A diverse collection of more than 180 Arctic residents and stakeholders gathered for the 9th annual Arctic Futures Symposium at the Residence Palace in Brussels on Wednesday 28 November.

The all-day event, organised annually by the International Polar Foundation in conjunction with a large network of Arctic stakeholders, serves as a public venue to discuss key Arctic issues in Brussels.

Topics of conversation

After a brief welcome from Member of the Belgian Polar Secretariat Piet Steel, the symposium began with opening keynote speeches from the EU’s Ambassador at Large for the Arctic Marie-Anne Coninsx, the Sámi Council’s EU Coordinator Elle Merete Omma, and several other prominent Arctic figures.

Followoing the keyntoe session, former US Ambassador to the Arctic Council and Current Wilson Center Polar Institute Fellow David Balton, along with Arctic Institute and Nord University Senior Researcher Andreas Raspotnik led a panel discussion focusing on how well Arctic Institutions are meeting the needs of Arctic residents. Participants in the panel incuded Senior Arctic Officials from the Arctic Council nations, represntatives from the Arctic Council Permanent Participant Organisations, and the Eureopean External Action Service.

In the afternoon, following a delicious lunch of fish sponsored by Iceland Responsible Fisheries, a panel led by Senior Adviser for Northern Policies at Finland’s Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Harri Mäki-Reinikka, looked at current and proposed Arctic transport projects in the context of climate change and sustainable development, both within the Arctic and from the Arctic to the rest of the world.

This was followed by a session moderated by Arctic Economic Council Director Anu Fredrikson, which explored barriers entrepreneurs encounter, ways to overcome them, how to create an entrepreneurial culture, and how to facilitate culture as a business in the Arctic. Of particular interest to conference-goers were representatives who could speak about indigenous culture as a source of entrepreneurial activity in the Arctic, including Anne Lajla Utsi CEO of the International Sámi Film Institute, and Sandra Márjá West, Director of the annual Riddu Riđđu Festival in northern Norway.

The final session of the day, led by Andreas Østhagen, also from the Arctic Institute and Nord University, discussed the challenges we face when exploring the blue economy’s potential, not only in the Arctic, but also more generally, and how to go about governing blue economy activities. Following a raffle drawn by speaker Hayley Henning from Greenland Ruby A/S and Ambassador Marie-Anne Coninsx in which a free Greenland Ruby broach was given away,  the symposium closed with remarks from the City of Tromsø’s Arctic Ambassador, Kirsti Methi, and Deputy Secretary General for Economic and Global Issues at the European External Action Service, Christian Leffler.

Bringing the Arctic to Brussels

The International Polar Foundation would like to thank its sponsors, the Brussels Capital Region and the Pink Polar Bear Foundation, for helping to support the symposium.

We would also like to give thanks to the symposium’s network of partners, which includes the many Nordic regional offices and embassies of many Arctic states in Brussels. As representatives of the Arctic in Brussels, they play a major role in forming the symposium’s programme each year.

A report highlighting salient points discussed during the symposium will be published in the coming weeks. Keep an eye on the Arctic Futures Symposium website for updates!

On Tuesday 27 November, the International Polar Foundation and its many Arctic Futures Symposium partners held the first ever Arctic Shorts film evening at BOZAR Centre for Fine Arts in the Centre of Brussels.

As part of the Arctic Futures Symposium, the programme for the evening featured nine short films focusing on Arctic youth from a variety of different perspectives. The films were made and produced by filmmakers from all across the Arctic region.

Following introductory remarks from Olivier Malvoisin from the International Polar Foundation, the Deputy Head of the Mission of Canada to the EU Alan Bowman, and the EU’s Ambassador at Large for the Arctic Marie-Anne Coninsx, the Arctic short films were projected to a sold-out crowd of more than 350 people.

After the films were projected, the audience was treated to a 20-minute discussion with two of the filmmakers: Asinnajaq, a young Canadian Inuk artist who presented her film “Three Thousand”, and Sakaris Stórá, a young filmmaker from the Faroe Islands who presented his film “Summer Night”. The discussion was led by Anne-Lajla Utsi, CEO of the International Sámi Film Institute, and Martha Otte, Director of the Tromsø International Film Festival.

