The National Antarctic Scientific Center has joined a new EU project titled “Polar Snow, Permafrost, and Continental Ice in a Changing World” (SnowPI).
As part of the project, scientists plan to collect new data on the cryosphere of both polar regions: the Arctic and the Antarctic. The main goal is to predict the rates of change already observed in the polar regions due to global warming and to develop strategies to adapt to them.
The project’s duration is four years and includes 14 participants—leading European institutions in climate research and modeling, including the NASC. The Norwegian Research Institute (NORCE) serves as the coordinator. Funding is provided by the EU Executive Agency for Climate, Infrastructure, and the Environment (CINEA).
In this project, the NASC is responsible for conducting measurements at a research site in the Southern Hemisphere—at our Antarctic station, “Akademik Vernadsky.” Currently, this is one of the hottest spots in Antarctica, where warming is felt most acutely.
Ukrainian scientists will study the typical properties and characteristics of snow cover in the marine Antarctic region, as snow and glaciers here are expected to undergo the most significant transformations in the near future.
Denys Pishnyak, head of the Department of Atmospheric and Geospace Physics at the NASC and one of the project’s principal investigators, notes: “There will also be an opportunity to participate in the processing of modern modeling data and conduct interesting experiments with state-of-the-art equipment.”
Thus, our researchers will contribute to improving models of changes in the polar environment.