Group Meetings CRCMD Network/ESCER Centre Biannual

CRCMD Network/ESCER Centre Biannual Journal
A joint publication of
the CRCMD Network
and the ESCER Centre
August 18th, 2009
Volume 1, Number 3
News Highlights
New faculty in the Department of Earth and
Atmospheric Sciences: Laxmi Sushama
Dr. Sushama obtained her Bachelor of Sciences in Engineering from
University of Kerala, India and a Master’s degree in Hydromechanics
and Water Resources Engineering from the Indian Institute of
Science, Bangalore. She also holds a Master’s degree in Hydrology
from University of Ireland. She obtained her doctoral degree from
University of Melbourne, Australia, where she studied the dynamics of
mid-latitude ocean currents. She continued her post-doctoral studies
at the University of California, Los Angeles, where she investigated
the low frequency variability of the mid-latitude wind-driven circulation
using Dynamical Systems Theory. In December 2002, she joined the
CRCMD Network as a post-doc and later on she worked for Ouranos
Consortium. Dr. Sushama joined UQAM as a new faculty in December
2008. She holds a Canada Research Chair in Regional Climate
Modelling; her primary area of interest is land surface modelling, land
climate interactions, and hydrology in climate models.
René Laprise in the Excellence Circle of the University of
Quebec
René Laprise is the only author from Quebec who contributed to writing the 4th
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report. This report received, on
October 12th 2007, the Nobel Peace Prize. For this distinction, on August 27th 2008,
Mr. Laprise was named in the Excellence Circle of the University of Quebec.
Dr Laprise is the director of the ESCER Center for study and simulation of regional
climate since 2003. He was the leader of the Canadian Regional Climate Modelling and
Diagnostics network (CRCMD).
Group Meetings
CRCMD 5th Meeting, November 14th, 2008
Since June 12th, there were CRCMD group meetings Katja Winger presented CRCM5 for beginners.
scheduled approximately every month. The intent of
these meetings is to give an opportunity to students and
researchers to present their projects and share their CRCMD 6th Meeting, January 20th, 2009
The first meeting of the year was about the discussions
latest results.
that were to come later this year.
CRCMD 2nd Meeting, July 8th, 2008
Bernard Dugas presented the fifth version of CRCM and
Pierre-Luc Carpentier gave a summary of the 18-th AMS
Symposium on boundary layer and turbulence.
CRCMD 7th Meeting, March 19th, 2009
Minwei Qian explained the « Difficulties of Arctic Climate
Simulation using a Regional Climate Model and their
Solutions ».
CRCMD 3rd Meeting, August 19th, 2008
Mathieu Moretti discussed about « Spectral nudging and
CRCMD sensitivity to domain size», followed by Phillippe
Doyon-Poulin who presented some results on
« Parameterisation of Lakes in CRCM ».
CRCMD 8th Meeting, April 21st 2009
Ping Du presented a workshop on the « Evaluation of
Four Bulk Microphysics schemes for the simulation of
Arctic Mixed-phased clouds during SHEBA and
M_PACE ».
CRCMD 4th Meeting, September 23rd, 2008
Leo
Separovic
presented
“First
results
and
methodological approach to parameter perturbations in
GEM-LAM seasonal simulations“ from his PhD, and
Étienne Tourigny concluded the meeting with a slide
show featuring his travel to South America.
CRCMD 9th Meeting, June 23rd 2009
Debasish Pai Mazumder presented his PhD work at
University of Alaska : « A Concept to Assess the
Performance of a Permafrost Model Run Fully Coupled
with a Climate Model ».
Page 2 / 5
Informations
ArcticNet conference 2008
Lake Erie Center
Toledo great
lakes
IAGLR 2009
Coinciding with the pinnacle of the International Polar Year and
the 400th anniversary of Quebec City, Arctic Change 2008
welcomed researchers from all fields of Arctic research and all
countries to address the global challenges brought by climate
change in the circum-Arctic. The conference was held at
Quebec City Convention Centre from 9-12 December 2008.
Laxmi Sushama and Anne Frigon organized a session on land
surface processes and land climate interactions. Patrick
Samuelsson, from SMHI, was invited to present in this session;
In addition, Éric Girard, Jean-Pierre Blanchet, Andrey Martynov,
Minwei Qian, Tarek Ayache, Jean-Philippe Blanchette, Patrick
Grenier et Rodrigo Munoz-Alpizar presented their results at the
meeting.
