News
PAGES welcomes a new Director
In August, our Executive Director of 10 years, Thorsten Kiefer, left to pursue a role at Future Earth. An article on page 43 describes his outstanding contribution to PAGES over the past decade.
In November, we welcomed Marie-France Loutre as PAGES’ new Executive Director. Marie-France has a distinguished international career in past global change research, particularly in paleoclimate modeling and studying how different forcings and feedbacks influence climate. We also welcomed Angela Wade to the role of Communications and Project Officer.
PAGES farewells IGBP and formalizes relationships with Future Earth and WCRP
The International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP), PAGES’ umbrella organization since its inception in 1991, will conclude in late 2015. IGBP recently published the last Global Change Magazine, reflecting on IGBP’s three-decade legacy to global change research.
Looking to the future, PAGES has now officially become a core project of Future Earth and established a scientific partnership with WCRP. Read more on page 44.
PAGES and IGBP at AGU 2015
The International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP) will host a series of events at the 2015 AGU Fall Meeting to celebrate its past and the transition to Future Earth. PAGES working groups are well-represented in many of the IGBP co-sponsored sessions.
www.pastglobalchanges.org/calendar/all-events/127-pages/1455-agu-fall-mtng-2015
New PAGES Working Groups
Four new working groups have recently been launched:
- • Pliocene climate variability over glacial-interglacial timescales (PlioVAR)
www.pastglobalchanges.org/ini/wg/pliovar - • The PAGES-PMIP Working Group on the Quaternary Interglacials (QUIGS)
www.pastglobalchanges.org/ini/wg/quigs - • The Floods Working Group will investigate past flood events worldwide to improve our understanding of the physical processes controlling floods.
www.pastglobalchanges.org/ini/wg/floods - • Volcanic Impacts on Climate and Society (VICS) aims to improve our understanding of the impacts of volcanic forcing on climate and societies.
www.pastglobalchanges.org/ini/wg/vics
Read more about PlioVAR and QUIGS in their Program News articles in this issue or you can read more about all of the groups on our website. All PAGES working groups invite participation by interested scientists anywhere in the world.
PAGES OSM & YSM 2017
The 5th PAGES Open Science Meeting (OSM) and 3rd Young Scientists Meeting (YSM) will be held in Zaragoza, Spain. The proposed dates are around early to mid-May 2017. We look forward to organizing a rewarding and memorable meeting with our hosts, the Pyrenean Institute of Ecology, Spanish National Research Council (IPE-CSIC).
Upcoming issues of PAGES Magazine
The next issue of PAGES Magazine will be on abrupt changes and tipping points. Contact the guest editors Chris Turney (c.turney@unsw.edu.au), Chris Fogwill (c.fogwill@unsw.edu.au), Tim Lenton (t.m.lenton@exeter.ac.uk) and Richard Jones (r.t.jones@ex.ac.uk), or the PAGES office to enquire about contributing to this issue.
We are also preparing an issue on climate change and cultural evolution, guest edited by our Scientific Steering Committee (SSC) members Claudio Latorre (clatorre@bio.puc.cl), Janet Wilmshurst (Wilmshurstj@landcareresearch.co.nz), and Liping Zhou (lpzhou@pku.edu.cn). Contact them or the PAGES office if you are interested in contributing or exploring ideas.
In general, if you wish to lead a special section of the magazine on a particular topic, let us know at the PAGES office or speak with one of our SSC members.
Calendar
Climate variability during the Late Pliocene
29 February - 01 March 2016 - Leeds, UK
04 April 2016 - Chambéry, France
Modeling isotope ratios in proxy climate records
02-05 May 2016 - Friday Harbour, USA
Central and Eastern EU Paleoscience Symposium
23-24 May 2016 - Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Data and model estimates of hydroclimate
01-03 June 2016 - Palisades, USA
http://www.pastglobalchanges.org/calendar
Featured products
Already committed to 6 meters of sea-level rise?
In a recent high profile paper, Dutton et al. from PALSEA2 analyze sea-level rise due to polar ice-sheet mass loss during past warm periods (2015, Science 349).
2k Network studies
- • Ocean2k’s low resolution team found an 1800 year-long robust cooling trend in global sea surface temperatures. They linked the coolest period to an increase in volcanic eruptions (2015, Nat Geosci 8).
- • Ocean2k’s high resolution team has quadrupled the observational reach into tropical ocean temperature history (Tierney et al. 2015, Paleoceanography 30).
- • Zhang et al. address modified climate with long term memory in tree ring proxies (2015, Env Res Lett 10).
- • Wang et al. explore different techniques for climate field reconstructions (2015, Geophys Res Lett 42).
Varve research showcased
The Varves Working Group published a review of annually laminated (varved) lake sediments (Zolitschka et al. 2015, Quat Sci Rev 117).
Human-environment interactions
- • Members of PAGES have published a special issue on the challenge of quantifying past human-environment interactions (Verstraeten (Ed.) 2014, Anthropocene 8).
- • Dearing et al. present case studies combining paleorecords with conventional sources of historical information (2015, Anthropocene Rev).
- • LandCover6k members synthesize the archeological record in sub-Saharan Africa to review past land use systems (2015, Anthropocene 9).
Reconstructions and simulations
Emerging out of the PAGES 2k/PMIP 2013 workshop, Zanchettin et al. reconcile reconstructed and simulated features of the winter Pacific/North American pattern in the early 19th century (2015, Clim Past 11).
Cover
Eruption of Sarychev Peak, Matua Island, Kuril Islands, Russia
Astronauts aboard the International Space Station captured this photo of the early stages of an eruption of ash and steam from Sarychev Peak in the Kuril Islands in June of 2009. Image from the Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit, NASA Johnson Space Center (ISS020-E-9048).