Scientific meetings, workshops and courses (co-)organized by our institute

2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011

AGU sessions organized by BGC members December 14, 2015 Session B032: Ecosystem Experiment and Model Synthesis: Uncertainty Reduction in Understanding Terrestrial Biosphere Feedback with Atmospheric and Climatic Change Feedbacks between terrestrial ecosystems, atmospheric CO2, and climate remain a huge uncertainty in Earth-System modelling. This session will define a roadmap of process level understanding necessary to both improve models and define questions for experiments in order to further our predictive understanding of terrestrial biosphere feedbacks with atmospheric CO2 and climate. Co-Convener: Sönke Zaehle, MPI-BGC Session B032 Session GC027: Emerging perspectives on land in a changing world Earth’s land surface embodies the dynamic interplay of the physical, social and economic processes that constitute global change. This session aims to bring together a diverse group of natural and social scientists to explore emerging perspectives on land. Co-Convener: Markus Reichstein, MPI-BGC Session GC027 Session B065: Plant traits and biogeochemical cycles Plant traits extend the range of earth observations to the level of individual organisms, providing a link to ecosystem function and modeling in the context of rapid global changes. However, overcoming the differences in temporal and spatial scales between plant trait data and biogeochemical cycles remains a challenge. This session will address the role of plant species, biodiversity and adaptation / acclimation in the biogeochemical cycles of water, carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus. We welcome conceptual, observational, experimental and modeling approaches, and studies from the local to the global scale, including e.g remote sensing observations. Convener: Jens Kattge, MPI-BGC Session B065 Session EP019: International Critical Zone Research: Status, Networking and Challenges Recently, several activities in Europe, China and the US have been initiated to develop and establish an international network of CZOs and to define an overarching research questions for critical zone research. These initiatives are follow ups of the first science CZO conference that took place in Delaware, 2011. Present activities target the national and EU-wide realignment and connection of both existing and proposed structures and programs. The session aims at presenting ongoing critical zone research, the challenges its encounters and the status of international collaboration activities thereby focussing on examples of bi- or multilateral projects within CZ Science. We foster contributions dealing with understanding and predicting critical zone response to land-use and climate change on the catchment scale. Of particular interest are hill slope dynamics based on shallow subsurface structure, caused by geomorphological, hydrological and pedological processes, combined with or steering biogeochemical cycles and weathering within the vadose zone. Co-Convener: Susan Trumbore, MPI-BGC Session EP019 Session A030: Constraining Biosphere-Atmosphere Exchange Processes using Remote-sensing and In Situ Networks This session focuses on modeling frameworks, both top-down and bottom-up approaches, that investigate biosphere-atmosphere exchange processes using atmospheric data from various observational platforms, both in-situ as well as remotely-sensed. We particularly invite contributions on: 1) estimation and/or verification of greenhouse gas (GHG) budgets of biospheric and anthropogenic fluxes; 2) inverse models and data assimilation systems for obtaining GHG budgets, or strategies for coupling atmospheric inversions to biogeochemical models; 3) the use of multiple species (e.g. H2O and CO2, carbon isotopes, OCS and CO2) to provide insight into process-based model formulations; 4) research focusing on the constraint on GHG budgets induced by new data from the Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2) and the Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) missions. Co-Convener: Mathias Goeckede, MPI-BGC Session A030 Venue: AGU FALL MEETING San Francisco Dates: 14 - 18 December 2015 AGU meeting

Exploring the Earth System Data Cube November 26, 2015 Across Europe (and elsewhere), many projects and scientists are working in parallel on the question of how to tap into the potential of a simultaneous exploration of multiple Earth Observations (EOs). The CAB-LAB project, headed by M. Mahecha at MPI-BGC, aims to support the exploration of multiple ESA-EOs (together with other relevant data streams) to better characterize the trajectories of land ecosystem changes. The focal topic for this workshop is co-interpreting EOs for their capacity to extract longer-term transformations and represent impacts of extreme anomalies on land ecosystems. This is a pressing scientific challenge, currently being tackled on many fronts. Participants are invited from across this diverse community to explore the issues together. Webseite CAB-LAB Informationen zum Workshop

Gaining knowledge from data - gaining data from knowledge June 25, 2015 The newly founded Michael Stifel Center Jena (MSCJ) aims at fostering interdisciplinary research and teaching in the field of data-driven and simulation science. It bundles core competencies and brings together many different scientific disciplines. On the occasion of the official opening, scientists will talk about the importance of simulations, data-driven research, networking and future developments. Markus Reichstein, director at MPI for Biogeochemistry and head of the Department Biogeochemical Integration is member of the MSCJ board of directors. He is particularly interested in climatic and non-climatic effects on biosphere dynamics and global biogeochemical cycles bringing together data-driven, simulation-driven and theoretical approaches to improve our understanding of the Earth System. Webseite Michael-Stifel-Zentrum Jena