The International Polar Foundation would like to thank all of its sponsors and partners, without whose support this event would not have been possible.

All partners and the filmmakers were very happy to see the strong interest from the general public in Brussels in Arctic films! Arctic Shorts will certainly return!

A packed crowd welcomed speakers and moderators from across all eight Arctic states and then some at the 10th annual Arctic Futures Symposium organized by the International Polar Foundation and its many Arctic stakeholder partners.

Nearly 200 politicians, civil servants, academics, representatives of Arctic Indigenous groups, entrepreneurs, and business leaders came together in Brussels on Monday 25 November at the Residence Palace in Brussels’ EU Quarter to discuss topics important to Arctic stakeholders, including the Arcitc Council in a changing Arctic, the ovelap between safety and security in the region, gender considerations, Arctic labour force and demographics, and sustainable and innovative uses of Arctic biological resources.

A great start

Opening keynote speeches were delivered by a series of very distinguished speakers, including Member of the Belgian Polar Secretariat Piet Steel, Director for International Ocean Governance and Sustainable Fisheries at DG MARE Veronica Veits, The EU's new Ambassador at Large for the Arctic Lars-Gunnar Wigemark, and EU Coordinator of the Sámi Council Elle Merete Omma. 

They keynote speeches ended with an informative and highly appreciated presentation of former IPCC Vice-Chair and co-author of the UN Global Sustainable Development Report 2019, Climatologist Prof. Jean-Pascale van Ypersele from UCLouvain. Prof. Van Ypersele stressed the urgency of climate emergency for the Arctic region and embraced the successful trend #WarmingStripes, wearing a colourful tie illustrating the annual global temperature increase over time.

Following the keynote session, Arctic Centre at the University of Lapland researcher Malgorzata (Gosia) Smieszek led a panel discussion focused on the Arctic Council in a Changing Arctic. The panel included Senior Arctic Officials representatives from Arctic indigenous groups the EU, and a French senator. The panel discussed new challenges of the Arctic Council and paid special attention to communication, engagement with local communities and engagement within the international arena. Tove Søvndahl Gant, Policy Officer and Expert member of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (as from January 2020) and Elle Merete Omma highlighted the necessity to keep indigenous voices strong in the Arctic and to invest in education about Arctic-related matters, especially in this time of renewed interest in the region. Other high-profile participants in the panel shared interesting new perspectives on the Arctic Council’s engagement and involvement in economic matters, in particular through the Arctic Economic Council.

A symposium of substance

After a marvelous lunch with seafood provided by Royal Greenland, the afternoon focused on more focused topics.

The first panel of the afternoon, moderated by Senior Research Fellow at the Fridtjof Nansen Institute, Dr. Andreas Østhagen, focused on the overlap between safety and security in the Arctic. Three of the seven panelists were in positions created during 2019 – Kathleen Larkin (Arctic Security Officer, Office of Nordic, Baltic and Arctic Affairs, U.S. Department of State), Neil O’Rourke (Assistant Commissioner for the Arctic Region, Canadian Coast Guard) and Jari Vilén (Senior Advisor for Arctic Policy, at the European Political Strategy Centre), indicating an increased interest in the region on many fronts. The remaining four panelists represented, respectively, the Royal Norwegian Air Force and NATO, the Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs, and academia, including a representative from St. Petersburg State University to offer a Russian perspective on Arctic security. A question from Dr. Østhagen concerning the presence of China in the Arctic led to an engaging discussion which highlighted differing opinions from the panelists, and highlighted all the possible interests at stake.

The third and fourth all-women panels were a great success. The third session, Gender Considerations in the Arctic, led by Rósa Rut Þórisdóttir from the Steffansson Arctic Institute, was the first of its type at the Arctic Futures Symposium, and took place on the UN International Day of the Elimination of Violence Against Women, sending a strong message to the public. Ellen Marie Jensen, Guest Researcher at the Center for Women’s and Gender Research at the University of Tromsø, and Laura Churchill, Youth Board Member of Pauktuutit, gave powerful insights of the conditions of indigenous women in Sámi and Canadian Arctic indigenous communities respectively.

