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Climate Information Survey
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By Vasu Misra, FCI Steering Committee Member
 Seasons greetings! FCI in collaboration with Florida Atlantic University just culminated in writing three white papers on "Climate Scenarios: A Florida-Centric View", "Florida Water Management and Adaptation in the Face of Climate Change", "Florida Climate Change Education and Training: State University System Cooperative Plan". A fourth white paper on Florida's biodiversity and land use is forthcoming. These white papers were initiated from a grant from the State University System of Florida to explore the needs and the vulnerabilities of Florida's agencies, industry and citizenry to potential impacts of climate change. I urge you all to read these very informative white papers that has been prepared jointly by experts spread across Florida's institutions.
As FCI ushers into the second year since its inception, we will continue to have our monthly seminar series and round table discussions. The success of our annual open house event in Gainesville, Florida on November 14, 2011 with over 200 attendees from industry, state and federal agencies, and universities has made us to seriously consider organizing this program periodically every year. We will appreciate your feedback to plan such future events.
FCI over this year has built a culture of collaboration among its affiliates. We have university members of FCI from over a dozen disciplines in FSU and UF, who have collaborated in cross-disciplinary projects. I encourage you to visit our website to know more about some of these funded projects. We continue to build these bridges across disciplines and facilitate new collaborations. FCI's stated mission and goals seem to follow the zeitgeist and the ortgeist as we continue to pursue new opportunities in cross-disciplinary projects in climate variations and change initiated especially by federal agencies (e.g. NSF, DOE, USDA, EPA, NOAA). |
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News from FCI Members
La Nina expected to affect Cotton Belt climate in 2012 | Jan 4 Source: Southwest Farm Press  Project receives sea Level rise planning grant:
The University of Florida and the Guana Tolomato Matanzas National Estuarine Research Reserve (GTM NERR) have received a highly competitive NERRS Science Collaborative Grant to pilot a sea level rise adaptation planning process in the Matanzas Basin near St. Augustine. The project team will work with stakeholders and coastal decision makers to deliver a habitat vulnerability assessment for the basin and to identify opportunities for protecting coastal to inland ecological connectivity. The methodologies will be carefully designed and evaluated to ensure robustness and transferability to other NERR System sites and coastal areas. The interdisciplinary project team includes several UF faculty members: Kathryn Frank, principal investigator and assistant professor of urban and regional planning, Dawn Jourdan, assistant professor of urban and regional planning, Paul Zwick, associate dean and professor of urban and regional planning, Tom Hoctor, director of the Center for Landscape Conservation Planning, Bob Grist, associate professor of landscape architecture, Greg Kiker, associate professor of agricultural and biological engineering, and Thomas Ruppert, coastal planning specialist, Florida Sea Grant. The three-year project, funded at $618,377, kicked off in December. |
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Publications
Ash, K.D., C.J. Matyas, 2012: The influences of ENSO and the Subtropical Indian Ocean Dipole on tropical cyclone trajectories in the South Indian Ocean. International Journal of Climatology, 32(1), 41-56, doi: 10.1002/joc.2249.
De Sherbinin, A., M. Castro, F. Gemenne, M. M. Cernea, S. Adamo, P. M. Fearnside, G. Krieger, S. Lahmani, A. Oliver-Smith, A. Pankhurst, T. Scudder, B. Singer, Y. Tan, G. Wannier, P. Boncour, C. Ehrhart, G. Hugo, B. Pandey, and G. Shi, 2011: Preparing for Resettlement Associated with Climate Change. Science, 334(6055), 456-457, doi:10.1126/science.1208821.
Galindo-Gonzalez, S., L. Berry, C. Cox, A. Edwards, R. Ellingson, A. Feldman, T.A. Irani, J.W. Jones, J. Lambert, C. Lockhart, M. Mehallis, J.G. Ryan, 2011: Florida Climate Change Education and Training: State University System Cooperative Plan, Florida Climate Change Task Force. [Available online at http://floridaclimate.org/whitepapers/]
Matyas, C.J., and Silva, J.A., 2012: Extreme weather and economic well-being in rural Mozambique. Natural Hazards, doi: 10.1007/s11069-011-0064-6.
Tzedakis, P. C., J. E. T. Channell, D. A. Hodell, H. F. Kleiven, and L. C. Skinner, 2012: Determining the natural length of the current interglacial. Nature Science, doi:10.1038/ngeo1358
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Events
Jan 23-25, 2012 | International Symposium: Water, Forests, and People | Reitz Union at the University of Florida.
This 3 day Symposium will include the participation of UF and Brazilian Scholars, as well as invited guests. There will be one day of presentations and roundtables, one day of integrative research exercises and one day for group work on the proposal, with research team participants. This Symposium is part of the Amazon Dams Program Initiative. See http://www.tcd.ufl.edu/conferences.shtml for more information.
Feb 2, 2012 - 9am to 4pm | Adaptation Exchange | Quincy, FL
The tri-state climate working group for row crop agriculture will hold their fifth meeting on February 2nd in Quincy Florida (9am-4pm). This "ADAPTATION EXCHANGE" workshop will convene growers, extension faculty, and researchers from Florida, Georgia and Alabama to share stories and experiences about technologies that can help reduce climate-related risks. Participants will visit seven "technology stations" to hear from farmer-researcher-extension teams about high-residue cover crops, conservation tillage, sod-based rotation, variable rate and drip irrigation, map-based nutrient application, and climate information (AgroClimate). The interactive meeting format will also provide an opportunity to learn from participants about barriers and opportunities to adopting these technologies. See flier for details.
Feb 15-16, 2012 | 3rd UF Water Institute Symposium | Gainesville, FL
Feb 29-Mar 1, 2012 | Climate Leadership Conference | Fort Lauderdale, FL.
FCI members will receive a 20% discount on registration. Contact info@floridaclimateinstitute.org for more information.
Mar 13-15, 2012 | NOAA's 10th Annual Climate Prediction Applications Science Workshop (CPASW) | Miami, FL
More upcoming events here.
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Funding Opportunities
The Pine Integrated Network: Education, Mitigation and Adaptation Project (PINEMAP) Intern Program provides undergraduate students with a research experience with a graduate student mentor and prepares them to successfully assist in teaching secondary school science or social studies classes. This program partners interns with graduate students based on interest areas.
Submission Deadline: February 17, 2012
NSF Dimensions of Biodiversity Grant
Despite centuries of discovery, most of our planet's biodiversity remains unknown. The scale of the unknown diversity on Earth is especially troubling given the rapid and permanent loss of biodiversity across the globe.
DOI Wildlife Without Borders Latin America and the Caribbean Grant
The Wildlife Without Borders Latin America and the Caribbean Program (WWB LAC) funds projects designed to strengthen the ability of Latin American and Caribbean institutions to manage and conserve species, habitats, and ecological processes for the benefit of the people of the Americas and the world. Of particular interest are projects that build the human and institutional capacity to effectively conserve and manage biodiversity in Latin America and the Caribbean through a holistic and inter-disciplinary approach with a primary emphasis on the social context.
More more funding opportunities here.
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