Call for Expression of Interest
Proposed Special Session at American Geophysical Union (AGU) 2004
"The Role of Permafrost Coasts in the Arctic System"
For further information and to express interest, please e-mail:
Volker Rachold, Alfred Wegener Institute
vrachold [at] awi-potsdam.de
Vladimir Romanovsky, University of Alaska Fairbanks
ffver [at] uaf.edu
or go to:
http://www.agu.org
Dear Colleagues,
We are planning to propose a special session at the 2004 AGU Fall
Meeting (San Francisco, 13-17 December 2004) entitled "The Role of
Permafrost Coasts in the Arctic System." Below please find a draft
abstract. We have received positive feedback from the chair of the AGU
Cryosphere Focus group, Mark Williams, and we want to find out if the
community is interested in contributing to this session. Please inform
us if you might be interested in submitting an abstract and/or if you
are planning to propose a related session. Your suggestions for any
changes in the draft session description are welcome.
PROPOSED SESSION DESCRIPTION
The coastal zone is the interface through which land-ocean exchanges in
the Arctic are mediated and it is the site of most of the human activity
that occurs at high latitudes. Arctic coasts are highly variable and
their dynamics are a function of environmental forcing and coastal
geology, geocryology, and morphodynamic behavior. The Arctic coastal
region is the transition zone between onshore and offshore permafrost
and the degradation of permafrost is concentrated in the coastal zone.
Ground-ice-rich, permafrost-dominated coastlines are rapidly eroded and
the resulting coastal sediment, organic carbon, and nutrient fluxes play
an important role in the material budget of the Arctic Ocean. Thus,
changes in the Arctic coastal zone will not only affect biological and
human systems but are also likely to imply feedbacks on the global
system. This session will discuss various aspect of Arctic coastal
processes and dynamics on a circum-Arctic scale with a focus on
permafrost coasts.
For further information and to express interest, please e-mail:
Volker Rachold, Alfred Wegener Institute
vrachold [at] awi-potsdam.de
Vladimir Romanovsky, University of Alaska Fairbanks
ffver [at] uaf.edu
or go to:
http://www.agu.org