The fourth panel moderated by Federica Scarpa, Communications Manager at the Icelandic Arctic Cooperation Network (IACN), investigated the situation of the labour force in the High North, and included Tonje Nermark, Vice-President Strategic Communications and Public Affairs at Mo Industrial Park in Norway, who called attention to having Arctic youth’s environmental values to be reflected in the region’s future. Odile Joanette, Executive Director of Wapikoni Mobile, brought the inspiring example of her non-profit organisation based in Québec, which works with indigenous youth to develop their own new narrative and identity, matching their indigenous values with the modern world.

The last panel focusing on sustainable uses of Arctic biological resources and moderated by  Dr. Christian Prip of the Fridtjof Nansen Institute brought attention to many innovative ideas, including the potential of using seaweed and fishery products in Nunavut through fruitful collaboration between scientists and the Indigenous Peoples of the Canadian Arctic, as described by Jean-Sébastien Moore, Professor at Université Laval. Perspectives from the fishing industry (Royal Greenland), biogas sector, and forestry industry in Finland were also included.

Nils-Olov Lindfors, Councillor of the Region of Norrbotten and Chair of the Northern Sparsely Populated Areas (NSPA) network, closed this year’s symposium with the remark that nobody can undermine the close relationships that tie the Peoples of the Arctic together, making them all brothers and sisters.

A big thank you ot those who made it possible

The International Polar Foundation would like to thank all the speakers and moderators who accepted our invitation to participate in the symposium, sharing their knowledge to a Brussels audience. The Foundation would also like to thank the Brussels Capital Region for its financial support, and most importantly all its partners from Arctic Representations and Missions to the European Union in Brussels, Nordic Regional Offices, and private organizations which helped make the 10th edition of the Arctic Futures Symposium such a great success! And we shouldn't forget to thank all the participants who took part in the symposium and came with their challenging questions to help spark engaging conversations.

We look forward to seeing everyone again next year!

The Arctic Futures Symposium - the longest-running public Arctic event in Brussels - returns to Brussels for the 9th time on Wednesday 28 November at the Residence Palace in Brussels' EU Quarter.

Organised by the International Polar Foundation and its many partners from the Arctic community in Brussels, the all-day event will examine issues of interest and concern to Arctic stakeholders.

All who are interested in Arctic issues are welcome to attend, be they politicians, diplomats, civil servants, academics, indigenous peoples, representatives from industries operating in the Arctic, reprsentatives of civil society, teachers, students, or members of the general public with an interest in what's happening in the Arctic.

Participation is free, but those who are interested in attending are asked to register to secure a spot at the event.

This year, the symposium - with a view to the future - will look at the following topics of interest to the Arctic community:

• Arctic institutions: How well are they serving the needs of Arctic peoples?
• Transport and logistics, both within the Arctic and from the Arctic to the rest of the world
• How Arctic culture and innovation can foster a sense of entrepreneurship in Arctic communities
• Blue growth potential in the Arctic and sub-Arctic regions within the context of sound ocean governance

For more details about the symposium, a draft programme, speakers, and information on how to regsiter for the event, please consult the Arctic Futures Symposium website.

If you have any additional questions about the event, you are more than welcome to contact us at events@polarfoundation.org.

We look forward to seeing all of you again in Brussels in November!

Dr. Kate Winter of Northumbria University has been awarded the prestigious €150,000 Baillet Latour Antarctica Fellowship. This exceptional young British polar scientist will conduct research at Princess Elisabeth, the Belgian Zero Emissions Research station in East Antarctica.

Dr. Winter was selected after an independent peer review process, which recommended her proposed project “BioFe in Glacial Systems”. 

This project will involve undertaking cutting edge geomorphological research around the stations operational area and will contribute to advancing the diversity of the research being carried out in the region. Her proposal will contribute particularly to the understanding of the transport of nutrients in sediments from inland areas of the Antarctic to the Southern Ocean. This goal will fill a gap in scientific investigation of ice sheets, and ocean fertilisation processes.

