Work Package 2 Earth Observation: 7 partners, 4 tasks, 1 year:
→ ML + camera data for high-res snow monitoring
→ ICESat-2 SWE reference data over Svalbard
→ Albedo records for Greenland & Svalbard extended back to 1986
→ Glacier & ice-sheet mass balance time series reaching into the 20th century
The International Day of Women and Girls in science is an important opportunity to raise public awareness about the persistent gender disparities in the world of research and to reaffirm the right of women and girls to free and equal access to scientific disciplines.
✨ International Day of Women and Girls in Science ✨🔬
Since 2016, February marks this UN-proclaimed day promoting participation of women in STEM.
At LIQUIDICE, 34% of our staff are women (25 in total) contributing across research, and innovation.
🎓 To mark the day, we hosted an online lesson!
We're very happy to be part of this important project.
One year of LIQUIDICE Diss&Comm 💧
From social media and online lessons to public events and a children’s opera 🎭
Watch our short video summarizing our outreach activities.
#Anniversary
📌 What we found, in brief:
Different contamination profiles between the two Poles: PAHs prevail in the North, while chlorinated compounds (e.g., PCBs and chlorobenzenes) are relatively more important in Antarctica.
Metals (like Mn) help define additional environmental gradients.
So, what did they find?
Even the most remote environments are not isolated from our human footprint. ❄️🌍
In our new study, we compared sediments from 12 lakes across the Arctic (Svalbard) and Antarctica (South Shetland/Deception Island), combining environmental chemistry and microbiology.
Dr Maria Papale sampling an Antarctic lake system
Maria and Carmen on the walk back from sampling
New article in Frontiers in Microbiology.
www.frontiersin.org/journals/mic...
Maria and Carmen went to two different Spanish stations on the Antarctic Peninsula and collected samples during the pandemic.
Minister Bernini presenting the Italian Arctic Strategy
Minister Tajani presenting the Italian Arctic Strategy
Minister Crosetto presenting the Italian Arctic Strategy
presentation slide, Italian strategy for the Arctic
The new Italian strategy is being presented today by Ministers Tajani, Crosetto, and Bernini.
More information can be found at this link
www.difesa.it/primopiano/a...
and the strategy can be downloaded from here:
www.difesa.it/assets/alleg...
Our colleague Nicoletta studying the supra glacial lakes on the Nansen ice shelf for the Holistic PNRA project led by our colleagues in the CNR IIA.
Great photos. Thanks James.
Grazie @dirigibile-italia.bsky.social
We are pleased to share this new paper written by Early Career Researchers including our Fiorenza Toricella. The review gives comprehensive, multidisciplinary synthesis of silicon cycling in the ocean and the Earth system.
🔗 Read the full article here:
os.copernicus.org/articles/21/...
Our director 😊
Best wishes for the holiday season
Seasons greetings from all of the Institute of Polar Sciences. See you next year.
The snow to the eye appears “pure,” but the SPREAD project is investigating how it may actually retain signals of human presence and what this means for microbial communities and for the antibiotic resistome.
Our researcher in sterile clothing above her cold weather gear collecting snow samples.
Our researcher collecting samples from a snow pit
With an accumulation of about 7–8 cm of snow per year, a 50 cm snow pit can take us back roughly 6 years; by sampling the different layers, you can estimate seasonal and annual variations.
News from our other project in Antarctica at Concordia Station. Andrea and Elena from the University of Pisa have arrived to sample snow for the study of microplastics, micropollutants and the microbiological communities present and their resistome to antibiotics and other compounds.
Our final newsletter of the year is now online, covering a year of activity at both poles. With news of new working groups and how we are going to start moving towards the 5th International Polar Year in 2032.
It can be downloaded in English and Italian here:
www.isp.cnr.it/index.php/it...
To avoid contamination, Andrei installed a small laminar flowhood in one of the logistics tents, ensuring that we're measuring contamination of the snow and not just the air inside the tent. A crucial job for undertanding the impact of these contaminants on our planet.
Filtering and preconcentration of the analytes of solid phase extraction cartridges means we can send less weight and volume back to Italy. When the samples arrive in our labs they'll be analysed for the analytes listed above and the bacterial communities associated with them.
The experimental phase of the project "PASSPORT" is still on going. Two weeks ago we showed Andrei sampling in the field. Now he's filtering and preconcentrating samples for the analysis of PFAS, PBDE, Bisphenols plastic additives and microplastics.
The operation is summarised in this water colour by Marion Lahuec illustrating what needs to be done!
To access this ancient ice without ruining the existing borehole, we're using a delicate piece of engineering developed by our Danish colleagues. To essentially taking a side-road off the main highway—starting at 2350 m to obtain replicate samples of this precious ice.
News from the Beyond Epica Little Dome C ice core drilling site.
The team is currently engaged in the difficult task of deviating the drill to create a replicate borehole along side the main bore shaft. Our target is to do this at a depth of approximately 2350 meters within the main borehole.
The recovery of the mooring, is scheduled for late January, and will be carried out by researchers from the University of Naples “Parthenope” using the R/V Laura Bassi.
On the 25th of November, for the first time, an oceanographic mooring was deployed through a hole cut in the pack ice. Deploying a mooring is a routine procedure from an oceanographic vessel, but it has never been done before from Antarctic pack ice.
the original article in nature communications is here: www.nature.com/articles/s43...
you can find out more in Italian here: www.primapagina.sif.it/article/2089...
someone walking across a salt lake with a thin layer of water reflecting the image.
The Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia is the largest salt desert in the world: an immense white expanse at an altitude of 3,600 meters that changes its appearance with the seasons.
In the rainy season, however, a very thin layer of water turns it into one of the most perfect natural mirrors on the planet.
our PhD student Andrei sampling snow with a steel scoop at Concordia Station in Antarctica
In the photo we can see Andrei, our PhD student sampling snow at Concordia station to study microplastics and organic pollutants at this remote location. To make sure he doesn't contaminate the sample he's wearing extra large clean room robes over his cold weather gear.
