Project 2313 sa: 4th International PalaeoArc conference (PalaeoArc)

PalaeoArc is an international research network (2019-2025) with scientific aims that parallel the overall goal of INQUA to enhance knowledge and understanding of environmental changes in glacial times, and provide advisory data and results to the international society.

Abstract

The Nordic World has strong ties and a long history of Arctic Quaternary and climate science.

PalaeoArc (along with its predecessor networks, PONAM 1989-94; QUEEN 1996-02; APEX 2004-12; Past Gateways 2012-18) and NORDQUA (est. 1975) are clear evidence of this legacy.

PalaeoArc strives to understand climatically induced environmental changes in the Arctic from the Quaternary to present, following four themes focusing on the dynamics of 1) Arctic ice sheets, ice shelves and glaciers, 2) high latitude oceans and sea ice, 3) the terrestrial environment and landscape evolution, and the 4) climatic response to, and interaction between, these parts of the Arctic system. Annual international conferences are organized in different countries (2019 Poznán, Poland; 2021 Pisa, Italy; 2022 Rovaniemi, Finland; 2023 Akureyri, Iceland; 2024 Stockholm, Sweden; 2025 Tromsö, Norway), gathering young and senior researchers working on diverse topics in Arctic science from marine, terrestrial and cryosphere perspectives. NORDQUA is the Nordic Union for Quaternary Research with the goal of encouraging interdisciplinary cooperation and networking among Quaternary scientists in the Nordic countries through joint field excursions and symposia.

For the first time in history, the Nordic Quaternary Community gathered in North Iceland for The 4th International PalaeoArc Conference and the 2023 NORDQUA Excursion. The gathering attracted >60 researchers and academics (from students and earlier careers to senior scientists and Prof. emeriti) from all Nordic nations as well as the United Kingdom, Spain, Poland, Germany, Singapore, the US and Canada. The conference brought together scientists from different countries and career stages, and from different disciplines in Arctic science. This includes marine and terrestrial researchers, working either with field data or on numerical modelling approaches. The glue that merges all is the quest for knowledge of past environmental processes and change in the Arctic; given this is the key to understanding the present and future of the Arctic.

The combined event was a success and provides a marker point in the history until the following NORDQUA Gathering at the Nordic Geological Winter Meeting (Gothenburg, Sweden Jan. 2024) and the planned 5th and 6th International PalaeoArc Meetings (Stockholm, Sweden May 2024 and Tromsö, Norway 2025).

Scientific highlights

• Over 60 interdisciplinary researchers gather to present and discuss past and present environmental changes in the Arctic based on terrestrial and marine records.
• Panel discussion of knowledge gaps and approaches to fill them in.
• Invitations to conference attendees to submit scientific contributions to the PalaeoArc special issue in the Boreas journal.

Project Leaders

• Ívar Benediktsson Askja, Iceland
• Wesley R. Farnsworth Askja, Iceland
• Esther Ruth Guðmundsdóttir Askja, Iceland
• Skafti Brynjólfsson Borgir við Norðurslóð, Iceland
• Hreggvidur Norddahl Askja, Iceland