Congratulations to Dr Judy Lawrence, who has been appointed co-chair of a specialised team to advise the Government on how New Zealand can adapt to climate change, announced by Hon Paula Bennett, Minister for Climate Change Issues.
Dr Lawrence is based at the New Zealand Climate Change Research Institute at Victoria University leads a new project within the Deep South National Science Challenge. The project aims to better understand the scale and scope of cascading climate change impacts and implications across New Zealand. In particular, how they interact, who is affected, where inter-dependencies and co-dependencies occur, and how far impacts and implications might extend across multiple sectors.
Public Talk: On the emergence of unusual, unfamiliar and unknown climates – patterns of change and why it matters.
The concept of ‘Time of Emergence’ (ToE), which characterises when significant signals of climate change will emerge from existing variability, is a useful and increasingly common metric. Professor Dave Frame and PhD candidate Luke Harrington from the New Zealand Climate Change Research Institute recently presented their latest findings at Victoria University. Professor Frame reflects on the essential messages.
What is the most important message that your current research is revealing?
For several years scientists have understood that climate change emerges above local climate variability at different rates in different places, emerging fastest in tropical regions and a lot more slowly in the storm tracks and polar regions. This pattern corresponds with a lot of important climate impacts, such as extreme hot periods, impacts on certain crops and so on. In the new research we’re starting to examine how robust these patterns are and what the patterns look like under different climate scenarios and in different models, factoring in issues such as population. At this stage it’s still a work in progress, but some pretty strong regularities are emerging.
What would you like decision makers to take away from this research?
The need to pay more attention to climate change on the timescales of decades, and to be aware of the speed of emerging climate change in the Pacific. Some of the largest changes in terms of shifts in the distribution of seasonal or annual temperatures are occurring between us and the equator. This affects not only New Zealand but also countries with whom we have close ties.
This work has been submitted for peer review and publication and we will report further in due course.
Two Climathon teams attracted the acknowledgement and ongoing support of the Deep South Challenge Engagement team whose goal it is to enable New Zealanders to make informed decisions in regard to climate change. The awards were presented by Rebecca Mills, strategist and Board member of the Deep South Challenge Board.
For the second year running, the Deep South National Science Challenge has sponsored and supported the Wellington event in an international initiative to get people thinking about mitigation and adaption in a changing climate. Major Justin Lester opened the event outlining Wellington’s unique challenges such as its significant reclaimed land and vulnerability to sea level rise, also its adaptability; Wellington is a great city with potential to mobilise public support. Dave Frame, Professor of climate change at Victoria University and immediate past director of the Challenge, gave a whirlwind intro to set the scene and the challenge, noting sea level rise as the most significant challenge to Wellington’s coastal capital by 2100. He highlighted the power of citizens to make a difference from the ground up and public action.
Ideas to help Wellington address climate change ranged from adaption ideas such rethinking the city’s infrastructure, to activities that would help reduce waste that reach our landfills therefore reducing carbon emissions. The Deep South Challenge was particularly interested in projects that focussed on community engagement and enabled informed decision making. The Deep South Challenge also offered further mentoring and potential funding for projects that engaged with the public and helped them make climate related decisions. Two teams stood out with this kind of goal – one team will be exploring the possibility of a Wellington based online magazine to help people understand climate issues, and what they can do. The other team will look at developing a social application to connect interested people with climate related activities – noted the Tinder for climate. The Engagement programme, is particularly interested in using a range of technologies to reaching new audiences.
Climathon 2016 – in the media
Our Changing World – Alison Ballance reviews the Climathon on Radio New Zealand’s Our Changing World. You can listen to the podcast here.
Access Radio – Prior to the Climathon event, Emily Grinter from VicLink and Bart De Vries from Motif were interviewed by Access Radio to outline the plan for the event. Listen to the Access Radio podcast.
Climathon 2016
Online climate magazine
Time for a few tips for Rozarka and Laurence who are planning an online magazine aimed at climate change issues for Wellington.
Collaborate for change
Four of the five esteemed judging panel; VicLink’s Geoff Todd, MfE Chief Executive Vicky Robertson, Strategist Rebecca Mills and James Bushel, ethical business advisor.
Dan Zwartz, MfE, and Lucy Jacob, Manager for the DSC wait for the next group to pick their brains over their ideas.
Martyn Bryant shares his architectural design expertise and Mike Williams his climate science knowledge with the team.
Penny Allen and Chris Cameron from DSC projects, share their expert knowledge with groups as they develop their projects.
The DSC Leader for Engagement discusses possibilities with one of the projects as they define their ideas.
Professor Dave Frame sets the scene, outlining the likely impacts of climate change for Wellington and the challenge for Climathon 2016.
Wellington Mayor Justin Lester opens the event and outlines Wellington’s challenges and opportunities.
Discussing the finer details of connecting Wellingtonians to activities and information about climate change using a smartphone app.
