Overview
Polar regions are sentinels of climate change, biodiversity, and human resilience. They have experienced the most rapid rates of warming in recent years. Its expected impacts will exceed those forecasted for many other regions, resulting in significant consequences affecting natural ecosystems and human activities.
Improving our observational capacity and enhancing the basic understanding of the drivers and processes governing those changes, and translating knowledge into solutions for society, are major challenges for the future.
Earth observation from space and Earth system science will represent an essential element in this process. Addressing the major challenge in polar research will require a significant and sustained collaborative effort and an integrated approach to science where the synergistic use of satellite data, in-situ and citizen observations, advanced modelling capabilities, interdisciplinary research and innovative technologies will be essential elements.
This is why the European Commission (Directorate General for Research and Innovation) and the European Space Agency are working together to improve cooperation and to identify and address the grand science challenges in polar research that may drive joint EC-ESA scientific activities in the coming years.
Objectives
The 2nd European Polar Science Week is an important milestone in the cooperation between the European Commission and the European Space Agency. The event will take place from 3 to 6 September, 2024, in Copenhagen.
The overall objective of the European Polar Science Week is to bring together the European polar science community and reinforce European cooperation for polar science.
More specifically, the 2nd Polar Science Week will aim to:
- Share latest results in polar science with a focus on Earth observation, and promote networking and collaborative research in polar sciences, bringing together different expertise, data, and resources in a systemic manner
- Discuss progress in addressing recommendations from the 1st European Polar Science Week
- Identify major polar scientific challenges, observation gaps and research needs for the coming years
- Formulate recommendations for a Polar Science Agenda, in particular with regard to maximising synergies between the ESA and Horizon Europe Programme
- Develop and provide policy relevant recommendations
During this week, key scientists and stakeholders of polar science will have the opportunity to discuss the major challenges and opportunities in front of us, promote networking and collaboration across projects and activities advancing the EC-ESA Polar research cooperation.
Themes
Key topics for abstract submission are the following:
1. The current state and forthcoming changes in the polar regions
2. Polar ice, ocean, climate dynamics and tipping points
3. Polar ecosystems, biodiversity and carbon cycles
4. Humans in the Arctic
5. Societal impacts of polar change
6. Polar observations, models and data
7. New methods for understanding the polar regions
Preliminary Agenda
Tuesday 3rd September
| Start | End | ||
| 9:00 | 10:30 | Opening High Level Plenary | |
| 10:30 | 11:00 | Coffee Break | |
| 11:00 | 12:30 | Scientific Plenary | |
| 12:30 | 14:30 | Lunch Break & Poster Session | |
| 14:30 | 16:00 | European Polar EC – ESA Collaboration Plenary | |
| 16:00 | 16:30 | Coffee Break | |
| 16:30 | 18:00 | Session 1 Copernicus Polar Roadmap for Service evolution, with focus on the in-situ component | Session 2 Studying and Managing Arctic Tourism in Transition |
| 18:00 | 19:00 | Workshops & Poster Session | |
Wednesday 4th September
| Start | End | |||
| 9:00 | 10:30 | Session 3 Heterogeneity in Subglacial Conditions: a Key Influence on Solid Earth-Ice Sheet Interactions | Session 4 The ESA-NASA Arctic Methane Permafrost Challenge (AMPAC) – Moving to the Future | Session 5 Enhanced Understanding of Polar Ocean-Ice-Atmosphere Interactions Within the Climate System |
| 10:30 | 11:00 | Coffee Break | ||
| 11:00 | 12:30 | Session 6 Glacier Change Observations for Hydrological and Sea-level Rise Assessments | Session 7 Polar Zooplankton, the Seasonal Lipid Pump, and Implications for Global Carbon Cycling | Session 8 How Satellite Measurements can help in Better Understanding Dense Water Formation in the Southern Ocean and its Impacts on the Global Circulation and Climate |
| 12:30 | 14:30 | Lunch Break & Poster Session | ||
| 14:30 | 16:00 | Session 9 Beyond Borders: Strengthen Global Polar Research through Advanced Research Infrastructures | Session 10 Exploring Polar Dynamics: Insights from the Mid Pleistocene Transition to Future Climate Scenarios | Session 11 From Ice Sheets to Oceans: a Comprehensive View of Arctic Freshwater Fluxes |
| 16:00 | 16:30 | Coffee Break | ||
| 16:30 | 18:00 | Session 12 Taking the Pulse of the Southern Ocean: an Internationally Coordinated, Circumpolar, and Year-Round Mission – Antarctica InSync | Session 13 Plastic Pollution in Polar Regions: Sources and Solutions | Session 14 Copernicus Polar Expansion Missions: Preparing the Users for a Quantum Step in Monitoring the Arctic and Antarctica |
| 18:00 | 19:00 | Workshops & Poster Session | ||
Thursday 5th September
| Start | End | |||
| 9:00 | 10:30 | Session 15 Towards a Three-Dimensional Monitoring of Greenlandic Marine Ecosystems | Session 19 Gaps and Opportunities of Future Sensors in Monitoring Ice Sheet Dynamics, Discharge and Surface Processes | Session 17 Arctic Navigation – Practical Application of Sea Ice Information in Current and Future Maritime Operations |
| 10:30 | 11:00 | Coffee Break | ||
| 11:00 | 12:30 | Session 18 Developing the Atlantic-Arctic Distributed Biological Observatory (A-DBO): Improved Observational Capacity in the high Arctic | Session 16 A New Era of Polar Observations: The Copernicus Imaging Microwave Radiometer (CIMR) for Polar Ocean, Sea Ice, Snow, Land and Climate Change Monitoring | Session 20 Challenges with Implementing Technologies in the Arctic |
| 12:30 | 14:30 | Lunch Break & Poster Session | ||
| 14:30 | 16:00 | Session 21 Space-borne Studies of Permafrost in the Arctic | Session 22 From Circulation Change to Sea Level Rise: the Polar Regions in the Earth System | Session 23 Arctic Biodiversity at a Crossroads – Research Directions Along the Land-Coast-Ocean Continuum |
| 16:00 | 16:30 | Coffee Break | ||
| 16:30 | 18:00 | Session 24 Ice-ocean-atmosphere Interactions – Focus on Antarctic Ice Shelves | Session 25 Machine Learning for Observing and Forecasting Sea-Ice | |
| 18:00 | 19:00 | Workshops & Poster Session | ||
Friday 6th September
| Start | End | ||
| 9:00 | 10:30 | Session 27 The Role of the Solid Earth for the Evolution of the Polar Ice Sheets | Session 28 Strategies for Arctic observing – The importance of ground observations |
| 10:30 | 11:00 | Coffee Break | |
| 11:00 | 12:30 | Session 29 The Real-World Impact of AI in the Polar Regions | Session 30 FAIR Scientific Data in Support of Polar Monitoring and Assessment Efforts |
| 12:30 | 13:30 | Wrap Up & Closing Plenary | |