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Working Groups

ESSAS Working Groups are formed to address specific research topics. They sponsor annual workshops and generate science initiatives.

Results of ESSAS science are found within the research reports listed on the “Primary Publications” page of this website

Results of ESSAS science can also be found in the annual reports of ESSAS Scientific Steering Committee (SSC) meetings presented on the “ESSAS Reports” page of this website

ESSAS Working Groups Include:

Present Working Groups

Modeling Ecosystem Response, Working Group (2006 - )

The goal of this Working Group  is to develop conceptual, mechanistic/process, statistical/empirical, and simulation models to facilitate comparison of ESSAS ecosystems and to forecast the impacts of climate change on ecosystem structure and function in multiple ESSAS ecosystems.
TOR WG 3 Modeling Ecosystem Response

Climate Effects at Upper Trophic Levels, Working Group (2008 - )

The main goal of this Working Group is to assess the effects of ocean climate variation and fishing on the interactions between gadoid fishes and crustaceans by conducting a comparative study across multiple sub-arctic marine ecosystems.
TOR WG 4 Climate Effects at Upper Trophic Levels

Arctic-Subarctic Interactions — Working Group (2011 - )

The aim of this Working Group is to examine the physical and biological exchanges between the Arctic and Sub-arctic regions, including the role of climate forcing on the rate of the exchanges and the possible effect of climate change on future exchanges.
TOR WG 5 Arctic-Subarctic Interactions (To be developed)

Former Working Groups

Regional Climate Prediction, Working Group (2006 - 2010)

Working Group was to provide quantitative estimates of the magnitude and uncertainty of future climate change for the ESSAS regions, and the frequency distribution of natural variability. A major achievement of this Working Group was the publication by Overland and Wang (2007, Geophysical Research Letters) on the best IPCC models to use for downscaling for the sub-arctic seas.
TOR WG 1 Climate Prediction

Biophysical Coupling, Working Group (2006 - 2010)

The goal of this Working Group was to determine how climate-driven variability in physical conditions and processes in the ocean will affect the organisms that make up marine ecosystems and thus the transfer of energy and material through sub-arctic marine ecosystems. This Working Group held several workshops including on the role of sea-ice, hotspots and advection in subarctic seas. This Working Group has been replaced with the Working Group on Arctic-Subarctic Interactions.
TOR WG 2 Bio-physical Coupling

Contact Us

Office Coordinator
Margaret M. McBride
Heads the ESSAS International Project Office.
Postal Address:
ESSAS International Project Office
Institute of Marine Research
P.O. Box 1870 Nordnes
5817 Bergen, Norway
Phone: +47 55 23 69 59
Fax: +47 55 23 86 87
E-mail: Margaret M. McBride