In collaboration with the University of Otago Division of Sciences, the Deep South Challenge’s Vision Mātauranga science programme is offering two Master’s Scholarships.
The scholarships have been established to build cross-disciplinary research capability and capacity in global change studies to help meet the emerging demands of increasingly complex social, economic, political and bio-physical system changes facing Māori and wider Aotearoa/New Zealand society. Projects are sought that will contribute to the following four research themes:
Theme 1
Understanding climate change – linkages, pressure points and potential responses
Theme 2
Exploring adaptation options for Māori communities
Theme 3
Assistance to Māori businesses to aid decision-making and long-term sustainability
Theme 4
Products, services and systems derived from mātauranga Māori*
* Includes: Te Reo Māori and Tikanga MāoriFor more information including the application process please visit the Otago University Scholarships page
Last Thursday, social media star Jamie Curry set off to Antarctica, courtesy of Antarctica New Zealand. Rhian Salmon, Science Lead for Engagement, explores the relationship between Jamie and the Deep South Challenge.
From a communications perspective, she’s an interesting and bold choice – now twenty, she has been a rising star online since she was 16 years old and has an especially strong following from people like herself – young, social media savvy, and possibly not overly interested in the details of climate science. From the perspective of Antarctica New Zealand, who are rapidly ramping up their social media presence and activity, she’s a great fit – she has 1.3 million followers on You Tube and nearly 10 million followers on Facebook, and most of them are in the 16 to 24-year-old demographic that has been identified as a target audience for their communications.
So what about the Deep South Science Challenge? Why are we connected with this, and what is our role?
Well, firstly, it’s important to make the point that Jamie is being hosted courtesy of Antarctica New Zealand – her trip was planned long before we got involved. While she’s there, however, she’ll be meeting researchers who are studying atmospheric physics, sea ice processes, and ocean dynamics… all of which are highly relevant to Deep South Challenge research. Information collected in these observational field studies is critical for better understanding key processes in the climate system, which we need in order to make better predictions about future climate, and therefore be able to make more informed climate-related decisions about our future.
The Deep South Challenge models this journey from data to decision-making. The Processes and Observations programme supports research into physical processes that, once better understood, will improve the skill of the New Zealand Earth System Model (NZESM) and hence climate prediction for New Zealand. These improved predictions, in turn, enable us to better understand the Impacts and Implications of climate change for New Zealand. The Vision Mātauranga and Engagement programmes use this information to build capacity so that New Zealanders can make more informed decisions about the future.
The five programmes of the Challenge interact and inform each other to serve the decision making capabilities of New Zeland in a changing climate
Back to Jamie Curry
Many of these climate processes mentioned above are best studied in Antarctica and the southern ocean – where Jamie is right now. When we heard that she was going to the ice, we invited her to visit Wellington on her way. While there, she visited the NIWA supercomputer, which is critical for building and running the NZESM; she went on a roadie to Baring Head, to learn more about measurements of CO2; and she stopped off on the way back at GNS Science to see where these air samples are analysed, and also take a peek at ice cores that capture a snapshot of past climate in their frozen bubbles.
It was a big day, and there was a lot of new information to process. What I hope she takes from the experience, however, is that all the great research that she’s about to see in Antarctica feeds into an enormous community of work happening across the country, all of which, ultimately, helps New Zealanders like Jamie to make more informed decisions about their future.
The Deep South Challenge is delighted to sponsor the adventure of a lifetime for YouTube sensation Jamie Curry to explore and highlight the impacts of climate change for a new generation of decision makers.
Jamie, now 20 and her natural comic style has been a hit with teenagers since she was 16 years old. Many of her followers are now at university, in the workforce and voting.
Rhian Salmon, from the Science Leadership Team for the Deep South Challenge says “It’s really exciting that Jamie is going to Antarctica. She’s going to meet some fantastic researchers who study processes happening in the air, ice, and ocean – all of which are critical for improving our understanding of the changing climate. Jamie’s followers will have to live with the reality of climate change in their lifetimes. Hopefully she’ll find new ways to communicate that climate change is real and happening now, and to stimulate a conversation about how we respond to that so that we all can create the best possible future for New Zealanders.”
Jamie and SciFilms journalist Damian Christie head to Antarctica in early November for ten days, including one night in a research container away from the cosy interior of Scott Base, to fully experience life on the ice. The trip is sponsored by Antarctica New Zealand and the Deep South Challenge and will feature Jamie’s interaction with the environment and meeting NIWA scientists studying the ice, oceans and clouds in Antarctica.
The Vision Mātauranga science programme, in partnership with Victoria University of Wellington, is offering two scholarships of up to $20,000 each to support Masters [by thesis] projects. The scholarships have been established to build cross-disciplinary research capability and capacity in global change studies.
In order to meet the emerging demands of increasingly complex social, economic, political and bio-physical system changes facing Māori and wider Aotearoa/New Zealand society, projects are sought that will contribute to the following four Vision Mātauranga programme research themes:
Understanding climate change – linkages, pressure points and potential responses
Exploring adaptation options for Māori communities
Assistance to Māori businesses to aid decision-making and long-term sustainability
Products, services and systems derived from mātauranga Māori
The closing date for applications is 27 October.
