Opel, Thomas

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Jacek Jania (University of Silesia, Katowice) focussed in hislecture Climatic signal filtered by glaciers. How Spitsbergenglaciers can reflect climate changes over centuries on glaciersas witnesses of climate change. He discussed the importanceof internal glacier dynamics on glacier extent and thicknesschanges often interpreted as signs of climate change based onseveral case studies from Svalbard and emphasized the neces-sity of distinguish dynamic signals from climate signals.In his talk Permafrost in transition: State and Fate ofPermafrost in Northern Hemisphere Vladimir Romanovskyfrom University of Alaska, Fairbanks, presented a comprehen-sive overview on the current state of permafrost research inEurasia and North America. It contained the development andhistory of permafrost, the reaction of permafrost on GlobalWarming, the effects of permafrost degradation on landscapes,infrastructure and society as well as the potential carbonrelease of thawing permafrost.The following talks and posters predominantly dealt with awide spectrum of Arctic climate and its variability in the lastdecades to millennia. Several talks and posters presentedresults from research at the Polish Polar Station at Hornsund(Svalbard), run by the Institute of Geophysics, Department ofPolar and Marine Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences.Nevertheless, three thematic priorities existed, first, meteoro-logical studies on Svalbard with talks on atmospheric circula-tion and precipitation types on Svalbard, second,paleoenvironmental studies on Svalbard with contributions onfjord sediments and glacier dynamics. The third focus was onhistorical climatology with talks and posters on early instru-mental meteorological observations in the Arctic, also one ofthe main research themes of the Department of Climatology,Institute of Geography of the Nicolaus Copernicus University,Torun´. 45The International Conference “Polar Climate and Environ-mental Change in the Last Millennium“ was organised by theDepartment of Climatology, Institute of Geography of theNicolaus Copernicus University, Torun´, together with thePolish Society of Geophysics, Pomorski Branch, and theCommittee on Polar Research, Polish Academy of Sciences. Itwas held from 01–03 February 2010 at the University Hotel ofthe Nicolaus Copernicus University Torun´. About 35 participants, predominantly from Poland but alsofrom several other European countries and the USA met inwintry and snowy Torun´, the birthplace of NicolausCopernicus, to discuss past, recent and future climate changesin the polar regions. After the opening address by the chair of the organisingcommittee, Rajmund Przybylak (Nicolaus Copernicus Univer-sity Torun´), the scientific program started with four key-notelectures on hot topics of polar climate research.Kevin Wood from University of Washington elaborated in hislecture North Atlantic climate variations since 1802 on thesurface temperature changes in the Sub-Arctic North Atlanticrealm with a special focus on a new temperature compilationfor this region based on different meteorological time seriesand the derived climatic insights. This new dataset is an impor-tant addition to single meteorological records. It enables abetter view on the highly dynamic climate in this key region,e.g. on the early 20th century warming, together with the recentArctic warming the most striking Arctic climate feature of thelast centuries. In the following talk on One hundred years of Norwegianmeteorological observations on Svalbard – What have welearned? Øyvind Nordli (Norwegian Meteorological Institute,Oslo) presented a new improved composite temperature seriesfrom Svalbard. He discussed this climate record and itstemporal and seasonal features compared to regional andArctic meteorological records. Furthermore, he related tempe-rature and precipitation time series to large-scale atmosphericpatterns and presented new data on Svalbard permafrosttemperatures, before finishing with a historical view onclimate research on Svalbard.____________1 Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research Potsdam, Telegrafenberg A 43,14473 Potsdam, Germany; <thomas.opel@awi.de>Polarforschung 80 (1), 45 – 46, 2010Report on the International Conference onPolar Climate and Environmental Change in the Last Millennium Torun´ (Poland)by Thomas OpelUmbruch  02.01.2011 17:33 Uhr  Seite 45The conference was greatly organized and took place in a veryfamiliar atmosphere, accompanied by nice social events. Thisworthwhile conference on one of the most important andactual topics of polar and climate research brought togetherscientists from different disciplines and opened possibilitiesfor fruitful discussions. It was an exellent opportunity to get anoverview on the Polish polar research and it would have haddeserved more participants.46Umbruch  02.01.2011 17:33 Uhr  Seite 46

Report on the International Conference on Polar Climate and Environmental Change in the Last Millenium, Torún (Poland)

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