ART Initiation Workshop– Background
During the Winter of 2008-09 the Early Career Scientists sub-group of the marine Roundtable of the ICARP II produced a project proposal entitled Arctic in Rapid Transition.
The ART Initiative is a proposed integrative, multi-disciplinary, long-term pan-Arctic program to study changes and feedbacks with respect to physical characteristics and biogeochemical cycles of the Arctic Ocean and its biological productive capacity. ART will focus on integrating data on past and present transitional states of the Arctic Ocean that can be used synergistically with ongoing monitoring, observing and modeling efforts, to better assess future changes. Specific aims are to develop process-oriented perspectives on sea ice variability and biological productivity that merge knowledge on centennial through millennial timescales (acquired from geologic records) with decadal through seasonal variations (recorded in instrumental and observational records). An equally important aspect of ART is to help bridge processes and ecosystem responses on shelves, margins and the central Arctic Ocean, all of which are facing rapid transition. This knowledge is necessary to improve our ability to understand, predict and adapt to current and future Arctic transitions.
At the 2009 Arctic Science Summit Week in Bergen, the concept of the ART Initiative was formally presented to the Arctic Ocean Sciences Board (AOSB) and received with great enthusiasm. The AOSB expressed its strong support for the ART Initiative and in turn requested that the ICARP II Marine Group Roundtable and greater community develop a science and implementation plan for ART. The AOSB believes that in order to further the overall goals of the ART program, it is critical to develop the ART concept into a science plan with implementation and funding strategies for the plan.
A written workshop report (including an executive summary and specific recommendations for action) will be made available online and in printed format shortly after the close of the workshop. The results of the workshop will also be presented to the AOSB and IASC steering committees during the ASSW 2010 in Nuuk, Greenland. By April 2010, the full science and implementation plan will be made available on the IASC website and through various list servers for comment from the broader community.
The ART concept was well received by the AOSB. The next step is to host an ART Initiation Workshop in November 2009 to write a complete science and implementation plan for ART. For more information on ART, please see the ART powerpoint under "Meeting Reports."