Welcome!
The Rutgers Climate Institute is a University-wide effort to address one of the most important issues of our time through research, education and outreach. The Institute draws upon strengths in many departments at Rutgers by facilitating collaboration across a broad range of disciplines in the natural, social and policy sciences.
What's New?
The Rutgers Center for Resilient Landscapes (crl.rutgers.edu) is hosting their second annual Fall Symposium on Tuesday September 12th from 9 am to 2 pm on the Rutgers - New Brunswick campus. The Rutgers CRL is a partnership between Rutgers University and the USDA Forest Service, focused on understanding social-ecological resilience in New Jersey towns and forests under conditions of global change, periodic disturbance, and urbanization. Center Fellows will give presentations in the morning, with a poster session from 12 to 1 to follow. If interested in presenting a poster, please contact Michelle Johnson (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) and Pam Zipse (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) to express interest. Please provide a poster title and authors by September 1st. Complete details document here. (79 KB)
Residents and Visitors of the Two Rivers Communities, Monmouth County, NJ
Help Us "Map What Matters"
A team of resiliency experts, led by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) and the Two Rivers Council of Mayors, are engaging with residents and visitors of the Two Rivers communities to learn about their favorite places as part of the three-year New Jersey Fostering Regional Adaptation through Municipal Economic Scenarios (NJ FRAMES) project. The goal of the project is to help the Two Rivers region prepare for and respond to coastal hazards and the risk of flooding through regional resiliency planning.
How to participate?
Visit www.TwoRiversOneFuture.nj.gov to start mapping or learn about upcoming engagement events or use #MapWhatMatters and #TwoRiversOneFuture with images and info to tweet about your favorite places.
Project partners include NJDEP’s Coastal Management Program (CMP) with the Louis Berger Group, the Jacques Cousteau National Estuarine Research Reserve, the Rutgers Climate Institute, and Oceanport Borough representing the Two Rivers Council of Mayors.
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Download a flyer here.
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Congratulations to RCI affiliate Robert Kopp on receiving the James B. Macelwane Medal, in recognition for “significant contributions to the geophysical sciences by an outstanding early career scientist.”
Oxford University Press releases Climate Crisis and the Democratic Prospect a new book by RCI Affiliate Emeritus Frank Fischer. Can contemporary democratic governments tackle climate crisis? Some argue that democracy has to be a central part of a strategy to deal with climate change. Others argue that experience shows it not to be up to the challenge in the time frame available-that it will require a stronger hand, even a form of eco-authoritarianism. A question that does not lend itself to an easy assessment, this volume seeks to out and assess the competing answers.
See attached flyer for Professor Alan Robock's Climate Modeling Course pdf here. (157 KB)
Climate Change Policy in New Jersey: Advancing Opportunities to make New Jersey Safer, Greener, Healthier and More Prosperous
Hosted by the New Jersey Climate Adaptation Alliance.
Wednesday, September 27, 2017
Coach Barn at Duke Farms in Hillsborough, NJ.
Mindy Lubber, President and CEO of CERES (www.ceres.org) will be joining as a keynote speaker!
COMPLETE DETAILS AND REGISTRATION LINK HERE. Event flyer available here.
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Rutgers Climate Institute Symposium
Theme: Climate Change and Cities
November 15, 2017
Livingston Student Center, 84 Joyce Kilmer Avenue, Piscataway, New Jersey
This one-day symposium is intended to stimulate interaction and collaboration among the community of natural and social science researchers and university students interested in climate change who are from institutions in the greater NJ, NY and Philadelphia region. Over 200 attendees representing more than 20 research institutions in our region participate annually. Talks center on the symposium theme. The poster session invites abstracts on climate change scholarship and are not restricted to the theme. More information and registration will be coming.
New Video Available!
Kim Stanley Robinson's New York 2140 Science and Fiction: Envisioning our Region's Future Under Extreme Sea-Level Rise. Watch the award-winning and best-selling author Kim Stanley Robinson's April 2017 talk about his latest novel along with a panel of distinguished Rutgers faculty with expertise in climate science (Robert Kopp), urban planning (Clinton Andrews), urban agriculture (Laura Lawson), and the environmental humanities (Jorge Marcone) who discussed the novel and its vision. Watch here. More about this and other RCI events here.
Superstorm Sandy: Five Years Later Conference
Call for abstracts has passed.
Conference Dates: October 26-27, 2017
Meadowlands Environmental Research Institute, Lyndhurst, NJ
Learn more here.
