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Using cosmogenic 21Ne to quantify sediment residence time in large-scale fluvial systems throughout the geological record
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Michal Ben-IsraelAbstract: Rivers are the most effective agent of erosion on earth, transporting massive amounts of detrital and dissolved matter into depositional basins, making them a significant part of the rock cycle. To better understand the relationship between denudation of continents and the rivers that drain them, numerous studies examine the pathways of sediment transport through large drainage systems. However, due to the complex nature of sediment storage and transport dynamics in large-scale fluvial systems, the amount of time sediment spends in the sedimentary system is poorly constrained. We measured cosmogenic 21Ne to quantify the exposure time of sediments within large-scale fluvial systems in large rivers: the modern Colorado river, the Miocene Hazeva River (~18 Ma), and the Lower Cretaceous (~130 Ma) Kurnub fluvial system. We observe that fluvial transport dynamics in large rivers are complex and that sediment transport time varies significantly and can last between very rapid (faster than our analytical measurement limitation ~103 yr) and 105 yr. To better understand the nature of fluvial transport dynamics in large rivers, we constructed a stochastic model that simulates repeated episodes of burial and exposure and examines the changes in concentrations of cosmogenic 26Al, 10Be, and 21Ne. We compared the simulated results to the concentrations measured in the Colorado River, and we predict that the total that sediment spent both buried and exposed – the residence time in large rivers is ~103-105 years. These observations suggest that the time-scales of sediment transport in large rivers have not changed significantly over the past 130 Myr and have remained significantly fast compared to other processes in the rock-cycle.Contact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, December 1, 2019 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
A Photodynamical Model for Uniform and Precise Planetary Parameters Determination in Kepler Systems
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Gidi YoffeContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Wednesday, November 27, 2019 Hour: 13:30 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Internal Waves in the Ocean - what we know, and what we don't
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Yuri V LvovContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Tuesday, November 26, 2019 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Isotopic diagenesis of biogenic silica in marine sediments and implications for Cenozoic climate
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Anastasia YanchilinaAbstract: The oxygen isotopic signature of marine deep-sea cherts was previously used to reconstruct past ocean temperature and bottom water δ18O through the Cenozoic and Mesozoic periods. Oxygen isotopes of deep-sea cherts, which were never exposed to meteoric water, exhibit a wide range of values indicating that the evolution and maturation of biogenic amorphous opal (opal-A) to opal-CT and microquartz chert is accompanied by isotopic changes. We measured δ18O of diatom opal-A, opal-CT, and microquartz chert from deep sea cores retrieved from the Japan Sea. The δ18O of opal-CT and microquartz chert phases correspond to the depth in the sediments where these transitions occur, ~400 m and 40 °C for opal-A to opal-CT and ~500 m and 60 °C for opal-CT to microquartz chert. The δ18O values of opal-CT and microquartz chert appear to reflect equilibrium formation temperatures of silica, corresponding to the geothermal gradient and the local porewater δ18O. The δ18O of opal-CT and microquartz chert are controlled by the geothermal gradient and compositions of pore waters during polymorphic transformations deep within the sediment, indicating that the δ18O of these phases cannot be used to determine temperature or composition of seawater during diatom growth. Opal-A is the most susceptible phase for isotope alteration. We separated opal-A (i.e., diatoms, radiolaria, and siliceous sponge spicules) of Cenozoic age and measured its isotope composition. The results do not indicate any significant change in δ18O. This will be discussed within the general framework of global climatic change.Contact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, November 24, 2019 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
A universal rank-order transform to extract signals from noisy data
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Alex KostinskiContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, November 17, 2019 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Kepler's Multiple Planet Systems
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Jack LissauerAbstract: More than one-third of the 4000+ planet candidates found by NASA’s Kepler spacecraft are associated with target stars that have more than one planet candidate, and such “multis” account for the vast majority of candidates that have been verified as true planets. The large number of multis tells us that flat multiplanet systems like our Solar System are common. Virtually all of the candidate planetary systems are stable, as tested by numerical integrations that assume a physically motivated mass-radius relationship. Statistical studies performed on these candidate systems reveal a great deal about the architecture of planetary systems, including the typical spacing of orbits and flatness. The characteristics of several of the most interesting confirmed Kepler & TESS multi-planet systems will also be discussed.Contact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, November 10, 2019 Hour: 14:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Ocean Worlds of the Outer Solar System: Life as we know it or life as we don’t?
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Alex HayesAbstract: Recent discoveries have shown that habitable environments likely exist in subsurface water oceans within the outer planet moons of Europa and Enceladus. On Titan, the largest moon of Saturn, lakes and seas of liquid hydrocarbon exist in addition to a vast subsurface water ocean. These places represent ideal locations for hydrothermal environments that could sustain life as we know it and, in Titan’s case, perhaps even life as we don’t. The next generation of uncrewed planetary spacecraft will be designed to search for the signs of life in one or more of these worlds. This lecture will begin with a brief review of the discoveries that have motivated a renewed importance for Ocean World exploration, before diving into Titan's lakes and seas to discuss recent findings related to its hydrocarbon-based hydrologic cycle and setting the stage for the newly selected Dragonfly quadcopter set to explore Titan in the mid 2030s.Contact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, November 3, 2019 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Forecast Skill and the Impact of Equatorial Waves in Two Operational Weather Prediction Systems
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: George N. KiladisAbstract: Equatorially trapped waves account for a large portion of the perturbations within the tropical atmosphere and ocean. In the atmosphere, these disturbances are coupled to convection and determine a significant amount of rainfall variability on synoptic to intraseasonal time scales. Numerical models used for both weather and climate forecasting universally still have great difficulty simulating these convectively coupled disturbances. We assess the quantitative precipitation forecasts (QPF) skill of NOAA's Global Forecast System (GFS) and the European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting Integrated Forecast System (IFS) operational models used for short term forecasts out to 10 days. Forecast skill was assessed by comparison with virtually independent GPM and CMORPH satellite precipitation estimates. Skill was quantified using a variety of metrics including pattern correlations for various latitude bands, temporal correlation at individual grid points, and space-time spectra of forecast precipitation over the global tropics and extratropics. Results reveal that, in general, initial conditions are reasonably well estimated in both forecast systems, as indicated by relatively good scores for the 6-12 hour forecasts. Since precipitation estimates are not directly assimilated into these systems, this indicates that the initialization of dynamical and thermodynamical fields is able to produce a reasonable QPF field, at least for the larger scales. We present evidence that the specification of the mass circulation rather than the moisture field is the primary source of this initial skill. Model skill is substantially better overall in the extratropics, however, tropical QPF in both systems is not considered useful by typical metrics much beyond a few days. A portion of this lack of tropical skill in can be traced back to inadequate treatment of equatorial wave activity coupled to convection. It is also demonstrated that extratropical forecast skill is positively correlated to preceding tropical skill, strongly suggesting that improvements in the treatment of tropics will lead to improved extratropical forecasts on the weekly and longer timescale.Contact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Wednesday, September 18, 2019 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Influence of terrestrial plants and phytoplankton on photochemical air-pollution
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Eran TasContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, June 30, 2019 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Geochemical Dynamics of Atmospheric Oxygen
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Dan SchragContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Tuesday, June 25, 2019 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
A Forward Model for the Architecture of Inner Planetary Systems
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Eric FordContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, June 23, 2019 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Geoethics: what is geoethics and what it has to do with us?
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Nir OrionContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, June 16, 2019 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
The Ventilated Thermocline in the Tropical Pacific and Its Relationship to Decadal Variability in Global Warming
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Dan SchragContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Tuesday, June 11, 2019 Hour: 14:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
The role of clouds in extratropical climate change and variability
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: David ThompsonContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.il - Lecture
Mixing and Unmixing in Planets
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: David StevensonContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.il - Lecture
Fluvial response to base-level fall: insights from the main perennial tributaries of the Dead Sea
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Elad DenteContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.il - Lecture
Improving the detection of biological aerosols in the atmosphere - pollen, spores, and nitrated proteins
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Alex HuffmanContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.il - Lecture
The pathway of atmospheric water from ocean evaporation to rainout in extratropical weather systems
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Heini WernliContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.il - Lecture
The stinging mechanism of jellyfish
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Uri ShavitContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, April 28, 2019 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
From patterns to function in dryland ecosystems
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Ehud MeronContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, April 14, 2019 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Digitally draining the oceans (so we can see what’s inside)
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Derya AkkaynakContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Monday, April 8, 2019 Hour: 10:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
What planet formation tells us about planetary interior structure
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Alona VazanContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, April 7, 2019 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Optics in the Air
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Joseph ShawAbstract: This talk will use photographs and diagrams to illustrate and explain some of the beautiful optical phenomena observable in nature, such as ice‐crystal halos, rainbows, and sky colors, and will relate them to ongoing research into the spectral and spatial distribution of polarization in the atmosphere. Our group at Montana State University has pioneered all‐sky imaging methods to study skylight polarization and relate it to properties of airborne particles, clouds, and the underlying surface. Brief results from a deployment of all‐sky polarization imagers at the August 2017 solar eclipse will be shown and related to a more general discussion of atmospheric optical effects that can be seen by eye. The talk takes its title from my 2017 book, which describes optical phenomena in nature, especially as seen through airplane windows.Contact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Wednesday, April 3, 2019 Hour: 14:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Physical modelling of canopy flows
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Yardena RavivContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, March 31, 2019 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Multiphase Chemistry of Organic Aerosols and Reactive Oxygen Species in the Atmosphere
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Manabu ShiraiwaContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, March 24, 2019 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Reductionist vs. Emergence-based approaches to the study of complex systems: Examples from cloud systems
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Graham FeingoldContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, March 17, 2019 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
The interior of Jupiter revealed by Juno
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Jamila MiguelContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, March 10, 2019 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Sensitivity Analysis and Uncertainty Quantification in Hydrogeological Modeling
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Alberto GuadagniniContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, March 3, 2019 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Scattering of radiation by porous and amorphous atmospheric aerosol
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Caryn Erlick-HaspelContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, February 24, 2019 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Geostrophic Turbulence and the Formation of Large Scale Structure
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Edgar KnoblochContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, February 17, 2019 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Uncertainty in aquatic ecosystems: living with it, managing with it…
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Gideon GalContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, February 10, 2019 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Field and Laboratory Studies of Ice Nucleation by Organic Aerosols: Insights on Phase Transitions and Glass Formation
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Prof. Daniel CziczoContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Wednesday, February 6, 2019 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
δ26Mg values of low-T hydrothermal fluids exert new constraints on the oceanic Mg budget and require significant dolomite formation
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Netta ShalevContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilShare the event δ26Mg values of low-T hydrothermal fluids exert new constraints on the oceanic Mg budget and require significant dolomite formation on email Add the event δ26Mg values of low-T hydrothermal fluids exert new constraints on the oceanic Mg budget and require significant dolomite formation to calendarDate: Tuesday, February 5, 2019 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
The biomass distribution on earth
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Ron MiloContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, February 3, 2019 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
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Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Jiwchar GanorContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, January 27, 2019 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
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Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Caryn Erlick-HaspelContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, January 20, 2019 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
The Origin of the Moon Within a Terrestrial Synestia
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Simon LockContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, January 6, 2019 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Interplay between resident ("old") and infiltrating ("new") water and corresponding dynamics of interacting reactive chemical species in porous media
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Pei LiContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilShare the event Interplay between resident ("old") and infiltrating ("new") water and corresponding dynamics of interacting reactive chemical species in porous media on email Add the event Interplay between resident ("old") and infiltrating ("new") water and corresponding dynamics of interacting reactive chemical species in porous media to calendarDate: Thursday, January 3, 2019 Hour: 14:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
The Clouds’ Twilight Zone in the Longwave and its Radiative Effect
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Eshkow EytanContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, December 30, 2018 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
The interaction between the magnetic field and the atmospheric circulation on giants planets
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Keren DuerContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, December 23, 2018 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
The dusty cell: a detailed view of the interaction between individual human lung cells and dust storm particles
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Karin Ardon-Dryer Texas Tech UniversityContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, December 2, 2018 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Characteristic seasonality of low-level clouds and the subtropical anticyclone over the South Indian Ocean: Role of ocean fronts, air-sea interaction and the stormtrack
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Prof. Hisashi NakamuraContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilShare the event Characteristic seasonality of low-level clouds and the subtropical anticyclone over the South Indian Ocean: Role of ocean fronts, air-sea interaction and the stormtrack on email Add the event Characteristic seasonality of low-level clouds and the subtropical anticyclone over the South Indian Ocean: Role of ocean fronts, air-sea interaction and the stormtrack to calendarDate: Tuesday, November 27, 2018 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
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Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Yaron KatzirContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, November 25, 2018 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
The role of ocean circulation in the climate’s response to anthropogenic emissions
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Rei ChemkeAbstract: The effects of ocean circulation on the climate’s response to anthropogenic emissions at low and high latitudes are examined. At high latitudes, we examine the effects of ocean circulation on the North Atlantic sea surface temperature, which has large climate impacts in the Northern Hemisphere. In recent years and in climate projections a cooling trend is found in the North Atlantic surface (the North Atlantic warming hole). Using observations and large ensemble of model simulations, we find that since the beginning of 21st century there has been a reduction in surface meridional heat advection, which cools the North Atlantic midlatitudes and is part of an emerged forced response to anthropogenic emissions and not part of internal climate variability, and thus projected to continue in coming decades. At low latitudes, the Hadley cell plays an important role in setting the strength and position of the hydrological cycle. Climate projections show a weakening of the Hadley cell, together with widening of its vertical and meridional extents. These changes are projected to have profound global climatic impacts. Current theories for the Hadley cell response to increased greenhouse gases account only for atmospheric and oceanic thermodynamic changes, but not for oceanic circulation changes. Here, the effects of ocean circulation changes on the Hadley cell response to increased greenhouse gases are examined. First, using a hierarchy of ocean-model configurations under increased greenhouse gases or arctic sea-ice loss, we show that, by cooling the surface and atmosphere, ocean circulation contracts and strengthens the Hadley cell, and thus reduces its projected response.Contact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, November 18, 2018 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Active sand dunes as a source for desert loess and soils: An example from the Nile-Sinai-Negev Desert System
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Onn CrouviContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, November 11, 2018 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
The coating layer of glacial polish - implications for glaciers and crustal faults
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Shalev Siman TovContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, November 4, 2018 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Ozone waves in the stratosphere and the early winter mid-latitude QBO signal
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Vered SilvermanContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, October 28, 2018 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Transport and fate of Pt-based pharmaceuticals in natural soil-water environments
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Natalia Chana GoykhmanContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Wednesday, October 24, 2018 Hour: 10:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
The seeds of ice in clouds
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Prof. Ben MurrayContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Tuesday, October 23, 2018 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Major elements in seawater – a tool for quantifying large-scale processes in the ocean
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Zvika SteinerContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, October 21, 2018 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
A new atmosphere-ocean model for studying air-sea interactions and coupled data assimilation
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Udi StrobachContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, October 14, 2018 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Northern Hemispheric trigger for The Mid-Pleistocene Transition
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Maayan YehudaiContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, October 7, 2018 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Mediterranean cyclones: impact on climate and dynamics
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Emmanouil FlaounasContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.il - Lecture
Microbial Interactions and Climate Reconstructions
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Einat SegevAbstract: Micro-algae greatly influence present and past oceans. Recently we have come to realize that bacteria interact with micro-algae in various ways, ranging from pathogenicity to mutualism. My research investigates physical and chemical interactions between micro-algae and bacteria across multiple scales; from the chemical crosstalk to the influence these interactions have on the marine environment. In my talk I will introduce Emiliania huxleyi, the most prevalent micro-alga in modern oceans. I will discuss the role of bacteria as hidden farmers that control the life cycle of algae, determining how fast algae will grow and how fast they will die. I will link laboratory findings to work conducted at sea and demonstrate the importance of these findings in the study of proxies for climate reconstructions.Contact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.il - Lecture
The role of latent heating for atmospheric blocking: climatology and dynamics
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Daniel SteinfeldAbstract: Moist processes, and in particular the release of latent heat in ascending airstreams, can modify the mid-latitude flow and contribute to the formation of prolonged circulation anomalies such as atmospheric blocking. Blocking represents a challenge to numerical weather and climate forecasting, because it may lead to high impact weather in a situation of increased forecast uncertainty. The causal link between latent heating and blocking is still not well understood. In this study, we explore the effect of latent heating in ascending airstreams on the characteristics of atmospheric blocking using a combination of climatological analysis and modelling approaches. The results of this study illustrate how the physics within ascending airstreams play a crucial role in the formation of blocking anticyclones and in the upper-level wave dynamics in general.Contact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Tuesday, June 26, 2018 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Revisiting Atlantic-European weather regimes
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Christian M. GramsAbstract: The large-scale midlatitude flow is dominated by Rossby wave activity along the upper-level midlatitude wave guide and jet stream. This activity often occurs in preferred quasi-stationary, persistent, and recurrent states, so-called weather regimes (e.g. Vautard, 1990). Many of these regimes are dominated by a blocking anticyclone. In the Atlantic-European region, weather regimes explain most of the atmospheric variability on sub-seasonal time scales. From a forecasting perspective, the onset, persistence, and transition of weather regimes present a severe challenge in current numerical weather prediction models (Ferranti et al., 2015). In this presentation Atlantic-European weather regimes are revisited in order to elucidate their linkage to the eddy-driven jet, atmospheric blocking, and the physical and dynamical processes governing their life cycles. For the latter, the focus is on air mass transport into the upper troposphere through "diabatic outflow" driven by latent heat release in ascending air streams associated with synoptic-scale weather systems (e.g. Grams and Archambault 2016). Next to dry dynamics, this process has recently been shown to be of first-order in blocking onset and maintenance (Pfahl et al. 2015). Challenges in predictability of weather regime life cycles imposed by diabatic outflow are exemplarily demonstrated for a recent forecast bust. We further briefly discuss the modulation of weather regime life cycles by climate modes on sub-seasonal time scales such as the stratosphere and Madden-Julian Oscillation. Finally, the role of weather regimes in extreme weather and the relevance of the weather regime paradigm for socio-economic activities are demonstrated.Contact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, June 24, 2018 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Exploring the interplay between key processes in warm convective clouds.
