2014 Connaught Summer Institute in Arctic Science: Atmosphere, Cryosphere, and Climate

Forty-two graduate students and post-doctoral fellows from across Canada, the USA, and Europe attended.  Topics covered include environmental change in the Arctic, limnology, aerosol-cryosphere-climate interactions, climate modelling, aerosol radiative forcing, cryospheric processes, Arctic sea ice geophysics and ocean-ice-atmosphere interactions, paleoclimatology, Arctic ocean dynamics, carbon capture and storage, ocean biogeochemistry and carbon cycling in Arctic waters, Arctic atmospheric composition, ozone science, and Inuit history and culture. Speakers and panelists included Richard Berman (Spectral Applied Research), Marianne Douglas (Queen’s University), Mark Flanner (University of Michigan), Chris Fletcher (University of Waterloo), Christian Haas (York University), Emanuel Istrate (Impact Centre, University of Toronto), Jochen Halfar (University of Toronto), Richard McAloney (Impact Centre, University of Toronto), Cameron McNaughton (Golder Associates), Lisa Miller (Fisheries and Oceans Canada), David Serkoak (Inuit elder and educator), and David Tarasick (Environment Canada). 

Students also participated in an introductory Jamboree, professional development activities, and a career panel discussion, and presented their own research during a poster session.  Students and speakers got to know one another at the opening “Bingo” Icebreaker hosted by the CREATE-AAS Trainees’ Advisory Committee (TAC) and generously sponsored by ABB.  The Poster Session gave students a chance to present and discuss their current research projects with the speakers and their peers. We recruited eight judges this year to ensure that all students presented their work to a minimum of two judges. Mark Flanner, Christian Haas, Jochen Halfar, and Lisa Miller  served as judges for PhD/PDF Outstanding Poster Awards, which were awarded to three students: Madelyn Mette, a PhD candidate at Iowa State University (USA) researching links between shell growth in Northern Norway and North Atlantic climate dynamics, Matthias Buschmann, a PhD candidate at the University of Bremen (Germany) who studies CO2 and CH4 in the high Arctic and Chad Thackery, a PhD candidate at the University of Waterloo who does research on the influence of canopy snow parameterizations on snow albedo feedback in boreal forest regions.  PDFs Jo Browse, Reinel Sospedra-Alfonso, C.C. Bajish, and Gerrit Holl served as judges for the MSc Outstanding Poster Award. The winners were Catherine Phillips-Smith from the University of Toronto, whose research is on identifying the origins of trace metals in particulate matter in the Athabasca Oil Sands Region, and Meike Rotermund from Dalhousie University who presented her work on the overlap function of the CANDAC Rayleigh-Mie-Raman Lidar in Eureka, Nunavut.  Congratulations to all the winners!

One of the highlights of this year’s Summer Institute was the drum dancing workshop with David Serkoak, an elder from Arviat who currently lives and teaches in Ottawa.  David gave two lectures leading up to the workshop and spoke to attendees about the history of the Inuit in Nunavut and Inuit culture. On Wednesday evening, he set up the classroom chairs in a circle and invited everyone to try their hand at drumming. David’s demonstrations made it look very easy, but as everyone can attest it is harder than it looks. David wove stories into the demonstration, which ended with a performance entitled “the Awkward Scientist Shuffle” performed by a few dedicated participants who had been taught some choreography by David the day before.

One of the goals of the Connaught Summer Institute in Arctic Science is to provide attendees with some professional skills training. This year, two skill-building presentations were offered and led by Richard McAloney and Emanuel Istrate from the University of Toronto’s Impact Centre.  Their first was on writing, publishing, and reviewing scientific papers, including a step-by step guide with helpful hints for students who are at the beginning of their graduate studies.  The second was on entrepreneurship and attendees were guided through the start-up of a new venture from its inception and finding funding to sales and generating sustainable revenue.  Lisa Miller also gave an animated talk on time management for scientists. Drawing from her experience, Lisa provided some ideas for scientists to use so they can “do science to the high quality necessary to feel good about our work while leaving room for other things we want to do.”

