeavours of our societies is to remain at the
cutting-edge of modelling and predicting the evolution of the fully
coupled environmental system: atmosphere (weather and composition),
oceans, land surface (physical and biological), and cryosphere. Some
examples of seamless modelling and prediction across a range of time
scales will be discussed.
Dewey: The
Pacific Ocean has exhibited a number of major anomalies during the last
few years, generally responding to large scale atmospheric patterns.
Some of these patterns have been seen before, including the Pacific
Oscillation dating back over nearly a century. However, recent
occurrences have been detected under the shadow of climate change and
in the presence of enhanced observing and forecast systems. Our ability
to detect, characterize, and correlate these patterns continues to
advance, while our ability to predict and understand the causes and
linkages remains somewhat limited. In this overview of major events
dating from 2012 through to the end of 2016, we will piece together
some of the puzzle, or puzzles, peculiar to the northeast Pacific to
reveal what we know and don't know about this critical region.
Manore: Observations
of known quality are the cornerstone of meteorological, climatological
and hydrological services and science. Providing accurate,
reliable and sustainable observations in a field where technologies and
requirements are constantly changing requires a strategic, modern and
integrated approach to monitoring. The MSC's monitoring networks
and data management systems are currently undergoing numerous
transformations to address these needs - some large, some small.
Scott: Since its
establishment in June 2015, POLAR has made great strides to advance
Canadian leadership in Arctic science and technology, and to mobilize
knowledge of the polar regions, including Antarctica. Its engagement
and partnerships with federal, territorial, Indigenous, national and
international networks of interest promise to leverage collective
resources to enhance Arctic and Antarctic research. The opening of the
Canadian High Arctic Research Station in Cambridge Bay in 2018 will
provide a northern-based world-class hub for science and technology
research. Through advancing innovation in northern monitoring and
modeling science and technology, as well as promoting collaborative
integrative approaches, POLAR aims to improve economic opportunities,
environmental stewardship and quality of life for Northerners and other
Canadians. Dr. Dave Scott, President, Polar Knowledge Canada, will
discuss the importance of POLAR's work to northerners and the polar
regions, as well as discuss how collaboration and knowledge will ensure
resilient northern communities.
Nikolic:
This is a talk about our moody Sun and the hazards that it poses.
Throughout history, we did not think much about the Sun as a threat,
but our opinion was significantly changed by an event in 1859.
Back then, we still believed that the auroras are reflection of light
from icebergs in the north. The 1959 event was the first time we
documented a powerful solar eruption (R. C. Carrington), its
terrestrial manifestation and impacts on the human activities. Mr. O.
S. Wood, Superintendent of the Canadian Telegraph, wrote at that time:
"I never witnessed anything like the extraordinary effect of the aurora
borealis, between Quebec and Father's Point, last night... so
completely were the wires under the influence of the aurora borealis,
that it was impossible to communicate..."
Another example was the collapse of the Hydro-Quebec power grid in 1989
reminding us that space weather, the chain of Sun-to-Earth phenomena,
poses a hazard. In the age where our society is more and more
dependent on technology, vulnerability to space weather is an
increasing concern.
Hamme: The
ocean's biological, solubility and carbonate carbon pumps control
the surface-to-deep gradient in carbon dioxide and hence strongly
impact atmospheric levels. Quantifying these pumps individually is
challenging because their impacts overlap with each other. This talk
will focus on efforts using high precision measurements of inert gases
to disentangle these transport mechanisms with particular emphasis on
the solubility pump and to provide metrics to assess their efficiency
in large climate models.
Taillefer:
In 2014, Maritime Way was recognised as one of the leading companies in
acoustic modelling by the US Dept. of the Interior and the Bureau of
Ocean Energy Management (BOEM). This led to dialogues with the US
Dept of Homeland Security, a US Homeland Congressional Committee, the
Canadian Embassy and, this year, with the RCMP to help locate narcotics
submarines. In addition, in August 2014, Maritime Way
acquired the Marine Services of Quester Tangent Corporation (of
Victoria BC). Maritime Way is now building up their market
presence in Canada and Internationally as a leading company in seabed
mapping and analysis. The presentation will showcase advanced
seabed classifications technologies - including a recent cross-Atlantic
survey cruise aboard the French RV L'Atalante.
Barrie:
Forty years ago,
little was known about pollutants in the Arctic atmosphere and their
relevance to climate and the environment. Since 1976, the long range
transport and potential impacts of a multitude of substances in the
Canadian north has become better understood through cooperative
research.
In chronological order, these substances include: aerosols laden with
sulphate, organics and black carbon; stratospheric
ozone-destroying perfluorocarbons; persistent organic pollutants;
mercury; and long lived greenhouse gases. Each class of chemicals
have been the target of research involving Canadian government and
university research scientists, managers and diplomats that ultimately
led to international UN-based agreements to limit their emission to the
atmosphere and mitigate their environmental impacts.
A brief history of almost everything related to Canadian Arctic air
pollution and its impact on climate and the environment will be
discussed along with some recent highlights of analysis of thirty five
years of aerosol chemistry observations at Alert on Northern Ellesmere
Island, Nunavut, Canada.
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