The ASSW 2007 was co-hosted by the Dickey Center for International Understanding at Dartmouth College and its Institute of Arctic Studies along with the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center's Cold Regions Research and Engineering Lab (CRREL). The ASSW organizations meeting at Dartmouth were: the International Arctic Sciences Committee (IASC), the Arctic Ocean Sciences Board (AOSB), the European Polar Board (EPB), the Pacific Arctic Group (PAG) and the Forum of Arctic Research Operators (FARO). Other participants included the US Polar Research Board, University of the Arctic, Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Program (AMAP), International Permafrost Association (IPA), Sustained Arctic Ocean Observing Network (SAON), Northern Research Forum (NRF), Heads of Arctic and Antarctic IPY Secretariats (HAIS), International Committee, Steering Committee for the International Conference on Arctic Research Planning (ICARP), Integrated Arctic Ocean Observing System (iAOOS), Arctic 8 - Nordic Council of Ministers Working Group, NyAlesund Science Managers Committee (NySMAC), and national representatives of the IPY.
The Science Day plenary session featured opening remarks by Dr. Arden L. Bement Jr., Director of the U.S. National Science Foundation, about the importance of polar research for understanding climate change and its human dimensions. The necessity of new international partnerships to advance the research and outreach goals of the IPY was explored during the International Science Partnership Panel with scientists and research funders from China, Russia, Denmark, Sweden, Canada and the United States. Moderated by Jackie Grebmeier (IASC Delegate for the U.S.A.), the panelists described achievements, gaps, challenges, and lessons learned from the science planning process. Some of the key issues brought forward were the need for common goals, such as a pan-Arctic observing system, that will require international partnerships to support overarching scientific objectives. There is a need for an international consortium for programmatic development and logistical support for coordinated scientific measurements of climate change and associated ecosystem response in circum-arctic network, including the human component. An ongoing effort for international planning is to provide a data legacy of the science and infrastructure resulting from science partnerships for understanding the Arctic system in a changing world.
The remainder of Science Day featured individual talks by leading researchers on our changing atmosphere, oceans, and terrestrial ecosystems. Many of the talks compared the changing Arctic with observations made in Antarctica. The need for an integrated Arctic observing system was evident from the common themes linking the Science Day lectures. The critical importance of direct participation in Arctic research by indigenous northern people was also stressed. The keynote address by James White provided the scientific basis for climate change and pointed to the responsibility of polar scientists to communicate their knowledge to the public and to policymakers.
The U.S. Arctic Research Commission summary report on “Goals and Objectives for Arctic Research 2007” was released at ASSW and presented by Commission Chair Mead Treadwell. The Commission is the principal government body responsible for establishing national policy, priorities, and goals necessary to construct a federal program plan for basic and applied scientific research with respect to the Arctic.
The symposium, "Technology for Innovative Observation" focused on innovations in techniques and technologies to further polar research and the observation of global change. Cool Robots, designed to move across remote polar ice sheets and make environmental measurements, were demonstrated.
During the plenary session Project Day, participants addressed how the legacy of IPY will emerge and discussed the process of developing of new funding and partnerships for polar research to sustain the goals of IPY. Reporting of significant developments from the 2Nd International Conference on Arctic Research Planning (ICARP II) preceded a session highlighting successful and needed internationally coordinated initiatives for Arctic observations and for new partnerships to expand the international network of ice coring projects with new surface and deep ice cores collected from Greenland and Antarctica.
New additions to ASSW in 2007 were a scientific session and other events planned by Early Career Scientists to introduce them to the international science community. Senior mentors from the International Arctic Science Committee and the Arctic Ocean Science Board worked with and advised the Early Career Scientists on their ASSW program and will continue to act as mentors for these future Arctic science leaders. ASSW 2007 opened with a panel that addressed “Climate Change and the Arctic: The Policy Challenges” hosted by Dartmouth’s Dickey Center for International Understanding and moderated by Dickey Director, Ambassador Kenneth Yalowitz. The panel grappled with the complexity of achieving a productive dialogue around issues of Arctic change that fairly represented the views of scientists, native peoples of the North, and policymakers.
The ASSW deliberations were noteworthy for the outstanding presentations on science, technology and research projects ongoing and planned in the Arctic and for pointing to promising new research avenues in many aspects of global warming. A major theme developed at the meeting was the need for interdisciplinary solutions to global warming issues, and for dialogue and cooperation between the scientific community, policymakers and representatives of native peoples to deal with them.
A detailed description of the ASSW 2007 program, a list of participants, and links to the organizations participating in the Arctic Science Summit can be found at www.assw2007.org.
Photos:
1. Conference participants listening to a presentation
2. From Left to Right, Ross Virginia, Director of the Institute of Arctic Studies; David Carlson, Director of the IPY, and Brian Clark, Director of the Hood Museum of Art in Hanover, NH, discuss arctic pieces at the Hood reception.
3. Ross Virginia addressing ASSW participants at the conference dinner