Finland hopes to make meteorology a part of Arctic Council activities

Finland's Chairmanship period in the Arctic Council began in May. Meteorological cooperation is one of the important themes of the Finnish Chairmanship period. In connection with this theme the international FMI Arctic Science Networking Workshop will be held at the Finnish Meteorological Institute in late August and early September with the aim of promoting meteorological cooperation within the Arctic region. "Chairmanship of the Arctic Council offers an excellent opportunity to build networks and structures based on permanent international cooperation for the monitoring of the Arctic regions", says Juhani Damski, Director-General of the Finnish Meteorological Institute.  

"Preparation for the changing conditions of the Arctic Regions requires better understanding of weather, climate, ice, and sea conditions, and the long-term monitoring of the region", says Johanna Ekman of the Finnish Meteorological Institute. One of the important goals of the workshop is to ascertain the readiness that the members of the Arctic Council have for launching the operations of the Arctic Regional Climate Center, which has been under development at the World Meteorological Association for a long time, already this year. The Arctic Regional Climate Center (Arctic RCC) is a centre with whose help all countries of the Arctic region will gather observational data from the region into one place. The Center would comprise the Nordic, Eurasian, and North American subsections (node), and the whole formed from these parts would be led by the Norwegian Meteorological Institute.

In addition, there will be discussions at the workshop on questions such as the possibilities of drafting a common plan of action of the meteorological institutes of all of the Arctic countries. Players in the field can clearly see that meteorology would need to be made a permanent part of the activities of the Arctic Council, because climate change is faster in the north than anywhere else. With the onset of climate change, tourism, fishing, the use of natural resources, and maritime traffic in the Arctic areas will increase, which will boost demand for monitoring of the Arctic environment and related service activities. An aim of the Finnish Chairmanship is the deepening of meteorological cooperation among the Arctic countries so that it can become a permanent part of the activities of the Arctic Council.

More information:

Program: http://en.ilmatieteenlaitos.fi/asnw

Live-streaming 30.8,: https://www.apogee.fi/fmi/20170830/