We know that the Arctic and the rest of the world can no longer afford to focus on remedial solutions, so often the approach of the past. Now, with our sophisticated tools and the explosion of knowledge, we have the power to foresee and to predict, in a way we never could do in the past. There is a physical phenomenon that is specific to the Polar Regions that can provide a clue to a direction we should take. On a cloudy day in the Arctic, a ship's captain looking over the pack ice of the ocean might not be able to see very far into the distance. But, a brilliant patch of clouds in a dark sky signals to him or her a patch of ice ahead, even though it can't be seen.
Interdisciplinary connections are absolutely fundamental.
They are synapses in this new capability to look over and beyond the horizon. Interfaces of the sciences are where the excitement will be the most intense. Let me offer a broader, a wider view, a concept that might help to frame the discussions today and tomorrow. The areas optimum for this new way of understanding are the Polar Regions. This is something that science, engineering and technology must help us to do.