Seminars and Coffee Talks

Upcoming ISSE seminars and coffee talks. ISSE seminars include seminars from the GIS Initiative Seminar Series and the CGD/ISSE Seminar Series.

The ISSE Coffee Talks are informal seminars that bring speakers from inside and outside of UCAR/NCAR to share information about research and projects that are related to ISSE research. You may subscribe to the isse upcoming mailing list if you wish to receive regular announcements of upcoming ISSE Coffee Talks. If you are outside of NCAR/UCAR/UOP and wish to attend, please contact or Larry McDaniel McDaniel at ucar.edu

List of Seminars and Coffee Talks by Date

2008

View Archive

July


July 17 - ISSE seminar
Title	TBA
Speaker	Ann Bostrom, University of Washington
Location	TBA
Time	TBA
Abstract	TBA

June


June 23 - ISSE seminar
Title	TBA
Speaker	Jamie Kruse, East Carolina University
Location	TBA
Time	TBA
Abstract	TBA

May


May 7 - ISSE seminar
Title	Integrating Communication Sciences into Weather and Climate Studies
Speaker	H. Dan O’Hair, University of Oklahoma
Location	FL2-1001 at Foothills Lab
Time	10:30AM
Abstract	Numerous calls have been made from the hydrometeorology and climatology communities for greater research collaboration with the social sciences. Amid these invitations have been specific references to communication processes inherent in many aspects of the weather enterprise, including forecasting decision, scientist-user collaboration, how communities manage information, and cooperating with the media. Dr. Dan O’Hair, a communication scientist from the University of Oklahoma, will explore how communication theory and methodological techniques can reveal both obvious and subtle patterns of messages important to the weather and climatology community. Taking a multi-level, socio-ecological approach to communication science, Dr. O’Hair will explore the following topics: Risk Communication Communicating Uncertainty Message Analysis Processes Communication Networks Inter-Organizational Collaboration Community-Communication Infrastructure Systems Media Effects This presentation will serve as an opportunity to intersect multiple disciplines in support of interdisciplinary research models that integrate information, data, techniques, tools, perspectives, concepts, and/or theories from multiple bodies of specialized knowledge to solve weather and climate problems whose solutions are beyond the scope of a single discipline.

April


April 29 - ISSE Coffee Talk
Title	Climate Change in Norway: Social Science Perspectives on Impacts, Vulnerability and Adaptation
Speaker	Lynn Rosentrater,University of Oslo
Location	Directors Conference Room at the Mesa Lab
Time	10AM
Abstract	Norway is an affluent country that is generally considered to be resilient to the impacts of climate change. Perspectives from the social sciences, however, show that vulnerability to the impacts of climate change depends largely on the scale of analysis. Both exposure and the distribution of climate sensitive sectors vary greatly across scale. So do the underlying social and economic conditions that influence adaptive capacity. These findings question the common notion that climate change may be beneficial for Norway, and that the country can readily adapt to climate change. This presentation will review recent findings from Norwegian scholars working in the fields of human geography, political science, urban planning, and anthropology and describe a four-year project currently underway that investigates the potentials of adaptation, as well as the limits to adaptation as a response to climate change. In addition, I will present some work in progress that reviews several adaptation tools with the aim of developing a participatory GIS framework for screening adaptation strategies and managing information about climate change. about the presenter: Lynn Rosentrater is a geographer at the University of Oslo in Norway where her research focuses on adaptation to climate change. She is a PhD candidate in the Department of Sociology and Human Geography, and her dissertation focuses on how geographic information systems (GIS) can be used for screening adaptation strategies and actions. As part of her dissertation research, Lynn will be visiting ISSE until the end of May exploring the state of the art in adaptation tools while working closely with Olga Wilhelmi and NCAR's GIS Initiative. By the end of her visit she hopes to document some of the ways in which communities with established GIS programs can incorporate climate change into their daily work to make climate-positive, no-regrets decisions for the future. Additional information about her project can be found at www.plan.gechs.org or by contacting Lynn directly at lynn.rosentrater@sgeo.uio.no.
Slides	Lynn's PowerPoint slides from the talk


