Introduction

The 17th International Workshop of the Forum for Research into Ice Shelf Processes (FRISP) community was held at the British Antarctic Survey, Cambridge, UK, on 17th and 18th of June 2003. In total 45 participants from Australia, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Norway, the United States, and the United Kingdom were came together, with some locals from BAS wandering in and out during the cofee breakes. The meeting was hosted by the present chairman Adrian Jenkins.

This was the first FRISP workshop with a true circumpolar focus, and the first 5 talks presented ongoing research related to the Ross and Amery Ice shelves. In total 21 talks were given at the workshop, with a main focus of physical oceanography below the ice shelves. Other specific topics covered were drift of icebergs in the Weddell and Ross sectors, paleo data from sediment cores below the Amery, ice shelf topography measurements on Filchner and Fimbul, and increased melting in releation to (warming) deep waters, as well as excursions to the Iceland and Greenland ice shelves.

The three last talks were given as an "Autosub under ice" session reporting on the recent cruise to Pine Island Bay. Good oceanographic and seabed data were gathered on the shelf, but the autosub did not make it under the ice shelf, so the first horizontal measurements below ice shelves are still eagerly awaited for. The future plans presented and discussed involved ;

• a) drift of Polarstern in the western Weddell coordinated by AWI (ISPOL)
• b) Autosub under ice below the Ronne including oxygen tracer sampling
• c) continuation of AMISOR with a new access hole on the Amery
• d) suggestion for a model comparison study with idealized topography among the three sub ice shelf numerical models
• d) coordinated inclusion of frazil ice in 3 D models and inclusion and
• e) some future possibilities of direct frazil and ocean measuerments in cracks of the Fimbul ice shelf (Jutulgryta).

Adrian Jenkins will continue as chairman, and Lars H. Smedsrud as editor of the reports/www pages. The Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research (BCCR) in Bergen will print the reports for some years to come, and www.gfi.uib.no/frisp is hosted by the University of Bergen. BCCR does climate research and research training in order to further increase our knowledge of past, present and future climate change with emphasis on northern Europe and the Arctic regions. Participants found the www pages and online reports useful in addition to the printed reports, and suggested a FRISP mail-list set up with the www pages.

The next meeting will be hosted by AWI and Hartmut Hellmer during autumn 2004.

Lars H. Smedsrud