Bergen was the city for another annual research meeting last week, when ICOS held its yearly meeting for researchers and decision makers.
A total of between 70 to 80 participants at the ICOS meeting in Bergen last week. Here, after the dinner at Fløyen. Photo: Mikko Straalendorff.
ICOS (Integrated Carbon Observing System) is a European monitoring network for monitoring emissions of greenhouse gases. The European Research Council initiated this network in 2008. The goal is to quantify scientifically how much greenhouse gases the different nations worldwide release.
This is a politically important question, because we then can examine international emissions agreements. Therefore, there is also a need for a scientific answer to the various national emission quantities. - Countries that break emission agreements can be held accountable, said Philippe Ciais, head of the ICOS network, to Bergens Tidende.
Because of the political side of the observation network, the annual meeting of ICOS was not just a meeting for researchers, but also for policy makers and stakeholders.
- There has never been so many decision makers involved in the meeting as there has been this year. This shows that there is an interest in the network and that they take it seriously, says Truls Johannessen, professor of chemical oceanography at the Bjerknes Centre and University of Bergen.
Among the many involved the participant list included a total of four ministers from Italy, Germany and Finland. These four were Cristiano Piacente, the Italian Minister for the Environment, Land and Sea; the German Minister of Transport, Dirk Engelbart; the Finnish Minister for Education, Science and Culture, Petteri Kauppinen, and the Finnish Minister of Transportation and Communications, Mikko Straahlendorff.
Illustrasjon: ICOS.
Two of the three thematic centers are already under way.
ATC - the atmosphere thematic center is located at CEA, the Nuclear Energy Agency of France, while the thematic center for land-based measurements ETC - the Ecosystem Thematic Centre is located in Italy. The ocean thematic center OTC is being planned, and Truls Johannessen and the Bjerknes Centre plays a central role.
- By summer we will have ready an application to the Norwegian Research Council for the thematic center for ocean observations. NRC is working together with the government´s Climate and Pollution Agency to find funding for this. We hope that it will be possible, says Johannessen. Such a center will probably recruit around 6-8 research positions, and be a great addition to the Bergen marine research community.