An Arctic Sea Ice Prediction Stakeholders Workshop will be held as a side-event at the Arctic Frontiers 2018 Conference (http://www.arcticfrontiers.com/) on January 22, 2018, from 15:00 to 18:30, at the Radisson Blue Hotel, in Tromsø, Norway.
The event is organised by the Climate and Cryosphere (CliC) project of the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP), the University College London (UCL), the Arctic Research Consortium of the U.S. (ARCUS), the Norwegian Ice Service – MET Norway, the Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research – Bjerknessenteret – UiB, the Research Council of Norway, and EU-PolarNet.
The Arctic sea ice prediction community has advanced rapidly in the past decade with many new sea ice forecast products and services which are targeted for different user groups. However, it is still unclear how well end users are able to integrate information from these services into their navigational planning and how they use sea ice forecast information. To improve the uptake and usability of sea ice information supplied by the operational community, there is a need for better engagement and dialogue with a broad range of Arctic stakeholders and a need to tailor new products and services to end user specific requirements.
The organizers of this workshop invite all interested producers and users of Arctic sea ice forecasts to join an exciting and interactive side event designed to showcase the latest generation of forecast products, to share experiences from the user community, to dialogue with a cross section of stakeholders, and to influence the development of new products and services.
This workshop will bring together sea ice stakeholders and forecasters to:
-Assess the value of forecasts by the user community.
-Determine if and how ice forecasts are currently being used in decision-making.
-Communicate the relevant metrics needed by various stakeholders.
-Identify where improvements in sea ice forecasts would help stakeholders make decisions.
-Communicate the limits and opportunities of current forecasting systems.
Participants from the following groups are welcome to participate:
-Sea ice forecasting researchers
-Industry representatives (shipping, resource extraction, fishing, etc.)
-Ship operators
-Polar tourism representatives
-National / regional policy makers
-Local planners
The workshop will result in a stakeholder-targeted guidance document or roadmap, where sea ice forecasters can draw on the expertise of users (e.g. policy makers, planners, community leaders) to better understand how different stakeholder groups factor sea ice forecast information into their decision-making processes. The outcomes will result in an article intended for publication in a journal such as Eos (Earth & Space Science News).
Please see more information on the meeting and register at: http://www.climate-cryosphere.org/meetings/upcoming-clic/arcticfrontiers-seaice-stakeholders
Link to the side-event on the Arctic Frontiers website: http://www.arcticfrontiers.com/program/session/?id=ASE002