Southern Ocean Sentinel Workshop
Workshop 20-24 April 2009
CCAMLR Headquarters, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia
A timely interdisciplinary workshop to address important issues in measuring, assessing and providing early-warning detection of climate change impacts on marine ecosystems and biodiversity, by measuring change in the Southern Ocean. A key focus will be to promote national and international collaboration.
Scientists, policy and decision-makers and representatives of NGOs are invited to participate.
View workshop overview 
View Media kit
Aims
The proposed workshop "Monitoring climate change impacts on marine biodiversity: establishing a Southern Ocean Sentinel program" will be an international and interdisciplinary meeting that will aim to:
- summarise the state of knowledge on observed and potential climate change impacts on Southern Ocean marine biodiversity
- consider the scientific and technological research required to establish a Southern Ocean Sentinel monitoring program, which would signal the magnitudes and rates of change in Southern Ocean marine ecosystems caused by climate change
- develop necessary links and collaborations among key Australian and international scientists, including coordination with existing international programs (SOOS, ICED), to establish required research programs and implement longer term monitoring.
Quantifying the rates and magnitudes of change is an important prerequisite to planning adaptation strategies to respond to climate change. A key focus for the workshop will be to promote national and international collaboration among science and technology researchers and policy decision makers at various levels to provide early-warning and on-going assessment of the rates of change in Southern Ocean marine ecosystems caused by climate change.
Themes
This workshop will consider the following themes:
- What changes have been observed in the physical and chemical environment that might influence marine ecosystems and are linked to changes in climate?
- What are the characteristics of marine biota that determine their resilience or susceptibility to these changes?
- What future changes to biodiversity, including species composition and ecological processes, might be expected in marine ecosystems if the environment continues to change?
- How could rates of changes in biodiversity that result from climate change be measured in the short term and monitored over longer terms?
- What are the key processes in developing an international, multidisciplinary monitoring program to ensure it is cost-effective and likely to achieve its objective?
- What research needs to be done to reduce uncertainty in IPCC-relevant projections of future climate change and its impacts?
Presentations
Presentations related to the themes will provide a basis for discussions. These will be held on Monday afternoon (20 April), and during the morning sessions of Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday (21-23 April). View Speaker abstracts
Scientific workshop sessions
Small scientific workshop sessions will identify concrete research directions and collaborations within each of the themes, drawing on the experience available from existing institutions and national and international initiatives. These will be held in the afternoon sessions from Tuesday to Thursday. View Scientific Workshop questions
The Future - Open Forum for Policy Makers, Scientists and NGOs
An Open Forum will be held on the final day of the workshop (Friday 24 April) and will be directed specifically as discussing the future of a sentinel program. Scientists, policy and decision-makers and representatives of NGOs are invited to participate.
A briefing for the open forum will be held on Thursday afternoon in the last session from 3:30pm.
Friday will be divided into three sessions:
i) summaries of scientific workshop outcomes (6 presentations)
ii) short presentations on how a sentinel program could benefit international agencies (e.g. CCAMLR), NGOs, Australian government and IPCC.
iii) General discussion on where to from here
Program
View Program
Outputs
A report will detail what is needed to promote, participate and influence the development of an integrated Southern Ocean Sentinel program, including coordination within research institutions, across Australian agencies and, importantly, links with international institutions and initiatives.
Registration
Please use the electronic Excel form if possible (you will need to enable macros). This form can be returned by email. Alternatively you can register using the PDF form. Please return this form by either fax, post or email (you will need to print it, fill it out and scan it to send it by email).
ACE-CRC Staff - Please use the ACE-CRC staff registration form.
Registration rates are in Australian dollars.
Workshop Registration Standard $300 (GST inc) - includes attendance at the workshop for 5 days, and lunches, morning and afternoon teas for the duration of the workshop. The workshop dinner is not included in this rate.
Workshop Registration Student $150 (GST inc) - inclusions are the same as for the Standard Registration fee. A copy of student identification must be forwarded with the registration form to ensure eligibility for this rate.
Open Forum Registration $150 (GST inc) - includes attendance at the Open Forum Briefing on Thursday afternoon from 3:30pm and attendance on Friday. Also includes the Workshop Dinner on Thursday evening and morning tea and lunch on Friday.
Registration form
ACE-CRC Staff Registration Only
Contact
Email: sos@aad.gov.au
Fax: +61 3 6283 2252
Post: Southern Ocean Sentinel Workshop, c/- Dr Susan Doust, Australian Antarctic Division, 203 Channel Highway, Kingston TAS 7050, Australia
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