IUTAM Symposium on Physics and Mechanics of Sea Ice - 3-7.6.2019

Due to global warming, the scientific, industrial, and political interest in the Arctic and Antarctic is very high. This includes the interest on sea ice, which is becoming thinner and warmer. In order to understand the changes in the sea ice, and to decrease the risks in the arctic marine operations, we need to understand physics and mechanics of sea ice. The objective of the IUTAM symposium on Physics and Mechanics of Sea Ice is to bring together researchers who have made significant contributions at various scales in the study of sea ice, as well as those from other disciplines who might accelerate progress or even provide new pathways.

Aims and Scope

On the broad scale, sea ice research occupies three settings: downscale (sea ice mechanics), mesoscale (the marginal ice zone, MIZ) and upscale (sea ice dynamics).

At the downscale, the primary motivation is ice-structure interaction with a sea ice cover that may be deformed, discontinuous, comprised of pressure ridges, rafted ice, ice rubble and discrete ice floes. At the mesoscale, the steady increase in the width of the MIZ (apparently caused by global warming), is unexplainable by present wave-ice knowledge. At the upscale, the primary motivation is the development of continuum models of sea ice rheology suitable for inclusion within regional or global climate models, and the challenge is to accurately forecast the extent of sea ice in the Arctic (which is steadily declining), and in the Antarctica.

In this symposium research topics of interest include the fracture mechanics of sea ice; ship motion through sea ice, including ridges and rubble; the homogenization of the sea ice cover; computational ice mechanics; the hydrodynamic interaction of ocean waves with broken ice (the MIZ); the indentation and crushing of sea ice at different scales; and the reliable risk estimation for structures and vessels subject to sea ice loading.

This symposium will be the fourth IUTAM Symposium on sea ice. The earlier ones were in Copenhagen, Denmark (1979); in St. John's, Canada (1989), and in Fairbanks, USA (2000).

Venue

The symposium will be held on the Aalto University campus located is in Espoo, about 10km from the center of Helsinki, Finland. Aalto University can be easily reached from the Helsinki airport and – by using the new metro line – from downtown Helsinki. The campus area is rapidly growing and is famous for the architecture and for the concentration of high technology.

Rooms have been reserved at Radisson Blu Hotel at Aalto campus (single 123 €/night, double 153 €/night), but there are also a number of other accommodation options in the Helsinki region.

Call for Papers

Authors wishing to contribute to the Symposium are invited to submit a two-page abstract, clearly stating the objectives, results and conclusions of the work to be discussed in the presentation. The papers selected will also be published in the symposium proceedings in IUTAM Bookseries by Springer.

As in all IUTAM symposia, the goal is to achieve an effective communication between the participants, there will be no parallel sessions, and the number of both active participants and presentations is limited. The number of presentations in this symposium is limited to 34. The participants will be selected by the Scientific Committee on the basis of scientific merits only.

Key Dates

Registration

To be announced later.

Program

To be announced later.

Scientific Committee

• Jukka Tuhkuri, Finland, committee chair
• John Dempsey, USA
• Sveinung Loset, Norway
• Peter Sammonds, UK
• Vernon Squire, New Zealand
• Robert Gagnon, Canada
• Hajime Yamaguchi, Japan
• Robert McMeeking, Canada, IUTAM Representative

Local Organising Committee

Aalto University Department of Mechanical Engineering

• Hanyang Gong
• Ida Lemström
• Arttu Polojärvi
• Jukka Tuhkuri