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Guy DaganContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, June 10, 2018 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
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Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Mark ThiemensContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.il - Lecture
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Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Michal Sela-AdlerContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.il - Lecture
Understanding geochemical information in biomass: An example with coccolithophores and CO2
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Harry McClellandContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.il - Lecture
Impact Dynamics in Satellite Formation and Evolution
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Raluca RufuContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.il - Lecture
Late Quaternary climate in southern China deduced from Sr-Nd isotopes of Huguangyan Maar sediments
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Shikma ZaarurAbstract: Chemical composition and Sr-Nd isotope ratios of sediments from lake Huguangyan Maar and its vicinity are used to infer the hydro-climatic conditions that prevailed during the last Glacial and early- to mid-Holocene periods in South China. Variations in 87Sr/86Sr ratios in the lake sediments indirectly indicate two modes of climate conditions: wet intervals during which the lake sediments are mainly derived from the volcanic-lake rim materials, expressed in low 87Sr/86Sr, and dry intervals during which fine particles from the nearby granitic soils are windblown to the lake and supply local dust with high 87Sr/86Sr ratios to the sediments. These wet and dry intervals generally correspond to regional climate records (e.g., speleothem δ18O profiles in southeast China) and correlate with global climate events, (e.g., Heinrich events). While δ18O records of speleothems from southeast China caves are dominated by the precession signal, the Huguangyan Maar Sr record mainly correlates with obliquity. This most likely reflects masking of the precession signal due to regional climate variability, accentuating the obliquity signal. These local effects may also account for some of the differences that have been observed between the various East Asian monsoon records in the region. More importantly, the masking of the precession signal reveals the influence of obliquity on the hydro-climate regime in South China.Contact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.il - Lecture
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Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Michal Sela-Adler (WIS)Contact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.il - Lecture
Molecular Characterization of Atmospheric Brown Carbon
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Alexander LaskinAbstract: Light-absorbing organic aerosol commonly termed as Brown carbon (BrC) is a significant contributor to radiative forcing of the Earth’s climate and also is of toxicological concern. Understanding the environmental effects of BrC, its sources, formation, and aging processes requires fundamental knowledge of its chromophores and characterization of their light-absorption properties. This seminar will highlight our recent analytical chemistry developments and applications in the area of molecular-level characterization of BrC that provided first insights into diverse composition and properties of its common chromophores. We present the chemical analysis of chromophores reported in a number of case studies of BrC materials associated with emissions from biomass burning and anthropogenic secondary organic aerosols. The results show that BrC chromophores include organic molecules with various structures, polarities, and volatilities. Understanding their chemical identity requires multi-modal analysis employing complementary separation and ionization approaches in combination with high resolution mass spectrometry. These studies allow assessment of BrC optical properties and relating them to fractional contributions from different classes of chromophores such as aromatic carboxylic acids, nitro-phenols; substituted, heterocyclic and pure polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.Contact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, April 29, 2018 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Precariously Balanced Rocks provide new constraints for Negev seismic hazard analysis
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Yaron FinziAbstract: Precariously Balanced Rocks (PBR) cannot withstand strong ground motion. When a strong earthquake occurs in their vicinity they are likely to break or topple. By evaluating the stability of PBR and determining their age, it is possible to constrain the maximum ground motions that occurred at PBR sites during their life time. This methodology has been proven as effective in determining the maximal earthquake magnitude of faults in the USA, and has been applied to improve both deterministic and probabilistic seismic hazard analysis. In the Negev, slender, in-situ, slenderrock pillars constitute a particularly important subset of PPRs as their seismically induced motion may be amplified. This amplification occurs in pillars with a natural frequency of 1-10 Hz, corresponding to dominant seismic wave frequency away from the source rupture of earthquakes. In the Negev, several pillars that were found to be ~10,000 years old, were used to explore potential implications for constraining the maximum magnitude of earthquakes along the Negev-Sinai Sear Zone faults and the Arava Fault. We show that assuming a plausible amplification of motion, the pillar analysis may yield strong constraints on fault seismicity parameters and may indicate a need to re-evaluate ground acceleration maps. Ongoing dating and stability analysis of PBR and pillars may therefore provide important new insights for regional seismic hazard studies.Contact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, April 22, 2018 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Understanding the response of the atmospheric circulation to climate change from an energetic perspective
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Orli Lachmy (The Open University of Israel)Abstract: The atmospheric circulation determines the structure of Earth’s climate. Changes in the circulation, such as meridional shifts in the circulation patterns can lead to dramatic changes in the local climate. Increased greenhouse gas emission is expected to change the vertical and meridional temperature profile and affect the atmospheric circulation. Climate models predict that greenhouse gas-induced climate change would cause a warming of the troposphere and cooling of the stratosphere, as well as a poleward and upward shift of the midlatitude jet stream and storm tracks - the major components of the extratropical circulation. The response of the atmospheric circulation to climate change is difficult to explain, due to nonlinear dynamical feedbacks within the system. Previous studies have attempted to explain the poleward shift of the jet stream in response to climate change based on different dynamical mechanisms. Here we propose an alternative approach of connecting the energy and momentum flux in order to explain the jet shift based on energy balance considerations.Contact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, April 15, 2018 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Climate and sea-level variations in the Gulf of Lion: Coupling stable and radiogenic isotope proxies
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Virgil PasquierAbstract: The Gulf of Lion (GoL) is an ideal location for investigation of past ecological changes and processes affecting sedimentary deposition. Previous work has highlighted the impacts of climatic and glacio-eustatic changes on the GoL stratigraphic organization, but also on terrestrial exports of organic matter. We analyzed the isotopic composition of organic carbon and nitrogen preserved in sediment core PRGL1-4, and the results highlight the importance of river runoff during warm periods of the last 200 kyr. Regional intercomparison with terrestrial and marine records indicates that these river exports result from an increase in precipitation over the North Mediterranean borderland. The location of PRGL1-4 is outside the Mediterranean cyclogenetic area, and we suggest that these pluvial events occurred in response to enhanced passage of North Atlantic atmospheric perturbations into the Western Mediterranean basin. We also measured pyrite sulfur isotopes over the last 500 kyr, and find stratigraphic variations (>76‰) that are among the largest ever observed in pyrite. Interestingly, the stratigraphic variations in pyrite sulfur isotope ratios are in phase with glacial-interglacial sea level variations. These results suggest that there exist important but previously overlooked depositional controls on sedimentary sulfur isotope records. Two different mechanisms influencing the isotopic fractionation can explain the observed dataset: (i) a climatic modulation of the microbial activity and isotope fractionation, and/or (ii) a local early diagenetic sedimentary modulation of microbial fractionation that responds to sea level variations and to associated properties of the depositional environment.Contact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, March 25, 2018 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
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Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Astrid Kiendler-ScharrContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, March 11, 2018 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Developing an automatic methodology for identifying 'parent-daughter' cyclones - application for the Mediterranean Basin
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Baruch ZivContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, March 4, 2018 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
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Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Adam KalksteinContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, February 25, 2018 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Methods and studies to assess pollutant sources and impacts in the Middle East
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Alan GertlerContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, February 18, 2018 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Memory of the trees that survived the Tunguska catastrophe 110 year ago
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Dr. Gunther KletetschkaContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Thursday, February 15, 2018 Hour: 14:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Recent advances in finding the water waves' breaking criterion
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Dan LiberzonContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, February 4, 2018 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
A Martian Origin for the Mars Trojan Asteroids
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: David PolishookContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, January 28, 2018 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Governing microphysical parameters of shallow cumulus cloud ensembles and their parameterization using LES with bin microphysics
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Pavel KhainContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilShare the event Governing microphysical parameters of shallow cumulus cloud ensembles and their parameterization using LES with bin microphysics on email Add the event Governing microphysical parameters of shallow cumulus cloud ensembles and their parameterization using LES with bin microphysics to calendarDate: Sunday, January 21, 2018 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
New insights on marine aerosol formation: First year preliminary results from the Tara Pacific expedition
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Michel FloresContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, January 14, 2018 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Reconstructing the amount and distribution of rainfall in the Levant during past arid intervals
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Yael KiroAbstract: The present climate in the Levant is highly variable and suffers from periodic droughts. There is a strong meridional gradient in precipitation and evaporation and influence from both tropical and northern hemisphere climates. The ICDP Dead Sea Deep Drilling Project cores allow for the first time reconstruction of past climate during the warmest and driest periods in the region. We focus here on the Holocene and Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 5e intervals. These contain thick layers of halite, reflecting the driest periods over the past 220 ky. The fast sedimentation rate (up to several cm per year) allows identification of climatic changes at high temporal resolution. From salt and major element (Mg, Cl and Na) balances in pore waters and fluid inclusions, we have quantified the average runoff, which was 30-50% of the present-day (pre-1964 diversion of the Jordan River) during that time, reaching 20% during the most arid intervals, lasting decades to centuries. 234U/238U activity ratios in authigenic minerals (aragonite, gypsum and halite), which reflect the water sources around the Dead Sea watershed, show drastic shifts in the lake’s hydrology during the driest times, both during MIS 5e and the Holocene. 234U/238U activity ratio decreased during the driest periods from the typical value of ~1.5 to ~1.1, indicating a shift from the typical Mediterranean (northern/western) influence toward tropical (southern/ eastern) influence. Combining the ICDP core record with other climate records and with NCAR climate model (CCSM3) runs of the last interglacial (130, 125 and 120 ka) highlights the temporal variability due to changes in the orbital forcings between 125 ka (peak summer insolation) and 120 ka. While 125 ka, which is salt-free in the core, is characterized by summer and winter precipitation, 120 ka, which is reflected by the thickest salt accumulation, is characterized by dry winters, increases in fall season precipitation and scarce but intense rainfall flooding events.Contact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Monday, January 8, 2018 Hour: 10:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Health impacts avoided by reducing air pollution
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Jos LelieveldAbstract: The Global Burden of Disease relates premature mortality to a range of causes, including air pollution by ozone and fine particulate matter (PM2.5). Quantifying the role of air pollution has been a challenge, in part due to uncertainty about human exposure to air pollution worldwide. We present results from a global atmospheric chemistry model, combined with population data, country-level health statistics and pollution exposure response functions. We calculate that outdoor air pollution, mostly by PM2.5, leads to about 4.5 million premature deaths/year worldwide, predominantly in Asia (75%). This is three times the rate by HIV/AIDS and malaria together. Contrary to the common view that traffic, industry and power generation are dominant sources, we show that residential energy use (e.g. heating, cooking) is the largest category worldwide due to its prevalence in India and China. Strong control measures are needed to substantially lower morbidity and mortality from air pollution. Clean air is a human right, being fundamental to many sustainable development goals of the United Nations.Contact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, January 7, 2018 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Reconstructing temperature and composition histories of sedimentary basins using carbonate clumped-isotope thermometry
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Uri RybAbstract: Sedimentary basins are commonly viewed as archives of ancient depositional environments and geochemical signals measured in these basins are frequently interpreted as proxies for ancient Earth-surface environments. However, in the course of the sedimentary basins life-cycle, sedimentary rocks can undergo alteration in diagenetic, epigenetic and metamorphic environments. When put in the correct context, these altered geochemical records are valuable sources of information that reflect the complex thermal, compositional, and deformational histories experienced by the sedimentary rocks. Additionally these measurements can serve as key observations in the study of the interactions among the Earth’s surface and internal processes. In the talk, I will demonstrate how carbonate clumped isotope thermometry (a relatively new temperature-proxy) can be used to study the thermal history of the Colorado Plateau (southwestern N. America), and constrain the oxygen isotope composition of the Phanerozoic Ocean. Clumped and single isotope compositions of calcite and dolomite minerals collected from the Paleozoic sedimentary sequence at the Grand Canyon are consistent with isotopic alteration through open-system recrystallization and/or solid-state isotopic reordering at elevated burial temperatures. By comparing these values with modeled predictions of isotopic signal alteration, we constrain the peak burial temperatures and thermal gradient, and infer the total overburden and exhumation above the top Paleozoic datum at the Colorado Plateau. We also use our data to back-calculate the oxygen isotope composition of dolomite parental water and our results indicate that the oxygen isotope composition of seawater has remained stable throughout the Phanerozoic. This stability suggests that the fluxes of globally averaged oxygen isotope exchange, associated with weathering and hydrothermal alteration reactions, have remained proportional through time. This observation is consistent with the hypothesis that a steady-state balance exists between seafloor hydrothermal activity and surface weathering.Contact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Wednesday, January 3, 2018 Hour: 10:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Fine-scale planktonic systems: characteristics and processes
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Yoav LehahnContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, December 31, 2017 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
The Atmosphere as a Dynamical System: a Happy Tale of Theory Matching Reality
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Gabriele MessoriAbstract: Atmospheric flows are characterized by chaotic dynamics and recurring large-scale patterns. These two characteristics point to the existence of an atmospheric attractor defined by Lorenz as: “the collection of all states that the system can assume or approach again and again, as opposed to those that it will ultimately avoid”. While this dynamical systems perspective can seem horribly abstract, it has immediate applications to the study of large-scale atmospheric patterns and extreme weather events. I will first show that we can compute measures of the stability and complexity (dimension) of instantaneous atmospheric fields in a (relatively) easy way. Next, I hope to convince you that these two quantities are actually useful! Their extreme values correspond to specific large-scale atmospheric patterns, and match extreme weather occurrences. They can also be used to identify "maximum predictability" states of the atmosphere, where the flow at positive lags of up to one week is particularly stable and with a small number of degrees of freedom. Finally, there is a significant correlation between the time series of instantaneous stability and complexity of an atmospheric field and the mean spread at lead times of over two weeks of an operational ensemble weather forecast initialised from that state.Contact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Monday, December 4, 2017 Hour: 10:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Aerosol-cloud-precipitation interaction in eastern China: observations and modelling analyses
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Prof Jianping GuoContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, December 3, 2017 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Terrestrial glints seen from deep space: cloud ice crystals detected from the 1st Lagrangian point
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Alex KostinskiAbstract: The deep space climate observatory (DSCOVR) spacecraft resides at the 1st Lagrangian point about one million miles from Earth, where roughly the solar pull balances the terrestrial one. A polychromatic imaging camera onboard delivers nearly hourly observations of the entire sun-lit face of the Earth. Many images contain surprisingly bright flashes of light over both ocean and land. We construct a yearlong time series of flash latitudes, scattering angles and oxygen absorption to demonstrate that the flashes over land are specular reflections off tiny cloud ice platelets. Such deep space detection of tropospheric ice can be used to constrain the likelihood of oriented crystals and their contribution to Earth albedo. These glints may help detecting starlight glints off faint companions in our search for habitable exoplanets.Contact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, November 26, 2017 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Bioengineering Photosynthesis. The Final Frontier in Increasing Sustainable Crop Yield Potential and Ensuring Future Global Food Security
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Steve LongContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilShare the event Bioengineering Photosynthesis. The Final Frontier in Increasing Sustainable Crop Yield Potential and Ensuring Future Global Food Security on email Add the event Bioengineering Photosynthesis. The Final Frontier in Increasing Sustainable Crop Yield Potential and Ensuring Future Global Food Security to calendarDate: Sunday, November 19, 2017 Hour: 11:00 Location: Nella and Leon Benoziyo Building for Biological Sciences - Lecture
CARMENES: Searching for habitable planets around red stars
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Stefan DreizlerContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, November 12, 2017 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Amazonia: a tropical forest where forest biology interacts with climate and human activities.