News in August 2017
Miami, among the most vulnerable US cities to rising sea levels, will be voting to approve a $400 million general obligation bond, instituting higher property taxes to help prepare for future mitigation from encroaching seas. Cities like Miami are more able to turn to property taxes as a base for tackling these issues, unlike many smaller coastal New Jersey towns, where property is quickly eroding away as the sea rises, according to RCI affiliate Bob Kopp. Smaller communities have no choice but to become reliant on higher levels of government if they want to secure the funding needed to pay for the cost of climate adaptation and prevent losses from storm-related flooding, emphasized Kopp.
The Arctic is experiencing rapid warming due to ice-albedo feedbacks as ice begins to melt, which will have significant consequences for the rest of the earth, according to ABC News. RCI affiliate Jennifer Francis explains the connections between reduced winter sea ice and shifts in the jet stream. Although significant debate still exists about this mechanism, more and more research agrees with Francis’s hypothesis that reduced sea ice leads to more frequent jet stream meandering.
As part of the New Jersey Fostering Regional Adaptation through Municipal Economic Scenarios (NJ FRAMES) project, the Two Rivers, one Future campaign will be speaking with residents of the Two Rivers communities about the most import and valued local resources in the area over the next few weeks. The goal of the project is to help the area prepare for coastal flooding through regional resiliency planning. Project partners include the Rutgers Climate Institute, the NJDEP Coastal Management Program, the Jacques Cousteau National Estuarine Research Reserve, and many others.
Rutgers students were among 45 students drawn from 10 universities as part of a ten week paid internship to work with leading businesses work on developing sustainable solutions to issues such as achieving zero waste and improving energy efficiency. RCI affiliate Jill Lipoti served on the selection committee.
RCI co-director Tony Broccoli, associate director Marjorie Kaplan, and affiliate Jeanne Herb, were invited to testify to at a joint legislative session to map out New Jersey’s plan going forward to tackle the impacts of climate change around the New Jersey. Tony Broccoli informed lawmakers that New Jersey’s average temperature has risen at a rate of just under three degrees Fahrenheit per century, or somewhat faster than the global average, and that sea level rise will raise the baseline for coastal flooding. New Jersey is also sinking, accelerating sea level rise to a rate faster than the global average. Heat-related emergency room department visits are on the rise, a sign of things to come with climate change, according to research presented by Marjorie Kaplan and Jeanne Herb at this legislative session.
RCI affiliate Alan Robock discussed the expected climate impact of a nuclear conflict arising out of the growing tension between the United States and North Korea. The theory of nuclear winter comes from the idea that the fires that are ignited from nuclear bombs would be large enough to loft black carbon into the stratosphere and block out incoming solar radiation. According to a Robock, a nuclear war that uses less than 1% of the world's nuclear arsenal would produce 'a larger climate change than ever recorded before in human history.' According to Robock, North Korea does not possess the weapons alone to produce a nuclear winter, but once a nuclear war were to start, it would be difficult if not impossible to control it.
More than 60 urban high school students in New Jersey participated in the 9th annual 4-H Summer Science Program at Rutgers New Brunswick. RCI affiliate Janice McDonnell is the co-founder of 4-H STEM, which encourages young people to gain a better understanding of STEM opportunities through hands on activities.
RCI affiliate Robert Kopp, co-author of a recent study in the journal Science, discusses the implications of his research on economic inequality in the United States at KTSA.com. The areas that are the poorest in the US, according to his research, will suffer the impacts of climate change the hardest. Kopp says that economic opportunity will likely shift from the deep south towards the north and west.
RCI affiliate Alan Robock is joining forces with Brian Toon from the University of Colorado Boulder to study the climatic impact of nuclear conflicts with a $3 million grant from the Open Philanthropy Project. Discussions of nuclear winter began in 1980, when simple models showed that nuclear explosions could burn enough area to loft significant amounts of soot into the stratosphere. Similar to volcanic eruptions, this would lead to a dramatic decrease in global surface temperatures. The research team aims to use state of the art models to determine how much material would burn in a nuclear strike, how much of this would be lofted into the stratosphere, how the climate would respond, and how this would affect human society.
RCI affiliate Ben Horton was featured in an article in the Atlantic about using sedimentary records in southeast Asia to study past tsunamis. Using layers of bat feces and sand, Ben Horton’s research was able to identify 11 prehistoric tsunamis. Detecting prehistoric tsunamis in this cave includes finding gaps in the layers of bat feces. Due to the topography of the cave and the abundance of bats, the gaps in feces indicates when water rushed in, which could only occur through tsunamis. During a single century around 1300 BC, there were four tsunamis.
