The workshop will focus on mechanisms of climate change in the African Sahel. It will be very informal, with plenty of discussion organized around a set of talks assessing current knowledge and problems. The goal is to collate information coming from observations, different modeling groups, and theoretical works that could ultimately be used to distinguish between more and less trustworthy model predictions of African climate change.
The talks will focus on
the observational record of African
rainfall at all scales (from the fast organizations of mesoscale
convective
systems, to the SSTdriven interannual variability, to paleo changes in
response
to external forcings), physical mechanisms that are thought to be
important for
the region, but not yet simulated in climate models (e.g. vegetation
and dust
processes) and the simulations of African rainfall in current climate
model
(the simulation of the 20th century by atmospheric and coupled general
circulation models, as well as the models' projections for the 21st
century).
Organizing committee
Michela Biasutti (LDEO), Isaac Held (GFDL),
Alessandra Giannini
(IRI), Adam Sobel (CU), and John Chiang (UC, Berkeley).
Location
Faculty Room, Low Library (map
of Low).
Columbia University, Main Campus (map of campus)
Monday, March 19 , 8:45am-5pm
Tuesday, March 20,
9am-5pm, off-site dinner at 6pm (at Pisticci restaurant)
Wednesday, March 21, 9am-12pm
The workshop is open to the Lamont, EI, and GISS
communities.
Registration not required for attending the workshop.
If you plan to attend the dinner, please confirm
with biasutti@ldeo.columbia.edu
Downloadable flyer
If you are not
a US citizen or permanent resident:
We will need a copy of your passport (& visa, if available)
to be able to reimburse your expenses.
General Info
All talks will be
20-minute long. There will be time for questions and discussion
throughout the day, as the talks progress, and in specific allotted
times. Participants are encouraged to bring slides on a memory stick,
if they have some results that might be useful for discussion.
Download the PDF of the agenda
and list of participants
(current as of
03/13/2007).
Monday, March 19, morning
Introductory Remarks and Welcome
Jeff Sachs: Welcoming address: The importance of
long-term climate
prediction for Sub-Saharan Africa
Peter DeMenocal: Paleo
Observations of the
African Monsoon
Sharon Nicholson: Observations
and Mechanisms of
Interannual variability
in West Africa.
Afternoon
Randy Koster: Land-atmosphere
feedback in the
Sahel.
Ning Zeng: Vegetation
dynamics and effect on
monsoon + extra
slides
Natalie Mahowald: Dust
dynamics and effect on
monsoon
Chris Taylor: Interactions
between convection
and soil moisture.
Tuesday, March 20, morning
Chris Thorncroft: Observed
characteristics
of the mean Sahel rainy season
Chidong Zhang: The dynamics of monsoon: lessons from the annual cycle.
John Chiang: Origins
of North Atlantic SST
conditions linked to
Sahel rainfall
Adam Sobel: Equilibrium
response to tropospheric
warming over
land.
+ Jian Lu's ppt (animation only on PCs)
Afternoon
David Neelin: The Zoo
of Mechanisms for Tropical
Rainfall
Variability and Change.
Isaac Held: Changes in
the hydrological cycle
and tropical
precipitation under global warming
Michela Biasutti: Sahel
Climate Change in the
IPCC AR4 models
Kerry Cook: Past and
future changes in Sahel
rainfall: possible
mechanisms.
Evening
Dinner
Wednesday, March 21, morning
Concluding Remarks and Thanks.
Karen Bocsusis, at the travel office at Lamont kkg@admin.ldeo.columbia.edu
New York City subway directions: www.hopstop.com
The Newton Hotel www.thehotelnewton.com
Directions to/from airports: EWR, JFK, LaGuardia
(unofficial site with directions to all airports)
Travel and Expense Reimbursement Forms. These will also be handed out
at the meeting:
For everyone:
Reimbursement Instructions, Sample Reimbursement Form, Reimbursement Form (please include your SSN when filling this out)
For people who aren't US citizens or permanent residents:
Form W8BEN, Statement for Alien Non-Employee Payment