RCM Workshop 2009 in Lund
CRCMD Science
Meeting
Mont Gabriel
2009
This workshop on Regional Climate Modeling was held in Lund,
Sweden, from May 4th to 8th 2009. Developments and progress
of the last five years were reviewed along with an open
discussion of issues and expected future challenges related to
regional climate modelling. René Laprise, Adelina Alexandru,
Marko Markovic, Alejandro Di Luca, Dorina Surcel, Martin Leduc
and Leo Separovic attended the workshop; some researchers
from Ouranos Consortium were also present at this meeting;
certains chercheurs du Consortium Ouranos étaient également
présents à cette réunion.
Modelling was convened at CMOS by Laxmi Sushama, René
Laprise and Daniel Caya.
Some of our members participated: Minwei Qian, Andrey
Martynov, Maya Rapaic, Jean-Philippe Paquin, Micheal Jr.
Powers, Dragana Kornic, Oumarou Nikiema, Raphaël Bresson,
Jean-Philippe Blanchette, Bratislav Mladjic, Danahé PaquinRicard, Marco Braun, Vincent Poitras, Katja Winger and Zav
Kothavala.
nd
2
International Summit on Hurricanes and
Climate Change
Building on the successful inaugural summit on hurricanes and
climate change held in spring 2007, the second summit was
held during May 31-Jun 5, 2009, in Corfu, Greece. The purpose
was to bring together researchers from all over the world to
discuss new research related to global warming and hurricanes.
Louis-Philippe Caron was present at this meeting.
Summer school on « Climate Variability and
Climate Change : Estimating and Reducing
Uncertainties»
A Summer School on "Climate Variability and Climate Change:
Estimating and Reducing Uncertainties" was organized in
Visegrád between 8th and 17th of June, 2009. Laxmi Sushama
was an invited speaker; Emilia Diaconescu and Leo Separovic
from the Network were also present at this international school.
CWRA 2009 « Trends and New Challenges in
The University of Toledo in Ohio hosted the 52nd annual Water Resources Management »
Toledo Great Lakes IAGLR 2009
conference of the IAGLR (International Association of Great
Lakes Research), from May 18th to 22nd, 2009. The meeting
focused on the emerging concerns and the interrelationships
between ecosystems and environmental health. The conference
also addressed other research subjects among which were
invasive species, environmental toxins and the Great Lakes
corridors. Andrey Martynov from CRCMD Network participated
in this meeting.
The Canadian Water Resources Association’s (CWRA) 62nd
annual conference on trends and new challenges related to
water quantity and quality was held in Quebec City. More than
400 participants attended the meeting from June 9-12. René
Laprise was a plenary speaker. In addition to Andrey Martynov,
some researchers from Ouranos Consortium attended the
meeting.
Arctic System Model Workshop III
International Collaboration in Arctic System
The Canadian Regional Climate Modelling and Diagnostics Modelling
CRCMD Science Meeting 2009
« Sea and Sky
Come to Life »
CMOS 2009
network (CRCMD) Science Meeting was organized from May 26
th to 29th, 2009 at the holiday resort Mont Gabriel, at SainteÀdèle. Most of the Network co-investigators and students, postdocs and RAs attended the meeting.
Annette Rinke from the Alfred Wegener Institute in Germany,
Jens Christensen from the Danish Meteorological Institute,
William Gutowski from Iowa State University, Diana Verseghy
from the Climate Research Division in Downsview, Francis
Zwiers from the Climate Research Division, and Jia Wang from
NOAA/GLERL, in USA attended the meeting. André Musy, the
director of OURANOS Consortium, and researchers Hélène
Côté, Sébastien Biner, Ross Brown, Michel Giguère, Anne
Frigon and Dominique Paquin also participated in the event.
Tim Aston from CFCAS and Ian Rutherford, executive director of
the Canadian Meteorology and Oceanography Society (CMOS),
were also present.
