Circumpolar Health: The Future of Behavioral and Neuroscience Research

Chair:
Abel Bult-Ito
474-7158, ffab@uaf.edu

Circumpolar health is an integral part of this year?s overarching theme of extreme events and their consequences. People in the Arctic live with very large light-dark cycle variation and extremely low temperatures on a daily basis, which poses unique challenges upon their health. In addition, changes in diet over the last few decades have caused astonishing increases in obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease, while increased pollution in the arctic environment may have consequences for  traditional food resources. This session will explore circumpolar health related research that includes human clinical and epidemiological studies, as well as basic research in the behavioral and neuroscience fields. 
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Severe Weather and Climate Change

Chair:
John Walsh
474-2773, jwalsh@iarc.uaf.edu

Severe weather events, such as floods, strong winds, extreme heat and cold, and heavy snow, have important consequences for Arctic residents. It is possible and even likely that the frequency, intensity Technical Sessions and locations of these events will change as climate changes. This session will address severe weather events in the Arctic from various perspectives, including the prediction of such events; the warning and response system; human and economic impacts of severe weather; and, the ways in which severe weather and its impacts can be expected to change as climate varies over the coming decades, whether or not the climate variations are a result of greenhouse forcing. Of particular interest is the likelihood that repeated or temporally proximate occurrences of a particular type of extreme weather will have cumulative effects greater than a series of more widely spaced occurrences of the same type of extreme event. BACK TO INDEX

Oceanographic Events and Dynamics

Chair:
Jennifer Reynolds
474-6933, jreynolds@guru.uaf.edu

In keeping with the theme of the 2003 meeting, this session will focus on major oceanographic events and departures from steady state in the high-latitude oceans. Such topics may include: contamination/pollution of marine ecosystems; shifts in current regime or sea ice cover and distribution as a result of global warming; submarine gas hydrate decomposition and destabilization of the seabed; and, submarine landslides and tsunamis. We also welcome presentations of research on the more general topics of the history and dynamics of the high-latitude oceans and ocean basins. 
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Public Policy:
Science in Disaster Mitigation

Chairs:
Craig Dorman and John Eichelberger
474-5530, eich@gi.alaska.edu

A responsibility of government is to prevent, mitigate, and/or repair the damage from extreme
events that impact all of society. Scientists have the ability to anticipate the unexpected?the hundred or thousand or even million-year event and to understand the processes involved. As such, they have a vital role to play in the development of public policy and in the design of programs for monitoring and
response. In this session, we will examine examples of how science and government work together to provide for the public welfare during extreme events. BACK TO INDEX

Cold Regions Engineering

Chair:
Debendra Das
474-6094, ffdkd@uaf.edu

The scope of the session on Cold Regions Engineering is broad. Abstracts in all areas of engineering are solicited. As engineering solutions from other regions may also be suitable for cold regions, we encourage presentation of research topics from all regions and also from all branches of engineering. Both theoretical and experimental studies are welcome. We hope to make this session complementary by combining basic and applied engineering research findings. Therefore we invite papers on fundamental research from academia and research labs and real-world engineering solutions from industries.
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Extreme Events: Glaciology

Chairs:
Roman Motyka
586-1994, jrfjm@uas.alaska.edu

Martin Truffer
474-5359, truffer@gi.alaska.edu

In keeping with the theme of the 54th AAAS Arctic Science Conference, we invite papers on any aspect of extreme events in glaciology including descriptions, physical processes and social consequences, plus other papers on glaciers and glaciology of general interest to the scientific community. Suggested areas of interest include the Hubbard Glacier closure of Russell Fjord, glacier outburst floods, snow avalanches, changes in sea-ice cover, calving glaciers and iceberg hazards, volcano-glacier interactions, effects of glacier mass balance on sea-level changes, and glacier rebound and its relationship to regional seismicity and volcanism.
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Marine Biology Session

