LARGE DS3F CONFERENCE HELD IN SITGES (SPAIN)

From 11-14 March 2012, approximately 250 experts from the majority of the European countries, Russia, Japan, USA and Canada gathered to discuss most recent achievements in all areas of deep sea research and combine them with the earlier workshop results. 9 keynote lectures, 41 oral presentations and 155 posters were presented, and the meeting was wrapped up with a presentation by EC Project officer Ana-Teresa Caetano and a plenary discussion led by coordinator Achim Kopf. Main objectives were future funding opportunities for the subseafloor community within the upcoming EU framework program Horizon 2020and how the key issues should be addressed by the DS3F community in their evolving “white paper”.

Refer the conference website http://www.ds3f2012.org for more information.

Overarching Workshop successfully held in Brussels

During the mid-November Workshop of DS3F, large steps were taken forward by the deep sea community towards new keywords for deep sea research, a refined DS3F logo, and the structure of the DS3F white paper.

It was agreed that given the positive feedback from external participants during day 3 of the Workshop, the structure suggested should be filled with life between the Workshop and the spring DS3F Conference in Sitges, Spain.

ALL WORK PACKAGES HELD SUCCESSFUL MEETINGS: DS3F OVERARCHING WORKSHOP SOON COMING!

Steering Committee meeting in July set the stage for the upcoming DS3F OVERARCHING WORKSHOP in Brussels, November 14-16, 2011.

This workshop will gather the key players of the DS3F initiative for three days

(i) for discussion and cross-fertilisation of results from the ad-hoc workshops on work package level that were held during the first 18 months of the Coordination Action

(ii) to start condensing the previous workshop reports towards the DS3F WHITE PAPER, and

(iii) to invite users of the DS3F WHITE PAPER on day 3 to evaluate the DS3F achievements and help improving the thrust of the project.

Scientists and/or other parties interested in participating into the Brussels Workshop should contact the DS3F coordinator at akopf (at) marum.de !

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

WP3 "Deep Biosphere Workshop" coming soon

Workshop announcement

The Deep Biosphere

Deep-Sea and Sub-Seafloor Frontiers (DS³F)

May 3-4, 2011, Aarhus, Denmark

Conveners: Bo Barker Jørgensen¹ and R. John Parkes²

¹Center for Geomicrobiology, Department of Biological Sciences, Aarhus University, Ny Munkegade 114-116, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark (bo.barker@biology.au.dk)

²School of Earth, Ocean and Planetary Sciences, University of Cardiff, P.O.Box 914, Cardiff, CF10 3YE, United Kingdom (parkesrj@cardiff.ac.uk)

Organization: Camilla Nissen Toftdal

Objectives

The objective of this workshop is to discuss and propose future directions of marine deep biosphere research and how this may be more strongly integrated and funded in Europe. We invite a group of active researchers in this field to share their ideas of the major scientific challenges and new opportunities that will move the science forward in the coming years. We wish to strengthen the European engagement in future drilling proposals and expeditions. We invite participants to contribute their opinions and expertise to a report that, together with a series of similar workshops during 2010-11, will contribute to a white paper that will provide background information for the planning of the EU Framework Program 8.

Workshop

This is one of several focused workshops organized under the "Deep-Sea and Sub-Seafloor Frontiers (DS³F)" initiative (www.deep-sea-frontier.eu). The DS³F is an EU coordinated action with the overall goal to bring together researchers from across Europe to develop a comprehensive coordinated approach for future deep-sea research. DS³F will address issues of sustainable ocean management and explore some of the deep-seated geological processes that drive seafloor ecosystems, and make use of seabed archives for paleo-environmental reconstruction and improved prediction of future climate change and geohazards. More specifically, DS³F aims to identify the primary issues that need to be addressed in sub-seafloor drilling, with relevance to deep-sea ecosystems and deep biosphere, marine resources, and long-term monitoring in the next 10-15 years. The initiative is headed by Professor Achim Kopf at the MARUM Research Centre at the University of Bremen and is structured in 9 work packages. The definition and coordination of these work packages evolved from the Deep Sea Frontier (DSF) international symposium (June 2006) and from subsequent collaborations. WP 2 deals with the Deep Biosphere.

Program

Monday, May 2

Arrival in the afternoon or evening. Joint dinner for those arriving before 7 pm.

Tuesday, May 3

Scientific presentations and discussions. The planning of the presentation program and the structure of discussions will be decided when the participants are confirmed.

Wednesday, May 4

Open discussion: Scientific goals, research opportunities, and funding strategies.

A report summarizing presentations and discussions will be written shortly after the workshop.

The meeting ends with lunch at 1 pm.

Practical information

Participation in the workshop is upon invitation only, as each participant represents an expertise important to achieve the objectives. A list of invitees is attached.

The workshop will cover your travel expenses and your stay in Aarhus. We ask you to purchase your own tickets (tourist class) which we will reimburse upon receipt of original tickets after the meeting. We will arrange your accommodation and take care of all meals and local transport.

The workshop takes place at the Center for Geomicrobiology at Aarhus University (see http://geomicrobiology.au.dk). Aarhus is easily reached by train (3 hours) or plane (30 min, via Tirstrup Airport) from Copenhagen.

For registration and for all questions concerning logistics please contact our Center Administrator, Camilla Nissen Toftdal (toftdal@biology.au.dk; phone +45 89 42 32 80)

Deep- Sea and Sub-Seafloor Frontier workshop sessions II

EGU General Assembly
03-08 April 2011, Vienna / Austria

Session entitled “The Deep Sea Frontier – An European Challenge”

Oral presentations: 06 April 2011, 15.30 – 17.00 h
Poster presentations: 07 April 2011, 8.00 – 19.30 h (attendance 10.30 – 12.00 h)


WP8 Infrastructure & Synergies
Short meeting at ESONET conference (Dec 2010) in Marseille, France; WS parallel to EGU Vienna (April 2011)

WP1 Lithosphere - biosphere interaction & resources
Short meeting at EGU Vienna (April 2011), 2-day WS in Paris (May 2011)

WP3 Deep biosphere
WS May 2011 in Arhus, Denmark

WP5 Geofluids and gas hydrates
WS May 2011 in Tromsø, Norway

WP9 Management & science-policy interfacing
winter 2011/2012 (to be announced)

Deep- Sea and Sub-Seafloor Frontier workshop series I

1st workshop series:

WP6 Climate change & response of deep-sea biota
WS in July 2010 in Urbino, Italy

WP2 Sedimentary seafloor and sub-seafloor ecosystems: past, present & future links
WS Jan 2011, Zurich, Switzerland

WP4 Sediment dynamics & geohazards
WS Feb 2011 in Barcelona, Spain

WP7 Mission-specific subseafloor sampling
WS Feb 2011 in Grenoble, France - back-to-back w/ IODP-EDP meeting