THE CHANGING ARCTIC AND SUB-ARCTIC ENVIRONMENT: A RESEARCH AND TRAINING PROGRAMME ON MARINE BIOTIC INDICATORS OF RECENT CLIMATE CHANGES IN THE HIGH LATITUDES OF THE NORTH ATLANTIC

Final Report Summary - CASE (THE CHANGING ARCTIC AND SUB-ARCTIC ENVIRONMENT: A RESEARCH AND TRAINING PROGRAMME ON MARINE BIOTIC INDICATORS OF RECENT CLIMATE CHANGES IN THE HIGH LATITUDES OF THE NORTH ATLANTIC)

CASE (the Changing Arctic and Subarctic Environment) is an Initial Training Network on marine environment and climate change funded by the European Commission within the 7th Framework Program People (see logo_appendix1.jpg).
This research and training programme (01.04.2010 – 31.03.2014) on recent climate changes in the high latitudes of the North Atlantic gathered 6 European academic institutions : the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique – UMR EPOC Université Bordeaux (France), the Geological Survey of Norway (NGU, Trondheim), the University of Tromsø (Norway), the University of Plymouth (UK), the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research – Kiel (Germany), STICHTING VU-VUmc - Amsterdam (The Netherlands), and 4 associated small and medium enterprises: Avaatech (The Netherlands), Akvaplan-niva (Norway), Geo-publishing (Norway), Iso-Analytical (UK).
CASE objectives were to provide 12 early-stage researchers with an experience-based training through cross disciplinary research projects addressing some of the key questions related to the present polar amplification of climate change:
• Is the present global warming and its amplification in the Arctic and Subarctic domains a unique event at the scale of the Earth recent history (last 10 000 years)?
• How do past decadal to centennial–scale natural climate changes, as recorded in marine sediments and ice cores, stand in the context of the present human-induced modulation of climate?
• How did Holocene variability in key physical elements affect the structure and diversity of the planktonic ecosystem in the Arctic and Subarctic domains?

CASE implemented a multidisciplinary and intersectorial training on biotic proxies and modelling of past marine environments in the form of generic, specialized and analytical courses, as well as workshops, meetings and open conferences.
CASE specific objectives were four fold:
- Assemble paleoclimate data for the Holocene through field programmes in the Nordic Seas,
- Integrate paleoclimate information with modern biological and climate modelling data,
- Train a new generation of European polar scientists,
- Develop a network of European experts in polar research to build structures focused on long-term collaboration in Arctic science.

CASE started as planned on April 1st, 2010, and was immediately followed (May, 2010) by a kick-of meeting hosted by the coordinating team in Bordeaux, France, where EC ITN rules, the project management structure, the science plan and the training programme were updated. The recruitment process was officially launched in spring-summer 2010 and resulted in the effective hiring of the 12 planned ESRs between September 2010 and January 2011. The 12 recruited ESRs (7 women and 5 men; 9 European nationalities) were immediately registered in PhD programs in their respective institutions.

Four CASE training events, in the form of generic, specialized and technical courses were organized as planned within the first period, the first event taking place in Bordeaux (February 2011) shortly after the last ESR recruitments. It was followed by a generic and scientific training course hosted by NGU (April 2011), a three week long training course at Tromsø University (July 2011) which offered the 12 ESRs a unique experience to participate in a marine geological cruise in the Greenland and Norwegian Sea onboard the U. Tromsø RV Helmer Hanssen, and a generic and technical course at VU University (January 2012). The second period saw the running of the two final training courses: a session hosted at U. Plymouth (June 2012) which included a generic course on "skills development", and a final training event at GEOMAR-Kiel in the form of a specialized course on isotope geochemistry (April 2013).
Three Associated Partners (SME) were formally involved in the running of these training courses. Formal progress meetings gathering both the scientists in charge and the ESRs took place synchronously with the Trondheim (first progress meeting), Amsterdam (mid-term progress meeting) and Kiel-hosted (final progress meeting) training events.

CASE was exceptionally well reviewed by the REA representatives at the occasion of the mid-term meeting (VU Amsterdam, January 2012). Besides congratulating CASE on the successful recruitment process, the fulfilling of the training objectives, as well as on the management structure, the REA expressed its satisfaction on the important progresses made by the ESRs in their respective research projects. An extended report of the mid-term review is provided at : http://caseitn.epoc.u-bordeaux1.fr/index.php/past-meetings-reader/items/mid-term-progress-meeting-amsterdam.html

Notable successes can be summarized as follows:
- Field programs: (i) successful sharing of existing sediment material available within partner institutions (U. Tromsø, NGU, GEOMAR, EPOC, Plymouth); (ii) collection of new material: CASE ESRs participated in extensive open-sea or coastal field programs on board RV Seisma (April 2011, Feb. 2012, Trondheimsfjorden), RV Polarstern (June-July, 2011, Fram Strait), RV Helmer Hanssen (July, 2011, Fram Strait and Greenland Sea).
- Secondments, and sharing of instrument facilities hosted at partner institutions, leading to active cooperation on research projects dealing with the oceanographic and climate history of the three main working areas (Fram Strait, Barents Sea, and the coastal area of mid-northern Norway).
- Dissemination of ESRs and PIs results through >20 peer-reviewed publications in high impact factor journals, and >45 presentations in international workshops and conferences.
- Organisation of two international Open Conferences: a CASE-sponsored session ("Inter-Ocean Gateways") convened by K.Husum (U. Tromso) as part of the April 2012 Annual Meeting of the European Geoscience Union; a final international conference ("The Changing Arctic and Subarctic Environment: Proxy and Model-Based reconstructions") convened by J. Giraudeau (CNRS) in Bordeaux, 4-6 Feb., 2014 (http://caseconf.epoc.u-bordeaux1.fr/) which gathered ca. 70 scientists from 11 nationalities and 23 institutions.
- Edition of a Special Issue of the International EGU journal "Climate of the Past" (http://www.clim-past.net/special_issue60.html). All original papers included into this special issue are co-authored by members of the 6 CASE partner institutions as well as by actively collaborating research groups.

Among important scientific breakthroughs are:
• The first organic, inorganic and stable isotope mapping of surface sediments in the Trondheimsfjorden with implication on the modern signature (and discrimination) of hydro-climatic and anthropogenic impacts.
• The construction of an extensive historical and Holocene micropaleontological and stable isotope database characterizing surface, intermediate and bottom circulation along the path of the northward flowing Atlantic-derived waters to the Arctic.
• A new calibration for sea-ice and phytoplankton biomarkers with implication for modern signature in the Nordic Seas region.
• Historic surface water productivity changes in the Barents Sea.
• Transient paleoclimatic simulation of the Holocene variability in freshwater budget of the Arctic Ocean, and impact of Greenland ice-sheet melting on the spatio-temporal response of past warm periods of the Holocene.

Details of CASE events and dissemination actions can be found at http://caseitn.epoc.u-bordeaux1.fr
The CASE coordinating team can be reached at: j.giraudeau@epoc.u-bordeaux1.fr (coordinator)

Final Report Summary - CASE (THE CHANGING ARCTIC AND SUB-ARCTIC ENVIRONMENT: A RESEARCH AND TRAINING PROGRAMME ON MARINE BIOTIC INDICATORS OF RECENT CLIMATE CHANGES IN THE HIGH LATITUDES OF THE NORTH ATLANTIC)

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