About the Conference

Conference Organization and Structure:

The conference will include talks by invited keynote speakers, oral presentations selected on the basis of submitted abstracts, poster presentations and short (3 minute) oral presentations of selected posters.

Topics and Registration

The Programme of selected oral and poster presentations address the following topics:

- results from observational, experimental and modelling studies of past, present and future ocean acidification,

- responses of marine organisms and ecosystem structure, functioning and biodiversity

- perturbations to biogeochemical cycling and feedbacks to the climate system, and

- the economic, social and policy challenges of ocean acidification.

The preliminary programme is available (see links above).

The Conference Registration is open, and additional participants are still welcome to register (see links above).

Who Should Attend

Scientists, climate scientists, social scientists, policy- and decision-makers concerned with environment, fisheries and management of marine ecosystems, stakeholders including northern residents and indigenous peoples, fisheries organizations, industry, etc.

Conference Costs

Conference attendance: 200 EUR

Conference attendance and Conference Dinner: 250 EUR

Some funding is available to support attendance of young scientitsts.

APECS Session

An APECS (Association of Polar Early Career Scientists) special joint session will arranged as part of the conference.

Venue for the Conference:

 


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Background

The Arctic Ocean is rapidly accumulating carbon dioxide owing to perturbations in the global carbon cycle and particularly to increases in
anthropogenic carbon concentrations. This is resulting in a decline in seawater pH, so-called ocean acidification. Increasing ocean acidification and warming of the ocean will cause changes in the ecological and biogeochemical coupling in the Arctic Ocean, influencing the Arctic marine ecosystem at all scales. Ocean acidification is expected to affect marine food chains and fish stocks and thus the commercial, subsistence, and recreational fisheries in the Arctic. There is a need for a better understanding of the nature and scope of these changes and of the resilience of the ecosystem to the changing carbon chemistry of the Arctic Ocean.

In addition, given the importance of the Arctic Ocean as a regulator of global climate, there is a need to understand the implications of the changing role of the Arctic on the global carbon cycle.

Over the past 20-30 years, our knowledge and understanding of the Arctic has expanded rapidly against the backdrop of concerns about climate change and pollution. The linkages between the Arctic and the rest of the world mean that Arctic science has come to play an increasingly prominent role in the public consciousness and the concerns of policy-makers. Key to these developments has been the cooperation on science in the post-Cold War era - initially between the Arctic countries and later extending to the global scientific community - that formed the basis for the establishment of internationally coordinated monitoring and assessment efforts that have provided vital information necessary for science-based decision-making.

Over the past 20 years, the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP) has played a central role in these developments. Established by the eight Arctic Countries in 1991, and now one of the groups serving the Arctic Council AMAP is charged with coordinating monitoring and performing scientific assessments of pollution and climate change issues in the circum Arctic area to document trends and effects in Arctic ecosystems and humans and identify possible actions for consideration by policy-makers.

AMAP has produced several highly-valued science based assessment reports over the years. At this conference AMAP will present the results of its new assessment of Arctic Ocean Acidification.

Co-Chairs

  • Richard Bellerby (Norway)
  • Kari Østervold Toft (Norway)
  • Lars-Otto Reiersen (AMAP)

Scientific Committee

  • Richard Bellerby (Norway)
  • Howard Browman (Norway)
  • Leif Anderson (Sweden)
  • Rashid Sumaila (Canada)
  • Robie Macdonald (Canada)
  • Kumiko Azetsu-Scott (Canada)
  • Sam Dupont (Sweden)
  • Jon Havenhand (Sweden)
  • Nathalie Hilmi (Centre Scientifique de Monaco / IAEA)
  • Lisa Miller (Canada)
  • Lisa Robbins (USA)
  • Jon Olafsson (ICES/Iceland)
  • Jon Pinnegar (ICES/United Kingdom)
  • Peter Croot (Ireland)
  • Pavel Tichenko (Russia)
  • Anna Silyakova (APECS)
  • Lars-Otto Reiersen (AMAP)

Organizing Committee

  • Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme:
  • Lars-Otto Reiersen
  • Jon Fuglestad
  • Simon Wilson
  • Inger Utne
  • Institute of Marine Research - Bergen:
  • Kari Østervold Toft
  • Norwegian Institute for Water Research:
  • Richard Bellerby
  • Scientific Committee for Oceanic Research (SCOR):
  • Ed Urban
  • APECS:
  • Alexey Pavlov

Conference Sponsors

Sponsor of side event