{"id":2955,"date":"2025-01-03T08:39:04","date_gmt":"2025-01-03T08:39:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/horizon.peachpuff-wolverine-566518.hostingersite.com\/?p=2955"},"modified":"2025-01-03T08:39:04","modified_gmt":"2025-01-03T08:39:04","slug":"braving-the-cold-europes-polar-research-strides-forward-with-new-polar-hub","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/horizon\/2955\/braving-the-cold-europes-polar-research-strides-forward-with-new-polar-hub\/","title":{"rendered":"Braving the cold: Europe\u2019s polar research strides forward with new polar hub"},"content":{"rendered":"

In 2025, the EU will set up a new polar research body that will operate from Sweden, while scientists drill deep into polar ice to study the Earth\u2019s climate history and help mitigate the effects of climate change on this fragile ecosystem.<\/p>\n

By<\/em>\u00a0 Helen Massy-Beresford<\/p>\n

German scientist Dr Nicole Biebow is keenly aware of how important it is to research and protect the Earth\u2019s increasingly fragile polar regions.<\/p>\n

The two poles are warming faster than any other area on the planet and are losing ice through increased melting. The Arctic, for example, is warming three times as fast as the global average, according to polar scientists. This affects local communities and wildlife, but also has broad socio-economic and climate impacts that extend across the globe, like rising sea levels.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe always say that the poles are the canary in the coal mine,\u201d said Biebow, the project coordinator of an EU-funded project named EU-PolarNet 2, which concluded in December 2024.<\/p>\n

Biebow is the head of the international cooperation unit at the Alfred Wegener Institute in Germany and also a former chair of the European Polar Board (EPB). The EPB is an independent group of research institutes, funding agencies and ministries set up to advance the coordination of European polar research both in the Arctic and Antarctic.<\/p>\n

The EPB and another key polar research body, the European Polar Coordination Office (EPCO), will be operating out of Sweden\u2019s far north from 2025. This reflects Europe\u2019s determination to be the leading voice in studying these high-latitude regions.<\/p>\n

EU-PolarNet 2 carried out much of the work to establish the EPCO, which will start work in January 2025, hosted by the Arctic Centre at Ume\u00e5 University, Sweden.<\/p>\n

A sense of urgency<\/strong><\/p>\n

As global temperatures increase and the polar ice melts ever faster, unlocking the secrets of the polar regions is becoming increasingly urgent.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of work being done nowadays is about understanding, mitigating or adapting to future changes,\u201d Biebow said, noting that \u201cwe have EU Member States that have an Arctic coastline and people living in these areas\u201d.<\/p>\n

As the EU-PolarNet 2 team prepares to launch EPCO, the researchers have put together a list of priorities for future research, including projects on sea ice, melting glaciers and thawing permafrost.<\/p>\n

Biebow voiced hope that EPCO will considerably help research efforts in the polar regions.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe poles, like the deep ocean, are still very, very sparsely investigated,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s an area which defines how our future weather and climate will be, and that\u2019s why it is so important.\u201d<\/p>\n

Working with indigenous communities<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dr Annette Scheepstra, a researcher and member of the EU-PolarNet 2 executive board, is putting the focus on working with experts from local indigenous communities who have deep knowledge of the polar regions.<\/p>\n

Indigenous communities make up around 10% of the 4 million or so people living in the Arctic region. Until now, they have often been sidelined in polar research efforts.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe work with rights holders \u2013 indigenous communities or organisations \u2013 as well as with indigenous scholars, indigenous people who are researchers themselves at universities or institutes,\u201d said Scheepstra, a doctor of Arctic and Antarctic studies at the University of Groningen in The Netherlands.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor many years, people have said it\u2019s important to include indigenous knowledge holders or to work with them. But how? Often, that has not been addressed, and that\u2019s my interest,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Cooperation with indigenous people is now based on the principles of upholding their rights, respecting their culture and society, avoiding any harmful impact on their communities, and embracing their knowledge in shaping scientific ideas about the Arctic.<\/p>\n

Scheepstra\u2019s work has included working with the Saami Council, an NGO representing the rights of the Saami people living in Finland, Norway, Russia and Sweden to set out a roadmap for research.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is really nice working with indigenous knowledge holders because they often have quite a holistic perspective on things,\u201d she said. It is also a good way to ensure that the projects in the region can really succeed.<\/p>\n

Breaking the ice in the Antarctic<\/strong><\/p>\n

Out in the field, many researchers are focusing both on melting ice and threatened species. This is the case with a seven-year EU-funded project named Beyond EPICA. It builds on a previous EU-funded research project named EPICA, which used polar ice samples to reconstruct the Earth\u2019s climate going back 800 000 years.<\/p>\n

This time, researchers coordinated by Carlo Barbante, a professor of environmental sciences at Ca\u2019 Foscari University in Venice, Italy, aim to extract ice in the Antarctic that is well over 1 million years old.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is a period of time in which the way the climate of our planet operates completely changed,\u201d said Barbante, who is also a member of the EPB. The project he coordinates runs until June 2026 and involves teams from 10 European countries.<\/p>\n

His team\u2019s working conditions are extremely challenging.<\/p>\n

At a sparse camp in eastern Antarctica, 16 members of the Beyond EPICA research project team have settled in for several weeks of living and working in a harsh environment.<\/p>\n

Their temporary home is just a few tents and containers set in the dazzling-white deserted landscape.<\/p>\n

Even though it is almost summer in Antarctica in early December, at 3 200 metres above sea level, temperatures at the Little Dome C Camp average around -52\u00b0C and can drop to -60.<\/p>\n

The team is there to drill down thousands of metres to extract and analyse samples of the Earth\u2019s oldest ice and, with them, the vital information they contain about how our planet\u2019s climate has evolved over time.<\/p>\n

The climatologists\u2019 giant drill steadily makes progress down through the ice, passing the 1.8-kilometre mark already. The drilling process is electronically monitored every step of the way, and the hole has a diameter of only 10 centimetres, so environmental impact is minimal.<\/p>\n

But why the drilling?<\/p>\n

\u201cThe ice can give us information about the composition of the air and the temperature of the planet in the past, and help us better understand how the climate works,\u201d Barbante said.<\/p>\n

Research in this article was funded by the EU\u2019s Horizon Programme. The views of the interviewees don\u2019t necessarily reflect those of the European Commission. <\/em><\/p>\n

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