Parallel Sessions

Convenors: Tony Travouillon, Lucilla Alfonsi, Adriana Gulisano, Jennifer Cooper

The geographic location and atmospheric characteristics of the Antarctic continent allow for unique observations of our universe, of our upper atmosphere and of near Earth space. This session will cover unique astronomical results made from all Antarctic locations covering topics that include the study of the Cosmic Microwave Background radiation, High-energy particle detection, optical and infrared observations of stars and exoplanets. This session will also cover the topic of space weather monitoring, mitigation and forecasting. We invite contributions from all sciences involving observations of the Antarctic sky ranging from the upper atmosphere and near earth space, to the edge of the universe.

Convenors: Takashi Yamanouchi, Damian Murphy, Anoop Mahajan, Marc Mallet

The Antarctic atmosphere plays host to complex physical and biological processes that have global impact. This session on atmospheric processes invites observational and modelling contributions in this realm, with particular focus on the following topics:

• Atmospheric ice crystals and nucleation: the heterogeneous nucleation of ice around particles, homogeneous nucleation, cubic and stacking disordered ice and phase transitions, methods and instrumentation for measuring the statistics of nucleation;
• Aerosols: physical characterization, sources, CCN and INP, sea-spray generation, studies on aerosol-cloud interactions and their climate effects;
• Clouds and radiation: cloud formation, phase and persistence, and cloud radiative effect including Southern Ocean radiation bias;
• Snow: physical and biological aspects of its role in the past and future of Antarctica;
• Water cycle: studies focusing on the dynamics of the Antarctic atmospheric water cycle and its interaction with surface processes (ocean, snow) in particular by using isotopes as tracers;
• Gravity waves and ANGWIN: the characteristics of gravity-waves, their impact on polar and global processes and their representation in atmospheric models. Activities under the ANtarctic Gravity Wave Instrument Network (ANGWIN) SCAR Physical Sciences Action Group.
• Tropospheric chemistry: sources, linkages, impacts and processes, including over the Southern Ocean.

Convenors: David Bromwich, Steve Colwell, Adriana Gulisano

Studies of Antarctic and Southern Ocean atmospheric processes using observations and/or numerical models are encouraged, including dynamics, physics, and chemistry aspects, and extending from the surface to the stratosphere. Timescales are from diurnal to several years. Coupling of the atmosphere with the ocean, sea ice, and ice sheet is also of interest. The impact of large-scale modes of variability such as the Southern Annular Mode and the El Niño-Southern Oscillation are welcome topics. Examples of envisaged investigations include katabatic and barrier winds, cyclones and fronts, numerical weather prediction, drifting snow occurrence and impacts, etc. Presentations based on tools (observational, statistical, numerical, etc.) are welcome if they are applied to investigate particular atmospheric phenomena.

Convenors: Manish Tiwari, Jochen Knies, Waliur Rahaman, Vikash Kumar

The polar and mid-latitudes play an important role in governing Earth’s climate. Recent climatological observations suggest that natural modes of climate variability in mid to high-latitudes such as Atlantic/Pacific (multi) decadal Oscillation (AMO, PDO) and North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) as well as the Southern Annular Mode (SAM) can influence tropical climate including the South Asian, East Asian, American, and African monsoon systems on various timescales. Also, the tropics have been hypothesized to influence the high-latitude climate via oceanic and atmospheric pathways. However, observational time series are short and therefore cannot resolve low-frequency changes/events. It also raises the question as to whether such teleconnections were persistent in Earth history with fundamentally different climate states. Thus, the complex interaction between climate variability in the polar to mid-latitude regions and the tropics remains to be fully explored. Studying the relationship will assist our understanding of the linking climate processes over long timescales. We invite contributions exploring the past climate variability of the mid-latitude and polar regions (including the Southern Ocean, Arctic Ocean, and North Atlantic Ocean) and the tropics (including the monsoons) on decadal, millennial, glacial-interglacial, and longer timescales from a proxy-data, modelling and data-model comparison perspective.

Convenors: Suchithra Sundaram, Deepa Ravindran Pillai, Sourav Chatterjee

The polar climate and sea ice over the polar regions play a significant role in the global climate system and affect the lower latitudes through the teleconnections associated with the various ocean- atmosphere-cryosphere processes. High-resolution geological and ice core records also show the existence of regional and global teleconnections between polar regions and lower latitudes. But they are poorly understood in climatic contexts that are substantially different from today. Hence efforts are needed at both observational and modeling levels to improve multi-centennial projections of Arctic and Antarctic and global climate evolution by combining the current knowledge of climatic variability and the knowledge about the paleoclimatic shift of those mechanisms. This session invites contributions from both observational, modeling, present-day to future, and paleoclimate works. The teleconnections related to northern and southern low to high latitudes are welcome. A multi-disciplinary analysis of teleconnection processes from paleo-present and future timescales is encouraged. The abstracts for the session include and are not limited to teleconnections linking Tropics/Mid latitudes and Arctic/Antarctic and their feedbacks. The processes include Asian monsoon, North American monsoon, North Atlantic Oscillation, Northern Annular Mode/Arctic Oscillation, Elnino Southern Oscillation, Indian Ocean Dipole, Atlantic multidecadal oscillation, Indian ocean subtropical dipole, Southern Annular Mode, and Madden Julian Oscillation.

Convenors: Marcos Tonelli, Marina Noro, Tiago Dotto, N. Anil Kumar

Water transformation around Antarctica is recognized to significantly impact the climate. It is where the linkage between the upper and lower limbs of the Meridional Overturning Circulation (MOC) takes place by means of dense water formation, which may be affected by rapid climate change. Warm waters being carried eastward by the Antarctic Circumpolar Current are captured by cyclonic gyres (primarily in the Weddell Sea) and transported onto the shelf break, gradually cooling and freshening as they interact with ambient waters. Unique exchange processes and water transformation over the Antarctic continental shelf and shelf slope are contributors in the formation of deep and bottom waters originated in and exported from the Antarctic margins, which represent the major source of the world’s ocean bottom water. These waters eventually spread northward filling all of the abyssal ocean–basins, underpinning the Southern Ocean importance in modulating the global MOC. In this session, we welcome papers addressing the Southern Ocean circulation variability (ranging from climatologies to climate scale trends) from both observations and numerical modelling based investigations. Studies that explore the link between the upper Southern Ocean circulation changes and the dense water formation are particularly welcome.

