Developing Arctic Modelling and Observing Capabilities for Long-term Environmental Studies

Objective

All state-of-the-art climate models predict that the perennial sea-ice of the Arctic Ocean will disappear within a few decades orless. Important questions remain as to wether this expectation is justified, and if so when this change will take place and what effect it will have on climate on a regional-to-global scale. Such a dramatic physical affront to the ocean-atmosphere-cryospheresystem in northern latitudes which corresponds to a change in surface albedo from more than 0.8 to less than 0.3 over a surface larger than Europe, is bound to have radical effects on human activities with immediate impacts on the indigenous inhabitants of the circum-Arctic region and the ecosystem on which they depend, and widespread effects on socio-economic activity on hemispheric scale.

We propose an Integrated Project for Developing Arctic Modelling and Observing Capabilities forLong-term Environmental Studies (DAMOCLES) with the following objectives:
* identify and understand the changes occurringin the Sea-Ice, Atmosphere and Ocean of the Arctic and Subarctic domain
* improve the realism by which these changes aresimulated in models, thus extending the lead-time prior to the onset of extreme climate events
* determine appropriate adaptation strategies for a range of anticipated socio-economic impacts following the disappearance of the perennial Sea-Ice

.At a time when the International Polar Year (IPY) will focus on the science of the polar regions and on the human dimension of polar change, DAMOCLES will provide a contribution to reflect both the skills of European Sciences and the importance to European interests.

DAMOCLES represents the integrated efforts of 48 research institutions including 10 SMEs distributed among 11 European countries, Russia and Belarus and coordinated with the USA, Russia, Canada and Japan.

Programme(s)

• FP6-SUSTDEV - Sustainable Development, Global Change and Ecosystems: thematic priority 6 under the Focusing and Integrating Community Research programme 2002-2006.

Topic(s)

• SUSTDEV-3.6.1 - Development of observing and forecasting systems

Call for proposal

FP6-2004-GLOBAL-3
See other projects for this call

Funding Scheme

Coordinator

Participants (48)