Conferences, Symposia, Calls for Papers, Online Courses, Short Courses and Seminars
Rutgers Center for Resilient Landscapes is hosting their second annual Fall Symposium on September 12th from 9:00 AM to 2:00 PM on the Rutgers - New Brunswick campus. The Rutgers CRL is a partnership between Rutgers University and the USDA Forest Service, focused on understanding social-ecological resilience in New Jersey towns and forests under conditions of global change, periodic disturbance, and urbanization. Center Fellows will give presentations in the morning, with a poster session from 12 to 1 to follow. If you are interested in presenting a poster, please contact Michelle Johnson (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) or Pam Zipse (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) by September 1 to express interest and provide a poster title and authors. More details to follow.
SISC Fifth Annual Conference, Climate action in support of the Paris Agreement will be held from October 26-27, 2017 at the Conference Center of CNR Bologna Research Area, Italy. More information here.
UNESCO - Caribbean Climate Conference will be held from September 27-29, 2017 in Georgetown, Guyana. More information here.
AGU Fall Meeting will be held from December 11-15, 2017 in New Orleans, Louisiana. Submit to The Surface Energy Budget: Influences on Spatiotemporal Magnitude and Variability session here. Complete details about AGU's Fall meeting here.
A joint session of the 10th Symposium on Aerosol Cloud Climate Interactions and the 20th Conference on Atmospheric Chemistry will be held from January 7-11, 2017 in Austin, Texas. More information here.
The Editors of the peer‐reviewed journal, Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management (IEAM), invite experts engaged in the fields of climate change research, planning and adaptation to submit a short commentary. Submission deadline September 1, 2017. More information here.
The 6th International Conference on Drylands, Deserts and Desertification (DDD6) will take place at the Sde Boqer campus of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel, on from November 6-9, 2017. More information here.
International workshop: The Rise and Fall: Environmental Factors in the Socio-Cultural Changes of the Ancient Silk Road Area will be held from September 28-29, 2017 at Kiel University, Germany. The workshop especially encourages junior researchers (PhD students and postdocs) to participate. More information here.
Apply for the Science & SciLifeLab Prize for Young Scientists. Applicants must have been awarded their doctoral degree in 2015 or 2016. The topic of an entrant's thesis must be in one of 4 categories: Cell and Molecular Biology, Genomics and Proteomics, Ecology and Environment, Translational Medicine. Grand prize winner will receive a prize of US$30,000; each of the three category winners will receive US$10,000. The grand prize winning essay will be published in Science and essays from the three category winners will be published online. More information and apply here.
The Second World Symposium on Climate Change Communication on “Addressing the Challenges in Communicating Climate Change Across various Audiences", to be held in Graz, Austria, from February 7-9, 2018. Apply and more information here.
The website, MOOC-List provides a list of free online courses on climate change here.
Introduction to Sustainable Development course through Coursera and Columbia University. Course is ongoing and is free and open to all. Click here to take the course.
Introductory e-Course on Climate Change and REDD+ Academy e-Course available through the United Nations New Climate Change E-Learn Platform. More information here.
Northeast Regional Climate Hub Pilots Discussion Groups for Climate Adaptation hosted by the USDA Northeast Climate Hub and the Climate Learning Network. Sign up here.
30th Conference on Climate Variability and Change, 24th Conference on Probability and Statistics, and 16th Conference on Artificial Intelligence will be held from July 28-29, 2017 in Baltimore, Maryland. More information here.
Past Antarctic Ice Sheet Dynamics (PAIS) Conference 2017 will be held from September 10-15, 2017 in Trieste, Italy. More information and register here.
The summer school on 'Urban Climate Change Challenge: Monitoring, Assessment & Adaptation' aims to provide structured information, skill development and capacity building related to climate change challenges in urban areas, with a primary focus of creating an active pool of young scientists that tackle the major sustainability challenges facing future generations. It will be held from August 21-26, 2017 in Bucharest. Romania. nationalMore information here.
The Cities and Climate Conference 2017 will be held from September 19-21, 2017 in Potsdam, Germany. More information here.
17th Annual Meeting of the European Meteorological Society for Applied Meteorology and Climatology will be held from September 4-8, 2017 in Dublin, Ireland. More information here.
Fifth Annual International Conference on Sustainable Development (ICSD) will be held from September 18-19, 2017 at Columbia University in New York City. More information here.
4th International Conference on Earth System Modelling, hosted by the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology will be held from August 28- September 1, 2017 in Hamburg, Germany. Submit an abstract here.
