Eos, Vol. 81, No. 31, August 1, 2000

Some of the major conclusions of these discussions are summarized following:

Regional Climate Modelling

• For socio-economic investigations to be an integral part of a regional impact assess­ment, climate information has to be provid­ed on a scale that matches the scales of social processes. Such information may be derived from a regional climate model or through other forms of downscaling.

• Despite current difficulties and drawbacks, there is an "added value" in con­ducting regional climate modelling as the basis for an IRIS.

• Given the importance of feedback processes that are known to occur in the Arctic, regional climate modelling seems to be more appropriate than other methods (e.g.,statistical downscaling).

Interdisciplinary Co-operation in the Framework of an IRIS

• When attempting to facilitate inter­disciplinary co-operation, it should be kept in mind that social dynamics are very different from natural dynamics, and that natural and social scientists have very distinct perspectives on the climate change-society problem.

• In considering societal/cultural process­es and issues, the perception of local residents and stakeholders and their views on the consequences of climate changes for their personal well-being are of significant importance.

• The omission of social science issues/ investigations in an IRIS leaves large gaps that prevent a comprehensive assessment.

Regional Integrated Assessment (Modell ing)

• No global assessment model can be taken "off the shelf" and applied to the Arctic.

• A global integrated assessment model (GIAM) can provide input to an arctic regional assessment by maintaining con­sistency of arctic scenarios/changes, with global scenarios/changes, and by providing context; that is, comparing impacts on the Arctic with the level and intensity of impacts in other world regions.

• If a regional integrated assessment model (RIAM) is to be built for the Arctic, it should be developed in conjunction with experts, policy makers, and stakeholders through enhanced communication.

• The appropriate treatment of scale issues (temporal,spatial) among different compo­nents of a RIAM needs careful attention.

Specific Issues Related to Arctic Integrated Assessment (Modell ing)

• People in the Arctic may or will experi­ence the impacts of global climate changes first. Ultimately, however, the effects of global changes will be felt much further south (e.g., possible adverse effects on fisheries will become discernible relatively quickly, but the economic effects of declining landings will be more severe at southern latitudes).

While the symposium discussions took place in an atmosphere of mutual respect and co-operation, the cross-disciplinary dialogue revealed a number of fundamental difficulties, which are partly reflected above.

Overcoming the different "scientific cultures" that prevail in the natural and the social sciences requires significant effort on the part of all.The problems are exacerbated by the expectations that each discipline has toward colleagues in other fields. However, it was clear throughout the symposium that the necessary integrated assessments will be successfully con­ducted only if these obstacles are removed.

As is so often the case, despite fruitful and constructive discussions, the symposium left several of the questions it set out to address unanswered. However, the participants concluded that it is only gatherings of this type which hold any promise for advancing the fields of regional climate modelling and regional integrated impact studies in the European North.We are convinced that the CLIMPACT symposium will leave a clear mark in this important process.

The Scientific Network CLIMPACT and the CLIMPACT Symposium are sponsored by the European Science Foundation.

Author

Manfred A. Lange Institute for Geophysics and Centre for Environmental Research (ZUFO), University of Munster,Corrensstrasse 24,D-48149 Munster, Germany For further details, please contact M. Lange at langema@uni-muenster.de

SECTION NEWS A T M O S P H E R I C S C I E N C E S

Editor: Ellen Mosley-Thompson, Byrd Polar Research Ctr, Ohio State University, Columbus OH 43210 USA; Tel. +1-614-292-6662; Fax +1-614-292-4697; Section President, Marvin A. Geller; Section Secretaries, Mark P Baldwin, Linnea M.Avallone

Outstanding Student Paper Awards PAGE 352

The Atmospheric Sciences Section presented seven outstanding student paper awards at the 2000 AGU Spring Meeting last June in Washington, D. C.

William (Bill) C. Conant presented a paper titled "Observations of Surface Aerosol

Forcing During the Asian Winter Monsoon." Bill received his B.S. in physics from the Uni­versity of California, San Diego (UCSD) in 1992. He received his Ph.D. in oceanogra­phy last spring from the Scripps

Institution of Oceanography, UCSD, under the supervision of V Ramanathan. Bill's research interests focus on the climate interactions between the ocean, atmosphere, and biosphere, specifically involving radiative transfer, aerosols, and clouds. He is presently a postdoctoral researcher investigating the role of organic aerosols in cloud formation.

Tara J. Fortin presented a poster titled "Infrared Spectroscopic Studies of the Low-Temperature Phase Behavior of Ammonium Sulfate." Tara received a B.A. in chemistry and

Spanish from Welles-ley College in 1995. The following year, she participated in a field mission with Darin Toohey at the University of Califor­nia at Irvine. She is currently pursuing her Ph.D. in chem­istry at the University

of Colorado, under the direction of Margaret A.Tolbert.Tara's research interests include cir­rus cloud nucleation and heterogeneous reac­tions on model tropospheric aerosol surfaces.

