A short post for a long day
I am going to keep this post short. Although I could probably say quite a lot about what I learned today, I simply do not have the energy! It has been a pretty long day, and I’m ready to get some sleep. Thankfully, I took some pretty good notes that I will plan to revisit, and perhaps write more about in a future post.
Today started with the 2nd Biennial Greenland Marine Research Seminar. It included talks on topics such as algae and marine food webs, upcoming research expeditions, and monitoring programs. The talk that stands out most in my mind was about the cruise ship industry in Greenland, which has exploded in size over recent years. I am rather interested in the idea of tracking such cruise ships, which can range in size from holding tens of tourists to thousands. In addition to talks, the seminar included a productive plenary discussion among participants, and plenty of opportunities for networking during breaks.
The seminar provided lunch, and then I headed off for a stakeholder meeting about the EU-funded ICELINK project. The meeting was focused on seeking input from community members on what information observation-driven climate/ice sheet models might be able to provide when tuned for specific purposes on local/regional scales. For example, there were representatives from Greenland’s postal and telecommunications company, Tusass, who were interested in 5-10 year projections on conditions that lead to icing on their communication towers. These towers provide a vital link to remote communitites in Greenland, and some of them are becoming more prone to icing events that are leading the company to consider new approaches to combat icing that leads to a degradation in service. Another group of stakeholders were working in the hydropower industry and were interested in how the project could use models to determine possible hydropower capacity in Greenland in the future.
After the stakeholder meeting, I went back to the hotel and rested for a short period before heading back out for the Greenland Science Week conference reception, held at the University of Greenland. Dinner was provided, and there was plenty of time to meet with other participants and do some networking before the conference begins tomorrow.
Now it is after 10PM, and I need to be at the conference by 8:30AM tomorrow. Time for bed!