Newsletter
January 2023
Welcome to the January edition of the quaterly EU-PolarNet 2 newsletter!
Welcome to the January edition of the quaterly EU-PolarNet 2 newsletter!
Welcome to the first EU-PolarNet 2 newsletter in 2023! We are looking forward to an exciting 3rd year of our project. This year we will focus strongly on research prioritisation. The highlight will be a workshop in June with members of our Polar Expert Group and other high-level scientists and stakeholders. We will also be promoting further service contracts in the field of climate science to contribute to research prioritisation.
Another transdisciplinary workshop is planned in Brussels early this summer, which will focus on Antarctic science and policy.
Last but not least, we will continue to develop the structures for the European Polar Coordination Office, which will be the legacy of EU-PolarNet.
Stay tuned for an exciting year with EU-PolarNet 2!
Newsletter content
- IGOT is launching the Portuguese Polar Campaign PROPOLAR 2022-23
- An overview of the activities of CNR- Institute of Polar Sciences (ISP) in the last six months of 2022
- Urbanisation and development of technological support for human life in the Arctic; Development of low temperature microalgal bioprospection
- Alfred Wegener Institute and the MOSAiC research expedition awarded the Arctic Circle Prize
- Arctic Ocean: Greater Future acidification in summer
- SIOS-Planet call
News from EU-PolarNet 2
EU-PolarNet 2 at Arctic Circle
EU-PolarNet 2 had two sessions at Arctic Circle, both on October 15. The first session, called “Funding International Arctic Science”, addressed the need for stronger international coordination of Arctic science funding and the state of Arctic research. The consecutive session “EU-PolarNet 2 – structure of European Polar research funding: dialogue and cooperation” presented the overall goals and objectives of the EU-PolarNet 2 project and focussed on the structure of European Polar Research Funding and cooperation with partners beyond Europe.
In parallel, EU-PolarNet 2 was part of a panel about “EU-Arctic cooperation: challenges, collaboration and results”, organised by the European Commission, on 15 October 2022.
New features of the Catalyst platform
Have you visited the Catalyst Platform yet? It is one of the main cooperation tools developed by EU-PolarNet 2 that shall improve the information flow within the European Polar community. Learn about the interactive platform in these new, short video tutorials and join the European polar research community today! More information here.
EU-PolarNet 2 session at ASSW2023
EU-PolarNet 2 organises a session at Arctic Science Summit Week ASSW2023 called “EU-PolarNet 2: advancing European Polar research strategies”, on 21 February 2023, 8:30 – 10:00 CET. The session will include short presentations about the EU-PolarNet 2 research prioritisation process, as well as a panel discussion and open debate on the research needs of our various stakeholders. More information here.
EU-PolarNet 2 stakeholder workshops in Nuuk, Greenland
In early November 2022, EU-PolarNet 2 held its second transdisciplinary workshop in Nuuk, Greenland. The workshop was hosted by our partners from the Greenland Institute of Natural Resources. The workshop aimed at elaborating research priorities of local stake- and rightsholders in Greenland.
The EU-PolarNet 2 team had the opportunity to listen to the research needs from Early Career Researchers, Researchers from Greenland/working in Greenland, Innovation Greenland, the Greenland research council, Arctic Hub, the government of Greenland, MIO (a National Advocacy Center working for Children’s Rights) and the Fishing and Hunting Association.
Overall, it was a very successful and educational workshop and we can take away a bunch of input for our research prioritisation task this year. Many thanks to our hosts and all workshop participants from Greenland.
EUROGEO Workshop 2022 – EU-PolarNet 2 and the EPB co-chairing a session
On 8th December 2022, EU-PolarNet 2 & the EPB successfully co-chaired the session “EU polar observations – challenges ahead in terms of technology and governance” at the EuroGEO Workshop 2022 in Athens.
EU Polar Cluster News
In October 2022, the EU Polar Cluster had a booth at the Arctic Circle Assembly 2022 in Reykjavík. The booth was organised and managed by members of EU-PolarNet 2 and the European Polar Board. The EU Polar Cluster had also a booth at AGU (American Geophysical Union) Fall Meeting 2022 in Chicago. The booth was organised and managed for the EU Polar Cluster by the European Polar Board Secretariat and included information flyers from all of the Cluster Members.
The EU Polar Cluster will be present at ASSW2023. It will host a business and community meeting on 18 February 2023 and a Polar Research Communications Meeting on 21 February 2023. Both are public and hybrid events.
The EU Polar Cluster welcomed a new permanent member, APECS. Furthermore, the projects AI-ARC, EPOC and OCEAN:ICE became members of the Cluster in autumn 2022.
Since summer 2021, the EU Polar Cluster publishes its own regular newsletters. Read the latest edition of the EU Polar Cluster and sign up to the Cluster newsletter here.