Convenors: Babula Jena, John Turner, N. Anil Kumar, P. Sabu

Antarctic sea ice plays a vital part in the dynamics of the Earth’s climate, the track of weather systems, the ocean-atmosphere circulation, the high latitude marine ecosystem, shipping, and logistic activities. During the satellite era starting in 1979, the extent of Antarctic sea ice increased for the first 37 years, but was followed by a record decrease from 2016 to 2021. The processes controlling the sea ice variability may not be represented well in climate models due to complex ocean-ice-atmosphere interactions, complicating the production of reliable projections of sea ice changes in a warming climate. This session invites presentations on all aspects of Antarctic sea ice variability (including regional/local) and change during the satellite era, along with longer-term studies based on ice- and sediment-core data. Presentations are welcome on links between Antarctic sea ice and atmosphere and ocean dynamics, the atmospheric planetary waves, jet streams, polar cyclones, ozone depletion, and tropical forcing of sea ice via the modes of climate variability, such as the El Niño–Southern Oscillation, the Southern Annular Mode, the Indian Ocean Dipole, the Interdecadal Pacific Oscillation and the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation. Presentations can be based on observational or modelling studies.

Convenors: Frank Pattyn, Rupert Gladstone, Adam Treverrow, Felicity McCormack, Chen Zhao

This session explores improvements in our understanding and quantification of past, present and future evolution of the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets and sea-level changes. We invite contributions about the following topics: How to improve the reliability of the projections using observations (paleo and present), models and model intercomparison exercises (ISMIP6, and others); assessment of uncertainties and probability distributions of the ice sheets’ contribution to sea level change; emerging processes; feedbacks coming from interactions between components (ice sheets, ocean, atmosphere, solid earth). We focus on the present and future (multi-centennial) ice sheet evolution, but paleo-studies are encouraged if they shed a light on the mentioned topics. This session is related to ISMASS, ISMIP6, SCAR INSTANT and SCAR AntClimNow.

Convenors: Giorgiana De Franceschi, Nicolas Bergeot, Shreedevi P R, Emilia Correia, Domenico Di Mauro, Renata Lukianova, Sonya Lyatskaya

As the polar regions are Earth’s windows to outer space, they provide a unique opportunity for scientific research of the direct connection of the Earth with the geospace, which is not possible at mid and low latitudes. The proposed session aims to gather the communities that monitor and investigate the atmosphere and geospace with particular reference to Antarctica, but with a bi- polar perspective, by means of radio probes (ground based and/or satellite) or temporary/permanent ground infrastructure.
Contributions are welcome on the up-to-date knowledge on ionospheric, plasmaspheric and magnetospheric physics at high latitudes and their coupling. These studies can be from short-term (i.e. hours to days associated with geomagnetic disturbed periods) to long-term scales (seasonal and years). The session is open to contributions on the neutral atmosphere, including observations and modeling of gravity waves, airglow and planetary waves in the mesosphere and thermosphere, and its coupling to lower layers (stratosphere and troposphere) as well long-term variations on temperature and/or winds and water vapor. |
Contributions are also solicited on recent developments in monitoring, modelling and forecasting space weather effects, data analysis (especially based on multi-instrument observations), measurement campaigns and international initiatives related to the understanding of space weather threats to radio-based monitoring and measuring systems at high latitudes.
Finally, the session is open to papers of thematic backgrounds as geomagnetism, geo-electricity and geo-electromagnetism oriented to the internal geomagnetic field studies and models and the dynamics of the Earth’s system due to external source events, including the ionospheric and magnetospheric inputs, also under space weather triggering.

Convenors: Berry Lyons, Mauro Guglielmin, Marc Oliva, Dan Morgan, Melisa Diaz

This session will include research on all aspects of the surface and shallow subsurface physical, geochemical and ecological processes in ice-free regions of Antarctica. Presentations dealing with the impact of the changing climate on surficial processes, interactions of physical/biological processes, the importance of dating surface features in understanding past ice sheet behavior, and the use of Antarctic ice-free regions as extraterrestrial analogs are especially welcome. It is hoped that the session will also attract research conducted under the guise of the ANTPAS Expert Group.

Convenors: Mauro Guglielmin, Joe Levy

The session is organized under the Umbrella of the EG ANTPAS (Antarctic Permafrost, Periglacial environments and soils) and it is focused on all the effects of the climate change on the permafrost areas from the microscale to the local and regional scale.

Permafrost and active layer monitoring and their relation with climate will be analysed as well as the impacts of the permafrost thawing on the landscape, on the hydrology and on the ecosystems.
Methodological contributions related to remote sensing tecniques as well as field measurements of the impacts of the climate change and their comparison are welcome. Moreover possible linkages between permafrost changes, active layer thickening and ocean and freshwater systems are also welcome.

Convenors: Jacqueline Halpin, Nathan Daczko, Laura Morrissey, Geoff Grantham

The modern Antarctic continent has been through multiple global supercontinent amalgamation and breakup cycles and includes some of the most ancient crust found on Earth through to crust generated in the youngest dispersal cycle. Although only tantalising glimpses are archived in exposed outcrop and detritus, the integration of the onshore and offshore geological records with a wealth of geophysical datasets continues to transform our view of Antarctic subglacial and submarine bedrock and lithospheric architecture. Here we invite contributions that explore the evolution of the Antarctic continent (and its neighbours) throughout supercontinent cycles. We especially encourage studies that seek to integrate various aspects of geology, geophysics, geo-/thermo-chronology, and/or plate modelling, and provide a clear framework for future hypothesis testing.

Convenors: Richard Jones, Mike Bentley, Julia Wellner, Ruthie Halberstadt

Marine-based sectors of the Antarctic Ice Sheet are likely to contribute to sea-level rise over the coming centuries. Better understanding of the underlying processes, thresholds, magnitudes, and rates of previous ice-sheet change is essential to improve predictions of future sea-level rise and guide mitigation and adaptation. This session invites submissions on the broad range of Antarctic work being done on past ice sheet and ocean history from onshore, continental shelf, and deep-sea records.

We welcome presentations on geological and geophysical studies, including drilling programs from Antarctica and from the Southern Ocean. Marine records cover a range of short to long timescales, all of which provide key insights into ice sheet dynamics and ocean circulation change. Terrestrial studies of past glacial history using outcrop studies, geomorphology, or onshore drilling can yield complementary records of past intervals of ice sheet thickening and thinning. Studies that examine smaller-than-present configurations of the ice sheet such as during past interglacials are especially welcome, particularly where they can provide constraints on past sea-level change contributions from Antarctica.
We encourage submissions that bring together marine and terrestrial records of ice sheet behaviour or that can provide links between past Southern Ocean circulation and temperatures and ice sheet behaviour. The session is highly interdisciplinary and welcomes contributions from fields including marine geology and geophysics, sedimentology, geomorphology, paleolimnology, and paleo-oceanography as well as ice-sheet modelling.

