Media Advisory

TO                         NEWS EDITORS AND SCIENCE REPORTERS

FROM                     UAF Geophysical Institute and International Arctic Research Center

SUBJECT                AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE: Detecting Global Change and Its Impacts in the Western Arctic

LOCATION              Regents' Great Hall, Fine Arts Complex, UAF Campus

DATE & TIME          Oct. 26 - 28; 8:30 a.m. - 5:30 p.m.

More than 175 leading scientists from around the world specializing in research on global climate change will be available for interviews Oct. 26 - 28 during the 49th annual meeting of the Arctic Division of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. During the meeting, which will be held on the campus of the University of Alaska Fairbanks, scientists will examine and share the latest findings relating to global climate change. The meeting will also inaugurate the International Arctic Research Center, a new $32 million facility funded by the U.S. and Japanese governments for collaborative research on global change. Media tours of IARC will be offered during the conference at one time only: Monday, Oct. 26, 3:30 p.m. UAF Geophysical Institute Director Syun Akasofu will be available to answer questions during the tour. Media interested in participating in the IARC tour should meet at the front doors of the Geophysical Institute on UAF's West Ridge at 3:30 p.m.

The focus of the AAAS Arctic Division meeting is international cooperation in arctic research. Scientists will examine how the different components of the Arctic's complex system work independently and together to affect global change, from the tiniest organisms in the depths of the Earth's oceans to gravity waves high in the stratosphere.

Media representatives may attend lectures, plenary presentations, poster sessions, daily tours of the Arctic Region Supercomputing Center and a Wednesday tour of the campus without charge, however, they must first get a press pass at the registration desk in the Regents' Great Hall. Additional information can be obtained at the conference web site: http://www.gi.alaska.edu/aaas/index.html

Unique to the conference this year, which is running concurrently with the Wadati Conference on Global Change, is the increased number of papers being delivered in poster sessions. Posters will change daily and authors will be available to discuss their findings from 11:30 a.m.- 2:30 p.m. or by appointment. Speaker presentations are scheduled from 8:30 - 11:30 a.m. and from 2:30 - 5:30 p.m.

CONTACT: Geophysical Institute Science Editor-in-Chief Kathy Berry (907) 474-7798 or UAF Public Information Officer Debra Damron (907) 474-7122.

DPD/10-15-98/99-021ma