Meet the SG: Pranab Deb on understanding processes that drive high-impact extremes in Antarctica
This month’s Meet the SG blog post features PCAPS SG member, Pranab Deb. Pranab is an Assistant Professor at the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur (IIT) Kharagpur and the founder of the Polar Climate Modelling Group - India’s first research group dedicated entirely to polar climate modelling. His ongoing research on high-impact extremes in Antarctica plays a pivotal role in achieving PCAPS’ objectives of furthering our understanding of dynamic changes in the polar regions and their impacts on communities globally.
Reflections from the WWRP-PCAPS Endorsed Research School on the Arctic Ocean Climate System
The Swedish Polar Research Secretariat (SPRS) undertook a six-week Research School with 21 graduate and doctoral students onboard the Swedish research icebreaker Oden, from 10 August to 18 September 2025. This was the first of three WWRP-PCAPS Endorsed research schools, sponsored in part by PCAPS. On the Canada-Sweden Arctic Ocean 2025 expedition, the Oden traversed from the Fram Strait, across the North Pole and approximately followed the E/W 180° meridian south to almost 80°N on the other side before returning to Longyearbyen on Svalbard.
Navigating in the sea ice towards 88° North with the Norwegian Coast Guard
In summer 2025, the HiAOOS-25 (High Arctic Ocean Observing System) scientific expedition was carried out onboard the Norwegian Coast Guard icebreaker KV Svalbard. The expedition was coordinated by the Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Center in close collaboration with the Norwegian Coast Guard, and supported several research initiatives, including the ArctSum-25 project led by the Norwegian Meteorological Institute. The primary mission was to deploy moorings and various types of ice-tethered buoys in the Nansen and Amundsen Basins. For the ArctSum-25 campaign, the expedition offered a unique opportunity to deploy drifting buoys in a sparsely observed region of the Arctic Ocean, while also integrating scientific data collection with operational experience aboard the icebreaker. This type of hands-on fieldwork and cross-disciplinary cooperation exemplifies the aims of PCAPS.
CCCI PhD Summer School 2025: The importance of applied education to address rapid changes in the Arctic
From August 11 to 15, 16 students from Norway, Sweden and Finland met in Oslo for the NordForsk-funded Scenario Analyses Regarding Climate Change Hazards and Critical Infrastructure in the Arctic (CCCI) PhD summer school. This was the second edition of the CCCI PhD summer school and this year, it was organized by the Norwegian Meteorological Institute in collaboration with Arctic Frontiers via the URSA MAJOR project. The CCCI PhD summer school centred on providing an opportunity for students to develop scenario analyses and risk management strategies for extreme climate change-related hazards, focusing on their impacts on critical infrastructure and vital societal functions in the Nordic Arctic region. The CCCI PhD summer school was hosted by Dina Abdel-Fattah, PCAPS’ ICO Manager.
Meet the PCAPS SG: Machiel Lamers on understanding the safety and sustainability of environmental services in the polar regions
This month’s Meet the SG blog post features PCAPS SG member, Machiel Lamers. Machiel is an environmental sociologist fascinated by the mobile character of tourism activities in the polar regions, along with other activities like fisheries or science operations, and the ways in which their flexibility and agility can both be shaped through environmental information services as well as lead to sustainability and safety implications. Machiel has recently been appointed Professor in Tourism and Environmental Change at Wageningen University & Research in the Netherlands, where he focuses on the governance of sustainable tourism in some of the world's most fragile and remote destinations, including both polar regions.
Tackling harassment in polar research - lessons from polar science worldwide
The polar regions are experiencing dramatic changes, with communities and ecosystems bearing the brunt of these transformational impacts. Though polar research has contributed significantly to a better understanding of our planet's changing climate, attention must also be paid to the historical roles and structures underpinning polar research itself, as well as the importance of safety in both the field and the workplace. Not only does harassment affect individual well-being - it also disrupts the scientific mission. PCAPS aims to help facilitate inclusivity of early career researchers and minorities in the field of polar science by helping elevate the discussion on important issues, such as harassment, that need to be addressed.
Update on PCAPS Comms summer project
During this Northern Hemisphere summer, our two PCAPS Communication Fellows, Linn Bolin Haakenstad and Amanda Skogjordet have been looking at the standard course objectives in the Norwegian high school curriculum, to see if there are potential opportunities for students to learn about polar research. Looking through all the course objectives, Linn and Amanda have made some interesting observations so far. The next step in the project will be interviewing teachers in Norwegian high schools to understand more if and how polar research is taught in their classrooms.
Reflections on polar predictability challenges from three events in Korea - July 2025
Polar predictability matters now more than ever. With record sea ice loss, extreme temperature swings, and increasing human activity in these regions, accurate forecasts affect human and maritime safety, ecosystem management, and global climate understanding. Three recent events held in Korea during 16–25 July—WAMC 2025, the AntClimNow Predictability Workshop, and “Advances in Sea Ice Forecasting and Modelling” sessions at BACO-25—provided fresh perspectives on these challenges. PCAPS steering group members Clare Eayrs (KOPRI) and Vicki Heinrich (BoM) actively engaged in these recent events.
Arctic PASSION: Implementing observations for societal needs
Arctic PASSION, a project funded through the Horizon 2020 European Union programme, is in its last year of activity. The objective of the project is co-creation and implementation of a coherent, integrated Arctic observing system, which attempts to close gaps in the present observing system. Improved polar observing systems is one of PCAPS’ objectives and the work of Arctic PASSON closely aligns with both the ambition and vision of PCAPS.
