ARM Shares Information at State of the Arctic Conference in… Miami?

 
Published: 31 March 2010

ARM user Eugene Clothiaux graciously agreed to be interviewed by St. Mark Catholic School 8th graders, who participated in the meeting's poster session.Representatives from the ARM Climate Research Facility joined over 430 students, scientists, and policymakers in Miami at the first State of the Arctic Conference from March 16–19. While sunny Florida may seem a strange backdrop to topics like historical and future perspectives on current Arctic warming, the changing carbon cycle of the Arctic, and the future of sea ice loss, the Miami Hyatt location was considered a “green” choice by meeting organizers for reducing attendees’ carbon travel footprints and being a recycle-friendly facility. Organized by the National Science Foundation’s Arctic Research Consortium of the U.S. (ARCUS) and sponsored by 14 additional agencies including ARM’s sponsor, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Biological and Environmental Research (OBER), the conference’s main goal was to review the understanding of the Arctic system in a time of rapid environmental change.

Similar to a science team meeting, the conference was arranged to include plenary sessions followed by parallel science sessions broken into four themes:

  1. Advances in Understanding the Arctic System, Including Human Dimension
  2. Arctic Change—Rapid, System-Scale Changes and the Capability to Project Future States of the Arctic System Under Various Scenarios
  3. Linkages to the Earth System—Linkages and Feedbacks Between the Arctic System and the Earth System
  4. Human Dimensions of Arctic Change—Translating Research into Solutions.

DOE's display table featured ARM's North Slope of Alaska site as well as an Arctic climate change movie and OBER handouts.Poster sessions with over 215 posters were held on two nights of the conference and were also structured by theme. During the poster session, ARM participated in the display table set up by DOE’s OBER. As one of DOE’s key participants in Arctic research, ARM’s North Slope of Alaska site was featured with the NSA Live Data kiosk, NSA field campaign backgrounders, education materials, and the 2008 and 2009 annual reports. ARM data were also highlighted in the Regional and Global Climate Modeling’s QuickTime movie to show animations of modeling results—a key draw to the display. Information materials were also provided for other DOE OBER divisions and programs, including Carbon Cycling and Biosequestration: Integrating Biology and Climate Through Systems Science. Poster participants expressed their enthusiasm for DOE’s participation and support.

For those who were unable to attend, live webcasts were provided and are now available in the Conference Archive.

During the Tuesday poster session, a special event was planned to demonstrate the importance of climate to the native Alaskan culture by showcasing the Inupiaq Dancers.