 | |  | | 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.
MARCH NEWSLETTER HIGHLIGHT
NCED presents delta plan at AAAS
Last month NCED PIs Gary Parker, Robert Twilley, and David Mohrig presented talks in a 90-minute symposium organized by NCED Director Chris Paola at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Annual Meeting in Boston. Following the meeting, Parker, Twilley, Mohrig, and Paola participated in a press conference, which resulted in two published articles about their symposium: "New Mississippi delta would limit hurricane damage" (New Scientist Environment) and "A Grand Diversion in Louisiana" (Findings: The Science Magazine News Blog). The symposium, entitled “Designing self-maintaining deltas: a multidisciplinary approach to restoration,” allowed NCED researchers to present to the broader research community their data and strategy for delta restoration in Louisiana. So what are the next steps? Where do we go from here? NCED researchers will continue to fine tune their delta restoration plan by working on more precise predictions concerning how the whole process would unfold. There’s also a need to convince the community (research, citizens, congress, etc.) that this plan will work and should be funded. Paola attended the recently held 2008 Ocean Sciences Meeting, providing publicity and additional momentum for NCED’s delta restoration plan. And, there are plans in progress to bring Minnesota, Louisiana, and congressional leaders together to discuss delta restoration, which would provide even more attention to the ambitious restoration plans being developed by NCED and its partners.
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Left: New land at Wax Lake Delta. Right: Sinking land in the main Mississippi Delta. |
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. |
