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Suzette Flantua receives TMS Starting Grant
Suzette Flantua has been awarded the TMS Starting Grant for her project Past, Present and Future of Alpine Biomes Worldwide (PPF-Alpine). She is a researcher with the Department of Biological Sciences, UiB and the Bjerknes Centre, connected to the HOPE (Humans On Planet Earth) project.
«This project will study the past, the present and the future of the ecosystems that are along the highest parts of mountains globally, the ‘alpine’ zone. Many believe that these ecosystems might be especially vulnerable to future global warming so in my project we will look how past climate change (during the last 130,000 yr) impacted what we see today, and this will give key insights in understanding how ecosystems will cope with future change,» says Flantua.
The two other Starting Grants for 2021 go to Carina Strell for the project “Understanding Early Breast Cancer Evolution in Space and Time (EvoMaps)”, and Mali Husby Rosnes for the project “Recyclable Catalysts for Sustainable Polymers from CO2 and Bio-based Epoxides (ReCat4Polymer)”.
The Trond Mohn Foundation (formerly BFS, Bergen Research Foundation) seeks to promote recruitment of outstanding young researchers to Bergen through their Starting Grant. The grant is worth around 20 million kroner, and is meant to help build a research group for up to four years. Former Starting Grant candidates at the Bjerknes Centre are Willem van der Bilt, Andreas Born, Kjetil Våge, Nele Meckler,
Read more at UiB.no (in Norwegian): https://www.uib.no/aktuelt/149875/starting-grant-til-fremragende-forskere
Congratulations!
Andreas H.O. Photo: Dagmar Egelkraut
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A visit from the French Embassy
In what seems to be the sixth Embassy visit so far this semester (not counting a visit from our own Ministry of Foreign Affairs), the French Embassy came to visit on November 26th. Science Attaché Remi Lafaye, and Project Coordinator Manon Albin was presented with a number of our project cooperations with French institutions from Camille Li, Christoph Heinze, Jostein Bakke, Trond Dokken and Anais Bretones – and in turn presented their cooperation programmes in science – Åsgard, Aurora and Aurora Plus (which could be of interest to several of you).
Andreas H.O.
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Greetings from Scott Base, Antarctica 77°S
«Antarctica – it’s cold and it’s white» was the last few words we heard from the NZ crew when we were about to enter the C17 plane at the Cristchurch airport. There was a sudden rush to get us in the air, and no time to watch the video briefing. The short summary is indeed very correct. Throw in a kiwi green stack of container-like box houses, and a few black seals scattered on the sea ice below – and the color palet for Scott Base is set. I feel lucky to be able to work here, in so many ways.
First, our scientific mission is very interesting. We will attempt to measure super cooled water in a more accurate way than anyone has accomplished before. Sea water get colder than the freezingpoint when it melts the floating ice shelves at depth, and there is re-freezing as the meltwater rises along the ice shelf base towards the surface. But what is the maximum supercooling? And where does it occur? By heating the water enough to melt small frazil ice crystals after it has passed through a first set of temperature and conductivity sensors, and then measure it again, we hope to get the answers we need. Very likely has these small crystals obscured earlier measurements. And thanks to the US team driving the highly advanced «Icefin» robot we will be able to conduct these measurements under the ice shelf itself.
Secondly, there are so many nice people to work with here. Being in the field is a special event where you get to know your colleagues in a quite different way than through an ordinary working week. We will work out of a remote camp on the sea ice, sleep in tents with outside temperatures down to -25°C, cook dinners in a small isolated container, and have very little contact with the rest of the world for three weeks. With a well balanced science team and some people I have known for about 20 years, the social experience is an adventure in itself.
Thirdly - I hold the unspoilt crystals-clear simplicity of the surroundings. There is such purity in the horizon, just the glittering ice crystals and a few scattered black-striped mountains. An entire continent that has largely been left un-exploited by modern society. And …. still very cold, and white. Let us hope we will ba able to keep it this way.
This is your Scott Base Moment of Zen
Lars H. Smedsrud
(Note: He is now back in Bergen, this was received a while ago)
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Photos below, from left:
1.There are no air-ports in Antarctica. Travellers to Scott Base arrive with a US Airforce C17 on the McMurdo Ice shelf, Monday October 11, 2021.
2.Due to Roald Amundsens it is a certain status in being Norwegian here. So Oslo is the only place worth to mention when it comes to Scandinavian cities, and definitely the city furthest away.
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Verena Hof has a MSc.in Meteorology and she is a research assistant at the Department of Earth Science. Her field is Climate system interactions, energy budgets and she will be a part of the Global theme. Verena is from Germany,
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The portrait
Name: Jenny Maccali
Position:
Postdoc at Geo
How long have you been at BCCR?
