First Announcement — May 2011

Meeting Location and Date

The First International Planetary Cave Research Workshop:  Implications for Astrobiology, Climate, Detection, and Exploration will be held October 25–28, 2011, at the National Cave and Karst Research Institute, 400-1 Cascades Avenue, Carlsbad, NM 88220 USA (phone:  575-887-5518). The workshop will also include a one-day field trip.

Purpose and Scope

The First International Planetary Cave Research Workshop is a follow-up to the 2008 Lava Tube Workshop held in Grant, New Mexico, which brought together researchers with interests in lava tubes from diverse backgrounds, ranging from image analysis to modeling to robotics.

This workshop is the first in a continuing series of meetings that are intended to promote the exchange of knowledge and ideas between planetary and terrestrial scientists interested in cave exploration and research across the solar system. In recognition of the broad scope, interdisciplinary nature, and strong international interest in this topic, the participation of any interested scientist with relevant theoretical, experimental, or field experience is strongly encouraged.

The workshop will incorporate oral and poster presentations as well as extended discussion dispersed around a one-day field trip to local caves. The workshop will bring together researchers with interests in planetary caves from diverse backgrounds in image analysis, modeling, and terrestrial analog studies. A small group setting will facilitate intensive discussion of problems and issues in an attempt to identify the most promising approaches to understanding these cave systems and to develop a collaborative interdisciplinary research agenda.

Agenda

General Themes

• Cave Definitions/Categories
  • Definition, classification, and types — What is a cave?
  • Cave formation mechanisms (extraterrestrial speleogenetic mechanisms)
• Astrobiology and Cave Biodiversity
  • Microbiology of caves on Earth with astrobiological significance
  • Cave biosignatures (fossils, biotextures, geochemical traces, isotopic signals, etc.)
• Cave Microclimates
  • Micrometeorology of caves, processes observable in Earth caves, and modelable as applicable to extraterrestrial caves
  • Paleoclimate signals in caves, the planetary potential for similar data
• Cave Detection
  • Orbital methods
  • Landed methods
• Cave Exploration (Robotic) Techniques and Mapping
  • Remote methods
  • Human utilization of extraterrestrial caves on Moon and Mars
• Cave Funding Sources

Meeting Format

Tuesday, October 25	Oral presentations and evening poster session and reception
Wednesday, October 26	Field trip to local caves
Thursday, October 27	Oral presentations
Friday, October 28 (half-day)	Oral presentations, discussion of priorities, wrap-up

 

Accommodations

Participants are responsible for making their own travel arrangements and hotel reservations. For your convenience, a list of area hotels is provided along with their distance from the workshop venue.

Future Announcements

Further details regarding the workshop, including guidelines for abstract submission and registration, will be included in the second announcement, available on this website in late June 2011. The deadline for abstract submission will be August 9, 2011.

Indication of Interest

To subscribe to a mailing list to receive electronic reminders and special announcements relating to the meeting
via e-mail, please submit an electronic Indication of Interest form by June 24, 2011.

Contacts

For further information regarding the scientific content of the meeting:

Dr. Timothy N. Titus
USGS Astrogeology Science Center
Phone:928-556-7201
E-mail:  [email protected]

For further information regarding meeting logistics:

Kira Honnoll
Meeting and Publication Services
Universities Space Research Association (USRA)/
Lunar and Planetary Institute
Phone:  281-244-2011
E-mail:  [email protected]

For further information regarding abstract submission or registration:

Linda Tanner
Meeting and Publication Services
Universities Space Research Association (USRA)/
Lunar and Planetary Institute
Phone:  281-486-2142
E-mail:  [email protected]

Schedule

Second announcement, including call for abstracts and registration, posted on this website	June 24, 2011
Abstract deadline	August 9, 2011
Final announcement with program and abstracts posted on this website	September 9, 2011
Deadline for registration at reduced rate	September 23, 2011
First International Planetary Cave Research Workshop:  Implications for Astrobiology, Climate, Detection, and Exploration in Carlsbad, New Mexico	October 25–28, 2011