A draft version of the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) strategic plan 2012-2021 is available for public comment until November 29, 2011. 

OCEAN-OIL is a free, open-access, peer-reviewed electronic education resource about the Deepwater Horizon disaster. 

The site is designed to be a resource to faculty members and other educators who may use the incident in their teaching. The development of the site was funded by a RAPID grant from the National Science Foundation.

OCEAN-OIL is looking for faculty members, especially those who have used the Deepwater Horizon disaster in their teaching or are considering doing so during the coming year, who are willing to thoroughly investigate the website and then fill out an online survey. Reviews should be completed by October 6.

The reviewer survey can be found at http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/WEB22CY2ZAFSD8/

 OCEAN-OIL resources now available at www.EoEarth.org/oceanoil include:

NASA is announcing the International Space Apps Competition to support the Open Government Partnership (OGP), which President Barack Obama announced Tuesday. The challenge will culminate with a two-day event next year that will provide an opportunity for government to use the expertise and entrepreneurial spirit of citizen explorers to help address global challenges.

During the event, NASA representatives and officials from international space agencies will gather with scientists and citizens to use publicly-released scientific data to create solutions for issues, such as weather impact on the global economy and depletion of ocean resources.

"The competition embraces the concept of 'open innovation' to improve performance, inform decision-making, encourage entrepreneurship, and solve problems more effectively," said Nick Skytland of NASA's Open Government Initiative.

The OGP is a new, multilateral initiative that aims to secure concrete commitments from governments to promote transparency, empower citizens, fight corruption and harness new technologies. NASA's participation in the United States Domestic Plan will promote innovation through international collaboration.

NASA is a leader in the U.S. Open Government Initiative. The president's FY 2012 budget request focuses NASA's efforts on a vigorous path of innovation and technological development. The path leads to an array of challenging and inspiring missions to destinations with an incredible potential for discovery, increasing knowledge about our solar system, developing technologies to improve life on Earth, expanding our presence in space, increasing space commerce, and engaging the public.

To learn more about the International Space Apps Competition, visit:

http://open.nasa.gov/appschallenge

To learn more about the Open Government Partnership, visit:

http://www.opengovpartnership.org/

Ocean Sciences Meeting 19-24 February, 2012 in Salt Lake City.  Information can be found in http://www.sgmeet.com/osm2012

Abstract submission deadline is October 7, 2011.

Special Session 156 - Satellite remote sensing of the physical and biogeochemical processes of the ocean and their interactions

Convener: Samantha Lavender

Co-convener: W. Timothy Liu

This session is held in conjunction with the International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ISPRS) WG VIII/9 Oceans. The aim is to highlight research that utilizes satellite data to understand the changes and interaction amongst the biological, chemical and energy/water cycles in the ocean together with their influence on terrestrial and cryospheric changes. This reflects the increasing number of parameters that can be derived from space (e.g. salinity from the 2009 launched ESA MIRAS SMOS mission and the 2011 launch of NASA/CONAE Aquarius SAC-D mission; wind vector from the scatterometer on ISRO Oceansat-2) and the practical cross-discipline usage of them to understand oceanographic variability.

The XXII Congress of the International Society of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, 25 August - 1 September, 2012, in Melbourne, Australia.  Information can be found in http://www.isprs2012.org.  The abstract submission deadline is October 24, 2011. 

Please submit abstract to Commission VIII Working Group 9 on Oceans. The working group is chaired by W. Timothy Liu, Samantha Lavender and Joji Ishizaka. 

This solicitation seeks proposals for individual members of a new Applied Sciences Team to support the SERVIR program in developing science applications for international development through the use of Earth observations. SERVIR is a regional visualization and monitoring system using Earth observations to support environmental management, climate adaptation, and disaster response in developing countries. Team members will conduct applications research, development, and testing, and participate in capacity building and rapid response activities to enhance SERVIR efforts in developing countries. Team members will work on individual projects they proposed, as well as in ad hoc sub-teams for special problems. The overall objective of this team is to generate and broaden the base of applications of Earth observations serving key needs in SERVIR regions and supporting U.S. international development interests.

 Proposals are due October 25, 2011.

 

The 10th Symposium on the Coastal Environment, sponsored by the American Meteorological Society, will be held in New Orleans from January 22-26, 2012.  Papers for this conference are solicited on IOOS/SURA Super-Regional Coastal Modeling Testbed; Northern Gulf of Mexico; Multiple Use of Coastal Environmental Sensors and Models; Coastal Upwelling and Downwelling; and Observations and Modeling of Land-Falling Tropical Cyclones. 

 

General Meeting information can be found at http://www.ametsoc.org/meet/annual/index.html

 

Call for papers for the various symposia are available at http://www.ametsoc.org/meet/annual/call.html

The inaugural IEEE Global Humanitarian Technology Conference will be held in Seattle from October 30 - November 1, 2011. Details can be found at the conference web site.

The audience for this conference includes technologists, representatives from NGOs, governments, academia and industry. The workshop provides an opportunity to share your work, meet others involved in humanitarian technology, create new projects and meet with representatives of funding organizations.

Technical Sessions:

• Health, medical technology and telemedicine
• Disaster warning and response
• Water planning, availability and quality
• Power for off-grid users
• Power infrastructure, renewable and sustainable energy
• Connectivity and communications technologies for remote locations
• Educational technologies
• Agricultural technologies
• Humanitarian challenges and opportunities
  

The 2011 HyspIRI Decadal Survey Mission Science Workshop will be held in Washington, DC, August 23-25, 2011. Registration and hotel information are available on the HyspIRI website.

The workshop organizers are soliciting contributions for science and applications results for oral and poster presentations at this workshop.   If you have material to present, please send a title, list of authors and brief abstract no later than July 31st to Robert.O.Green@jpl.nasa.gov or Simon.J.Hook@jpl.nasa.gov.

The HyspIRI mission includes two global mapping instruments: an imaging spectrometer and a multispectral thermal instrument.  The imaging spectrometer delivers complete spectral measurements from 380 to 2500 nm at 10 nm sampling at a high signal-to-noise ratio for the entire terrestrial and coastal regions of the Earth every 19 days with 60 m sampling.  The multispectral thermal instrument measures the same area at the same spatial scale in 8 bands between 3 and 12 microns, every 5 days.  A real-time direct broadcast of a subset of measurements would be provided by the Intelligent Payload Module.
 
Workshop topics include

• Mission concept overview and preliminary level 1 requirements
• Global Earth science enabled by HyspIRI measurements
• Ecosystem and carbon cycle
• Global surface spectral albedo and carbon/dust effects on snow and ice
• Carbon release from biomass burning (fuel, occurrence, intensity and recovery globally)
• Evapotranspiration and water use and availability
• Volcanic eruption parameters - precursor temperatures, eruptive lava temperatures, ash and gas cloud properties
• Climate variability and ecosystem response
• HyspIRI science applications
• International HyspIRI related science activities
• Status of spectral libraries
• Next generation airborne instruments that simulate HyspIRI-type measurements
• Science measurement characteristics
• Product generation and validation plans
• International collaborations