Prof. Dr. Jefferson Cardia Simões (BRASIL)

Director Brazilian Institute Cryospheric Sciences Brazil

The first Brazilian glaciologist, professor at UFRGS and researcher IB of CNPq. Geologist by the UFRGS, earned his Ph.D. in Glaciology by the Scott Polar Research Institute (SPRI) at the University of Cambridge (England). He has post-doc by the Laboratoire de Glaciologie et Géophysique de l'Environnement (LGGE) du Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (France). Responsible for introduction in Brazil of the science of Glaciology, teaches in the graduate programmes in Geosciences (Level 7 CAPES) and Geography (Level 5 CAPES), UFRGS. He created the first national laboratory dedicated to Glaciology and geographical polar research (Núcleo de Pesquisas Antárticas e Climáticas - UFRGS).

He was the network research coordinator of PROANTAR project "Antarctica, Global Change and Brazil", during 2002-2006.

Participated in 19 polar expeditions. Simoes coordinates the Brazilian participation on investigations of Antarctic ice cores in the International Trans- Antarctic Scientific Expedition (ITASE), which his is part of the committee manager. He is his is part of the steering committee of the initiative International Partnerships in Ice Core Sciences.

He has published 61 scientific articles, 60% in international journals, mainly on the glaciology of polar and Andean glaciers. He is a member of the National Committee on Antarctic Research (CONAPA) of the Ministry of Science and Technology (MCT), representing it in the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) of the International Council for Science (ICSU) as a Brazil alternate delegate.

He is the Brazilian representative at the International Association of Cryospheric Sciences (IACS / IUGG / ICSU) and member of the International Glaciological Society (IGS). It is ad hoc consultant for several national and international institutions, CNPq, CAPES, FAPESP and the National Science Foundation - NSF (Office of Polar Programs).

Prof. Dr. Paul Andrew Mayewski (USA)

Director Climate Change Institute, University of Maine Maine USA

Paul Andrew Mayewski PhD, FEC, PhDhon Explorer and Scientis. Director and Professor, Climate Change Institute, University of Maine paul.mayewski@maine.edu Exploration Highlights (selected)
Leader of more than 50 expeditions to remote regions such as: Antarctica, the Arctic, Himalayas, Tibetan Plateau, Tierra del Fuego.
Leader of the first expedition into Northern Victoria Land, Antarctica and first glaciological expedition to Nun Kun Massif, Ladakh, Indian Himalayas.
Leader of the first multi-disciplinary oversnow scientific expedition to the South Pole. Research Highlight Examples (>300 pubs)
Documented changes in atmospheric chemistry produced naturally and by humans.
Early discovery of recent Antarctic and Himalayan ice loss.
Discovered behavior of abrupt climate change events in the atmosphere.
Developed integrated understanding of multiple controls on climate and unique role of human impact.
Pioneered use of instrumentally calibrated ice core records back hundreds of years and first global reconstruction of past atmospheric conditions.
Demonstrated associations between climate and disruptions to civilization.
Major Scientific Projects Organized and Led (examples) GISP2 (Greenland Ice Sheet Project 2, 25 American institutions); ITASE (International Trans Antarctic Scientific Expedition, 21 nations); CADIP (Central Asian Deep Ice Coring, 7 nations).

Prof. Dr. Wolf E. Arntz (Alemania)

Profesor emérito, División de Ecosistemas Bentónicos. Instituto Alfred Wegener de Investigaciones Polares y Marinas(Bremerhaven, Alemania)

Wolf E. Arntz es doctor (1970) en biología pesquera por la Universidad de Kiel y catedrático de ecología marina en la Universidad de Bremen. Ha compaginado las actividades profesionales con las docentes, centrando su campo de actividad en la biología pesquera, la ecología trófica de peces, zoobentos marinos, la fauna del mar del Norte y del Báltico, la ecología de áreas de afloramiento, la ecología marina, las ballenas, los invertebrados comerciales, la ecología antártica y las oscilaciones climáticas y sus efectos

Prof. Dra. Mary T. Kalin Arroyo (Chile)

Director Instituto Biodiversidad Universidad de Chile Santiago Chile.

Research Area: I have worked in the areas of plant reproductive biology, biogeography, and conservation biology in alpine, forest and mediterranean ecosystems from the tropics to high latitudes in South America. I established the first research groups in plant reproductive ecology in Venezuela and Chile in the late 70s and early 80s. Main finding of my early work are that plant breeding systems (determined experimentally in the field) are not closely linked to pollinator availability, and that although pollinators are increasingly scare at higher elevation, pollination probability does not decline. This suggests that intrinsic life-history characteristics impact on plant breeding systems. A longer-term project, drawing on 2 decades of floristic work, and participation of foreign institutions, concerns using the entire high elevation flora of the Andes of South America as a model to sort out hypotheses related to latitudinal species gradients. We continue with our studies of the floras of 16 state protected areas, stimulated by the designation of central Chile as a "Biodiversity Hotspot for Conservation Priority" (Nature; 2000), based on the work of several scientists today associated with proposed IEB (R. Rozzi, P. Marquet, F. Squeo, J. Simonetti) and my biogeography work in the mid 90s, in which we showed that although Chile and California have similar climates, their floras differ radically in terms of life-form composition and species-richness at a large scale. My work for the next five years will relate principally to IEB's Focus 1 and 3 and Cross-cutting theme 1.

Prof. Dr. Ian D. Goodwin (AUSTRALIA)

BSurv, MAppSc, (NSW), PhD (Tas) Climatologist, Glaciologist and Coastal Geoscientist
Climate Risk CORE Environmental Science, Dept Environment and Geography, Macquarie University Sydney, Australia .

Ian is Associate Professor and Director in the new Climate Risk Centre at Macquarie University. Ian has 26 years consulting and research experience in the fields of climatology, paleoclimatology and climate change science, environmental geoscience, coastal geoscience, and environmental hazard definition and management within Australia and overseas, specifically in South Pacific Islands and Antarctica. Ian’s key expertise ranges from marine and Antarctic climate change, coastal geoscience and oceanography, coastal and estuarine environmental science and management, climatology, hydrology and climate change in Australasian, Antarctica and South-West Pacific region, Antarctic glaciology, geoscience, to logistics and environmental assessment. Ian has coordinated international scientific research programs on global change such as SCAR-GLOCHANT and on environmental impact assessments. Ian has extensive academic teaching experience on courses in climate change and climatology, coastal dynamics and evolution, coastal environmental science and management, coastal protection, coastal geomorphology and oceanography, and global environmental change. Ian has produced over 50 scientific publications in international journals and 30 consultant reports covering climatology, regional climate change and variability, coastal geoscience, coastal and estuarine evolution, coastal ocean and sedimentological processes, coastal management, sea-level history, coral reef geomorphology, Antarctic glaciology and glacial geology and remote sensing.

Dr Thomas J Bracegirdle. (AUSTRALIA)

Climate modeler at the British Antarctic Survey.

In 2006 obtained a PhD in meteorology from the University of Reading, UK.
Main interests are large-scale atmospheric variability and severe high latitude
cyclones (polar lows).

Dr. Jorge Fernando Carrasco Cerda.

Vice-chairman at National Meteorological Organization

Meteoroligst at Aeronautics vocational school. In 1992, he earned a master degree in meteorology from Ohio State University. Two years later, he obtained a PhD in meteorology at the same University. Nobel peace prize advisor in IPCC AR4 study in 2007.
Member of the American Meteorological association, member of the American Geophysics Union, and member of the national committee of Antarctic research (CNIA) and others.