Partner highlights on polar research
IGOT is launching the Portuguese Polar Campaign PROPOLAR 2022-23
The Institute of Geography and Spatial Planning (IGOT), the Portuguese partner in EU-PolarNet 2, is organizing the Portuguese Polar Campaign PROPOLAR 2022-23. This season, 4 projects from different national research institutions will be developed in the Arctic and 7 in Antarctica, in topics as varied as Antarctic fisheries and food webs, Arctic bird migration, atmospheric rivers, changing permafrost, deep-sea ecology, ecosystem multifunctionality, just to name a few. Places to be investigated in the Antarctic include South Shetlands Islands Archipelago, Antarctic Peninsula, and South Georgia. In the Arctic region, Inuvik-Tuktoyaktuk and Kangiqsualujjuaq (Canada), and South and East Iceland are the study areas. For the eleventh time, Portugal will be contributing to the international logistics supporting science in Antarctica by chartering a flight between Punta Arenas (Chile) and King George Island (Antarctica), scheduled for the 17th of February 2023, to be shared with partner programs.
Further information: http://www.propolar.org/
An overview of the activities of CNR- Institute of Polar Sciences (ISP) in the last six months of 2022
The main research interests of the Institute of Polar Sciences of the National Research Council of Italy (CNR-ISP) have mainly focused on the studies on: Natural risks and anthropogenic impacts, Paleoclimate and paleoenvironments, Global change, Earth Observation and Biosciences at both Poles. In the Arctic area research activities took place under the auspices of the Italian Arctic Research Program (PRA) and the EU INTERACT III cooperation program, spanning from the Canadian to European Arctic. Calls were also included for improving or upgrading the infrastructures present in the Arctic. While in Antarctic area, within the EU H2020 Beyond EPICA project and the National Programme for Antarctic Research (PNRA), the summer campaign for 2022/23 started at the end of October 2022 and it is still ongoing on the Italian infrastructures (Mario Zucchelli Station, Concordia Station and the Laura Bassi icebreaker).
Further information: https://www.isp.cnr.it/index.php/en/ https://www.isp.cnr.it/index.php/en/newsletter https://www.programmaricercaartico.it/ https://www.pnra.aq/
Urbanisation and development of technological support for human life in the Arctic; Development of low temperature microalgal bioprospection
The Arctic brings new opportunities for industrial developments.
Urbanisation and development of all technological support for human life is one
of the most globally urgent tasks for future. Construction of the Arctic
photobioreactor and pilot experiments with the closed rotated type; annular
column, aerated by air + CO2 mixture in Svalbard was tested in summer season
2022.
Further information: https://www.msmt.cz/
Origin of resistance to desiccation and cryoinjuries in biological soil crust microalgae of High Arctic
The international project aims to understand the complex eco-physiological and molecular-genetic mechanisms of resistance of biological soil crusts (BSC) microalgae to stresses associated with the harsh seasonally changing Arctic conditions. Hardened and/or starved BSC microalgae will be more resistant to Arctic winter.
Further information: https://gacr.cz/
Alfred Wegener Institute and the MOSAiC research expedition awarded the Arctic Circle Prize
The Alfred Wegener Institute and the MOSAiC research expedition were awarded the Arctic Circle Prize on Saturday, 15 October 2022 in Reykjavik. With the prize, the international organisation Arctic Circle recognises extraordinary contributions to securing a sustainable and prosperous future in the Arctic.
Arctic Ocean: Greater Future acidification in summer
Over the past 200 years, our planet’s oceans have absorbed more than a quarter of all anthropogenic carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. As a result, their acidity has increased by nearly 30 percent since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. In this regard, the water’s pH value isn’t constant; it varies both seasonally and regionally. The lowest values naturally occur in winter.
But that could soon change, since they could be shifted to the summer by climate change, as an international team including experts from the Alfred Wegener Institute recently demonstrated. If this comes to pass, it could have far-reaching consequences for life in the ocean, as they report in the journal Nature.
Further information: https://www.awi.de/en/about-us/service/press/single-view/arktischer-ozean-kuenftig-auch-im-sommer-versauert.html
SIOS-Planet call
The SIOS−Planet cooperation project proposal call to demonstrate the usability of high-resolution Planet data in the Arctic is to provide free access to high-resolution optical satellite data acquired by Planet’s satellite constellation to stimulate geospatial product generation in Svalbard. In cooperation with Planet, the Svalbard Integrated Arctic Earth Observing System (SIOS) is inviting project scientific proposals from the global Arctic science community to demonstrate the usability of high-resolution data in Svalbard. Deadline is 28 February 2023.
Curious about what’s up next? From EU Arctic Forum to ASSW 2023 – get a first glimpse of where to meet up with EU-PolarNet 2 the next months.
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