For more information on this Arctic-Alpine Ecosystems and People in a
Changing Environment conference being held from 24 February-1 March
2003, please see the web site:
http://www.npolar.no/ArcticAlpine2003/
or contact the conference secretariat:
Ingrid Storhaug
Fax: +47/7775-0501
Email: ingrid.storhaug [at] npolar.no
Arctic-Alpine Ecosystems and People in a Changing Environment
Polar Environmental Centre
Tromso, Norway
24 February-1 March 2003
Organized and Cosponsored by:
Norwegian Polar Institute (NPI)
Norwegian Institute for Air Research (NILU)
Norwegian Institute for Nature Research (NINA)
University of Tromso
Institute of Marine Research
European Network for Arctic-Alpine Multidisc. Environmental Research
(ENVINET)
Nordic Arctic Research Programme (NARP)
Arctic Seas Consortium
Ny-Alesund Large Scale Facility (LSF)
European Commission
BACKGROUND:
The European Arctic and Alpine regions are experiencing large
environmental changes. Increased temperatures and precipitation,
reduction in sea ice and glacier ice, the increased level of
UV-radiation and the long-range transported contaminants are challenging
new stress factors for both terrestrial and aquatic organisms. The large
annual variation in the physical parameters of these extreme
environments is also a key factor in structuring the biodiversity and
biotic productivity, and the effect of the stress factors can be
critical for the population structures and the interaction between
species. These changes may also have socio-economic effects if the
changes affect the bioproduction, which form the basis for the marine
and terrestrial food chains.
The conference will serve as the final conference of the European
Network for Arctic-Alpine Multi-Disciplinary Environmental Research
(ENVINET), the final conference of the Nordic Arctic Research Programme
(NARP), the last user meeting of the Ny-Alesund Large Scale Facility,
the first conference of the Arctic Seas Consortium and the final
workshop of the EU-project UVAC (The influence of UV-radiation and
climate conditions on fish stocks: A case study of the north-east Arctic
cod).
PROGRAMME AND SCOPE:
The conference will address the broad field of "Environmental Change
research in Northern Europe, Arctic and Alpine areas." This involves the
contemporary environmental problems under the fields of Climate Change
and ecosystem response, Long Range Transport of Pollutants and
Ozone/UV-radiation and biological effects in marine and terrestrial
environments. The main idea is to identify the challenges in
Arctic-Alpine Environmental Research along the main transport routes
from Europe to the Arctic. The conference invites the marine,
terrestrial and atmospheric environmental change research communities of
Europe to meet and present recent research results and to exchange
information about their research and monitoring activities. The
conference is multi-disciplinary in scope both in science and space, and
shall create new links and understanding across the disciplinary
boundaries and among European researchers and research infrastructures.
The conference will in this context also discuss the role of research
infrastructures in environmental change research and is used as a
meeting place to create new consortia and research proposals for the 6th
Framework Programme of the European Commission.
The meeting will be organized as a research conference over 6 days. It
will include general sessions with keynote and review talks, and
parallel sessions for the different disciplines. In order to establish
the genuine multi-disciplinary goals of the meeting, the parallel
sessions shall not exclude the objective of interdisciplinary exchange
among the various groups and sessions.
CONTACT AND FURTHER information:
If you wish to participate in the conference and receive the 2nd
Announcement, please contact the conference secretariat:
Ingrid Storhaug through email at ingrid.storhaug [at] npolar.no
or fax: +47/7775-0501
First Announcement is available in PDF-format (requires Adobe Acrobat
Reader) at the web site: