Past Events

We are please to announce that registration and abstract submission for our WAIS Workshop 2020 Virtual Science Sessions is now open. Sessions will take place during the weeks of September 21 and September 28. Multiple distributed, virtual science sessions will take place via Zoom during the weeks of September 21 and September 28. Each week, participants will be organized into groups of <15 participants, with up to 10 speakers who each give an 8 minute talk. Talks will be followed by a WAIS-style 20 minute discussion moderated by a session convener. The goal is that most participants will attend and present in two ~100-minute sessions scheduled at the convenience of the session participants during the designated week. All sessions will be recorded and posted on YouTube for future community consumption.

And don't forget to mark your calendars for WAIS community discussions covering race and racism in West Antarctic research and early-career impacts of CoViD-19 on October 6 and 7. More information about registration and discussion details will be announced in the coming weeks.

FP5 represents the continuing tradition of the conferences themed around glacial and ice patch archaeology begun in Bern in 2008. The schedule for the conference is described on the website: https://instaar.colorado.edu/meetings/frozenpasts5/program.html

We have a wonderful program lined up with leading tribal figures sharing plenary lunch presentations, in-conference field-trips, and a keynote address on the emergence of glacial and ice patch archaeology in the Mongolian Altai by Dr. William Taylor.

The SCAR COMNAP 2020 Local Organising Committee, in consultation with the SCAR and COMNAP Executive Committees have decided to cancel SCAR COMNAP 2020 in light of the global Coronavirus situation. The Committee has given due consideration to local Tasmanian and Australian health advice as well as the global response to the pandemic.

The Australian Antarctic Division, the State Government of Tasmania, and the Australian Academy of Science welcomes SCAR and COMNAP participants and Delegates to SCAR COMNAP 2020.

SCAR COMNAP 2020 will include a full program of meetings, symposia, side events and social events including the COMNAP Symposium, public SCAR lecture, and exhibition and poster sessions all structured to encourage SCAR and COMNAP attendee participation. It promises to be a world class event, capitalising on Hobart’s unique status as the gateway to East Antarctica and the home of Australia’s premier Antarctic institutions.

The SCAR Open Science Conference theme “Antarctic Science – Global Connections” recognises the significance of the scientific connections between Antarctica and the global system. It also reflects the strongly connected Antarctic science community and, in the spirit of the Antarctic Treaty system, the importance of collaboration in Antarctic science.

Based on current national/local guidance for the COVID-19 virus and the uncertainty of travel restrictions this summer for both Canada and the United States, the ESC Steering Committee has decided to postpone the 77th ESC Meeting scheduled for 9 - 11 June 2020, York University, Toronto, Canada.

The Committee explored other options including how to host the ESC as a virtual meeting; however, with resources dedicated across all Canada and US universities/colleges to “distance learning”, setting up such a meeting appeared to be an insurmountable challenge given our time constraints.

Our selected option is to postpone the 77th ESC Meeting until next year. We anticipate the ESC Meeting will be at the same host location (York University, Toronto, Canada) and approximately the same timing (early June 2021). The local organizing committee had put together a wonderful program, and we look forward to the rescheduled program next year. Please look for a meeting announcement around Fall 2020.

The 77^th Eastern Snow Conference (ESC) will be held at York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 9 – 11 June 2020. This meeting marks a return to Canada after a two-year hiatus, and a return to Toronto for the first time in a quarter of a century.

The scientific program is open to sessions on theoretical, experimental, remote sensing, modeling, and operational studies of snow, ice, and winter hydrology. We anticipate including sessions on a wide variety of snow and ice themes, including in situ observations of snow, radar measurement of snow, and high latitude snow processes. The ESC has only plenary (oral and poster viewing) sessions, allowing time to view and discuss the research of each participant. You are invited to submit an abstract for an oral or a poster presentation (please indicate type). An abstract of 250-300 words should be submitted by 31 March 2020 to the program chair: Dr. Krystopher Chutko krys.chutko@usask.ca

Students are encouraged to enter the ESC Student Paper Competitions. The winner of the best submitted student paper will receive the Wiesnet Medal and a $750 prize. The Campbell Scientific Canada Award (open only to Canadian students) of $500 will be awarded to the submitted paper demonstrating the most innovative use of technology in the gathering of data. In addition, the David Hewitt Miller Student Poster Award of $100 will be awarded to the best student poster.

To be considered for the Wiesnet and Campbell awards, please send an electronic copy of the paper with the supervisor's endorsement (separate email) to the Chair of the Research Committee (B. Forman), no later than 1 May 2020. Please consult the ESC web site for conditions and details. Dr. Barton Forman baforman@umd.edu

All papers, extended abstracts, or abstracts will be published in the 77^th Proceedings of the Eastern Snow Conference. Please consult the ESC web site for details on submission.

Conference information on registration and accommodations will be forthcoming and will be posted on the ESC website: https://www.easternsnow.org

Due to the coronavirus outbreak, the Organizing Committee has decided to postpone the XVII Glaciological Symposium scheduled for 26 – 29 May 2020, St. Petersburg, Russia. In the hope that the pandemic will have declined globally by autumn, we still plan for the second decade of November. More information will be posted on the symposium website and distributed when a clearer picture of the developments emerges.

