NSERC CREATE 2011 Summer School in Arctic Atmospheric Science

Our first CREATE Summer School in Arctic Atmospheric Science was held July 11-15, 2011 at the beautiful Nottawasaga Inn in rural Alliston, Ontario.  Thirty-five students from institutions across Canada, Australia, and Europe attended.  The week was kicked off with an introductory Jamboree session, in which each student and lecturer was allowed two minutes and one slide to introduce him/herself. Introductions continued during an Icebreaker held on the first evening, generously sponsored by ABB Bomem of Quebec City.

Summer School lecturers included Jim Drummond (Dalhousie University), Pierre Fogal (Environment Canada/University of Toronto), David Hik (University of Alberta), Matthew Hitchman (University of Wisconsin-Madison), Dylan Jones (University of Toronto), Markus Rex (Alfred Wegener Institute), Ralf Staebler (Environment Canada), and Taneil Uttal (NOAA).  These speakers contributed their extensive experience in Arctic science, covering such issues as climate change, ozone loss, terrestrial ecosystem change, applied micrometeorology, high-latitude dynamics, modelling long-range transport, and remote sensing.  Students particularly liked the fact that speakers were accessible for informal discussions during coffee breaks and meal times.  Students also enjoyed hearing journalist Peter Calamai (Carleton University) speak about communicating science to the public in effective and innovative ways.  Ashley Kilgour (University of Toronto), the CANDAC Outreach Facilitator, spoke about planning and launching successful outreach activities, and provided examples of past/ongoing outreach collaborations.  Students had the opportunity to participate in a group outreach brainstorming session and also became familiar with some outreach materials that CANDAC utilizes during school visits.  Another highlight of the Summer School was the field trip to Environment Canada's Centre for Atmospheric Research Experiments (CARE) in Egbert, Ontario.  Students were introduced to a variety of instruments used to study air quality, climatology, and meteorology.

Students had the opportunity to present their own research in a poster session, which they did with great enthusiasm.  Peter Calamai provided helpful feedback about the visual presentation of the posters from the perspective of an experienced media expert.  Matthew Hitchman, Ralf Staebler, and Taneil Uttal served as judges for Outstanding Poster Awards, which were awarded to three students: Marine Favier (Institut d'Optique Graduate School), a CREATE-funded undergraduate intern working at the University of New Brunswick this summer; Mehrnaz Sarrafzadeh (York University), a PhD candidate studying aerosol formation; and Colleen Mortimer (University of Alberta), a PhD candidate researching the changes of the Milne Ice Shelf.  Congratulations to all three winners!

Thanks to the involvement of enthusiastic speakers and students, this year's Summer School was a great success.  Young Arctic scientists had the opportunity to learn from and interact with leading scientists in their field, which undoubtedly added to their understanding of many complex issues in Arctic research.  

If you have questions or comments about future Summer Schools, please email create_summerschool@atmosp.physics.utoronto.ca.

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Summer School Schedule

2011 Summer School Program

2011 Summer School Survey - summary of results

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Student Poster Session

Click on thumbnails for larger versions of the photos and posters.

