PolarRES

Thanks to its unprecedented scale, PolarRES will help significantly to better understand how the projected changes in the global circulation influence the climate of the Arctic and Antarctic.

PolarRES is an European Union funded Horizon2020 project.

DISCOVER PolarRES

PolarRES will study the interactions between the atmosphere, oceans, and sea ice in the Arctic and Antarctic to provide new insights into the key physical and chemical processes of these interactions on a local and regional level. We will assess how the processes respond to and influence projected changes in the global circulation and what this means for the society and the environment.

Methodology

PolarRES will work with state-of-the-art regional climate models (RCMs) to bridge the knowledge gap in both Polar regions. Our work will be undertaken in partnership with impact modelers to ensure that we produce impact-relevant projections of future climate change in both Polar regions.

We will combine the results from our RCMs with a comprehensive range of existing and novel observations (for example from the Year Of Polar Prediction (YOPP) and the MOSAiC expedition) and satellite data from relevant projects funded by the ESA Earth Observation Programme to close knowledge gaps and improve confidence in future climate projections.

Importantly, PolarRES will apply an innovative ‘storyline’ approach and other analysis methods to address mitigation and adaptation challenges.

The consortium consists of leading European groups in the areas of polar-lower latitude teleconnections, polar oceanography, meteorology, climatology, biogeochemistry, global climate modelling, and regional climate modelling in the Arctic and Antarctic.

PolarRES will contribute to the EU strategy on adaptation to climate change and the EU’s strategy for international cooperation in R&I.

#1Work package

Circulation Storylines in CMIP6 projections and their implications for polar changes and teleconnections

Objective

Develop storylines based on physically consistent future changes in atmospheric and ocean circulation using existing CMIP6 data resources and infrastructure.

Investigate the impacts of these storylines in both the Polar Regions and lower latitudes (including teleconnections) and provide guidance on storylines (i.e. selection of particular sub-ensembles from the CMIP6 archive) for further investigation in WPs 2-5.

Circulation Storylines in CMIP6 projections and their implications for polar changes and teleconnections
#2Work package

Impact of better resolved polar processes on Polar-lower latitude linkages

Objective

Investigate the effects that resolving key dynamical and physical atmospheric processes in the Polar Regions have on the simulation of Polar-lower latitude teleconnections, feedbacks, and regional impacts of climate change. Study the mechanisms linking the Poles and the lower latitudes.Investigate how model improvements such as increased resolution in the Polar Regions affect the representation of these linkages and contribute to improved climate projections.

Achieve more robust model representations of recent and future Polar-lower latitude linkages.

Impact of better resolved polar processes on Polar-lower latitude linkages
#3Work package

Future Polar Climate

Objective

Build a detailed ensemble of polar climate projections at unprecedented spatial resolutions using state-of-the-art RCMs to dynamically downscale GCMs selected based on their representation of circulation-based storylines identified in WP1 for both the Arctic and Antarctic (e.g., Storm tracks and SAM, respectively).

Determine the response of the Polar Regions to future circulation changes using high-resolution RCM climate projections developed in this WP and extensive EO observational datasets.

Future Polar Climate
#4Work package

Arctic processes and O-A-I interactions in the coupled climate system

Objective

Improve the understanding of the key physical and chemical processes in the atmosphere, sea ice and ocean, and involved interactions that play a major role in the coupled Arctic climate system and associated Arctic Amplification.

Arctic processes and O-A-I interactions in the coupled climate system
#5Work package

Antarctic processes and O-A-I interactions in the coupled climate system

Objective

Improve understanding of key physical and chemical processes in the fully coupled Antarctic climate system that are closely linked/impacted by the regional changes associated with the WP1 storylines.

Antarctic processes and O-A-I interactions in the coupled climate system
#6Work package

Polar climate change impacts on the environment and societal challenges and opportunities

Objective

Quantify the impacts of climate change and generate policy relevant knowledge to support the capability of the Polar Regions to respond to climate change impacts by exploiting the co-designed high-resolution regional climate change storylines data (WP3).

Polar climate change impacts on the environment and societal challenges and opportunities
#7Work package

Dissemination, cooperation with stakeholders, synergies & policy outreach

Objective

Maximise PolarRES’s impact and ensure effective communication, dissemination, and exploitation of the project’s results.

Dissemination, cooperation with stakeholders, synergies & policy outreach

Contact

The consortium consists of leading European and international groups in the areas of polar-lower latitude teleconnections, polar oceanography, meteorology, climatology, biogeochemistry, global climate modelling, and regional climate modelling in the Arctic and Antarctic.

Follow us on Twitter for the latest news and developments @PolarRES_EU
For any further information contact: prmo@norceresearch.no

PolarRES is coordinated by the NORCE Norwegian Research Centre (Norway) with the following partner institutions: