The Fall Meeting 2020 of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) will be largely virtual from 7-11 December 2020. With more than 1000 sessions, the Fall Meeting will remain the global convening meeting for the Earth and space sciences community. There are a number of exciting, mountain-related sessions, including two convened by the MRI.
Abstract submission is now open and the deadline for all submissions is Wednesday 29 July 2020.
MRI Sessions convened by members of the MRI Science Leadership Council:
Environmental and Climate Change in Global Mountain Regions (Session ID: 104796)
Conveners: Aino Kulonen (MRI), Shawn Marshall (University of Calgary, MRI SLC Member) and Bryan Mark (Ohio State University, MRI SLC Member).
Mountains are sensitive to global climate, hold valued archives of changes over time, and closely couple resources and risks to society. We invite contributions examining past, present and future environmental change and associated societal impacts in mountain regions. The session is open to measurement and modelling studies of the changing climate, cryosphere, hydrology, and ecology of global mountain environments, including their couplings and implications for mountain social-ecological systems (e.g. hazards, fire, water resources, and other socio-cultural impacts). Understanding of elevational gradients of climate change in mountain environments remains limited, due to diffculty resolving mountain terrain in climate models and a dearth of high-elevation monitoring stations in many parts of the world. We particularly welcome contributions addressing knowledge gaps in mountain systems, including high-elevation monitoring efforts, measurements across altitudinal gradients, climate downscaling strategies, and remote sensing innovations in mountain environments. This session is supported by the Mountain Research Initiative, MRI.
Wildfire impacts on mountain environments (Session ID: 105630)
Conveners: Shawn Marshall (University of Calgary, MRI SLC Member), Bryan Mark (Ohio State University, MRI SLC Member) and Aino Kulonen (MRI).
Regular wildfires are natural elements in the world’s mountain regions, shaping mountain ecosystems and affecting hydrological cycles, soils, and cryospheric systems. Recent wildfires have shown that intense and frequent fire activity can have dramatic impacts on mountain systems when ecosystems don’t have enough time to recover between the fires. Wildfire activity also has major impacts on regional snow and ice cover, as black carbon deposition can accumulate on glaciers and in alpine snowpacks, lowering the albedo and accelerating melt. The albedo impact of wildfire activity on mountain glaciers is not well understood, but the impacts of black carbon loading can accumulate over many years. Ice core and dendroclimatological records from high mountain environments can provide insight into fire history and associated albedo impacts, to place recent observations in context. This session, supported by the Mountain Research Initiative, encourages contributions that address wildfire impacts and wildfire history in mountain regions.
The MRI is also looking forward to bringing the mountain community together during the AGU Fall meeting through virtual side-events. More information on these will follow in the autumn!
Other mountain relevant sessions at the AGU Fall Meeting
High Mountains as Harbingers of Change
Tropical Mountains and Forests: Connections in a Complex, Changing World
Debris Flows and Floods in Mountainous Terrain
Cryospheric changes and its impact on the High-Mountain Water Cycle
Environmental, socio-economic and climatic changes in Northern Eurasia
Hazards from a Changing Cryosphere
Advances in Analysis and Prediction of Rock Falls, Rock Slides, and Rock Avalanches
Remote Sensing of the Cryosphere: Seasonal Snow
Advances in Observation and Modeling of Forest Snow Processes
Biogeochemical Dynamics in Glacial Ecosystems driven by Climate Change
Plate Motion, Continental Deformation, and Interseismic Strain Accumulation
Molecular Biomarkers in Polar Regions and the Cryosphere
Closing Earth’s Sediment Mass Balance by Linking Continental and Marine Sediment Dynamics
Cryospheric impacts of COVID-19
Assessing Resilience of Headwater Watersheds and Headwater Dependent Systems
Uplift of Tibetan Plateau: Timing, Mechanism and Impacts on Climate and Ecology
Assessing paleotopography, relief, and elevation across spatio-temporal scales
Key Dates
25 June 2020: Abstract submission opens
29 July 2020, 11:59 p.m., ET: Abstract submission closes
August 2020: Registration opens
October 2020: Scientific programme released
Find more information on the official homepage of the AGU Fall Meeting 2020.
Photo by Pixabay
