Polar
CRiceS: Climate relevant interactions and feedbacks: Sea ice is an integral, changing part of the global Earth system. The polar climate system affects lives and livelihoods across the world by regulating climate and weather; providing ecosystem services; and regulating the ability of humans to operate (hunting, shipping, and resource extraction).
EU-PolarNet is the world’s largest consortium of expertise and infrastructure for polar research. Seventeen countries are represented by 22 of Europe’s internationally-respected multi-disciplinary research institutions.
From 2015-2020, EU-PolarNet will develop and deliver a strategic framework and mechanisms to prioritise science, advise the European Commission on polar issues, optimise the use of polar infrastructure, and broker new partnerships that will lead to the co-design of polar research projects that deliver tangible benefits for society. By adopting a higher degree of coordination of polar research and operations than has existed previously the consortium engages in closer cooperation with all relevant actors on an international level.
EU-PolarNet 2 is the world’s largest consortium of expertise and infrastructure for Polar Research. It brings together the expertise and knowledge of 25 partners from all 21 European and Associated Countries with substantial Polar activities. EU-PolarNet 2 – “Coordinating and co-designing the European Polar Research Area” will build on EU-PolarNet 1’s achievements. It will go several steps further to develop and work towards the implementation of a European Polar Research Area.
The EPB is an independent organisation that focuses on major European strategic priorities in both the Arctic and the Antarctic regions. Current EPB membership includes research institutes, funding agencies, scientific academies and polar operators from across Europe.
The EPB envisions a Europe with a strong and cohesive polar research community and wherein decisions affecting or affected by the Polar Regions are informed by independent, accurate, and timely advice.
European scientists will come together to study the magnitude of aerosol radiative forcing caused by anthropogenic emissions. Understanding the role of aerosols and aerosol-cloud reciprocal action is instrumental for policymakers involved in the Paris Agreement. There is currently a level of uncertainty that needs to be cleared up as there is a comprehension gap between processes and pattern implementation on the climate scale. The EU-funded FORCeS project aims to detect essential processes that influence aerosol radiative forcing and study data related to aerosols and clouds’ impacts on climate during recent decades.
OCEAN:ICE will assess the impacts of key Antarctic Ice Sheet and Southern Ocean processes on Planet Earth, via their influence on sea level rise, deep water formation, ocean circulation and climate. An innovative and ambitious combination of observations and numerical models, including coupled ice sheet-climate model development, will be used to improve predictions of how changes in the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets impact global climate.
PolarRES (Polar Regions in the Earth System) is an €8 million project, financed by the EU’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation programme for a period of 4 years beginning in September 2021. The PolarRES consortium consists of 17 partners from 11 different countries (Belgium, China, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Russia, Sweden, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom).
A closer look at the interactions between atmosphere, ocean and ice sheets: Sea level rise (SLR) due to climate change is a serious global threat that is caused by land ice loss and ocean thermal expansion. It also results in catastrophic consequences for the future of coastal regions. As land ice contribution is increasing, policymakers are concerned about the threats ice sheet change represents. The EU-funded PROTECT project will drive SLR projections beyond the state of the art and provide a long-standing scientific and social contribution.
