The International Glaciological Society will hold an International Symposium on ‘Polar Ice, Polar Climate, Polar Change’.
The changes of the past 15 years in Arctic and Antarctic sea ice and the ice sheets appear to be a prelude to new levels of impact of the polar regions on global climate and sea level. The single-year ice system is expanding in the Arctic, with processes comparable to those of Antarctic sea ice. Antarctic sea ice extent is highly variable, and is responding to shifts in ocean circulation and wind patterns. Both polar sea ice systems interact in important ways with climate and with the adjacent ice sheets.
Much of this growing awareness and understanding has come from the tremendous success of satellite and airborne remote sensing, supporting both process studies and modeling of the geophysical basis for observed changes. The proposed symposium would both summarize new, high-profile results from the international research communities and provide a synthesis of current understanding as climate change impacts continue.
The goals of this symposium are:
- To provide a forum for presenting the current best observational data of all aspects of sea ice and polar ice sheets in both hemispheres, and their ongoing changes.
- To present and discuss results from models of ongoing polar climate and cryosphere processes, and interactions between sea ice and the climate system.
- To examine the likely future course of the sea ice, ice sheet and polar climate systems as revealed by coupled models.
- To entrain the global polar science community, at all stages of career development, in discussing the state and direction of the Earth’s polar regions.
A mixture of oral and poster sessions, interlaced with ample free time, forms the general framework of the symposium, which is intended to facilitate exchange of scientific information between participants in an informal manner. Additional activities include an opening icebreaker, a symposium banquet and a selection of activities during a Thursday (16 August) afternoon mid-symposium break. There is a pre-symposium geology and landscape excursion planned, and a post-symposium excursion to the path of a solar eclipse on Monday 21 August.
Participants wishing to present a paper (either oral or poster) at the symposium will be required to submit an abstract by 1 May 2017.