GLIMS Update: Norway meeting; then New Zealand

[Jeffrey S Kargel]

Dear GLIMS colleagues,

I depart tomorrow for Seattle and Alaska, but before I go I would just like
to remind people about the Norway meeting in August (see previous GLIMS
Updates, archived on the revamped and continually evolving website), and
also to announce that we plan to hold a GLIMS meeting in New Zealand in
2005 (probably about December).

We would like to develop a proposal to the National Science Foundation of
the U.S. government to secure funding to cover important elements of the NZ
meeting.  Participants would still need to get there and to pay their
lodging, but we can probably propose successfully to cover other expenses.
I include below Reynaud Mathieu's email received today.  Nothing here is a
guarantee, just something we will work to develop.  Obviously $30k does not
go far with travel grants for so many people, so we can discount that until
our lucky fate allows something small to be done in that area.  There will
certainly be field trips to New Zealand's glaciers and landscapes.  I ask
for each of you to consider this meeting, and send me an indication of
interest, which can be used to help develop a proposal.

Meanwhile, I will be working on the Norway meeting agenda and logistics as
soon as I return from Alaska June 21.  If you have not sent me an
indication of interest for the Oslo meeting, please do so.   I need to know
your ikelihood of attending and what you might like to present at the
meeting.  Key themes are (a) stable and advancing glaciers, and (b)
retreating and downwasting glaciers.  The idea is to gain a better
understanding of why some glaciers advance even while most are retreating.
Another key purpose of this meeting will be to develop plans for an edited
multi-authored, multi-chapter GLIMS book (solicited by
Praxis/Springer-Verlag).

Sincerely,

Jeff K
===============
FROM REYNAUD MATHIEU:

Jeffrey,

After a few enquiries and discussions I can say that if we can find US$30k
we can organize anything and certainly a nice conference!! This would
easily cover expenses such as :

Conference center
Catering expenses (including tea / coffee breaks, lunch and evening meal)
Bus for field trip
Edition and publication of proceedings / abstracts
Conference pack
Administration costs (overheads & personnel, registration, booking)

Participants would most likely have to pay for their accommodation
(although accommodation of a number of invited participants would be
covered). We might also expect to have some money over to fund traveling
grants. I am not sure if we need to plan for advertising the workshop.
Probably not or it should concerned a quite small amount of money as the
GLIMS community is relatively small and well known.

Running the conference in Dunedin would probably be cheaper for the
conference budget (lower cost for conference facilities) and for
participants (in December we could get access to reasonably priced student
accommodations in our Hall of Residences since students are out of town).
Also cheaper and easier acquisition of Hotel/Motel accommodations in
Dunedin. Note that the Sea Ice conference is also hosted at the University
of Otago, Dunedin. However the original location Queenstown has its own
advantages (heart of Southern Alps and nice resort town).

If it becomes a firm proposal we could probably get a few thousand $ from
the University of Otago. We would also need to explore  sponsorships from
government bodies money and / or from research institutes to fund
additional traveling grants. If the idea is well received within the GLIMS
community we could probably start to think about the proposal to NSF.

Best regards

Renaud
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
 Energy conservation isn't just "green" and future-oriented, it's for
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Dr. Jeffrey S. Kargel
U.S. Geological Survey
2255 N. Gemini Dr.
Flagstaff, AZ 86001
U.S.A.

Telephone (+1) (928) 556-7034
Fax (+1) (928) 556-7014
Email: jkargel at usgs.gov
Home email: jkargel at flaglink.com
Home phone: (+1)(928) 527-4196