Abstracts: CMOS
Ottawa, 2017-2018
(in
language
given)
Gilbert
& Labrecque: The CMOS committee to plan 50th
anniversary commemorative events
identified liaison with the Canada Science and Technology Museum as one
of its action items. CMOS members John Reid and John Gilbert met with
NMST Curator Dr. David Pantalony and his colleagues to explore possible
joint areas of interest. The Museum was interested in two artifacts:
the thermometer that recorded Canada's coldest temperature at Snag,
Yukon in 1947 and the Canadian Snow Kit developed by NRC in 1949
Fisher:
Ice cores from Greenland and Northern Canada tell a
consistent story of changes in the climate over many millennium. This
story is presented from the end of the last ice age 11750 years ago to
the present and the major climate events related to examples of
societal response.
Brunet:
In general, observations indicate that only a small fraction in a fixed
framework (from 140° W to 20° E) covering African to the
eastern Pacific regions of the easterly waves that occur in a single
hurricane season contribute to tropical cyclogenesis. However, this
small fraction includes a large portion of named storms. In addition, a
study by Dunkerton et al. (2009) has shown that named storms in the
Atlantic and eastern Pacific basins are almost all associated with wave
breaking of tropical easterly waves.
Stewart:
Canada's ocean science community which includes the
federal government, academia, small businesses, not-for-profit
organizations, and other research partners, collect and synthesize
physical, chemical and biological ocean observations. This information
is used for discovery research purposes, to model ocean changes and
provide environmental assessment advice, support resource management
decision-making, and establish baseline data for long-term monitoring.
Canada's ocean community collects large amounts of data but, aside from
building comprehensive ocean observatories (Fisheries and Oceans Canada
(DFO) et al. 2010), there is no easy mechanism to integrate data from
various sources to allow the exploration of interrelationships among
variables, and no coordination and collaboration mechanism for the
ocean community as a whole to generate an efficient system (Ocean
Science and Technology Partnership (OSTP), for Fisheries and Oceans
Canada (DFO) 2011). Consequently, we observe fragmented and isolated
data - which may never be used outside of a specific project because it
is not discoverable by other potential end users.
Canada's ocean science community (Wallace et al. 2014), led and
supported by Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO), is advancing the
development of a Canadian Integrated Ocean Observation System (CIOOS)
that brings together and leverages existing Canadian and international
ocean observation data into a federated data system which will generate
value for users. This integrated ocean observing system (Wilson et al.
2016) will improve coordination and collaboration among diverse data
producers, improve access to information for decision making, and
enable discovery and access to data to support a wide variety of
applied and theoretical research efforts to better understand, monitor,
and manage activities in Canada's oceans.
Kohfeld:
Ever since scientists discovered
from polar ice cores that
carbon dioxide levels were about 33% lower during ice ages compared to
warm climate periods, they have been proposing theories to understand
why. Since the ocean holds approximately 50 times more carbon than the
atmosphere, oceanic processes are thought to be responsible. A range of
physical and biological oceanic processes have been put forth to
explain these fluctuations, and many can explain at least part of the
total glacial-interglacial signal. However, Earth system models have
yet to simulate carbon dioxide changes over a full ice-age cycle.
This presentation will show how the fossil record can be used to infer
long-term changes in marine productivity, ocean temperatures, ocean
circulation, westerly winds, and sea-ice cover, and how these data can
be pieced together to understand the sequential timing of processes
affecting atmospheric CO2 concentrations during the last full glacial
cycle (130,000 years).
Moore: This
lecture will include the search, eventual discovery, and ongoing
documentation of these two remarkable shipwreck sites. Detailed
investigation continues to shed light on the final days of the doomed
expedition, while revealing subtle aspects of shipboard life among the
imperilled crew, and the detailed manner in which the two discovery
ships were outfitted for Arctic Service.
Faber: Over the
past 30 years, Adventure Canada has run expeditions to the Canadian
Arctic and Greenland, using small expedition ships. As an
operator it has faced many challenges and thrills while planning and
executing northern tours. The complexities of navigation and of
organizing itineraries in the face of unpredictable ice and weather
conditions are key factors in northern tourism travel.
In
order to deliver a safe and quality expedition, detailed planning,
along with ensuring a highly experienced team, is essential to all
northern tourism. In addition, the development of links and
relationships with northern communities is at the crux of all
sustainable northern tourism. Today, with a rapidly changing
climate and a highly political region, northern tourism requires
dialogue, expert logistics, and problem solving in order to meet the
needs of all involved stakeholders.
Strong:
While Arctic regions have been warming faster than
anywhere else on Earth, the impacts of global warming have been most
severe over the sub-tropics where about half the human race lives. Most
disturbing of all is the desertification of the sub-tropics caused by
the expansion of Earth's great deserts, leading to severe prolonged
droughts and famines rivalling any in recorded history.
Conditions in those regions most seriously affected by global warming,
particularly Africa and the middle east, and how this has translated
into climate refugees, will be described. The talk will include
speculation on the dynamics that lead to desertification in many
regions, but which also allow heavy rains and flooding in immediate
adjacent areas. Finally, comparison will be made of today's conditions
with the reality of future scenarios, and why action on solutions to
the global problem must start at the grass roots, with individuals.
This may finally be happening, but the question remains: is it too late?
Black: Conventional
media (television and radio) still plays a huge part in
the way weather information is distributed to the public, but digital
platforms (mobile phones, Twitter, Facebook, internet sites, etc.) are
ever rising in popularity. How the industry has changed in the
last 20 years and where it is possibly heading will be discussed.
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