«Welcome to
Quebec city»
CWRA 2009
http://www.mrcc.uqam.ca/programmation_wsA.html
CMOS Congress
The annual congress of the
Oceanography Society (CMOS)
31st to June 4th 2009 at the
Centre in Halifax, Nova Scotia. A
Canadian Meteorology and
was held this year from May
World Trade and Convention
session on Regional Climate
The third Arctic System Modelling workshop was held at UQAM,
July 16-17, 2009. Laxmi Sushama was a member of the
organizing committee. The theme of the workshop was
International Collaboration in Arctic System Modelling. More
details are available at :
http://www.iarc.uaf.edu/workshops/2009/arctic_system_model_0
9/
MOCA 2009 « Our Warming Planet »
MOCA, the joint assembly of IAMAS (International Association
of Meteorology
and Atmospheric Sciences), IAPSO
(International Association of the Physical Sciences of the
Oceans) and IACS (International Association for the Cryospheric
Sciences) was held in July 2009 in Montréal, Québec, Canada.
René Laprise and Pierre Gauthier of UQAM were invited
speakers on Regional Climate Modelling, and, respectively on
Advanced in Data Assimilation for Earth System Science. A
session on Regional Climate Modelling was also convened by
René Laprise, Jens Christensen (DMI) and Marcus Meier
(SMHI). Most of CRCMD Network students, post-docs also
presented their research results at this assembly.
The next general assembly, the 25th, of IUGG, will be held at
Melbourne, Australia from June 27- July 8, 2011.
Page 3 / 5
Profile – Danahé Paquin-Ricard
In this third edition, we introduce a PhD student of the network, Danahé Paquin-Ricard. She finished her
undergraduate studies in physics at University of Montreal in 2005 and her master’s degree in atmospheric sciences
in 2008 at UQAM under the supervision of Colin Jones and Paul Vaillancourt. She is currently doing her PhD under
the supervision of Paul Vaillancourt and René Laprise.
Q : How did you choose atmospheric sciences?
During my undergraduate studies in physics, I had done different summer jobs (in astrophysics and solid state
physics) and those fields seemed pretty theoretical to me and far from our society issues. Then I turned to medical
physics but the research schedule discouraged me. Finally, I discovered, a bit by chance, atmospheric sciences and
the master’s degree at UQAM. It was everything I wanted: continuing studies in physics but in a field where the
impacts on society are more direct, at least in my opinion. After a summer working under the supervision of Colin
Jones, I was convinced and I started the master’s degree.
Q : What is your PhD subject and why did you choose it?
I intend to pursue cloud-radiation interaction in the GEM model during my PhD research after having investigated
this topic during my master's degree. As many researchers would undoubtedly say about their own area, I think that
the simulation of clouds and their feedback in models still need improvement as such errors are responsible for a
large portion of climate projection uncertainties. Thus, I will work on simulation of sub-grid scale cloud properties in
the model.
Q : On the personal side, what do you enjoy in life?
Well, a lot of things! Recently, I got interested in biking and plan to go on a world bike tour in future. Meanwhile, I
have discovered some talents of mine and I am practicing them during my free time while renovating my duplex!
“As many researchers would
undoubtedly say about their
own area, I think that the
simulation of clouds and their
feedback in models still need
improvement ”.
Q : You have just received a NSERC Scholarship of $105 000 for 2009-2012. Have you received other means
of financing previously?
Yes, I obtained $5000 scholarship from the J.A De Sève foundation for 2006-2007 and another one of $5000 from
the Power Corporation for the year 2007-2008. These two scholarships were used to finance my master’s degree
studies. Then, for the year 2008-2009, I obtained an amount of $6000 from the Zoom Media Scholarship, the FARE
scholarship of $6000 for 2009-2010, and finally, the one from the NSERC. These last ones are for my doctorate.
Pursuing Graduate Studies
News Post-Docs in the CRCMD Network : Marco Braun, Debasish Pai Mazumber and
Loubna Benyahya
Dr. Marco Braun studied geography, Spanish, and politics at the University of Augsburg in Germany. During an
internship in Nepal, mapping glacier lake outburst flood hazards, he developed his interest for remote sensing. He
obtained his Master’s degree in Geography and Remote Sensing from the University of Augsburg. Joining a small
company in Munich, he worked on land-use classifications of satellite imagery to produce input data for hydrological
models and assessed the possibilities of using remote sensing for different precision farming. Upon returning to
University, he engaged in the validation of SRTM (Shuttle Radar Topography Mission) topographic data and later joined
the GLOWA-Danube research initiative, a research and development program on the comprehensive analysis of the
future of water resources of the Upper Danube. During this time Marco earned his PhD developing a method for
downscaling leaf area index derived from MODIS imagery.
Dr. Debasish Pai Mazumder obtained, in 2002, his BSc in Physics from University of Calcutta in India. From the same
University, he obtained, two years later, his Master’s degree in Atmospheric Sciences for his work on atmospheric
turbulence. He obtained his doctorate in 2009 in Atmospheric Sciences from the Geophysical Institute, University of
Alaska, Fairbanks, USA, for his work entitled « A concept to assess the performance of a permafrost model run fully
coupled with a climate model ».
Both, Marco and Debasish are working on the assessment of climate change impacts on Canadian water resources
through systematic analysis of hydro-meteorological fields simulated by different RCMs.
Page 4 / 5
Dr. Loubna Benyahya graduated (PhD) from the Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique (INRS-ETE) of Québec
in 2007. Loubna Benyahya's thesis developed and tested new statistical approaches of water temperature modelling for
effective water resources management. From 2007 to 2009, Dr Benyahya worked as postdoctoral researcher in Civil
and Water Resources Engineering at Dalhousie University. Loubna Benyahya is working currently at UQAM under the
supervision of Professors Philippe Gachon and René Laprise. Her work focuses on the development of new predictors
for the study of extremes utilising downscaling techniques and extreme event analysis.
Comings and goings...
Changes in CRCMD Network
Mr. Zav Kothavala left UQAM to take up a faculty position at Concordia University in July 2009. We wish him all the very best in his new job.
Summer Interns at CRCMD Network
Mélissa Cholette: She is collaborating with the publication of this joint newsletter of CRCMD Network and ESCER Centre and will also be cataloguing
previously published scientific articles, under the direction of Adelina Alexandru.
Simon Forcier : He is studying the effect of lakes on CRCM simulated climate over North America, under the direction of Jean Philippe Paquin .
Sanela Music : Senela has a big interest in scientific research particularly in climate change ; she is joining the CRCMD Network this summer to gain
more knowledge on climate modelling; she is working with Adelina Alexandru.
We would like to congratulate all our 2008-2009 graduates and wish them good luck:
M.Sc. in Atmosphere Sciences at UQAM: Samira Ben Said Étienne Tourigny, Mariane Peltier-Champigny, Elena Pison San Pedro, Aleksandra
Tatarevic, Danahé Paquin-Picard, Philippe Roy, Dimitri Parishkura, Alejandro Di Luca, Pierre-Luc Carpentier, Nacera Chergui, Fayçal Lamraoui,
Raphaël Bresson et Oumarou Nikiema.
CRCMD Network Seminars
July 15th 2008
Résulats récents et perspectives de recherche au Centre Européen
de Prévision Météorologique à Moyen Terme (CEPMMT) by Jean-Noël
Thépaut of CEPMMT
September 9th 2008
La détection et l’analyse des interactions aérosol-nuagesprécipitation dans les nuages optiquement minces sur les régions
polaires durant l’hiver à partir des satellites, de PEARL et des
simulations NARCM by Jean-Pierre Blanchet, Professor at Department of
Atmospheric Sciences and Director of Environmental Sciences Institute,
UQAM.
September 22th 2008
The Segmentation of Reflectances from Moderate Resolution Remote
Sensing Data for the Retrieval of Land Cover Specific Leaf Area Index
by Marco Braun of Geography Department at University of Munich in
Germany, GLOWA-Danube Project.
September 22th 2008
Simulation and Analysis of Water Cycle in Global and Regional
Climate Models by Dr. Yiwen Xu, of Air Quality Research Division,
Environnement Canada.
October 23th 2008
Variable-Resolution
Modelling
and
Stretched-Grid
Model
Intercomparison Project (SGMIP-2) by Dr. Micheal Fox-Rabinovitz of
University of Maryland.
October 29th 2008
SINERGIA : Involving Science and Society to Prepare for Global
Warming in the Pantanal and in the Paraguay River Basin by Dr.
Pierre Girard of Federal University of Mato Grosso, Brasil.
December 8th 2008
Experiences from RCM Simulations Over High Latitude Regions
Coupled to Lake, Snow and Forest Processes by Dr. Patrick
Samuelsson from Suedish Meteorologic and Hydrologic Institute (SMHI).
December 16th 2008
Évaluation de GEM dans la couche limite stable sur l’océan Arctique
durant SHEBA by Pierre-Luc Carpentier.
December 16th 2008
Paramétrisation sous-maille des précipitations chaudes à l’aide de la
campagne RICO by Sandra Turner, PhD student at CNRM, MétéoFrance.
