 | |  | | Shown above is an interactive exhibit featured in Water: H2O=Life at the American Museum of Natural History. |
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Water, earth's life giving substance, can be found in solid, liquid, and gaseous phases on earth's surface. Now, museum goers can touch and feel all three phases with this hands-on, water-cycle sculpture (left). Learn how NCED collaborated with the Science Museum of Minnesota in their effort to create the traveling exhibit Water: H2O=Life with the American Museum of Natural History.
NCED (the National Center for Earth-surface Dynamics) is a National Science Foundation Science and Technology Center. We began operation in August, 2002; we're headquartered at the St. Anthony Falls Laboratory at the University of Minnesota.
Our purpose is to catalyze development of an integrated, predictive science of the processes shaping the surface of the Earth in order to transform management of ecosystems, resources, and land use. In concert with our integrative research efforts, we strive to bring our methods and results to students, the public, and practitioners in agencies and industry.
MYRES 2008 Conference this Month
The Meeting of Young Researchers in Earth Science (MYRES) 2008 conference, Dynamic Interactions of Life and its Landscape, will focus on the spatial and temporal scales over which various physical, chemical, and biological processes act. This conference for early career scientists will include presentations and discussions based around problems at three loosely defined spatial ranges: micro-scale, meso-scale, and macro-scale. The final day of discussion will focus on humans as agents of geologic change. This MYRES conference, cosponsored by NCED, Tulane University, the National Science Foundation (NSF), and the International Hotel, will be held May 20-23. For more information about the conference, click here.
EarthScape Expo at MYRES
The 2008 MYRES: “Dynamic Interactions of Life and its Landscape” conference, to be held at Tulane University (New Orleans), includes an EarthScape Expo with a “Dams and Living Rivers” experiment, several interactive physical experiments, and a video kiosk demonstrating geomorphic–ecological feedbacks in real time. However, the highlight of the Expo is the “Dams and Living Rivers” experiment. Consisting of a 25-ft long flume, this experiment allows conference participants to see first-hand how a vegetated stream might respond to dam installation and removal. In addition, by attaching three cameras and a topographic laser scan system to the flume, researchers can show how time-lapse experimental data and topographic data are captured in a lab setting.
APRIL NEWSLETTER HIGHLIGHT
NCED Geomorphic-Dynamics Working Group Meets
The fourth meeting of the geomorphic-dynamics working group occurred in Doolin, Ireland, last month. This NCED working group meeting, cosponsored by NCED, the British Engineering and Physical Science Research Council, and the University of Limerick, focused on developing mathematical and numerical models for describing delta growth (e.g., Wax Lake Delta, Louisiana). Currently, NCED PIs and colleagues have developed a number of mass balance delta land-building models. These models successfully capture the average features of the land-building stage in deltas and have contributed significantly to understanding physical experiments and field cases. However, these models do not resolve the channels in the system and cannot account for the local off-shore building processes or the occurrence of avulsion events. The central objective of the current working group was to develop models and modeling devices that could correct these deficiencies. The participants at the meeting made significant progress in two areas: (1) a simple mathematical model was developed to describe the off-shore channel building processes, in particular the creation of levees and mouth bars, and (2) a combined rule-based model and finite element model, with the capability of creating channels within a mass balance delta building model, was initiated. Work will continue in these areas, and the working group will meet again in late July 2008 at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute in Massachusetts.
| | Left: The figure shows a
preliminary delta
land-building simulation—carried out by graduate student Man Liang.
This simulation constructs the channels (blue lines) as the
calculations proceed. The simulation results can be qualitatively
compared with the Wax Lake Delta. Right: A view of the Wax Lake Delta,
Louisiana.
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Click here to view NCED's monthly newsletter.
NEWS AND EVENTS
New River Restoration Partnership
NCED and SAFL have started a new river restoration partnership—Partnership for River Restoration and Science in the Upper Midwest (PRRSUM - pronounced "prism"). This new group, involving federal and local agencies, watershed managers, consultants, researchers, and educators, will meet monthly at SAFL to hear presentations and participate in discussions on important topics in river restoration and river research. Read more about PRRSUM.
NCED Videoconferences
Tuesday at 11:00 am Central Standard Time.
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NCED is funded by the Office of Integrative Activities, National Science Foundation, under agreement Number EAR- 0120914. |