Convenors: B. Mahesh, Krystyna Saunders, Anish Kumar Warrier, Stephen Roberts, Rahul Mohan, Cheryl A Noronha-Dmello

The Polar Regions play a crucial role in regulating the global climatic system. Several parts of Antarctica and the islands surrounding the continent in the Southern Ocean are bein impacted by the recent warming. Lake sediments (dating back to the Late Pleistocene and Holocene) are excellent archives of climate and they provide a means to decipher the natural rate, direction and impacts of future climate change and identify key forcing and feedbacks. This session aims to integrate interdisciplinary studies of past environmental change preserved in lake sediment archives from around the continental margin of Antarctica and the sub-Antarctic Islands. We invite submissions that use the lake and other terrestrial records as sentinels of climate change, providing, for example, information on glacier dynamics and relative sea-level change, as well as records that link terrestrial and marine (eco)systems, or provide information on coastal and/or nearshore interactions. Studies that make use of novel methods or provide new insights from lake archives are especially welcome, as are reconstructions using multi-proxy or multi-site approaches and long-term and short-term monitoring studies that complement past environmental studies. The session will focus on regional and global climate linkages and aims to bring together the Polar and (paleo)limnological community to formulate a series of key research questions that can be used to develop new collaborative projects.

Convenor: Vineet Gahalaut

The Antarctic plate is unique in many senses. Unlike other major plates, it is mostly surrounded by the divergent plate margins, except near the peninsular part where it interacts with the small Scotia plate. The plate undergoes extreme weather and hydrological conditions with large seasonal variations. Parts of west Antarctica also exhibits volcanism. Besides large uplift, particularly in the west Antarctica, in response to the unloading of ice subsequent to Last Glacial Maximum at 26 ka, the continent is also influenced by the climate change, seen through ice sheet loss and sea level rise. All these processes cause deformation which have been recorded through space based geodetic techniques. Analyses of these measurements have led to improved understanding of the tectonics, volcanism, seismogenesis, evolution of the continent, rheology, influence of climate change, etc. This session plans to cover all aspects of deformation of the Antarctic plate and new results derived from them.

Convenors: Michelle LaRue, Ryan Reisinger, Mark Hindell, Yan Ropert-Coudert, Manuela Bassoi

This session will focus on all aspects of the biology of Antarctic birds and marine mammals, which play an important role in structuring the Southern Ocean marine ecosystem. This session invites studies on broad that could encompass (i) ecology, including diet, trophic interactions, habitat use and modelling and demography, (ii) physiology, including adaptation to Antarctic environments, energetics and reproductive biology, (iii) behaviour, including foraging, movement patterns, intra- and interspecific interactions, and (iv) genetics, including population genetics, evolutionary genetics and molecular ecology. The session will place particular emphasis on how these aspects of predator biology interact with environmental variability and climate change.

Convenors: R.K. Mishra, Kerrie Swadling, N. Anil Kumar, P. Sabu, Christine Weldrick

This session will cover diversity, trophic relationships and function in biogeochemical cycling of Southern Ocean plankton, including krill. We invite studies that have broad applicability to understanding the role of plankton and could include (i) alternative food web pathways through plankton, (ii) drivers of community structure, (iii) diet and energetics, (iv) new technologies such as eDNA, image analysis and sensors, and (v) improvements in representing plankton in models. How environmental changes are influencing plankton will be of particular interest, including changes to sea ice, ocean warming and climate modes (SAM, ENSO).

Convenor: Jilda Caccavo, Cassandra Brooks, Christopher Jones

Fish are an abundant and key component of the Southern Ocean ecosystem ranging from shallow demersal notothenioids of the continental shelf to the diverse mesopelagic assemblages of the open ocean and to the deep-water fish communities of the continental slope. They are major consumers of zooplankton including Antarctic krill whilst many are key prey for marine predators including other fish species, penguins and seals. It is now thought that lantern fish migrations provide a means of rapid transfer of carbon to the deep ocean where it can be sequestered for centuries or more. Many populations of shelf species are recovering from extensive overfishing in the 1970s and 80s whilst fisheries for icefish and toothfish remain managed in a highly precautionary manner under CCAMLR.

Currently there is extensive research being undertaken within the SCAR and CCAMLR science communities around the ecology of fish in the Southern Ocean. This session aims to bring together this expertise to showcase the breadth of research being conducted which can be of mutual benefit to the two communities. In particular the session would encourage contributions from researchers with a focus on the trophic ecology of Southern Ocean fish, Southern Ocean fish in a changing environment and predator prey interactions of Southern Ocean fish.

Convenors: Petra Heil, Klaus Meiners, Rob Massom, Pat Wongpan

While there is strong focus on rapid change occurring in Arctic sea ice, relatively little is known about the complex sea-ice environment around Antarctica (comprising both pack and fast ice), how and why it is changing and varying, and the wide-ranging physical, biological and chemical effects of such change/variability. Improved understanding of the southern coupled sea ice-ocean-atmosphere-biosphere system is required to truly explain the marked and baffling recent reversal in overall sea-ice extent – from a slight positive trend to successive record maxima peaking in 2014, followed by a rapid decline. While sea-ice extent and concentration are monitored reasonably accurately from space, much remains to be learned about the processes driving annual advance and retreat; the role of snow; sea-ice interaction with the ice sheet; sea ice as a habitat; sea-ice biogeochemical processes; and teleconnections with lower latitudes (including sea-ice relationships with southern hemisphere weather and climate). A forum for interdisciplinary sea-ice research, this session invites presentations with a focus on: (i) Antarctic sea ice in the ocean-cryosphere-atmosphere-biosphere system and (ii) sea ice as an active biogeochemical interface and a reservoir for pollutants. We encourage a holistic discussion through presentations on sea-ice process, observational, modelling and remote-sensing studies.

Convenors: Susan Bengston-Nash, Catherine King, Andrea Zimbelli

Globally, a reliance on chemical solutions to industrial challenges has grown exponentially over the past 70 years. Today, over one million new chemicals are produced every year. The myriad of chemicals present in the natural environment cause both planetary health and direct toxicological impacts, and serve to modify the biosphere. The location of Antarctica at the end of the global distillation pathway renders it an ‘environmental sink’ for the majority of known Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs). Inevitably, a proportion of new chemicals entering commercial markets will share POP-like qualities of persistence and mobility facilitating their long-range environmental transport to Antarctica. Further, human activity in Antarctica continues to grow, presenting an local source of anthropogenic pollutants. The behaviour of organic chemicals in the environment is governed by a number of factors such as temperature, organic carbon and cryosphere dynamics. As such, our understanding of chemical distribution, fate, and therefore impact, in the Polar context is challenged in a warming climate.

