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iSGTW 15 July 2009

Feature - Conserving bio-diversity at Peru’s CIP

A few of the many varieties of potatoes. CIP maintains the world’s largest genetic bank of potatoes, including 1500 samples of 100 wild species collected in eight Latin American countries, as well as samples of 3800 traditional Andean cultivated potatoes. The collection is maintained under the auspices of the UN’s Food and Agricultural Organization, and is available to plant breeders worldwide free upon request. (Click to enlarge.) Image courtesy International Potato Center

What do the objects at right have in common?
They’re all potatoes.
And their continuing variety will be partly because of the grid.The International Potato Center (known by its Spanish acronym, CIP) seeks to ensure the genetic diversity of this staple food crop. The organization also seeks to reduce poverty and achieve food security on a sustained basis in developing countries through scientific research and related activities —

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Profile - Craig Lee, president of Open Grid Forum

Craig Lee
Image courtesy Craig Lee

iSGTW and BELIEF-II (Bringing Europe’s eLectronic Infrastructures to Expanding Frontiers - Phase II) teamed up to find out what the speakers at the 4th BELIEF International Symposium think about the state of e-infrastructures in Latin America. Here, we interview Craig Lee, who is giving a presentation on “Future Trends and e-Infrastructure application: towards sustainable development.”What is your job?I’m serving as president of the Open Grid Forum. In this capacity, my role is not only to be the “public face” of OGF, but more importantly to understand all of our stakeholders’ requirements, and to promote all possible synergies among our current — and new — stakeholders.How is your job related to the development and application of grids and e-infrastructures?Obviously my job is to promote the development and use of all manner of distri

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Forecasting El Nino a half-century ahead

Feature - Forecasting an El Niño a half-century in advance

When a strong El Niño develops across the tropical Pacific, it can influence weather and climate as far away as the southern polar region. This occurs via a “wave train” of areas with unusually high or low pressure in the upper atmosphere (H’s and L’s) that leads to warmer-than-normal temperatures in West Antarctica. Bright reds near the equator show the unusually warm sea-surface temperatures (SSTs) associated with an El Niño during 1940-41. There are no SST data for that period for the portions of the Southern Ocean shown here. Analysis of ice cores drilled in West Antarctica (red dots) reveals that air temperatures there warmed by as much as 10° Fahrenheit as this three-year-long El Niño unfolded, then dropped by as much as 13° F afterward. Illustration courtesy Steve Dey/copyright University Corporation for Atmospheric Research. Image on previous page courtesy Takje/stock.e

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Visual

Image - It's a bird, it's a plane, it's . . .

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Spotlight

Link - Live, from Brazil

Link of the Week - BELIEF, live from Brazil

São Paulo, Brazil, host to the BELIEF-II conference, at night. Image courtesy Yan Boechat, stock.xchng

So, you are at the BELIEF-II conference in Brazil, and you want to find out about the different projects and initiatives involving researchers from across the world?
Want to know more about how BELIEF-II, also known as “Bringing Europe’s eLectronic Infrastructures to Expanding Frontiers - Phase II,” relates to South America?
Or hear about how their achievements and findings are deployed among the manifold research organizations?
Learn about collaborating and bringing together new ideas, initiatives and technology in the search for concrete advanced results within the world of e-Infrastructures?
What about how to say “I would like a coffee” in Portuguese?
(“Gostaria de um café.”)
Meet the bloggers, then tune in to the blogs on the GridCast website.
And while you’re

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