For more information about the symposium on Arctic and Antarctic research
described below, contact Rolf Sinclair, organizer and chair at
rolf [at] santafe.edu.
The Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement
of Science will be held February 15-20, 2001 in San Francisco. One
symposium of particular interest to arctic researchers will be held on
Saturday February 17, and will include talks on current research in the
Arctic and Antarctic. The program for this symposium follows.
The program of the complete AAAS Meeting, and registration
information, can be found at http://www.aaas.org/meetings. The
organizer and chair is Rolf Sinclair. He can be contacted at:
Rolf M. Sinclair, Organizer and Chair
7508 Tarrytown Road
Chevy Chase MD 20815-6027
Phone: (301) 657-3441 e-mail: rolf [at] santafe.edu
ANNUAL MEETING OF THE
AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE
"A Scientific Frontier -- Science at the Earth's Poles"
15-20 Feb 2001
San Francisco, California, USA
SYNOPSIS
The Earth's Polar Regions have long fascinated mankind. Perpetually
frozen, they have resisted exploration through the millennia. The
very nature of the Polar Regions was only learned in the 19th
century, and the Poles themselves were reached less than a century
ago. These "last places on Earth" are only now yielding their
secrets to scientific investigation.
The Arctic is an ocean with permanent surface ice, ringed by
land masses. This superficially inhospitable region has had a long
and fascinating history of human occupation and adaptation. The
Antarctic, conversely, is a virtually ice-covered continent
surrounded by an ocean, and the first confirmed human presence there
was less than two centuries ago. Today several thousand people work
routinely in Antarctica in the austral summer at a number of
research stations, and visits by tourists are on the increase.
During the rest of the year a few hundred hardy souls over winter at
isolated year-round stations.
Talks in this session will describe six main research projects that
investigate or use unique properties of the Polar Regions:
- A study of the pre history of the Arctic;
- Studies of unique life forms that exist in the Antarctic
under extreme conditions of cold and isolation; - The nature of the isolated liquid water "lakes" buried under
several miles of Antarctic ice; - The use of the astronomical "seeing" in Antarctica to study
the farthest reaches of the universe; - The profound effects of the Arctic and Antarctic on global
climate and sea levels.
MORNING
* "Introduction" (15 min)
Karl Erb, Director
Office of Polar Programs
National Science Foundation
4201 Wilson Blvd.
Arlington VA 22230
Phone: (703) 306-1030 e-mail: kerb [at] nsf.gov
* "The Pre history of the Arctic" (55 min)
William Fitzhugh, Director
Arctic Studies Center
National Museum of Natural History
Smithsonian Institution
Washington DC 20090
Phone: (202) 357-2682 e-mail: fitzhugh [at] nmnh.si.edu
* "Perennial Antarctic Lake Ice: An Oasis for Life in a Polar Desert" (55 min)
John Priscu, Professor of Ecology
Department of Biology
Montana State University
Bozeman MT 59715
Phone: (406) 994-3250 e-mail: ubijp [at] montana.edu
* "Sub-Glacial Lakes -- a Future Window into the Past" (55 min)
Robin Bell
Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory
Columbia University
P.O. Box 1000
61 Route 9W
Palisades NY 10964-1000
Phone: (914) 365-8827 e-mail: robinb [at] ldeo.columbia.edu
AFTERNOON
* "A Polar Window on the Universe" (55 min)
John Carlstrom, Director
Center for Astrophysical Research in Antarctica
University of Chicago
Chicago IL 60637
Phone: (773) 834-0269 e-mail: jc [at] oddjob.uchicago.edu
* "SHEBA -- Adrift in the Arctic Ice" (55 min)
Donald Perovich
US Army Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory
USACE Engineer Research and Development Center
72 Lyme Road
Hanover NH 03755-1290
Phone: (603) 646-4266 e-mail: perovich [at] crrel.usace.army.mil
* "The Fate of Polar Ice -- a Global Problem" (55 min)
Richard Alley, Professor of Geosciences
College of Earth and Mineral Sciences
Pennsylvania State University
University Park PA 16802
Phone: (814) 863-1700 e-mail: rba6 [at] psu.edu
* "Summary and Prospects for Future Research" (15 min)
Dennis Peacock, Head
Antarctic Sciences Section
Office of Polar Programs
National Science Foundation
4201 Wilson Blvd.
Arlington VA 22230
Phone: (703) 306-1030 e-mail: dpeacock [at] nsf.gov