We invite you to the XVII Glaciological Symposium "Role of Cryosphere in the past, present and future of the Earth” that will be held in Saint Petersburg, Russia, 26-29th May 2020. The meeting is organized by the Glaciological Association, the Institute of Geography of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute. Visit our website http://glac2020.igras.ru/ for further details and how to apply.

Registration and abstract submission deadline: February 15, 2020

After extensive deliberation and careful consideration, the Western Snow Conference has made the difficult decision to cancel the 88th annual meeting scheduled for April 20-23, 2020 due to health concerns associated with COVID-19.

Please join us on April 20-23, 2020 for the 88th annual meeting of the Western Snow Conference in Whistler, British Columbia, Canada. The conference venue offers the opportunity to interact with other professionals while enjoying the famous winter wonderland of Whistler.

You are invited to submit an abstract of 150 – 300 words for either an oral or poster presentation by January 31, 2020. Submit abstracts by filling out the online submission form at: https://forms.gle/wDS6rMqsfyzLdPsj7

The theme for the 2020 Western Snow Conference is "snow measurements and water management". Suggested topics for paper submissions include: snow measurements and data collection, snow data in hydrology operations, change in frequency of mid-winter snowmelt, extreme snow events, and snow melt timing. Other aspects of any cryosphere topic are always welcome.

The North Pacific Committee will compile a full agenda of oral and poster papers. In addition, a Monday short course is being planned which will focus on "Satellite remote sensing of snow and ice in British Columbia”. On Thursday, the technical tour will be "A Tour of Whistler Blackcomb Operations & Fitzsimmons Creek Power Plant ".

Hello all,
We are attempting to revive the Northeast Glaciology Meeting this spring.

Date: 20-22 April 2020 (Monday/Tuesday)
Location: University of Maine (Orono, ME USA).

All are welcome to this informal meeting- the format will likely follow that of prior years with a focus on student research, building collaborations and ideas, and discussing the future location(s) of the meeting. If you would like to continue receiving information on this event, please sign up at this link: https://forms.gle/VqQXw45voD4wGgwW7

Cheers,
Kristin Schild

Kristin M. Schild, PhD
Research Assistant Professor, University of Maine
Climate Change Institute & School of Earth and Climate Sciences

Please join us for an ice core session at the 36th International Geological Congress in Delhi (2-8th March 2020)

Abstract submission is free until 15th September.

Session 8.3 "Climate variability from ice cores - evidence from the three poles"

Ice cores provide a wealth of information about past climate and climate variability. Deep ice cores, drilled in Antarctica and Greenland, have shaped our understanding of millennial scale variability while shallower ice cores have focused on multi-decadal to centennial change. However, there is a growing number of ice cores, including the Himalayas, the Andes and the Apes that are increasing our understanding of regional climate variability over various timescales.

The aim of this symposium is to bring together researchers working on both polar and non-polar ice cores. We invite talks relating to climate variability over a range of time-scales, using geochemical and isotopic proxies from ice cores.

On behalf of the session convenors:
Liz Thomas (UK), Thamban Meloth (India), Mariusz Potocki (USA)

The 2020 Alpine Glaciology Meeting (AGM) will be hosted by the University of Milano in collaboration with the university of Milano-Bicocca and will be held in Milano, Italy. The meeting is an occasion for both young and more experienced researchers working on snow, glaciers, permafrost regions and glacial geomorphology not limited to the Alps to present their work in an informal context. We would like to especially encourage young researchers to present their work and both oral and poster presentations are welcome.

There is no registration fee to the meeting, but we recommend to book your accommodation in advance, since Milan is a beloved tourist destination all year round and more so because 27-28 February is also carnival holiday in Milan.

The meeting will be held in the Aula Magna of the University of Milano.

Time frame (will be updated as the meeting approaches)

• November 4th 2019: first conference announcement
• December 3rd 2019: first call for presentations and posters
• January 15th 2020: second call for presentations and posters
• February 5th 2020: deadline for registration and abstract submission

Objectives

Covering up to 49% of the total land surface in midwinter in the northern hemisphere, snow is a crucial component of the cryosphere. Snow plays a key role in our environnment, with social and economical implications such as the climate change, natural hazard, tourisms, etc. How does snow behave and interact with its surrounding largely depends on its microstructure, which varies widely from light dendritic snowflakes to small rounded grains or dense melt crusts for instance. Measuring and characterizing snow is therefore essential.

Great advances have been made over the past 15 years toward more quantitative, objective characterization of snow, allowing for a better, more physical description of the processes; they came along with new measurements techniques. These improved quantification methods of the snow cover must be spread to the cryosphere scientists community, and beyond, as beneficial to many applications in this field, e.g. hydrology, climatology, avalanche forecasting or earth observation from space.

The 6th Snow Science Winter School will teach these modern techniques of snow measurements. The school consists of a field training complemented by theoretical lessons. It includes the practice with some of the state-of-the-art snow measurement techniques (specific surface area by reflection and spectroscopy, near-infrared photography, high-resolution penetrometry, micro-tomography, etc). Students will learn about how to characterize snow cover, what are the fundamental processes responsible for its evolution, and how does it interacts with the environment. For this edition, a special focus will be on snow in a changing climate, impact on human and nature.