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Summer Institute Schedule

2014 Connaught Summer Institute Program

2014 Connaught Summer Institute Survey - summary of results

Suggested Readings and Websites

Richard Berman

Spectral Applied Research: www.spectral.ca

Andor: www.andor.com

Coming to Life: The Story of Spectral Applied Research, Optics & Photonics News, May 2012: http://www.osa-opn.org/Content/ViewFile.aspx?id=13288

Tom Rand, Waking the Frog: Solutions for Our Climate Change Paralysis, ECW Press, 2014: http://www.tomrand.net/kick-the-fossil-fuel-habit/

The Inner Life of the Cell: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJyUtbn0O5Y (A great link to get a glimpse into what what life science imaging is teaching us about the cellular world) 

Marianne Douglas

http://post.queensu.ca/~pearl/adjunct%20profs.htm

Warwick F. Vincent and Johanna Laybourn-Parry (editors), Polar Lakes and Rivers: Limnology of Arctic and Antarctic Aquatic Ecosystems, OUP, 2008: http://ukcatalogue.oup.com/product/9780199213894.do

John Smol, Pollution of Lakes and Rivers: A Paleoenvironmental Perspective, 2nd Edition, Wiley-Blackwell, 2008: http://ca.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-1405159138.html

John Smol and Eugene F. Stoermer (editors), The Diatoms: Applications for the Environmental and Earth Sciences, 2nd Edition, CUP, 2010: http://www.cambridge.org/ca/academic/subjects/life-sciences/plant-science/diatoms-applications-environmental-and-earth-sciences-2nd-edition

  Andrew S. Cohen, Paleolimnology: The History and Evolution of Lake Systems, OUP, 2003: http://global.oup.com/academic/product/paleolimnology-9780195133530;jsessionid=9B275B8F9585C1B6BBA458457EE834E1?cc=ca&lang=en&#
John Smol (series editor), Developments in Paleoenvironmental Research, Springer: http://www.springer.com/series/5869
Reinhard Pienitz, Marianne S.V. Douglas, John P. Smol (editors), Long-term Environmental Change in Arctic and Antarctic Lakes, Springer, 2004: http://www.springer.com/environment/global+change+-+climate+change/book/978-1-4020-2125-1
Arctic Climate Impact Assessment (ACIA): http://www.acia.uaf.edu/

 

Mark Flanner

http://aoss.engin.umich.edu/people/flanner

Publications: http://aoss-research.engin.umich.edu/faculty/flanner/publications.php

Interactive tool to model snow albedo:  http://snow.engin.umich.edu/

GISS Surface Temperature Analysis (make your own maps of temperature anomalies over any time period): http://data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp/maps/

Matlab Monte Carlo photon-tracking codes: http://snow.engin.umich.edu/monte_carlo/

SNICAR online snow spectral albedo model: http://snow.engin.umich.edu/

 

Chris Fletcher

http://www.env.uwaterloo.ca/u/c5fletch

Steve Easterbrook, Computing the Climate: How Can a Computer Model Forecast the Future? TEDxUofT, March 1, 2014: http://www.easterbrook.ca/steve/2014/05/tedx-talk-should-we-trust-climate-models/

Climate Model vs. Satellite Data: http://www.easterbrook.ca/steve/2014/02/climate-model-vs-satellite-data/

EdGCM, Educational Global Climate Modeling: http://edgcm.columbia.edu/

Climateprediction.net: http://www.climateprediction.net/

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fifth Assessment Report (AR5), 2013/2014: http://www.ipcc.ch/

Anne Huff, Writing for Scholarly Publication, SAGE Publications, 1998: http://www.sagepub.com/booksProdDesc.nav?prodId=Book8757

