Session description
The polar oceans, encompassing the Arctic and Antarctic region and their adjacent seas, play a vital role in regulating Earth’s climate and in hosting a unique diversity of life. These regions act as key drivers of oceanic and atmospheric circulation, serving as heat and carbon sinks that mitigate the impacts of global warming, and they are highly productive. The interplay of sea ice, ocean currents and mixing, fringing ice shelves, and biogeochemical and ecosystem processes in polar environments influence weather patterns, global sea level, the Earth energy balance, the carbon cycle, and marine biodiversity, extending their impact far beyond the poles, directly affecting human welfare and societal development. However, rapid warming and ice loss in these areas highlight their vulnerability and the urgent need for action to understand the causes of these changes and mitigate climate and ecosystem impacts.
Thus, beyond the UN decade for Ocean Science for Sustainable Development, the UN has also called out for a Decade of Science Action for the Cryosphere 2025-2035, and the international polar community is preparing for the International Polar Year 2032/2033.
With this townhall we invite the ocean community to discuss new international missions being developed and their contribution to sustainable ocean observation much needed in the frame of the CCMLR convention as well as in the implementation of the Central Arctic Ocean fishing moratorium.
Addressing these and other challenges necessitates unprecedented international cooperation. The logistical and financial complexities of studying these remote regions call for shared infrastructures, such as icebreakers, observational networks, and advanced research stations. Collaborative initiatives, like the UN Decade Programme Antarctica InSync, the EU-funded infrastructure network POLARIN as well as the planned transpolar drifts of the Tara Polar Station in the Arctic provide new solutions to enhance scientific understanding but also foster equitable access to resources, ensuring that nations worldwide benefit from and contribute to polar science. By working together, we can harness innovation and data-sharing to understand and protect these fragile systems, highlighting the polar oceans’ irreplaceable role in sustaining a stable and livable planet.
This townhall aims to underline the importance of joint international efforts in advancing polar research and to support and inform about collective actions for preserving the climatic balance that polar oceans provide.
