In June 2014 CliC supported the Permafrost Young Researchers Workshop 2014 (www.eucop4.org/permafrost-young- researchers-workshop.html), which was held in conjunction with the Fourth European Conference on Permafrost 2014 in Evora, Portugal (www.eucop4.org). This workshop involved about 100 early career permafrost scientists and engineers. The major focus of the workshop was to determine future avenues of permafrost research from a young researchers‘ perspective. This activity was mentored by the International Arctic Science Committee (IASC), who is leading the process towards ICARP III (3rd International Conference on Arctic Research Planning), and the International Permafrost Association (IPA) together with CliC, both coordinating permafrost activities within ICARP III.
The scientific, political and economic interest in the Arctic is rapidly growing and the increasing number of Arctic and Polar research programs requires a better coordination in order to ensure the best value for funds spent. Thus, agreeing on shared objectives, across all eight Arctic states and with other countries and international programs is becoming increasingly important. Consequently, the International Arctic Science Committee (IASC) initiated the planning of a third ICARP, to be held in conjunctions with its 25th anniversary in 2015, and invited all interested partner organizations to participate in shaping the future of Arctic research needs.
CliC is one of the members of the ICARP III Steering Committee and is contributing through a number of projects:
Arctic Freshwater Synthesis
Permafrost Research - A Roadmap for the Future
Linkages between Arctic Climate Change and Mid-latitude Weather Extremes
Arctic Snow Cover Changes and their Consequences
Permafrost Young Researchers Workshop
Where Are They Now?
ICARP III FrostBytes
The Fall 2014 Issues of the IASC Newsletter provides an introduction to ICARP III and features some of the projects that CliC is sponsoring. For more information on ICARP III and the current list of projects related to the cryosphere, visit http://www.climate-cryosphere.org/activities/projects/995-icarp3.
The CliC Office is happy to welcome Gwénaëlle Hamon to our team for the remainder of 2014. Gwen will work on various CliC activities but will more specifically help the team with the Arctic Freshwater Synthesis Project in preparation for the 3rd International Conference on Arctic Research Planning (ICARP III). Gwen holds a Master’s degree in Ecology and Environmental Studies from the University Paris-Sud XI in France where she is from. Gwen worked for more than four years for the Global Ocean Forum, an NGO dealing with international marine policy issues based at the Center for Marine Policy of the University of Delaware in the USA. She had a central role in the NGO in terms of project management and science coordination. Before that Gwen worked at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris as an intern working on scientific research and commercial uses of marine genetic resources. Gwen is currently on contract here in Tromsø until mid-December.
The Climate and the Cryosphere (CliC) Project and the Norwegian Polar Institute (NPI) invite applications for a permanent position as Executive Officer for the CliC International Project Office.
As a core project of the World Climate Research Programme, the "Climate and Cryosphere" project encourages and promotes research into the cryosphere and its interactions as part of the global climate system. It seeks to focus attention on the most important issues, encourage communication between researchers with common interests in cryospheric and climate science, promote international co-operation, and highlight the importance of this field of science to policy makers, funding agencies, and the general public. CliC also publishes significant findings regarding the role of the cryosphere in climate, and recommends directions for future study. The CliC International Project Office is hosted by the Norwegian Polar Institute (NPI).
The application deadline is 7th October 2014.
More information on CliC is available at www.climate-cryosphere.org and www.wcrp-climate.org.
More information about the Norwegian Polar Institute can be found at www.npolar.no.
The Arctic Science Summit Week (ASSW) is the annual gathering of the international organizations engaged in supporting and facilitating Arctic research. The purpose of the summit is to provide opportunities for coordination, collaboration and cooperation in all areas of Arctic science. The summit attracts scientists, students, policy makers and other professionals from all over the world. The ASSW 2015 will be held in Toyama (Japan) on April 23-30 and include business meetings of the participating organizations on April 23-25, excursions and a public lecture (in Japanese) on April 26 and a four day science symposium on April 27-30, combining the Fourth International Symposium on Arctic Research (ISAR‐4) and the Third International Conference on the Arctic Research Planning (ICARP III). Several sessions are directly linked to CliC activities and we encourage you to submit an abstract and attend the conference.
