Workshop: SYMPOSIUM ON MASS BALANCE OF ANDEAN GLACIERS

First announcement, 28 May 2002

A Symposium on Mass Balance of Andean Glaciers will be hosted at Centro de Estudios Científicos in Valdivia, Chile, in March 12 and 13 (Wednesday, Thursday ) of 2003.  The Symposium is being organized by the Working Group on Andean Glaciers of ICSI (International Commission of Snow and Ice) – IAHS (International Association of Hydrological Sciences), with the goal of presenting advances and current understanding related to mass balance and glacier changes of Andean glaciers of South America.  The symposium follows from the ICSI-sponsored symposium on "Glaciers of the Southern Hemisphere", held in Melbourne, Australia in July 1997, with papers published in Global and Planetary Change, Vol. 22.  The official language will be English.

The following topics related to mass balance of Andean glaciers are to be addressed in the Symposium:

1) Mass balance measurement techniques
2) Mass balance monitoring programmes
3) Recent glacier variations and their relation with climate
4) Glacio-hydrological studies and the relation with glacier mass balance

We invite you to forward abstracts to the symposium.  Using the submitted abstracts as a guide, and based upon schedule constraints, the scientific committee will decide whether an oral or poster presentation will be programmed.  All accepted presentations will be invited to submit a paper.  The proceedings of the Symposium are planned to be published in an international, peer-reviewed journal.

Immediately after the Symposium, a 1-day workshop on Friday 14 March is proposed for planning a mass balance network for Andean glaciers.  All attendees to the Symposium will be welcome to this Workshop.

Valdivia is an attractive city of 130.000 inhabitants, surrounded by navigable rivers that connect with the Pacific Ocean, with good air and ground connections to Santiago.  The city is located in the lake district of Chile, where active volcanoes and mountain glaciers coexist with abundant  vegetation on the lower reaches.  March marks the end of the summer season, with warm temperatures and occasional rain.

A 2-day post-symposium tour (Saturday 15 and Sunday 16 March) will be planned to a glacier-covered volcano in the lake district of Chile.

Format for abstract

Each submitted abstract is to be not more than 250 words.  Please ensure your abstract contains the following information: Title of abstract - author(s) - address - facsimile – email- preferred status (oral presentation, poster, either). Font style is to be Times New Roman in size 12 pitch.
Abstracts are to be received by the symposium convenor by e-mail as a Microsoft Word file attachment, before October 1st, 2002.

Convenor and Head of the Working Group on Andean Glaciers of ICSI:

Gino Casassa, Centro de Estudios Científicos (CECS), Valdivia, Chile,  Tel. 56.63.234540, Fax. 56.63.234517 

Co-Convenors:

Andrés Rivera, Deputy Head of the Working Group on Andean Glaciers, CECS, Valdivia and University of Chile, Santiago, Chile.  Currently at University of Bristol, UK, Tel. 44.117.92.88.300, Fax.  44.117.9287878

Georg Kaser, Institut fuer Geographie, Universitaet Innsbruck, Innrain 52, A-6020 INNSBRUCK, Austria, Tel: 43.512.5075407, Fax: 43.512.5072895

Pierre Ribstein.  Maison des Sciences de l'Eau.  IRD,BP 64501, 34394 Montpellier cedex 5, France, Tel: 33.4. 67149035, Fax: 33.4.67149071

Christoph Schneider, Institut fuer Physische Geographie, Universitaet Freiburg, Werderring 4, D-79085 Freiburg, Germany, Tel:49.761.2033548, Fax: 49.761.2033596