REYKJAVÍK, ICELAND AUGUST 11-13, 2008 - Veðurstofa Íslands

supported by the Nordic Council of Ministers or the Nordic national
hydrological services (e.g. Nils Roar Sælthun et al., 1998 and Jes Fenger
2007. See also Risto Lemmelä and Nea Helenius 1998 and Arni Snorrason et
al. 2002).
Other fields of strong Nordic professional interest are e.g. groundwater and
other sub-surface hydrology, flood hydrology, lakes and wetlands, and fluvial
geomorphology, (e.g. Sundborg, 1957) all of which would have deserved
closer analysis.
SYMPOSIA AND CONFERENCES
Contributions to the scientific progress often materialize as papers
presented at symposia and conferences, but even in the very organization of
international professional meetings. For obvious reasons the number of
domestic participants at symposia will be high, and thus provide ample
opportunities for presenting research results from the actual region. This
section deals with international hydrological conferences and symposia, held
in the five Nordic countries for an international audience. The responsible
supporting organisations are mostly IAHS, Unesco or WMO, occasionally all
three together, often guiding the choice of scientific topics, and taking care of
the publication of proceedings. Every year several water-related international
meetings of interest for professional hydrologists are organised in the Nordic
countries. Unfortunately, it would be practically impossible to record all.
Instead, a survey of some of the many important meetings of this kind
since ca. 1950 is given in Annex 1. Not surprisingly, the topical emphasis is
on what many will identify as Northern specialties, like snow, ice and
glaciers, lake hydrology and mountainous regions. Successful meetings often
foster repetitions, which may grow into a regular series of symposia /
conferences. The annual World Water Week in Stockholm, organised by the
Stockholm International Water Institute, SIWI, is one example, with inputs
from several hydrologists, like Ulf Ehlin and Malin Falkenmark. The series
of International conferences on Climate and water, held with 9 years intervals
in Helsinki 1989, 1998, and 2007, is another. In this respect Esko Kuusisto
has provided leadership.
The International Association for Hydraulic Research, IAHR, deals with
ice science and engineering, among other fields. Since 1970, the leading
forum for ice issues is the biannual IAHR International symposia on ice.
Over this period the symposia have been held in the Nordic countries a
number of times: Reykjavik 1970, Luleå 1978, Espoo 1990 and in Trondheim
1994 (IAHR 1994, and similar previous proceedings).
PUBLICATION AND EDUCATION
Nordic Hydrology The scientific journal Nordic Hydrology may illustrate
the ambition of Northern hydrologists to play a global role. The journal was
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