Background
| The SAON process |
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The need for a well-coordinated and sustained Arctic Observing Network that meets scientific and societal needs has been identified in numerous high profile reports (e.g. Toward an Integrated Arctic Observing Network (NRC)) and at a variety of workshops and conferences. In November 2006, at the Arctic Council Ministerial Meeting in Salekhard, Russian Federation, Ministers welcomed the International Polar Year (IPY), 2007 –2008, as a unique opportunity to stimulate cooperation and coordination of Arctic research and increase awareness of the importance of the Arctic region.
Further, the Arctic Council Ministers requested the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP), to cooperate with the other AC working groups, the International Arctic Science Committee (IASC), and other partners in efforts to create a coordinated Arctic Observing Network that meets identified societal needs (Salekhard Declaration). The goal of developing an Arctic Observing Network as a legacy of IPY (WMO/ICSU) was endorsed by the WMO XV Congress in May 2007. In January 2007, the Sustained Arctic Observing Networks Initiating Group (SAON IG), composed of representatives of international organizations, agencies, and northern residents involved in research and operational and local observing, has been formed to develop a set of recommendations on how to achieve long-term Arctic-wide observing activities that provide free, open, and timely access to high-quality data that will realize pan-Arctic and global value-added services and provide societal benefits. The Swedish and Canadian IPY Committees have agreed to take the lead in the launch of the SAON initiative by running a succession of workshops together with the SAON IG. The first workshop took place in Stockholm, Sweden on 12-14 November 2007 and addressed the question: Are current Arctic observing and data and information management activities sufficient to meet users’ needs? All material presented at the first woskhop is available on this web-site by following the mainmenu link '1st workshop/Material presented'. The second workshop, took place in Edmonton, Canada, 9-11 April 2008, and was hosted by the Canadian IPY Secretariat. This workshop did address the question: How will Arctic observing and data and information management activities be coordinated and sustained over the long-term? The third workshop was held in Helsinki, Finland 15-17 October 2008, hosted by the Finnish Meteorological Institute. The scope of the workshop included creating a successor to the SAON-IG and how to to continue the development of a program of internationally coordinated, sustained observations in the Arctic. An important element was to synthesize the advice and information gathered at previous workshops into the final set of recommendations. One smaller additional SAON-workshop was held in St Petersburg, Russia prior to the SCAR-IASC Joint IPY Conference in July 2008. A number of Russian scientists and government officials provided their insight on current and future observing activities in the Russian sector of the Arctic. All presentations from from the workshop can be down-loaded from this web site. Read more about the St Petersburg workshop… In September, the SAON process was introduced to the Asian Forum on Polar Science in Seoul, Korea. There is a strong and growing interest in the Arctic by Asian countries and their participation in long-term observations in the Arctic area is very welcomed by the SAON process. This web-site www.arcticobserving.org will be used for announcements and documentation all through the SAON-process. |
