54th Annual Arctic Science Conference Highlights Extreme Events

Submitted by Carla Browning
Phone: (907) 474-7778
09/08/03

The 54th annual Arctic Science Conference will take place in Fairbanks at the Westmark Hotel Sept. 22-24, 2003 with registration and a reception Sept. 21. This year’s theme, inspired by the November 2002 magnitude 7.9 earthquake on the Denali Fault, is "Extreme Events: Understanding Perturbations to the Physical and Biological Environment."

Speakers and technical sessions will cover a broad range of unexpected events in the Arctic, from earthquakes and eruptions, to oil spills, fires, floods, nuclear events and rapid changes associated with global warming. Crises will also be considered from an anthropological perspective, and science education outreach will be discussed. A concluding technical session will discuss how science and public policy work together in mitigating disasters.

Special events include a public lecture by Dan O’Neill entitled "Nuclear Events: Real and Imagined" in the Westmark Gold Room Sept. 22 at 8 p.m. The Arctic Institute of North America will host a roundtable discussion Sept. 23 in the Westmark Gold Room at 8 p.m. This year’s topic is "Transportation in the Arctic and Beyond."

The annual meeting is sponsored by the Arctic Division of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. This year’s conference is hosted by the University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute.

CONTACT: Jennifer Risse, conference coordinator (907) 474-5365 or risse@giseis.alaska.edu or visit the website http://arctic.aaas.org for more information.