Cloud-based reference management: http://www.zotero.org and http://www.mendeley.com

 

Christian Haas

http://lassonde.yorku.ca/users/christianhaas

Meier, W. and C. Haas (2011), Changes in the physical state of sea ice. In: AMAP, 2011. Snow, Water, Ice and Permafrost in the Arctic (SWIPA): Climate Change and the Cryosphere. Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP), Oslo, Norway. xii + 538 pp., p. 9-4 to 9-18. http://www.amap.no/documents/download/968

Haas, C. (2010), Dynamics versus Thermodynamics: The Sea Ice Thickness Distribution, In: Sea ice / Ed. by David N. Thomas and Gerhard S. Dieckmann Ames, Iowa: Blackwell, ISBN: 978-1-4051-8580-6. http://www.yorku.ca/haasc/Docs/CH004SeaIceBookProof.pdf

Haas, C. and M. Druckenmiller (2009), Ice thickness and roughness measurements, In: Field techniques for sea-ice research / ed. by Hajo Eicken ... Fairbanks: Univ. of Alaska Press, 49-116. http://www.yorku.ca/haasc/Docs/CHAPTER%203.6%20FINAL.pdf

  

Jochen Halfar

http://www.utm.utoronto.ca/~w3halfar/index.html

 

Emanuel Istrate and Richard McAloney

The Impact Centre: http://www.impactcentre.utoronto.ca/

Lots of good information and topics for graduate students: http://matt.might.net/articles/

R.A. Day and B. Gastel, How to Write and Publish a Scientific Paper, Greenwood Press, 2011: http://www.abc-clio.com/product.aspx?isbn=9780313391972

Guy Kawasaki, The Art of the Start, Penguin, 2004: http://www.guykawasaki.com/the-art-of-the-start/

 

Cameron McNaughton

http://www.linkedin.com/pub/cameron-s-mcnaughton/1/558/a80

http://www.researchgate.net/profile/Cameron_Mcnaughton/info
Golder Associates: http://www.golder.ca/en/modules.php?name=Pages&sp_id=331

 

Lisa Miller

http://members.shaw.ca/ttmc/index.html

Arctic Ocean Acidification 2013: An Overview, The Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Program (AMAP), Oslo, 2014: http://www.amap.no/documents/doc/Arctic-Ocean-Acidification-2013-An-Overview/1061

 

David Serkoak

By bringing Inuit culture to the classroom, David Serkoak has become the Arctic’s top educator, Up Here Magazine, March 2012: https://margopfeiff.wordpress.com/tag/david-serkoak/

Introduction to David Serkoak, First Encounters, Heritage Canada: http://www.firstencounters.ca/en/gallery/videodetails?videoid=71

Alan Rudolph, Relocating Eden, University Press of New England, 1995: http://www.upne.com/953420.html

Frank James Tester and Peter Kulchyski, Tammarniit (Mistakes), UBC Press, 1994: http://www.ubcpress.ca/search/title_book.asp?BookID=1539

Farley Mowat, People of the Deer, 1952: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People_of_the_Deer

Farley Mowat, The Desperate People, 1959: http://www.ecobooks.com/books/despeop.htm

CD: Charlie Panigoniak, My Father's Country: http://www.ivalu.ca/products/Charlie-Panigoniak-%252d-My-Father%27s-Country.html

CD: Charlie Panigoniak and Loren Tasseor, Just for Kids: http://www.ivalu.ca/products/Charlie-Panigoniak-and-Lorna-Tasseor-%252d-Just-For-Kids.html

CD: Susan Aglukark, White Sahara: http://www.susanaglukark.com/music/

CD: Inuit Music – Tuhaalruuqtut – Volume 1: http://nadababa.com/en/audio/shamans/inuit_tuhaalruuqtut_volume_1/

The Story of Kikkik, documentary, Martin Kreelak, Inuit Broadcasting Corporation, 2002: http://www.isuma.tv/imaginenative/kikkik-e1-472

