Almost a year after the 5th OGGM workshop in Neuharlingersiel, it was time for the next chapter in a series of workshops which, over time, has brought together the community of users, developers and friends of OGGM. After what was - for most of us - a long day of traveling (from as far as Japan to as close as Bergen) and a beautiful train journey, we arrived in Finse, a remote village between Bergen and Oslo, that can only be reached by train. All that remained of our journey was a 20 minute walk to the research station through the alpine tundra with some of the outlet glaciers of the nearby ice cap in sight, before receiving a warm welcome from the station manager, the cooks and the workshop participants who had arrived a little earlier. This year’s workshop was jointly organized with the Python Glacier Evolution Model (PyGEM) community, and for the first time the workshop did not solely focus on OGGM. Glacier models ODINN, COSIPY and GloGEM were also present, leading to a wider range of topics being presented and some more overarching discussions, compared to the previous editions.
The program consisted of presentations, mostly in the mornings, by participants grouped together in the thematic sessions: “Recent developments in global glacier modeling”, “Glacier-related hydrology and data” and “Glacier evolution, past and future, ensemble studies and intercomparison”. The presentations ranged from longer overview presentations, to presentations of latest results, short pitches of new ideas and two posters. This mix of different presentation lenghts was a result of giving all participants the option to indicate if, what, in what format and how long they would like to present. The thematic sessions were based on the submissions, instead of being defined before the workshop. Personally, I really enjoyed how that worked out, both because it created some variety in the presentation types and because the presenter can often best estimate what would be good to present to the audience. During the afternoons there were hands-on tutorials in PyGEM and OGGM for beginners, OGGM for more advanced users and discussion sessions. The full program you can find in the following document. Having said that, the program wasn’t rigid. Interesting discussions and questions were, for instance, prioritized above sticking to the schedule.
The excursion to the nearby glacier was a highlight for all, and for some of us the first time seeing a glacier up close. It was it a wonderful experience to set foot on one, especially considering that all of us are doing glacier research. For one of us it was akin to a dream coming true, that had involved months of committed preperation, but also to those with plenty of experience in the field, visiting a glacier remains amazing. The hike to the glacier was also a good opportunity to mingle and socialize. Another event serving that purpose was the icebreaker: an ice and climate pub quiz where the more senior scientists were the enthusiastic mascots of their teams. Overall, there was loads of laughter in addition to scientific discussion. Living together for some days was great for getting to know each other a little better and formed a nice basis for exchanging knowledge and further collaborations.
We thank everyone involved in making this workshop such a success. We’re already looking forward to the next edition :)