2024 International Conference on Permafrost welcomes the circumpolar research community
On the shores of the upper Yukon River, the Canadian city of Whitehorse attracted researchers from around the world for this year’s International Conference on Permafrost. Among the talks and posters presented in the beautiful Kwanlin Dün Cultural Centre were several by the Alaska CASC and our frequent collaborators.
As the first ICOP conference since the 2016 meeting in Potsdam, Germany this year’s conference brought researchers from around the world to the Canadian north. For AK CASC folks, Whitehorse is quite the accessible and inviting location. “I had a great time in Whitehorse at ICOP, where I presented work on identifying aufeis in optical satellite imagery and convened a session about the relationship between snow, vegetation, and permafrost.” said AK CASC fellow and PhD student Julian Dann. Julian’s Tuesday poster on remote sensing to detect Aufeis on Alaska’s North Slope attracted significant interest from fellow researchers at the conference.
AK CASC USGS Research Coordinator Ryan Toohey also had a talk during the conference presenting research on changes in biogeochemistry along the length of the Yukon River and its tributaries through the Yukon Territory and Alaska. His presentation focused on the leveraging of USGS resources and data collected by the Indigenous Observation Network to study the relationship between river chemistry, active layer depth and permafrost degradation. This is critical for understanding this large watershed as researchers think that increases in active layer depth, the layer of soil on top of permafrost which thaws each summer and refreezes each winter, are likely opening new pathways for ground water to enter river systems. These changes can have downstream effects on river ecosystems and their aquatic life.
“ICOP is such a great conference. It brings together many of the leaders of permafrost research with the up and coming generation of permafrost researchers so that there is this continuity of knowledge from the early, pioneering days of permafrost research to the most current and novel methods and resources available. Because of its smaller size, its an incredible meeting to network and gain meaningful insight on results and project design from a great community. It was great to have the AK CASC so well represented at the conference!” said Ryan.
A series of workshops were also part of the conference. Ryan attended a workshop on indigenous engagement led by Yukon University’s First Nation’s Initiative, Mary Jane (Gùdia) Johnson, and Lawrence Ignace. “They gave a brief, but informative, history of land claims, self-governance and devolution. While the governance and cultural differences between First Nations and Alaska Natives can be quite vast, we learned a lot of good tips for engaging with aboriginal communities and watched the film Signal Fire.”
As part of the nationwide CASC Future of Aquatic Flows postdoctoral cohort, fellow Megan Behnke presented a poster on biogeochemistry and food web productivity in continuous permafrost, discontinuous permafrost, and glacial watersheds. Her poster also included unique interactive elements, allowing visitors to observe, tweak, and rerun her models in real time on their phone. “I was soliciting feedback on those tools during the poster session, but I’m looking forward to releasing them more broadly soon.” said Megan. She was also excited that the structure of the conference provided ample opportunity for networking with other early career researchers.
“The size and format of ICOP was excellent for both strengthening old relationships and forming new ones. Through the built in time for informal conversation over food, coffee, and exploring the local landscape as well as formal presentations I got to know other early career researchers with whom I share interests and with whom I believe I will keep intersecting professionally as many of us take on faculty jobs next year. I also reconnected with a colleague who I first met when we both attended an undergraduate research program 10 years ago, and we found overlaps in our current work that we hope will lead to several submitted proposals in the coming year. Overall, an entirely successful conference experience with much knowledge learned and shared, and thriving relationships old and new!”
In the one of the final oral sessions of the conference, AK CASC Science Communicator Mike DeLue presented on the work done by frequent CASC-collaborator the Scenarios Network for Alaska + Arctic Planning. The session focused on the newly constructed Application Program Interface (API) released by the group, but also highlighted two web tools built on that infrastructure including one built with ample AK CASC input and research. “The API is incredible technology, but most people interact with the tools we build on top of it. I can’t wait to see what else we, or others, can build on top of it to do more actionable science moving forward. This was an opportunity to highlight that underlying technology for a group of researchers who could really put it through it’s paces.”
Though a niche subject for programmers that makes accessing climate data easier, the interface underpins a number of new web tools such as the DOD-funded Arctic EDS tool for engineers. It’s also the programming infrastructure which runs the Northern Climate Reports tool, which was the final product of the long-running AK CASC Integrated Ecosystem Modeling project.
Learn more about ICOP and all of the presented work from Whitehorse in the Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Permafrost.