In the first phase of its activities, the Land Ice Action Team is focusing on establishing a Greenland Ice Sheet Ocean Observing System (GrIOOS). As Arctic land ice continues to diminish, coordinated efforts such as GrIOOS are needed to collect long-term measurements at the Arctic's glacier margins that will allow us to understand present-day changes and to improve and validate scientific models. While initially aimed at Greenland, the largest Arctic land ice player, the long-term goal is that this observing system will eventually include other Arctic land ice locations.
Greenland Ice Sheet Ocean Observing System (GrIOOS) Workshop, 12-13 December 2015 in San Francisco, CA
GrIOOS Workshop (PNG - 119 KB)
The first step in facilitating the establishment of GrIOOS by the SEARCH Land Ice Action Team was to organize a workshop to identify key variables, sites, and approaches to obtaining these data, in the light of existing measurements already being made in and around Greenland. The workshop, co-sponsored by CliC and the US Arctic Research Commission, was held on December 12-13, 2015 in San Francisco. Over 40 participants from 7 different countries were selected by the Action Team following requests for expressions of interest and in consideration of a balanced representation of different career stages and gender. Additional participants included two US program managers (E. Lindstrom, NASA; W. Ambrose, NSF), Inuuteq Holm Olsen (Minister Plenipotentiary for Greenland to the US), and Gerhard Krinner, co-Chair of CliC. A joint session and reception with the Ice Sheet Modeling Intercomparison Workshop (ISMIP 6) participants provided input on how GrIOOS deliverables could address the needs of the ice sheet and ocean modeling community. Workshop discussions and sessions addressed important elements for the establishment of GrIOOS by identifying: 1) the essential variables to be collected; 2) the observations already in place; 3) prioritized sites; 4) prioritized instrumentation or synthesis products.
In the year to come, the Land Ice Action Team will focus on compiling a report that synthesizes workshop outcomes and lays the foundation for the establishment of GrIOOS. Specific steps will involve an initial draft of a report that incorporates feedback from workshop participants and the broader scientific community. Subsequent to the compilation of the workshop report, the Land Ice Action Team will widely circulate report conclusions to US and international funding agencies, to international scientific groups, to Greenlandic government representatives, and international partners. A presentation to the CliC Steering Committee meeting is planned for February 2016.