Meet the PCAPS SG: Reflections from PCAPS SG member Vicki Heinrich
This month’s “Meet the SG” blog post features Vicki Heinrich, who is a psychological scientist working as a Policy Advisor at the Bureau of Meteorology in Hobart, Australia. Vicki’s work contributes to interdisciplinary research examining the communication of weather information, warning messages, risk and uncertainty. Vicki previously worked for several years as a Senior Technical Officer Observer at Australia’s Antarctic and sub-Antarctic research stations and recently completed her psychology PhD, examining weather information use, risk perception and decision-making in Antarctic environments.
PCAPS Comms summer project: Do Norwegian high schoolers learn about polar research?
This Northern Hemisphere summer, our PCAPS Communication Fellows, Linn Bolin Haakenstad and Amanda Skogjordet, will investigate how polar research is taught across high schools in Norway. Norway is an Arctic country and we believe that it is important for students to learn about the consequences of climate change in the polar regions, especially considering 9% of the Norwegian population lives above the Arctic circle. The project will take place over two months, and we will see how polar research is taught in high schools all over the country.
Experiences from the FieldEX Field Safety and Preparedness Course
Field Instrumentation and Measurements in Cold Region Environments (FieldEX) is an exchange program for geoscience MSc and PhD students in Norway, Canada, USA and Japan. The aim of the program is to foster educational partnerships through short-term student exchanges focused on field techniques in cold region environments. This aligns with PCAPS’ Inclusivity Objective. Amanda Skogjordet, one of PCAPS’ Communication Fellows, participated in a recent FieldEX course in Norway.
Dataset release: Observations from the Svalbard Marginal Ice Zone in April - May 2024
A new open-access dataset from the Svalbard Marginal Ice Zone Campaign 2024 (SvalMIZ-24) is now available. The dataset includes observations of air temperature, wave spectra, and sea-ice drift collected during April and May 2024 from a distributed network of buoys deployed on the sea ice north of Svalbard.
Meet the PCAPS SG: Reflections from Jørn Kristiansen on building stronger links between science and services in the polar regions
Jørn Kristiansen leads with a quiet conviction: that better forecasts save lives, protect environments and support sustainable development. As the Director of Development Centre For Weather Forecasting at the Norwegian Meteorological Institute and one of the two PCAPS Co-chairs, leading the natural science work of PCAPS, Jørn brings decades of experience at the interface between atmospheric science, operational forecasting and user needs.
Inaugural Ross Sea Research Coordination Network Workshop: developing networks to tackle challenges in the polar regions
The Ross Sea Research Coordination Network (RCN) held its first workshop in Boulder, Colorado, from June 3 to 6, 2025. More than 100 researchers, policymakers, and community partners attended, either in person or online. The goal was to find better ways to coordinate work around the Ross Sea region Marine Protected Area (MPA). As the world’s largest MPA, the Ross Sea MPA is an important example of managing large, international, remote marine ecosystems. The workshop focused on improving data sharing, building collaboration across disciplines, and setting research, policy and community engagement priorities ahead of the first 10-year review of the MPA in 2027.
Forecast interpretation and use in the field: A perspective from the tourism sector
Tom Harris is a mountain guide with experience working for both the United States Antarctic Program and Antarctica New Zealand, in search and rescue and field safety roles. He currently works for Envirolapse, as a strategic advisor for their remote camera and sensing technology in extreme environments for the purpose of safety and research. Tom was a recent attendee of the PCAPS Open Session in Cambridge, UK. Tom believes the topics discussed during the Open Session have great potential to improve forecasting products for the tourism industry in the polar regions, which currently faces challenges.
PCAPS Open Session Report 2025 published
On 15 April 2025, PCAPS held its annual Open Session at the British Antarctic Survey in Cambridge, UK. Arctic and Antarctic researchers, forecasters and stakeholders gathered to discuss forecasting challenges and opportunities for collaboration during the half-day event. Today, the 2025 Open Session report with proceedings and key takeaways was published.
Meet the PCAPS SG: Reflections from PCAPS SG member Hanne Nielsen on representations of Antarctica in the media
This month’s Meet the SG blog post features PCAPS SG member, Hanne Nielsen, a senior lecturer in Antarctic law and governance at the University of Tasmania’s Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies. Her research focusses on representations of Antarctica in popular media, including in advertising material, polar tourism and Antarctica as a workplace. Hanne is a Chief Officer of the Scientific Committee on Antarctic research’s Standing Committee on Humanities and Social Sciences (SC-HASS) and a past President of the Association of Polar Early Career Scientists (APECS).
PCAPS ORCAS at EGU25, 27 April–2 May 2025, Vienna, Austria
Our PCAPS Observational Requirements in the Context of AI prediction Systems (ORCAS) Task Team had the chance to share our work advancing data-driven approaches to sea ice prediction at the EGU General Assembly 2025, which took place from 27 April to 2 May in Vienna, Austria, with more than 18,000 in-person participants in attendance. Task Team Co-Chairs Lorenzo Zampieri (ECMWF) and Clare Eayrs (KOPRI, a member of the PCAPS steering group) presented a poster that highlighted the goals and challenges of the ORCAS initiative.
PCAPS Open Session 2025: Gathering of polar experts to discuss how to strengthen forecasting services
On 15 April 2025, PCAPS held its annual Open Session at the British Antarctic Survey in Cambridge, UK. Arctic and Antarctic researchers, forecasters and stakeholders gathered to discuss forecasting challenges and opportunities for collaboration during the half-day event.