Date

Session Announcement and Call for Abstracts
Arctic2k: Assessment of Arctic Climate Records of the Last Two Millennia
and their Relevance for Future Warming
American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting
15-19 December 2008
San Francisco, California

Abstract Submission Deadline: 10 September 2008

For further information, please go to:
http://www.agu.org/meetings/fm08/?content=search&show=detail&sessid=429

Or contact the session convenors:
Nalan Koc
Email: Nalan.Koc [at] npolar.no

Caspar Ammann
Email: ammann [at] ucar.edu

Darrell Kaufman
Email: Darrell.kaufman [at] nau.edu

Pierre Francus
Email: pfrancus [at] ete.inrs.ca


Papers are invited for Session C30: Arctic2K: Assessment of Arctic
Climate Records of the Last Two Millennia and their Relevance for Future
Warming, being convened at the American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall
Meeting, to be held 15-19 December 2008, in San Francisco, California.

Session Description:
Summer sea ice retreat over the Arctic Basin has accelerated to record
levels and a complete loss of the warm season polar sea ice cover
appears possible in the not too distant future. Climate models used for
future climate change studies generally do not reproduce the magnitude
of this observed change. Because the anthropogenic climate change effect
comes superposed on natural climate variability, it is very hard to
accurately quantify their individual contributions. This session
explores how paleo records can inform the climate change community about
the sensitivity of the arctic climate in pre-industrial times. Through
detailed reconstructions of past changes, various paleoclimate archives
provide insight into the question of how polar amplification over the
past 1-2 millennia has affected this environment and how these natural
variations compare with the current trends. Session organizers encourage
contributions from the full range of high-resolution (annual to
multi-decadal) proxy archives, terrestrial as well as marine, to assess
and elucidate the timing and variability of arctic climate change during
the last two millennia. Central questions include:
- Was the 20th century warming of the Arctic unprecedented in the
last 2000 years?
- What is the multi-decade to century scale variability in arctic
climate?
- What portion of the Arctic-wide and regional temperature changes
during the last 2000 years is explained by changes in solar irradiance
and volcanic activity and what portion is related to internal
adjustments of the climate system?

For abstract submission procedures and instructions, please go to:
http://www.agu.org/meetings/fm08/?content=program

For session information, please go to:
http://www.agu.org/meetings/fm08/?content=search&show=detail&sessid=429

Or contact the session convenors:
Nalan Koc
Email: Nalan.Koc [at] npolar.no

Caspar Ammann
Email: ammann [at] ucar.edu

Darrell Kaufman
Email: Darrell.kaufman [at] nau.edu

Pierre Francus
Email: pfrancus [at] ete.inrs.ca