This session seeks to bring together current research on system input of organic pollutants to Antarctica, environmental drivers of pollutant dynamics in the polar land- and sea-scape, as well as biological impacts. The session welcomes both synthesis works on recognized POPs, as well as novel research on emerging pollutants of Antarctic concern. It is anticipated that the session will present a platform for linkages between existing research activities and global monitoring efforts in support of Antarctic environmental management and global chemical policy.

Convenors: Catherine King, Tim Spedding, Melanie Borup

Antarctic terrestrial and coastal marine ecosystems are subject to human disturbance at global, regional and local scales. As human activity, infrastructure developments and our ecological footprint in Antarctica continue to grow, stress on Antarctic ecosystems and the potential for environmental impacts increases. Contamination from a range of local sources including legacy waste disposal sites, abandoned stations, fuel spills and wastewater discharges from research stations, as well as global sources through atmospheric and oceanic transport to the poles, are impacting Antarctic biodiversity and ecosystems. In the context of a changing Antarctic climate, physical, chemical and biological processes are undergoing change, and in turn altering the local distribution and fate of contaminants. This inter-disciplinary session welcomes research on the sources and fate of legacy contaminants and emerging pollutants of concern in Antarctica and their effects on biota and communities, as well as practical solutions to reduce impacts including on the ground remediation tools and technologies, mitigation strategies, and environmental management practices. The session invites contributions from scientists working on contaminant distribution and ecological impacts, contaminated site risk assessments, environmental remediation and restoration. It presents a platform to quantify the scale of the problem and to propose solutions for minimising the environmental risk of contaminants from local human activities on Antarctic ecosystems.

Convenors: Christel Hansen, Craig Cary, Justine Shaw, Mia Wege

Straddling the Antarctic Polar Front, sub-Antarctic islands are geographically unique and exhibit both periglacial and glacial conditions. Previously, these islands experienced a different LGM and subsequent deglaciation when compared to the northern hemisphere.Currently, they are host to unique vegetation and are important breeding sites, yet numerous threatened species are also found here. Permafrost is largely sporadic but useful as a proxy for investigating response to a changing climate. Environmental thresholds here are also narrow and contemporary climate changes, characterised by warming temperatures, fluctuations in moisture, and a higher frequency of extreme events, have the potential to narrow (or even surpass) these thresholds. As such, these islands can be regarded as sentinels of change by serving as global early warning systems.

Changes observed in the glacial and periglacial environment will impact these unique ecosystems, affecting the biodiversity of fauna and flora, as well as geomorphology, soil dynamics, and much more. Furthermore, changes in the terrestrial and benthic environments will alter the tourism and heritage potential of these islands. This session aims to showcase sub-Antarctic research and the role of the region as a sentinel of change. Submissions from ANTOS are should include a reference to ANTOS in their abstract. Submissions from emerging researchers are encouraged.

Convenors: Fernanda Quaglio, Fabiana Canini, María Eugenia Raffi

Deep climate changes in the Paleogene, around 37 Ma, remodeled the history of life in the southern hemisphere and shaped the austral biota to its modern configuration. This marked the onset of Antarctic glaciation and was responsible for the last greenhouse-icehouse shift of Earth’s history. Additionally, recent alterations in global environmental conditions due to climate changes, such as ocean acidification and glacier melting, have occurred on a very short geological scale and are potentially affecting southern biota at alarming rates. The highly endemic Antarctic biota has been modeled by multiple and highly variable environmental stressors, among which variation in temperatures, desiccation, strong radiation regimes, loss of proper substrates, low nutrient availability and even competition with invasive species. Thus, its balance can be disturbed due to environmental changes and the resilience potential of each biological group depends on their response to local and regional physicochemical factors. It is therefore essential to understand the current status of biological systems and to determine their possible resilience thresholds to predict ecosystem developments in a changing world. Identifying which environmental factors affected organisms in the geological past is crucial to understanding biological responses to distinct past and present environmental conditions and their possible changes. Also, comparisons of past and modern ecological communities may help to reveal differences in the environmental factors triggering changes in ecological structure in the past and present day. This session encourages the submission of abstracts about studies both on fossil and/or living Antarctic communities aiming to understand which environmental factors are associated with their diversity, ecological structure, and composition. Comparisons between fossil and living groups are not mandatory and works dealing with specific taxonomical groups are also accepted.

Convenors: Chiara Papetti, Jamie Maxwell

For a long time, scientists have been fascinated by the idea that species might disperse long distances, and how dispersal might underpin distributions; the “grand game of chess with the world for a board” as Charles Darwin wrote in one of his letters. We now have a wealth of powerful methods to investigate where, when and how biological dispersal occurs. Understanding the processes and patterns of species distribution and ecological and genetic connectivity of populations is particularly relevant in the geographically isolated and rapidly warming Antarctic and sub-Antarctic regions. How will species in these regions respond to environmental changes? Which can or can’t shift their distributions through dispersal? Where are the biogeographic barriers, and where are the primary dispersal pathways? What mechanisms do different species use to disperse? This session will bring together recent research on active and passive dispersal of Antarctic organisms at regional, continental and intercontinental scales. We particularly welcome talks that bring together different sources of evidence to investigate dispersal and the processes that drive it, and / or that shed light on species distributions and population connectivity, in and around the Antarctic and sub-Antarctic.

Convenors: Elie Poulin, Peter Convey, Claudia Soledad Maturana Bobadilla

The Antarctic region is arguably the most pristine and the most isolated globally, protected by oceanic, bathymetric, atmospheric and geographic barriers resulting from tectonic and climatic events that started in the Eocene. Today’s Antarctic and sub-Antarctic biota have evolved adaptations to the extreme living conditions and are characterized by a high degree of endemism. However, the recent acceleration of climate and other environmental changes increases the probabilities of disturbing fragile Antarctic ecosystems, and may fundamentally change Antarctic biodiversity, particularly through the invasion of alien species and the loss of native biodiversity. Understanding how Antarctic biodiversity responded to past changes will help us to predict its fate in the Anthropocene. The recent and rapid spread of genomics-based techniques in ecological and evolutionary sciences has increased our capacity to explore and understand the historical and contemporary effects of climate change on the diversification, demographic history, and adaptation of Antarctic biodiversity (including microorganisms, plants, invertebrates and vertebrates). Such advances help us to understand the response and resilience of Antarctic and sub-Antarctic biota faced with the challenges of climatic and environmental change, and therefore to predict the fate of a unique biogeographic province facing the challenges of the Anthropocene. This session will bring together researchers in biogeography specializing in different groups of Antarctic and sub-Antarctic biota, to obtain an integrated overview of the state of knowledge of how these organisms and their communities could respond to contemporary and ongoing changes.

