26 March 2024 | 09:20 - 09:30 (UK)
Open Session - HYBRID
Venue: Dynamic Earth
Chair: Henry Burgess (President, International Arctic Science Committee)
IASC Medals are awarded in recognition of exceptional and sustained contributions to the understanding of the Arctic. A maximum of one award is made each year, assuming that there is a nominee of appropriate quality. The award of medals is normally by the President of IASC during the Arctic Science Summit Week (ASSW) (or exceptionally at another major international meeting) following the ratification of the award.
IASC Medal 2024 Recipient:
- Dr. James Overland (Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, USA)
The International Arctic Science Committee (IASC) awards the 2024 IASC Medal to Dr. James Overland (Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, USA), for outstanding long-lasting achievements to improve interdisciplinary knowledge, particularly on the linkages between changes in the Arctic and the weather in mid-latitudes. As well as ensuring this information becomes widely available through his ability to present complex information in an accessible way and his critical role in the formation of the IASC Atmosphere Working Group.
Dr. Overland has been an active and world-leading contributor to Arctic research for more than 50 years. His early contributions in the 1970s and 1980s emphasized climate and sea ice variability in the Pacific sector of the Arctic. In the 1990s these contributions broadened to encompass impacts on Arctic marine ecosystems, including marine mammals. During the last decades, he has addressed pan-Arctic climate variations and trends and placed Arctic climate change into a global context with new knowledge on the Arctic Amplification and the Arctic-midlatitude linkages. Through his work on linkages, he has opened the eyes of politicians and the general public around the world to understand that what happens in the Arctic not only impact the Arctic system and its people, but that it has a huge impact on the rest of the world as well.
In addition to being an outstanding scientist, Dr. Overland has also provided outstanding service to the international community for many decades. He has been a lead author in both regional (e.g. SWIPA 2017) and global climate change assessment reports (e.g. IPCC AR5). He organized the IASC Atmospheric Working Group and served as a chair for six years. He also contributed to the initiation of MOSAiC, together with M. Tjernström (Sweden) and K. Dethloff (Germany), laying out the importance of multi-seasonal observations.
Through his excellent communication skills, he has brought scientific knowledge to broad audiences. His long-term dedication to the Arctic community and exceptional scientific work have provided significant inputs and will continue to contribute to understanding the Arctic in a global context through the legacy of his work.
IASC Award for Service Recipients:
- Prof. Dr. Markus Rex (Helmholtz Center for Polar and Marine Research, Alfred Wegener Institute, Bremerhaven and Potsdam and University of Potsdam, Germany)
- Dr. Matthew Shupe (University of Colorado and Physical Sciences Laboratory, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Boulder, USA)
- Prof. Dr. Klaus Dethloff (Helmholtz Center for Polar and Marine Research, Alfred Wegener Institute, Bremerhaven and Potsdam and University of Potsdam, Germany)
The Executive Committee of the International Arctic Science Committee (IASC) is delighted to present Prof. Dr. Markus Rex, Dr. Matthew Shupe and Prof. Dr. Klaus Dethloff with its Award for Service for outstanding achievements in planning and executing the unique international Arctic Ocean program Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate (MOSAiC) which is fundamental for our understanding of the Arctic and which will serve the international community with new data that was not previously possible to access.
Involving several hundred researchers from 20 nations, MOSAiC was the largest and most ambitious Arctic expedition ever undertaken. The mission and success of MOSAiC would not have been possible without the vision, leadership, and decade-long committed work of these three individuals. MOSAiC’s goal was to undertake the first full annual cycle of in-situ observations of properties, processes, and interactions between coupled aspects of the Arctic system. The expedition was centered on the comprehensively equipped Polarstern research icebreaker as the primary measurement platform, which drifted 3,400 km between September 2019 and October 2020. This expedition allowed an unprecedented comprehensive dataset to be obtained, providing the first observational constraint on many aspects of the coupled Arctic system, particularly during winter. These data will allow the international science community to address real grand challenges in our ability to predict and respond to the threat of climate change, both in the Arctic and more widely. As of October 2023, more than 90 scientific papers have been published as a result of the expedition and more are in the pipeline. The successful execution and completion of MOSAiC has produced an immense force for Arctic science globally. The expected legacy of the expedition will continue to grow over time.
The achievements of the three awardees in ensuring the realization and success of the MOSAiC programme, developed under the umbrella of IASC, are unparalleled in their contributions to Arctic science, international cooperation, and community leadership.