Activity Report
Introduction
This report is the contribution of Svalbard Integrated Arctic Earth Observing System (SIOS) to the IV International Conference on Arctic Research Priorities (ICARP IV) process.
SIOS is an international consortium of research institutions with research interests and infrastructure in and around the Norwegian high Arctic archipelago of Svalbard. Within SIOS, researchers collaborate by sharing data and research infrastructure to build an efficient observing system that focuses on long-term monitoring of parameters that are important to understand the Arctic in the context of global environmental change. The vision of SIOS is to be the leading long-term observing system in the Arctic to serve Earth system science for society. SIOS has 28 member institutions from 10 different countries active in research in and around Svalbard.
SIOS publishes an annual report entitled “The State of Environmental Science in Svalbard” (SESS), which includes recommendations for future activities to close knowledge gaps in Svalbard. The SESS report is established as an authoritative source of information about the state of the environment in and around Svalbard and it is an important tool to convey knowledge to stakeholders and the public. The SESS report is the main driving force for the science-based development of the observing system and represents an opportunity for research groups to actively influence the prioritisation within SIOS.
The SESS report is a bottom-up process to develop SIOS. Each chapter in the SESS report includes recommendations on how to develop the observing system. Contributions to the SESS report are written by international and, preferably, multidisciplinary groups under the lead of researchers from SIOS member institutions. All chapters are peer-reviewed and subject to final approval by an editorial board. There have been more than 200 recommendations since the first SESS report in 2018, and these form the basis of the SIOS contribution to ICARPIV process.
The ICARP IV workshop was organised as part of the main annual event of SIOS, Polar Night Week (22nd to 26th January 2024). Polar Night Week is an arena for exchange of ideas, reflection and planning of future activities, and it creates a vibrant atmosphere in the middle of the beautiful polar night.
The workshop was organised in response to the seven Research Priority Areas identified by ICARP IV. In the workshop, we discussed six of these. We also organised a panel discussion with Polar Night Week’s keynote speakers. The contribution of SIOS to the ICARP IV process is based on the group discussion during the workshop, panel discussion, recommendations from the six SESS reports published so far and a synthesis report made from the first 4 SESS report recommendations. The recommendations were selected with respect to pan-Arctic relevance.
The general recommendations are listed below:
- Overall, it is stated that we need to be bold enough to ask questions like “What do we need to do to make sure the world still exists for future generations? How do we open this door for international frameworks and politicians to make sure we don’t end up in the worst-case scenarios in terms of climate change and warming?” Wider collaboration is required in the future to answer big science questions.
- To properly grasp the challenges we encounter with global environmental change, improved multidomain integration of science is required. This should ideally be based on long-term, continuous time series that enable the detection and identification of variations and changes as well as enabling a process understanding and providing data upon which predictions of future changes may be based. The continuation of long-term monitoring must coexist with the integration of new technology.
- Strong support should be given to collocate observations from several disciplines. These can be called focal sites of observational supersites. This concept makes it easier for researchers to establish multidisciplinary cooperation and new scientific initiatives. Furthermore, observational supersites decrease science's environmental impact with sharing of logistics, maintenance, data etc. With coordination also duplication in many respects is minimised. The Arctic receives a significant amount of interest and resources because of geopolitical strategies and natural resources. Arctic Supersites and Research Infrastructures, like SIOS, can influence politics by advancing existing data sharing and common use research infrastructures.
More detailed recommendations for each of the ICARP IV Research Priority Teams (RPTs) resulting from SESS report recommendations and workshop can be accessed via downloading the full project report below.
Download the Final Project Report
Main Organiser
Heikki Lihavainen (Svalbard Integrated Arctic Earth Observng System -Knowledge Centre (SIOS -KC)), Ilkka Matero, Christiene Hübner, Eleanor Jones, Rudols Denkmann, Richard Ashley
Type of Activity
- Workshop,
Dates and Locations
- 23 - 26 January 2024, SIOS Polar Night Week 2024, Longyearbyen, Svalbard