McElroy has been named NSERC/ABB/CSA Industrial Research Chair (IRC) in Atmospheric Remote Sounding. The research chair is funded by NSERC, space technology firm ABB Bomem Inc., and the Canadian Space Agency. It will be based in 91亚色鈥檚 Faculty of Science & Engineering, where McElroy has been appointed as a professor of earth and space science.

There will be a formal announcement of the new research chair today and as part of the event, McElroy (PhD '85) will deliver a public lecture titled, "Ozone Science: From Discovery to Recovery".聽The lecture will take place at 2:30pm today in 519 91亚色 Research Tower.聽

Above: 91亚色 earth and space science Professor Tom McElroy

The industrial research chair聽will support an innovative research program in advanced instrumentation development and its application to ground-based, satellite and airborne measurement of atmospheric composition. The five-year position will also assist 91亚色 in establishing and strengthening industrial partnerships that will provide opportunities for students from 91亚色 to experience enhanced training and exposure to research challenges with industrial applications.

"With this IRC, I have been given a wonderful opportunity to share the knowledge I have gained from participating in several space projects, numerous aircraft missions and dozens of high-altitude balloon flights," said McElroy. "This kind of research is what prepared me for my long and satisfying career and I hope that I can help 91亚色 students enjoy the same satisfaction and success in theirs."

McElroy, who recently left Environment Canada after 36 years, headed up the Space Experiments Section in the Air Quality Directorate of the Atmospheric Environment Service. He has received an international research award from the World Meteorological Organization and was involved in the landmark Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer, contributing scientific data and assessments that drove policy analyses and promoted the construction of an international framework for ozone layer protection.

His experience and knowledge extends beyond his contributions to the study of the ozone layer and the impact that chemicals like chloroflourocarbons (CFCs) have on it. He is a co-inventor of the Brewer Ozone Spectrophotometer, which is used to measure ozone in 45 countries around the world. He is also co-inventor of the UV Index, now in use in 30 countries. McElroy managed the development of the AES hand-held Sunphotometer which Canadian astronaut Marc Garneau used to make ozone measurements on his first space flight in 1984. Recently, McElroy has been collaborating with other scientists at 91亚色 and elsewhere in designing the atmospheric measurement payload for the planned Canadian Polar Communications and Weather satellite.

"We are celebrating a research leader who is using his talent and knowledge to spearhead innovation for Canada鈥檚 aerospace industry," says Suzanne Fortier, President of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. "The advancements produced by Dr. McElroy鈥檚 team will provide new tools for space science. His research will also produce important data that will give Canadians new insight into issues like ozone recovery and climate change."

Henry Buijs, chief technical officer of ABB Bomem Inc., a leading Canadian space technology firm, said ABB Bomem is pleased to support McElroy鈥檚 new research program. "We feel that this collaboration with a researcher with expertise in instrument design, as well as an intimate knowledge of the science obtained with the instrumentation, will provide a significant strategic benefit for ABB as well as advance scientific research," he said.

McElroy is being greeted with great anticipation in his new role at 91亚色 because of his longtime commitment to advocacy in the field of atmospheric science.

"The Faculty of Science聽& Engineering is excited about expanding our existing partnerships and supporting the innovative and ground-breaking research of Professor Tom McElroy," says 91亚色 biology Professor Imogen Coe, associate dean of research聽& partnerships. "This research chair builds and strengthens our industrial partnerships and the innovative research of the Industrial Research Chair awarded to Professor McElroy will address pressing issues in climate science leading to significant positive outcomes for Canada."

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If you鈥檙e working in 3D film or aerospace engineering, what impact do the latest developments in brain and vision research have on your industry鈥檚 practices? What if you鈥檙e drafting government policy on air quality control and need expertise in how the latest atmospheric chemistry and physics findings translate into plans and policy?

Graduate students and post-doctoral fellows at 91亚色 have new options to pursue the research and applied dimensions of these and other questions, thanks to $3.3 million in funding from the (NSERC).

httpv://youtu.be/OtRWua59EPU

The funding, provided through NSERC鈥檚 $29.6聽million investment over six years in the Collaborative Research and Training Experience (CREATE) Grants program, will support two new training programs in the Faculty of Science & Engineering, each valued at $1.65 million over the period.

