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Inaugural Meeting: Southern Ocean Physical Oceanography
and Cryosphere Linkages (SOPHOCLES)

Bergen, Norway, 25-26 August 2007

The Working Group on Southern Ocean Physical Oceanography and Cryosphere Linkages (SOPHOCLES) is sponsored by the WCRP/SCAR Climate and Cryosphere project. Its focus is on understanding how well the current generation of models represent the interaction between the cryosphere and the Southern Ocean. The inaugural meeting will be held in Bergen, Norway August 25-26, prior to the Polar Dynamics meeting. Anyone with an interest in this topic is invited to attend. The WorkShop co-chairs are Siobhan O'Farrell, CSIRO, Aspendale, Australia and Ilana Wainer (wainer@usp.br), University of Sao Paulo, Brazil. Please register here, or send an email to Siobhan.O'Farrell@csiro.au if you plan to attend. For more information, download the SOPHOCLES poster (6330KB).

The group's first aim is to verify models against the latest available observations and use the observations to constrain the choice of parameterizations used by different groups. Many Cryospheric interactions are not represented in current global climate models and need different parameters to better represent the properties of Southern ocean sea ice. The project aims to develop new parameterizations of these cryospheric processes for use in global models or directly include these processes in regional focussed studies. The project's main investigative questions are:-

  • How well do the models represent Southern ocean water masses, methods of formation/transformation, ocean mixing processes and dynamics of the major currents and thermohaline circulation?
  • How can ice and ocean model parameterizations be improved to better represent the interaction between the ocean and the Southern Hemisphere cryosphere?
  • How can we best use satellite observations and in situ data sets including those gathered during IPY and through SOOS to constrain the models?

Some sessions of the SOPHOCLES meeting will be joint with WGOMD (Working Group on Ocean Model Development) who are holding their meeting during the same time.

About the Workshop:

Venue and maps:
The Auditorium East wing of the Geophysical Institute at the University of Bergen, Norway, in building 41 on the far right of the campus map. Entrance to the auditorium on the week-end is from Jahnebakken 3 (see details here).

The inaugural meeting will:

  • Outline the current state of research in key topics for SOPHOCLES both models and observations.
  • Plan coordinated activities of SO model analysis and verification for existing WGOMD and IPCC AR4 models and identify model biases that result from cryosphere and ocean component models.
  • Design of new experiments for global and regional to investigate parameterizations of Cryospheric and ocean components in SO region that could be included in the next generation of models.
  • Design framework to co-ordinate the syntheses of new Southern ocean observations collected from in situ and satellite data into the modeling framework.
  • Write detailed planning document to cover the range of SOPHOCLES activities to be presented to CLiC, CLIVAR, SCAR, WCRP and other interested groups.

Time table/list of confirmed participants (Word Doc)

Day 1 (August 25) will be a review of the status of Southern ocean models and observations.
Day 2 (August 26) will be a discussion of the way forward, and development of a plan for future SOPHOCLES activities.


To register, please complete the registration page: Registration

Hotel information
The Polar Dynamics Conference (see link below) has reserved a group of rooms at two hotels that SOPHOCLES also may take advantage of:
1) Rica Travel Hotel sgl NOK 995/dbl NOK1225 (USD 170/298)
2) Thon Hotel Bristol: sgl NOK995/dbl NOK1195 (USD 170/204)
To make reservations at one of the above hotels, please contact Inger Lise Ravnanger at the Polar Dynamics Secretariat as soon as possible.

Other possibilities:
Hotels by City - internet search page
Trip Advisor -   Norway discount hotels.
Steens Hotel - Bed and Breakfast Small hotel/B&B recommended by Lonely Planet
Marken Gjestehus - Bergen city centre budget accommodations.

Links to related Bergen meetings:

CliC International Project Office (CIPO) Print Page Last Modified : 24 August 2007