David L. Glandorf, University of Colorado, Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry/ CIRES, presented a poster titled "Composition of Polar Stratospheric Clouds Using Infrared Extinction Measurements."Biographical sketch and photograph are not available.

Randolph K. Larsen, III presented a paper titled "Atmospheric Ammonia Concen­trations and Fluxes To and From the Chesa­peake Bay" Randy received his B.E. in chemical engineering from Vanderbilt Uni­versity in 1991, and a M.S. in civil engineer­ing from the University of Oklahoma in 1997. He is working toward a Ph.D. in marine-estuarine and environmental science under the supervision of Joel Baker,

Eos, Vol. 81, No. 31, August 1,2000

Ph.D. at the University of Maryland's Chesapeake Biologi­cal Laboratory. Randy's research interests are trace contaminant fate and transport between the atmos­phere and coastal waters.

Christopher M. Rogers presented a paper titled "Transport of Smoke from the 1998 Cen­

tral American Fires." Chris received his bachelor of science in environmental sci­ence from the Univer­sity of Florida. His interests in air quality and climate change spurred him to seek his master of atmos­pheric sciences

degree from Texas A&M University Chris was an intern with the Texas Natural Resource Conser­vation Commission during the summer of 1998 and witnessed first hand the impact of the smoke transported to Texas from the fires in Central American that May Drawing from this experience, he focused his research efforts on modeling the aerosol transport. Chris is contin­uing his interest in air quality research at Envi­ronmental Science & Engineering, Inc., where he is involved with the EPAs CASTNet Dry Deposition Monitoring Network.

Kristina M. Russell presented a paper titled "Characterization of Particulate Atmos­

pheric Nitrogen and Implications for Coastal Deposition." Kristina is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Envi­ronmental Sciences at the University of Virginia. She com­pleted her M.S. in the department in 1997

and graduated with a B.S.in chemistry from the University of Delaware in 1994. Kristina's research interests include atmospheric nitro­gen and nutrient biogeochemical cycling.

Alberto Troccoli presented a paper titled "Salinity Adjustments in the Presence of Tem­

perature Data Assimi­lation in a Global Ocean Model" and a poster titled "A Method for Updating the Salinity Field Dur­ing the Assimilation of Thermal Data." Alberto received his Laurea in physics at the University of Pad­

ua, Italy He is presently working on his Ph.D. thesis in physical oceanography at the Univer­sity of Edinburgh. Alberto has developed a method to update the salinity profiles when only temperature data are assimilated for the purpose of improving the vertical density structure of the ocean. Alberto also has an interest in climate studies.

T E C T O N O P H Y S I C S

Editor: John A. Goff, Institute of Geophysics, The University of Texas, Austin, TX 78759-8500 USA; Tel: +1-512-4 71-04 76; Fax: +1-512-4 71-0999; Section President, Peter L Olson; Section Secretary, Stephen H Hickman

Outstanding Student Paper Awards PAGE 352

The Tectonophysics Section presented three outstanding student paper awards at the 2000 AGU Spring Meeting last June in Washington, D.C.

Mark D. Behn presented a poster titled "Spatial Variations in Oceanic Plate Rheolo-gy and their Effects on Lithosphere Dynam­ics of Mid-Ocean Ridge Spreading Segments."

Mark received his B.S. from Bates College in 1996. He is currently a Ph.D. student in the MIT/WHOI Joint Program in Oceanography and Applied Ocean Science and Engineering, work­

ing with Maria T. Zuber and Jian Lin. Mark's research interests include marine geology and geophysics; in particularising numerical models to study segmentation at mid-ocean ridges.

James A. Conder presented a paper titled "Models of Mantle Flow and the Asymmetry

of the East Pacific Rise, MELT Area." James received his undergraduate degree in geology from the University of Utah. He spent a year with Kennecott Exploration, Inc., before beginning his graduate work in

geophysics with Donald Forsyth at Brown University His research has focused on dynamic processes at oceanic plate bound­aries. This fall, James will work with Doug Weins at Washington University in St. Louis as a postdoctoral researcher.

Lucy M. Flesch presented a paper titled "Stress and Rheology of the Lithosphere:

Examples in Asia and the Western United States." Lucy received her B.S. in physics from Beloit College in 1995, and her M.S. in mineral physics from the State Uni­versity of New York at Stony Brook in

1997. She is currently pursuing her Ph.D. at SUNY, Stony Brook, under the direction of Bill Holt. Lucy's research focuses on under­standing the dynamics of continental deforming regions.