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Paulo ArtaxoContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, November 5, 2017 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Aerial Platforms to Study Small-Scale, Surface-Ocean Mixing in an Offshore Environment: From the Gulf of Mexico to Greenland
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Dan CarlsonContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilShare the event Aerial Platforms to Study Small-Scale, Surface-Ocean Mixing in an Offshore Environment: From the Gulf of Mexico to Greenland on email Add the event Aerial Platforms to Study Small-Scale, Surface-Ocean Mixing in an Offshore Environment: From the Gulf of Mexico to Greenland to calendarDate: Sunday, October 15, 2017 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
A Reality Check: Have I been earning my keep over the last 33 years? What’s Next?
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Jacob KarniContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, June 18, 2017 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Electrified dust storms on Earth and other planets
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Yoav YairContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, June 11, 2017 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Geothermal Power Generation and Perspectives after 50 Years of Activity in the Renewable Energy Industry
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Dr. Yehuda BronickiContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Thursday, June 8, 2017 Hour: 14:15 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Deciphering the wastewater resistome and its potential impact on downstream environments
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Eddie Cytryn, PhDAbstract: Wastewater treatment plants consolidate high loads of fecal and environmental bacteria and residual concentrations of antibiotics and consequentially, effluents released from these facilities may contribute to antibiotic resistance in downstream ecosystems. This is especially relevant in arid and semi-arid environments, where treated wastewater (TWW) is used for irrigation. The goal of this study was to pinpoint key antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in wastewater effluents and to determine the impact of TWW irrigation on antibiotic resistance in terrestrial and food-associated microbiomes. The diversity and abundance of ARGs was evaluated in wastewater effluents, in TWW -irrigated soils and in crops irrigated with TWW using state of the art molecular, genomic and bioinformatic analyses. Three specific methods were applied: (A) a novel high-throughput amplicon sequencing methodology that specifically targeted ARGs associated with integron gene cassettes in effluents from 12 wastewater treatment facilities across Europe and in pristine vs. wastewater effluent-saturated soil; (B) quantitative PCR that assessed the abundance of selected ARGs along freshwater- and TWW-irrigated, water-soil-crop continuum; and (C) comparative in-silico-based analyses of human gut, wastewater and soil metagenomes to determine specific associations between wastewater and soil resistomes. Our results reveal that wastewater effluents contain a diverse array of ARGs, and that specific ARGs and class 1 integrons (mobile genetic elements that often harbor ARGs) are profuse and strongly associated with wastewater effluents. In contrast we found that other ARGs that are ubiquitous to soil regardless of TWW irrigation suggesting that these elements are common in environmental microbiomes. Collectively, the study indicates the distribution of ARGs in the environment is highly complex and is impacted by both natural and anthropogenic factors, and that while the impact of wastewater-derived ARGs in TWW-irrigated soils is limited, there is evidence that plasmid- and integron-associated ARGs are disseminated to soil microbiomes.Contact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.il - Lecture
Combining Disciplines for Understanding Complex Phenomena: The Impact of Microbial Communities on Health and Environmental Processes
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Naama Lang-YonaContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilShare the event Combining Disciplines for Understanding Complex Phenomena: The Impact of Microbial Communities on Health and Environmental Processes on email Add the event Combining Disciplines for Understanding Complex Phenomena: The Impact of Microbial Communities on Health and Environmental Processes to calendar - Lecture
Paleo-hydrologic interpretation of a late Pleistocene/Holocene Sediment core in Nizzanim, Israel
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Israel CarmiAbstract: A sediment core was collected from the unsaturated zone of Nizzanim, Israel, from the surface to the water table at 20m. At 3m depth a live root of retama was found and at 10.5m depth a live rootlet was found. The mineralogy of the sediment core alternated between high quartz (low clay) and low quartz (high clay) due to variation in climate regimes. 14C in the organic fraction of the sediment core was measured to 14m depth. The data divides into two groups: insitu, at the extant surface, and exsitu, at the depth of the roots from the extant insitu data. The correlation of the insitu data is 0.9897 and the average rate of sedimentation is 0.77mm/yr. The average depth of the roots below the extant surface is 8.6±2.6m. The dating of the core made possible attributing geologic information to different depths: 1. The little ice age 2. The flooding of the black sea 3. The younger Dryas The age of the sediment at the depth of 12m is 14Kyear. Thus it seems that there was no unsaturated zone in the site and therefore no Coastal Aquifer. The sea level was at that time 80 below the present level and 15km to the west. Our ancestors followed the coast westward the then returned eastward.Contact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.il - Lecture
The dark side of Brown Carbon
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Gabriela AdlerContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.il - Lecture
The latitudinal dependence of geostrophic turbulence in the atmosphere
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Rei ChemkeContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Wednesday, May 10, 2017 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
The curious case of Tycho’s impact ejecta
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Ivy Curren Department ofContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.il - Lecture
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Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Christopher CollomContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, April 23, 2017 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Observing carbon cycle-climate feedbacks from space
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: David Schimel (JPL)Contact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, April 2, 2017 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
The Circumglobal North American wave pattern and its relation to North American cold events
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Nili HarnikAbstract: The polar vortex has "made headlines" in recent years, following anomalously cold Eastern US winters alongside continuing drought conditions in California which were associated with strong undulations in the tropospheric jet stream which bring cold polar air southward over the Eastern part of the continent, and warm dry conditions over the south west. Recent studies have associated these undulations with anomalous tropical Pacific SST anomalies. We propose that these jet undulations are associated with the North American part of the Circumglobal Teleconnection Pattern - a pair of zonally oriented waves of zonal wavenumber 5 which are in zonal quadrature with each other. While the PNA is associated with the first circumglobal wave pattern, Eastern North American extreme cold events are associated with the second pattern. The implications of this association regarding the physical drivers of such cold events will be discussed, in particular Asian wavepacket precursors and the possible relation to SST anomalies.Contact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, March 19, 2017 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
BEYOND PHYSICS: THE EMERGENCE AND EVOLUTION OF LIFE
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Stuart KauffmanContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Tuesday, March 14, 2017 Hour: 14:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Seeing methanogens through computer simulations
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Qusheng JinContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, March 5, 2017 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Toxic Metals in Iron Age Humans from the Faynan Area, Jordan: What Can Geochemical Tools Tell Us?
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Yigal ErelContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, February 19, 2017 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
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Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Simon EmmanuelContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, February 12, 2017 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
The elusive nature of Earth magnetic field : paleomagnetic research from nano to global scale
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Ron ShaarContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, February 5, 2017 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Small-scale observations of upper ocean turbulent processes
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Dr. Brian WardContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, January 29, 2017 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
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Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Prof. Raffaele FerraruContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, January 22, 2017 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Conference
Environmental concentrations, cycling and modeling of technology critical elements.
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesChair: Ishai DrorContact: ishai.dror@weizmann.ac.ilHomepage of event Environmental concentrations, cycling and modeling of technology critical elements. Share the event Environmental concentrations, cycling and modeling of technology critical elements. on email Add the event Environmental concentrations, cycling and modeling of technology critical elements. to calendarDate: Wednesday, January 18 – Thursday, January 19, 2017 Location: David Lopatie Conference Centre - Lecture
Reconstructing the global atmosphere-ocean dynamics of hydroclimate extremes with data assimilation
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Dr. Nathan SteigerContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, January 15, 2017 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
The Snowball Bifurcation on Exoplanets
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Dr. Dorian AbbotAbstract: The Snowball Earth episodes may have affected the development of life on Earth through increasing atmospheric oxygen and spurring evolution. Considering the habitability and increase in complexity of life on other planets therefore requires thought about Snowball climate states. Using an energy balance model and global climate model, I will show that it is unlikely a tidally locked planet could experience a Snowball Earth bifurcation. Instead the planet would smoothly transition to global ice coverage. This is due to the difference in the shape of the insolation, which increases strongly toward the substellar point on a tidally locked planet. I will then change focus slightly and explain how climate oscillations between a warm state and a Snowball state can occur on a planet within the habitable zone that has a small CO2 outgassing rate. I will develop analytical relations to understand these cycles and outline scalings in variables such as the cycle period as a function of important climatic and weathering parameters. Work of this type should help us understand the context of planetary habitability and focus on appropriate targets as we seek to find the first inhabited exoplanet.Contact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, January 8, 2017 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Dry Intrusions and Warm Conveyor Belts: Feature-based Climatologies for Understanding Extratropical Weather Dynamics
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Dr. Shira RavehContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Wednesday, January 4, 2017 Hour: 10:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Active Remote Sensing of the atmosphere
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Prof. Albert AnsmannContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Tuesday, January 3, 2017 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Effects of heterogeneity and wettability on drying and wetting in the subsurface
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Dr. Ran HoltzmanAbstract: I will begin with introducing my group, studying fluid flow in complex porous media. Most of the talk will describe a study where simulations, experiments and theory are combined to decipher the mechanisms underlying fluid displacement in partially-wettable porous media. I will present a novel pore-scale model that captures wettability and dynamic effects, overcoming a long-standing computational challenge. We find that increasing the wettability of the invading fluid (the contact angle) promotes cooperative pore filling that stabilizes the invasion; this effect is suppressed as the flow rate increases, due to viscous instabilities. Similarly, reducing pore size heterogeneity increases the displacement efficiency, minimizing the fluid-fluid interfacial area, by suppressing (i) trapping at low rates and (ii) viscous fingering at high rates. Scaling analysis is used to derive dimensionless numbers explaining the mode of displacement. Our findings bear important consequences on sweep efficiency and fluid mixing and reactions, which are key in applications ranging from microfluidics to carbon geosequestration, energy recovery, and soil aeration and remediation.Contact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, January 1, 2017 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Characterization of fine aerosol pollution at a remote site of the Eastern Mediterranean: New findings and future perspectives
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Prof. Jean SciareContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilShare the event Characterization of fine aerosol pollution at a remote site of the Eastern Mediterranean: New findings and future perspectives on email Add the event Characterization of fine aerosol pollution at a remote site of the Eastern Mediterranean: New findings and future perspectives to calendarDate: Sunday, December 18, 2016 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
The interplay between terrigenous fluxes and export production in oligotrophic seas: a case study of the modern and late Quaternary Red Sea
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Adi TorfsteinContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilShare the event The interplay between terrigenous fluxes and export production in oligotrophic seas: a case study of the modern and late Quaternary Red Sea on email Add the event The interplay between terrigenous fluxes and export production in oligotrophic seas: a case study of the modern and late Quaternary Red Sea to calendarDate: Sunday, December 4, 2016 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Role of aerosols and clouds in climate change: Results from the CLOUD project at CERN
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Joachim CurtiusAbstract: Clouds play a major role for the hydrological cycle, the radiation budget and climate on Earth. They are also the largest factor of uncertainty in the scientific understanding and prediction of climate change. The CLOUD experiment at CERN allows to study aerosol and cloud formation under atmospheric conditions at a new level of precision. A focus of investigations are ion-induced aerosol formation processes using an elementary particle beam from CERN. Here, the potential role of galactic cosmic rays - and their modulation by the sun - for aerosols, clouds and climate is studied. The role of ionization for aerosol formation by different chemical systems of natural and anthropogenic origin is quantied. The experiments therefore yield a new understanding of pre-industrial and present-day aerosol sources and their influences on clouds and climate. Most recently, an important new mechanism based on purely biogenic precursor compounds was discovered and its role for climate was assessed. Furthermore, the results from many experiments performed over the past years were parameterized and combined in a global model to predict the role of different particle formation mechanisms in the different regions of the atmosphere. The talk presents an introduction on the role of aerosols and clouds for climate, an overview of the CLOUD chamber at CERN, and of the fi ndings and implications from recent experiments.Contact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Tuesday, November 29, 2016 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Small-scale observations of upper ocean turbulent processes
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Brian WardAbstract: Uncertainty in the air-sea fluxes of heat, freshwater, CO2 and other properties constrains our ability to understand and model our changing climate. As the air-sea interface is approached, there is a progressive change in scale and greater interdependence of processes. An important process is turbulence, which is quantified with the dissipation rate of turbulent kinetic energy. Turbulence in the surface ocean boundary layer (SOBL) is key for deepening the mixed layer depth, and therefore it is critical to correctly scale the different types of turbulence arising from wind, waves, and buoyancy. Turbulence is also a key process for increasing the exchange between the ocean and atmosphere. Here is presented observations of upper ocean turbulence using the autonomous profiling instrument ASIP (Air-Sea Interaction Profiler) in different ocean basins which have enabled studies on the diurnal jet, air-sea exchange of CO2, and the impact of rainfall on upper ocean salinity.Contact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, November 27, 2016 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Early Holocene Black Sea transgression: new data and interpretations of a fast transgression and subsequent salinification
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Anastasia YanchilinaContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, November 20, 2016 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
The price of crude oil - driving forces and ramifications
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Jacob KarniContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, November 6, 2016 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Mass Spectrometry of Atmospheric Aerosol: 1 nanometer to 1 micron
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Douglas R. WorsnopAbstract: Despite much effort in the past decades, uncertainties in both climate impacts and health effects of atmospheric aerosols remain large. During the last ten years, aerosol mass spectrometry (AMS) has shown that sub-micron aerosol chemical composition is roughly 50:50 inorganic and organic worldwide, with secondary highly oxidized organics dominating the latter. Parallel application of ToFMS has provided the first observation of molecular cluster ions involved in atmospheric nucleation. Chemical ionization mass spectrometry (CIMS) has extended detection to neutral molecules and clusters, detecting highly oxidized multifunctional (HOM) organics in the gas phase. Ambient sampling and photochemical chamber experiments have resolved the interaction of H2SO4 and HOM in nanoparticle nucleation and growth. These results will be discussed in the context of their impact on atmospheric aerosols, clouds and climate.Contact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, October 30, 2016 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
The sulfur-iron interplay and its role in the fate of carbon in anoxic environments
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Gilad AntlerContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Wednesday, September 21, 2016 Hour: 13:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Recapping the importance of aerosol-cloud interactions: physico-chemical and ice-nucleating properties of cellulose & its potential contribution to ice formation in clouds
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Dr. Naruki HiranumaContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilShare the event Recapping the importance of aerosol-cloud interactions: physico-chemical and ice-nucleating properties of cellulose & its potential contribution to ice formation in clouds on email Add the event Recapping the importance of aerosol-cloud interactions: physico-chemical and ice-nucleating properties of cellulose & its potential contribution to ice formation in clouds to calendarDate: Sunday, June 19, 2016 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
On the seasonal variations of the Dead Sea balances: (A) The accelerated lake level decline, and (B) halite precipitation
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Nadav LenskyContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.il - Lecture
The ins and outs of subaerial lithotrophic biofilm in arid and hyper-arid environments
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Nimrod WielerAbstract: Rock surfaces support microbial communities that may be involved in weathering processes. In arid and hyper-arid environments microbes dominate rock surfaces and were linked to weathering because the scarcity of water excludes classical mechanisms that erode rocks. We studied subaerial biofilms coating arid rocks, focusing on sedimentary rocks that feature comparable weathering morphologies but different lithologies. We hypothesized that weathering is fashioned by salt erosion and mediated by biofilms that play dual roles: stabilizing the rock surfaces by coating, and enhancing salt crystallization by preventing rapid desiccation (thus mitigating and facilitating erosion processes, respectively). We used a combination of microbial and geological techniques to characterize the rocks morphologies and their subaerial biofilms. Deep sequencing and microscopy analyses suggest that bacterial diversity is low, dominated by Proteobacteria, Cyanobacteria and Actinobacteria. Together these phyla formed laminar biofilms that secrete extracellular polymeric substances to aggregate microfabrics and mitigate desiccation, reducing water loss by over 40%. The biofilm was detected only in rocks exposed to the atmosphere, present distinct architecture and burrowed up to 9 mm beneath the surface, protected by sedimentary deposits. A closer inspection revealed that the composition of the biofilm was tightly linked to dust bacterial communities but distinct from soil communities. Moreover, the biofilm composition changed according to the rock location rather than its’ lithology, suggesting that microclimate (dew, relative humidity and radiation) play an important role in arid weathering. Our results contradict common dogmas that considered biofilms as degrading agents and propose their role as mitigators of geomorphic processes.Contact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.il - Lecture
Ecosystem responses to elevated CO2: a mechanistic modeling perspective
