A Vision for Earth System Research: Have Your Say

Save the date! Announcing the IPY International Early Career Researcher Symposium from 4 Dec 2009 to 8 Dec 2009 in Victoria, B.C., Canada. The Symposium is organized in conjunction with the 2009 ArcticNet Science Meeting, which will be held after the Symposium in Victoria. With the support of IPY Canada, ArcticNet, and the Northern Research Forum, the Symposium will bring together Arctic and Antarctic early career researchers from across the world with experts to build skills, knowledge, and networks. The workshop is based around seven themes: *Community-based research; *Funding your id...

Today was the first day of our excursion to Isfjord Radio on Kapp Linne, which is on the west coast of Spitsbergen. We started off the day by picking up our Regatta suits and goggles before we were transported to the docks and our polarcircle boats. After a fun, bumpy two hour boat ride we arrived at our landing site. On the way there we saw lots of puffins and the spectacular, but foggy, southern coast of Isfjorden! In the next few hours we walked 10 km through 500 million years...

Kapp Linné Day 2. After a pleasant night’s sleep at Basecamp Isfjord Radio, we woke up to a wondrous breakfast of meats, veggies, caffeine and Gnutella. We were given a nice introduction to the history of Kapp Linné by the owner of Basecamp and how it has evolved into what it is today. Soon enough, our lunches were packed, rifles gathered and we were back on the tundra road for another day’s lesson in geology, permafrost, and how to avoid getting your shoes soaked while hiking. ...

Preparation for field trip - History of Svalbard Today was a preparation day for our field trip on the weekend. We spent the morning with buying chocolates and candies, preparing our equipment and borrowing some equipment at the UNIS logistics. At 2 pm we had a security briefing for the fieldwork. This contains information about the area, like a geological overview and morphological specifics provided by some aerial pictures. This briefing includes some general information about polar bears in the area and remindes us to the general rules of meeting polar bears. The second part of the day was characterized by the history of Svalbard. Thor B. Arlov was lecturer for this and he presented a short and gripping overview. The island of Svalbard was discovered by Wil...

This day was focussed on the human dimension of the Arctic, and how climate change will impact the indigenous communities across the Arctic region. After an introductory lecture by Lars Kullerud (President of the University of the Arctic), we had lectures from Jennifer West (CICERO, University of Oslo) on ‘Arctic peoples in a changing climate’, introducing the IPY CAVIAR project, which aims to understand how Arctic communities are vulnerable to climate change and the best strategies for adaptation. After a break to watch the (only) epic Norwegian movie ‘Flaaklypa Grand Prix’, we then had lectures and a long discussion on the effects of changes in climate on reindeer herding in the Arctic region with Anders Oskal (Director of the International Centre for Reindeer Husbandry) and Anne...

The day began with an introduction to the projects we are going to be working on for the rest of our time in Svalbard, ranging from oceanography to permafrost and biology. After a lecture on Arctic predators and their use as indicators of the state of tundra ecosystems by Nigel Yoccoz (University of Tromso), we had our first group meetings for our projects, taking a first look at the data and literature for our respective assignments. The final lecture of the day was a fascinating talk on auroras by Kjellmar Oksavik (UNIS), discussing their formation and the possible link between solar activity and climatic cycles in the Arctic. Since the catering staff at UNIS forgot to provide us with dinner, some of us needed a traditional Norwegian snack, the icecream sandwich, before heading up to Hus...

Hiking Today was our first and only free day and it came as a welcome break from lectures. The group consensus was for some exercise along the mountains surrounding Longyearbyen. We assembled early, much to some peoples despair, and began our climb up the sloppy muddy ridge at the south end of the beach end of town. The track turned to loose rock and then we were soon in snow. The weather was grey and we ascended into the cold cloud eventually coming out into clear skies. The jackets went away and the shades and sunglasses came out. 'Waterproof' shoes proved otherwise. Hiking in snow was a brand new experience for at least one member of the group and a bit out of the ordinary for a number of us. We summated mt Trollsteinen (~850m), took in the fantastic view of the Svalbar...

We were a little worse for wear following the midsummer party at the beach the previous night but managed attentiveness throughout the days lectures. Mostly. We studied the arctic marine ecosystem, zooplankton, the arctic cod and the polar bear. I have studied very little biology previously and felt I gained a lot from this introduction. I particularly enjoyed the polar bear lecture given by Jon Aars as he spoke with practical experience about the study of these fantastic animals in the wild with particular emphasis on the Svalbard population. The marine biology talks were also interesting and I look forward to the lessons being reinforced in the field next week. However, by the days end the brain had reached saturation. ...

The scientific conference of Arctic Frontiers 2010 (27-29 January 2010 in Tromso