Summaries of presentations and discussions from a broad range of Arctic stakeholders present at Arctic Futures 2012 in Brussels, are now available for download in the Arctic Futures Symposium 2012 Final Report.

The report on the annually-held international multidisciplinary symposium includes input from a large number of high-level speakers. The opening session of the symposium featured HSH Prince Albert II of Monaco, EU Commissioner for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Maria Damanaki, and Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynders.

Charles Emmerson, a Senior Fellow at Chatham House and author of The Future History of the Arctic, led a panel discussion on governance that included Canadian Ambassador to the EU David Plunkett, five of the eight Arctic Council Senior Arctic Officials, and representatives from the Russian and American missions to the EU. The remainder of the symposium addressed topics such as the future of energy resources in the Arctic, management of Arctic marine resources, improving maritime safety in the region, and the importance of long-term scientific monitoring in the Arctic.

The International Polar Foundation organised the symposium with sponsorship from Belgium's Federal Public Service for Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade andDevelopment Cooperation and the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation, as well as the support of the EU Committee of the Regions, the European External Action Service, and the European Commission.

Since 2010, the Arctic Futures Symposium has been held each autumn in Brussels for the benefit of European Institutions and other Arctic stakeholders in the Brussels region.

The 2013 Arctic Futures Symposium is scheduled to take place in Brussels on October 16th and 17th, and is open to all who are interested in the future of the Arctic.

Those interested in receiving more information on the 2013 symposium are encouraged to contact us at events@polarfoundation.org.

A team of scientists working at Princess Elisabeth Antarctica have discovered a meteorite weighing 18kg, the largest  such meteorite found in the region since 1988.

The eight members of the SAMBA project, from Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB) and Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Japan’s National Institute of Polar Research (NIPR) and Tokyo University  were searching for meteorites scattered across the Nansen Ice Field on January 28, when they found the 18kg ordinary chondrite, embedded in the East Antarctic ice sheet. The team discovered a total of 425 meteorites, with a total weight of 75kg during the 40 day expedition, at an altitude of 2,900m, 140km south of Belgium’s Princess Elisabeth Antarctica research base, which is operated by the International Polar Foundation.

Read more about their discovery on the Princess Elisabeth Antarctica website.

Three members of the International Polar Foundation's Princess Elisabeth Antarctica are the first humans to visit and photograph a newly-discovered 9,000-strong colony of emperor penguins.

Researchers from the British Antarctic Survey first discovered the colony, on on Antarctica’s Princess Ragnhild Coast, of 1m-tall emperor penguins using satellite imagery. Their findings, and the locations of several populations was published in a 2009 paper by Peter T. Fretwell and Philip N. Trathan, “Penguins from space: faecal stains reveal the location of emperor penguin colonies”. However, the colony’s existence was unconfirmed until expedition leader Alain Hubert, station chief mechanic Kristof Soete and Swiss mountain guide Raphael Richard travelled to the colony in early December 2012, and took the honour of being the first humans ever to visit the colony.

“Since we started operating along Princess Ragnhild Coast we have encountered so many emperors penguins that I was convinced that a colony must be installed somewhere in the east”, said Hubert.

“I knew from last year’s satellite study that there could potentially be an emperor colony east of Derwael ice rise. Because we were operating not far from this the satellite location, I decided to force the way and try to access to this remote and unknown place.  The surprise was even more than all I could have expected or dreamed about: I realised while counting the penguins that this was a very populated colony."

“It was almost midnight when we succeeded in finding a way down to the ice through crevasses and approached the first of five groups of more than a thousand individuals, three quarters of which were chicks. This was unforgettable moment!”

Hubert and Soete were part of an International Polar Foundation team supporting scientific research on the Derwael Ice Rise, some 50km from the colony, and 250km from Princess Elisabeth Antarctica. The projects carried out at the site included IceCon - which aims to gain a better understanding of the rate of the loss of ice – now and in the past - from the Antarctic ice sheet in the Dronning Maud Land area. The Be:Wise project aims to improve understanding of ice-shelf flow dynamics by focusing on the buttressing role of ice rises and pinning points – small offshore mountains which support Antarctic ice shelves from underneath.

Want to experience Antarctica for yourself? Visit the Inside the Station exhibition, in Tour & Taxis, Brussels.
 

We are proud to announce that on Saturday December 22nd, our exhibition of life at Princess Elisabeth Antarctica, Inside the Station, opens at Tour & Taxis in Brussels. The exhibition runs until May 31st, 2013.

