Introduction

The 18th International FRISP Workshop was held at AWI's Biological Institute, the former Bundesanstalt Helgoland (BAH), on Germany's only open ocean island Helgoland on 5th - 7th of October 2004. In total 20 participants from New Zealand, China, Germany, Norway, the United States, and the United Kingdom came together. The meeting was hosted by Hartmut Hellmer, Henner Sandhäger and Michael Schodlok from AWI.

FRISP continues its circumpolar broader focus, and the Ross, Amery, Fimbul, Brunt, Filchner-Ronne, Larsen and George VI isceshelves were adressed, as well as floating ice bergs. Field campains covered a range from Paleo studies using sediment cores, via current meter morings at the ice front, to ice cores taken through the ice shelves. Numerical modelling studies presented covered ice shelf flow, ice berg drift, frazil ice formation, ice shelf melting and fresh water input to the Southern Ocean. The last talk was as an "Autosub under ice" report from the recent cruise to cruise to Kangerdlugssuaq, East Greenland, showing good progress in water sampling teqniques for the autosub. So FRISP had an Arctic presentations this year as well, but it is now likely that the first horizontal measurements below an ice shelf will be taken in Antarctica.

Adrian Jenkins will continue as chairman, and Lars H. Smedsrud as editor of the reports printed by the Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research (BCCR). University of Bergen host the FRISP web pages (www.gfi.uib.no/frisp). The participants found the pages and online reports useful in addition to the printed reports, and it was decided to use CRYOLIST as the FRISP e-mail list.

The next meeting will be hosted by the Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research (BCCR) in Bergen.

Lars H. Smedsrud