![[Home]](/sites/tamcamp.org/themes/tamcamp/images/blank.png)
Transantarctic Mountains Science Meeting, September 23-24, 2013
The amount of research being conducted in the Transantarctic Mountains (TAM) has increased in recent years. As the community of scientists interested in conducting research in the TAM and the number of represented disciplines continues to expand, there is a clear need to bring the community together. Specifically, the various researchers who share the same field area, the same logistical challenges, and would benefit from inter-disciplinary interaction. Such a gathering would be especially useful for early career scientists to learn the practice of operating in Antarctica from the broader community of experienced Antarctic researchers.
The inaugural Transantarctic Mountains Science Meeting will be held Monday, September 23rd through Tuesday, September 24th 2013, at the University of Minnesota campus in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Polar Geospatial Center, located on campus of University of Minnesota–Twin Cities, is providing the local organizational support. The scientific program and overall lead will be provided by the Program Committee.
If you would like to be added to the TAM Science Meeting email list, please send a message to tamscience@und.edu. This email list will send notices about updates to the website and meeting registration information. This website is the primary source of information for the 2013 TAM Science Meeting, so please check back in the coming weeks for more information on agendas, online registration, and other meeting details.
For more information:
2013 Meeting: Expected Outcomes
- Provide researchers and National Science Foundation (NSF) program officers with an up-to-date picture of the state of science in the TAM.
- Identify common research goals and potential for multidisciplinary collaborations.
- Create opportunities for institutional knowledge transfer (especially regarding logistics) between established and early career Antarctic researchers.
- Review current logistic capabilities of Office of Polar Programs, and how these mesh with upcoming and future research plans.
- Publication of a meeting report which includes: major short-term and long-term research priorities, and presentation abstracts.
The Transantarctic Mountains
Antarctica has one of the longest mountain chains in the world, the Transantarctic Mountains, which extend a distance of 3000 miles (4800 km). In many places the chain is mostly buried, but the exposed peaks often have steep snow-free faces.
The Transantarctic Mountains penetrate into the interior of the continent. They are a window into the geology of the continent but also a barrier that has profound implications for climate evolution as well as extreme biological environments. Investigations in the less accessible parts of the mountains, south of the McMurdo Dry Valleys and the focus of the proposed camp, have been mainly concerned with geology, and have resulted in numerous discoveries of importance to the geologic and geodynamic evolution of the continent as well as the late Cenozoic glacial history. Important meteorite collections have also been made within and adjacent to the Transantarctic Mountains.
Automatic weather stations have been deployed to aid in understanding of katabatic flow and synoptic meteorology. However, little biological research has been conducted.