Inside the Station will take you on an interactive journey inside the legendary Princess Elisabeth Antarctica, the world’s first zero emission polar research station. People of all ages will experience what it’s like to live and work in the frozen south, learn about polar science, and the continuing evolution of the wind and solar-powered centre for international polar scientific research.

“In 2007, an incredible 35,000 people came to Tour & Taxis to see Princess Elisabeth Antarctica for themselves before it was shipped south to Antarctica”, said International Polar Foundation Executive Director Thierry Touchais. “Now it’s our pleasure to welcome the public to once again share in the success story that is Princess Elisabeth Antarctica”.

Inside the Station features amazing reconstructions that give you the opportunity to experience first hand:

• The technologies used at Princess Elisabeth Antarctica– the electrical smart grid, the renewable energy systems, and more
• The incredible Antarctic environment - including glaciers, rugged mountains, blue ice fields and exotic wildlife
• Logistics – the arduous yet exciting journey to the Antarctic – using satellites, aircraft, ships, and tractors
• The Science – the scientific programmes at Princess Elisabeth Antarctica, which help us to learn more about our planet, its climate and how it works
• Daily Life – Working, eating, sleeping and managing energy use in the remote and frozen South
• Princess Elisabeth Antarctica is an example of how we can deal with climate change – and the actions we can take at a personal and community level to respond to this challenge.

Inside the Station coincides with Belgium’s Antarctic Research mission (BELARE 2012-2013), during which some 30 scientists from Belgium and other countries live and work at Princess Elisabeth Antarctica.

Need more information? Head over to the Inside the Station website  for detailed information on ticketing, guided tours, opening hours and directions.

As a followup the Arctic Futures Symposium in Brussels earlier this month, we have now posted Questions and Answer sessions with three of the key speakers from the conference -  Professor David Vaughan, Charles Emmerson and Dr Walt Meier on the Arctic Futures Vimeo Channel, who speak to us in depth about the issues facing the Arctic.

• We interviewed Professor David Vaughan, glaciologist at the British Antarctic Survey and Lead Co-ordinator of the EU-funded ice2sea project, on potential sea level rise, improvements in modelling sea ice melt, and some of the factors contributing to dramatic ice loss from the Greenland and Antarctic Ice Sheets.
• We talked with Charles Emmerson, Senior Research Fellow for the Energy, Environment and Development Program at Chatham House, about his perspective on hydrocarbon exploitation in the Arctic.
• Dr. Walt Meier, sea ice scientist from the National Snow and Ice Data Center at the University of Colorado Boulder, puts into context the recent dramatic summer sea ice minimum in the Arctic, along with the winter sea ice maximum in the Antarctic.

If you are interested in polar-related issues, we think you will like those video interviews. Interviews from previous editions are also available on the Arctic Futures Vimeo channel.

Legendary polar explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes dropped by the Internatonal Polar Foundation offices here in Brussels this morning, to meet up with the foundation's president Alain Hubert. Sr Ranulph is currently preparing for a major polar challenge: The Coldest Journey on Earth, which will see him and five companions attempt to cross Antarctica in winter.

The Coldest Journey is attempting to raise USD$10 million for Seeing is Believing, a global charitable initiative to fight avoidable blindness. On 21 March 2013, the spring equinox, the six expedition members will begin a six-month journey to reach the Ross Sea, starting from the Russian base of Novolazareskaya (‘Novo’) to Captain Scott’s base at McMurdo Sound – via the South Pole, in an epic traverse that will test the limits of human endurance.

The expedition team will travel nearly 4,000 kilometres, mostly in complete darkness, in temperatures as low as -90°C. This means that the team will need to be entirely self-sufficient, as there will be no search and rescue facilities available -  aircraft cannot penetrate inland into Antarctica during winter, due to darkness and risk of fuel freezing.

We're delighted to announce a new book by International Polar Foundation vice-president Nighat Amin, about the world' first zero emission polar research station.

Princess Elisabeth Antarctica - And the Zero Emissions Quest is packed with breathtaking photographs that tell the story, from the the beginning of an idea, through determination in tough conditions, years of hard work and the eventual realisation of a dream - the creation of the first zero emission Antarctic scientific research base.

