POLARIN: new collaboration in infrastructure for polar research
The Abisko Scientific Research Station is one of the infrastructures included in POLARIN. Photo: Melina Granberg.
On April 17–19, a kick-off for the project POLARIN, Polar Research Infrastructure Network, will be held in Bremerhaven, Germany. POLARIN is an EU-funded network where the Swedish Polar Research Secretariat is one of 50 organizations from 20 countries that provides access to 64 infrastructures in the Arctic and Antarctic.
The availability of data from hard-to-reach locations in the Arctic and Antarctic is important for understanding global climate change and its effects. Through POLARIN, researchers are given access to high-class research infrastructures found in the polar regions. This means that they can gain access to research stations, research vessels, icebreakers, observatories, data infrastructures and storage of ice and sediment cores.
POLARIN has three levels of access:
- Transactional Access – researchers physically stay at the station (or other infrastructure).
- Remote Access – researchers can obtain assistance with sampling and accessing datasets without having to be on-site.
- Virtual Access – digital access to, for example, databases.
In a press release from the Alfred Wegener Institute, AWI, on February 29, 2024, project coordinator Dr. Nicole Biebow says: " What sets POLARIN apart is that, for the first time, we’ll be offering access to research infrastructures in the Arctic and Antarctic alike through a single project. We’ve created a network of dovetailing and interdisciplinary research infrastructures that encompasses all related research areas – from marine and terrestrial research to the atmosphere. The approach is innovative and unique. It’s the only project of its kind."
For Swedish polar researchers, this means an opportunity to visit foreign research stations in the Arctic and Antarctic to collect data.
Press release
POLARIN: Network for polar research infrastructures. Press release from Alfred Wegener Institute, 29 February, 2024.
Contact
If you want to know more about POLARIN, you can contact Håkan Grudd, Research Support Coordinator, at hakan.grudd@polar.se
POLARIN
Polar Research Infrastructure is an EU project within HORIZON Research and Innovation Actions.
Purpose: Provide transnational access to a large portfolio of research infrastructures and improve access to research data.
Time period: March 1, 2024 – February 28, 2029
Coordinator: Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Center for Polar and Marine Research (AWI)
Collaboration partners: 50
Swedish members: Polar Research Secretariat, Stockholm University, Lund University
Funding from the EU: 14.6 million Euro
Region: Arctic and Antarctic
Types of research infrastructures: research stations, research vessels, icebreakers, observatories, data infrastructures and data repositories for ice and sediment cores.
Number of research infrastructures: 64
Countries: Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Italy, France, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Ukraine, Portugal, Iceland, Greenland (Denmark), Canada, Poland, USA, Great Britain, Bulgaria, Ireland, Austria.
