Major Arctic Research Conference at University of Alberta
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More than a hundred leading Arctic researchers from Canada, the United States and Europe will gather in Edmonton this week for one of North America's major northern research conferences.
The 35th Annual International Arctic Workshop is hosted by Dr. John England, the NSERC Northern Chair at the U of A, the Canadian Circumpolar Institute (CCI) and the U of A's Department of Earth & Atmospheric Science.
From its origins as an informal annual meeting at the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research (INSTAAR) at the University of Colorado-Boulder, the Arctic Workshop has grown into an international meeting hosted by academic institutions worldwide.
"Canada has sovereignty over the largest area of tundra in the world, and has expansive northern marine coastlines and waters," says Dr. England. "So we are a major northern nation and the international community is interested in the scientific questions associated with that environment as well as the economic potential that it offers with its resources and potential transportation routes. "The north is also the homeland to our indigenous cultures that have a profound connection to the land and its resources.We ought to be prominent players on our own stage, and not simply bystanders watching other people discover what the Arctic has to offer."
Organised around dozens of posters and presentations covering both past and present Arctic and Antarctic environments, the workshop reflects the whole interdisciplinary spectrum of research in the circumpolar regions. This includes Arctic and Antarctic climate, archaeology, anthropology, environmental geochemistry, geomorphology, hydrology, glaciology, soils, ecology, zoology, biogeography, oceanography, meteorology and Quaternary history.
35th Annual International Arctic Workshop 2005
Wednesday, 9 March 2005; 5:00 p.m. to Saturday, 12 March 2005; 6:00 p.m.
Timms Centre for the Arts, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Get an overview of all the research being presented at the conference and schedule @ https://arcticworkshop.onware.ca:443/prothos/onware.x/conf/000000982/index.p?!=public=11097957385686=1=27357566
(Note: Use the abstracts button on the top to see abstracts.)
Contacts:
Dr. John England (780) 492-5673 or john.england@ualberta.ca
Story Ideas from the 35th Annual International Arctic Workshop 2005
Northern students head south to talk about north
Four students from northern colleges will be attending the 35th Annual International Arctic Workshop in what marks a increasing engagement between southern researchers and northern communities. The students are from Environmental Technology Programs at Aurora College in Inuvik and Nunavut Arctic College in Iqaluit.
"The involvement of northerners in Arctic research is a fundamental goal for both northern communities and southern university researchers," says Dr. England. "It is a central goal of my NSERC Northern Chair as well. This involvement is long overdue and the time is ripe to bridge the interests of northern students and their programs with the university scientists and their programs. In the past, these two groups remained at a distance and that is no longer acceptable."
Contact: Dr. John England (780) 492-5673 or john.england@ualberta.ca
Satellite views of Arctic "tan lines" document warming
University of Alberta Ph.D. student Gabe Wolken is using satellite imagery to measure the extent of snow and ice melt in the High Arctic since the end of the "Little Ice Age" in 1900. The satellite images are used to identify and map trimlines, lighter coloured areas that have minimal vegetation because they were recently covered with ice.
Wolken says the results of his NSERC-supported research are dramatic. "So much melt has occurred in certain parts of the High Arctic that some plateau ice caps are only a fraction of their Little Ice Age size by 1960, and by the end of the 20th century they'd completely melted."
Contact: Gabriel J. Wolken (780) 492-5673 or gwolken@ualberta.ca
After the Diamond Rush
How do you help jump-start tundra growth after large areas are disturbed for diamond mining? In the south mine reclamation is a well-established practise, however in the north the research is still in its infancy. University of Alberta renewable resources researcher Dr. Anne Naeth is at the forefront of efforts to establish the scientific basis for diamond mine-site restoration.
From 2000 to 2002 she conducted research at BHP’s Ekati mine on kimberlite tailings that were altered, or amended, to promote tundra plant growth. In 2004, the NSERC-supported scientist established research sites at the Diavik mine to further investigate plant establishment on amended gravel pads, kimberlite tailings and glacial till. Amendments tested include peat, sewage sludge, inorganic fertilizer, lake sediment and salvaged topsoil.
Contact: Dr. Anne Naeth (780) 492-9539 or anne.naeth@ualberta.ca