CCMP News and Updates

CCMP's latest on modeling research developments, funding opportunities, workshops and other activities around the Bay. CCMP's aim is to keep its audience informed of all important news updates. If you have anything you'd wish to offer CCMP, please let us know! We love to hear from others in the Chesapeake Bay community (and beyond).

Chesapeake Modeling Symposium 2008 (CheMS'08)

The CCMP is convening a modeling symposium on May 12-14, 2008 in Annapolis, MD. This symposium will be a venue to identify and present existing modeling efforts and will serve to improve collaboration and communication between researchers working in the Chesapeake region. Please see the attached PDF for a full overview.

At this early stage, we would like to reach out to prospective attendees and invite you to submit proposals for workshop topics to be held at the Symposium. The deadline for these submissions is November 20, 2007. Please send proposals to Alexey Voinov or David Potsiadlo.

For a full overview of relevant dates leading up to the event, see the symposium website.

Schedule Events with Ease using "Doodle"

If you have ever had a difficult time coordinating the availability of multiple individuals, check out the online web utility Doodle. It allows prospective attendees to provide their potential availability for multiple dates, leaving the planner with an tallied list of the dates which work best for the most people.

Check it out!

Chesapeake Area Seminar Series Round-Up

Interested in attending seminars or lectures in the Chesapeake Bay area? CCMP is proud to present a roundup of the following regularly scheduled events. Follow the links to learn more about each event:

Please contact CCMP if you know of any seminar or lecture series you would like added to this list.

CICEET Releases FY 2008 Funding Opportunities

The Cooperative Institute for Coastal and Estuarine Environmental Technology (CICEET) invites proposals to its FY 2008 funding opportunity programs. Through these programs, CICEET makes strategic investments in the development, demonstration, and application of tools to detect, prevent, and reverse the impacts of coastal pollution and habitat degradation to coastal ecosystems and communities.

  1. CICEET's Mitigating Shoreline Erosion along Sheltered Coasts Funding Opportunity seeks to provide a better understanding of how to use different erosion prevention measures to protect sheltered coastlines from the impacts of rising sea levels and waves generated by extreme weather, as well as to protect, preserve, and restore ecosystem function.
  2. CICEET's Environmental Technology Development and Demonstration Funding Opportunity has two goals, developed in support of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's five-year strategic plan for research.
    • Develop and/or demonstrate technology to detect and quantify the impacts of human activity on coastal water quality, species, and habitats.
    • Develop and/or demonstrate technology to protect coastal water quality and/or restore coastal habitats.

Both funding opportunities reflect CICEET's approach to RFP development, one that incorporates an analysis of the technical and non-technical factors that influence coastal management problems, and mandates the active participation of intended end users in technology development and demonstration.

Learn more on CICEET's web site:
http://ciceet.unh.edu/funding/rfp_2008/

CCMP Newsletter Released

CCMP has released an updated newsletter for June 2007! The newsletter contains various updates about CCMP and other related projects and endeavors. Included topics on the newsletter:

The full newsletter can be viewed here. Please contact CCMP if you'd wish to join the CCMP mailing list.

GISFish Website Announcement

Please take note that the GISFish website has been launched! CCMP asks that you kindly forward this announcement to colleagues who could benefit from GISFish, particularly those in developing countries who are the target audience. The announcement can be found below:

GISFish is a Gateway to Geographic Information Systems (GIS), remote sensing and mapping for aquaculture and inland Fisheries. The GISFish website is a product of the Aquaculture Conservation and Management Service (FIMA) of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) and a number of collaborating institutions.

It is evident there are many opportunities to use GIS, remote sensing and mapping to improve the sustainability of aquaculture and inland fisheries, but the more widespread use of these tools is impeded by a limited of awareness of their benefits and a lack of access to experience on how they can be deployed. GISFish was created to overcome these impediments. It is aimed at GIS practitioners and fisheries and aquaculture professionals in developing countries.

GISFish makes the global experience on GIS, remote sensing and mapping as applied to aquaculture and inland fisheries issues easily accessible. Past experience is packaged as searchable data bases of applications published in the mainstream and gray literature. Applications are in the form of case studies, abstracts, and often, downloadable full publications. Sharing of current experience is promoted through discussions and posting of on-going projects. Additionally, case studies, training opportunities, data sources, tools and freeware, news and events are featured.

...

To learn more about GISFish, including how to become a GISFish member, please visit the GISFish website. Comments and feedback can be sent to the GISFish team at GISFish-Comments@fao.org.

Employment Opportunities with ESSIC (Univ. of MD)

CCMP would like to announce the opening of several research positions at the University of Maryland's Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center (ESSIC). The official job announcement from ESSIC is as follows:

The Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center (ESSIC) at the University of Maryland invites applications for Postdoctoral Research Fellows or Research Scientists to be a part of a dynamic team building the Chesapeake Bay Forecast System (CBFS) that will consist of a regional coupled atmosphere (WRF), land (SWAT), ocean (ROMS) components complete with ecosystem and biogeochemistry, including assimilation of in-situ and satellite-derived measurements to enable near-real time applications and climate change research. Up to 5 positions are expected to be filled.

ESSIC is a joint center between the University of Maryland Departments of Atmospheric and Oceanic Science, Geology, and Geography together with the Earth-Sun Exploration Division at the NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center. ESSIC also administers NOAA’s Cooperative Institute for Climate Studies (CICS), which conducts collaborative research with the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) and the National Environmental Satellite and Data Information Service (NESDIS). Presently, the ESSIC staff is composed of approximately 50 academic and research faculty with interests spanning the fields of meteorology, oceanography, geology, and geography.

Applications are solicited in one or more of the following general areas:

  • Regional Ocean modeling for nowcasting / forecasting of both hydrodynamic and ecosystem / biogeochemical conditions of the Chesapeake Bay
  • Regional Atmosphere modeling for nowcasting / forecasting of meteorological conditions over the Chesapeake Bay and its watershed
  • Land Surface Process / hydrological watershed modeling for nowcasting / forecasting runoff and nutrient loading related to natural and anthropogenic forcings
  • Data analyses and assimilation in the regional ocean model system
  • Developing biological and biogeochemical scenarios of Chesapeake Bay response to environmental variability and change

The positions are expected to be filled at the Postdoctoral level, but applications from senior distinguished candidates will be considered as well for appropriate Research Scientist positions. The appointments are fully-funded for two years. A Ph.D. degree in an appropriate discipline of Earth System Science is required.

In order to ensure full consideration, a curriculum vitae, statement of professional goals, and the names of three references should be sent by July 20, 2007 to:

Professor Raghu Murtugudde
Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Center (ESSIC)
224 Computer and Space Science Building, Room 2207
University of Maryland
College Park, MD 20742-2425
Attention: ESSIC CBFS Search

ChesROMS Page Launched

CCMP is proud to launch a brand new page for the Chesapeake Bay ROMS Community Model (ChesROMS). There is a great amount of content to be added in the near future, so be sure to check back often for updates.

CBEO Webpage Launched

A new webpage has been launched for the Chesapeake Bay Environmental Observatory (CBEO), a CCMP project recently funded by the National Science Foundation. CBEO's primary aim is to "demonstrate the transformative power of cyberinfrastructure." More details about CBEO, including information on those working on the project, can be found on the new CBEO page. This page will be a growing resource for all things CBEO-related, so be sure to check back frequently.

Presentations Now Online from Model & Data Distribution Workshop

Last Friday, CCMP hosted a Model and Data Distribution Workshop at the COMB Center in downtown Baltimore. Several great presentations were given, all pertaining to the recently funded work being done in the Chesapeake community.

You can now access all of the presentations given at the workshop, downloadable in Adobe PDF format (converted from PowerPoint). To access these, please visit the Presentations section of the Model and Data Distribution Workshop page.

New Ecosystem-Based Management Tools Website

The EBM Tools Network has just released a website with a database of ecosystem-based modeling tools. This site is brought to you by the EBM Tools Network, an alliance of EBM tool developers, practitioners, and training providers to develop EBM tools and support their use in EBM implementation in coastal and marine environments. Network members include Duke University, Ecotrust, The Nature Conservancy, NatureServe, NCEAS, NOAA, the Orton Family Foundation, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, Princeton University, and the Sea Around Us Project.

For more information about the website or the EBM Tools Network, contact:

Dr. Sarah Carr
EBM Tools Network Coordinator, NatureServe
E-mail: sarah_carr@natureserve.org
Phone: 703.908.1892

Workshop Announcement: Chesapeake Models and Data Distribution

This is an exciting time to be working in the Chesapeake Basin environmental science. Over the past few months several major programs have been started which will transform our way of working in the Chesapeake. Community models and data access methodologies are being developed which will enable all Chesapeake researchers to significantly expand their capabilities. A common thread to many of these programs is the integration of systems across the whole Chesapeake watershed or bay. The scope of the programs will involve more collaborative work than ever before. We wish to hold an informational workshop at which the preliminary plans of these different programs can be shared and integrated.

The one day workshop will introduce the community to the various programs and provide a venue for sharing ideas and ambitions. This will be a small workshop, so prior registration will be required. Please request registration from potsiadlod@si.edu.

For more information please visit this workshop's homepage:

Opportunity to Contribute to Encyclopedia Earth

CCMP would like to extend to opportunity to contribute to Encyclopedia Earth, a free online collaborative effort seeking submissions from environmental experts.

We invite you to apply to become a contributor to the Encyclopedia of Earth, a new authoritative information resource about the environment that is free to the public and free of advertising. The Prospectus for the Encyclopedia of Earth can be viewed at www.earthportal.net/eoe/eoeabout.

