Between 21 and 23 August 2006, the 37^th Nordic Seminar on Detection Seismology will take place at Nesbúð, Nesjavellir. Despite the title, the seminar is open to all topics in seismology and seismic monitoring. The seminar series began 36 years ago as a forum for research on detection seismology and the verification of a future test-ban treaty. Today, the CTBT is a reality and all Nordic countries host IMS stations. Alongside seismic techniques, other types of CTBT monitoring are being implemented, and these approaches will be discussed at future seminars. The seminar series has helped to encourage Nordic collaboration. For instance, Iceland’s national seismic network – the SIL system – was initiated in this forum 20 years ago and developed as part of a Nordic enterprise. More recently, the Nordic seismic educational network has arisen from the seminar series. At the seminar dinner on Tuesday 22 August, the fifteenth anniversary of continuous, online operation of the SIL system will be celebrated.

Three keynotes lectures will be given at the 2006 seminar: Farrokh Nadim, director of the International Centre for Geohazards in Oslo, will give a talk entitled “Presentation of International Centre for Geohazards (ICG) and discussion on challenges in geohazards-related research”. Ragnar Stefánsson, professor at the University of Akureyri, will talk about “Earthquake prediction research and the June 2000 earthquakes”. Freysteinn Sigmundsson, geophysicist at the Nordic Volcanic Center, Institute of Earth Sciences, University of Iceland, will give a talk about “Fire and ice on shaky grounds: Living with natural hazards in Iceland”.

The consensus from previous seminars is that an annual meeting is desirable, with a program spanning three days, beginning and ending at lunchtime. In Iceland, the tradition is a three-day seminar, with one day devoted to a field trip. At this year’s seminar, the field trip will be on Wednesday 23 August – the last day of the seminar – and it will take place in conjunction with participants from the EC project FORESIGHT. At 08:00 GMT on 23 August, participants in the FORESIGHT meeting will travel by bus from Reykjavík to the Nesjavellir geothermal area. At this location, participants from the Nordic Seminar will join the bus at 09:00 GMT. From Nesjavellir, will visit the following sites:

1. Hengill central volcano: earthquake swarms, crustal uplift, and geothermal power

2. Lake Þingvallavatn: plate-boundary tectonics

3. Hestfjall: surface ruptures caused by the Ms 6.6 earthquake in June 2000

4. Þjórsá bridge: engineering strategies for reducing seismic hazards

5. Lunch

6. Hekla region: insights into explosive volcanism from tephra exposures

7. Geysir: hydrothermal interactions

At 17:30 GMT, FORESIGHT members will leave the bus at Hotel Geysir, allowing participants from the Nordic seismology meeting to travel back to Nesjavellir and Reykjavík.

It is advisable to pack snacks and water; some stops may involve up to 20 minutes of hiking, mostly on flat terrain.

Recommended kit:

Hiking boots

Rain- and wind-proof jacket and trousers

A woollen jumper or some other "warm layer"

Hat and gloves

Spare hiking socks

Sun cream

Sunglasses