Written by Princess Elisabeth Antarctica's Programme Director, Nighat Amin, this 288-page, stunning large-format volume (with text in English, French and Dutch, and published by Racine) is a testament to the power of combining the mobility of a small reactive team of workers on the ice of Antarctica, the strength of corporate and public partners who understood the importance of polar science and the goal of zero emissions, and the International Polar Foundation, who acted as a catalyst to show how a strong spirit of entrepreneurship between business, governments and citizens can achieve a low carbon future, and successfully meet the climate challenge.

It all began when a small group of people, led by polar explorer Alain Hubert, came up with the idea of building a new scientific research station in Antarctica.

They wanted to design a station that would not only comply with the spirit and and rules of the environmental protocols of of the Antarctic Treaty, it would surpass them. They developed a the current successful - and aesthetically stunning prototype "zero emission", powered by the wind and sun.

Princess Elisabeth Antarctica is not only a physical structure, and a feat of technology, it has become a potent international symbol for a new way of thinking about how we use energy, not only in the frozen continent, but in ever home and business around the world.lisation of a dream - the creation of the first zero emission Antarctic scientific research base.

Brussel's world-famous icon, the mischievous Mannekin-Pis statue of the "little peeing boy", turned into an Arctic and Antarctic adventurer this morning, when he was presented with a polar expedition suit by Belgian polar explorer and International Polar Foundation president Alain Hubert, to mark the tenth anniversary since the creation of the organisation.

The official presentation of the Manneken-Pis polar costume took place in the beautiful Militia Room of Brussels City Hall - aka the Hôtel de Ville or Stadhuis, in the Grand Place. After the ceremony, the foundation team procession departed to the Manneken-Pis statue with members of the Order of Friends of Manneken-Pis and officials from the City of Brussels.

The Manneken-Pis was veiled by the city flag when we arrived, but when the curtain was pulled away, a strong jet of water was sent forth the Manneken, soaking some of the crowd! Bemused tourists and puzzled passersby stopped to follow - and join in with us in the celebration. 

Read more about the Manneken-Pis - including the costumes.

Arctic stakeholders, including EU and foreign policymakers, scientists, industry representatives, indigenous peoples and academics are gathering this morning in Brussels, for the annual Arctic Futures Symposium.

Thanks to the EU Committee of the Regions Jacques Delors Building, we are able to provide a live video stream of the event, from 9h00 on Thursday 4th. We are using #AF2012 and #ArcticFutures to discuss the Symposium on Twitter.

A storify feed of the event has been archieved and is available online.

German glaciologist Dr Reinhard Drews was tonight presented with the prestigious €150,000 InBev-Baillet Latour Antarctica Fellowship, by His Royal Highness Prince Philippe of Belgium, for his proposal to investigate how the potential disintegration of Antarctic floating ice shelves could contribute to increased ice flow from inland glaciers, and a resulting rise in global sea levels.

The presentation took place in Brussels  during a gala dinner celebrating ten years of achievements by the International Polar Foundation, of which HRH Prince Philippe is Honorary President.

Dr. Reinhard Drews, based at the Laboratoire de Glaciologie, at Université Libre de Bruxelles, was recognised by the InBev-Baillet Latour Antarctica Fellowship Committee for his  submission “Be:Wise -The Buttressing Effect: Why ice shelves are essential” which aims to improve understanding of ice-shelf flow dynamics by focusing on the buttressing role of ice rises and pinning points – small offshore mountains which support Antarctic ice shelves from underneath.

Dr Drews is studying the flow dynamics of the Roi Baudouin ice-shelf, which buttresses ice flow from East-Antarctica’s ice sheet. His project is expected to provide important insights into the rapid fluctuations of historical ice discharges, and provide data for improving capacity of ice-flow models, in order to better forecast the balance of the Antarctic ice sheet mass balance in a warming world.

“The InBev-Baillet Latour Antarctica Fellowship is a great opportunity for young researchers to carry out important scientific work in Antarctica”, said Drews. “Thanks to the Fellowship, I will now be able to carry out fieldwork along the Antarctic coast, where I hope to learn more about how grounded features enclosed by the ice shelf - such as ice rises and pinning points - buttress the ice sheet”.

A joint initiative between the International Polar Foundation and the InBev-Baillet Latour Fund, with the support of the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR), the InBev-Baillet Latour Antarctica Fellowship promotes science and scientific excellence in Antarctica by young scientists under 35. The fellowship recognises the importance of science carried out in Antarctica for improving the understanding of the Earth system, and encourages scientific research at, or close to Princess Elisabeth Antarctica polar research station.