2017 Conference on Econometric Models of Climate Change will be held from September 4-5, 2017 at Nuffield College, University of Oxford. More information here.
Meadowlands Conference, Superstorm Sandy: Five Years Later, will be held from October 26- 17, 2017 in Lyndhurst, New Jersey. More information here.
Numerical Modeling, Predictability and Data Assimilation in Weather, Ocean and Climate A Symposium Honoring the Legacy of Anna Trevisan will be held from October 17-20, 2017 at the Institute of Atmospheric and Climate Science of the Italian Research Council in Bologna Italy. More information here.
Good Hope for Earth Sciences Conference will be held from August 27- September 1, 2017 in Cape Town, South Africa. More information here.
The International Congress of Biometeorology will be held from September 3-7, 2017 in Durham, United Kingdom. More information here.
Arctic Terrestrial Modelling Workshop will be held from September 14-15, 2017 at the University of Oxford. More information here.
Climate Risk Analysis is giving a Short Course in Climate Extremes Analysis in Bad Gandersheim, Germany, from September 19- 22, 2017. Registration deadline September 8, 2017. More information here.
Navigating the Waters of Change Conference hosted by the New Jersey Association of Floodplain Management will be held from October 24-26, 2017 at Bally’s Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Watch for information here.
Keeping History Above Water, 2017 Conference will be held from October 29 - November 1, 2017 in Annapolis, MD. More information here.
Creating the Healthiest Nation: Climate Changes Health annual meeting and expo hosted by the American Public Health Association will be held from November 4-8, 2017 in Atlanta, Georgia. More information here.
11th Graduate Climate Conference, hosted by MIT's Program in Atmospheres, Oceans and Climate and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution will be held from November 10-12, 2017 in Cape Cod, MA. Application will open at the end of April and abstract deadline will be in June. More information here.
Six federal agencies have announced a Wildland Fire Sensors Challenge seeking an accurate, lower-cost, and low-maintenance air quality monitoring system that can be used during a wildfire or controlled fire. The data provided by the sensor system will help federal, state, local and tribal agencies protect the health of first responders and communities affected by the smoke. The Challenge total award pool is $60,000, which may be awarded in total to one winner if all the requirements are met, or divided into several partial awards. Written submissions are due by November 22, 2017 and prototypes must be submitted by January 5, 2018. More information here.
Polar 2018 will take place in Davos, Switzerland from June 15-27, 2018. More information here.
Jobs, Internships & Funding Opportunities
Click here for more information on Fellowships and Internships.
Oceanographer & Science Communications Positions available at the European Space Agency’s Climate Office in the UK. Application deadline September 15, 2017. More information on both positions here.
2 Research Scientist Positions available at the Barcelona Supercomputing Center. The first position is on global ground breaking high resolution ocean atmosphere modelling and deadline is October 15, 2017. The second one is on sea ice modelling, variability and predictability and deadline is September 24, 2017.
Core Scientist position available as a part of the UK Earth system model core development team at the National Centre for Earth Observation. Application deadline August 29, 2017. More information here.
Postdoctoral position available on parameterization of sub-grid-scale effects on surface fluxes over ocean using high-resolution simulations as a part of the CNRM climate research group in Toulouse, France. Application deadline September 30, 2017. More information here.
Multiple Positions available with the Joint Center for Satellite Data Assimilation. More information here. (Posted August 21, 2017).
Scientist/ Post doctoral Position available in capturing data for an evaluation of an urban climate model at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany. Applications with CV, short letter of motivation and information of two references to Stefan.emeis(at)kit.edu by October 1, 2017.
MS Graduate Assistantship position available in physical oceanography and climate dynamics at Texas A&M University- Corpus Christi. Contact tshinoda(at)tamucc.edu if interested.
Postdoctoral Position available in mesoscale modeling and mountain climate at the University of California- Santa Barbara. Next review date August 30, 2017. Final application date September 20, 2017 if job has not been filled. More information here.
Scientific Programmer Position available in developing of the climate forecast system at the CSIRO in Australia. Application deadline September 3, 2017. More information here.
Postdoctoral Position available in climate modeling/ scientific computing at the Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Science. Application evaluation will begin August 28, 2017. More information here.
PhD Position available in high resolution sea- level projections at the NIOZ Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research. Application deadline September 15, 2017. More information here.
Tenure Track Faculty Position available in climate modeling at Indiana University. For questions email, pdpolly(at)indiana.edu. More information and submit here. (posted August 15, 2017)
Postdoctoral Researcher Position available with the Irish National Meteorological Service. Application deadline September 14, 2017. More information here.