The Call for Abstracts for oral and poster presentations at the ISAR‐4 / ICARP III is now open. The Symposium will address the overarching themes “Rapid change of the Arctic climate system and its global influence” (ISAR-4) and “Integrating Arctic Research: a Roadmap for the Future” (ICARP III). Conference Organizers invite you to submit abstracts to one of the session listed below. Submissions can be made via the conference website at http://www.assw2015.org. The call for abstracts closes November 10, 2014. Download the 3rd circular for more information.
Full session descriptions can be found here: http://isar-4.jp/linkfile/session_list.pdf
- Contributed by Harald Steen, Norwegian Polar Institute
The Arctic Ocean is experiencing a dramatic sea ice loss, not just the area covered by ice but also sea ice volume. We are obviously heading towards a system that was dominated by ice cover throughout the year to seasonal ice cover. This will understandably lead to a change but exactly how the climate, and weather patterns and ecosystem are going to change is more uncertain. To better our prognosis of future change we need good and relevant data. At present we only have scattered data from the drift ice north of Svalbard on the seasonal variation in physical and biological parameters. To close this gap of knowledge the Norwegian Polar Institute will through the Norwegian Young sea ICE cruise (N-ICE2015) project provide a comprehensive dataset on metrology, oceanography, cryosphere, chemistry and the ecosystem.
In January 2015 the research vessel Lance will be frozen into the ice north of Svalbard, at 83.25°N 30°E, and will passively drift with the ice. Judging from historic sea ice drift trajectories, it is likely that RV Lance will drift in a SW direction. The actual drift trajectory and speed are impossible to predict, but the ship will probably be freed from the ice by the end of March. RV Lance will then return to her starting position and start a second drift. Under all circumstances, the ice drift project will end in late June.
The Primary objective is to understand the effects of the new thin, first year, sea ice regime in the Arctic on energy flux, ice dynamics and the ice associated ecosystem, and local and global climate. The experiment will help to (i) understand how available ocean heat is mixed upwards towards the sea ice and to what extent it influences the sea ice energy budget, (ii) understand the fate of solar radiation incident on the first-year sea ice in the region and how its fate is affected by properties of the atmosphere, snow, ice, and ocean, (iii) quantify the changing mass balance of Arctic sea ice and its snow cover, (iv) model and understand the dynamics of the drifting ice, (v) understand the ice associated ecosystem and model future changes, and (vi) understand the effects on local and global weather systems.
N-ICE2015 will give us a golden opportunity to do science in an area, and at a time of year, that has seldom been studied before. An endeavor such as this is impossible without collaboration from many national and international groups. Through this joint effort, N-ICE2015 intends to produce a new and comprehensive dataset on the new sea ice regime in the north, enabling us to meet the future well prepared.
Data collected during this project will help to support the many activities of the CliC Arctic Sea Ice Working Group, as well as the Sea Ice and Climate Modeling Forum and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate Grand Challenge efforts.
For more information on this project visit: http://www.npolar.no/en/projects/details?pid=b98886ce-590a-48a8-b113-4b96e98c65c8 or contact Harald Steen, the project leader.
The CliC International Project Office is hosted by the Norwegian Polar Institute.
The current version comprises reported observations on glacier changes up until the observation period 2011/12 including:
- 5,300 glaciological balances from 413 glaciers (partly including ELA, AAR, seasonal and elevation bin balances, and point observations),
- 920 geodetic balances from 446 glaciers,
- 44,000 front variations from 2,340 glaciers, and
- 420 special event reports from 295 glaciers.
For a detailed overview and quick data access, please use the World Glacier Monitoring Service (WGMS) MetaData Browser: http://www.wgms.ch/metadatabrowser.html
All data and information is freely available for scientific and educational purposes. The use only requires correct citation of the WGMS and/or the original investigators and sponsoring agencies according to the available meta-information.
WGMS work relies on the cooperation and help of many scientists and observers throughout the world. WGMS highly appreciates their long lasting contribution in collaboration with National Correspondents, who are coordinating the annual data collection in more than 30 countries for submission to the WGMS. Special thanks go to Paul Leclercq (Univ. Oslo and Univ. Utrecht) and Graham Cogley (Trent Univ.) for supporting the integration of their datasets.