Understanding climate
for the benefit of society

Polar climate

Arctic and Antarctic climate change

Research focus

The observational basis and prognostic capabilities — ranging from weather forecasts via climate predictions to climate projections — are continuously improved by dedicated fieldwork providing new data and direct process understanding.

Present research priorities include:

Antarctic ice shelves.
field work in the ice-covered Arctic.
the “seamless” extension of the instrumental record with high-resolution paleo reconstructions.
disentangling oceanic and atmospheric influences on sea ice conditions (and vice versa).
the routing of freshwater, and polar weather and climate prediction, including predictability over land.
the general challenge of understanding the role of the polar regions in global climate.

Strategic project

AOI - Atmosphere-Ocean-Ice Interactions in Polar and sub-polar regions, leader Einar Olason.

Kerim Nisancioglu

Outlook

“The fastest changes in climate now occur in the Arctic”, says Kerim H. Nisancioglu, leader of our Polar Climate research.

“More than ever, we need to be there to observe and to understand the processes behind these changes”.

A new current on the map

You have very likely heard about the Gulf Stream. The Iceland-Faroe Slope Jet, you have never heard of. This current is the newest one on the map.

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Updating sea level rise projections due to ice sheet mass loss

New projections of the effect of greenhouse gas emissions on Greenland and Antarctica’s role in sea level rise, gives estimations beyond the amount that has already been set in motion by Earth’s warming climate.

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Barents Sea ice may influence Asian highlands

It is far from the Arctic to Tibet. A new study shows how variations in sea ice may influence the transport of air pollution into the Tibetan Plateau.

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Coupling of Southern Ocean and Antarctica during a past greenhouse

A new study published in Nature Geoscience shows that temperature in the Southern Ocean was more tightly linked to the extent of Antarctic glaciation during past greenhouse climates than previously thought.

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Polar Climate research group

Research leader
Kerim H. Nisancioglu

Co-leader
Anne E. Bjune

Members