The Arctic Science Summit Week (ASSW) and Arctic Observing Summit (AOS) was hosted at the University of Edinburgh Scotland on March 22nd-29th. ASSW consisted of numerous side meetings and fruitful discussions, followed by three jam-packed Arctic Observing Summit days where each of the 4 working groups produced recommendations on how the community can improve observations in the Arctic. The following are high-level recaps from these meetings.
The long anticipated ICARP IV will be coinciding with ASSW next year in Boulder, Colorado, USA. This year at the ASSW momentous progress has been made in regards to the ICARP planning and steering groups – with announcements and meetings beginning with the Research Interest Groups. The aim of these research priority teams are to Arctic researchers, policy makers, residents and stakeholders from around the world to collegially discuss the state of Arctic science, the place the Arctic occupies in global affairs and systems, to consider the most urgent knowledge gaps and research priorities that lie before us and to explore avenues to address these research needs. Learn more about ICARP IV developments and/or get involved at their website.
Building off of the momentum from the previous AOS’ and ASSW, this year’s Arctic Observing Summit was well attended and engaging. There were four working group sessions who had varying objectives throughout the three days of sessions. Our own WDS-ITO was a co-chair for WG2: Data Sharing where they delved into data sharing through the lens of Indigenous data sovereignty, the challenges of the observing programs in producing actionable data that is relevant and useful to Indigenous peoples, organizations, and communities as well as other entities at local and regional scales. The group also discussed how these programs should be designed and how data can be shared in ways that generate meaningful action with collaborating organizations, support Indigenous data governance and reflect Indigenous priorities.
Finally, capping off the successes of ASSW & AOS, our own Chantelle Verhey participated on a panel of the “Launch of the EU-PolarNet2 White Paper with recommendations to accelerate the development of a sustained and fully integrated Polar observing system” session. The panel discussed how the PolarNet2 paper aims to co-develop and advance the European polar research actions, and to give evidence-based advice to policy making processes. It is composed of 25 European Member States and Associated Countries with polar research expertise and infrastructures. The white paper can be read at the link above.
To read more about the detailed outcomes from AOS, keep an eye out for the final event report in the coming months!