Convenors: Federico Baltar, Rajani Kanta Mishra, Craig Cary, N. Anil Kumar, P. Sabu, David Pearce, Stephen Archer, Tina Santl-Temkiv

Marine microorganisms play a key role by driving globally important biogeochemical cycles; including most of primary and secondary production in the oceans. A large part of the globe is covered by cold environments; consequently, cold-adapted microorganisms have crucial functional roles in global environmental processes. Organisms survive and grow at low temperatures by evolving adaptive strategies necessary to maintain fundamental metabolic functions. In Polar Regions, the composition of microbial communities is influenced by oceanic currents, temperature, nutrient availability, grazing and seasonal light cycles. Thus, natural and anthropogenic perturbations will impact the diversity and ecological role of Polar microbes. This is relevant since a large number of species diversity is usually required for the maintenance of ecosystem processes in changing environments. However, many microbes are also able to evolve and adapt to shifting environmental conditions.

This session aims to expand our knowledge on the ecological role of microorganism in the Polar environments, including the influence of evolutionary adaption processes on the diversity and function of Polar microbes. This includes works on physiology, biogeochemistry, diversity, biogeography, from individual microbes/genes to communities and ecosystems.

Convenors: A.A. Mohamed Hatha, K.P. Krishnan, Rahul Mohan, Anand Jain

Global warming and resultant climate change is affecting various ecosystems across the world including the polar oceans. Distinct microbial communities have been identified with various water masses operating in the global oceans. Warming and large scale ice sheet melt could release the ancient microbes trapped in the glaciers where as changes in the sea ice is paving way for large scale incursions of the different water masses and their corresponding microflora to the polar waters. With increasing in sea ice melt, the polar waters are becoming more productive and attracting many foraging species into these waters along with their microflora. The shift in the sea water temperature could also result in perturbations of biochemical processes carried out by the marine microbes. This session will look at the diversity of microbial communities in the polar oceans and the factors that affect the shift in microbial communities in the present scenario. Role of microbes in biogeochemical cycles, and emerging processes such as heterotrophic nitrogen fixation as well as the role of recently reported ‘Novel Clade 10’ (NC10) deserves special attention. Drug resistance among bacteria is becoming a looming threat, the spread of AMR into microbial communities in the polar waters also comes under the focus.

Convenors: Alix Post, Narissa Bax, Huw Griffiths

The seafloor around the Antarctic and sub-Antarctic zones, stretching from the nearshore to the abyss, remains the least known area of our oceans. High-resolution imaging technology, coupled with in-situ benthic sampling, has enabled detailed mapping of the physical seafloor environment and the characterisation of benthic habitats and communities. Integration with datasets that reveal ice-ocean-seafloor interactions is vital for understanding drivers and future impacts of change.
Seafloor environments are modulated by interactions with surface water and cryosphere processes, and provide important ecosystem services, including habitat for benthic communities and carbon sequestration (‘Blue Carbon’), control the movement of ocean currents, and influence the distribution and deposition of organic matter. By integrating physical, biological and chemical components of earth systems this session, on The Antarctic Seafloor – Ecosystem interactions and environmental drivers of change, underpins a range of scientific research questions that support evidence-based policy decision making.

This session will include the application and testing of a range of physical proxies and natural archives to understand ecosystem patterns and the processes driving benthic biodiversity. Proxies will include geomorphic information, oceanographic and sedimentary processes, and the influence of benthic-pelagic coupling on distributions of nutrients and organic matter. Understanding the physical characteristics of habitats enables prediction of potential shifts in benthic biodiversity due to changing environmental conditions, including ice and ocean dynamics.

We invite contributions that integrate physical, biological and/or chemical components of the seafloor environment, and ice-ocean-seafloor interactions, with a focus on examining drivers of change and identifying potential future impacts.

Convenors: Marc Shepanek, Nathalie Pattyn

This session aims to facilitate presentation of a wide range of academic endeavor. The focus will be on Antarctic medical practice and how it relates and could inform to space medicine. Fundamental and applied research on physiological and psychological adaptation to isolated and confined environments and remote health care will be the focus of this session. Among the many challenges arising from Antarctic deployments are:

• Planning for and provision of healthcare, training of staff, screening of deployed populations and acknowledging skill fade.
• The public health of remote living e.g. infection, potable water.
• Logistical challenges of healthcare provision, on-going support and telemedicine and extreme medical evacuation.
• Specific challenges of dive medicine in remote environments.
• Human adaptation to altitude, cold and confined small communities.
• Countermeasures to extreme isolation and confinement.

Overall, the Isolated, Confined and Extreme Environments (ICE) of Antarctica and Space, have substantial overlap and opportunity for mutual benefit. Papers related to remote healthcare, aerospace medicine; maritime and diving medicine; and all research fields examining human endurance in ICE are all welcome.

Convenors: Daniela Liggett, Daniela Cajiao, Karen Alexander, Marisol Vereda, Hanne Nielsen, Yu-Fai Leung, Gabriela Roldan

Since the humble beginnings of the modern era of Antarctic tourism in the 1960s, its scale and geographical reach has changed significantly. Initially only amounting to a few hundred tourists on mainly ship-based voyages to the Peninsula region, Antarctic tourism now allows more than 50,000 tourists to experience Antarctica – be it on expeditions that include landings or are mainly land-based or cruise-only itineraries. With the increased scale and greater diversity comes an increased need for responsible in-situ management and responsive governance on the one hand, and a greater potential for outreach and advocacy on the other hand.

This session aims at exploring the different dimensions and types of tourism operations and practice; management, regulation and governance; the development of Antarctic tourism activities and markets; the concepts of ambassadorship and advocacy in tourism; socio-cultural, political, economic, and ethical aspects of Antarctic tourism; the impacts of tourism (including on, but extending beyond, the natural and built environment); tourism futures; the role of external factors (such as climate change) on tourism development and regulation; risk and insurance in Antarctic tourism operations; commercial vs. independent travel to the Antarctic; Antarctic virtual tourism; the role of technology in Antarctic tourism; contested places and spaces in tourism; and ontologies, epistemologies and methodologies in Antarctic tourism research.