Students and fellows enrolled in each program will gain experience in basic and applied research, along with the practical and professional skills needed to successfully transition to research careers in the academic, industry or government sectors.

Professor Hugh Wilson in the Faculty of Science & Engineering鈥檚 Department of Biology will lead the Vision Science and Applications program. Based in the internationally-recognized (CVR), the program focuses on vision-based information technologies that require optimal information displays to ensure accurate human interpretation of data are playing an increasingly important role in many economic sectors.

Key applications include:

• 3D digital media (e.g., 3D film, geographical databases, autocad systems)
• Aerospace (e.g., cockpit technologies, search-and-rescue)
• Face and scene analysis technologies (e.g., facial biometrics)
• Visual health and assessment technologies (e.g., functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), electroencephalography (EEG), perimetry)

The Vision Science and Applications team includes 25 researchers at seven international universities and 10 partner organizations, including , the and . At 91亚色, a total of 10 professors affiliated with CVR will lend their expertise to the project. The program will enrol four students in its first year and 16 students in each successive year.

Professors and in the Faculty of Science & Engineering鈥檚 Department of Chemistry will lead the Training Program for Integrating Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics from Earth to Space (IACPES) program. Jointly based in 91亚色鈥檚 (CAC) and the Centre for Research in Earth & Space Science (CRESS), the program鈥檚 interdisciplinary focus will give students an integrated understanding of atmospheric chemistry and physics from earth into space.

Key applications include:

• measuring and modelling atmospheric change
• examining air quality and health issues
• monitoring changes in the arctic atmosphere
• detecting sources of greenhouse gases
• measuring Earth鈥檚 changing atmosphere from space
• exploring and understanding other planets鈥� atmospheres
• developing the policy implications of atmospheric science

The IACPES team includes 11 applicants at six universities and 23 collaborators at 10 partner organizations, including , the Ontario Ministry of the Environment, the (NOAA) in Boulder, Colo., several industries and two premier research institutes in Germany.聽The program will create 21 places for undergraduate students, master鈥檚 students, PhD students and postdoctoral fellows in its first year, with over 200 places created over the successive five years.

httpv://youtu.be/6YlFv0Xd9no

鈥淏y securing two of only 18 projects awarded to universities across Canada, 91亚色 builds on its strong track record in leading large-scale, interdisciplinary collaborative research projects,鈥� said Stan Shapson, vice-president research & innovation. 鈥�The programs will provide our innovative research centres 鈥� CVR, CRESS and CAC聽鈥� with a competitive advantage in attracting excellent graduate students and postdoctoral fellows who wish to pursue careers in the applications of vision science or atmospheric chemistry and physics. NSERC鈥檚 CREATE program strengthens the role of universities in training the highly-qualified people needed in today鈥檚 scientific knowledge economy.鈥�

鈥淣SERC鈥檚 CREATE Program helps graduating students become highly sought-after professional researchers in the natural sciences and engineering, both in Canada and abroad,鈥� said Suzanne聽Fortier, president of NSERC. 鈥淭he program not only helps improve the skill set of Canada鈥檚 next-generation of research talent, but it also helps to support their retention in the workforce.鈥�

By Elizabeth Monier-Williams, research communications officer

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The finding marks the first time that fog has been directly observed on the neighbouring world, adding to evidence that modern Mars experiences a type of ongoing water cycle akin to Earth's.

"Because the atmosphere is so thin on Mars, there is nothing to keep in the heat overnight, so the ground cools off very quickly," said study co-author , a [n NSERC post doctoral fellow and] planetary scientist at 91亚色 [Faculty of Science & Engineering].

"Heat from the air is lost to the ground, so the air close to the ground gets colder, and as that pocket of (cold) air gets larger," more water vapour in the atmosphere condenses into ice crystals, and the fog gets thicker, Moores said.