Since January 2020
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Education:
Analytical Chemistry (BSc & MSc)
Background:
I grew up in southwestern France, where I did my undergrad and graduate studies. I moved to Montreal for my PhD, stayed there for some time and then moved to Bergen. I’m really enjoying what I’m doing and got to work on a lot of interesting projects and with a lot of different material, from sediments to corals and sponges and now speleothems.
What is it you do exactly at work? I am part of the SapienCE research center that focus on how and why early Homo Sapiens first became what they (/we) are. Our contribution in the climate group is to provide paleo-climatic context at specific time period. More specifically I am using speleothems from a nearby cave, in southern South Africa to reconstruct hydroclimate and temperature. I am lucky to get to learn a lot of new things and techniques, though it can be challenging at times.
Why climate research? By chance really. After my MSc I worked as a lab technician and was looking for something else, a bit more stimulating. I saw a PhD opportunity on Arctic paleoclimate, and it clicked…and it stuck.
What extracurricular activities do you have? Hiking and reading mainly. I tried sea kayaking last summer and it’s definitely going to be a more regular activity. Playing with Lego with my son is also becoming a more regular activity.
Do you have a favourite song, band or artist? I don’t know if I have a favorite one, but I never get tired of Pink Floyd or Patti Smith.
Your favourite food? Any food shared with family and friends. Stinky cheese is always welcome though (sorry, French here).
The best and worst about Bergen? The best is access to Nature within walking distance and how living here taught me to get out no matter the weather. The worst would be the “horizontal” rain.
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We hereby invite all Bjerknesians to come together for Christmas porridge in the cafeteria in Allégaten 70
on Dec. 20, 2PM. If you haven't signed up already,
Sign up here by 13. Dec.!
Welcome!
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BCCR/GFI Seminar
Next Monday, 6th Dec, at 14:15 pm will be the first of the BCCR cross-theme seminars, occurring the first Monday of every month. Please note that the colloquium series will run from 14.15 -15.15, slightly longer than the typically scheduled BCCR seminar slots.
The cross-theme seminar will feature four separate talks:
- Clio Michel: The atmospheric circulation during extreme precipitation events associated with atmospheric rivers in Norway
- Anaïs Bretones: Arctic overturning and winter sea-ice extent during the 21st century
- Friedrike Fröb: Towards detecting compound marine heatwaves and ocean acidic extremes in MPI-GE
- Marie Pontoppidan: Marine heatwaves: the added value of a coupled regional model
The seminar will be held in person in the Bjerknes lecture room (4th floor west-wing, room 4020) – in addition there will be the possibility to join on zoom:
Topic: BCCR- Extreme Events Cross Theme Seminar
Time: Dec 6, 2021 14:15 Oslo
Join Zoom Meeting (recommended)
https://uib.zoom.us/j/64104240359?pwd=cXVIQTZxZUxVZVpXTEI5ZWVBdVc1QT09
Meeting ID: 641 0424 0359
Password: 2kPe74m2
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The BCCR seminar series will soon take a break for the holidays, though there is a free spot on the 13th of December. As always if you are interested in sharing your work with the BCCR community, get in touch with me and fill out the seminar form (https://skjemaker.app.uib.no/view.php?id=2969462).
The next BCCR cross-theme seminar will occur on January 10th 2022: Cryosphere.
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International Quaternary Webinar
December 8th: Mark Furze, UNIS, Svalbard, Norway
“The last ice shelf of the NW Laurentide Ice Sheet: how ice sheets die”
Time and venue: Palstrat. Salen, 3 floor, Realfagsbygget at 15:00
Or, join Zoom Meeting:
LOGIN information (Same each week!)
https://umass-amherst.zoom.us/j/6140930719
See a list of all upcoming webinars here
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New publications
Send us information about new publications: publications@bjerknes.uib.no
Bange J., Reuder J., Platis A. (2021) Unmanned Aircraft Systems. In: Foken T. (eds) Springer Handbook of Atmospheric Measurements. Springer Handbooks. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-52171-4_49
Lichtschlag, A. et al including Omar,A.M. (2021): Suitability analysis and revised strategies for marine environmental carbon capture and storage (CCS) monitoring, International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control,112, ISSN 1750-5836,https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijggc.2021.103510.
Michel, C., Madonna, E., Spensberger, C., Li, C., and Outten, S. (2021): Dynamical drivers of Greenland blocking in climate models. Weather Clim. Dynam., 2, 1131–1148, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-2-1131-2021.