Content for the Encyclopedia of Earth is created, maintained, and governed by a community of environmental experts via a specially adapted "wiki" - an online tool that allows experts to collectively add and edit web content. Unlike other, well-known wikis, such as Wikipedia, access is restricted to approved experts and all content is reviewed and approved by peers prior to being published to a free public site. All articles are also fully attributed, and therefore citable, to the appropriate author or authors.

A group of eminent international scholars have agreed to oversee this project (www.earthportal.net/eoe/eoepeople). Professor Cutler Cleveland of Boston University, Editor-in-Chief of the award-winning Encyclopedia of Energy (Elsevier Science), is the Editor-in-Chief of the Encyclopedia of Earth. A group of 160 experts from 90 institutions in 16 countries have participated in the initial phase of the project, producing 700+ articles and testing the online system.

We are now opening up the Encyclopedia of Earth to the larger community of environmental experts. We invite you to apply to participate as either an Author or Topic Editor for this exciting initiative.

Read more about this exciting opportunity.

NOAA's CoastWatch Program Opens East Coast Node

NOAA's CoastWatch program celebrated an important milestone on Thursday,

June 29, when it opened the East Coast Node East Coast Node located at the NOAA Chesapeake Bay Office in Annapolis. CoastWatch started in 1987 by providing near real-time NOAA/AVHRR satellite data to federal officials for monitoring coastal areas. The new node, which is one of six nodes nationwide, provides data from multiple satellites including sea surface temperature, ocean surface winds, and chlorophyll-a levels and makes them available via the internet.

Scientists, resource managers and fishermen use the data to forecast atmospheric events, predict harmful algal blooms, and study fish and marine mammal distribution along the eastern seaboard of the United States. Being co-located at NOAA's Chesapeake Bay Office makes the office a true One-NOAA facility with staff from all parts of NOAA.

Approximately 40 attendees from the Chesapeake Bay Program, NASA, and NOAA were present including scientists from each line office, as well as Tim Keeney, NOAAs Deputy Assistant Secretary for Oceans and Atmosphere, Jack Dunnigan, Assistant Administrator for Oceans and Coasts, Al Powell, Director of NOAA's Center for Satellite Applications and Research, Lowell Bahner, Director, Chesapeake Bay Office, and CoastWatch Program Manager, Kent Hughes; guest speakers were joined by Annapolis Mayor Ellen Moyer at this event commemorating an important new NOAA asset for the region.

Website: http://coastwatch.chesapeakebay.noaa.gov/
Contact: Shawna Karlson 410-267-5656

New Request for Proposals & NSF Funding Increase

A new Request for Proposals can be found on the CCMP Proposal & Funding page: 2007 Bay Watershed Education & Training (B-WET)

Additionally, there is further good news in regard to fundind: NSF's funding has been boosted by $439 million. Read more below:

House Boosts NSF Funding by $439 Million as First Installment in Doubling Initiative

June 30, 2006 -- The U.S. House of Representatives passed an appropriations bill that would begin to double the budget of the National Science Foundation (NSF) over the next ten years. As the first installment in the doubling initiative, the bill would boost NSF funding by $439 million or 7.9 percent to $6.02 billion in fiscal year 2007.

"The passage of this bill may be looked back on as a landmark moment in American history," said Rep. Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY), Chairman of the House Science Committee. "This bill put us on course to enact the President's American Competitiveness Initiative, which will double the combined budgets of three key science agencies, the National Science Foundation, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and the Department of Energy's Office of Science."

(...continued...)

NOAA 2007 Funding Opportunities

Several new funding opportunities have been added to CCMP's Proposals & Funding page.

Dear Colleague,

Announcements of Opportunity have been issued to submit proposals to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Center for Sponsored Coastal Ocean Research/Coastal Ocean Program under four different program elements.

...[continue reading]...

Read more about these opportunities in further detail here.

CCMP Steering Committee Meetings Notes Available

You can now access notes and minutes from past CCMP Steering Committee meetings here. These notes span from 2004 to the meeting held earlier this month (May 2nd). These notes should be the beginning of a constantly-growing collection of archived CCMP information and resources.

Chesapeake Interactive Modeling Project (CHIMP)

CCMP member researchers have put together a very exciting interactive teaching tool. Jay Austin, Large Lakes Observatory, U. Minnesota, and his former Old Dominion colleagues, Jessica Crouch, Mike Dinniman, Yuzhong Shen, John Klinck, Elizabeth Smith, and Lee Belfore, have put together a slimmed down ROMS simulation of the Chesapeake Bay with an easy to use GUI. The tool allows students (myself included) to manipulate the physical forcing of the bay and quickly see results. The ability of this tool to develop intuition about the Bay is remarkable. Check it out here.