Date

Session Announcement and Call for Abstracts
"Coastal Environments as a Link Between Land and Sea in the Arctic"
Arctic Science Summit Week (ASSW) 2009
Bergen, Norway
23-28 March 2009

Abstract Submission Deadline: Monday, 15 December 2008

For further information, please visit the website:
http://www.imr.no/assw2009


For the first time, the Arctic Science Summit Week (ASSW) will include
not only annual meetings of the arctic organizations, but also an
exciting international science symposium. The symposium will take place
24-26 March 2009. Annual meetings are scheduled to take place 22-23 and
27-28 March 2009. Abstracts are now being accepted for the session
"Coastal Environments as a Link Between Land and Sea in the Arctic." The
deadline for abstract submission is Monday, 15 December 2008.

Session Description:
The coastal zone features some of the most dramatic changes occurring in
the Arctic. Decreasing sea ice cover, destabilization of permafrost
systems and increased exposure of the coast to storms lead to the rapid
rearrangement of already dynamic systems at the land-sea interface.
Changes include both changing environmental conditions, bearing threats
and options for human welfare and biodiversity, as well as new forms of
land and sea use such as enhanced access to resource extraction, or the
increasing ship traffic along the coast. Despite the obvious linkages
between terrestrial, atmospheric, marine environments, and society
occurring around the arctic coastline, connections between these
branches of science are scarce.

The session therefore provides a forum for discussions of recent
developments in the study of physical, biological and human dynamics
along polar coasts, in the near-shore zone, on the shelf, and in the
backshore area. The session encourages submissions integrating several
disciplines over the entire coastal tract: investigation of material and
energy exchanges at the land-ocean interface driven by near-shore and
offshore currents, tides, and surface and internal waves, as well as
ecological, socio-economic, biogeochemical, and zoological studies
centered around the coastal environment. Submissions on subaerial and
subsea permafrost occurrence and evolution in the coastal zone are also
welcome. The abstract submission deadline for this and all other
sessions is Monday, 15 December 2008.

For further information on the details on the scope of this session,
please go to: http://www.imr.no/assw2009/sessions/coastal_environments

Or contact the session conveners:
Hugues Lantuit
Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Germany
Email: Hugues.Lantuit [at] awi.de

Pier Paul Overduin
Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Germany
Email: Paul.Overduin [at] awi.de

Karen Frey
Graduate School of Geography, Clark University
Email: kfrey [at] clarku.edu