Expressions of Intent for IPY 2007-2008 Activities

Expression of Interest Details

PROPOSAL INFORMATION

NorthernMost  (NorthernMost)

Outline
Greenland’s northern coast towards the Arctic Ocean is the world’s northernmost land. Owing to its inaccessibility it has been only sporadically investigated, mostly during sledge expeditions when snow covered the ground. Our project aims at investigating these remote coasts fjords and the adjacent shelf, - focusing on two topics: The Late Quaternary climate and glaciation history, and the history of the most northerly human habitation.The glaciation history poses the interesting problem of possible ice shelf formation on the Arctic Ocean shelf adjacent to Greenland. Ice shelves, i.e. ice sheets grounded on the shelf, but fed by glaciers on land, play an important role in climate change. They interact with the inland ice sheet, glaciers and ice streams which flow into them, and with the sea into which they eventually melt, either directly or as icebergs. This has been actualized by the ongoing diminution of Antarctic ice shelves and launching of huge icebergs into the ocean. Earlier reconnaissance fieldwork on the North Greenland coast indicated that an ice shelf moved eastwards along the coast, probably during the last glacial maximum. Also, recent seismic results from the adjacent Lomonosov Ridge indicate that an ice shelf possibly was grounded up to more than 300 km from the Greenland coast. From this sketchy and poorly dated evidence there is a possibility that large ice shelves, fed from the Greenland Inland Ice, played a role in global change. Ruins from Greenland’s earliest inhabitants, the Independence I culture (4500-3900 BP), have been observed at one locality on Greenland’s north coast. This shows that people have lived on, or at least traveled along this barren shore. A precondition for traveling along the coast is probably presence of sea ice, which nowadays lies almost permanently along the shore. We propose to find and investigate new archaeological traces of these immigrants, analyzing also the record of such environmental factors as sea ice - helping to understand how people could survive in a hostile environment with 5 months polar night.The work, both onshore and offshore, requires costly logistic platforms and this project is firmly embedded in three other major IPY propoasals: APEX (Arctic Palaeoclimate and its Extremes), “Migrations and settlement patterns in Greenland”. and CAMPARI. The project will utilize the methods and expertise acquired during the 1995-2004 ESF QUEEN project.

What significant advance(s) in relation to the IPY themes and targets can be anticipated from this project?
Major targets for this project lies in the natural and social science research, and training young researchers in understanding the high Arctic environment within in a multidisciplinary and multi-nationality field group. Thus, this would make significant advances concerning the IPY defined themes 1 to 3. We will investigate hitherto unknown polar marine and terrestrial environments of the Arctic (Theme 4). An improved understanding of the palaeoclimate and its extremes are important to improve and test prognostic climatic models which are used to predict conditions for palaeoeskimo cultures’ survival under hostile conditions (Theme 6).

What international collaboration is involved in this project?
International cooperation is prerequisite for work in this remote area. This project is a subsidiary of the proposed IPY, APEX project, building on an established international network and routines, and with participation from eight European countries. We plan collaboration in training, field work, laboratory analyses, and securing grants and publication.

FIELD ACTIVITY DETAILS

Geographical location(s) for the proposed field activities:
The geographical area of this project comprises the Arctic Ocean adjacent to North Greenland, and coasts as far south as 82°N

Approximate timeframe(s) for proposed field activities:
Arctic: mm/07-mm/09            
Antarctic: n/a

Significant facilities will be required for this project:
Work on land requires transportation by fixedwing planes into the area, preferably from Longyearbyen, Svalbard. Offshore work requires major ice breaking research ships. Both platforms will be achieved from the APEX project, while seismic reflection studies from sea ice will be performed by the Univerusty of Bergen

Will the project leave a legacy of infrastructure?
The project will continue beyond IPY as a European Science Foundation initiative committed to the promotion of international research in polar regions, using a the model previously advocated by PONAM and QUEEN. The infrastructure legacy will include intellectual advances, institutional collaboration, and training of the next generation of polar scientists.

How is it envisaged that the required logistic support will be secured?

Further details APEX is a proposed umbrella programme for the integration of Arctic palaeoclimate research during IPY. The required field logistics for the participating individual APEX projects will be addressed in their respective “Expression of Intent”.

Has the project been "endorsed" at a national or international level?
This expression of intent has simultaneously been submitted with APEX, IPY proposal.

PROJECT MANAGEMENT AND STRUCTURE

Is the project a short-term expansion (over the IPY 2007-2008 timeframe) of an existing plan, programme or initiative or is it a new autonomous proposal?
YES
Further details This project is part of APEX, which is an initiative for a new ESF programme which is planned to run over the usual 5 yr term of ESF programmes and thus beyond IPY. It is also part of the IPY project “Migrations and settlement patterns” and CAMPARI.

How will the project be organised and managed?
NorthernMost will be managed as a subsidiary of the APEX project and its Steering Committee. Managing representatives for NorthernMost are: Claus Andreasen (Archaeology) Svend Funder, Lead contact (Terrestrial geology) Kurt H, Kjær, APEX steering committee member (Terrestrial geology)Paul Knutz (paleoceanography/marine geology)Antoon Kuijpers (Marine geology)Naja Mikkelsen (Marine geology)APEX will organize workshops and publications in special volumes of peer-reviewed journals. The administrative work will mainly be carried out by the APEX chairman and an appointed secretary.

What are the initial plans of the project for addressing the education, outreach and communication issues outlined in the Framework document?
A web-page associated with APEX will be hosted at Stockholm University; synthesized results will be assembled as maps and computer visualizations and made available through this web site. We anticipate that a large number of master and PhD students will be recruited to work on APEX defined scientific challenges.

What are the initial plans of the project to address data management issues (as outlined in the Framework document)?
The initial plans for data management include the use of the PANGEA database hosted at the University of Bremen.

How is it proposed to fund the project?
An APEX proposal will be submitted to the European Science Foundation (ESF). The NorthernMost will be funded through national or cross-national funding agencies. APEX will seek to provide funding for APEX meetings, workshops, publications in special volumes, and outreach.

Is there additional information you wish to provide?
None

PROPOSER DETAILS

Associate Professor Svend Funder
Geological Museum, University of Copenhagen
Øster Voldgade 5-7
DK-1350 Copenhagen K
Denmark

Tel: +45 3532 2363
Mobile:
Fax: +45 3532 2325
Email:

Other project members and their affiliation

Other Information