‘I am delighted and honoured to win the Baillet Latour Antarctic Fellowship. The Fonds Baillet Latour and the International Polar Foundation are giving me a unique opportunity to establish myself in a highly competitive international field. The award will allow me to conduct research in East Antarctica, one of the worlds most remote and extreme environments. It will enable me to answer important science questions that early career researchers are often not given the chance to solve.’ Dr. Kate Winter, Northumbria University

In December 2018, Dr. Winter will travel to Princess Elisabeth to begin her fieldwork. Her research will focus on the contribution of ice flow to the uptake of carbon dioxide by the Southern Ocean. She will use recent advances in terrestrial laser scanning, structure-from-motion photogrammetry and ice penetrating radar to assess how sediment sources of iron are transferred through the East Antarctic Ice Sheet. She will examine the contribution of these sediments to marine productivity in the Southern Ocean, a process which can reduce atmospheric carbon dioxide. Her research may provide important knowledge on how Antarctica is playing a role in future global climate change.

Stay tuned for more news about Dr. Winter's research

Baillet Latour Antarctica Fellowship

The Baillet Latour Antarctica Fellowship is a joint initiative between the International Polar Foundation and the Baillet Latour Fund. This award promotes science and scientific excellence in Antarctica through young research scientists. The fellowship, worth € 150 000, recognizes the importance of science carried out in Antarctica for improving the understanding of Earth, and encourages scientific research at, or close to the Princess Elisabeth Antarctica polar research station.

Climate change may seem too big to tackle on a small scale, but people and cities can make a difference if they consider climate change when designing buildings and urban infrastructure.

Belgian based RenovaS has been doing this since 1996. They have acted as an interface between regional and municipal initiatives for revitalization of urban structures while embracing environmental considerations in design and renovation.
 
One of the ways they promote this is by involving and educating schools, neighborhood associations and households in the Schaerbeek area of Brussels about the importance of climate change. And where is the best place to start? The north and south poles of course, the two coldest places on Earth. These regions not only affect the climate of the entire planet, but are also feeling the greatest impacts from climate change. This is why RenovaS has full support from the International Polar Foundation.
 
In fact, RenovaS recently brought together at the town hall of Schaerbeek a hundred people so that both adults and youth, and even technical staff from the town hall, could learn more about things like how daily energy consumption is linked to climate change and its likely consequences via the greenhouse effect. There were also entertaining experiments to discover more about ocean acidification and rising sea levels.
 
These interactive sessions are really important because just looking at a model of Antarctica sends a vivid eye opening message about the enormous quantity of ice there is in the south pole and how melting of this ice will heavily impact the world. And that we should all be doing whatever we can on any scale to reduce our carbon footprint on the planet.
 
More Info
info@renovas.be
www.renovas.be

About 40,000 tons of cosmic dust reaches the Earth’s surface every year. Antarctica is a goldmine for this interstellar treasure because of its cold and dry climate as well as exposed stable landscape which has been accumulating material falling from the heavens for millions of years.

Background

All meteorites originating from the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter hold secrets that could unlock the mysteries of our solar system and birth and evolution of planets.

Since 2009, Belgian-Japanese scientific expeditions have stayed at Princess Elisabeth Antarctica research station in search of meteorites. This work has led to the collection of more than 1200 pristine specimens now conserved at the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, making up one of the largest Antarctic meteorite collections in Europe today.

Although seemingly insignificant, the smaller tiny dust-sized meteorites (<2 mm) which fall on Earth provide us special insight into our solar system. Because of their small size, they contain information sometimes different and thus complementary to the classic larger meteorites one sees in museums.

The BELAM Project

These so called ‘micrometeorites’ are what scientists Steven Goderis and Matthias van Ginneken have been recently collecting near Princess Elisabeth under the BELAM project.

Using crampons, ice picks and snow poles, risking life and limb, they reached difficult ridges near the highest summit of the Sør Rondane Mountains and other challenging locations near the station in search of this cosmic dust. In places where the soil and underlying rock were frozen, they even had to use chisels and hammers to collect samples.

When back at Princess Elisabeth, with nothing more than a toothpick and an optical microscope, they begun the work of filtering out micrometeorites from kilos of sediment. This effort did not disappoint because they managed to find what may be in the order of 30,000 micrometeorites! Highly satisfying because to learn more about the planets, asteroids and comets, a considerable number of micrometeorites are required.

Now back at the laboratories of the VUB-ULB team in Brussels, Steven and Matthias will continue their research to help solve the mysteries of our solar system.

Why choose Princess Elisabeth?

