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SAON Agency Officials Meeting

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Overview

Date/Time: 
18 March 2010 - 1:00pm - 6:00pm
Date/Time: 
19 March 2010 - 8:00am - 12:00pm
Meeting Type: 
Closed
Description: 

A Sustaining Arctic Observing Networks (SAON) agency officials meeting, to be held 18-19 March 2010 as a side meeting at the State of the Arctic Conference, will provide a forum for an international, inter-agency discussion of the role of agencies in the development of SAON.

The objective of the meeting is to seek input from funding agencies on feasible mechanisms for harmonizing actions involving priority-setting, decision-making, and implementation regarding long-term observing activities in the Arctic. The meeting consists of a plenary session that is open to the public and break-out working group sessions that are by invitation only.

If you are interested in attending the plenary sessions, please click the register tab above.

For questions or additional information, please contact the co-chairs of the SAON Steering Group: John Calder (john [dot] calder [at] noaa [dot] gov) or David Hik (dhik [at] ualberta [dot] ca). You may also contact Odd Rogne at the SAON Secretariat (oddr [at] hotmail [dot] com).

Background

Setting the Stage: What are the Objectives of the Workshop and Why Should a Funding Agency Participate?

The vision of Sustaining Arctic Observing Networks (SAON) is to facilitate enhanced arctic long-term observing that will make data and information freely and openly available in a timely fashion to realize arctic and global value-added services and societal benefits. The need for enhanced observing capabilities has never been greater in the Arctic, where system-wide environmental change is occurring at a greater rate and magnitude than elsewhere on Earth. For example, the scientific community needs observations to support modeling for understanding and projecting change, and resource management and service agencies need observations and scientific findings to support their objectives and priorities. The purpose of this workshop is to provide a forum for an international, inter-agency discussion of the role of the agencies in the development of SAON.

Historically, most in situ observing activities in the Arctic are financed and/or conducted by a national government agency working alone, and by one or a small number of scientists working alone. The implementation of the International Polar Year encouraged a more international approach and many scientists responded by creating informal associations or networks to undertake scientific work that could not be accomplished individually. These voluntary partnerships have resulted in a number of pan-Arctic or regional research questions, data sets, and multidisciplinary investigations that will reveal new relationships between, for example, the physical environment and the arctic biosphere, and new ways of bringing information together, such as the SEARCH Sea Ice Outlook.

Creation of these voluntary partnerships required scientists to weave together resources from a variety of sources and participate in a variety of decision processes that were uncoordinated in time and had differing selection criteria. Naturally the outcomes were imperfect from a scientific perspective.

This workshop has the overall objective of seeking input from funding agencies on feasible mechanisms for harmonizing actions involving priority-setting, decision-making, and implementation regarding long-term observing activities in the Arctic. It is explicitly recognized that agencies have their own missions, accountabilities, and constraints, and that these are not easily altered. Yet, agencies do have some flexibilities and it is these that we wish to explore. Just as scientists have found new opportunities and strengths through increased partnering, it should be possible for agencies to do the same. All agencies have the goal of obtaining the best possible return on the resources they administer. This workshop could identify opportunities for agencies to obtain more value for the resources available and achieve outcomes not likely to emerge through continuation of current approaches. Specifically for long-term observing in the Arctic, there seems no alternative but a harmonized international approach to achieve the aims stated in several science plans and agency missions.

Agenda

The workshop will begin with a set of plenary talks to set the stage for the workshop and focus on examples of successful international collaborations that might serve as examples for SAON to consider.
Day 1 Thursday, 18 March 2010
1:00 p.m. Opening of the Workshop – David Hik and John Calder, SAON SG Co-Chairs
1:10 p.m. David Hik – History and organization of SAON and objectives of the workshop
1:30 p.m. John Calder – Review of key statements from previous SAON workshops
1:50 p.m. Nikolaj Bock – the European EIONET as a an example of a multi-national observing activity
2:10 p.m. Terry Callaghan – SCANNET, a circum-Arctic, multi-national observing network for terrestrial observations
2:30 p.m. Lars-Otto Reiersen – Examples of pan-Arctic data integration for AMAP's scientific assessments
2:50 p.m. Break
3:20 p.m. Paul Egerton – The EU PolarCLIMATE call for proposals, an example of multinational funding to support a common set of objectives
3:40 p.m. Louis Fortier – ArcticNet, a Canadian network of experts that partners with international opportunities and with industry and Inuit organizations.
4:00 p.m. Alexander Frolov – JCOMM: Elaboration of Integrated Marine Observing, Data Management and Services System
4:20 p.m. Divide into four breakout groups to focus on observations required for:
  • human health and well-being and economic development (Nymand-Larsen and Kruemmel);
  • oceans and marine resources (Joseph and Rogne);
  • land surface, land use, and terrestrial resource management (Callaghan and Hik); and
  • climate, weather, and extreme events (Calder and Reiersen).

Within each group, discussions are to focus on:

  1. Agency experiences with effective international collaboration
  2. Agency experiences with data management, including building data sets across agencies and across borders
  3. Agency experiences in supporting international observing networks
  4. Agency perspectives on potential value of increased partnering, data sharing, and integrated product preparation
6:00 p.m. Breakout groups conclude
Day 2 Friday, 19 March 2010
8:00 a.m. Plenary meeting to hear reports from four breakout groups
9:00 a.m. Charge to new breakout groups (only two)
9:15 a.m. New breakout groups convene with discussions focused on:
  1. Agency perspectives on feasible approaches for improving cross-border partnering regarding observational activities
  2. Agency perspectives on developing Arctic-wide data sets
  3. Agency views on near-term opportunities for partnering to improve sustainability of Arctic observing
  4. Agency views on the longer term approach
10:15 a.m. Break
11:30 a.m. Plenary to hear reports from second breakout groups
12:00 p.m. Concluding discussion
12:30 p.m. Workshop concludes
2:00 p.m. Breakout group chairs meet to review next steps

Contact

For clarification or additional information, please contact the co-chairs of the SAON Steering Group:

John Calder – john [dot] calder [at] noaa [dot] gov or

David Hik – dhik [at] ualberta [dot] ca or

Odd Rogne at the SAON Secretariat – oddr [at] hotmail [dot] com.

You may also visit the SAON website at www.arcticobserving.org.

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This work is supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) under the ARCUS Cooperative Agreement ARC-0618885. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of the NSF.