Fifty years of IAHR’s Symposium on Ice: country contributions and international co-authorship

• Main Author: Barrette, Paul D.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: IAHR (International Association for Hydro-Environment Engineering and Research) 2022
• Subjects: Reykjavík; Canada
• Online Access: https://nrc-publications.canada.ca/eng/view/ft/?id=f65a43c9-eb52-4c70-8f7f-eb622c05af19; https://nrc-publications.canada.ca/eng/view/object/?id=f65a43c9-eb52-4c70-8f7f-eb622c05af19; https://nrc-publications.canada.ca/fra/voir/objet/?id=f65a43c9-eb52-4c70-8f7f-eb622c05af19

The first edition of IAHR’s international Symposium on Ice, then called Ice Problems in Hydraulic Structures, was held in Reykjavík in 1970, and mostly on a biennial basis thereafter. The topics that were addressed during these 50 years were mainly on ice engineering, both in freshwater and saline water environments. River ice, ice mechanics, ice forces and ice interaction with structures were usually included. The impact of climate change as a topic appeared in the early 1990’s, while input related with ecology, water quality and impacts of oil spills began in the late 1990’s. Some of the proceedings included the outcome of several working groups on topical issues such as ice force, hydraulics and modeling. The number of records (papers, keynote addresses and posters) from all 25 sets of proceedings totaled 2599, by authors from 37 countries. An analysis of country-per-country contributions was done on that corpus – it showed that Canada, USA, USSR/Russia and China are the overall top contributors. Norway’s input gradually increased to take the lead, with almost 30% of all output for the 2020 edition. The analysis conducted herein showed that the level of international coauthorship, which was assessed using a simple index devised for that purpose, has been on the rise, from 0% in 1970 to 47% in 2020. Peer reviewed: Yes NRC publication: Yes