Date

Multiple AGU Fall Meeting Announcements

  1. International Arctic Science Committee Working Group
    Tuesday, 6 December 2011 at 1:30-2:30 p.m. PST
    Arctic Community Meeting Room
    San Francisco, California

  2. Distributed Biological Observatory Website and Open Meeting
    Thursday, 8 December 2011 at 8:30-9:30 a.m. PST
    Arctic Community Meeting Room
    San Francisco, California

  1. International Arctic Science Committee Working Group
    Tuesday, 6 December 2011 at 1:30-2:30 p.m. PST
    Arctic Community Meeting Room
    San Francisco, California

There will be an International Arctic Science Committee (IASC) Working
Group open information session at the American Geophysical Union (AGU)
Fall Meeting 2011. The meeting will be held on Tuesday, 6 December at
1:30-2:30 p.m. in the ARCUS Arctic Community Meeting Room, located on
the fourth floor of the San Francisco Marriott Marquis, Pacific Room J.

Members of the five IASC working groups (atmosphere, cryosphere, marine,
terrestrial, and social and human) will provide brief overviews on the
international activities of the working groups and answer questions.

For further information, please contact:
Jackie Grebmeier
Email: jgrebmei [at] umces.edu

  1. Distributed Biological Observatory Website and Open Meeting
    Thursday, 8 December 2011 at 8:30-9:30 a.m. PST
    Arctic Community Meeting Room
    San Francisco, California

To more systematically track the broad biological response to sea ice
retreat and associated environmental change, an international consortium
of scientists are developing a coordinated 'Distributed Biological
Observatory' (DBO) that includes selected biological measurements at
multiple trophic levels in the Pacific Arctic. These measurements are
being made simultaneously with hydrographic surveys and satellite
observations. The DBO currently focuses on five regional biological
"hotspot" locations along a latitudinal gradient. Hydrographic transects
were occupied from spring to fall in 2010 and 2011 during a pilot
program at two sites in the southern Chukchi Sea and Barrow Canyon, and
provide repeat collections of water parameters seasonally. This sampling
indicates freshening and warming as Pacific seawater transits northward
over the spring to fall season as sea ice retreats, with impacts on both
plankton and benthic prey bases for larger marine mammals and seabirds.

As the DBO moves to an implementation phase, the intent is to serve as a
change detection array for the identification and consistent monitoring
of biophysical responses. Further information on the DBO can be found at
the new website (http://www.arctic.noaa.gov/dbo/) and at the Pacific
Arctic Group website (http://iasc.arcticportal.org/).

There will be a DBO information session during the American Geophysical
Union (AGU) Fall Meeting in San Francisco, California, on Thursday, 8
December 2011 at 8:30-9:30 a.m. PST. The session will provide an update
on the international DBO 2010 and 2011 field program and future plans.
It will be held in the ARCUS Arctic Community Meeting Room, located on
the fourth floor of the San Francisco Marriott Marquis, Pacific Room J.

If you have questions, please contact:
Jackie Grebmeier
Email: jgrebmei [at] umces.edu