Fabruary 10th 2009
Projected Arctic Warming, Rapid Sea Ice Loss, and Snow State
changes: Influences on Near-Surface Permafrost Degradation by Dr.
David Lawrence, of National Center for Atmospheric Rsearch (NCAR).
July 15th 2009
Impact, Implication, Response and Adaptation : the Challenge of
Global Warming for Work and Employment in Canada by Carla LipsigMummé, professor and coordinator, Labour Studies, York University,
Canada and Honorary Professor of Political and Social Inquiry, Monash
University, Australia.
News Roundup !
Funding
Mailing Address:
ESCER Centre
CP 8888, Centre-Ville Station
Montreal, QC
H3C 3P8
Street Address:
ESCER Centre
Université du Québec à Montréal
Président-Kennedy Building
(PK-2315)
201 Président-Kennedy Avenue
Montreal, QC
H2X 3Y7
Coordinator:
Delphine Person
Scholarships are available for students registered for graduate degrees in 2009 Fall Session. For Master’s
program, the scholarship amount is $5 000/session for the first year and $5 767/session for the second year. For
the Doctoral degree, the scholarship is $7 200 per session. The scholarships are renewable for 2010 winter
session depending on the academic performance and the availability of funds. Academic excellence is the main
selection criteria for these scholarships.
Gary Goodyear, Minister of State (Sciences and Technologies) and Jean-Pierre Blackburn, Minister of State
(Agriculture), announced allocation of $500 000 to the new Canada Research Chair in Regional Climate
Modeling Dr. Laxmi Sushama.
Subvention of $685 000 for Professor at UQÀM
May 27th 2009, the Ministry of « Developpement Durable, Environnement et Parcs (MDDEP) » offered to Dr.
Marie Larocque $685 000 funding for the realization of her project on subterranean waters of the Bécancour
River.
TELEPHONE:
(514) 987. 3000 x 4339
FAX :
(514) 987. 6853
E-MAIL:
person.delphine@uqam.ca
Honours roll
Michel-Jurdant Award of ACFAS
October 17th 2008, Dr. René Laprise received this prize awarded by the Association francophone pour le savoir
(ACFAS). This prize for research activities in environmental sciences is awarded to persons whose work and
scientific excellence has an impact on the society.
We would like to congratulate:
At first, we would like to congratulate Étienne Tourigny, who started his Ph.D. at CCST (Centra de Ciência do
Sistema Terrestre) in Brazil, under the direction of Carlos Nobre. He will be studying the carbon cycle feedback
in the Amazonian forest.
and our 2008-2009 Scholarship Recipients:
EXCELLENCE SCHOLARSHIP OF SCIENCE FACULTY –$2 000
Dragana Kornic (Msc-2009), Jean-Philippe Paquin (PhD-2009) and Alejandro Di Luca (PhD-2009).
CRCMD Network
Université du Québec à Montréal
Président-Kennedy Building
(PK-2315)
201 Président-Kennedy Avenue
Montreal, QC
H2X 3Y7
Coordinator :
Adelina Alexandru
TELEPHONE :
(514) 987.3000
TELECOPIE :
(514) 987.6853
COURRIER:
adelina@sca.uqam.ca
NSGRC SCHOLARSHIP – ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL – $35 000
Jean-Philippe Blanchet (PhD), Danahé Paquin-Ricard (PhD 2009-2010) and Serge-Alexandre Demers-Giroux
(summer research scholarship for 2009- 4 500$)
FQRNT SCHOLARSHIP – RÉAL-DÉCOSTE – $20 000
Martin Deshaies-Jacques (PhD 2008-2009 et 2009-2010), Stefan Broda (PhD 2008-2009) and Jean-Philippe
Paquin (PhD 2009-2010).
FARE SCHOLARSHIP – $6 000
Danahé Paquin-Ricard (PhD 2009-2010) and Jean-Philippe Paquin (PhD 2009-2010).
GEC3 SCHOLARSHIP – $2 000
Alejandro Di Luca (PhD-2009)
Did you know that?
Visit us on our website!
On May 29th 2009, an international panel of experts led by NOAA released a new prediction for the next solar
cycle : Solar Cycle 24 will peak in May 2013 with a below-average number of sunspots. For more details, please
go to : http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2009/29may_noaaprediction.htm
www.escer.uqam.ca
www.mrcc.uqam.ca
Writing and page setting: Adelina Alexandru and Mélissa Cholette