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Simone FatichiAbstract: Increasing concentrations of atmospheric carbon dioxide are expected to affect photosynthesis, evapotranspiration (ET) and ultimately plant growth. Numerical tools that simulate land-surface and vegetation dynamics are typically used to represent future scenarios of terrestrial carbon and water cycles. However, these tools are rarely tested to perform well in conditions different from the historical climate. A combination of numerical modeling and observations from flux-towers and free air CO2 enrichment (FACE) experiments is adopted to illustrate strengths and weaknesses of the mechanistic modeling approach in simulating hydrology and vegetation behavior of different ecosystems exposed to elevated CO2 concentrations. Additionally, an ecosystem model (T&C) is used to investigate the relative contributions of direct (through carbon assimilation) and indirect (via soil moisture savings due to stomatal closure, and changes in leaf area index) effects of elevated CO2. The simulations suggest that the indirect effects of elevated CO2 on net primary productivity are large and variable, ranging from less than 10% to more than 100% of the size of direct effects. For ET, indirect effects are on average 65% of the size of direct effects. Indirect effects tend to be considerably larger in water-limited sites, portraying a critical response of semi-arid ecosystems to elevated CO2. A further analysis demonstrates that introducing subtle changes in plant physiological traits in the simulations can also explain the unexpectedly large increase in water use efficiency (WUE) observed during the last two decades in forests across the north hemisphere. These results have major implications for our understanding of the CO2-response of ecosystems and for global projections of CO2 fertilization because they emphasize the role of indirect effects and the importance of ecosystem adaptability in controlling water, carbon and energy fluxes with potential consequences for climate change and supply of ecosystem services.Contact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.il - Lecture
Shape-induced gravitational sorting of transatlantic dust
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Alex KostinskiAbstract: Abstract: Motivated by the physical picture of shape-dependent drag and, consequently, shape-induced differential sedimentation of dust particles, we searched for and found evidence of dust particle asphericity affecting the evolution and distribution of dust-scattered light depolarization ratio (δ). We examined a large data set of Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization (CALIOP) observations of Saharan dust from June to August 2007. Observing along a typical transatlantic dust track, we find that (1) median δ is uniformly distributed between 2 and 5 km altitudes as the lifted dust leaves the west coast of Africa, thereby indicating random mixing of particle shapes with height; (2) vertical homogeneity of median δ breaks down during the westward transport: between 2 and 5 km δ increases with altitude and this increase becomes more pronounced with westward progress; (3) δ tends to increase at higher altitude (>4 km) and decrease at lower altitude (<4 km) during the westward transport. All these features are captured qualitatively by a minimal model (two shapes only), suggesting that shape-induced differential settling and consequent sorting indeed contribute significantly to the observed temporal evolution and vertical stratification of dust properties. By implicating particle shape as a likely cause of gravitational sorting, these results affect the estimates of radiative transfer through Saharan dust layers.Contact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.il - Lecture
Marine Biorefineries for Sustainable Infrastructures
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Alexander GolbergContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.il - Lecture
Scientific and Public Policy Challenges of Air pollution Research in China
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Prof. Tong ZhuContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.il - Lecture
Applying carbonate clumped-isotope thermometry to study basin geodynamics
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Uri RybAbstract: The reconstruction of thermal history is key to study the geodynamic evolution of sedimentary basins through burial, metamorphism, magmatism, deformation and exhumation. Carbonate clumped isotope thermometry enables such reconstructions in carbonate minerals, and complements ‘conventional’ low-temperature thermochronometers (e.g. apatite and zircon fission-tracks or U-Th/He systems) by constraining the peak burial temperature and the cooling rate. Most published uses of carbonate clumped isotope thermometry aim to measure depositional temperatures of Earth-surface sedimentary carbonates. However, it has also been shown that carbonate clumped-isotope measurements of minerals formed or re-equilibrated at elevated temperatures can constrain thermal histories of sub-surface rocks. Only very recently have we had the experimental constraints on solid-state isotopic reordering to translate clumped-isotope measurements of such materials into quantitative statements about burial and exhumation. These data have led to a new generation of conceptual models describing changes in clumped-isotope composition during heating and cooling; taken together, these experiments and models enable a new approach to the study of burial, metamorphism and exhumation over long timescales and large areas. This presentation will discuss applications of this approach to constrain the thermal history of carbonate rocks exhumed in back-arc (Naxos, Greece) and mid-continental (Colorado Plateau) basins. The exhumation of Naxos metamorphic core-complex entailed a complex thermal history, mineral-mineral and water-rock reactions, and deformation. These processes were registered in the bulk and clumped isotope composition of marbles. Calcite and dolomite marbles from Naxos show large variation of carbonate clumped-isotope values, in association with deformation and secondary mineralization fabrics. Results suggest that dynamic recrystallization of calcite can reset the carbonate clumped-isotope signal, which consequentially records the minimum temperature of dynamic recrystallization in natural samples. Carbonate clumped isotope data from the center of Naxos core-complex are consistent with the thermal history as recorded by multiple ‘conventional’ thermochronometers, but require a faster cooling rate than previously suggested, consistent with a heat shock driven by magmatic and hydrothermal activities. Carbonate clumped isotope thermometry is used to study the burial, uplift and exhumation histories of the Colorado Plateau (USA). There, carbonate rocks were not recrystallized to marbles, and therefore their clumped isotope signals are expected to be sensitive to the peak-burial temperature. Given such constrains on the thermal history, it is straightforward to infer the thermal gradients during peak burial, and calculate total-exhumation (i.e. the volume of rock removed) in-situ. Preliminary results from the southwestern rim and the interior of the Plateau are so far consistent with published constrains on peak burial temperatures.Contact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.il - Lecture
The oscillating fringe and paleo-intensity of the East Asian monsoon reconstructed using closed-basin lake-area and Dleafwax
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Yoni GoldsmithAbstract: Understanding the response of East Asian monsoon (EAM) rainfall patterns to different climate forcings is cardinal for constraining future climate change over East Asia. The magnitude and rate of EAM rainfall changes during the late Pleistocene-Holocene is reconstructed using the first well-dated Northeastern China lake-area record from a closed-lake basin, which enables reconstructing quantitative absolute paleo-rainfall amounts. In addition, compound specific hydrogen isotopes from long-chain alkanes (Dleafwax) in the lake-sediments were used to reconstruct the isotopic composition of rainwater and lake water. Lake-levels were 60m higher than present during the early and middle Holocene. This requires an absolute increase in mean annual rainfall to at least two times higher than today. The EAM intensity and northern extent alternated abruptly between wet and dry periods on time scales of a few centuries. Both the onset (~60 m rise at 11.5 ka BP) and termination (~35 m drop at 5.5 ka BP) of the Holocene humid period occurred abruptly, within centuries. The co-variation of lake-area and Dleafwax show, for the first time, that the “amount effect” is the cardinal driver of the isotopic composition of paleo tropical rainfall. Thus, resolving a current debate regarding the ability to use the isotopic composition of rainwater as a proxy for rainfall amount and validating the “intensity-based” interpretations of the Chinese cave deposit records.Contact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilShare the event The oscillating fringe and paleo-intensity of the East Asian monsoon reconstructed using closed-basin lake-area and Dleafwax on email Add the event The oscillating fringe and paleo-intensity of the East Asian monsoon reconstructed using closed-basin lake-area and Dleafwax to calendar - Lecture
Pitfalls and challenges of seismic imaging and inversion
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Evgeny LandaContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, April 10, 2016 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Deciphering Jupiter's internal flow using the Juno gravity measurements and an adjoint based dynamical model
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Eli GalantiContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, April 3, 2016 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
The Air Quality impacts of North American Oil and Natural Gas Development
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Steve BrownContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, March 27, 2016 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
The response of peatland microbial communities to climate change
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Max KoltonAbstract: Fears of global climate change and its potential outcomes have stimulated intensive efforts to update current climate models. Nevertheless, most of the existing models lack inputs specific to peatlands and/or to microorganisms. Peatlands store up to 30% of the world’s soil carbon and contribute up to 30% of atmospheric methane, thus their response to climate change is of special interest. Peatlands are mostly found at northern high latitudes where nutrient poor conditions foster Sphagnum as a keystone plant species. My studies focus on understanding the response of peatland ecosystems to climate change at the Marcell Experimental Forest (MEF) in northern Minnesota, USA. At MEF, the U.S. DOE has created a unique multi-faceted large scale climate manipulation experiment known as SPRUCE (Spruce and Peatland Response Under Climatic and Environmental Change), initiated in June 2014. From June 2014 to June 2015, we evaluated the responses of microbial communities, both in structure and metabolic potential, to 5 soil warming treatments (+0°C; +2.25°C; +4.5°C; +6.75°C; +9°C). Methane flux was correlated with temperature in the treatments, suggesting that increases in soil temperature apparently drive the emission response. However, multiple lines of evidence, including laboratory incubations, indicate that CH4 emission increased due to surface processes and not degradation of deep carbon. Characterization of in situ microbial communities indicated no significant effect of temperature or time on community composition or function. Specifically, the potential activity of extracellular lignin oxidative enzymes showed that one year of soil warming had a limited effect on microbial activity. While the physiology and ecology of Sphagnum have been well-studied, the structure, function and response of their microbiome to climate change is less understood. Sphagnum-associated, nitrogen-fixing bacteria are thought to play a major role in plant functioning and the peatland nitrogen cycle. Therefore, we conducted intensive sampling of the S. magellanicum phyllosphere-associated microbial communities. Our results revealed a significant geographical effect on general and nitrogen-fixing microbial communities. Interestingly, the nitrogen-fixing core-microbiome contained only 2 members, taxonomically affiliated with Nostoc azollae (symbiotic Cyanobacteria) and Methyloferula stellate (an obligate methanotroph). Potentially synergistic interactions between these nitrogen-fixing bacteria not only provide the plant with sufficient nitrogen, but may also reduce methane emission from peatlands. Our observations of evolutionary conserved nitrogen-fixing bacteria among representative peatland sites further knowledge of the benefits of the microbiome to Sphagnum host fitness and to ecosystem function.Contact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, March 20, 2016 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Gross primary productivity or The blind men and the Elephant
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Georg WohlfahrtContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, March 13, 2016 Hour: 10:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Out of equilibrium 18O and variable 13C as a tracer of metabolism in bacterially mediated carbonates
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Caroline Thaler (WIS)Contact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, March 6, 2016 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Deciphering Jupiter's internal flow using the Juno gravity measurements and an adjoint based dynamical model
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Eli GalantiAbstract: The nature of the large-scale flow below the cloud level on Jupiter is still unknown. The observed surface wind might be confined to the upper layers, or be a manifestation of deep cylindrical flow. Moreover, it is possible that in the case where the observed wind is superficial, there exists deep flow that is completely separated from the surface. During the years 2016-17 Juno will both perform close flybys of Jupiter, obtaining a high precision gravity spectrum for the planet. This data can be used to estimate the depth of Jupiter observed cloud-level wind, and decipher a possible deep flow that is decoupled from the surface wind. In this talk I will discuss the Juno gravity experiment and the possible outcomes with regard to the flow on Jupiter. We explore the possibility of complex wind dynamics that include both the upper-layer wind, and a deep flow that is completely detached from the flow above it. The surface flow is based on the observed cloud-level flow and is set to decay with depth. The deep flow is constructed synthetically to produce cylindrical structures with variable width and magnitude, thus allowing for a wide range of possible setups of the unknown deep flow. The combined 3D flow is then related to the density anomalies via a dynamical model and the resulting density field is then used to calculate the gravitational moments. An adjoint inverse model is constructed for the dynamical model, thus allowing backward integration of the dynamical model, from the expected observations of the gravity moments to the parameters controlling the setup of the deep and surface flows. We show that the model can be used for examination of various scenarios, including cases in which the deep flow is dominating over the surface wind. The novelty of our adjoint based inversion approach is in the ability to identify complex dynamics including deep cylindrical flows that have no manifestation in the observed cloud-level wind. Furthermore, the flexibility of the adjoint method allows for a wide range of dynamical setups, so that when new observations and physical understanding will arise, these constraints could be easily implemented and used to better decipher Jupiter flow dynamics.Contact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, February 28, 2016 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Aeolian Dust Emission from Semi-Arid Soils
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Itzhak KatraContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.il - Lecture
Symbiotic Systems for The Future of Energy, Water, and Food
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Alexander SlocumContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Tuesday, February 16, 2016 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Bacterial Response to Hydration-Desiccation Cycles in Arid Soils
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Osnat GillorContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, February 7, 2016 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Exposing cohesion forces in asteroids using fast rotating bodies
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: David PolishookContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, January 31, 2016 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Path selection in the growth of rivers
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Yossi CohenAbstract: The complex pattern of river networks has inspired decades of studies. However, the evolution and the dynamics of a growing channel remain elusive. Here we show that the principle of local symmetry, a concept originating in fracture mechanics, explains the path followed by growing streams fed by groundwater. Although path selection does not by itself imply a rate of growth, we additionally show how local symmetry may be used to infer how rates of growth scale with water flux. Our methods are applicable to other problems of unstable pattern formation, such as the growth of hierarchical crack patterns and geologic fault networks, where dynamics is not well understood.Contact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, January 24, 2016 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Tropical cyclones and global warming
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Prof. Isaac HeldAbstract: Tropical cyclones are generally thought of as being of too small scale to be simulated adequately in the global climate models in use for studies of global warming. But these models are gradually moving to higher resolution and are beginning to provide realistic simulations of the statistics of tropical cyclones. In addition to providing some information on how tropical cyclone statistics might change in the future, these models now provide a framework for studying how the climatology of tropical cyclones is controlled. I will describe a hierarchy of models with which we are beginning to address this issue.Contact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, January 17, 2016 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Two new perspectives on high-latitude atmospheric temperature profiles and their sensitivity to climate change
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Timothy CroninAbstract: The high-latitude vertical structure of temperature is poorly understood, yet is an important factor in the polar amplification of climate change. To better understand the high-latitude lapse rate and its sensitivity to various forcings, we explore two perspectives on the high-latitude temperature structure. The first is the Lagrangian perspective of Arctic air formation. We prescribe the initial sounding of the atmosphere representing an air column starting over the ocean, then allow the air mass to evolve for two weeks in the absence of any solar heating and with a very low heat capacity surface underneath (representing the movement of the air column over high-latitude sea ice or a continental interior). Using a single-column model, we find that a low-cloud feedback slows cooling of the surface and amplifies continental warming, increasing the continental surface air temperature by roughly two degrees for each degree increase of the initial maritime surface air temperature. We discuss extension with a 2D cloud-resolving model, and applications to past and future warm climates. The second is the Eulerian perspective of radiative-advective equilibrium. High latitude temperature profiles are generally stable to convection, with frequent surface-based inversions, especially in winter. Such profiles result from the stabilizing influences of advective heat flux convergence and atmospheric solar absorption, which dominate over the destabilizing influences of surface solar absorption and subsurface heating. We formulate an analytical model for the high-latitude temperature profile, using prescribed heat flux convergence and either gray- or windowed-gray thermal radiative transfer. We discuss how climate feedbacks in this state depend on the type of forcing, and compare temperature feedbacks in high-latitude radiative-advective equilibrium to the more familiar case of low-latitude radiative-convective equilibrium.Contact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, January 10, 2016 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Dry air intrusions: climatology and their relevance for strong surface winds in the Euro-Mediterranean region
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Shira Raveh-RubinAbstract: Dry air intrusions (DAIs) are large-scale descending airstreams. A DAI is typically referred to as a coherent airstream in the cold sector of an extratropical cyclone. Emerging evidence suggests that DAIs are linked to severe surface wind gusts. However, there is yet no strict Lagrangian definition of DAIs, and so their climatological frequency, physical characteristics as well as their seasonal and spatial distributions are unknown. Furthermore, it is unclear how many of the DAIs occur together with a cyclone, and the dynamical interaction between DAIs and strong surface winds is not fully understood. Here, we suggest a Lagrangian definition for DAI air parcels, namely a minimum pressure increase along a trajectory of 400 hPa in 48 hours. Based on this criterion, the open questions are addressed by: (i) a novel global Lagrangian climatology for the ECMWF ERA-Interim reanalysis dataset for the years 1979-2014; (ii) examples for the interaction between DAIs and strong surface winds, shown with composite analysis and with a case study of a high-impact cyclone, using a mesoscale regional model simulation. We find that DAIs occur predominantly in winter, with higher occurrence frequency in the northern hemisphere. DAIs coherently descend from the upper troposphere (its stratospheric origin is small), to the mid- and low levels, where they mix with their environment and diverge. Different physical characteristics typify DAIs in the different regions and seasons, and when occurring together with a cyclone. Finally, we demonstrate the different mechanisms by which DAIs can destabilize the boundary layer and facilitate the formation of strong surface winds.Contact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, December 27, 2015 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Depositional controls on preserved sulfur isotope signals in modern and ancient marine sediments
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: David FikeContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, December 6, 2015 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Scaling carbon cycling from organisms to ecosystems: Insights from novel isotopic measurements in temperate forests and thawing permafrost wetlands
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Scott SaleskaContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilShare the event Scaling carbon cycling from organisms to ecosystems: Insights from novel isotopic measurements in temperate forests and thawing permafrost wetlands on email Add the event Scaling carbon cycling from organisms to ecosystems: Insights from novel isotopic measurements in temperate forests and thawing permafrost wetlands to calendarDate: Sunday, November 29, 2015 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Evolving crack patterns: mud cracks, columnar joints, and polygonal terrain
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Lucas GoehringContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, November 22, 2015 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
The War on Science: Climate Change in an Era of Doubt
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: William NewmanContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, November 15, 2015 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Stabilization of the Dead Sea level Is the Red Sea-Dead Sea Water Conveyance a feasible solution?
