The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) Arctic Section is supporting a 'Planning Workshop on joint Arctic Research using the Swedish Class 1A Icebreaker Oden.' This workshop is held in collaboration with the Swedish Polar Research Secretariat (SPRS) and the Swedish Research Council (Formas and VR). The US delegation will be led by Drs. Patricia Matrai (Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences) and Peter Minnett (RSMAS, U. Miami), as workshop co-organizers with Dr. Caroline Leck (Stockholm U.).
The event will be held 30 March (half day) and 1 April (half day) 2015 in Stockholm, Sweden near the airport. Travel and per diem will be covered.
This workshop will bring together those with research and operational/logistical interests in the Arctic and will discuss a baseline for establishing a new, longer-term collaborative relationship among U.S. and Swedish scientists for Oden-based research in the Arctic Ocean. In addition, a pilot program in 2017 will be discussed which is already part of the SPRS agenda with an interdisciplinary ocean-atmosphere focus. Science themes will be developed for conducting research that takes advantage of the Oden's ice-breaking and unique ice-maneuvering capabilities as well as her ability to transit areas that are sparsely sampled. The Oden has a proven track-record of supporting extended research expeditions in the Arctic that have involved a wide range of multi-disciplinary investigations (SWEDARCTIC) (e.g., http://polar.se/en/forskning/aktuella-expeditioner/).
The workshop organizers invite interested scientists representing a broad range of expertise in the ocean, atmospheric, and climate sciences in the Arctic to participate. An expression of interest (< 1 page) is requested by U.S. participants for selection to 13 available openings by 26 January 2015. Expressions of interest may include: name, affiliation, research focus description, and responses to two questions: 1) suggested research focus areas for 2017 and 2) areas of interest for research on future Oden cruises.
The workshop organizers, in consultation with NSF Arctic, will select the final U.S. participant list. Sweden is inviting 10-15 Swedish Arctic scientists. Both groups will include some of the scientists who deployed during recent Oden Antarctic and Arctic field seasons. Participants will serve as liaisons to their respective scientific communities, and represent community-wide interests in the development of science themes for Oden-based research. The workshop will produce a report, similar to the 'Forum for Developing U.S.-Swedish Research Cooperation on Oden in Antarctica' (https://www.nsf.gov/geo/opp/antarct/science/workshop_rpt/oden_workshop_…).
Expression of Interest requested by: Monday, 26 January 2015
For questions, please contact:
Patricia Matrai
Email: pmatrai [at] bigelow.org
Peter Minnett
Email: pminnett [at] rsmas.miami.edu