WP5 Workshop to be held at the end of May 2011

DS3F Workshop “Fluid flow in Arctic continental margins and ocean ridges” May 30-31, 2011, Tromsø, Norway

One of the primary goals of this workshop is to develop a science report for conducting scientific drilling into fluid escape pathways in Arctic continental margins and (sedimented) ocean ridges, and to develop synergies with national and international ocean observatory programs. Drilling into fluid release areas of the Arctic has never been done before, but it is of regional and global relevance providing opportunities for fundamental, forefront interdisciplinary research involving geophysics and geology, geochemistry, biogeochemistry, microbiology and biology.

New discoveries at the seabed and beneath show vigorous methane venting from gas chimneys. Understanding past and present fluid leakage, associated geological and biological processes and the effects of climate change on the Arctic seabed region in general, and on the stability of gas hydrate and release of geofluids in particular, is therefore both a scientific challenge and of high societal relevance. Drilling into selected fluid-escape chimneys will increase our understanding in climate, environmental, energy and ecosystem research. However, such a drilling campaign has yet to be developed.

Conveners: Juergen Mienert1 and Angelo Camerlenghi2 1Department of Geology, University of Tromsø, 9037 Tromsø, Norway. e-mail: jurgen.mienert@uit.no 2ICREA, Geociències Marines Universitat de Barcelona E-08028 Barcelona, Spain. e-mail: acamerlenghi@ub.edu

Organisation: ds3f@ig.uit.no, Kai Rune Mortensen, Bénédicte Ferré, Chiara Consolaro Expected Outcome: Report identifying the key scientific topics in Arctic regional areas and key technological developments required to implement the scientific programme.

Location: This workshop will be held at the University of Tromsø in the Department of Geology, Norway. It is supported by the EU funded Deep Sea and Sub Seafloor Frontier project of the FP 7 programme. More information can be found at the DS3F website: http://www.deep-sea-frontier.eu/

Registration: Please register by sending an email to: ds3f@ig.uit.no The registration fee will be 100 Euros on site

Workshop “Fluid flow in Arctic continental margins and ocean ridges”

May 30-31, 2011, Tromsø, Norway