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Michael BaythAbstract: Stabilization of the Dead Sea (DS) level Is the Red Sea-Dead Sea Water Conveyance a feasible solution? By Michael Beyth, Geological Survey The seminar will discuss the: • Limnological background-DS a hypersaline terminal lake. • Environmental impacts of the DS level decline-sinkholes and infrastructure. • The idea- from 1840. • Is the Red Sea – Dead Sea Conveyance a feasible solution?-the only solution to manage the DS level. • The recent feasibility study 2008-2013. The three major goals for the project defined in this recent study were: 1. to stabilize the Dead Sea water level by conveying up to 1,200 MCM/y of reject; 2. to desalinate up to 850 MCM/y mainly for Jordan; 3. to serve as a symbol of peace between the three Beneficiary Parties, Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian Authority. The project was managed by the World Bank navigated by the Steering Committee of the Beneficiary Parties,. This study followed Harza (1996) pre-feasibility study. Six reports were published • Tech./econo. feasibility study by Coyne et Bellier. • Environmental and social assesment by ERM. • Dead Sea Study by Tahal&GSI. • Red Sea study by Tethis&IINS,Jur.Uni., IOLR. • Study of Alternatives by Allen, Malkawi and Tsur. • Chemical industry analysis study (Zbranek). The reports are available at Web-site (www.worldbank.org/rds). Pilot-first phase –tender stage now • a limited desalination plant of ~80 MCM/y at Aqaba. • 35 MCM/y of desalinated water will be bought by Israel and transferred to the Israeli Arava Valley. • The rest will be used by Jordan for Aqaba and dilution of the DISI aquifer pipeline to Amman. • The reject brine together with more sea water (should be 200 MCM/y together) will be piped to the Lisan "Lagoon", at the south-east corner of the Dead Sea. • Possible small Hydro-Electric plant will be built in Ghor Pipa, Jordan, producing ~30 MW. • On December 9th 2013 an MOU was signed in Washington by Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority, speaking also about Israel to sell to Jordan another 50 MCM/y from Lake Kinneret and about Israel to sell the Palestinian Authority another 20-30 MCM/y of water through the current water supply system. • On February 26th 2015 an implementation agreement was signed between Israel and Jordan that defines the implement process of the Red – Dead Pilot, including water swap between the countries. .Contact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, November 8, 2015 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Chewing rocks – physiology and mechanisms of iron-oxidizing bacteria and their habitats on modern and ancient earth
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Andreas KapplerContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, November 1, 2015 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Seasonal and interannual variations of the energy flux equator of the atmosphere and ITCZ
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, October 25, 2015 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Impact craters, memory of planetary surfaces
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Cathy Quantin NatafAbstract: Impact crater are useful tools to study planetary surfaces. First, they are natural drills into planetary crusts. I will present a combination of studies of the martian crust by the analyses of the composition of central peaks of martian impact craters. These results are part of an ERC project eMars dedicated to the geological evolution of Mars. As part of this project too, a martian data processing application has been built allowing the teleprocessing of imagery data, topographic data and hypespectral data from the 4 last martian orbiters dedicated to the surface of Mars. Secondly, impact crater statistics have recorded both bombardment and the complex geological evolution of a planetary surfaces. I will present how martian crater statistics allow to decipher the climatic evolution of the planetContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, June 14, 2015 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
TBA
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Debbie LindellContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.il - Lecture
Atmospheric measurements and modeling of pesticides drift from agricultural applications
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Yael DubowskiContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.il - Lecture
Signals of environmental limitations in microbial sediments
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Tanja BosakContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.il - Lecture
The Lunar Core Dynamo
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Ben WeissContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.il - Conference
EPScon - Student Conference on Research in Environmental, Earth and Planetary Sciences
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesChair: Hilla AfarganContact: hilla.afargan@weizmann.ac.ilHomepage of event EPScon - Student Conference on Research in Environmental, Earth and Planetary Sciences Share the event EPScon - Student Conference on Research in Environmental, Earth and Planetary Sciences on email Add the event EPScon - Student Conference on Research in Environmental, Earth and Planetary Sciences to calendarDate: Tuesday, May 12 – Tuesday, May 12, 2015 Location: David Lopatie Conference Centre - Lecture
What has prevented us from reducing the uncertainty in aerosol cloud mediated radiative forcing and what can we do about it?
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Prof. Daniel RosenfeldAbstract: The estimated magnitude of aerosol cloud mediated radiative forcing has evolved during the IPCC assessments, but its large uncertainty remained essentially unchanged and constituted a major component of the total uncertainty in climate forcing. In fact, paradoxically, the advancements in understanding impacts of cloud aerosol interactions on radiation increase the uncertainty, because we discover additional pathways by which aerosols affects clouds much faster than developing our ability to quantify these effects observationally. In other words, we discover more of what we should know that we don't know. This inherently increases the known uncertainty. The presentation will review the various known and recently discovered aerosol cloud mediated radiative effects and the methods that may be used to quantify them. The major challenges in doing so are measuring CCN from satellites and disentangling the impacts of CCN and updrafts on cloud properties. New breakthrough capabilities that give hope that it may be achievable from current satellite measurements will be presented.Contact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilShare the event What has prevented us from reducing the uncertainty in aerosol cloud mediated radiative forcing and what can we do about it? on email Add the event What has prevented us from reducing the uncertainty in aerosol cloud mediated radiative forcing and what can we do about it? to calendar - Lecture
Saturn > Jupiter: Why Saturn has polar cyclones and why Jupiter may not.
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Morgan O'NeillAbstract: The poles of Saturn, Uranus and Neptune each have a 'hot spot' that is observable from Earth. Saturn, which has been observed in great detail by the orbiting Cassini mission, exhibits Earth-sized hurricane-like cyclones on each pole. These massive cyclones have been present since they were first observed in 2004 and may be permanent. Our study proposes a mechanism for their creation: numerous small, moist convective thunderstorms. These thunderstorms are ubiquitous small scale features on Jupiter and Saturn. Hundreds of simulations suggest that these very small, short-lived storms can build and maintain a deep, rapid, large polar cyclone like we see on Saturn. Furthermore, an exploration of cyclone sensitivity to the deformation radius and total energy input suggests that Uranus and Neptune have transient polar cyclones, and Jupiter will not exhibit them. This last prediction will be tested for the first time next year, when the NASA Juno mission reaches Jupiter and finally observes the Jovian poles.Contact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.il - Lecture
Physics Wins, Biology is How it’s Done:An Exploration of Ecosystem-Atmosphere Interactions
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Dennis BaldocchiContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, April 19, 2015 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
“Freshening” of the Dead Sea during the Lisan - Evidence from the IDCP deep core
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Boaz LazarContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, April 12, 2015 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
An Energetic Perspective of Ocean Circulation: The Role of the Sub-mesoscales
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Roy BarkanAbstract: The general circulation of the ocean is forced by surface fluxes of momentum, heat, and freshwater at basin scales. The kinetic and available potential energy sources associated with these external forces drive a circulation which exhibits flow features that vary on a wide range of spatial and temporal scales. Understanding how the different forcing mechanisms lead to the observed large-scale ocean circulation patterns and to what degree do the various smaller scale processes modify them have been long standing problems for oceanographers. A large fraction of the kinetic energy in the ocean is stored in the mesoscale eddy field. This `balanced' eddy field is expected, according to geostrophic turbulence theory, to transfer energy to larger scales. In order for the general circulation to remain approximately steady, sub-mesoscale instabilities leading to `loss of balance' (LOB) have been hypothesized to take place so that the eddy kinetic energy (EKE) may be transferred to small scales where it can be dissipated. We examine the kinetic energy pathways in fully resolved direct numerical simulations of flow in a flat-bottomed re-entrant channel, a configuration that resembles the Antarctic Circumpolar Current. The flow is allowed to reach a statistical steady state at which point it exhibits both a forward and an inverse energy cascade. We show that EKE is dissipated preferentially at small scales near the surface via sub-mesoscale instabilities associated with LOB and a forward energy cascade rather than by bottom drag after an inverse energy cascade. These results highlight the importance of sub-mesoscales dynamics to the general circulation of the oceans.Contact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, March 29, 2015 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Viral ‘Photosynthesis’
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Oded BejaAbstract: Cyanobacteria play a key role in marine photosynthesis, which contributes to the global carbon cycle and to the world oxygen supply. Genes encoding the photosystem-II reaction centre are found in many cyanophage (viruses that infect cyanobacteria) genomes, and it was suggested that the horizontal transfer of these genes might be involved in increasing phage fitness. Recently, evidence for the existence of phages carrying photosystem-I genes was also reported. Even more, phages carrying both photosystem-II and photosystem-I gene suites are also found. In this lecture I will discuss viral ‘photosynthesis’, that is the possible contribution of viral proteins to cyanobacterial photosynthesis. The implications to oceanic photosynthesis and to the carbon cycle will be discussed.Contact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, March 22, 2015 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Application of compound specific sulfur isotope analysis for the study of thermochemical sulfate reduction
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Alon AmraniContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, March 15, 2015 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Space-time patterns of convective rain cells and flood response in the eastern Mediterranean
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Efrat MorinAbstract: Flash floods caused by convective rain storms are highly sensitive to space-time characteristics of rain cells. In several recent studies we exploited the high space–time resolution of the radar data to study the characteristics of rain cells in the arid, semi-arid and Mediterranean parts of Israel. A unique approach was applied to examine the impact of convective rain cell characteristics on flash flood magnitude. A rain cell model was applied to the radar data of an actual storm and the rain fields represented by the model were further served as input into a hydrological model. Global sensitivity analysis was applied to identify the most important factors affecting flash flood peak discharge. As a case study we tested an extreme storm event over a semi-arid catchment in southern Israel. We found that relatively small changes in the rain cell’s location, speed and direction could cause a three-fold increase in flash flood peak discharge at the catchment outlet. Based on analysis of space-time rainfall patterns and synoptic conditions in the Mediterranean climate regions of Israel, a stochastic high-resolution rainfall model (“weather generator”) was developed and used to study the potential impact of predicted climate change on streamflow in the Ramot Menashe region.Contact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, March 8, 2015 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Mixing, stratification, and the spring phytoplankton bloom: Sverdrup’s critical depth revisited
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Amatzia GeninAbstract: The spring phytoplankton bloom is a major, extensively studied phenomenon in temperate and high latitude seas. Much less information isavailable on blooms in subtropical oligotrophic seas, where the water column is usually stratified. Yet, even in temperate seas the processes determining phytoplankton dynamics during the mixed-layer deepening and the factors triggering the initiation of the bloom are controversial. Here we use long-term measurements of chlorophyll concentration, nutrients, mixed-layer depth and grazing rates to examine the validity of three bloom-initiation processes for the Gulf of Aqaba (northern Red Sea): the Critical Depth Hypothesis, the Dilution-Recoupling Hypothesis, and the Critical Turbulence Hypothesis. The Gulf is a unique water body in the subtropics, where convective mixing during winter reaches hundreds of meters in depth, leading to conspicuous spring blooms. Here we show that neither the critical depth mechanism nor the dilution-recoupling hypothesis explain the phytoplankton dynamics during the winter and spring in the Gulf. Instead, our findings indicate that this dynamics is governed by the interplay between three main processes: (1) nutrient-driven primary production in the upper, illuminated layer; (2) physical ‘homogenization’ of phytoplankton by convective mixing; and (3) accumulation of phytoplankton in the upper layer after the termination of sea-surface cooling. The latter mechanism is responsible for the onset and magnitude of the spring bloom.Contact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, March 1, 2015 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
The rise of oxygen and siderite oxidation during the Lomagundi Event
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Aviv BachanContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, February 22, 2015 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Host-virus interactions at sea, and the implications on the life cycle of a bloom-forming marine microalgae
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Miguel FradaAbstract: The sunlit surface layer of the world’s oceans is a critical biome for the functioning of the Earth system. It constitutes the habitat to a tremendous diversity of viral, bacterial and unicellular eukaryotic groups (autotrophic and heterotrophic) whose intricate populations structure and trophic interactions drive nearly half of the global primary productivity and is central in regulation of elemental cycles and climate homeostasis. In a decade where genomic tolls are enabling a robust assessment of the marine microbial biodiversity our understanding of the mechanisms underlying trophic interactions and the complexity of organisms’ life cycles is still fragmentary. Here, I present two studies that I have been developing over the last years. In a first study, we showed using both field observation and laboratorial experiments that copepods, abundant migrating crustaceans that graze on phytoplankton, as well as other zooplankton can accumulate and act as viral-vectors mediating the transmission of viruses infecting Emiliania huxleyi, a bloom-forming marine microalgae that plays an important role in the carbon cycle. We propose that such zooplankton-driven mechanism can boost host-virus contact rates and potentially accelerate the demise of large-scale phytoplankton blooms in the oceans. In a second study, we explore the mechanisms by which viral infections impact the life cycle of E. huxleyi. In earlier studies we demonstrated that the haploid phase of E. huxleyi is unrecognizable and therefore resistant to viruses that specifically kill the diploid phase, and that exposure of diploid cell to virus induces transition to a phenotypically-like haploid phase. We proposed that such escape strategy via life phase switch, the ‘‘Cheshire Cat’’ escape strategy, enables diploid blooming cells to evade viral attack. Recent morphological and genetic characterization of cells exposed to viruses starts now to shed light on the mechanisms underlying life phase transition dynamics, opening new perspectives of future research.Contact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, February 8, 2015 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Gaia - The Billion-Star Survey
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Shay ZuckerAbstract: Gaia is a space observatory which ESA has launched in December 2013. Its proclaimed mission is to study the origins and subsequent evolution of our Galaxy, the Milky Way. In order to attain its goals it is performing a survey of about a billion stars, allowing the construction of the most accurate three-dimensional map to date of the Galaxy. The talk will describe the Gaia space mission, its scientific context, and its expected impact, beyond its proclaimed mission. Specifically, it will look deeper into the prospects of detecting extrasolar transiting planetsContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, January 25, 2015 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Accretion processes and regular Satellites formation : the role of planetary rings
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Prof. Sebastien CharnozAbstract: The origin of Solar System satellites is actively debated. We know understand that, despite the morphological analogy between a satellite system and a planetary system, the formation processes of satellites may be significantly different from planetary formation processes. in addition, satellites evolve quickly under the effects of tides. Different scenarios seem to be required for different types of planets (terrestrial, giant or ice giant). In this talk I will quickly review our current understanding of satellite formation and the different constrains. Based on Cassini images and numerical simulation, I will show that there is today on-going accretion processes at the edge of Saturn's rings, pointing to a new satellite formation process. I will show that satellite formation may be deeply linked to the evolution of planetary rings, to the point that it is very probable that most of Solar System’s regular satellites may have born inside rings, either massive, like the protolunar disk,or light, like giant planet’s rings. I will illustrate this vividly in the case of Saturn using numerical simulations and CASSINI images. Case of Ice giants, Mars and Jupiter will be also discussed. Some extension to the case of exoplanets’ regular satellites will be attempted.Contact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, January 18, 2015 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Modeling of the Internal Mixing Between Mineral Dust and Sulfate
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Professor Jen-Ping ChenContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Wednesday, January 14, 2015 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
The influence of submesoscale motions on the ocean surface boundary layer - year-long observations from ocean gliders
