[Coral-List] Invitation to workshop on Australasian climate variability of the past 2, 000 years

[Dan Sinclair]

Dear colleagues

Apologies for any cross-postings. I would like to announce the following workshop on Australasian climate variability of the past 2,000 years which may be of interest.

Registration details are given below…

Workshop dates
27-29 October 2015 - 4th PAGES AUS2K workshop - Auckland, New Zealand (National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research)

Australasian palaeoclimate of the last 2000 years: Inter-comparison of climate field reconstruction methodologies, modelling, and data synthesis approaches 
Topic of workshop:

The Australasian (Aus2k) Working Group is currently supporting the wider goals of the second phase of the Past Global Changes (PAGES) 2k initiative to undertake reconstructions of global climate fields for the last two millennia: http://www.pages-igbp.org/workinggroups/2k-network/intro

Recent efforts have seen an expansion of the Aus2k database to include non-annually resolved data, new data selection criteria, and critical evaluation of proxy archives using modern climate data for calibration. That effort has now opened new horizons for multi proxy synthesis techniques, the generation of new simulations of the last 2000 years using state-of-the-art climate models, and palaeoclimate data-model comparisons.

This workshop will focus on progress for key developments the Aus2k initiative, and will include overviews of:
1. Synthesis and comparison of annually and non-anually resolved palaeoclimate data within the Australasian region; 
2. Results from projects focused on inter-comparison of climate field reconstructions undertaken as multi-institutional efforts; and 
3. Comparison of climate reconstructions with paleoclimate model simulations. 

The workshop also seeks to strengthen ties between the PAGES Aus2k and Ocean2k working group (http://www.pages-igbp.org/workinggroups/ocean2k/intro).
We invite interested researchers to submit an abstract for inclusion in this workshop. There will  be a poster session to accommodate a range of research.

Funding 
The PAGES IPO has provided limited support for New Zealand and Australian researchers to attend this workshop, and applicants will be assessed during the abstract submission process.

Publication opportunity
A special issue of Climate of the Past collating the research from this workshop is anticipated, with the prospect that several papers may be asked to join the global PAGES 2k special issue of Climate of the Past in 2016.

Confirmed speakers include:
Mandy Freund: Progress on developing a temperature spatial field reconstruction for Australia over the past millennium  
Steven Phipps: Reconstruction of climate fields for the Australasian region using data assimilation 
Drew Lorrey: Multiproxy climate reconstruction for the South Pacific and Southern Hemisphere from a New Zealand perspective  
Nerilie Abram: Comparison of coral, speleothem and ice core records from Australasia and Antarctica  
Bronwyn Dixon: Spatial and temporal coverage of archives of climate and environmental change in Australia 
Ben Henley: A Pacific-basin wide reconstruction of the Interdecadal Pacific Oscillation
Duncan Ackerley : New, high-resolution simulations of the past 2000 years conducted using the ACCESS climate system model
Helen McGregor A global synthesis of low-resolution SST reconstructions spanning the past 2000 years
Paul Augustinus:  High-resolution maar crater records of Auckland
Marcus Vandergoes: The Lake Ohau palaeoclimate reconstruction project 

Please find the abstract submission form here:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/19ORN4GjPpK6lQVc-Wj68ZPbe-SPKnTQ3spZ0TXtJgl8/edit​
Note that abstract submission will remain open until 15 August 2015.

We look forward to seeing you in Auckland! 

​Regards,
The Aus2k Steering Committee

Dan Sinclair
School of Geography, Environment and Earth Sciences
Cotton Building
Victoria University of Wellington
Wellington 6012
New Zealand