Report on IASC MWG at ASSW 2024
Reported by Takashi KIKUCHI (JAMSTEC), Michiyo KAWAI (TUMSAT)
Related research program: Ocean
IASC Marine Working Group (MWG) Meeting was held on March 22, 2024 during ASSW 2024 in Edinburgh and online.
During the open session, there were reports on the progress of activities supported by the MWG, a self-introduction of Daniela Walch (Canada), a new IASC Fellow for MWG. The Strategic Plan for the future of the MWG activities was also discussed in relation to ICARP IV (The Fourth International Conference on Arctic Research Planning), which will be presented at the next ASSW 2025 in Boulder, Colorado, United States. The following five themes were identified for the MWG’s Strategic Plan: Marine Life, Sea Ice and Stratification, Disturbances, Biogeochemical Cycles, Connectivity and Borealization. Discussion of these themes will be continued.
Of special note is the travel support by MWG for young researchers aboard R/V Mirai 2023 Arctic cruise. During the meeting, co-proposers Drs. Lee Cooper (US) and Takashi Kikuchi, gave an overview of this activity, followed by a presentation by Ms. Eva Lopes, a graduate student from Portugal, on her experience aboard R/V Mirai cruise. Many IASC MWG members welcomed the call for research proposals from young overseas researchers for the R/V Mirai Arctic cruise, and expressed hope for the program’s continuation.
In the closed session, it was decided to hold online meetings on May 15 to develop each research priority for the four Strategic Plan topics discussed in the open session (Sea ice and Stratification, Disturbances, Biogeochemical Cycles, and Connectivity and Borealization), except for Marine Life for which a workshop has already been held and a draft document written. Following these will be the IASC-FOX meeting (early June, UK) and a meeting on the MWG’s Strategic Plan and contribution to ICARP IV (mid-June, Italy). The closed session also included discussions and decisions on the 2024 budget. Additionally, a new Chair and Vice-Chairs were elected, with Anna Heiða Ólafsdóttir (Iceland) appointed as Chair and Laura Ghigliotti (Italy) and Jinyoung Jung (Korea) as Vice-Chairs, replacing Heidi Kassens (Germany, Chair), Takashi Kikuchi (Japan, Vice-chair), and Karen Frey (US, Vice Chair).