Ramanantsoa, J. D., Penven, P., Raj, R. P., Renault, L., Ponsoni, L., Ostrowski, M., et al. (2021). Where and how the East Madagascar Current retroflection originates? Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans, 126, e2020JC016203. https://doi.org/10.1029/2020JC016203
Zwier, M., van der Bilt, W. G., Stigter, H. de, & Bjune, A. E. (2021). Pollen evidence of variations in Holocene climate and Southern Hemisphere Westerly Wind strength on sub-Antarctic South Georgia, The Holocene https://doi.org/10.1177/09596836211060495
Info on how to include BCCR in your publications.
Older publications
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Vacant positions
Post-doc position in data assimilation and machine learning
NERSC
A 3-year post-doctoral position is open at the Nansen Center for reconstruction of Arctic sea ice thickness using data assimilation and machine learning
Deadline: 15th December 2021
Temporary Position as Researcher
NERSC
Deadline: 15th January 2022
PhD research fellow in glacier modeling
Department of Earth Science, UiB
Deadline: 9 January 2022
Postdoc position in ice sheet modeling
Department of Earth Science, UiB
Deadline: 9 January 2022
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Upcoming events
15th Polar Low Workshop
8-10 December 2021 by the Shirshov Institute of Oceanology in Moscow in a hybrid format
Polar theme meeting and BCCR polar hosted Glacial carbon workshop
8 December, at Lille Pynten, IMR, 10-13 and 13-17 PM
Winter school on Atmosphere-Ocean-Sea Ice Interaction Processes
6-11 February 2022, UNIS in Longyearbyen on Svalbard
Ocean Sciences Meeting 2022
27 February– 4 March 2022 Honolulu, Hawaii, USA
SOLAS Open Science Conference 2022
25 - 30 September 2022, Cape Town, South Africa
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The Climate and Cryosphere (CliC) project of the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) announces an open call for CliC Grants 2021.
Goal: The goal of CliC fellowships and grants is to increase the engagement of Early Career Scientists in CliC activities and to promote participation of scientists from regions currently underrepresented in CliC, i.e., South America, Asia and Africa
Objectives: Applications for CliC fellowships and grants shall address CliC´s new vision and objectives as described in the DRAFT CliC Strategic Plan 2022-2031.
Proposed activities may include:
Fellowships:
- Research visits to laboratories, research groups, etc
- Research synthesis, fieldwork or analysis
Grants
- Promotion of best practice protocols on research in cryosphere regions attentive to societal and community needs and expectations
- Educational activities/capacity exchange related to cryosphere research
- Activities to promote leadership and project management skills
- Research/activities to support participation in policy decision processes
- Science communication efforts aimed at policy making
- Dissemination and outreach activities, e.g., production of media pieces about CliC activities, research highlights, etc
Proposals that are motivated by clearly articulated COVID-induced delays or thwarted activities will also be considered.
CliC fellowship and grant awards up to a maximum amount of 20 000 Swiss Francs (CHF). If a strong case is made for a larger grant, it should not exceed 30 000 CHF. Co-funding with other sources is encouraged.
Timeline: Activities must be completed in 2022.
Eligibility
- PhD candidates: Applicants should be currently enrolled in a PhD program
- ECR: those who have obtained a PhD within 7 years by the deadline January 21, 2022. The period excludes career breaks due to parental leave, health issues, etc.
- Applicants from underrepresented regions in CliC, e.g. South America, Asia, Africa
- For fellowships: the visiting facility must differ from the applicant's country of origin and current country of residence
Deadline: 21 January 2022 at 13:00 (1 pm) UTC
Apply here
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Contribute to the Bjerknes Times!
Bjerknes Times is our internal bi-weekly newsletter. Send an email for all registering of lectures, publications, meetings, and other tips to post@bjerknes.uib.no
Join the Bjerknes Outreach Group!
Would you like to be involved in outreach activities? Join the Bjerknes outreach group, and you’ll get the opportunity to discuss your ideas with other enthusiastic outreachers. Whether you have plans for big or small projects, large or small audiences, traditional or innovative formats – or so far no specific plans at all – you’re very welcome.
Please, send an e-mail to gudrun.sylte@uib.no or ellen.viste@uib.no if you would like to have more information about the group.
BCCR on Flickr for photo sharing
We have many good photographers here at the Bjerknes Centre.We have a Flickr account for sharing good photos and possibly also illustrations. This can be useful when you need an illustrative photo. Check out our photostream
Send an e-mail to gudrun.sylte@uib.no or ellen.viste@uib.no if you would like to contribute.
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