Summer School Announcement
Arctic Terrestrial and Freshwater Ecosystems
International Arctic Research Center (IARC)
Marine Biological Laboratory
7-19 August 2006
Application Deadline: Wednesday, 1 March 2006
For further information, please contact:
Ms. Chris Lace
International Arctic Research Center
University of Alaska
E-mail: clace [at] iarc.uaf.edu
A two-week summer course on Arctic Terrestrial and Freshwater Ecosystems
will be held 7-19 August 2006. The course, to be conducted in a workshop
format, will emphasize ecosystem interactions with hydrology and
climate. It is targeted at graduate students, advanced undergraduates,
and recent graduates.
The course is offered by the International Arctic Research Center (IARC)
of the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF: http://www.iarc.uaf.edu/)
and the Ecosystems Center, a research section of the Marine Biological
Laboratory in Woods Hole, MA (http://ecosystems.mbl.edu). It is designed
to take advantage of resources offered by IARC, a collaboration of
international arctic researchers, as well as those of a team of
scientists undertaking a research project on biocomplexity (Land-water
Interaction at the Catchment Scale: Linking Biogeochemistry and
Hydrology), funded by the National Science Foundation, at the Toolik
Field Station of the University of Alaska Fairbanks
(http://www.uaf.edu/toolik/).
The workshop is intended to provide participants with an overview of the
controls of ecosystem variability in northern Alaska, from the Alaskan
interior to the Arctic, and an illustration of the interplay between
data collection and modeling. As the primary control, climate combines
with hydrology, topography, and disturbance to produce a wide variety of
ecosystems in this area, ranging from the boreal forest to coastal
tundra. The ecosystems are changing, and these changes can, in turn,
affect climate through feedbacks involving changes in albedo,
permafrost, hydrology, trace gas exchanges with the atmosphere, and
other processes. The workshop aims to give students an understanding of
the scientific underpinnings of the controls and feedbacks of
climate-related changes in arctic ecosystems, and will include
first-hand exposure to ongoing research.
The first week of the workshop, to be spent in the Fairbanks area, will
consist of lectures and discussions at IARC together with visits to
various research sites in and near Fairbanks. During the second week,
the group will travel to the North Slope and stay at the Toolik Field
Station in the northern foothills of the Brooks Range. Research
scientists at Toolik will demonstrate the techniques and models used to
study arctic terrestrial ecosystems in the context of a changing
climate. Excursions to other North Slope locations will be scheduled as
logistics permit.
Lectures and demonstrations will be given by Larry Hinzman, John Wash,
Vladimir Romanovsky, and Doney Brette-Harte, from the University of
Alaska, and John Hobbie and Gus Shaver from the Marine Biological
Laboratory. Demonstration of the planning, implementation, data
collection, and modeling of the NSF-supported biocomplexity project will
take place at the Toolik Field Station under the direction of Marc
Stieglltz from Georgia Tech. The station has a computing network and
Internet connections (fiber optic cable). Stieglitz will demonstrate the
completed hydrology model of the site as well as the "under
construction" soil chemistry and terrestrial ecosystem model. Students
will gain an appreciation of how field data can be converted to process
description and rates and further, how process studies and environmental
information can be linked to a simulation model.
The two-week experience will enable students to bridge classroom
material and cutting-edge research in the field.
Participants will be selected on the basis of demonstrated experience in
the quantitative aspects of climate or terrestrial ecosystem research.
The strength of an applicant's academic background and a supporting
letter of recommendation will also be considered in the selection
process. In order to apply, please send a cover letter describing the
summer school's relevance to your career plans, a CV describing your
academic and research backgrounds, and a letter of recommendation from
your supervisor. The deadline for applications is Wednesday, 1 March
2006. The selection process will be completed by Friday, 31 March 2006.
Electronic submission of applications is strongly encouraged. Receipt of
applications will be acknowledged by e-mail. Application materials
should be sent to:
Ms. Chris Lace
International Arctic Research Center
University of Alaska
930 Koyukuk Drive
P.O. Box 757340
Fairbanks, AK 99775-7340
Phone: 907-474-7413
Fax: 907-474-5662
E-mail: clace [at] iarc.uaf.edu