Seminars
Sept-Dec 2013
Service and Research in the Utah Climate Center: From Utah to Nepal
Robert R. Gillies (Utah State University)
Friday 27th September at 16:00 in the East Quadrangle Lecture Theatre
Abstract: Western Nepal has experienced consecutive and worsening winter drought conditions since 2000, culminating in a severe drought episode during 2008-2009. The meteorological conditions and a historical perspective of the winter droughts in western Nepal were analyzed using respectively – instrumental records, satellite observations and climate model simulations. Climate diagnosis using atmospheric reanalysis revealed that (1) winter drought in western Nepal is linked to the Arctic Oscillation and its decadal variability, which initiates a tropospheric short-wave train across Eurasia and South Asia, and that (2) the persistent warming of the Indian Ocean likely contributes to the suppression of rainfall through enhanced local Hadley circulation. Simulations from the CMIP5 sets of historical single-forcing experiments indicate that increased loading of anthropogenic aerosols is also a compounding factor in the precipitation decline during the later decades. It is therefore conceivable that the recent spells of decadal drought in Nepal drought are symptomatic of both natural variability and anthropogenic influences. Given that the observations of winter precipitation has declined to near zero, while groundwater has hardly been replenished, means that appropriate management of water resources in western Nepal is necessary if not critical.
Dr. Robert R. Gillies grew up in Scotland. His MA is in Geography from the University of Glasgow (with honors). After a short gap, Dr. Gillies attended The Pennsylvania State University, where he earned an MS in Meteorology, although some of that work was actually completed while he was employed at the University of Newcastle in the School of Architecture. While completing his MS and afterwards he was a Research Associate at Penn State while working on a PhD in Meteorology and Remote Sensing from the University of Newcastle.
Dr. Gillies joined the faculty of Utah State University in 1996 with a joint appointment in the departments of Geography and Earth Resources and Plants, Soils and Climate. In 2006 Dr. Gillies took over as Director of the Utah Climate Center. Dr. Gillies set a new course for the Utah Climate Center by making the center’s databases of Utah climate information accessible on-line.
Like most faculty at Utah State University, Dr. Gillies is an author or co-author of dozens of refereed journal articles and official reports. He has conducted numerous presentations within the State of Utah, as well as at national and international venues in the science behind temperature inversion prediction, climate precipitation cycles (particularly for the Intermountain West), and global climate change.
Greening stone conservation? Linking biodiversity and cultural heritage conservation
Heather Viles (University of Oxford)
Friday 4th October at 16:00 in the East Quadrangle Lecture Theatre
Abstract: Do plants and other biota provide a threat or an opportunity for the conservation of historic sites such as Angkor Wat and Tintern Abbey? And, in turn, can sites protected for heritage reasons also contribute to global biodiversity conservation by providing a refuge for important, rare or threatened species? Recent research is starting to allow a more balanced assessment of the opportunities and risks of allowing biotic communities to grow on walls and buildings. Evidence from research on barnacles and algae on coastal defence structures, green algae on sandstone walls, ivy on historic walls and soft capping of ruins provides clear examples of both positive and negative roles of biota and how positive roles might be enhanced.
Heather Viles is Professor of Biogeomorphology and Heritage Conservation in the School of Geography and Environment at the University of Oxford, UK. She runs the Oxford Rock Breakdown Laboratory (OxRBL). Her research focuses on stone deterioration and conservation in the built environment, and on rock breakdown in extreme environments (including rocky coasts, deserts and on Mars). She enjoys working in interdisciplinary teams, and is currently involved in projects with ecologists, microbiologists, engineers, geologists, archaeologists, stone masons, and architectural conservators in collaboration with English Heritage, the British Museum, Proceq, Queens University Belfast, Lanzhou University, China and the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa.
Title: TBC
Jennifer Bagelman (Geography, Durham University)
Friday 11th October at 16:00 in the East Quadrangle Lecture Theatre
Title: TBC
Paul Harrison (Geography, Durham University)
Friday 1st November at 16:00 in the East Quadrangle Lecture Theatre
Origin, Evolution and Extinction of the Dinosaurs
Steve Brusatte (School of Geosciences, University of Edinburgh)
Friday 29th November at 16:00 in the East Quadrangle Lecture Theatre
Title: TBC
James Kneale (Geography, University College London)
TBC November at 16:00 in the East Quadrangle Lecture Theatre
Title: TBC
Lorraine van Blerk (School of the Environment, Aberdeen)
Friday 13th December at 16:00 in the East Quadrangle Lecture Theatre