 

Kimberly Strong

http://www.atmosp.physics.utoronto.ca/people/strong/strong.html

Royce Murray, Skillful writing of an awful research paper, Anal. Chem., 83 (3), 633-633, 2011: http://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/ac2000169

A Quick Guide to Writing a Solid Peer Review, Eos, 92 (28), 233-234, 2011: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/eost2011EO28/pdf

Christian Jakob, If only I had more time - How to be more effective in what you do: http://www.climatescience.org.au/sites/default/files/201309_task_management.pdf and seminar presentation at GISS

 

David Tarasick

http://www.ec.gc.ca/scitech/default.asp?lang=En&n=F97AE834-1&xsl=scitechprofile&formid=6C6D07FB-88C9-4227-AABE-462D19B78011

Air Quality Research Division, Environment Canada: http://exp-studies.tor.ec.gc.ca/

NASA Goddard homepage for tropospheric ozone: http://acdb-ext.gsfc.nasa.gov/Data_services/cloud_slice/

 

PAHA/CANDAC

http://www.candac.ca

 

NETCARE

http://www.netcare-project.ca

 

CanSISE

http://www.cansise.ca/

@CanSISE: https://twitter.com/CanSISE

 

CREATE-AAS

http://www.candac.ca/create/

@CREATEArcticSci: https://twitter.com/CREATEArcticSci

 CANDAC: http://www.facebook.com/groups/CANDAC/

 CREATE Arctic Science Blog: http://createarcticscience.wordpress.com/

2011 Summer School

2012 Summer School

2013 Summer School

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Student Poster Session

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

Name, Institution		Poster		Name, Institution		Poster
David Barrett (PhD), University of Victoria			Measuring and modelling changes in under-ice dissolved oxygen content of Canadian Arctic lakes with changing climate conditions	Jo Browse  (PDF), University of Leeds			The complex response of Arctic cloud condensation nuclei to sea-ice retreat
Anne Bublitz (PhD), York University	Not available	Not available	Changes in Sea Ice Thickness and Extreme Ice Features in the Beaufort Sea using AEM data	Matthias Buschmann (PhD),  University of Bremen (Germany)			Towards a full seasonal cycle of total column CO2 and CH4 in the high Arctic
Bajish Chevooruvalappil Chandran    (PDF), York University			Decadal circumpolar variability of Antarctic sea ice revealed by satellite observation and coupled general circulation model output	Laurence Coursol(MSc), Université du Québec à Montréal			An Investigation of Atmospheric Model Biases Due to Thin Ice Clouds during Polar Night
Ghazal Farhani (PhD), University of Western Ontario	Not available		Determination of the systematic uncertainties associated with the merging of analog and digital photon count profiles for LIDAR temperature retrievals	Jonathan Franklin(PhD),  Dalhousie University			Overview of Laboratory Spectroscopy at the University of Toronto
Shayamila Gamage  (MSc),  University of Western Ontario			Water Vapour Retrieval Using CRL (CANDAC Raman Lidar), Eureka	Stephanie Hay (PhD),  University of Toronto			The Atmospheric Available Energy and its Trends
Gerrit Holl (PDF), University of Toronto			Comparisons of CH₄ from ACE, GOSAT, and PEARL	Shannon Hicks (MSc), University of Western Ontario			Automating the Purple Crow Lidar
Ali Jalali (MSc), University of Western Ontario			Comparison of retrieval methods of atmospheric temperature using the Purple Crow Lidar Rayleigh temperature climatology	Setigui Keita (MSc), Université du Québec à Montréal			Importance Of Physico-Chemical Properties Of Aerosols In The Formation Of Arctic Ice Clouds
Ja-Ho Koo (PDF), University of Toronto			Influence of large-scale climate variability on the inter-annual variation of surface ozone depletion events in the Arctic spring	Samuel Kristoffersen (PhD) University of New Brunswick		Not available	Wind, Temperature and Gravity Wave Observations with ERWIN-II
