For additional information and most recent details for the
International Symposium on Climate Change and Variability in
Northern Europe, go to the conference web page at:
or contact:
Mia Rönkä, Programme Secretary, FIGARE Coordination
FIBRE and FIGARE
University of Turku
FIN-20014 Turku, Finland
phone: + 358/2333-6009
fax: +358/2333-5730
e-mail: miaron [at] utu.fi
FIRST CIRCULAR
INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON
CLIMATE CHANGE AND VARIABILITY IN NORTHERN EUROPE -
PROXY DATA, INSTRUMENTAL RECORDS, CLIMATE MODELS, AND INTERACTIONS
Organised by:
Geographical Society of Finland
Finnish Global Change Research Programme FIGARE
Department of Geography, University of Turku
Turku, Finland
6-8 June 2001
BACKGROUND
We invite you to participate in the symposium Climate Change and
Variability in Northern Europe to be held in Turku (Finland),
6-8 June 2001.
Climate change is widely considered as the most severe form of the
wealth of environmental changes taking place globally. Climate is a
continuous process, which at times shows rapid changes, and sometimes,
gentle drifts or fluctuations. The mutual threat shared by societies is
largely based on the fact that we do not know what to expect about
future climates on a regional scale. Although the understanding of
climatic parameters and their complex interactions on different spatial
and temporal scales is improving rapidly, there are still many
challenging, unanswered questions with regard to potential future
climates.
OBJECTIVE
The aim of the interdisciplinary symposium is to bring together
scientists studying climate dynamics in a broad sense and to foster
communication between scientists and interest groups applying scientific
knowledge on mitigation and adaptation for climate change.
For the detection, attribution, and forecasting of climate change, the
development of sophisticated climate models is fundamental. Ideally, for
the purpose of projecting future climates, climate models should be able
to adequately 1) represent the current climate, 2) reproduce interannual
and decadal climate variability for a given history of external forcings
(based on instrumental data), 3) reproduce different climate episodes in
the past (based on proxy data), and 4) successfully simulate abrupt
climate change events from the past. These requirements call for close
collaboration and sharing existing knowledge between scientists from
various fields, for example palaeoenvironmentalists, ecologists,
atmospheric scientists, oceanographers, and climate modellers, to name a
few.
Northwestern Europe and the North Atlantic are known to be the most
challenging regions in climate models. Different models predict very
various climates for the region. Hence, there is a need to bring
together scientists studying different aspects of this region's climate
to share knowledge and understanding of climate process. In the proxy
record field, higher resolution thanks to new, advanced methods in
sampling, detection, computing, and data analysis allows interesting
comparisons with available instrumental records. Furthermore, better
data will aid pinpointing cause-and-effect relationships in past
climatic variations. Sharing the understanding will be of great benefit
to climate modellers who do their best to transform the process into a
set of physical equations.
THE VENUE
The city of Turku is a combination of past and present. Turku Castle,
whose history goes back to the 1280's, Luostarinmö handicrafts museum
and the Cathedral, consecrated in 1300, remind of the rich history.
Turku is also a city with long academic traditions dating back to the
17th century. Today, Turku is a city of high technology and home to
three universities: University of Turku, Turku School of Economics and
Business Administration and Akademi University, Finland's only purely
Swedish-language university. All three work in close co-operation with
industry and commerce in Turku Technology Centre, as well as with each
other.
Turku is a prominent harbour, fair, and commercial city. It serves as an
important link between east and west. As the provincial capital, Turku
is the regional and administrative centre of South-West Finland, and the
Sea of the Evangelical Lutheran Archbishop is located in Turku. The city
has a busy cultural life, e.g., many theatres, a concert hall, tens of
museums and art galleries and numerous artistic events throughout the
year.
TOPICS
The topics of the symposium, which concentrates on Northwestern Europe
and the North Atlantic, include among other things:
o Climatic proxy data
o Instrumental climate records
o Abrupt climate changes of the past
o Global and regional climate models: variation and reality
o Correlation of proxy data, instrumental records, and model results
o Oceanic circulation and the North Atlantic
o The latest glacial cycles
o Vegetation-Soil-Atmosphere interactions and atmospheric processes
o Interactions between climate, nature and society
o Consequences of climate change to natural environments and human
activities
CALL FOR PAPERS
ABSTRACT DEADLINE IS: 15 February 2001
Those wishing to give an oral or a poster presentation at the symposium
should submit an abstract with a maximum of 200 words to the conference
registrar by 15 February 2001. Abstracts should be preferably submitted
as email attachments. The guidelines for abstract preparation and
submission will be given in the second circular, and on the conference
web site. Oral and poster presentations will be given equal
consideration, and abstracts of both will be published in the abstracts
book. The abstracts will be subject to review by the Scientific
Programme Committee.
REGISTRATION FEE
The registration fee will be 110 EUR and for students 45 EUR, covering
refreshments (excluding lunches) during the meeting plus the
documentation, for registrations before 31 March 2001. A separate fee
will be incurred for the conference dinner and the excursion.
ORGANISING COMMITTEE
Tim Carter/Finnish Environment Institute, Pirjo Hellemaa/Geographical
Society of Finland, Lea Kauppi/Finnish Environment Institute, Peter
Kuhry/University of Lapland, Markku Kulmala/University of Helsinki,
Jukka Käyhkö/FIGARE, Matti Leppäranta/University of Helsinki, John
Moore/University of Lapland, Risto Pellinen/Finnish Meteorological
Institute, Jaana Roos/Academy of Finland, Matti Saarnisto/Geological
Survey of Finland, Sakari Tuhkanen/University of Turku, Heikki
Tuomenvirta/Finnish Meteorological Institute, Yrjö Viisanen/Finnish
Meteorological Institute
FURTHER INFORMATION
A one-day post-symposium excursion is planned to the Southwestern
Archipelago and the Field Station of the Archipelago Research Institute
on the island of Seili (Själö) on 9 June 2001.
Further details about registration, accommodation, travelling, paper
submission guidelines, social programme, etc., will be given in the
second circular due in October-November 2000. If you are interested in
receiving the 2nd circular, please send your e-mail address and other
contact information to:
Mia Rönkä, Programme Secretary, FIGARE Coordination
FIBRE and FIGARE
University of Turku
FIN-20014 Turku, Finland
phone: + 358/2333-6009
fax: +358/2333-5730
e-mail: miaron [at] utu.fi
Additional information and most recent details can be found at the
conference web page at: http://figare.utu.fi.