April 22 - ISSE Coffee Talk
Title	Application of Weather Research for Decision Making in New Hampshire
Speaker	Eric G. Hoffman, Plymouth State University
Location	Directors Conference room at the Mesa Lab
Time	10AM
Abstract	This seminar will review two small research projects conducted in the last few years in which the outcome of the research was specifically designed to result in improved decision making by users of weather information. The first research project which concluded in 2006 was a cooperative project between Plymouth State University and Public Service of New Hampshire an electric utility company. Phase I of this work involved understanding past weather events associated with major power outages in New Hampshire. The explicit goal of this research was to determine if there are common, forecastable, characteristics of these events that would allow PSNH to make better operational resource decisions. In Phase II, a web site was developed in order to allow PSNH to incorporate the results of this research into their operational decision making. In this seminar a few of the meteorological results will be presented and discussion of the unique process of developing the web site and the decision making tool will be presented. The second research project involves the installation of a Road Weather Information System in New Hampshire which was a collaborative effort between Plymouth State University and the State Department of Transportation. Over the last year, Plymouth State has conducted a verification study of the environmental sensors on the RWIS and examined the use of the real-time weather data by DOT personnel in their road treatment decision making. For both projects the unique challenges of working directly with weather users will be presented.

March


March 18 - ISSE Coffee Talk
Title	The Ocean Thermostat and Coral Bleaching
Speaker	Joan Kleypas, ISSE Scientist
Location	Directors Conference room at the Mesa Lab
Time	10:00am
Abstract	Coral reef bleaching events have become increasingly widespread and lethal over the last few decades and are highly correlated with increases in sea surface temperature (SST). In this study we look for regional differences in reef exposure and sensitivity to increasing SSTs by comparing the distribution and severity of reported coral reef bleaching events with the HadISST compilation of SST observations and CCSM-modeled SST trends of the last fifty years. The Micronesian reef province, which lies mostly within the western Pacific warm pool (WPWP) has a low number of reported bleaching events relative to other reef areas. Analysis of the SST data indicate that warmest parts of the WPWP (where average SST > 29C) have warmed less than cooler regions, which supports the existence of “ocean thermostat” mechanisms that act to depress warming beyond certain temperature thresholds. If the WPWP is already near its upper thermal limit, then reefs in this region may be less exposed to SST increases than other regions. Unfortunately, coral reef bleaching records suggest that WPWP reefs may also be more sensitive to increased SST.

February


February 2 - ISSE Coffee Talk
Title	Going against the flow. Travel patterns in the Southern France: a vulnerability factor of flash floods.
Speaker	Isabelle Ruin, ASP Post Doc
Location	FL1-2133
Time	10:00am
Abstract	Flash floods trigger the highest mortality rate in natural disasters because of the rapidity of their onset and extreme violence. They arrive suddenly and surprise people who are in the midst of their daily activities, particularly striking during people's travels. For each catastrophy, up to half of the deaths are road users. Hydro-meteorological research allows for more prediction lead-time and can reduce uncertainty. However, social vulnerability remains an outstanding focus. Experts call for a comprehensive integration of social and natural sciences to better understand public responses. In this context, my thesis research addresses people’s travel patterns during flash floods and makes two assumptions : i) people’s unwillingness to change their daily routines, ii) discrepancy between individual space-time representations and actual flash flood phenomenon characteristics. Using questionnaires or cognitive maps to interview a total of 1,428 residents and tourists visiting the Gard « département », I demonstrated that « at risk » travel patterns result in a mix of three factors : spatio-temporal exposure, cognitive understanding of risks on the road, but also daily family and professional constraints. Based on this analysis, I suggest a range of targeted preventative actions and some new research perspectives.
Slides	Isabelle Ruin's PowerPoint slides from the talk

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