From the 10th to the 12th of November, the IPF attended the DAMOCLES (Developing Arctic Modeling and Observing Capabilities for Long-term Environmental Studies) symposium held in Brussels, Belgium. The symposium convened researchers from all across Europe as well some from the United States, Canada, Russia, China and Japan to discuss and debate preliminary results they have obtained under the European-funded Arctic research project.
As the Arctic Ocean has been the least observed body of water in the world, DAMOCLES has been working to create an integrated ice-atmosphere-ocean monitoring and forecasting system for observing, understanding and quantifying climate change in the Arctic. Since 2005, researchers have been deploying instruments for observation in the Arctic including buoys, moorings and gliders, as well sending the sea-ice resistant vessel TARA to drift freely in the pack ice over several months in order to collect data on the ocean, the sea ice, atmosphere and clouds in the Arctic.
During the symposium researchers also agreed upon a joint declaration on the Arctic Climate system, its present status, future evolution and potential impacts (PDF), which was released to the media and the wider public at a press conference held by by DAMOCLES Scientific Coordinator Jean-Claude Gascard on November 12th.
The symposium included special events, including a public showing of the film "TARA Journey to the Heart of the Climate Machine", which documented the first six months of the TARA's journey. The IPF also hosted an open door evening for symposium attendees to have a look at the IPF's mobile educational exhibition on DAMOCLES, which is currently at the IPF's Class Zero Emission (CZE) workshop. In 2005, the IPF was charged with designing and managing the exhibition, which is aimed at the general public. Over the past four years the mobile exhibition has been featured seven different scientific and educational events in five different European countries.
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