A three-day meeting titled “Japan - U.S. Arctic Science Collaboration-Reflections on the Past Two Decades and Future Opportunities-” was held from Monday, 4 March 2019 to Wednesday, 6 March 2019, at International Arctic Research Center (IARC) of the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF), USA. During the meeting, ArCS led a one-day workshop titled “ArCS Workshop for Promoting Arctic Collaboration between IARC/UAF and Japan” on Tuesday, 5 March 2019 to promote joint research and observations by researchers of IARC/UAF and Japan. There were around 50 participants at the workshop.
At the plenary session of the workshop, nine speakers provided presentations regarding achievements of the past/ongoing collaborations, needs and importance of (new) research collaborations and so on, in the fields of 1. Ocean and sea ice, 2. Cryosphere, 3. Human dimensions, including engineering topics, and 4. Greenhouse gas, carbon cycles, ecosystem. After that, the participants discussed joint research plans in the following breakout groups, targeting to prepare a draft research proposal(s):
- Ocean and sea ice (convener: Yasushi Fukamachi, Hokkaido University)
- Subsistence Ways of Living in 2050: Toward Collaborative Research with and Community-Based Adaptation in Northern Pacific Indigenous Societies (convener: Shiaki Kondo, Hokkaido University)
- Energy security in arctic remote area (convener: Taro Mori, Hokkaido University)
- Glaciology: mass balance, black carbon measurements (convener: Keiko Konya, JAMSTEC)
- Modeling of GHG budget in Arctic ecosystems (convener: Akihiko Ito, NIES)
- Community-building and empowerment in management (convener: Yuka Oishi, National Museum of Ethnology)
At the last of the workshop, the participants gathered again to share the result of discussion in the breakout groups. Some of the groups formulated a concrete research plan to be prepared to apply for funds, while in another group the participants introduced their interests to each other for future collaborations.
In the light of enhancing the research activities in collaboration with IARC and/or UAF, it was a very good opportunity and worthwhile to hold this workshop.
Yuji Kodama (NIPR)
Plenary session of the workshop
Group photo
