A new look and a new name
Following our review of 20 years of PAGES news in the last issue, we realized, based on our track record, that a facelift was overdue. But this time we’ve gone even further and we’ve also changed the name to Past Global Changes Magazine, or PAGES Magazine for short. We believe that this more accurately reflects PAGES news’ evolution in recent years from a simple newsletter into more of a magazine-style publication. We also hope that our new look magazine, with its more descriptive title, will attract a broader audience.
SSC Meeting in Paris
PAGES’ Scientific Steering Committee (SSC) met in Paris in January 2014. In addition to approving four new Working Groups, the SSC also reviewed Working Group annual reports, met with Future Earth representatives and discussed PAGES’ strategic direction in the coming year. The article on the opposite page gives an overview of the ongoing developments. The meeting was preceded by a day-long symposium featuring research talks by PAGES SSC members and a range of Parisian paleo-scientists.
New SSC members
We are pleased to welcome three new members to the SSC in 2014:
- • Peter Gell is a paleolimnologist at the University of Ballarat in Australia, and is leader of the Focus 4 Water Theme.
- • Kathy Willis is a paleoecologist at the University of Oxford, UK, and has also recently been appointed Director of Science at Kew Royal Botanical Gardens in London. She is the leader of the Focus 4 Biodiversity Theme.
- • Michal Kucera is a paleoceanographer and micropaleontologist at the University of Bremen, Germany, and was co-leader of the MARGO glacial sea surface reconstruction initiative.
Current SSC member, Sheri Fritz, was elected to serve on the Executive Committee (EXCOM) to replace outgoing SSC member, John Dearing. We’d like to take this opportunity to thank John in addition to the other members who recently rotated off the SSC, Eric Wolff, Michael Schulz and Fátima Abrantes, for their invaluable support and contributions throughout their terms.
Support for meetings
At its two most recent meetings in October 2013 and January 2014, the EXCOM granted support for a total of 19 scientific and educational meetings, which are either organized by PAGES working groups or relevant to PAGES’ scientific priorities. The PAGES-supported meetings are highlighted in our online calendar at: www.pages-igbp.org/calendar/pages-sponsored-events.
The next deadline for PAGES meeting support applications is 2 June. Details and application forms can be found on the PAGES website > My PAGES > Meeting Support.
Staff update
Welcome to Brigitte Schneiter, who has recently joined our team in the Finance and Office Manager role.
Upcoming PAGES Magazine issues
The next issue of PAGES Magazine will focus on atmospheric dust and will be edited by members of the ADOM Working Group. Contributions to this issue are now closed.
The following issue will be coordinated by the Past4Future project, of which PAGES is a project partner, and will focus on interglacials. Contributions will be sought in the coming months.
PAGES 2nd YSM special issue
Published articles have begun appearing in the Climate of the Past special issue emerging from the PAGES 2nd Young Scientists Meeting in Goa, India in February 2013. All of the first authors and most of the guest editors are early-career researchers who attended the YSM. You can view the papers, some published, some still in discussion at: www.clim-past-discuss.net/special_issue74.html
PAGES’ product database update
Over the last few months we have been working hard to improve the PAGES online product database. This database provides a record of all the products from the Past Global Changes project. We can now allocate products to Working Groups or events to produce an online archive of a group’s activities.
You can view the database at: www.pages-igbp.org/products/latest or go to the relevant
Working Group page and view their products. Please let us know if you see any gaps or errors, and send us any meeting documents e.g. presentations and posters, which we can post to create a complete online archive of an event or activity.