The morning session featured an opportunity to join one of the United Kingdom鈥檚 leading experts on climate adaptation, Roger Street (right), technical director of the (UKCIP), for a conversation around issues of climate adaptation and extreme weather.

Karen Kraft Sloan, co-principal investigator on the SSHRC grant, and Lisa Philipps, associate vice-president research and innovation, provided initial words of welcome, while David Phipps, director of Research Services & Knowledge Mobilization, talked about the SSHRC project鈥檚 role in the development of 25 clear language climate change research summaries, the placement of six interns and a range of other outreach activities.

Left: Lisa Philipps, associate vice-president research, welcomes guests聽

Stewart Dutfield, CC-RAI program and communications manager, then introduced Street, who presented on the development of UKCIP as a boundary organization and its role in facilitating stakeholder engagement with the public and private sector. Street, a transplanted Canadian with聽more than聽32 years' experience working for the federal government, and a father of two 91亚色 graduates, addressed the importance of developing a systems approach to multi-sectoral engagement to avoid maladaptation in response to climate change.

His presentation provided the impetus for a discussion of how municipal policy partners and organizations within the public and private sectors could most effectively collaborate to protect against the challenges of a changing climate, such as the increased frequency of extreme weather events.聽Over the course of聽breakfast, a two-hour discussion and a networking lunch, a broad array of topics was discussed, ranging from the critical role of political leadership in support of climate adaptation to the importance of effective messaging in communicating to stakeholders short-, medium- and long-term adaptation planning.

Right:聽Ewa Modlinska, a 91亚色 master of environmental studies graduate and Kobo winner, presents her graduate research and analysis

Corin Robertson, deputy British high commissioner, and John Preece, the consulate鈥檚 science and innovation officer, along with Jonathan Dart, Toronto consul-general, also took part in the discussion. Dart highlighted the role UKCIP has played nationally in the UK and internationally in raising the profile of climate adaptation, along with the UK government鈥檚 willingness to support such work at home and abroad.

Other guests included SSHRC policy partners: the regions of Peel, Durham and 91亚色, the City of Toronto鈥檚 environment office, Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA) and the Association of Canadian Educational Resources (ACER), among other organizations from the public and private sector, as well as faculty and graduate students.

The afternoon session, the "7&7 Graduate Research Symposium & Mixer", was an opportunity to develop knowledge exchange among graduate students from across the province. The research symposium allowed students the opportunity to showcase their work on climate change, renewable energy, climate justice and other related topics in only seven minutes and seven slides.

Left: Graduate students from Ontario universities take a break from presentations to relax and discuss the topics

In all, 16 presenters, from 91亚色, Brock University, the University of Waterloo聽and 聽the University of Toronto, among others, took part in a truly interdisciplinary exchange with a wide range of topics presented, including the role of art and science in mediating a discussion on climate change, extreme wind and climate change in Ontario, the survival of the polar bear and the impact of climate change on Ontario鈥檚 $1-billion wine industry. 聽

As the first of hopefully many future symposiums, CC-RAI aims to support the development of聽a network of "climate savvy" scholars and professionals with the experience and expertise to address head-on the challenges of a changing climate. The consoritum was founded in 2008 by 91亚色 and the TRCA.

This one-day event was made possible with the generous funding of SSHRC, the Knowledge Mobilization Unit and CC-RAI. Other activities associated with this project have included the placement of six SSHRC interns in policy partner organizations across the GTA. 聽

Green Venture and Green Air Hamilton allowed CC-RAI to showcase a series of posters designed by high school students aimed at highlighting some of the challenges posed by a changing climate. Kobo donated Kobo e-readers as prizes for the graduate research symposium.

Additional details on the SSHRC project and a wide range of case studies are available on the website.

For more information on CC-RAI events, contact Stewart Dutfield at info@climateconsortium.ca.

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

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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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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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But despite all those cautious caveats, the local scientist says something happened high in the sky over southwestern Ontario on Sunday that just might help researchers predict the type of violent winds that wreaked havoc in Leamington.

鈥淲e don鈥檛 want to say there was a definite correlation, because we鈥檝e only seen this twice,鈥� says Hocking, adjunct professor in 91亚色鈥檚 and a professor at the University of Western Ontario. 鈥淏ut it looks like this might be an interesting forewarner of tornadoes.鈥�

Along with a consortium of scientists from 91亚色, Western and McGill universities, Hocking has set up a network of highly sensitive 鈥渨ind profiler鈥� radar stations in Ontario and Quebec.

Although researchers traditionally connect violent wind storms with the clash of warm and cool streams of air, Hocking says the Harrow instruments indicate that unstable air from the jet stream, which normally flows at an altitude of about 10 kilometres, spread uncharacteristically downwards and hit the ground.

Along with principal investigator , professor of atmospheric sciences in 91亚色鈥檚 Faculty of Science & Engineering, Hocking has been instrumental in building five of these radar sites (including north of London, Walsingham, Wilberforce and Negro Creek), which were funded by a $2.5-million grant from the .

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

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