Gran Paradiso Summer School on “Fundamental Processes in Earth System Dynamics”
The international Gran Paradiso Summer School on “Fundamental Processes in Earth System Dynamics” is organized by the Institute of Geosciences and Earth Resources and by the Institute of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate of the Italian National Research Council, in collaboration with the Gran Paradiso National Park. The school ideally continues the tradition started with the “Alpine Summer School”, since 1994.
Presentation of the Course
The Critical Zone (CZ) is the support system for all terrestrial ecosystems, extending from unweathered rock to the top of any vegetation canopy. In the CZ, physical, biological, geological and hydrological processes interact at multiple temporal and spatial scales, creating complex ecosystem dynamics and providing essential services such as soil water retention, weathering and erosion control, carbon sequestration, and regulation of water, energy and biogeochemical cycles, to name a few. In 2007, the U.S. National Science Foundation funded a set of now nine Critical Zone Observatories (CZOs). In Europe, a small ensemble of CZOs has been established, with strong links to the European Long-Term Ecological Research Network.
This 9-day- long summer course intends to provide basic knowledge about the functioning of the Critical Zone and its relationships with ecosystem dynamics, focusing on aspects related to hydrology, soil geochemistry and weathering, vegetation dynamics and distribution, microbiota, biodiversity, ecosystem processes, CZ-relevant geological processes and the role of the CZ for achieving sustainable development goals. The course will consider in-situ data, long-term ecosystem research, chemical and isotopic laboratory analyses, remote sensing observations and numerical modeling, and it will include three days of field lectures, experimentation and excursions to study sites and CZ observatories in the Italian Alps.
The course is intended for Doctoral students, post-docs and researchers who are working or intend to work on Critical Zone processes and ecosystem dynamics. Lectures will be held in the main lecture hall of the Grand Hotel of Ceresole Reale in the Gran Paradiso National Park.
The directors of the Course 2019, ” Critical Zone and Ecosystem Dynamics across Space and Time”, are
Timothy White, Pennsylvania State University, USA
Antonello Provenzale , Institute of Geosciences and Earth Resources, CNR, Pisa, Italy
The Course will be held from the morning of July 08th to the afternoon of July 17th, 2019 at the Conference Center in the Grand Hotel in Ceresole Reale (Piedmont, Italy) in the Gran Paradiso National Park, Piemonte, Italy. Participants will be lodged in the Grand Hotel and other close hotels in Ceresole. Transportation will be arranged from Torino to the school and back on July 7th and on July 18th respectively. The transportation page has more info.
The school has no registration fee. The cost of full board lodging (including all meals) for 11 nights, from June 6th evening to July 18th 2019, is 760 euro in a room shared with other participants, and 1090 euro for a single room (please note that only a limited number of single rooms is available). The lodging cost will have to be paid directly to the hotel during your stay. Hotel rooms have been booked in advance by the school and will be assigned to participants after the registration deadline of May 15th, 2019.
Deadline for applications is May 15th, 2019.
If you need more information, please contact the Scientific Secretary at ilaria.baneschi AT igg.cnr.it