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Ayah LazarAbstract: Submesoscale processes may strongly influence the depth and stratification of the ocean surface boundary layer, yet the prevalence of these motions throughout the ocean as well as the conditions that trigger them have been difficult to ascertain. Previous observational programs have focused on regions of strong frontal currents, such as the Gulf Stream and Kuroshio, where conditions are favorable for submesoscale instabilities. Here we present results from a unique times series of hydrographic observations, obtained at submesoscale resolution, from a region with a weak mean flow. As part of the Ocean Surface Mixing, Ocean Submesoscale Interaction Study (OSMOSIS) program, glider pairs occupied a small 20 km by 20 km region over the Porcupine Abyssal Plain in the northeast Atlantic from September 2012 to September 2013. Measurements from the gliders were complemented by a suite of nine mooring arrays in the same region. We analyze the in situ evolution in the context of the background conditions from satellite data, including sea surface temperature, sea surface height and surface forcing from wind stress reanalysis. We also analyze three months of a 1/48-degree ocean model in the same region. This data set provides an opportunity to study the physical processes that contribute to upper ocean mixed-layer variability over a full seasonal cycle.Contact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, January 11, 2015 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Clumped isotope thermometry as a tool for reconstructing terrestrial environments: case studies from the Levant and East Africa
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Shikma ZaarurAbstract: Earth climate varies on long and short time scales and its patterns have been derived by a variety of geochemical proxies. The most commonly used paleoclimate proxy is the oxygen isotopic composition in carbonates (δ18O). δ18O, however, is not a direct paleo-thermometer, and temperature reconstructions rely on independent estimates of water isotopic compositions. This caveat is particularly challenging on land, due to the complexity of hydrological variations that control the δ18O of the relevant waters. Carbonate clumped isotope (Δ47) thermometry is a new method for estimating paleo-temperatures that is independent of water isotopic compositions. It is therefore particularly useful as a temperature proxy in terrestrial environments. When combined with carbonate δ18O, it can also serve as a hydrological indicator. Here I will show the application of this method to the study of Late Pleistocene climate in terrestrial settings in the Levant and East Africa. Glacial-Interglacial climate in the Northern Jordan Rift Valley (Israel) was examined by applying the clumped isotope thermometer to modern and fossil fresh water snails from water bodies in the region. The observed Glacial-Interglacial temperature change is similar to regional records but absolute temperatures are warmer. Paleo-water δ18O values have an opposite trend for the last glacial termination compared to the global ocean trends and regional records that reflects a change in the snow-rain dominance of the region’s rivers and changes in evaporation. An integration of Δ47 and δ18O measurements of land and freshwater mollusks from Lake Victoria, East Africa, provide information on past climatic conditions in the region. Results show no significant increase in precipitation for a time interval during which lake levels were significantly higher than in modern-day. These findings support non-climatic mechanisms for the lake level increase, such as tectonically driven change in lake drainage.Contact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilShare the event Clumped isotope thermometry as a tool for reconstructing terrestrial environments: case studies from the Levant and East Africa on email Add the event Clumped isotope thermometry as a tool for reconstructing terrestrial environments: case studies from the Levant and East Africa to calendarDate: Monday, January 5, 2015 Hour: 13:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Tropical Plumes over the Middle East: Climatology and synoptic conditions
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Uri DayanAbstract: A 10-yr climatological study of Tropical Plumes (TPs) observed over the Middle East was undertaken. Several tools were used to identify and analyze these mid-tropospheric elongated cloudbands: satellite images, reanalysis and radiosonde data, backward trajectories, and cluster analysis. In order to conduct an in-depth examination of the synoptic conditions controlling this tropical–extratropical phenomenon, a dual methodology was adopted. In the first analysis, the identified 45 plumes were classified to precipitative and non-precipitative. In the second analysis, backward trajectories of the plumes were clustered in order to detect their moisture origins and pathways. In addition to the well documented south-western plumes originating in West Africa, a more southern pathway was identified, in which moisture was transported from Central to East African sources. The ‘south-western’ plumes are associated with a southwards penetration of mid-latitude troughs, associated with an intensified thermal wind and a longer jet streak, extending as far as Northwestern Africa. In the ‘southern’ category the Sub-Tropical Jet is associated with an anticyclonic flow over the south of the Arabian Peninsula, serving as an essential vehicle advecting moisture from tropical origins. This moisture pathway is considerably shorter than the south-western one. Several conditions favor precipitation induced by TPs over the domain: a northward migration of the jet streak resulting in a weakening of the wind speed over the target area, a deeper trough at the 500 hPa level and a shorter moisture corridor.Contact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, January 4, 2015 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
The Modern and LGM hydrological cycles of the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant from a water isotope perspective
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Yoni GoldsmithAbstract: Long-term averages of the isotopic composition of precipitation from 15 sites in Israel and reanalyzed vapor data from the Mediterranean are used to assess the full modern hydrological cycle of sea surface water–vapor–distillation–precipitation–evaporation in the E. Mediterranean and the Levant. The results combined with modeling efforts show that once the source effect is accounted for, the long-term isotopic composition of precipitation in Israel is governed primarily by distillation that is a function of the sea-land temperature gradient. These processes govern the amount, altitude and the distance from the ocean effects. Based on our understanding of the modern processes, we modeled the distillation as a function of relative humidity during the LGM using d18O values from Soreq Cave stalagmites and Mediterranean foraminifera. Our model suggests a possible reconciliation of the conundrum between the Lake Lisan high-stand during the LGM and the similar offset between the d18O from Soreq Cave stalagmites and Mediterranean foraminifera in modern and LGM times.Contact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, December 28, 2014 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Dynamics of the Madden-Julian oscillation
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Adam SobelAbstract: The Madden-Julian oscillation (MJO) is the dominant mode of variability in the tropics on the intraseasonal time scale (say, 20-90 day periods) and one of the most important coherent, quasi-periodic modes of natural variability in the global climate system altogether. Though it was discovered over 40 years ago, we still do not understand the MJO, in the sense of being able to state an agreed-upon, simple mathematical model that explains its basic features. I will present evidence that the MJO is what some of us now call a "moisture mode", best analyzed by examining the budget of moist static energy or moist entropy. I will argue that cloud-radiative feedbacks are important to the maintenance of the MJO, while horizontal advection of moisture is important to its eastward propagation. I will present evidence from observations, theory, general circulation models, and cloud-resolving models to this effect.Contact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Tuesday, December 23, 2014 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
On Cloud States, Transitions, and Sisyphus
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Graham FeingoldContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Monday, December 8, 2014 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
New Frontiers in Spectral Remote sensing.
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Eyal AgassiContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, December 7, 2014 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
CSI: Rivers - Fluvial fingerprints of tectonic activity
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Liran GorenContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, November 30, 2014 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
TBA
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Gretchen Keppel-AleksContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, November 23, 2014 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Three challenges for effective management of ecosystems in changing environments
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Dr. Adam LampertContact: ilan.koren@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Wednesday, November 19, 2014 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
TBA
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: David JohnstonContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, November 16, 2014 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
TBA
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Alexander KhainContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, November 9, 2014 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Ocean dynamical adjustment and atmospheric CO2 feedback
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Laure ZannaContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.il - Lecture
The deep ocean density structure at the Last Glacial Maximum: What was it and why?
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Madeline MillerContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, October 26, 2014 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Cloud Fraction: Can it be defined, can it be measured, and if we knew it would it be of any use to us anyway?
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Steve SchwartzContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, October 19, 2014 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Conference
SOLAS - meeting
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesChair: Ilan KorenContact: Ilan.Koren@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Thursday, June 19 – Thursday, June 19, 2014 Hour: 08:00 Location: David Lopatie Conference Centre - Lecture
How will climate change affect the number of tropical cyclones?
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Timothy MerlisContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.il - Lecture
Zinc and its isotopes in the modern ocean: the dominance of Southern Ocean biogeochemical processes
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Derek VanceContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.il - Lecture
On the mechanisms of sulfur isotope fractionation during microbial sulfate reduction
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: William LeavittContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Tuesday, May 20, 2014 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Policy relevant observations of O2, PM and Hg on the summit of Mt Bachelor in the Pacific Northwest, USA
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Dan JaffeContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.il - Lecture
Transport properties of fractured
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Pierre AdlerAbstract: Fractures which are always present underground drastically influence the transport properties of porous media on the large scale. Applications such as water flows, transport of contaminants, and reservoir models in the oil industry necessitate the prediction of the transport properties of fractured porous media from easily measurable field quantities. Versatile numerical tools devised to study these properties extensively, will be briefly presented and illustrated. Isotropic networks of uniformly distributed identical fractures are studied first; then, the studies are genereralized to anisotropic networks, to fractures distributed according to power laws and to non uniform distributions. The results can be rationalized in terms of the excluded volume of fractures and their number ' per excluded volume. When the percolation threshold of the fracture network, and the macroscopic permeability are plotted as functions of ', they become independent of the fracture shapes, which is a decisive simplification for the applications. ' can be estimated from measurements performed on intersections of fracture networks with lines, planes, and galleries. These intersections are visible on outcrops, cliffs, quarries, wells and tunnels. Some remarkable relations hold for convex fractures of all shapes. Applications of this approach to several practical cases will be discussed.Contact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.il - Lecture
Turbulence, jets, and beta-plumes studied with laboratory altimetry
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Yakov. D. AfanasyevAbstract: Abstract: We will consider different examples of flows on the beta-plane in a rotating tank . These flows include eddies, zonal jets and Rossby waves and are relevant to meso- and large-scale dynamics of the Earth's oceans and atmosphere. The flows are generated by a barotropic or baroclinic forcing either spatially localized or distributed over the domain. Laboratory (optical) altimetry is used to measure the surface elevation and to obtain the velocity fields of the flow, not unlike satellite altimetry used by oceanographers. The beta-plume mechanism will be discussed as a concept which unifies all these different flows.Contact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.il - Lecture
Early Evolution of the Earth-Moon System
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Jack WisdomAbstract: The isotopic similarity of the Earth and Moon has motivated a recent investigation (Cuk and Stewart, 2012) of the formation of the Moon with a fast-spinning Earth. Angular momentum was found to be drained from the system through the evection resonance, a resonance between the pericenter of the Moon and motion of the Earth about the Sun. However, tidal heating within the Moon was neglected. Here we explore the coupled thermal-orbital evolution of the early Earth-Moon system, taking account of tidal heating within the Moon. Large tidal heating in the Moon significantly changes the tidal parameters in the Moon, with consequent early escape from the evection resonance. Insufficient angular momentum is withdrawn from the system to be consistent with the current configuration of the Earth-Moon system.Contact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, April 27, 2014 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
How and Why Does Carbon Move in the Crust? A multidisciplinary journey to the depths of the Earth
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Matthieu GalvezContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Tuesday, April 22, 2014 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Mysteries of Transverse Mixing in Porous Media
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Olaf CirpkaContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, April 6, 2014 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Pattern formation - a missing link in the study of ecosystem response to climate change
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Professor Ehud MeronContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, March 30, 2014 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Impact of Environmental Factors on the Health Effect of Biological Aerosols
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Naama Lang YonaContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Thursday, March 27, 2014 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Titan: Gravitational Field and Interior Structure
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Prof. Gerald SchubertContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Monday, March 10, 2014 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Coral Landscapes at the Microscale
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Dr. Orr ShapiroContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, March 2, 2014 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Controls on the residence time of carbon in terrestrial ecosystems
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Prof. Susan TrumboreContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.il - Lecture
Climate-biosphere relations at different scales
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Markus ReichsteinContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.il - Lecture
Ice Nucleation and Glass Formation in Aqueous Aerosol Particles: Competitors or Collaborators?
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Thomas KoopContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, February 16, 2014 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Spatial heterogeneity in sulfur isotopes: implications for modern environments & for paleoenvironmental reconstructions
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: David FikeContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, February 9, 2014 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Aerial dispersal of marine viruses and their potential impact on phytoplankton population dynamics
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Shlomit SharoniContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, February 2, 2014 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Ophiolite insight into Phanerozoic ocean chemistry
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Dr Alexandra TurchynContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, January 26, 2014 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Evolution of oxygenic photosynthesis
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Prof. Woodward FischerContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.il - Lecture
The thermocline and the tropopause: analogs or antonyms?
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Prof. Geoff VallisContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Thursday, January 16, 2014 Hour: 10:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Critical and gradual transitions in pattern-forming systems
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Dr. Golan BelAbstract: Critical transitions have attracted a great deal of attention due to their relevance to many natural and social systems. Much research has been devoted to the characterization and identification of imminent critical transitions. In spatially extended systems, the dynamics (close to and away from the critical point) is more complicated due to the expansion, shrinking and coalescence of alternative-state domains. Pattern-forming systems introduce additional complexity due to the patterned nature of one of the stable states. In this talk, I will present several works in which we used the context of drylands vegetation dynamics to study various aspects of this additional complexity: (i) Using a minimal model, we showed that in systems exhibiting a bistability of a patterned state with a uniform state, a multitude of intermediate stable localized states may appear, giving rise to step-like gradual shifts with extended pauses at these states. This result suggests that a combination of abrupt-shift indicators and gradual-shift indicators might be needed to unambiguously identify regime shifts. (ii) The existence of these localized states in models for the dynamics of drylands vegetation and the response of the systems described by these models to local perturbations will be discussed. (iii) We show how a simplified version of a model for drylands vegetation dynamics can explain the emergence and the observed dynamics of the spectacular phenomenon of “fairy circles” in southern Africa. If time permits, I will present recent results demonstrating the effects of heterogeneity on the pattern formation, survivability and resilience of water-limited vegetation.Contact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, January 12, 2014 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Iron reduction in sediments and its microbial redox coupling to the methane and sulfate cycles
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Dr. Orit SivanContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, January 5, 2014 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Carbon supply to algae in Lake Kinneret in spring time
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Dr. Ami NishriContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, December 29, 2013 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
What is the role of global-warming in the recent widening of the tropical-circulation?
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Ori AdamContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, December 22, 2013 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Nitrogen transformation pathways, rates, and isotopic signatures in Lake Lugano
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Christine WenkContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, December 1, 2013 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
How hot can it be? Clumped isotopes perspective on Eocene high latitude temperatures.
