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PolarRES at the European Polar Science Week 2024

10 September 2024

Last week, the 2nd European Polar Science Week took place in Copenhagen, Denmark. The conference, organized by the European Commission and the European Space Agency, marked an important milestone in their cooperation to identify and address the grand science challenges in polar research. PolarRES strongly supported the conference with various sessions co-organised by PolarRES researchers, and results from PolarRES were presented at the meeting to highlight both the value and need for cooperation between researchers in related scientific communities, such as, modelling and EO. The event also showcased the value of strong cooperation between EU funded projects such as PolarRES, OCEAN:ICE and PROTECT.

European Polar Science Week brings together the European polar science community to reinforce European cooperation in polar research. Researchers from various instititutions and Horizon Europe projects were invited to share their latest results in polar science with a focus on Earth observation. Earth observation from space and Earth system science represents an essential element in addressing the major challenges in Polar research.

Despite the importance of the polar regions, there remain many scientific challenges in the polar climate system. These challenges can only be addressed through European and international cooperation across multiple scientific disciplines. PolarRES presentations at EPSW provided ample evidence of this multi-disciplinary, international research addressing major scientific challenges that include the biological carbon pump, cloud aerosol interactions, and climate extremes.

One of the PolarRES researchers in attendance was Filip von der Lippe (MetNo, University of Oslo), a PhD student who presented his research titled ‘The challenge of MOSAiCMIP: Data to evaluate models and Earth observation‘. To have a firsthand account of the European Polar Science Week, we asked him to share some reflections on his experiences, both as a presenter and an attendee.

“I went to the European Polar Science Week 2024 to present results from a model intercomparison project that I and others in PolarRES have been working on for the past couple of months. This project has specifically focused on clouds and aerosols, using observations from the MOSAiC icebreaker campaign to evaluate multiple models and sensitivity experiments.

During my talk, I especially focused on one sensitivity experiment where we tested the impact of cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) on cloud liquid water. This is an interesting experiment because aerosol and CCN concentrations in the Arctic may rapidly change during extreme events like warm air intrusions, where warm and possibly aerosol-rich air is brought into the Arctic. These conditions typically lead to clouds and precipitation, which in climate models may appear very different depending on the model’s cloud microphysics and prescribed CCN concentration. After showing some examples, I concluded that prescribing the correct CCN concentrations to climate models is crucial to reproducing realistic amounts of cloud liquid water.

Filip von der Lippe presenting the results from a model intercomparison project.

I presented my results in a session with other researchers from PolarRES, OCEAN:ICE, and PROTECT on Thursday, but I also attended multiple other sessions. These included sessions with themes like bioaerosols, glaciers, ice cores, machine learning, and microplastics. Since I normally research clouds, these sessions were incredibly informative and interesting, giving me a broader understanding of the polar regions and inspiring me to collaborate more with other polar researchers from different study fields.“

Alongside Filip, the following PolarRES researchers attended:

  • DAY 1, 14:30: Ruth Mottram (Danish Meteorological Institute) discussed the EC-ESA cooperation in PolarRES and OCEAN:ICE at the EUROPEAN EC – ESA COLLABORATION PLENARY.
    • You can watch the presentation here

Ruth Mottram presenting during the European Polar EC – ESA Collaboration Plenary. Credit: ESA – EO Open Science

  • DAY 2, 11:00: Nadine Johnston (British Antarctic Survey) co-chaired Parallel Session 5 – ‘Overwintering zooplankton, the Seasonal Lipid Pump, and global carbon cycling‘ which featured a presentation by Aidan Hunter (BAS) titled ‘The contribution of diapausing copepods to the Southern Ocean lipid pump‘
  • DAY 2, 16:30: Nadine Johnston (BAS) presented in Parallel Session 10 – ‘Taking the pulse of the Southern Ocean: an internationally coordinated, circumpolar, and year-round mission – Antarctica InSync‘ with a presentation titled ‘Improving knowledge and protection of the unique Antarctic life from land into the deep sea‘

Aidan Hunter presenting during the session co-chaired by Nadine Johnston.

  • DAY 3 14:30: Priscilla Mooney (Norce Research) and Ruth Mottram (DMI) co-chaired Parallel Session 20 – ‘From circulation change to sea level rise: the Polar Regions in the Earth System‘ which featured multiple PolarRES presentations:
    • Priscilla Mooney (NORCE): ‘Introduction to PolarRES‘
    • Filip Severin von der Lippe (MetNo, University of Oslo): ‘The challenge of MOSAiCMIP: Data to evaluate models and Earth observation‘
    • Anastasiia Chyahareva (National Antarctic Scientific Center): ‘Closing the Antarctic gap: Contributions from the Ukrainian National Antarctic Science Centre‘

Anastasiia Chyahareva highlighting the symbiosis between PolarRES and OCEAN:ICE.

Thank you for having us at the European Polar Science Week, and see you next time!