SISAL 3rd Workshop: Analyses of the SISAL database: regional patterns in isotope signatures

PAGES' Speleothem Isotopes Synthesis and Analysis (SISAL) working group will hold its third workshop from 8-12 October 2018 in Agadir, Morocco.

The title of the workshop is "Analyses of the SISAL database: regional patterns in isotope signatures".

Venue

Ibn Zohr University
Agadir, Morocco

Logistics

The workshop will be for four days with a one-day, optional field trip. The workshop is for SISAL members involved in data analysis. Additional places will be offered to scientists outside the SISAL working group. The maximum number of participants is 30. Early-career researchers (ECRs) wishing to become involved in SISAL analyses are encouraged to apply.

Description

SISAL brings together speleothem scientists, speleothem-process modelers, statisticians and climate modelers to develop a global synthesis of speleothem isotopes that can be used both to explore past climate changes and in model evaluation. The goal of the third SISAL workshop is to move forward with specific analyses proposed during 2017 at the first and second workshops. In particular, we will showcase the first SISAL science paper on major changes in isotope signatures for the two key CMIP6/PMIP4 time periods of 21 ka and 6 ka (Comas-Bru et al.) and complete the drafting of the second SISAL science paper on comparing transient records of changes in the monsoon regions with model simulations (Harrison et al.). The workshop will also provide opportunities to progress other planned analyses and to discuss new SISAL initiatives for 2019.

Workshop objectives

Day 1:
Overview of SISAL working group activities, including presentation of the status of the database, SISAL’s 1st science paper, and ongoing analyses. Show-and-tell by new participants.

Day 2:
Work on specific analyses/publications.

Day 3:
Continued work on specific analyses/publications.

Day 4:
Reports from analyses/publications and discussions about planned work during 2019

Day 5 (optional):
Participants are offered the option to visit the Wintimdouine cave in the karst area of Tasroukht in the High Atlas Mountains to examine the field work carried out by the group at Ibn Zohr University. This is not part of the official PAGES workshop program.

Local organizers

ECR Yassine Ait Brahim (Xi’an Jiaotong University, China)
Lhoussaine Bouchaou (Local organizer, Ibn Zohr University, Morocco)
Abdelfettah Sifeddine (Institute of Research for Development, France)

Participants

ECR Laia Comas-Bru (SISAL coordinator, University College Dublin, Ireland)
ECR Michael Deininger (SISAL Steering Committee, University of Mainz, Germany)
Sandy Harrison (SISAL Steering Committee and lead on monsoon paper, University of Reading, UK)
ECR Kamolphat Atsawawanunt (SISAL database manager, University of Reading, UK)
Martin Werner (isotope-modeling, co-lead on the monsoon paper, AWI Bremen, Germany)
ECR Nikita Kaushal (University of Oxford, UK)
ECR Kira Rehfeld (British Geological Survey, UK)
ECR Meighan Boyd (Royal Holloway, UK)
Cristina Veiga-Pires (Universidade do Algarve, Portugal)
ECR Nick Scroxton (MIT, USA)
Yong Sun (IPSL, France)
Yating Lin Sun (IPSL, France)
ECR Gijs de Cort (representative of the GLSDB consortium, Royal Museum for Central Africa, Belgium)

At least five places will be open for new people wishing to join the SISAL analyses done by the working group.

Background

The first version of the SISAL database will be launched in 2018. This workshop will be used to complete analyses of SISAL studies designed during the first and second SISAL meetings and to draft the respective science papers, the submissions of which are planned by end of 2018. This workshop will also serve to make decisions about steps to improve the SISAL database with the aim of determining when the second version of the database will be available and to discuss future scientific foci of SISAL analyses.

Financial support

PAGES has provided funding for approximately nine ECRs or researchers from developing countries to attend this meeting. Indicate when registering if you would like to be considered for financial support.

Registration and deadlines

The registration deadline is Friday 16 March.
Register by submitting this form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScl8w4TaISUYrYgdrhYHKFaUqJy8VaNO_5ZQZ-xJNnYFXigvg/viewform

Further information

Questions can be sent to local organizer Yassine Ait Brahim: aitbrahim@xjtu.edu.cn or working group coordinator Laia Comas Bru: laia.comasbru@ucd.ie

Post-meeting material