Post-Doctoral Scholar: Hydrogeomorphic Response to Changing Climates in the Pacific Northwest, Oregon State University

“We are looking for someone to co-lead a multi-year, inter-institutional research effort to characterize and forecast the effects of changing climate on streamflows and geomorphic processes in the Pacific Northwest. Focus will be on developing and extending theoretical and empirical models of hydrologic response to climate drivers, emphasizing the role of geologic and ecologic controls and filters. The individual hired will have primary responsibility for exploring fruitful lines of attack on the problem, data acquisition and analysis, developing and applying relevant hydrologic and statistical models, and reporting results as journal publications and presentations. This post-doctoral position is with the Watershed Processes Group of Oregon State University (www.fsl.orst.edu/wpg), and the person hired will work closely with federal scientists from the USDA Forest Service Pacific Northwest Research Station.

“Qualifications:

  1. Ph.D. in hydrology, geomorphology, watershed sciences, or a closely related field, with a demonstrated record of publication or other successful dissemination of work.
  2. Strong fundamental understanding of hydrologic processes at the scale of small watersheds to larger catchments, with expertise in one or more of the following: snowpack dynamics, groundwater processes, ecohydrologic interactions, drainage network response to precipitation/runoff relationships.
  3. Experience and facility with distributed parameter hydrologic models; familiarity with climate models and climate change scenarios desirable
  4. Strong statistics, data analysis and visualization skills, particularly with respect to long time-series data sets.
  5. High level working knowledge of GIS and other spatial analysis tools. Expertise with interpreting remote sensing a plus.

Please send a letter of application describing your research experience and qualifications relevant to this position, a complete resume with links to publications, and the names, email addresses and telephone numbers of three references to Sarah Lewis, sarah.lewis@oregonstate.edu or 3200 SW Jefferson Way, Corvallis, Oregon 97330. Review of applications will begin February 15, 2010, and continue until a suitable candidate is found.”

ESRI Assists Haiti Earthquake Response

ESRI is working closely with the geographic information system (GIS) community and agencies responding to the Haiti earthquake by providing software, technical support, GIS data, and personnel. In the immediate aftermath of the earthquake—characterized as one of the worst natural disasters ever in the Western Hemisphere—GIS- is assisting in identifying areas of extreme damage, impacts to critical infrastructure, areas suitable for food and water distribution, and more. It gives officials critical information used for making all types of decisions.

Personnel and agencies helping the relief effort can take advantage of maps, data, software, and Web services available online through the ESRI Web site (www.esri.com/haiti.) Some of the data and services include a 25-meter reference grid of Haiti, an ESRI Geo Viewer, and Haiti basemap data from United Nations available on ArcGIS Online. In addition, ESRI-generated earthquake and recovery maps are available for both the media and public. ESRI will provide updates as they become available.

“Our job is to help where we can empower our users with better GIS support,” says Russ Johnson, director of public safety solutions for ESRI. “As soon as we learned of the terrible event in Haiti, we activated our emergency operational procedures to assist emergency services, humanitarian relief, health professionals, NGOs [nongovernmental organizations], and others. These organizations are working extremely hard to make a difference. We’re working to assist their efforts.”

As aid and rescue workers pour into Port-au-Prince and other regions, GIS is playing an essential role in the assessment of priorities to get resources and people to the most critical areas. Organizations around the world are working around the clock to transport supplies to the hundreds of thousands of people in need. ESRI is supporting these activities to achieve the best possible response given the complex circumstances.

[Source: ESRI press release]

Volcanic Hazard Map Produced for Island of Gran Canaria

…from ScienceBlog

“Spanish and French researchers have defined the age, location, size and geochemistry of the volcanoes of Gran Canaria during the Holocene, 11,000 years ago, in order to draw up a map of volcanic hazards for the island. The research shows that the area of greatest volcanic activity is one of the most heavily populated areas in the north east of the island, which has suffered 24 eruptions over the period studied.

“The team of French and Spanish scientists led by researchers from the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (ULPGC) and the “Jaume Almera” Institute of Earth Sciences (CSIC, Barcelona) combined the data from previous studies with the results of analysis of 13 new radiocarbon ages in order to gain an understanding of the history of the island and predict the areas to be struck by future volcanic eruptions.”