The Icelandic IMAGES membership has been renewed for the period 2001-2003 through a
grant from the National Research Council in Iceland. The application was submitted by Jon
Eiriksson, Science Institute, University of Iceland, Gudrun Helgadottir, Marine Research
Institute, Iceland, and Aslaug Geirsdottir, University of Iceland.
Active involvement of Icelandic scientists with IMAGES began in 1997 with
a coring proposal integrating phase II of the project PAlaeoenvironments on
the North Icelandic Shelf (PANIS - http://www.hi.is/~jeir/panis.html) with
IMAGES Work Group 1: North Atlantic Ultra High Resolution. The proposal was
presented and adopted at an IMAGES meeting in Stockholm in 1997. The
proponents come from the University of Iceland (Jon Eiriksson), University
of Aarhus, Denmark (Karen Luise Knudsen), and the University of Bergen,
Norway (Haflidi Haflidason). A second project for IMAGES core sites on the Icelandic shelf was proposed
in 1998. This IMAGES-related study is based on results from previous studies done
under the international PALE (Paleoclimate of Arctic Lakes and
Estuaries)/PARCS (PaleoArctic Systems) program
(http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/paleo/pale/index.html) and the study is in
close co-operation with the INSTAAR group in Boulder, Colorado, US
(http://ekman.colorado.edu/~echol/). Institutions involved in the NW
Iceland IMAGES programme studies: Department of Geosciences University of
Iceland Jardfraedahus Haskolans 101 Reykjavik Iceland (Aslaug Geirsdottir,
associate professor, age@rhi.hi.is); The objectives of these IMAGES coring site studies are described in the 1998-1999
Icelandic national report at this website.
During the 1999 RV Marion Dufresne cruise, Leg 3, all the Icelandic proposed coring
sites were successfully cored. Five of the proponents, (Jon
Eiriksson, Haflidi Haflidason, Jorunn Hardardottir, Gudrun Helgadottir and Aslaug Geirsdottir)
participated in the cruise, as well as five students (Greta Kristjansdottir, Herdis Schopka, Helga
B. B. Jonsdottir, Frank Rytter and Rikke Oehlenslaeger)
from the Universities of Iceland and of Aarhus, participated in Leg 3. With the available
funding, which is partly from the Icelandic National Research Council, partly from the European
Commission 5th Framework, the prospects for palaeoceanographic studies focusing on the
Holocene and the last glacial-interglacial cycle, based on the new IMAGES core material, are
considered very good.
Marine Research Institute Skulagata 4
101 Reykjavik Iceland (Gudrun Helgadottir, research scientist,
gudrun@hafro.is);
Science Institute University of Iceland Dunhagi 3 107
Reykjavik (Jorunn Hardardottir, research scientist,
jorunnha@raunvis.hi.is).