For more information
For more details about the award including eligibility visit:
Expressions of interest are being sought for the role of Science Leadership Team (SLT) member for the Processes and Observations Programme of The Deep South National Science Challenge.
The Challenge is undertaking and coordinating research that contributes to the Challenge Objective “To understand the role of the Antarctic and Southern Ocean in determining our climate and our future environment” in order to deliver the Challenge Mission “Enabling New Zealanders to adapt, manage risk, and thrive in a changing climate.” To achieve both, substantive and varied research projects are being undertaken across five key Challenge Programmes: Engagement; Vision Mātauranga; Impacts and Implications; Earth System Modelling and Prediction; Processes and Observations
Each programme works with key stakeholders (both researchers and end-users) to develop, implement, and disseminate research findings both within, and across, each programme. Integration with other climate-relevant National Science Challenges is also a priority.
The Processes and Observations science leadership position will provide critical science and planning support to the Deep South Challenge. The successful applicant will draw on extensive knowledge and research networks (both national and international) to ensure the wider research programme contributes to the Deep South objective and mission and will provide support to individual research projects to ensure they are delivered on time, to spec and within budget. The specific Processes and Observations core projects cover: targeted observation and process informed modelling of Antarctic Sea Ice, assessment and validation of NZESM using modern and historic observations and the influence of the Southern Ocean in a warming world on New Zealand’s climate. Additional funded contestable projects are in place along with a close working partnership with the Earth System Modelling and Predictions Programme.
The SLT comprises the Challenge Director, Challenge Manager, and one representative for each of the five Programmes listed above. The Director, on behalf of the SLT reports to the Deep South Board. Other advisory groups (e.g., Kāhui Maori, Engagement, and Independent Science Panel) provide external advice and counsel to the Challenge at large.
Up to 0.2 FTE is available for this position, for a two-year term, with opportunity to re-apply thereafter.
This Challenge represents an exciting opportunity in the field of physical climate and other environmental research and SLT members will be central to the successful delivery of the Challenge.
Further information about the Challenge including a copy of the Research and Business Plan can be found on the Challenge website www.deepsouthchallenge.co.nz
For more information regarding this position, contact the Challenge Director, Dr. Mike Williams [email protected], +64-4-386-0389.
To Apply please submit a current CV together with a cover letter outlining relevant experience and interest in the role to the Challenge Manager, Lucy Jacob ([email protected]) by Friday 30th September 2016.
The Deep South National Science Challenge is delighted to support this year’s Climathon in Wellington for the second year running.
The Climathon – which challenges participants to find ways for Wellington to adapt to climate change – will take place simultaneously in 121 cities in 34 countries on six continents, on 28 – 29 October.
Co-hosted by Wellington City Council and Victoria University – the free event will be held at an undisclosed location announced 24 hours beforehand to those who sign up.
Seeking creative solutions to big issues
The 24-hour Climathon brings together diverse skill sets to find solutions in a short time window. This style of problem solving has shown to be effective at creating unique and creative solutions to big and complex issues. A broad range of skills is needed: designers, entrepreneurs, public sector, business people, students, technologists, researchers, scientists, environmentalists songwriters and artists are all welcome.
Rhian Salmon, Engagement Lead for the Deep South Challenge, said “the Climathon brings together a diverse group in a fun and dynamic forum to learn about the impacts and implications that climate change will pose for a specific location, explore the associated issues, and come up with innovative approaches to respond and adapt. It’s a positive experience for everyone and a great way to approach to issues like this that can often seem overwhelming.”
Climathon success stories
Last year, more people participated in the New Zealand thinktank event than any other city worldwide, and one successful Kiwi team was selected to present their ideas at the COP21 Climate Talks in Paris last December. Another of the top New Zealand groups, Kaenga, is currently pitching their idea to investors in Berlin and en route to present at MIT, as part of their prize for 2015’s “Best Building Project.”
Councillor David Lee, from Wellington City Council, says finding ways to help Wellington adapt to climate change is crucial. “Climate change will have significant impacts on the way we work and play in Wellington,” says Councillor David Lee. “Understanding the challenges we face and being early to see the opportunities they present right now will give us significant advantage in not only looking after our environment and people, but also on the world stage in the market place.”
Next steps for top projects
Top teams can win spots in Victoria University’s summer entrepreneurship accelerator, Victoria Entrepreneur Bootcamp, supporting them to develop their idea further. Other prizes are expected to be announced in coming weeks. Judges will look for the environmental, social and economic impact the ideas will have on Wellington, as well as their long term viability, scalability and sustainability. The expert panel includes climate strategist Rebecca Mills, ethical business strategist James Bushell, leading economist Geoff Simmons as well as climate professors and behaviour change experts from Victoria University, and Deep South representatives.
