ARCTIC PALEO-RIVER DISCHARGE PROGRAMME
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About APARD
During the Arctic Ocean Science Board Meeting held in Helsinki, Finland, 17-19 April, 1996, it was recognized that freshwater input and freshwater balance in the Arctic and its (paleo-) environmental significance have been identified as a high priority to many institutions active in Arctic oceanographical, chemical, biological, and geological research. Despite the importance of the Arctic Ocean river discharge on the global climate system and the international projects/programmes partly dealing with paleo-river discharge, there was no comprehensive multidisciplinary, international research programme on circum-Arctic river discharge and its change through time.
It was decided to convene an international, multidisciplinary workshop on "Arctic Paleo-River Discharge (APARD)" at the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research Bremerhaven, Germany, in the fall of 1996. The results of this APARD-1 Workshop were summarized in a draft which outlines the major scientific objectives and linkages to other international research programmes dealing with Arctic river discharge. The APARD-1 draft was presented and discussed at the AOSB Meeting in Sopot, Poland, 25-28 February, 1997. The Board recommended that the next steps in APARD planning should be to prepare a scientific programme, based on the scientific objectives identified at the first workshop, and then encourage development of projects to implement the programme. Thus, a second APARD Workshop was held at the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research (INSTAAR), Boulder, Colorado/USA, 09-12 November, 1997.
At the AOSB Meeting in Oslo, Norway, 30 March to 01 April, 1998, the final APARD programme was presented and accepted as an official AOSB programme.
Based on the results of the APARD-1 and APARD-2 workshops, an APARD Science Plan has been published in a special issue of "Berichte zur Polarforschung (Reports on Polar Research)". Appendix summaries of ongoing/planned proposed projects to implement the programme are listed in this volume as well.
-Rudiger Stein, APARD Chair
Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research
APARD Core Group
Rudiger Stein, (Chair)
Robert Spielhagen
Alejandra Duk-Rodkin
Peta Mudie
Steve Solomon
Hajo Eicken
Leonid Polyak
James Syvitski
Alexander Lisitzin
Aleksey Sidorchuk
Jan Marcin Weslawski