Climate Effects of Wind Turbines June 24, 2015 Wind power currently meets about 3% of electricity demand globally and 8% in Germany, compelling some to ask: how much wind power is possible? Additionally, as the wind transports heat, moisture, and momentum, which maintains climate, should we also be concerned about the climatic effects from deploying large-scale wind power? To address such questions, an international workshop co-organized by Lee Miller (MPI for Biogeochemistry) was held at Harvard University on June 24-25, 2015. The about 25 international experts from science, politics, and industry openly discussed how these issues pertain to different regions of the world, while also remarking how they differ from the scientific, public policy, and industrial viewpoints. A formalized result of the workshop is forthcoming and will be provided soon.

1st Globbiomass Progress Meeting June 9, 2015 The main goal of the GlobBiomass project is to develop and demonstrate an integrated and validated methodology using Earth observation and in-situ data to improve regional and global biomass estimates. Where possible, very recent and near-future satellite data such as from the Sentinel-fleet will be implemented. The first project meeting to monitor the project progress is organized by ESA-ESRIN, Italy, the Faculty of Geography, Department of Earth Observation, FSU, and the MPI for Biogeochemisty. Webseite ESA DUE Globbiomass Pressemitteilung FSU Jena

ESRP Annual Meeting June 3, 2015 The Earth System Research Partnership (ESRP) combines the three Max Planck Institutes for Biogeochemistry (Jena), for Chemistry (Mainz) and for Meteorology (Hamburg). This year’s meeting of the scientists cooperating within the ESRP will take place in Ahrensburg from June 3-5, 2015.

MERLIN Scientific Advisory Group Meeting May 20, 2015 The space agencies of France and Germany (CNES and DLR) have been working together on a new satellite mission to measure methane in the atmosphere, called MERLIN (Methane Remote Sensing Lidar Mission). MERLIN is an active sensor, meaning that it provides its own radiation source in the form of a laser, so it can measure during both day and night, and at high latitudes where sunlight is scarce, which is difficult for other sorts of spaceborne sensors. The principal investigators of the mission and representatives of the agencies meet regularly with MERLIN's Scientific Advisory Group, an international group of scientists with experience related to methane measurement and modelling, who help provide guidance for mission-relevant decisions. The most recent meeting of the Scientific Advisory Group was organized by Julia Marshall and hosted at the institute on May 20-21, 2015 with 14 scientists in attendance from across Germany and France, and further participation of colleagues from the US and Europe via videoconference. Contact: Julia Marshall Ph: +49 3641 576383 Email: marshall@bgc-jena.mpg.de MERLIN Datenblatt Webseite des DLR zu MERLIN

BACI kick-off meeting May 19, 2015 Satellite observations play an increasingly important role in monitoring changes of terrestrial ecosystems at multiple spatial and temporal scales. The new EU funded project “BACI” translates satellite data streams into novel “essential biodiversity variables” by integrating ground-based observations. The trans-disciplinary project will offer new insights into the functioning and state of ecosystems and biodiversity. BACI enables the user community to detect abrupt and transient changes of ecosystems and quantify the implications for regional biodiversity. Other key elements are, firstly attributing ecosystem transformations to societal transformations, and secondly developing a prototype early warning system for detecting disturbances at the interface of land ecosystems and atmosphere. During the kick-off meeting at the MPI for Biogeochemistry the partners will present and discuss their work packages and plan the future steps for a successful project process. Projektwebseite

Workshop on Eddy Covariance May 18, 2015 General information This workshop will cover 5 days, split up into a scientific seminar (1 day) at the beginning, followed by the eddy-covariance course (4 days) focusing on theory, instrumentation and data processing skills. During the seminar section, the participants (students and instructors) will present major research objectives from their sites, and latest results from their own research. The course itself will consist of lectures, hands-on classes with software tools, instrument sessions the laboratory, and an excursion to the MPI-BGC field site at the Wetzstein. Target group This workshop is offered to external collaborators from national and international observation sites where MPI-BGC is actively involved in the conducted research. In addition, the workshop will also be open to interested students within the MPI-BGC graduate program, IMPRG-gBGC. Maximum size of participants is set to 20. Please find additional information in the pdf workshop agenda for download. workshop agenda

2nd PhD Conference on Earth System Science (ESS 2015) March 24, 2015 The conference on Earth System Science is hosted by PhD students affiliated with the Earth System Research Partnership between the three Institutes, MPI for Biogeochemistry in Jena, MPI for Chemistry in Mainz and MPI for Meteorology in Hamburg along with the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. After its inauguration last year in Jena, the second meeting takes place in Mainz this year. The three day conference is open to all national and international PhD- or Master's-level applicants involved in the Earth sciences. Webpage Conference on Earth System Science /Webseite zur Konferenz ESS Poster