Convenors: Lize-Marié Hansen van der Watt, Rebecca Hingley

This session invites presentations on human heritage in Antarctica from an array of disciplinary backgrounds. These may include:
Antarctic heritage in theory and practice:

• critical issues in Antarctic heritage research, management and conservation;
• the relationship between Antarctic heritage and contemporary science;
• historical and physical research into the material evidence of human presence;
• and the archaeology of sealing, whaling, exploration and scientific sites.

Antarctic heritage governance:

• the development of heritage assessment and management over time;
• the impact of policy-making on heritage;
• and the effect of cultural diversity on heritage assessment, conservation and management.

Antarctic heritage looking forward:

• reflection upon past matters raised at SCAR 2020; a review of the current state of research;
• and consideration of future research agendas.

The session is closely linked to those on Antarctic and Southern Ocean Histories and The changing face of Antarctic tourism, with some overlap and mutual interest between topics covered in each.

Convenors: Alejandra Mancilla, Patrick Flamm

Six decades after the signature of the Antarctic Treaty and almost thirty years after the signature of the Protocol on Environmental Protection, it is timely to review how the Antarctic system has evolved and to inquire how it will continue to evolve into the future.

In this session, we critically interrogate the Antarctic Treaty System (ATS) and its capacity to confront present and future challenges like climate change, the sustained interest of some actors in Antarctica’s living and nonliving resources, and the latent but never forgotten territorial claims. Does the ATS have the legal tools to tackle these challenges successfully? What aspects are in need of revision (if any)? What could be improved or rethought regarding its structure and functioning?
To answer these questions, we invite contributions that focus on specific aspects of the Antarctic legal regime, governance, and political order—for example, CCAMLR’s integration of science and policy-making, or the history of CRAMRA and its legacy. We equally invite more general perspectives that assess contested concepts like sovereignty, legitimacy, and colonialism as well as hierarchy and their place in the Antarctic context.

Convenors: Klaus Dodds, Charne Lavery

Over three decades have passed since Stephen Pyne published his influential book The Ice (1986), which offered one of the first analyses of literary and artistic responses to Antarctica. This period has seen significant changes in both the Antarctic region and the humanities, arts and social sciences (HASS) disciplines. Warming oceans, the diversifying of state actors and commercial interests, and the ratification of the Madrid Protocol have all impacted the Antarctic. In the HASS disciplines a turn towards the nonhuman environment and postcolonial perspectives has produced new understandings of the region over these decades. How can they help us to make sense of the scale and rapidity of change and the terraforming consequences of land, sea, ice and atmosphere recalibrating with one another?
This session welcomes any papers that extend contemporary understandings of ‘The Ice’ through the humanities, arts and social sciences.
We particularly encourage research that addresses aspects of any of the following questions:

• How are changing social and cultural engagements with ice impacting our understanding of the ‘ice continent’? What would an ‘ice humanities’ look and feel like?
• Do we need to understand Antarctica as a lively and dynamic volume rather than a discrete region below 60° South?
• How are the pasts and futures of the global South – the ‘poorer countries of the world’ – interconnected with those of the Southern Ocean and Antarctica? What would a decolonial Antarctic humanities look like?
• What new perspectives are the creative arts bringing to contemporary human and more-than-human relationships with ‘The Ice’?

Convenors: Elizabeth Leane, Carolyn Philpott, Adele Jackson

Imaginative engagement with the Antarctic region preceded any human contact with the continent and profoundly influenced its history of encounter. From far southern communities living on the Southern Ocean rim who passed down traditional stories of a frozen region further south, through expedition artists, photographers and cinematographers, to contemporary artists, performers, and writers travelling on residencies with national programs or tourist operators, humans have used cultural responses as a way of understanding encounters with the far south. In 1996 and 2013, the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Parties formally recognised “the contributions of writers, artists and musicians” as a means to promote understanding, appreciation, and protection of Antarctica (Res. 2; Res 5). Such contributions have become increasingly urgent in the Anthropocene. Works of art and literature can question our presumptions, engage our emotions, and inspire us to think innovatively about our relationship with the South Polar region.

This session invites presentations from those working at or focussing on the intersection of the Antarctic region and creative arts – with the latter covering (but not limited to) the visual arts; creative fiction and non-fiction; music and sound; and theatre, dance and performance. Contributions from both traditional and practice-based researchers are welcome.

Convenors: Peder Roberts, Joy McCann, Nelson Llanos

This session aims to showcase some of the many new approaches to the history of the Antarctic and Southern Ocean regions that have emerged in recent years. The important contributions made by historians of science and exploration have increasingly been augmented by studies from environmental history, cultural history and aesthetics, and political history and geopolitics. Among the many positive consequences of this diversification has been a deeper appreciation of how Antarctica and the Southern Ocean have not only shaped the contours of human experience but have themselves become inscribed with cultural and political as well as scientific meaning. We welcome submissions from scholars working on any aspect of the history of Antarctica and adjacent oceans and in any time period. In keeping with the overall theme of the session, we particularly encourage submissions that approach Antarctic and Southern Ocean histories from new perspectives and raise broader questions about how historians, scientists, and the public at large might think about these important regions of the globe.

Convenors: Rupert Summerson, Shaun Brooks

It has been c. 200 years since humans first set foot on Antarctica, with visitation and infrastructure development increasing markedly in the build up to the International Polar Year 1957/58. Today, impacts resulting from human activities on a global scale, combined with national operator and tourism industry activities within Antarctic itself, present an increasing threat to Antarctic environmental, scientific, historic, wilderness and aesthetic values, as well as intrinsic values. The Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty sets out a legal framework for Parties to limit the environmental impact of their activities in the Antarctic Treaty area. However, it is not clear how effective this has been at protection of the many values contained within Antarctica.