Zen Mariani (PhD) University of Toronto			The Impact of Changing Cloud Cover on the High Arctic’s Primary Cooling to-space Windows	Marzena Marosz-Wantuch (PhD) York University			Impact of volcanic ash on snow and permafrost hydrology, Iceland
Youri Mathieu (MSc), Université du Québec à Montréal			Parameterization of homogeneous ice nucleation within the GEM model	Emily McCullough (PhD), University of Western Ontario			Calibrating the Candac RMR Lidar for depolarization measurements
Andrew Medeiros (PDF), Wilfred Laurier University		Not available	Examining the effects of changing catchment condition on the nutrient behaviour and aquatic ecology of Arctic lakes	Joseph Mendonca (PhD), University of Toronto			Fitting CO2 Lab Spectra to Improve TCCON Airmass Dependence
Madelyn Mette (PhD), Iowa State University		Not available	Investigating links between shell growth in Northern Norway and North Atlantic climate dynamics	Omid Moeini (PhD), York University			Production and Transport of Ozone from Boreal Forest Fires
Eric Mortenson (PhD), Victoria University			Implementation of Carbon Flux Due to Sea Ice Algae in a 1D Biogeochemical Ecosystem Model in the Arctic	Brandi Newton (PhD), Victoria University			Atmospheric Drivers of Spring Snowmelt Trends on the Headwaters of the Mackenzie River
Ashley O'Brien (MSc), York University			Variability of Arctic Sea Ice Export and Deformation through Nares Strait	Mikhail Paramonov (PhD), University of Helsinki (Finland)			Long-term size-segregated Cloud Condensation Nuclei counter (CCNc) measurements in a boreal environment and the implications for cloud droplet activation
Ludovick S. Pelletier (MSc), Université du Québec à Montréal			Ice clouds and the NETCARE field experiment	Catherine  Phillips-Smith (MSc), University of Toronto			Identifying the Origins of Trace Metals in Particulate Matter in the Athabasca Oil Sands Region
Sebastien Roche (MSc), University of Toronto			Preliminary comparisons between the Environment Canada Carbon Assimilation System and data from the TCCON network for CO2	Meike Rotermund (MSc), Dalhousie University			Characterizing the Overlap Function of the CANDAC Rayleigh-Mie-Raman Lidar (CRL) in Eureka, Nunavut
Reinel Sospedra-Alfonso (PDF), Victoria University	Not available		Initialization and potential predictability of snow in the Canadian Seasonal to Interannual Prediction System (CanSIPS)	Chad Thackery (PhD), University of Waterloo			The influence of canopy snow parameterizations on snow albedo feedback in boreal forest regions
Natalie Thompson (PhD), Iowa State University			Sea ice decline and changing primary productivity in the Bering Sea during Marine Isotope Stage 11	Sophie Tran (PDF), University of Toronto			Testing the new SFIT4 retrieval algorithm on the Extended-range Atmospheric Emitted Radiance Interferometer (E-AERI) dataset
Chris Vail (MSc), University of New Brunswick			Gravity Wave Climatology over Eureka, Nunavut in 2008-2009	Jeffrey Vankerkhove (MSc), University of Western Ontario			Characterizing water vapor measurements of the Purple Crow Lidar
Zahra Vaziri (PhD), York University			A New Pointing System for the SPS Instrument for Balloon and Space Applications	Xiaoyi Zhao (PhD), University of Toronto			Cloud identification in the Canadian High Arctic using the UV-visible colour index

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Photos

Photos courtesy of Dan Weaver, Aubyn O'Grady, Ali Jalali, and Marzena Marosz-Wantuch.

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Information about the 2014 Summer Institute can be found on this poster, but the competition for 2014 has now closed.
The application form can be downloaded from this link.  The application deadline was May 30, 2014.
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