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Hagit P AffekAbstract: The Eocene (56-34My ago) is one of the best analogs for a greenhouse climate, with high CO2 concentrations, generally high temperatures, and no polar ice caps. A major feature of the Eocene geochemical records suggests a reduced latitudinal gradient, in which most of the warming occurs in polar regions (possibly exceeding 30°C in the Antarctic margin), but less in the tropics. These results could have profound implications for understanding polar amplification of greenhouse warming, but they are not captured in climate models, pointing to important gaps in climate models and to major uncertainties in the geochemical data. We combine two temperature proxies - carbonate clumped isotopes in fossil bivalve shells and archaeal lipid TEX86 in the sediment associated with the bivalves - to constrain Eocene temperatures in Southern high latitudes. Clumped isotope paleothermometry is a thermodynamically controlled temperature proxy that is not dependent on the isotopic composition of seawater, and presents a novel opportunity to reduce uncertainties in Eocene sea surface temperature estimates. We use it to constrain the calibration of TEX86 in order to compare paleotemperatures in the Antarctic Peninsula (Seymour Island) to those in the South Pacific (Eastern Tasman Plateau), both at ~65°S paleo-latitude. The data indicates middle to late Eocene paleotemperatures of 10-17C in Seymour Island and ~7°C higher in the Eastern Tasman Plateau, suggesting a pronounced zonal heterogeneity in southern high latitude sea surface temperatures.Contact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.il - Lecture
Plate tectonics beyond geomagnetic reversals: the opening of the South Atlantic Ocean
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Roi GranotAbstract: Globally correlatable marine magnetic anomalies record past polarity reversals and changes in the strength of the dipolar geomagnetic field. Traditionally, plate reconstruction models rely on reversals-related anomalies leading to a well-known major temporal gap and tectonic ambiguities in the existing kinematic models for the Cretaceous normal superchron (83.5-120.6 Ma), a long period when no polarity reversal took place. Recent findings on the behaviour of the geomagnetic field during the superchron (Granot et al., 2012) provide new time markers that may be used to define internal isochrones within the Quiet Zones. Based on these features I present a new kinematic model for the opening of the South Atlantic. New sets of finite rotation parameters illuminate in details the break-up and initial drift of Africa and South America. Based on these new rotations I present the first magnetically-constrained opening model for the Equatorial Atlantic Gateway.Contact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, November 17, 2013 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
The Precambrian ocean green: Seawater chemistry in a low-oxygen world
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Itay HalevyContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, November 10, 2013 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Scale Interactions in the Ocean Circulation: Two Observational Process Studies
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Dr. Stephanie WatermanAbstract: In this talk I will introduce my research on scale interactions in oceanic processes and the implications of these interactions on the large-scale circulation. I will discuss the nature and importance of scale interactions in the physics of the ocean and the ocean's role in the climate system, and why our understanding of these interactions is critical to our ability to model the ocean in climate models, interpret our observations and simulations of the oceanic circulation, and design effective observing systems. I will then describe two examples from my current research that aim to further our understanding of specific ocean processes in which scale interactions are key: 1. a study of eddy-mean flow interactions in oceanic western boundary current systems such as the Gulf Stream and Kuroshio Extensions, and 2. work on wave-mean flow-turbulence interactions in a Southern Ocean mixing hotspot. Each considers different interacting scales and examines different processes which in turn have different impacts on the larger-scale circulation. They share however a common aim, to understand the physical mechanisms underpinning the observed system behaviour, as well as a common approach, uniting process-targeted observations and idealised process modelling.Contact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, October 27, 2013 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Minimum principles in electromagnetic scattering by small aspherical particles
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Prof. Alex KostinskiAbstract: What is an optimal particle shape for scattering, e.g., shape causing minimal extinction among those of equal volume and randomly oriented? Guided by the isoperimetric property of a sphere, relevant in the geometrical optics limit of scattering by large particles, we examine an analogous question in the low frequency (induced dipole moment) approximation, seeking to disentangle electric and geometric contributions. To that end, a simple proof is supplied of spherical optimality for a coated ellipsoidal particle and a monotonic increase with asphericity is shown in the low frequency regime for orientation-averaged induced dipole moments and scattering cross-sections. Physical insight is obtained from the Rayleigh-Gans (transparent) limit and eccentricity expansions. We propose linking low and high frequency regime in a single sweeping minimum principle valid for all size parameters, provided that reasonable size distributions wash out the Mie resonances. This proposal is further supported by the sum rule for integrated extinction. Implications for environmental remote sensing are discussed throughout the talk.Contact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, October 20, 2013 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
'Explaining phytoplankton blooms by searching away from the streetlight'
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Prof. Emmanuel BossContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Tuesday, August 27, 2013 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
UCLA Magnetometers: Past, Present, and into the Future
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Kathryn RoweContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, August 18, 2013 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Zonostrophic macroturbulence and flow energetics on Jupiter from Cassini data
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Prof. Boris GalperinContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Wednesday, August 14, 2013 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Mixing processes in the Gulf of Eilat/Aqaba (Red Sea): From tidally driven internal waves to surface horizontal mixing
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Daniel F. CarlsonAbstract: The Gulf of Eilat is an elongated, deep basin in the northern Red Sea. We investigate various mixing processes using recent observational data acquired from a combination of moored platforms and HF coastal radar. We present the first regular ,high vertical resolution profiles of density and velocity and the first deep, long-term profiles of velocity and high frequency temperature measurements collected in the Gulf of Eilat. > The variability of the stratification and its effect on the magnitude of alongshore semi-diurnal tidal currents in the northern Gulf of Eilat/Aqaba are examined using recent observational data acquired from a combination of moored platforms. The variability of the stratification consists of both periodic and episodic components and occurs over a range of time scales, from hourly to seasonal. Large amplitude, tidally-driven internal waves were observed throughout the year under different stratification conditions. Episodic cooling and warming events were observed during convective mixing in winter and re-stratification in spring. The magnitude of the alongshore semi-diurnal tidal currents is strongly correlated with the stratification. > Lateral mixing is examined using surface current measured by HF radar. Here, we modify the traditional random-walk stochastic model to include a large-scale flow (obtained from a numerical model, satellite measurements, or HF radar surface current measurements) that varies in both space and time. A stochastic term is added to represent sub-grid-scale, or unresolved, turbulence and is related to the horizontal eddy diffusivity and thousands of virtual particles are transported by the large-scale flow and the stochastic "jumps." The magnitude of the eddy diffusivity is increased until the barrier is no longer present in the flow field, thus providing an estimate of the upper bound of the horizontal eddy diffusivity.Contact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.il - Lecture
Rise and fall of mountains on Mars
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Dr. Edwin KiteContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Tuesday, July 2, 2013 Hour: 13:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Conference
ENEXAL workshop
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesChair: Michael EpsteinContact: Michael.Epstein@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Tuesday, June 11 – Wednesday, June 12, 2013 Location: Nancy and Stephen Grand Israel National Center for Personalized Medicine - Lecture
Water-rock interactions at the nano-scale
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Simon EmmanuelAbstract: Water-rock interactions in the Earth's crust often modify the pore space and permeability of rocks, soils, and sediments, changing the way fluids flow in the subsurface. Crucially, such geochemical reactions are often controlled by nano-scale processes. In this study, we use atomic force microscopy to examine dissolution rates of limestone; crucially, our measurements show that the rate of mineral dissolution within micron-size pores is much lower than the rate of dissolution on surrounding polished mineral surfaces. In addition, we use numerical simulations to show that this difference cannot be explained using a diffusion - surface reaction model. We propose that the observed variation in reaction rates could instead be due to the elevated density of reactive high curvature features on the polished surfaces. These features can strongly affect local interfacial free energy, making surfaces more prone to dissolution. As a result, polished surfaces should be more reactive than pore surfaces that have effectively been smoothed during prolonged contact with natural fluids. As standard rate experiments routinely use polished and powdered samples, our findings may help to explain the widely reported discrepancy between lab and field-based dissolution rates.Contact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.il - Conference
CARESS - Conference on Active Research by Environmental Sciences Students
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesChair: Yaniv EderyContact: yaniv.edery@weizmann.ac.il - Lecture
Lightning Applications in Weather and Climate
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Colin PriceContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.il - Lecture
Our Eyes Beneath The Sea: Advanced Optical Methods For Marine Science
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Tali TreibitzAbstract: The ocean covers 70% of the earth surface, and influences almost every aspect in our life, such as climate, fuel, security, and food. All over the world, including Israel, depleting resources on land are encouraging increased human activity in the ocean, for example: gas drilling, desalination plants, port constructions, aquaculture, bio-fuel, and more. These expanded activities influence the delicate ecology that is already threatened by global warming and ocean acidification, and present a risk of over-exploitation. The ocean is a complex, vast, foreign environment that is hard to explore and therefore much about it is still unknown. Interestingly, only 5% of the ocean floor has been seen so far. As human access to most of the ocean is very limited, optical imaging systems can serve as our eyes in those remote areas. However, optical imaging underwater is challenging due to intense pressures at depth, strong color and distance dependent attenuation, refraction at the interface air/water, and the ever-changing and rugged conditions of the natural ocean. In this talk I describe several imaging systems I developed and show how they can be used to solve acute scientific problems. These include an underwater in-situ high-resolution benthic microscope and systems for in-situ wide-scale multispectral and fluorescence imaging.Contact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.il - Lecture
Ice Age Dynamics on Mars
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Norbert SchorghoferContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.il - Lecture
"Multi-phase flow in fractured geological formations - from pore- to field-scale"
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Sebastian GeigerAbstract: Fractures are abundant in many geological formations and are often the main pathways for fluid flow. They hence control many different geological processes, ranging from oil production from the world's largest hydrocarbon reservoirs to heat extraction from enhanced geothermal systems, subsurface storage of greenhouse gases, or the migration of methane in gas-bearing sediments - even the formation of many world class ore deposits is, primarily, controlled by the presence of fractures. Yet, it is often the fluid transfer between fractures and matrix, driven by capillary forces, which determines, for example, how well hydrocarbons can be extracted from the subsurface or how readily greenhouse gases are trapped in a geological formation. This talk will discuss how novel pore-scale modelling techniques can be used to analyse the emergent behaviour of capillary forces in complex porous media, how capillary-driven exchange between fractures and matrix can be quantified using a universally applicable scaling law, and how both aspects can be combined to develop more robust and much-needed conceptual models that describe multi-phase flow in fractured geological formations.Contact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, April 21, 2013 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Biological and chemical diversity of biogenic volatile organic compound emissions and their impact on air quality and climate
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Alex GuentherContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilShare the event Biological and chemical diversity of biogenic volatile organic compound emissions and their impact on air quality and climate on email Add the event Biological and chemical diversity of biogenic volatile organic compound emissions and their impact on air quality and climate to calendar - Lecture
The last millennium climate of the South Eastern Mediterranean reconstructed from oxygen and carbon stable isotopes of the reef builder vermetid, denedropoma peatreum
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Guy Sisma, PhDContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilShare the event The last millennium climate of the South Eastern Mediterranean reconstructed from oxygen and carbon stable isotopes of the reef builder vermetid, denedropoma peatreum on email Add the event The last millennium climate of the South Eastern Mediterranean reconstructed from oxygen and carbon stable isotopes of the reef builder vermetid, denedropoma peatreum to calendarDate: Tuesday, March 19, 2013 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Embracing Complexity: Deciphering Origins and Transformations of Atmospheric Organics through Speciated Measurements
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Allen GoldsteinAbstract: Organic material accounts for a large fraction of atmospheric aerosol, with the majority being secondary organic aerosol (SOA) formed through oxidation processes. Primary emissions leading to SOA include thousands of chemicals from a variety of natural and anthropogenic sources ranging over approximately 15 orders of magnitude of volatility. As organics are oxidized they fragment to form smaller volatiles or add functionality leading to SOA formation, dramatically increasing the complexity of compounds present. A continuing challenge in aerosol research is to elucidate the sources, structure, chemistry, fate, climate and health impacts of these organic atmospheric constituents. The complex chemical composition of organic aerosols presents unique measurement challenges. My group and close collaborators have developed the Thermal Desorption Aerosol Gas chromatograph (TAG) system for hourly in-situ speciation of a wide range of primary and secondary organic compounds in aerosols. This instrument combines a particle collector with thermal desorption followed by GCMS detection to provide hourly separation, identification, and quantification of organic constituents at the molecular level. We incorporated two-dimensional chromatography (GCxGC), providing dramatically enhanced speciation. We developed a semivolatile collection and analysis system that allows simultaneous measurement of specific organics in the gas and particle phases, enabling analysis of their partitioning. We also developed a combined TAG-AMS (Aerosol Mass Spectrometer) instrument for simultaneous measurements of the total and speciated aerosol composition. We are currently exploring soft ionization with vacuum ultraviolet radiation using a high resolution time of flight mass spectrometer (GCxGC/VUV-HRTOFMS) to more fully separate and identify compounds in complex mixtures such as diesel fuel, motor oil, fire emissions, in controlled oxidation studies, and in ambient samples. This talk will review recent developments (TAG, 2DTAG, SVTAG, TAG-AMS, GCxGC/VUV-HRTOFMS), and present new atmospheric observations, source characterizations, and controlled oxidation studies to more fully characterize atmospheric organic sources and transformation processes.Contact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, March 17, 2013 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Intensity of redox conditions in Eastern Mediterranean Sapropels deduced from metal stable isotopes
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Alan MatthewsContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, March 10, 2013 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
TBA
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Boswell WingContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, March 3, 2013 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Gathering in memory of Prof. Joel Gat; Lecture (in Hebrew): Joel Gat, Water and Isotopes
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Prof. Boaz LuzContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilHomepage of event Gathering in memory of Prof. Joel Gat; Lecture (in Hebrew): Joel Gat, Water and Isotopes Share the event Gathering in memory of Prof. Joel Gat; Lecture (in Hebrew): Joel Gat, Water and Isotopes on email Add the event Gathering in memory of Prof. Joel Gat; Lecture (in Hebrew): Joel Gat, Water and Isotopes to calendar - Lecture
The Influence of the Stratospheric Equatorial Quasi-Biennial Oscillation on the Troposphere
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Chaim GarfinkelContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.il - Conference
Conference of the Israeli Association for Aerosol Research (IAAR)
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesChair: Ilan KorenContact: Ilan.Koren@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Thursday, March 1 – Thursday, March 1, 2012 Location: David Lopatie Conference Centre - Lecture
From Climate Research to Earth System Management
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Prof. Guy BrasseurContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.il - Lecture
Things we (don't) know about planetay interiors
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Dr. Ravit HelledAbstract: Abstract: Today, hundreds of extrasolar planets have been detected and their number is increasing at a rapid pace. The discovery of planets outside the solar-system opens an opportunity to learn about planets as a class. However, a substantial improvement in our understanding of extrasolar planets, in particular, their physical properties, is not possible without detailed investigation and better understanding of the solar-system planets. I will briefly discuss how planetary interiors are modeled, and will present interior models of the four solar-system outer planets, i.e., Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, including the main uncertainties in planetary composition and interior structure. Recent results, open questions, and future investigations will be presented.Contact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, November 27, 2011 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
"Transport of Silver Nanoparticles (AgNPs) in soil"
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Omer SageeContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, November 20, 2011 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
"Pressure Solution and Stylolites in Carbonate Rocks"
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Leehee LaronneContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.il - Lecture
"Nature, Occurrence and Impacts of Sand and Dust: A Global to Regional Perspective"
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Professor Leonard BarrieContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.il - Lecture
Speedy Raindrops
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Prof. Alex KostinskiAbstract: Do all raindrops fall at terminal speed? Recent speed versus size measurements of drops during natural rainfall show that sub-mm raindrops often fall up an order of magnitude faster than expected. Furthermore, images of drop clusters reveal that these ‘‘super-terminal drops’’ are differently sized fragments of a recent break-up, moving with the speed of the parent drop and relaxing towards steady fall. Immediately after breakup, the pieces, disembarking off a common carrier, move at about the same (relatively high) speed. Along with reviewing the physics of drop breakup, I shall discuss possible implications, e.g., disdrometers and Doppler radars.Contact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.il - Lecture
Source Apportionment of Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) Activity of Atmospheric Particulate Matter
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Prof. James J. SchauerContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Thursday, May 26, 2011 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
SOLAR-DRIVEN CO2 REDUCTION USING CONJUGATED PHOTO-THERMAL-ELECTRO-CHEMICAL (PTEC) PROCESS
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Gidon FridmanContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.il - Lecture
Dynamics of Calcium Carbonate Precipitation during Ca(OH)2 – CO2 Reaction in a Porous Medium: The Impact of Solubility Enhancement
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Ella Cohen HialehContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilShare the event Dynamics of Calcium Carbonate Precipitation during Ca(OH)2 – CO2 Reaction in a Porous Medium: The Impact of Solubility Enhancement on email Add the event Dynamics of Calcium Carbonate Precipitation during Ca(OH)2 – CO2 Reaction in a Porous Medium: The Impact of Solubility Enhancement to calendar - Lecture
The geological input of the Japan happenings and a look at our region
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Prof. Emanuel MazorContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.il - Lecture
Spectral Invariance in Atmospheric Radiation: What was missed by van de Hulst?