Chair:
Katrin Iken
474-5392, iken@ims.uaf.edu

The Marine Biology session covers all topics in marine biology, biological oceanography and fisheries from Alaskan waters, the Bering and Chuckchi Seas and the Arctic Ocean. Special focus is on those contributions that address major ecosystem changes, such as: effects of climate change; effects of increased UV-B radiation; effects of natural climate oscillations; shifts in trophic relationships; variability in production; shifts in biogeographic ranges; and, endangered species. Other topics are the effects of disturbance - including natural physical or biological disturbance, and disturbance through sudden catastrophic events in marine biological systems - e.g. human impact, such as oil spills, mining or logging activities. BACK TO INDEX

Terrestrial Plant Biology

Chair:
Christa Mulder
474-7152, ffcpm2@uaf.edu

This session is open to any oral or poster presentation on biology and ecology of northern plants and their interactions with other trophic levels. Topics of particular interest include: interactions between vegetation and global climate change; invasive plant species in Alaska or Canada; and, presentations related to the main theme of the conference-large or catastrophic events.
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Large Scale Human Created
Environmental Events

Chairs:
Douglas Dasher
451-2172, doug_dasher@dec.state.ak.us 

John Kelley
474-5585, ffjjk@uaf.edu

Environmental systems over the long-term are dynamic, but within the perspective of a human lifetime they are often considered steady state. Even within this perspective however, mankind has the ability to accelerate changes in the biological and physical environment. This session will provide an opportunity to take retrospective and perspective looks at what effects events, such as oil spills, nuclear power plant accidents, increasing UV expo-sure, persistent organic pollutants, global warming, and new diseases mean for the Arctic. We invite papers on all aspects of the role of anthropogenic events in changing or modifying environ-mental systems. A special focus will be placed on the large underground nuclear tests conducted at Amchitka Island and the possible fate of radionuclides in this dynamic tectonic environment. BACK TO INDEX

The October - November 2002 Earthquake
Sequence on the Denali Fault, Alaska

Chairs:
Jeff Freymueller
474-7286, jeff@giseis.alaska.edu

Patty Craw
451-5009, patty@dnr.state.ak.us

The November 2002 Denali fault earthquake was the largest on-land strike-slip earthquake in the US since 1857, and one of the most exciting geophysical events in Alaska in many years. The November 3rd Mw 7.9 earthquake was preceded by an Mw 6.7 earth-quake to the west ten days earlier, and it was followed by thousands of aftershocks. The earthquake caused significant damage to highways and villages in the Alaska Range, and had a significant impact on the small communities along the fault.
This session will present highlights of investigations into the geological, geophysical, engineering, social and economic impacts of the earthquake sequence, and the present state of knowledge about the Denali fault system. 
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Focusing Science Education Outreach

Chair:
Daniel Solie
474-7604, ffdjs@uaf.edu

The need to improve scientific acuity and under-standing at all levels in 21st Century society, from K-12 to adults, is clear?how to do it is not. In Alaska and throughout the Arctic, this task presents unique challenges, as well as opportunities. To effectively capitalize on the opportunities and move toward overcoming the challenges with the resources available, presentations and posters addressing the following four potential actions are called for: 1.
Awareness and coordination among the many diverse education outreach efforts. 2. A more active use of university resources and scientific expertise, especially in rural areas. 3. Major terrestrial events as ?Teachable Moments.? 4. Dealing with reality:
shrinking budgets, logistical challenges and cultural differences. What do teachers and students really need? To compare and distill the day?s presentations, the last session will end with a roundtable discussion with ?attainable goals and how best to get there,? as a starting point. BACK TO INDEX

The Anthropology of Extreme Events

Chair:
Peter Schweitzer
474-5015, ffpps@uaf.edu

Humans have had to deal with ecological and social catastrophes since appearing on the face of the earth. This session proposes to focus on the short-term and long-term responses by individuals and groups to extreme events, primarily in the circum-polar North. These events may include natural disasters, such as volcanic eruptions or earthquakes, as well as social catastrophes ranging from war and disease to revolutions and famine. At the same time, the questions as to who defines an ?extreme event? will be addressed, whereby particular attention will be given to local interpretations. This session invites contributions from all sub-fields of anthropology, as well as from neighboring social science disciplines. BACK TO INDEX