Future Earth Earth Commission

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Published: Wednesday, 03 April 2019 09:50

PAGES' parent organization Future Earth has launched a call for nominations for the Earth Commission and encourages you to nominate leading scientists to take part in this important mission to achieve global sustainability.

The deadline for nominations is 23 April 2019.
 
Human activities are pushing the planet out of a safe operating space for humanity. Urgent action is needed to slow, and even stop, this change.

To tackle the challenge, Future Earth is convening the Earth Commission – a group of leading scientists who will define the conditions needed to maintain a stable planet, and synthesize science needed to set targets for the life support systems of Earth: land, biodiversity, freshwater, ocean.

The Commission will inform the work of a new Science Based Targets Network developing methodologies for companies and cities to set specific science-based targets.

Read more and nominate here.

2k Network data in Nature

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Published: Thursday, 28 March 2019 17:24

A new article published in Nature shows that Arctic warming is associated with drying over the mid-latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere.

Authors, led by Cody Routson, compiled a large network of multi-proxy climate records extending back through the Holocene, and used the recent PAGES 2k paleotemperature dataset to bridge to the instrumental period.

The paleoclimate reconstructions agree with simulations by global climate models showing that Arctic warming is associated with reduced mid-latitude storms and rainfall.

This June, the authors will join the PAGES-endorsed CLIMATE-12k workshop, "How hot was the Holocene?" to combine the new proxy dataset with similar data from the Southern Hemisphere to develop a global perspective.

Access the paper, titled "Mid-latitude net precipitation decreased with Arctic warming during the Holocene", here.

Access the Press Release about the paper from North Arizona University here.

Silk Road book online

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Published: Thursday, 21 March 2019 11:40

An edited book volume which resulted from a PAGES-supported workshop, focusing on possible links between social upheaval, resource utilization, and climate or environmental forces along the ancient Silk Road in China, is now accessible online.

"Socio-Environmental Dynamics along the Historical Silk Road" from publishing house Springer can also be purchased as a printed version.

The 535-page book, edited by Liang Emlyn Yang, Hans-Rudolf Bork, Xiuqi Fang, and Steffen Mischke, discusses socio-environmental interactions in the middle to late Holocene, covering specific areas along the ancient Silk Road regions.

Versions of most of the chapters were initially prepared for the international PAGES-supported workshop "The Rise and Fall: Environmental Factors in the Socio-Cultural Changes of the Ancient Silk Road Area" held in September 2017.

Read more ...

Read the latest e-news

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Published: Wednesday, 13 March 2019 17:13

Read about the latest PAGES' news, meetings and opportunities from around the world in this month's e-news.

Highlights include the annual PAGES Scientific Steering Committee meeting, a request to check/update your People Database details, EGU and INQUA updates, working group news and meeting announcements, ECN updates, recent products and various funding opportunities.
 

Loutre awarded INQUA Medal

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Published: Monday, 04 March 2019 15:49

PAGES' Executive Director Marie-France Loutre will be awarded the INQUA Distinguished Service Medal at the 20th INQUA Congress in Dublin, Ireland.

The Medal is awarded to individuals with a recognized record of sustained and outstanding contributions to the maintenance or development of INQUA’s important functions such as organization, operations, outputs, or publicity.

Dr. Loutre was Secretary of the INQUA Commission on Palaeoclimate from 1995 to 1999, the first female President of an INQUA Commission (on Palaeoclimate) from 1999 to 2003, and the INQUA Treasurer from 2007 to 2015.

Dr. Loutre was also heavily involved in the Belgian branch of INQUA for almost 20 years.

She said it was a great honor to be selected. "It really came as a surprise. I am pleased and humbled to receive this Medal and to join Nat Rutter as a recipient."

Prof. Rutter, the previous recipient from 2015, founded Quaternary International, the official journal of INQUA.

The 20th INQUA Congress runs from 25-31 July 2019.

Catastropic events on BVI blog

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Published: Thursday, 21 February 2019 16:24

New science post on PAGES Early-Career Network's The Early Pages Blog:

Joshua Mueller writes about the impact that catastrophic events on the British Virgin Islands have on their nature and economy.

This post features the effects of Hurricane Irma, as well as the history of human-induced wildfires since the colonization of the British Virgin Islands.

Read it here.

Access all The Early Pages blog posts here.

Find out more about PAGES Early-Career Network (ECN) and sign up to the mailing list.