Friday, 6 December
Ocean Science Policy and the U.S.
Oceans Commission Agency Night
6:45-7:45 P.M., MCC: 135
Admiral James D. Watkins, USN (ret.) and Chair of the U.S. Commission on
Ocean Policy, will speak about the Commission's task of crafting a new
national ocean policy and what has been accomplished thus far. The
Commission is charged with providing detailed recommendations to the U.S.
President and Congress on enhancing and supporting marine science as well as
a broad range of other issues ranging from stewardship of marine resources
and pollution prevention to ocean commerce and transportation. Admiral
Watkins will be joined by Commissioner and AGU member Frank Muller-Karger
and one other member of the Oceans Commission who will answer questions and
engage the audience in a discussion of the Commission's work. This event is
sponsored by the AGU Ocean Sciences, Atmospheric Sciences, Hydrology, and
Biogeosciences Sections.
Saturday, 7 December
Space Physics and Aeronomy Agency
Night
5:15-6:30 P.M. MCC: 131
The evening will consist of a brief summary of the recent Decadal Surveys
that have been completed under the auspices of the National Academy of
Sciences/National Research Council, primarily the Solar and Space Physics
Survey that was chaired by Lou Lanzerotti. There are also several aspects of
the Solar System Exploration Survey, chaired by Mike Belton, that are
relevant. This will be followed by responses from Richard Behnke (NSF),
Richard Fisher (NASA), and Colleen Hartman (NASA).
Biogeosciences Agency Night
5:30-7:00 P.M. MCC: 134
Kathy Tedesco, NOAA Office of Global Programs, will discuss the Global
Carbon Cycle program. Diane E. Wickland, Manager, Terrestrial Ecology
Program, will speak to NASA's Earth Science Enterprise program and
activities in Biology and Biogeochemistry of Ecosystems and the Global
Carbon Cycle. The relevant programs are Terrestrial Ecology, Ocean
Biogeochemistry, and Land Cover and Land Use Change. She will note program
goals and objectives, current major activities, and future plans. A brief
comment on the Applications Program and "Vision for 2025" planning will be
presented. Rachael Craig, Program Director, Carbon Cycle and Biogeosciences,
Directorate for Geosciences, National Science Foundation (NSF), will present
the new NSF program in Biogeosciences and related programs that focus on the
relation between geosciences and biological sciences. She will present
information on the current Biogeosciences announcements and likely
directions for future NSF announcements in Biogeosciences.
Ocean Drilling Program
5:30-7:30 P.M. MCC: 133
Come hear the latest news about the Ocean Drilling Program and its
successor, the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP), which is slated to
begin on 1 October 2003. In conjunction with the December AGU Meeting in San
Francisco, Joint Oceanographic Institutions/U.S. Science Support Program and
Japan Marine Science and Technology Center are cosponsoring an ODP Town
Meeting. Scientific community leaders will provide brief updates on the ODP
and plans for the IODP. This is an opportunity to ask questions and voice
your opinions. All are welcome. Refreshments will be served.
The IAHS Initiative for Prediction
in Ungauged Basins (PUB)
7:00-8:00 P.M. MCC: MCC: 131
The network of hydrometeorological observation has been declining all over
the world. There are several programs under ICSU, UNESCO, and WMO, etc.,
that recognize and are relevant to the need for hydrological data, but
hitherto no international program with a scientific and technological
mission focused on the prediction of ungauged basins. The International
Association of Hydrological Sciences (IAHS) identified this deficiency and
has launched PUB, an international scientific decade to address it. Two
weeks after the "PUB Kick-off" meeting in Brasilia (20-22 November 2002),
Professor Kuni Takeuchi, the president of IAHS, will present and discuss the
goals and the current research agenda of PUB. Emphasis will be placed on the
indispensable cross-fertilization that will be required between theoretical
hydrology and remote sensing hydrology. Short, informal contributions are
solicited.
The MARGINS Source-To-Sink
Initiative Revisited
7:00-9:00 P.M. MCC: 104
In spite of the efforts of a large number of people and several community
workshops, both the NSF and the MARGINS Steering Committee were concerned
about the competitiveness of the previous draft of the Source-to-Sink (S2S)
science plan compared with those of the other three MARGINS initiatives. To
remedy this situation, a small group of scientists from the sedimentary
geology and S2S communities was commissioned to revise the science plan,
building on the firm foundation provided by the earlier drafts. The revised
version was released for community comments in early October 2002.
