Interaction between climate change and the cryosphere
The cryosphere is the common term for those areas of the Earth where the water is in the solid form. That is sea and freshwater ice, river ice, snow cover, glaciers, permafrost and ice caps. The direct impact of the cryosphere on society and industry in the Nordic region and the geographical proximity of the Nordic region to the Arctic as well as the long historical connection to this area, make the Nordic countries especially suitable for accomplishing joint research programmes within this topic.
The knowledge produced by such a research programme is relevant not only for the Nordic region, but also in a global perspective. The climate changes are experienced early and most intensively in the polar regions, and provide an early indication of the impact of global warming on the environment and society.
Some objectives of the sub-programme are to reinforce Arctic research cooperation in the Nordic region and internationally, to improve modelling of the climate change interactions with the cryosphere, and provide results for infrastructure risk assessments and possibilities.
The sub-programme is launching a call for Nordic Centres of Excellence (NCoE) at the end of October 2009. The committee utilises the NCoE programme to promote research of very high scientific quality by ensuring efficient and flexible use of the Nordic resources in order to create critical mass and added value within this research theme. The call welcomes applications for Nordic Centres of Excellence on scientific observations, analyses and modelling on cryosphere-climate interactions. The focus will be on Nordic and Arctic regions. The budget for this sub-programme is approximately 100 MNOK over five years.
