SHAPE INQUA Workshop: Southern Hemisphere climate of the present and past

The Southern Hemisphere Assessment of PalaeoEnvironments (SHAPE), INQUA International Focus Group (IFG) Workshop will be held in Santiago, Chile, from 2-4 November 2016.

The title of the workshop is "Southern Hemisphere climate of the present and past."

Venue

Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile

Background

The first SHAPE IFG workshop will bring together climate modelers, dynamics experts and palaeoclimate scientists to focus on the inter-relationships, history, and impacts of Southern Hemisphere (SH) climate systems that are connected at regional and hemispheric scales.

Aims

The aim/goal of this meeting is for scientists in different disciplines to collaborate on examining major patterns of climate variability, key tipping points, abrupt events, and remote triggers of change in the past and present.

One aspect of integrations that SHAPE will undertake using palaeodata requires a climatological context to explain hemispheric spatial heterogeneity. Along with climate model simulations, models and field studies can be used to explore and distinguish between the influences of multiple drivers on Earth’s past climate history and explain regionally-contrasting patterns. In addition, assumptions of stationarity and uniformitarianism of teleconnections will be discussed with consequences for the interpretation of proxy data.

The focus of SHAPE presentations on 3-4 November will include:
- Drivers and dynamics of SH circulation structure, modes, and climate change
- Changes in SH climate gradients (e.g. precipitation)
- Climate drivers of SH glaciation during the late Quaternary
- Climate phenomena investigations (i.e. ENSO, SAM, IPO, PSA, etc.)
- Teleconnections within the climate system using reanalyses, models and natural archive data.

Participation

We encourage attendance of Quaternary scientists and multi-disciplinary researchers who use model simulations and proxy data to investigate internal and external forcing of climatic change. Presentations with a focus on the role of the atmosphere, ocean, cryosphere and terrestrial systems are welcomed.

In addition, on 2 November there will be a one-day SHAPE-affiliated project workshop on “Southern Westerlies Evolution in Environments of the Past” (SWEEP; PALCOM 1610P).

Deadlines

Limited travel support will be available to some attendees. Please submit your application by 26 September 2016, to be considered fully, especially for travel funds.

Further information

To register, go to the website: http://www.paleoclima.cl/workshop/

For more details about how to register for the SHAPE workshop, please contact Dr Maisa Rojas (maisarojasgmail.com (maisarojas[at]gmail[dot]com)).

To be involved in the SWEEP project on the Southern Westerlies, please contact Dr Jessica Hinojosa (hinojosagps.caltech.edu (hinojosa[at]gps[dot]caltech[dot]edu)) or Dr Heidi Roop (roop.heidigmail.com (roop[dot]heidi[at]gmail[dot]com)).