Name, Institution		Poster		Name, Institution		Poster
Cristen Adams (PhD), University of Toronto			Ozone, NO2, and OClO measured above PEARL during record ozone depletion in 2011	Justin Bandoro (CREATE/NSERC summer intern), University of Western Ontario			Results from the Second ISSI Meeting for NDACC Lidars in Bern
Chris Caldow (PhD), University of Wollongong			I Thought You Were Passive But You Keep Emitting Greenhouse Gases! Measuring Greenhouse Gas Exchange between Inland Waters and the Atmosphere	Kuo-Hsien (Michael) Chang (PhD), University of Guelph			Modeling Carbon Dynamics in Agriculture and Forest Ecosystems Using Process-based Models - DayCENT and CN-CLASS
Lin Dan (MSc), University of Toronto			PARIS-IR at 2011 ACE Arctic Validation Campaign	Anthony Dineen (MSc), York University			Development of a balloon-borne imager for observations of aerosols in the upper troposphere lower stratosphere region
Zoya Dobrusin (MSc), York University			Product Yield Measurements for the Reaction of Beta-Pinene with HO Radical Using Mass Spectrometry	Marine Favier (CREATE summer intern), University of New Brunswick			Interferometer Optical System and PEARL Imager Data Analysis
Jonathan Franklin (PhD), Dalhousie University			FTS and Sun Tracker Development at Dalhousie University	Anya Gawor (MSc), University of Toronto at Scarborough			Trends of Legacy and Current Use Pesticides in Canadian Arctic Air and Water: 1999-2010
Melissa Gervais (PhD), McGill University			Understanding the Impacts of Future Sea Ice Decline on Atmospheric Circulation, Storm Tracks, and Precipitation	Liviu Ivanescu (MSc), Université de Sherbrooke			Star-photometers and Ground-based Lidars to evaluate Caliop during the Arctic night
Jaya Khanna (MSc), University of Western Ontario			Temperature retrieval from Lidar data using techniques of non-linear mathematical inversion	Jenny Kliever (CREATE summer intern), University of Toronto			Setup of the Suntracker for the Portable Atmospheric Interferometric Spectrometer for the Infrared in preparation for the BORTAS campaign
Felicia Kolonjari (PhD), University of Toronto			Measurements of HCFC-22 using the Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment Fourier transform spectrometer	Samuel Kristoffersen (MSc), University of New Brunswick			ERWIN-II: Algorithm Descriptions, Wind Results, and Meteor Radar Comparisons
Kristina Luus (PhD), University of Waterloo			Estimating the influence of snow on net ecosystem exchange	Zen Mariani (PhD), University of Toronto			Radiation and Trace Gas Climatologies in the High Arctic using the Extended-range Atmospheric Emitted Radiance Interferometer
Michael Maurice (CREATE summer co-op), University of Toronto			CANDAC Outreach Project: Student-Researchers Atmospheric Collaboration	Emily McCullough (PhD), University of Western Ontario			Depolarization in clouds with the CANDAC Rayleigh-Mie-Raman Lidar
Joseph Mendonca (MSc), University of Toronto			Comparison of CH4 retrieved from mid-infrared spectra (using different retrieval strategies) with CH4 retrieved from near-infrared spectra measured at Eureka	Colleen Mortimer (PhD), University of Alberta			Stability and recent changes of the Milne Ice Shelf, Ellesmere Island, Nunavut, 1950 - 2009
Camille Pagniello (CREATE summer intern), Dalhousie University			Receiver Field of View Characterization of the CANDAC Rayleigh-Mie-Raman Lidar	Boris Pavlovic (CGCS summer intern), University of Toronto			Intercomparissons of Ground-Based and Satellite Measurements of O3 and NO2 above PEARL research station, Eureka Nunavut, from 2003 to present
Chris Perro (PhD), Dalhousie University			Improved Wintertime Measurements with the CANDAC Rayleigh-Mie-Raman Lidar at Eureka, Nunavut	Anne Wang Petersen (MSc), University of Copenhagen			Response of stable water isotopes in Greenland precipitation to varying Eemian ice sheet configurations - a general circulation model study
Niall Ryan (PhD), University of Toronto			A New Radiometer for Continuous Measurements of Chlorine Monoxide in the Canadian Arctic	Mehrnaz Sarrafzadeh (PhD), York University			A smog chamber study of secondary organic aerosol (SOA) formation from the photo-oxidation of beta-pinene
Patrick Sheese (PDF), University of Toronto			OSIRIS polar night time nitric oxide densities in the mesosphere - lower thermosphere	Majbritt W. Sørensen (MSc), University of Copenhagen			Investigation of recent changes in accumulation rates and temperatures observed at the NGRIP using data from multiple shallow ice cores
Heidi Villadsen (MSc), University of Copenhagen			Initial Sensitivity Study for Investigating the Possible Effect of Black Carbon in Snow and Sea Ice on Climate	Dan Weaver (Intern), University of Toronto			Intercomparison of atmospheric water vapour measurements at Eureka
Adrienne White (MSc), University of Ottawa			Dynamics and historical changes of Petersen Ice Shelf, Nunavut, Canada	Robin Wing (MSc), University of Western Ontario			The Purple Crow LIDAR
Jun Yang (PhD), University of Toronto (visiting), Peking University			The initiation of modern "soft Snowball" and "hard Snowball" climates in CCSM3

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Photos

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Information about the Summer School can be found on this poster, but the competition for 2011 has now closed.
The application form can be downloaded from this link.  The application deadline was May 25, 2011.
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