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Dr. Warren WiscombeAbstract: In the highly spectrally variable world of atmospheric radiation, some simple algebraic combinations of single scattering albedo, reflected and/or transmitted radiation spectra depend little on wavelength. As an example, under some rather general conditions, the ratio of the radiation leaving clouds to single scattering albedo is a linear function of the same radiation. In the talk we will identify these spectrally-invariant combinations and discuss the physics (and some mathematics) behind them. Using the results of SBDART simulations, we will test the extent to which the assumptions behind spectral invariance are valid for cloudy atmospheres. Finally, the applications of spectral invariance for climate and remote sensing problems will be briefly crystal-balled.Contact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, April 10, 2011 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Relationships between Carbonyl Sulfide (COS), CO2 and C18OO during leaf gas exchange: Developing a new tracer for gross Carbon Dioxide uptake by the land biosphere.
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Keren StimlerContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilShare the event Relationships between Carbonyl Sulfide (COS), CO2 and C18OO during leaf gas exchange: Developing a new tracer for gross Carbon Dioxide uptake by the land biosphere. on email Add the event Relationships between Carbonyl Sulfide (COS), CO2 and C18OO during leaf gas exchange: Developing a new tracer for gross Carbon Dioxide uptake by the land biosphere. to calendarDate: Tuesday, April 5, 2011 Hour: 10:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Two-dimensional nonlinear wave shoaling
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Dr. Yaron ToledoAbstract: Abstract Nonlinear interactions between sea waves and the bottom are a main mechanism of energy transfer between the different wave frequencies in the near-shore region. In this region, nonlinear interactions act much faster than in deep water due to quadratic resonance interactions. One of the methods for solving this flow regime is using quadratic nonlinear mild-slope (MS) type wave models. These models consist of a linear mild-slope type equation for each wave harmonic coupled by quadratic nonlinear terms to all other harmonics. The first part of the talk will discuss the various options for formulating the magnitude of the wave number rather than the commonly used heuristic choice. This allows constructing models that allow for different types of solution methods, and gives a better overview for extending the formulation to two-dimensions. The second part will discuss the phase functions and the directions of the wavenumber vectors. This information is needed for constructing this type of models, and the problem of its formulation is what limits these models to one-dimensional propagation, or to two-dimensional ones with some crude assumptions. In the present work, governing equations for the wavenumber vectors and the phase functions are constructed in order to allow for rigorous derivations of each type of solution method for various wave propagation characteristics. This allows constructing equations for the two-dimensional propagation of oblique incident waves in various angles that interact both with each other and with the seabed. A perturbation approach is used in order to simplify these equations while keeping superior accuracy with respect to other models. Another extension to the commonly used models that will be presented, is the inclusion of nearly resonant interactions. For oblique propagation toward a beach with parallel bathymetry lines, this inclusion allows constructing a higher order correction that changes the nature of the solution causing the waves to evolve also in the lateral direction. In order to address as well people that are not from the field of water waves, some basic concepts of wave propagation will be discussed, and the main mechanisms for nonlinear energy transfer will be explained in an intuitive manner.Contact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, April 3, 2011 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
"Coupled Oscillations in the Aerosol-Cloud-Precipitation System"
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Dr. Graham FeingoldContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Thursday, March 17, 2011 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
"Effects of stratocumulus clouds on aerosols in the maritime boundary layer"
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Leehi MagaritzContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, February 20, 2011 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
"Promising techniques in using remote sensing for determining ground level PM"
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Richard KleidmanContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, February 13, 2011 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
“Structure and dynamics of out of equilibrium systems: glass and granular matter.”
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Nataliya MakedonskaContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.il - Lecture
“Pore-Scale Exchange of Fluid and Chemicals in the Vadose Zone.”
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Maxime Gouet-KaplanContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.il - Lecture
A Weizmann Scientist in Solar Industry’s Court or An Attempt To Do What It Takes To Get It Done Right
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Prof. Jacob KarniContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.il - Lecture
"The role of stationary planetary waves in storm track dynamics"
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Dr. Yohai KaspiContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.il - Lecture
"Applications of remote sensing by hyperspectral imaging in the infrared band"
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Dr. Eyal AgassiContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, January 9, 2011 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
"Analysis of aerosol mixing state significance in remote sensing applications and radiative effect assessment"
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Dr. Yevgeny DerimianContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, December 26, 2010 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
"What was the cause of the steep drop in atmosphere and surface ocean 14C/C ratio during the first phase of deglaciation (17.5 to 14.5 kyrs)?"
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Prof. Wally BroeckerContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilShare the event "What was the cause of the steep drop in atmosphere and surface ocean 14C/C ratio during the first phase of deglaciation (17.5 to 14.5 kyrs)?" on email Add the event "What was the cause of the steep drop in atmosphere and surface ocean 14C/C ratio during the first phase of deglaciation (17.5 to 14.5 kyrs)?" to calendarDate: Sunday, November 28, 2010 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Then and there: the paleo solar wind and stellar coronae of exo-planetary systems
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Dr. Ofer CohenContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, November 21, 2010 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
"The potential influence of climate change on the circulation in the Mediterranean Sea"
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Prof. Steve Brenner,Contact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, November 14, 2010 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
"From Trees to Forests - Modeling the Interactions between Vegetation Structure and Atmosphere Dynamics"
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Prof. Gil BohrerContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, November 7, 2010 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
CO2 SQUESTRATION IN DEEP GEOLOGICAL BRINE FORMATIONS
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Professor Jacob Bear; Dr. Yaacov bensabatContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, October 24, 2010 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Experiences in Research and Scientific Computing
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Dr. Viktor Zubko,Abstract: Abstract. My talk will be devoted to my most interesting experiences in science and scientific computing. Three topics will be covered. First, I will talk about ill-posed inverse problems in astrophysics of cosmic dust. I will show how to formulate and solve a typical problem of modeling of interstellar dust by using a mathematically correct tool: the method of Tikhonov's regularization. Second, I will demonstrate how usually incomplete multi-sensor satellite-obtained data in Earth Sciences can be efficiently combined by using data fusion methods to produce complete global and regional data maps. Finally, I will discuss the theoretical grounds, practical implementation, and typical results derived with my polarized radiative transfer code PRT, which is of potential usefulness for atmospheric and astrophysical remote sensing applications.Contact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, September 5, 2010 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
"Optics and Sediment Dynamics"
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Prof. Emmanuel BossAbstract: Optical measurements have been used for more than a century as proxies for properties of marine particles. In this presentation we will review how sediments affect in-water and remotely sensed optical properties and how that effect has been used to infer information about sediment concentration, characteristics and dynamical processes associated with sediments (e.g., resuspension, settling, aggregation and disaggregation).Contact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Tuesday, August 31, 2010 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
"A look on the future of clouds and aerosols measurements"
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Prof. Vanderlei MartinsContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, June 27, 2010 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
"Hydrogeology of Alpine Karst Aquifers"
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Dr. Nadine GoeppertContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, June 20, 2010 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
"Nonlinear wave-bottom interactions in the near-shore environment"
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Dr. Yaron ToledoContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, June 13, 2010 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
"The evolution of pore fluid pressure in porous rocks and soils and its geodynamics effects".
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Liran GorenContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.il - Lecture
"Paleoclimate: Addenda to Milankovitch Theory"
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Prof. Alexey ByalkoContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.il - Lecture
"Polynomial cointegration tests of the anthropogenic theory of global warming"
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Prof. Michael BeenstockContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.il - Lecture
"Reversible record breaking and variability: temperature distributions across the globe"
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Prof. Alex KostinskiContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.il - Lecture
"The Atmospheric Radiation Measurements Program (ARM): A Revolutionary Approach to Field Campaigns"
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Dr. Warren WiscombeContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.il - Lecture
Aerosol effects on Clouds and Precipitation: Buffered states, runaway states, and self-organization
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Dr. Graham FeingoldContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, April 25, 2010 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
The collisional cascades in the Kuiper Belt.
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Prof. Re'em SariContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, April 11, 2010 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Cenozoic motion between East and West Antarctica: regional and global tectonic consequences
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Dr. Roi GranotContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Wednesday, March 24, 2010 Hour: 10:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
"Clumped isotopes' in speleothem carbonate and in atmospheric CO2"
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Prof. Hagit affekContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, March 21, 2010 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Pollutants transport from Europe to Israel a combine in-situ, satellite and model view.
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Dr. Ron DroriContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, March 7, 2010 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Spectral constraints on the composition of recently-formed slope streaks on Mars
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Dr. Amit MushkinContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, February 21, 2010 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Land Surface Temperature: Climatology and applications
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Prof. Itamar LenskyContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, February 14, 2010 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
A Master Lecture: Particle Tracking Models of Reactive Transport in Porous Media"
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Yaniv EderyContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Thursday, February 11, 2010 Hour: 14:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
A Master lecutre: "Measuring and Modeling the Aerodynamic Resistance to Heat and Water Vapor over Semi-Arid Forest Environments".
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Amir TalContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilShare the event A Master lecutre: "Measuring and Modeling the Aerodynamic Resistance to Heat and Water Vapor over Semi-Arid Forest Environments". on email Add the event A Master lecutre: "Measuring and Modeling the Aerodynamic Resistance to Heat and Water Vapor over Semi-Arid Forest Environments". to calendarDate: Sunday, February 7, 2010 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Measuring the mass transfer coefficient of aerosol-bound species for use in the solar seeded reacto
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Hanan LevyContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Tuesday, February 2, 2010 Hour: 14:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Feasibility study of detection of hazardous aerosol pollutants using passive open-path FTIR
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Michal Segal RosenheimerContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, January 31, 2010 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Compound specific sulfur isotopes – A new tool for studying the global sulfur cycle
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Dr. Alon AmraniContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, January 17, 2010 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Horizontal refraction (3D problems) in low frequency sound propagation in shelf zone of the Ocean
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Prof. Boris KatsnelsonContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Monday, January 4, 2010 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Marine Sediment Dynamics: A Grain-Scale Model Coupling Mechanics, Multiphase Fluid Flow, and Hydrate Formation
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Dr. Ran HoltzmanContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, January 3, 2010 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
The wildfire problem of the United States: people, houses, and lightning
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Avi Bar MassadaContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Monday, December 28, 2009 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
"Luminescent Solar Concentrators with efficiency exceeding 10%"
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Dr. Carmel RotschildContact: dalai.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, December 27, 2009 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Chemistry vs. Microbiology: What Controls Speciation in Biogeochemical Sulfur Cycle?
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Dr. Alexey KamyshnyContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Thursday, December 24, 2009 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
"Real and perceived hurdles to addressing climate change: A view from the social sciences"
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Professor Dror EtzionContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, December 20, 2009 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Mineral Aspect of a Dust Strom as Obtain from Hyperspectral Imagery from Space: A Case Study Over Bodele Depression, Northern Chad
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Dr. Alexandra ChudnovskyContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilShare the event Mineral Aspect of a Dust Strom as Obtain from Hyperspectral Imagery from Space: A Case Study Over Bodele Depression, Northern Chad on email Add the event Mineral Aspect of a Dust Strom as Obtain from Hyperspectral Imagery from Space: A Case Study Over Bodele Depression, Northern Chad to calendarDate: Sunday, December 6, 2009 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Optical Properties of Complex Particles, Retrieved by Continuous-Wave Cavity Ring Down Aerosol Spectrometer (CW-CRD-AS)
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Naama LangContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, November 29, 2009 Hour: 10:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Coupling of physical and biogeochemical processes in a stratified lake.
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Dr. Ilia OstrovskyContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, November 22, 2009 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
An adaptive reduction algorithm for Global 3-D models of tropospheric chemistry
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Dr. Mauricio SantillanaContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Thursday, November 19, 2009 Hour: 10:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
M. Magaritz Memorial Lecture; "The isotopic composition of atmospheric oxygen"
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Prof. Boaz LuzContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.il - Lecture
"Dynamics and Spatiotemporal Variability of Ice streams".
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Dr. Roiy SayagContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, November 15, 2009 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
"Measuring the Effect of the Biomass Burning Aerosol on the Atmospheric Temperature Profile over the Amazon"
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Amit DavidiContact: dalia.madhala@weizmanna.ac.ilDate: Thursday, November 12, 2009 Hour: 10:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Land-Cover/Land-Use Change - the Second Global Change: A View from Space
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Dr. Garik GutmanContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, October 25, 2009 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Extra-terrestrial 3He: new applications in paleoceanography
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Dr. Adi TorfsteinContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, August 9, 2009 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
The Metaphysics of Anthropogenic Climate Change
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Dr. Gerald StanhillContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, June 28, 2009 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
Form-Induced-Stresses in a canopy flow model
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Dr. Uri ShavitContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, June 21, 2009 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
"When aliens arrive: alien species and their impact on biodiversity"
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Dr. Salit KarkContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, June 14, 2009 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Conference
Caress - Bi-annual Conference on Active Research by Environmental Science Students
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesChair: Prof. Dan Yakir,
Mr. Maxime Gouet-KaplanContact: caress@weizmann.ac.ilHomepage of event Caress - Bi-annual Conference on Active Research by Environmental Science Students Share the event Caress - Bi-annual Conference on Active Research by Environmental Science Students on email Add the event Caress - Bi-annual Conference on Active Research by Environmental Science Students to calendarDate: Monday, June 8, 2009 Location: - Lecture
Aerosol compositionand radiative effect on climate system
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Dr. Yevgeny DerimianContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Wednesday, June 3, 2009 Hour: 10:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
"GFD experiments in Climate and Paleoclimate: speculations on the climate of an aquaplanet"
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Prof. John MarshallContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.il - Lecture
"Measuring marine particulate organic carbon from satellites: future use in assessing impacts of climate change"
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Dr. Wilford GardnerContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.il - Lecture
Special Master seminar: Hydrological Dynamics of Near Surface Atmospheric Waters: An Isotopic Investigation
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Leon PetersContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Thursday, May 14, 2009 Hour: 10:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
"Electrical resistivity tomography for hydrological research"
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Dr. Alex FurmanContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.il - Lecture
Ph.D final seminar; Atmospheric humic like substances (HULIS): their properties and influence on tropospheric processes
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Ilya TaraniukContact: dalia.mdhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, April 12, 2009 Hour: 10:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
The midlatitude response to El Nino - Southern Oscillation: (ENSO) – deciphering cause and effect
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Dr. Nili HarnikContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Sunday, April 5, 2009 Hour: 11:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
A Master Student Lecture: "'Surface mixing induced by simple three dimensional flows"
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Rotem AharonContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Wednesday, April 1, 2009 Hour: 13:00 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
A Master Student Lecture: 'The effect of sea ice on high latitudes hydrological cycle during the Last Glacial Maximum'
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Ilit ShlezakContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Wednesday, April 1, 2009 Hour: 13:30 Location: Sussman Family Building for Environmental Sciences - Lecture
A Master Student Lecture: Experimental and modeling investigation of multicomponent reactive transport in porous media
Organizer: Department of Earth and Planetary SciencesSpeaker: Guy KatzContact: dalia.madhala@weizmann.ac.ilDate: Monday, March 30,