Event Type
Conferences and Workshops

Circumpolar Safety, Search, and Rescue Collaboration

Event Dates
2017-01-21 - 2017-01-26
Location
Tromsø, Norway

Search and rescue (S&R) in cold waters is a short race against time. Low temperatures, poor visibility, and bad weather, as well as vast distances, conspire to make S&R operations challenging. Although ice floes can keep people afloat for longer periods, and modern communication systems means there is less search and more rescue, even with the best survival gear the odds are decidedly poorer than in warmer waters. With the advent of dramatically reduced summer ice coverage, human activity in the Arctic Ocean ranging from petroleum exploration and drilling to shipping and cruise traffic is set to increase significantly. Mass rescue operations (MROs) must be handled differently in the Arctic, and to understand how the risk of a large accident in this sparsely populated area should be assessed one must draw on the understanding of the weather conditions, the changing climate, and the limited resources available in this region.

Conference topics will include:

  • Aquaculture in the high north in time of change
  • The new Arctic in the global context
  • Resilient Arctic societies and industrial development
  • Circumpolar safety, search, and rescue collaboration

Abstract submission deadline: 19 September 2017.