"The fog starts closer to the ground and rises in height over time, so the cloud gets thicker and thicker and higher and higher as the night goes on," he added.

Eventually the icy haze begins to shower the ground with a light sprinkling of snow-like particles. The shower is not quite snowfall, the scientists say, but is perhaps more akin to the "diamond dust" that falls from the skies on some cold nights in Earth's Arctic regions.

"Because we have the fog," Moores said, "that means that there is a reservoir of water [in the atmosphere] to interact with subsurface water on a daily basis."

The Martian-fog study was published in the Feb. 25 issue of Geophysical Research Letters.

Moores is also a member of the (CRESS), which has had a significant role in the lander mission.

Posted by Elizabeth Monier-Williams, research communications officer, with files courtesy of YFile鈥� 91亚色鈥檚 daily e-bulletin.

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Exactly how do we decide when it's time to end the focus on our planetary neighbour and turn our primary exploratory efforts elsewhere?

I ask in part because a casual reader of recent national headlines might have been tempted to pronounce that Canada seems to have aligned with Mars. In August, the Canadian Space Agency and the California Institute of Technology agreed to develop an instrument to help measure methane in the Martian atmosphere.

It will fly on a joint NASA/European Space Agency Mars in 2016.

. . .

This interpretation is not just media blather or the fallout of all those little-green-men-on-Mars science fiction stories.

鈥淎ll the Mars science is couched around the search for life, even if it isn鈥檛 explicitly stated,鈥� says Professor , acting director of 91亚色鈥檚 Department of Earth & Space Science & Engineering in the Faculty of Science & Engineering, who is one of the scientists behind the effort.

For example, there was debate between NASA and ESA scientists about what instrument to send on the mission. Some favoured one that measured winds, another carbon dioxide, but ultimately the methane won out because of its life-on-Mars component, says McConnell.

The MATMOS instrument will try to figure out what created the methane in the Martian atmosphere. Was it the byproduct of a bacterial biology, as is the case for 90 per cent of the methane found in Earth鈥檚 atmosphere? Or did it come from some geological process such as the methane-producing oxidation of iron that happens on Earth?

If it does bear an isotopic signature of a biological source, then it follows there is something alive 鈥� probably bacteria 鈥� on Mars that is producing it. And if there is life on Mars, it seems almost imperative that humans should travel to there to find out what Martian life might be and what it might do. We will understand our evolution better if we understand their evolution better.

. . .

It is not clear what proving there鈥檚 no life on Mars would involve.

McConnell told me, 鈥淢y feeling is that if we find life, that is one type of answer. But if we don鈥檛, someone will always say, 鈥榊ou didn鈥檛 look here, you didn鈥檛 look there, you didn鈥檛 look deep enough to find the fossils.鈥欌��

Professor McConnell is among the 91亚色 researchers working on the , a partnership between the , the (CSA) and . He is also a member of the (CRESS).

Republished courtesy of YFile鈥� 91亚色鈥檚 daily e-bulletin

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Researchers from the Faculty of Science & Engineering will be part of a team of Canadian scientists responsible for a device that will measure and diagnose components of Mars鈥� atmosphere.

The instrument, dubbed MATMOS (Mars Atmospheric Trace Molecule Occultation Spectrometer) is a partnership between the , the (CSA) and .

According to the University, the instrument, which has yet to be built, will ride aboard the ExoMars Trace Orbiter, a joint mission by NASA and the European Space Agency, slated to launch in 2016.

91亚色 scientists will engage in atmospheric modelling and analysis, constructing a weather and chemical forecast of Mars that will help analyze the MATMOS composition data to assess the sources of various component gases. Methane was discovered on Mars in 2003 in greater abundance than expected; because the gas is readily produced by biological activity, it is considered a key biomarker for signs of life.

鈥淵ou can say in some respect [that] Mars can host life, but can it host life now?鈥� asked , professor of atmospheric science at 91亚色. 鈥淢ars has a bit of an ozone layer but it鈥檚 thin. Mars could have looked differently millions of years ago.鈥�

McConnell, along with colleagues Professor and researcher Jacek Kaminski, will also lend expertise on the SOIR-NOMAD (Solar Occultation in the InfraRed 鈥� Nadir and Occultation for Mars Discovery), another instrument set to board the ExoMars Trace Orbiter.

As for the fascination surrounding the red planet, McConnell said it鈥檚 Earth鈥檚 nearest neighbour likely to have any evidence of life. 鈥淰enus isn鈥檛 likely, Mercury doesn鈥檛 have an atmosphere and Jupiter has no surface to speak of,鈥� he said. 鈥淢ars is the thing nearest to us that can most likely harbour life. That鈥檚 what intrigues people.鈥�

The .

Republished courtesy of YFile鈥� 91亚色鈥檚 daily e-bulletin.

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Researchers from the Faculty of Science & Engineering will be part of a team of Canadian scientists responsible for a device that will measure and diagnose components of Mars鈥� atmosphere. The instrument, dubbed MATMOS (Mars Atmospheric Trace Molecule Occultation Spectrometer), is a partnership between the , the (CSA) and . It will ride aboard the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter, a joint mission by NASA and the , slated to launch in 2016.

91亚色 scientists will engage in atmospheric modelling and analysis, constructing a weather and chemical forecast of Mars that will help analyze the MATMOS composition data to assess the sources of various component gases. Methane was discovered on Mars in 2003 in greater abundance than expected; because the gas is readily produced by biological activity, it is considered a key biomarker for signs of life.

鈥淲e鈥檙e looking to find out what is the source of the methane 鈥� is it biogenic or geological in origin? Much of the methane we see on Earth is life-based. Determining its source on Mars leads us one step closer to the question of whether the planet can support life,鈥� says , professor of atmospheric science in聽91亚色's Department of Earth & Space Science & Engineering and member of the .

Right: Jack McConnell

The MATMOS instrument will look at the atmosphere edgewise, rather than simply from above. This will enhance its ability to see multiple layers of the atmosphere.

鈥淭hink of it like looking down from the CN Tower at the smog in Toronto. When you鈥檙e peering down through it, the sky usually looks relatively clear. But if you were to look at it from the side, you鈥檇 be able to see much more pollution,鈥� he says.

The device also has a high spectral resolution, enabling it to more accurately detect the presence of a variety of gases. Besides methane, scientists will also monitor CO2, carbon monoxide, nitric oxide, water vapour and ozone.

McConnell, alongside 91亚色 colleagues and Jacek Kaminski, will lend expertise to another instrument aboard the ExoMars orbiter: the SOIR-NOMAD (Solar Occultation in the InfraRed 鈥� Nadir and Occultation for Mars Discovery) experiment. They will contribute their knowledge in the areas of atmospheric modelling and聽cloud formation on Mars.

Left: Professor Jim Whiteway, Canada Research Chair in Space Engineering & Atmospheric Science. Photo courtesy of the Canadian Space Agency.

The Canadian science team includes prominent Canadian atmospheric and planetary researchers from Dalhousie University, the University of Toronto and the University of Winnipeg.

The MATMOS instrument will build on the expertise Canada has acquired from the CSA's SCISAT-I mission, which has been using a similar technique and technology to study ozone depletion in Earth's atmosphere since 2003. The CSA will fund the conceptual phase of the Canadian contribution to MATMOS and has selected ABB Bomem as the prime contractor for the Canadian elements. Canada's contribution will include the heart of the instrument 鈥撀燼 detection instrument known as an interferometer 鈥� as well as a solar imager and optical components that will collect light for the entire instrument.

For more information, visit the聽 Web site. For more information on the ExoMars orbiter experiments, visit the Web site.

By Melissa Hughes, media relations officer. Republished courtesy of YFile鈥� 91亚色鈥檚 daily e-bulletin.

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Vergados developed this technique聽to get more accurate readings of the Earth鈥檚 thermal structure.

It was designed for satellite-to-satellite GPS signals but works just as well in ground-to-satellite GPS used by the average driver.

Left: Panagiotis Vergados

Atmospheric scientists like Vergados estimate atmospheric parameters聽鈥� pressure, density and temperature 鈥� by analyzing GPS signals received by low Earth-orbiting (LEO) satellites聽orbiting聽inside the Earth鈥檚 ionosphere.

As GPS signals enter the ionosphere聽鈥� the Earth鈥檚 uppermost layer聽鈥撀爋n their way to the LEO satellite, the signals bend and accelerate. Scientists routinely correct for this聽effect when analyzing the signals for atmospheric parameters.

But they don鈥檛 bother correcting the second-order ionospheric effect 鈥� that of聽the Earth鈥檚 magnetic field on the GPS signal traversing the Earth's ionosphere. 鈥淚t is a bit cumbersome to trace the signal and have knowledge both of the magnetic field and electron content at every point along its trajectory,鈥� says Vergados.

No longer. The 28-year-old Vergados has found a simpler way to factor in this second-order ionospheric correction聽that results in more accurate atmospheric readings.

He applied the Faraday rotation聽phenomenon, a radio-astronomical technique used to calculate magnetic signals coming from galaxies, to resolving the second-order ionospheric correction in the GPS signals. 鈥淚 said to myself, why not give it a try and maybe the Faraday would work better.鈥� It did.

To make the Faraday technique work in retrieving more accurate atmospheric data from GPS signals, Vergados had to design three聽algorithms. He has presented each one in three separate and award-winning research papers, two of which have already been published in scientific journals.

鈥淥ne would be good, but three is very good鈥� for a doctoral student, says a proud Vergados, who hopes to graduate this coming academic year.

The first paper was "Bending angle retrieval algorithms using COSMIC mission observations". It won the national Best Student Paper Award in Geodesy at the Canadian Geophysical Union (CGU) conference in Banff, Alta., in 2008.

The second was 鈥淪tudying the effect of GPS radio occultation bending angle variations on the retrieval process of dry atmospheric temperature profiles: A sensitivity analysis鈥�. It won third place in the international Best Student Research Paper competition at the fourth in Boulder, Colorado in 2009. (COSMIC is a constellation of six micro-satellites orbiting the Earth at about 800 kilometres)

The third was titled 鈥淎 new technique in retrieving Total Electron Content and second-order ionospheric delays in radio occultation experiments using GPS鈥�. It won two awards 鈥撀� 鈥� presented earlier this month in Ottawa at the 2010 (CMOS-CGU). The congress had over 1,000 registrants, and Vergados was competing against 10 to 15 students across Canada.

Judges must have been not only impressed with the groundbreaking content but with his easy-to-understand presentation, says Vergados.

Left: Panagiotis Vergados聽(right) accepts his 2010 CMOS-CGU prizes, with聽Spiros Pagiatakis,聽his PhD supervisor and CGU president

鈥淭he topic is completely new and I am one of the few students in Canada who works in this kind of research.鈥�

Not bad for a PhD student in physics who grew up in Greece and only came to Canada seven years ago.

Vergados earned a bachelor of science in physics from the University of Ioannina in Greece in 2003. At a wine and cheese reception at the university, the Canadian ambassador approached him and his friends and suggested they聽attend a workshop on graduate studies in Canada. For a lark, he applied to 91亚色. Meanwhile, he found a聽graduate position聽in Germany鈥檚 Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics and planned to go to school there聽鈥� until 91亚色 accepted him. Before he could say no, his Canadian-born mother had packed his bags and bought him a ticket to Toronto. He could speak English and聽had family here.

By 2006, Vergados had a master of science.聽For the past four years, under the supervision of Spiros Pagiatakis, a professor of geomatics engineering in 91亚色鈥檚 , he has been working on his PhD. He expects to graduate next year and is already scouting around for a post-doc fellowship at national research centres and universities in Canada.

Vergados has no intention of returning to Greece. 鈥淚鈥檓 glad I came to 91亚色.鈥�

Republished courtesy of YFile鈥� 91亚色鈥檚 daily e-bulletin.

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