YEAR-ROUND OBSERVATORY AT SUMMIT, GREENLAND
A meeting with representatives from the NSF Arctic Sciences Section and
the Danish science community will take place during the Dec. AGU
regarding future year-round research opportunities at Summit, Greenland.
Date: Monday Dec. 8, 1997
Time: 5:15-6:30 p.m.
Place: MC 133 (following the Union session on the Greenland Ice Sheet)
Until this year the Greenland Summit site -- location of the GISP2
drilling activities and related geophysical and atmospheric studies --
was accessible for science only in summer. In June 1997, however, a
modular structure was built with laboratory space and living quarters
for four people. As part of the continuing atmospheric measurement
program related to further interpretation of the GISP2 and GRIP ice
cores, a team of four people are spending nine months at Summit
collecting samples and making measurements on the snow, firn and
atmosphere. If this first winter-over experiment is successful,
additional campaigns may be considered by NSF and European
Organizations.
This meeting is to inform the community of the possibilities for future
field work at Summit during the winter, and to solicit input on all
aspects of the program. It continues discussion initiated at a May
20-22, 1997 workshop held in Kangerlussuaq, Greenland. A follow-up
meeting is planned for February 26 and 27, 1998 in Copenhagen. Details
about this international meeting will also be given.
Danish, Greenlandic, other European and U.S. participants from several
disciplines, including glaciology, geology, geophysics, atmospheric
sciences and aeronomy took part in the Greenland workshop, and produced
a draft report and science plan for the Summit observatory. The report
is available on the Web at:
http://www.hwr.arizona.edu/~Alpine/Summit/titlepg.html.
We invite comments from the community on this draft, which aims to
establish the scientific rationale for winter-over research activities
at the Summit site. Please send comments on this draft to Roger Bales
(roger [at] hwr.arizona.edu).
We hope to see some of you at the meeting on Monday Dec 8. Whether or
not you are able to attend, don't hesitate to send your comments on the
draft.
Sincerely,
Thomas Pyle, Michael Ledbetter, and Odile de La Beaujardiere,
Arctic Sciences Section, National Science Foundation