‘We know the area very well and so we know the best places to search for micrometeorites. The location is extremely important, but of course the logistical support we receive at Princess Elisabeth is indispensable! This includes equipment (skidoo, climbing equipment, food, etc.) and top notch field assistance from Alain Hubert and our Swiss field guide Raphael Mayoraz.’  Dr. Steven Goderis, VUB

Meet the BELAM Team

Dr. Steven Goderis is a geoscientist working at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) where he develops and applies a toolbox of elemental and isotopic proxies to answer Earth science questions. Since completing his PhD on impact cratering and asteroid showers, his research has been oriented towards early Solar System evolution, meteorite parent body processes, and global changes throughout the Earth’s history. Since 2009, Steven has been involved in the recovery of meteorites from the blue ice fields surrounding the Sør Rondane Mountains of Eastern Antarctica. Thanks to the Baillet Latour Antarctica Fellowship and BELSPO funding numerous micrometeorites found concentrated at Antarctic mountain tops in 2012 and 2018 will be keeping him and his team busy for many years to come.

Dr. Matthias Van Ginneken is a scientist from the Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB) who has expertise in the petrology and geochemistry of extraterrestrial material, but more precisely, that of micrometeorites (or cosmic dust). He identifies, classifies and analyzes micrometeorites using a wide range of analytical techniques. His main achievements include the study of “giant” unmelted chondritic micrometeorites. In parallel to this work on micrometeorites, he discovered and first described aggregates of meteoritic ablation spheres from Antarctica. His research led to the development of the first weathering scale for micrometeorites, which is useful to any micrometeorite researcher. His current work focuses on the study of a micrometeorite collection recently discovered in Wideroefjellet, Antarctica. 

Author: Lisa Benedetti

At first glance, the white frozen landscape of Antarctica appears devoid of any living thing, but if one takes a closer look at areas not covered by ice, it's teaming with tiny life forms

Background

Ice-free areas which are scarce but can be found scattered across East Antarctica, are amongst the most extreme terrestrial environments on Earth. Here, life is dominated by small microbes which somehow manage to survive these harsh conditions.

What shapes the biodiversity and biogeochemical processes of these tiny organisms provides a scientific basis for habitat mapping, developing conservation strategies, guiding long-term monitoring efforts and predicting the possible responses of these organisms to future environmental changes in Antarctica.

The MICROBIAN Project

Scientists from the University of Ghent and Liège University, Elie Verleyen, Sam Lambrechts and Valentina Savaglia, are now at Princess Elisabeth research station to discover more about this.

A previous expedition to Antarctica by their team revealed that many of the organisms living in the Sør Rondane Mountains are unique to the continent and so very special. Perhaps not really surprising considering these mountains encompass a diversity of terrestrial habitats which vary widely in geology and soil, exposure time and microclimatic conditions.

In fact, so little is known about the mountains near Princess Elisabeth that the area is a haven for scientists hoping to make new discoveries. And for Elie and his team, studying species which are highly adapted and possibly endemic to cold and dry environments are especially interesting for further research as these organisms could yield new insights into the cold and dry limits of life on earth.

Why choose Princess Elisabeth?

‘So far, most projects looking at microbial communities in Antarctica were done in coastal regions. Unlike many other research stations, Princess Elisabeth is about 200 km inland. This means that the ice-free regions around the station offer us a unique opportunity to study microbial communities in regions characterized by more extreme environmental and climatic conditions than those found in coastal ice-free oases.’ Prof. Dr. Elie Verleyen, Ghent University

Elie and his team will for the first time use high resolution satellite images to identify areas of special biological interest in East Antarctica. Among other things, they also plan to create an inventory of what microbes can be found, what factors determine their distribution and what effects climate change may have on them.

More broadly, the new knowledge they gain under the MICROBIAN project will make a significant contribution to our understanding of the ecology of Antarctica’s unique terrestrial microbes.

Meet the MICROBIAN Team

lie Verleyen has a PhD in Biology and works as a tenure track professor in the Protistology and Aquatic Ecology lab at Ghent University. He has expertise in the Late Quaternary ecology and evolution of polar and cold-temperate aquatic ecosystems, and in microbial biogeography and macroecology. He has played a significant role in the development of a network of reconstructions of Late Quaternary climate and relative sea level changes in East Antarctica and the sub-Antarctic islands. He has begun complementary work in the Arctic region, which will allow for a thorough understanding of the effects of climate change on the overall functioning and diversity of polar terrestrial ecosystems.

