An International Workshop to Define Research Priorities for Russian Arctic Land Shelf Interactions

本项目是一个研讨会，是对北极系统科学计划的贡献。它将在伯德极地研究中心举行，在那里将确定与俄罗斯北极大陆架和邻近低地的过程和环境变化有关的关键科学问题。共有35名参与者，涵盖生物、地球和社会科学的一系列学科，将被邀请制定科学优先事项。本次研讨会将侧重于定义跨学科和环北极研究主题，以阐明陆地/大陆架相互作用。提出了一个广泛的专题、时间和空间框架，以吸引广泛的科学家群体，并确定最引人注目的研究思想。如果不更好地了解俄罗斯北极及其邻近低地的陆架海的过程和环境，就无法充分解决气候变化的方向和机制问题。以大西洋、太平洋和北冰洋为界的大陆架海占海洋陆架面积的25%，并调节关键的气候参数，如海洋热量交换、大气气体、海冰和淡水输入。西伯利亚过去冰川的成因、规模和时间，以及随之而来的海冰、植被、河流流量和动物迁徙的变化，仍然存在很大的不确定性。目前许多与陆地/北冰洋相互作用有关的问题也需要进行评估。这是一项“从头开始”的努力，旨在评估美国科学界对俄罗斯北极地区研究的优先感。讲习班是将北美学术与在这些问题上有几十年经验的俄罗斯同事的学术结合起来的重要一步。研究优先事项的共识将为ARCSS提出俄罗斯北极科学维度提供概念核心。

ABSTRACT This project is a workshop and is a contribution to the Arctic System Science Program. It will be held at the Byrd Polar Research Center where key scientific questions related to processes and environmental change in the Russian Arctic continental shelves and adjacent lowlands will be defined. A total of 35 participants, covering a range of disciplines in the bio-, geo- and social sciences will be invited to formulate scientific priorities. This workshop will focus on defining interdisciplinary and circumarctic research themes that would elucidate land/shelf interactions. A broad topical, temporal and spatial framework for the workshop is proposed to attract a wide group of scientists and identify the most compelling research ideas. The direction and mechanisms of climate change cannot be adequately addressed without a better understanding of processes and environments of the shelf seas of the Russian Arctic and the adjacent lowlands. Epicontinental shelf seas bounded by the Atlantic, Pacific and Arctic Oceans comprise 25% of the shelf area of oceans and modulate key climatic parameters such as the exchange of oceanic heat, atmospheric gases, sea-ice and fresh water input. Large uncertainties remain on the cause, magnitude and timing of past glaciations in Siberia and concomitant changes in sea- ice, vegetation, fluvial discharge and animal migrations. Many present day issues relating to land/Arctic Ocean interactions also need to be evaluated. This is a "ground up" effort to assess the American scientific community's sense of priorities for research in the Russian Arctic. The workshop is an important step for the integration of North American scholarship with that of Russian colleagues who have decades of experience on these problems. The consensus of research priorities will provide a conceptual nucleus for proposing a Russian Arctic Science dimension for ARCSS.