Convenors: Pedro Marques-Quinteiro, Daniela Liggett, Gabriela Roldan

Antarctica is a continent of extremes and is often regarded as one of Earth’s best analogue environments for the isolation, confinement and challenges experienced during missions to outer space. Even today, Antarctica remains the most sparsely inhabited continent on the planet, with the number of people living at Antarctic research stations every year ranging from around 1,000 during the winter to around 4,500 during the austral summer. Most of the people who make parts of Antarctica their temporary homes come there to work. While research exists about human performance in Antarctica, only very limited scholarly work focuses on the motivations for people to live and work in Antarctica, their experiences and challenges while residing there, their sense of belonging and identity, their values, their connections to the continent or whether and why they desire to return to Antarctica in the future.
This session will bring together a wide range of perspectives with a focus on facilitating knowledge-building and discussion about the socio-cultural, psychological, economic, political or environmental dimensions of living and working in Antarctica.
Research presented in this session includes, but is not limited to, the following:

• Psychological dimensions of living and working in Antarctica
• Place-making and homemaking in Antarctica
• Architectural challenges and solutions for Antarctic stations
• Identity-building in an Antarctic context
• Human values in relation to Antarctica
• Cultural processes around work or life in Antarctica
• Logistics of living and working in Antarctica
• Challenges of overwintering or undertaking remote field work
• Language, speech and behavior in Antarctica

Convenors: Takashi Yamanouchi, Francis Bennet, Wilson Wai Yin Cheung, Kimberlee Baldry

Research in Antarctica requires innovations in technology to overcome the harsh and remote environment. Renewable energy, remote & automated operations, and information services are key areas for any remote science mission. Technology can lend a hand to science in remote areas, including the depths of the ocean, the deep Antarctic field and space. In the ocean, human observation has been assisted by autonomous profiling floats, under-ice gliders (AUV and ROV) and deep-ocean rovers, that provide sustained or new observations in an unforgiving ocean. Over the Antarctic ice sheet, automatic weather station (AWS), unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and balloons are helpful systems to cover unvisited sparse area. Advanced communications by data relay for high volume is indispensable to many Antarctic scientists, and emerging technologies promise to open up a new and wide range of science missions and applications. Satellite and space debris monitoring from Antarctica could provide a unique data set for space and atmospheric scientists. In this inter-disciplinary session we invite presentations that showcase how technologies have helped progress science in remote places. This session brings together a wide range of scientific and engineering disciplines to report on the state-of-the-art technology in development, and look forward at the future of emerging technologies and their applications.

Convenors: Delphi Ward, Nick Golledge

Antarctic and Southern Ocean systems are facing unprecedented change and increasing potential for regime shifts to occur. Regime shifts involve loss of system stability, and the reorganization of the system around a different set of self-reinforcing feedbacks once a threshold or tipping point has been crossed. In particular, the presence of destabilising positive feedbacks can create runaway change and make reversal of regime shifts unlikely. Globally, regime shifts can occur at different system, spatial, and temporal scales, and tipping points at one scale or in one system can interact with tipping points in others, potentially resulting in cascading regime shifts. In the Antarctic system, tipping points have been observed or predicted in ecosystems, climate, ice-sheets and ice-ocean interactions.

This interdisciplinary session intends to build a holistic understanding of tipping points and destabilising feedbacks in the Antarctic system, how these are distributed within and across scales and subsystems. We seek talks that investigate regime shifts in any component of the Antarctic and Southern Ocean system, using experimental, observational or modelling approaches. To keep the interest broad, we particularly encourage talks that link their study subsystem to the other components of the broader Antarctic system (e.g. impacts on or from other subsystems) to develop understanding of feedbacks and tipping points over the whole system. The hope is to develop a better understanding of how regime shifts in different parts of the Antarctic and Southern Ocean are likely to interact, or lead to cascading regime shifts.

Convenors: N. Anil Kumar, Anoop Mahajan, Rahul Mohan, Svenja Halfter

The Southern Ocean is a challenging region to conduct scientific studies due to its harsh climate, limited accessibility, and remoteness. Environmental changes in the Southern Ocean impact air-sea exchanges of climatically active substances. Understanding emission and deposition fluxes of atmospheric constituents (e.g. dust, mercury, halogens, sulphur compounds, organics etc.) are critical for quantifying the role of the Southern Ocean on the global climate system and the effect of climate change on the Southern Ocean ecosystem. This session welcomes research focusing on air-sea interaction and its linkage with the Southern Ocean ecosystem. We are looking for studies that include ocean-atmosphere exchange of GHGs, mass and energy fluxes, the effect of atmospheric deposition on the Southern Ocean biogeochemistry and ecology, Southern Ocean’s biogeochemical control on atmospheric processes, the response of biogeochemistry in the Southern Ocean to changes in climate variables, and possible climate intervention through changing the air-sea interaction in the Southern Ocean. 

Convenors: Shridhar Jawak, Peter Fretwell, Dariusz Ignatiuk, Peter Convey

The use of emerging technologies in artificial intelligence, machine learning and deep learning has revolutionized geoinformation science in the recent years. Over the last two decades, rapid developments in Earth Observation (EO) satellites have made important contributions to the spectral, spatial and temporal mapping of geoinformation in cryospheric regions. The inception of new satellite sensors, the development of new analytical techniques and the exploitation of growing EO data archives have led to step changes in many areas of polar science. With the terabytes of data being generated by various satellites daily, it is pertinent to develop new ways to utilise these datasets. This session will give a platform to present and discuss new methods and new findings derived from EO data to generate meaningful geoinformation in Antarctica. Pertinent examples include the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning in Antarctic Earth Observation, glaciological and mass balance product generation (DEM, glacier velocity, ice thickness, roughness, facies, blue ice), studying wildlife from space (e.g. counting whales, walruses, penguins), terrestrial biology (e.g. vegetation cover, habitat classification, species mapping), oceanographic geoinformation (sea ice extent, thickness, ocean colour, snow cover on sea ice) and many more. The session will also cover data and data systems built in support of Antarctic science; as the amount of and access to data increases, the methods to access, serve and view the Big Data environment become pressing problems. The session will focus on cross-disciplinary research across a range of Antarctic science disciplines and includes new and emerging research frontiers in Antarctic science across biology, earth science, and physical sciences. Presentations are welcomed addressing interpretation of EO data to derive geoinformation useful for the Antarctic science community.

Convenors: Stewart Jamieson, Mathieu Morlighem, Emma Mackie, Mayuri Pandey

The stability of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet (EAIS) has significant implications for potential changes in sea level, both in the past and in the future. However, there are considerable challenges to quantifying changes that have occurred, or that will occur. This session aims to explore how our understanding of the subglacial geological boundary conditions (e.g. topography, lithology, earth structure, slip conditions etc.) can be used to assess the stability of the EAIS. Over the last decades, extensive datasets have been collected relating to the subglacial topography, geological structure and lithology of East Antarctica through a combination of geophysical surveying, offshore provenance studies, and direct access drilling. Numerical ice sheet models interact with the geological boundary conditions through a combination of sliding law and basal friction parameterizations. This session aims to examine model and data limitations that hinder the linking of geological conditions with ice sheet model simulations, and to identify ways to better connect models and subglacial geological data. We encourage contributions that use any data or model approach to explore subglacial geological conditions and consider EAIS stability.