Sam Lambrechts is a PhD student based at the Laboratory of Microbiology of Ghent University. Trained as a biologist, Sam studies microbial biodiversity and ecology, with a focus on extreme environments, including polar and alpine ecosystems. His research on the recently discovered uncultivated majority, the so-called dark matter of microbiology, has highlighted how little we know about the diversity of microbes on this planet, this allowed him to discover how these are exciting times to be a microbial ecologist. In addition to his interest in microbiology, polar and alpine regions have unmistakably played a defining role in his life, triggering the same curiosity, continuous wonder and astonishment he experiences in scientific research.

Valentina Savaglia grew up in Sicily where she discovered the underwater world very early. For her, pursuing a career in ocean conservation was a natural progression. Fascinated by polar environments and intrigued by the adaptations living organisms need to survive such extreme environment, she found herself embarked to Carlini Station, in the Antarctic Peninsula. Here she decided to pursue studies on Antarctic ecology and is currently working on her Ph.D. at Liège University. As part of the MICROBIAN project, Valentina studies the biogeography, function and diversity of cyanobacteria in the Sør Rondane Mountains (East Antarctica), under the supervision of Dr. Annick Wilmotte and Dr. Elie Verleyen of Ghent University.

MICROBIAN is a project funded by BelSPO

Author: Lisa Benedetti

Scientists are going back in time near Princess Elisabeth to try and understand the global implications of a changing Eastern Antarctic Ice Sheet

Background

Images of large glaciers breaking off the Antarctic have been stirring up quite a bit of attention recently. These events are not only impressive to see, but have also provoked questions and concern around the world about how fast these changes are happening and how they may impact future global sea level rise in the face of climate change.

At the moment, we only have satellite measurements from over a few decades which give us a rather narrow picture of how the Antarctic Ice Sheet behaves over time. We do know that dramatic lowering of the surface of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet has occurred during the last million years, but there are other important aspects we know almost nothing about.

The DEAIS Project

The only way to get a clearer idea of how the Antarctic Ice Sheet will behave in the future and how it may impact future sea-level change is if we have information stretching over longer periods of time.

Scientists Dr. Naki Akçar and Dr. Serdar Yeşilyurt are now stationed at Princess Elisabeth exactly for this purpose. Their project DEAIS will help decipher the pace of deglaciation in the past as well as the long-term behavior of the Antarctic Ice Sheet in the Sør Rondane Mountains in Queen Maud Land.

Part of their work involves visiting nunatacks south and west of Princess Elisabeth station. A nunatack is an often rocky and exposed part of a ridge or mountain within or at the edge of a glacier or ice field. They plan to locate and map the paleo-positions and glacial retreat of ice margins found in these nunatacks. They will also analyze rock samples they collect from glacial deposits and glacially abraded bedrock at the study sites.

Why conduct research at Princess Elisabeth? 

"First of all, the Sor Rondane Mountains remain largely unexplored and unstudied. Secondly, Princess Elisabeth’s location is perfect. It's found between the high ice plateau and lowlands to the north, and mountains are quite close. Scientists can access most study sites easily during daily trips without having to organize long difficult expeditions. A bonus is that the logistical standards offered at the station are very high which allows for top quality field research." Dr. Naki Akçar

Interview with Dr. Akçar

Naki and Serdar’s work will give us insight into the deglaciation history and amount of sub-glacial erosion that has occurred in the region. But on a global scale, this knowledge will give us a better picture of how a changing Eastern Antarctic Ice Sheet will impact the world in the future.

Meet the DEAIS Team

Dr. Naki Akçar is a sedimentologist and stratigrapher based at the University of Bern. He teaches sedimentary petrography, sedimentology, geological and geomorphological mapping. He is especially keen about exploring the interactions occuring between the geosphere, climate and human societies during the Quaternary (last 2.6 million years of the Earth’s history) through the study of geological archives. He tries to solve this puzzle by producing quantitative sedimentological and chronological data from conducting field studies, quantitative methods in the lab, time calibration with cosmogenic nuclide chronologies, and modeling. This knowledge allows him to reconstruct and build the basis for assessing the causes and rates of landscape evolution over time.