National Science Foundation announced funding of a total of $11 million as a part of the Paleo Perspectives on Climate Change (P2C2). The goal of research funded under the interdisciplinary P2C2 solicitation is to utilize key geological, chemical, atmospheric (gas in ice cores), and biological records of climate system variability to provide insights into the mechanisms and rate of change that characterized Earth's past climate variability, the sensitivity of Earth's climate system to changes in forcing, and the response of key components of the Earth system to these changes. Application deadline for October 20, 2017. More information here.
Social Media Internship position at Climate Access. Internship to begin in September 2017 - January 2018. Undergraduate or graduate students or recent graduates will work remotely on a project that is using virtual reality technology as a means to experience flooding and flooding solutions. The internship is unpaid but academic credit may be an option. Complete details pdf here (91 KB) .
PhD positions available in interdisciplinary climate research at the International Max Planck Research School on Earth System Modelling in Hamburg, Germany. Application deadline September 15, 2017. More information email office.imprs(at)mpimet.mpg.de.
Climate Signals Media Manager position available with Climate Nexus, a strategic communications non-profit dedicated to changing the conversation on climate change and clean energy in New York, New York. More information here.
The NRC Research Associateship Programs (RAP) promote excellence in scientific and technological research conducted by the U.S. government through the administration of programs offering graduate, postdoctoral, and senior level research opportunities at sponsoring federal laboratories and affiliated institutions. These awards include generous stipends ranging from $45,000 - $80,000 per year for recent Ph.D. recipients, and higher for additional experience. Limited graduate level awards are available. These awards provide the opportunity for recipients to do independent research in some of the best-equipped and staffed laboratories in the U.S. Research opportunities are open to U.S. citizens, permanent residents, and for some of the laboratories, foreign nationals. Application deadline August 1, 2017. Apply here.
A workshop with the theme of “Deconstructing Participatory Climate Governance: Innovation or Business as Usual”, will be held at Science Po Bordeaux in France from October 26- October 27, 2017. More information here.
Fish and Wildlife Service funding total of $14 million for the Coastal Program provide direct technical assistance and financial assistance to coastal communities and landowners to restore and protect fish and wildlife habitat on public and private lands. Projects should specify benefits for species and habitats considering the expected effects of climate change. FWS will favor conservation activities and projects that incorporate ecosystem adaptation and help coastal ecosystems and communities adapt to the effects of sea level rise and greenhouse gases. Application deadline September 30, 2017. More information here.
Postdoctoral Position available in climate variability at local scale using observations and simulations at the LATMOS in Guyancourt, France. Application including curriculum vitae, statement of research interests and the contact information of two references should be emailed to marjolaine.chiriaco(at)latmos.ipsl.fr.
MS Graduate Assistantship available in physical oceanography and climate dynamics in the Department of Physical and Environmental Sciences at Texas A&M University. Email tshinoda(at)tamucc.edu for any inquiries. More information here.
PhD Studentship available on cold surges over western Europe: mechanisms underlying variability and change at Durham University, United Kingdom. More information here.
Postdoctoral Position available in biology, oceanography, geology and geophysics at the Alfred Wegener Institute Centre for Polar and Marine Research in Bremerhaven, Germany. For more information email Thomas.jung(at)awi.de.
Postdoctoral Fellowship Position available in land-atmosphere interactions in cold environments at the University of Oslo (Norway). More information here.
Postdoctoral Fellowship position available in land atmosphere earth system modeling at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY. Applications will be accepted until the role is filled. Email application to pgh25(at)cornell.edu.
Postdoctoral Position available in satellite based data assimilation for soil moisture estimation at KU Leuven, Belgium. Apply here.
Visiting Scientist Software Engineer/ Programmer Position available to focus on development of an experimental service for disseminating observational and short-range oceanographic forecast guidance in a format usable by electronic navigation systems for testing by commercial partners at the NOAA Office of Coast Survey in Silver Spring, Maryland. Email application and further questions to cpaess-apply(at)ucar.edu.
Post-Doctoral Position available for the Representation of the convective boundary-layer dynamics: use of an automatic tuning tool in the 1D/LES framework to improve parameterizations at the CNRM in France. For more information email fleur.couvreux(at)meteo.fr.
Fish and Wildlife Service announced funding of a total of $14 million to provide direct technical assistance and financial assistance to coastal communities and landowners to restore and protect fish and wildlife habitat on public and private lands. Application deadline for Coastal Program is September 30, 2017. More information here.
Academic Service Opportunities
