earth online
  • Events
  • Space and the Arctic 2009 Work...

Space and the Arctic 2009 Workshop

20-Oct - 21-Oct 2009

Stockholm, Sweden

Under the auspices of the Swedish Presidency of the Council of the European Union, the Swedish National Space Board and the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute together with the European Space Agency, EUMETSAT and the European Commission jointly organised this workshop hosted at the World Trade Center, Stockholm, Sweden from 20 to 21 October 2009.

Objectives

The aim was to identify the needs and challenges of working and living in the rapidly changing Arctic and explore how space-based services might help to meet those needs. Increased activities in the northern areas could be foreseen as a consequence of climate change, especially related to oil and gas production, changing fisheries patterns and new shipping routes. The workshop investigated how space infrastructure could facilitate communication, environmental monitoring and early warning, navigation and vessel tracking. The contribution of Galileo and GMES services were included.

Themes

The event was organised along the following main themes:

  1. Climate Change & Environment
  2. Transport safety and security
  3. Sustainable exploitation

The workshop is being held under the auspices of the Swedish Presidency as part of a commitment to face the challenges of climate change and increased human activity. The contributions from ongoing activities in European projects such as MyOcean, Polar View and Damocles will be summarised. It will explore how lessons learned in setting up operational services for the Baltic area can be applied in a new setting with similar information requirements.

The workshop will allow participants to feedback their own experiences and contribute towards workshop recommendations as to how operational space-based services could help in monitoring and adapting to climate change and ecosystem management, maintaining safe transportation and ensuring sustainable development in the vulnerable Arctic.

Download Conclusions

Workshop Statement - Conclusions

EU Council conclusions on Arctic issues

Download Workshop Presentations

Plenary Session I  - an archive containing the following files (22,9 MB): 

  • Opening of the Workshop (Oral Report) : Olle Norberg, Director General, Swedish National Space Board
  • Introduction and aim of Workshop (Oral Report) : Reinhard Priebe, Director responsible for the Arctic, EC/DG-MARE    
  • Environmental challenges in the Arctic : Nicolaj Bock, EEA
  • Arctic marine transport and space : Lawson Brigham, University of Alaska Fairbanks, USA
  • Space today and possibilities for the future : Volker Liebig, Director of ESA EO Programme
  • Observations of the Arctic - EUMETSAT's Contribution to Current and Future Programmes : Ernst Koenemann, Director of EUMETSAT Programme Development

 

Thematic Session:  Climate Change and the Arctic - an archive containing the following files (29,1 MB):

  • Sea surface temperature measurements over the Arctic based on Metop data : Pierre Le Borgne, Meteo France, France / Steinar Eastwood, met.no, Norway
  • The International Polar Year - The contribution by Space Agencies and expected observational legacies : Tillmann Mohr, Special Advisor to WMO, former EUMETSAT Director-General
  • Monitoring the cryosphere from space: research and operationalisation : Ian Brown,  Stockholm University, Sweden
  • Circumpolar permafrost monitoring : Annett Bartsch, Vienna University of Technology, Austria
  • Sustaining Arctic Observing Networks : Volker Rachold, Executive Secretary, International Arctic Science Committee (IASC)
  • Recent accelerating changes in the sub Arctic environment and ecosystems (Not available) : Terry Callahan, Abisko Scientific Research Station, The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Sweden
  • Regional Modelling of Arctic climate in recent and possible future climates : Ralf Döscher, Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute/Rossby Centre, Sweden
  • ICESat's observations of Arctic sea ice freeboard/thickness and NASA's plans for ICESat-2 : Jay Zwally, ICES at Project Scientist NASA Goddard SFC, USA
  • Sea Ice change and climate IPY and ESA : Henri Laur, Head of ESA Mission management office, Italy

 

Thematic Session: Transport & Security - an archive containing the following files (59,9 MB):

  • Satellite reception of AIS signals from vessels in the Arctic : Ghislain Ruy, Luxspace, Luxemburg
  • Transports in the Baltic Sea and needs for Northern sea routes : Ulf Gullne, Swedish Maritime Agency, Sweden
  • Identification of Oil Spills by Satellite : Olaf Trieschmann, EMSA (Presentation given by Richard Hall, KSAT)
  • SeaTrack Web - the Oil spill information system and extention to the Arctic : Cecilia Ambjörn, Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute, Sweden
  • Challenges to ice monitoring around Greeland : Leif Toudal Pedersen, Danish Meteorological Institute, Denmark
  • European Ice Service : Helge Tangen, European Ice Service, Met.no, Norway
  • Navigating in Iceberg infested waters : Scott Rogerson, International Ice patrol
  • The role of satellite technology in Arctic governance : Richard Hall, KSAT, Norway
  • ESA activities related to satellite communications for high latitude regions : Frank Zeppenfeldt, ESA

 

Thematic Session: Sustainable Exploitation - an archive containing the following files (31,1 MB):  

  • Inuit society using Earth Observation based services : Tom Hirose, Noetix, Canada
  • Reindeer husbandry and forestry – conflict mitigation in northern Sweden (Cancelled) : Karin Baer, Vilhelmina North Sami Community / Leif Jougda, Swedish Forest Agency
  • EO based services for climate change adaptation : Thomas Puestow Polar View, C-CORE
  • Hydrological predictions for the Arctic environment, the needs of satellite data : Berit Arheimer, Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute, Sweden
  • Russian space infrastructure applied to the Arctic : Vasily Smolyanitsky, Arctic and Antarctic Reasearch Institute & JCOMM, Russia
  • On Galileo for the Arctic : Frank Udnaes, EC/DG Energy & Transport
  • Serving the Arctic: Polar Communications and Weather (PCW) Mission : Guennadi Kroupnik, PCW Mission Manager, CSA
  • Stockman Oil field, SDAG (Cancelled) : Edmond Coche, Stockman Development AG
  • Challenges for fisheries enforcement and safety in the far north : Gunnar Pedersen, KSAT, Norway

 

Plenary Session II - an archive containing the following files (8,44 MB):

  • Session Summary: Climate Change
  • Session Summary: Transport & Security
  • Session Summary: Sustainable Exploitation
  • EU - Baltic Regional Strategy : Alexander Schenk, Ministry of Finance, Swedish Governmental Offices
  • The Potential of GMES in the Arctic : Mikko.Strahlendorff, EC GMES Bureau
  • Marine Core Services : Pierre Bahurel, Mecator, Coordinator, MyOcean project
  • Progress since the Arctic Communication : Reinhard Priebe, EC/DG-MARE
  • Workshop Closing : Jerome Bequignon, ESA
Download event programme
Tweet