Convenors: Akiho Shibata, Shigeru Aoki, Zia Madani, Osamu Inagaki

This session aims to analyze the resilience of Antarctic Treaty System utilizing “Social Natural Sciences” methodology (Chaturvedi, 2016), encouraging an interface between the knowledge and forecasts from the state-of-the-art natural science disciplines and social sciences, in this case, legal studies on the Antarctic. A legal research, particularly an Antarctic legal research, under the Anthropocene requires to broaden its purview beyond its normal considerations of space and time, by taking into consideration the current scientific knowledge regarding the Antarctic and the Earth and their future forecasts spanning over 100 years. Only by doing so, the legal research on the Antarctic Treaty System can provide policy choices that would maintain and even strengthen the System’s resilience to the future challenges posed by Anthropocene. These practical policy recommendations will be proposed at the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meetings, including one planned to be hosted by Japan in 2026.

This session welcomes contributions discussing actual experiences as well as innovative ideas on how to better connect science (scientists) and policy/law (policymakers and lawyers) so as to more effectively address relevant Antarctic issues.

Convenors: Adriana Gulisano, Donna Frater, Morgan Seag, Renuka Badhe, Mariama Dryak

Collaborations have always played a central role in Antarctic research. In recent years a growing body of research has demonstrated that ensuring diversity in experience, background, and skills in teams enhances the quality of research. The Antarctic research community increasingly recognizes the need for creating more inclusive collaborations, which itself requires identifying and dismantling socially and culturally enmeshed barriers to participation. As we prepare researchers to meet the challenges posed by the complexities of the much-needed interdisciplinary and globally collaborative work, it is essential to improve awareness of outstanding inequalities and identify effective ways to move toward more inclusive and equitable Antarctic research communities.

This is a unique opportunity for cross-disciplinary research and dialogue bringing together diverse perspectives on forging more inclusive and equitable Antarctic research communities. For this session, we are looking for presenters and participants who have experience and/or expertise working across disciplinary boundaries, communities, and ideas from all perspectives, broadly including, but not limited to:
1) Cross-disciplinary collaboration, bringing together natural sciences, social sciences, humanities, governance and arts;
2) Ensuring inclusivity of historically underrepresented and marginalized communities on the basis of gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, disability, socioeconomic status, language, and other categories of identity;
3) Intersectional perspectives on Antarctic research communities and collaborations;
4) Integration of equity and inclusivity dialogues into teams, organizations, meetings, fieldwork, and other sites of research, science administration/policymaking, and collaboration.

Presentation abstracts are welcomed from those with research experience on these or related topics, as well as those with applied experience in their fields wishing to share perspectives on outstanding issues, best practices, lessons learned, etc.
This session aims to integrate and build upon dialogues that have been taking place in polar research through a variety of organizations and networks, as well as the first Inclusive Collaborations in Antarctic Research parallel session and workshop, which was held at the SCAR OSC in 2020.

Convenors: Rebecca Priestley, Rhian Salmon, Heidi Roop, José Xavier

A primary goal of SCAR is to “communicate scientific information about the Antarctic region to the public.” In recent years, this project has taken on new urgency, as Antarctic research increasingly focuses on issues of urgent global significance such as climate change, ice melt and environmental protection. Here we invite papers that describe, evaluate, contextualize and critique the diverse ways in which scientists, communicators and educators engage with different publics, and the ways in which publics engage with Antarctic science. We particularly invite papers that focus on communicating issues of global importance in an effort to effect change.

Convenors: Daniela Liggett, Adrian Howkins, Steve Chignell, Jilda Caccavo, Neil Gilbert, Natasha Gardiner, Hyoung Chul Shin

This session explores research that aligns with the SCAR Scientific Research Programme Ant-ICON (Integrated Science to Inform Antarctic and Southern Ocean Conservation) and the programme’s overarching goals to facilitate and coordinate transdisciplinary scholarship that informs the conservation and governance of the Antarctic region. In particular, we invite research that examines the current status and potential futures of Antarctic and Southern Ocean species and ecosystems and some key drivers for change. We will explore how this critical scientific knowledge is currently synthesised and communicated to deepen our understandings of the cumulative risks facing Antarctica and the Southern Ocean, and reflect on new opportunities for fostering connections between Antarctic research and policy. We will also discuss how different framings of Antarctic human-environment systems, for instance a biocultural perspective, can assist in capturing a broader suite of values and in anticipating and characterising future drivers of change in these systems in order to enable strategic and effective management decisions.

Convenors: Kevin Hughes, Jasmine Lee, Andrew Lowther

Our view of Antarctica as a remote, pristine and unchanging haven is rapidly shifting. Human impacts are growing and are only predicted to worsen in coming decades, placing the continents unique environments, ecosystems, and biodiversity at risk. Impacts can be localised or wide-ranging, marine or terrestrial, established or emerging, and may originate from local or distant sources. Such impacts include expanding human footprint and activities, pollution, wildlife disturbance, extractive activities such as fishing or bioprospecting and the introduction or expansion of non-native species. Better understanding human impacts will be crucial for successfully conserving the continent into the future.

With the launch of the new SCAR Scientific Research Programme Ant-ICON and in alignment with the aims of Research Theme 2 (Human Impacts), this session aims to bring together researchers and practitioners interested in further understanding and mitigating current and future impacts in Antarctica. We particularly encourage submissions that contribute to answering the following key questions:
i) What is the current and projected future extent of human activities?,
ii) What risks are associated with these human activities?,
iii) What are the synergistic and cumulative impacts of human activities when combined with other drivers of change, particularly global change?, and
iv) How can such risks and impacts be mitigated?

Convenors: Petra ten Hoopen, Taco de Bruin, Frank Nitsche

Many of society’s greatest needs for understanding of our natural world require scientists to make the best use and reuse of data. This demands that the Antarctic and Southern Ocean data management community develop tools and systems to enable and support data reuse. Globally, the FAIR data principles are being widely adopted and two key Antarctic data groups – the SCAR’s Standing Committee on Antarctic Data Management and the Southern Ocean Observing System – build data communities and develop services that encourage best practice in data sharing.

This workshop is open to both scientists and data managers to share their lessons and challenges in making data more Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable. We are particularly interested to hear about the areas of polar science where data management systems aren’t yet strongly developed. We want to hear about the challenges that the science and data communities are only just beginning to tackle as well as new solutions of building the international and transdisciplinary digital ecosystem, including various data sharing and portal initiatives.