2008 report
The Damocles web site (Contractor involved: CICERO)
Progress: 40 %
During the period the promotional web site at http://www.damocles-eu.org/ has been updated with weekly reports from among others the research vessel Polarstern sailing in the Barents Sea gathering research data for DAMOCLES. We have also posted reports from the research vessel Tara's drift through the Arctic Ocean and from the research conducted on consequences of climate change in Finnmark, Norway.
The site has also been updated with relevant links to other international Arctic research projects, online educational programs about the Arctic and daily news about the Arctic. There has been a growing interest for the Arctic region in the media. Thus more news articles from the press has been posted on the web site and sent out to the approx 200 subscribers to the electronic newsletter.
We have also made an overview of the current expeditions sailing for DAMOCLES with links to the expedition's web sites. This overview should be broadened with input from the DAMOCLES partners. The web site has also been updated with descriptions of all the research activities and links to the data management in DAMOCLES. These descriptions of the research activities should be reviewed and updated by the involved task leaders in DAMOCLES.
With some exceptions, there is too little input from the task leaders to the web site. All the task leaders should contribute regularly to keep the web site updated on research activities in the program.
Before the International polar day in September 2007 on sea ice we made a press release about the Polarstern expedition, DAMOCLES and the melting sea ice in the Arctic.
All the updates from DAMOCLES posted on the web site has also been linked to on the IPY web site.
Since the launch, in average 303 pages have been viewed every day. The DAMOCLES electronic newsletter has 207 subscribers and 32 newsletters have been sent to the subscribers since the launch in 2006.
The mobile exhibition (Contractor involved: International Polar Foundation - IPF)
Progress: 90%
A major effort during the first year of DAMOCLES was to develop the concept and carry out design study for the mobile exhibition. Following on a presentation of the concept and the Preliminary Design Study at the DAMOCLES General Assembly in Bremen, the approach was widely appreciated and several partners came forward with new material that could be used.
From the results of modelling of observational data, several partners were able to propose animations that illustrated the dynamic nature of the Arctic ice-ocean-atmosphere system. This animation runs in a loop and is featured in the centre of the DAMOCLES installation. After the Bremen meeting, it became a major challenge to identify and collect all material that could be used, develop the Advanced Design Study and identify and contract with the set builders and graphics production studios. Multimedia equipment (computers & screens, plasma screens, projectors, and monitoring units were purchased by the set builders for integration into the exhibition unit.
The final texts were approved, and images, and layouts were approved, and release forms were signed for every element of the production. Special acknoledgement goes to the Scott Polar Research Institute (for the loan of artefacts and figurines from the indigenous peoples of the North) to the Belgian Natural History Museum for the free use of the Exhibition space, and for the loan of several items (mammoth tusks, images etc.), the University of Ghent (fossils from the PETM), and AWI (for historical measuring instruments for the Arctic Science Past scenario). Without the generosity of all these people the project would have been a far more expensive and difficult proposition. Personnel from the IPF, the Polaris Centre, and the IPF-UK participated in the exercise.
The Construction was carried out professionally by Gielissen of Stuttgart, who were selected from a group of three companies for the main building tasks. Heinz and Malzacher from Hamburg were selected to carry out the graphics production, while scenario elements were produced by Ulrike Schlemm. The process was overseen by the Atelier Bruckner.
A short film (10 min) was put together from existing footage to explain the aims of DAMOCLES to a general audience. This was then translated into nine other languages (in 12 different language combinations) for potential venues.
The final Exhibition was set up at the Brussels Natural History Museum with the collaboration of the EU DGRTD (Damien Cardinale) and it ran alongside the EU IPY Launch event – the Symposium on Polar Research which was held in Brussels at the Museum on the 5th and 6th of March 2007. The Exhibition was inaugurated with 300 guests at a champagne cocktail organised by the EU DGRTD. The Commissioner for Research, Mr Janĕsz Potocnik, who opened the Symposium was afterwards invited to a private tour of the Exhibition.
The Exhibition was reported on the DAMOCLES, the DGRTD and the IPF web site (http://www.polarfoundation.org/). Photos of the Exhibition can be seen at:
The DAMOCLES film can also be viewed at the following address: http://www.polarfoundation.org/index.php?/damocles_exhibitions_introductory_film&s=no&puid=390&uid=551&lg=en
The Exhibition is available in bi-lingual format - (English and one other language) for tendifferent languages including French, Spanish, Italian, Finnish, Russian, German, Dutch, Swedish,and Norwegian.
After Brussels, the Exhibition was presented in Varna, Bulgaria. from 13 to 26 July at the Palace of Festivals and Conferences.
From 28 September to 04 October the Exhibition was presented at ESRIN/ESA, where more than 500 people visited the exhibition.
The next venue is Bruges, where it will be mounted from 23rd November 2007 until 13th January 2008.
