POAC has had a long and proud tradition as the premier international conference on ice engineering issues. It started with rather humble beginnings in Trondheim, Norway, where Prof. Per Bruun, who was internationally known as a coastal engineer, organized the first conference in 1971. He had invited a number of his colleagues, who were themselves mostly coastal engineers, to participate in the conference. There was very good attendance, with almost 100 papers presented. Prof. Bruun knew then that there was a real need for a specialty conference related to ice engineering issues. The name of the conference, “Port and Ocean Engineering under Arctic Conditions,” very clearly described the purpose and its focus. The success of the first conference encouraged the organizing committee to meet again two years later, this time in Iceland. The POAC conference has continued ever since with a very loyal following.

At about the same time, Prof. Bernard Michel, from Laval University in Canada, chaired a Technical Committee on Ice Problems for the International Association for Hydraulic Research (IAHR). This committee organized an international conference in Reykjavik, Iceland, in 1970. The IAHR Symposium on Ice was born. Over the years, this has developed into a “sister” conference to POAC. In general, it is more focused on scientific aspects and deals with river ice issues. It continues to flourish today and is held on alternate years to the POAC Conference.

The following table provides a summary of past POAC conferences.