Conveners: Garry Karner, MARGINS Office, garry@ldeo.columbia.edu; Janok
Bhattacharya, janokb@utdallas.edu; John Milliman, milliman@vims.edu; Rudy
Slingerland, sling@geosc.psu.edu
Monday, 9 December
NASA's Earth Science Enterprise
6:45-8:00 P.M. MCC: 135
National Science Foundation
Directorate for Geosciences
6:45-8:00 P.M. MCC: 134
Margaret Leinen, Assistant Director for Geosciences, will provide an
overview of the status of the FY 2003 Budget and special focus areas in the
Directorate for Geosciences (GEO), including the implementation of GEO 2000.
In addition, the National Science Foundation has a number of Foundation-wide
competitions in targeted priority areas. These include: Biocomplexity in the
Environment (BE), Information Technology Research (ITR), Nanoscale Science
and Engineering (NSE) and Mathematical Sciences, including Opportunities for
Research Collaborations Between the Mathematical Sciences and the
Geosciences (CMG). Other NSF efforts likely to have an impact on geosciences
will also be discussed, including activities in education and workforce
training.
Setting Priorities in Solid Earth
Sciences in the U.S.
6:45-8:00 P.M. MCC: 103
This meeting is part of an NSF-sponsored planning process for the future of
the solid Earth sciences across subdisciplines and among the synergistic
activities of research, education; and outreach. A workshop to be held at
GSA in Denver on 26 October 2002 is expected to yield an initial planning
document, and this Town Meeting will provide an additional opportunity for
community input on priorities for solid Earth science and on a draft of the
planning document.
International Polar Science Needs
You
6:45P.M.-8:00P.M. MCC: 104
Polar science is more relevant and exciting than ever before. Polar science
research on climate change, global contamination, sea level change, and
exploration for life, among others, is highly relevant to society and is
reported regularly in the popular press. Antarctica is a focus for
international collaboration and cooperation being the only continent on the
planet set aside for science by mutual agreement of 48 countries
representing 2/3 of the world's population. You are invited to a Town
Meeting of the polar science community to begin a dialogue on how U.S.
scientists might increase their participation on the international stage and
promote polar science in general. The Polar Research Board of the National
Academy of Sciences serves as the U.S. National Antarctic Committee to the
Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR).
SCAR, created in response to the success of the IGY, has had an important
role in the history of science in Antarctica. Is SCAR still relevant in the
U.S. today? The meeting will include a review of SCAR's restructuring and
SCAR science programs. Information will be provided on emerging geoscience
initiatives that will require major instrumentation and logistical support
(e.g., drilling, airborne and ground-based geophysics, remote geophysical
observatories) and we will consider how such large-scale multidisciplinary
initiatives can benefit from SCAR sponsorship and involvement. Discussions
will include possible U.S. and international science activities being
planned to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the International Geophysical
Year (IGY) and 125th anniversary of the International Polar Year (IPY) in
2007. Contributions from Arctic scientists on possible bi-polar studies are
welcomed.
Living with a Star: Opportunities
for Geospace Science
6:45-8:00 P.M. MCC: 274
In a recently released report, a NASA appointed panel presented
recommendations for the science and implementation goals for the Geospace
element of the Living with a Star (LWS) program. The primary objective of
the project is to: Understand and characterize the effect of solar
variability on those geospace phenomena that most affect life and society.
The panelrecommended a focused set of small spacecraft, instruments on
missions of opportunity, collaborations with other programs, and related
theory, modeling and data mining activities. The spacecraft would be
launched in 2008 and 2010 and would perform sets of inner magnetospheric and
ionospheric observations over the next solar maximum when the Earth's near
space environment will be most disturbed. The purpose of this Town Hall
meeting is to present to the Sun-Earth Connections science community the
recommendations of the Definition Team, to solicit comments and suggestions
from the community, and to provide information on the plans for, and
opportunities for participation in, the Geospace element of Living With a
Star.
|