Dr. Serdar Yeşilyurt is a geographer and geomorphologist who recently finished his PhD studies at the Physical Geography Division the Ankara University. His research interest is Quaternary landscapes, especially glacial morphology. In 2014, he was awarded an international intra-PhD grant by the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey for scientific training at the Institute of Geological Sciences at the University of Bern. His key activities include contributing to state-of-the-art research projects as well as involvement in the management of a high-quality research laboratory and supervision of graduate students and teaching. He applies unmanned aerial vehicle (drone) technologies for detailed mapping and compares collected data with existing aerial photographs. 

Author: Lisa Benedetti

Canadian scientist Dr. Lori Ziolkowski has returned to Princess Elisabeth to study the limits of life on earth

Background

Antarctica is a natural laboratory for studying the limits of life on Earth because it’s one of the harshest and most extreme environments on the planet where only the most resilient organisms can survive. Its geographical isolation from nearly all human activity also means that carbon cycle processes here are unique when compared to elsewhere on Earth.

The REMACA Project

Dr. Lori Ziolkowski, Baillet Latour Antarctica Fellowship winner, has just returned to Princess Elisabeth for a second season to continue her work on the incredible small microbial life forms that can be found near the station.

She brought an all female team with her this season, young Canadian scientist, Dr. Jenine McCutcheon and Prof. Liane Benning, from the GFZ in Potsdam and the University of Leeds, and also past President of the European Association of Geochemistry.

They’ve been collecting rocks, water, soil and other materials in a wide variety of habitats near the station. They’ve already visited a number of sites to find the best approach to this season's sampling and census activities. So far, they’ve visited Yobuku Valley, Duboisbreen, Teltet, Petrelnutten and the Pingvinane. They have amongst other things, re-visited a lake in the Yobuku Vallet known as "Gigi's Lake", which like last year has open water again.

There are numerous leads to follow after last season's expedition where Lori was accompanied by Dr. Stefanie Lutz also from the GFZ in Potsdam. With the specialized knowledge of the three scientists, it will add another dimension to the microbiology oriented work of last season. The geochemical specialization will allow them to look at other mechanisms of formation of sediments and crystals as well as the pathways for the creation of endolithic communities.

REMACA is a unique opportunity to uncover first estimates of the age of carbon and microbial activity in eastern Antarctica. This will play a part in any future study on past climate patterns and microbial diversity in East Antarctica. 

Keep on top of REMACA and discoveries about these tiny resilient creatures here:

http://seoe.sc.edu/lori-ziolkowski

http://science.loriz.ca

https://twitter.com/extraneutrons

Meet the REMACA Team

Dr. Lori Ziolkowski is a Canadian scientist now working as an Assistant Professor at the University of South Carolina. She studies the role that microbes living in permafrost and glaciers may play in future climate feedback. Lori’s passionate about understanding what controls the limits of life and carbon recycling on Earth. She has developed new techniques to isolate chemicals from complex mixtures to determine their age using carbon dating. She applies these techniques to study the limits of microbes in extreme environments like Antarctica.

Interview with Lori

Dr. Liane G Benning is leading the  interface-geochemistry group at the German Research Centre for Geosciences, GFZ in Potsdam, Germany and is affiliated with the Cohen Laboratories in the School of Earth and Environment at the University of Leeds. Over the last decade she has focused her work on molecular aspects which govern processes at microbe-mineral-fluid interfaces. Her Arctic work focuses on mineral transformations in icebergs and glacial meltwaters, changes in soil formation in newly deglaciated areas, and the makeup of snow and ice algae. This is Liane’s first trip to Antarctica. She will contribute to REMACA, but also look at soils and rocks, their geo-bio make-up and how they affect carbon and nutrient cycling in the remote, extreme settings around the Princess Elisabeth.

Dr. Jenine McCutcheon is a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Cohen Geochemistry Group in the School of Earth and Environment at the University of Leeds. Her background is in Geology and Microbiology. Jenine has examined microbe-mineral interactions in a variety of natural and engineered environments, including the Canadian High Arctic, Great Barrier Reef, and various mine sites in Canada and Australia. Her current postdoctoral research expands beyond her interest in microbe-mineral interactions, and will help determine their contribution to darkening and melting of the Greenland Ice Sheet.