23 February 2023 |14:00 - 15:30 (GMT+1)
Open Session - HYBRID
Room: Audimax
IASC Medal Lecture 2023:
Towards a holistic understanding of the contemporary and future Arctic Ocean
Paul Wassmann (UiT The Arctic University of Norway)
The Arctic Ocean is forced by and interacts – fully integrated - with the global system. A full pan-Arctic scale is thus needed to comprehend this hitherto ice-covered ocean as amediterranean-type ocean which acts as a cap of the Northern Hemisphere. The development of adequate conceptual models to 1) create testable hypotheses, 2) plan and then modify field campaigns, 3) construct revised models, and 4) communicate is indispensable. However, for the time being this is constrained because of the limited understanding of most basic processes and uneven distribution of data. To grasp the pan-Arctic scale requires studying the underlying scales of its major components, by considering regionality, connectivity and seasonality; all that with the climate change perspective in mind. To obtain a holistic vision of the Arctic Ocean – needed more than ever to infer societal implications of climate change - a birds-view perspective and a broad brush is applied to promote scientific endeavors that are desperately needed to approach the future: international cooperation, an integrated understanding of the basic player and processes. In concert this creates the solid base for ecosystem management that is urgently needed.