A short term characterisation of wind and temperature over Maitri, East Antarctica

Polar Science is gaining increased importance in Climate Change studies because of the profound influence Polar Climatology has on the Global Climate. Research shows that Antarctica seems to be warming around the edges and cooling at the center at the same time. East Antarctica is climatologically colder than west Antarctica because of its higher elevation. A short term characterization of wind and the temperature over Maitri is attempted in this paper. Maximum and Minimum temperatures showed a tendency to decrease with winter contributing the most to the change. The Wind Directions were predominantly South-South-Easterly in summer and autumn and South-Easterly in winter and spring, with katabatic winds showing the maximum frequency in autumn. The wind speeds were found to be most variable in winter. Greater contributions to the wind chill temperatures were found from the winds, with the tendency for change being more prominent in the transition seasons.

The disputed sound of the aurora borealis: sensing liminal noise during the First and Second International Polar Years, 1882–3 and 1932–3

This paper discusses heightened interest in the potential audibility of the aurora borealis during the First and Second International Polar Years (IPYs) of 1882–3 and 1932–3. Galvanized by a growing volume of local accounts expressing belief in the elusive noises, written by the inhabitants of the Shetland Islands, northern Canada, and Norway, auroral researchers of each era were determined to establish the objectivity of auroral sound. There was considerable speculation within the auroral research community as to whether the apparent noises were imagined or illusory, connected to discussions about the possibility of low-altitude aurorae. The anglophone auroral sound debate primarily played out within the official reports of IPY expeditions, the journal Nature , and a Shetland Island newspaper. I argue that the embodied senses were used exclusively to register the liminal sounds of the aurora across the two periods, despite developments in sound recording technologies, the primacy of mechanical objectivity, and instruments transported to the polar regions for the investigation of visual features of the phenomenon. This overlooked episode complicates narratives of polar science in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries by revealing a faith in the corporeal senses and the significant role of amateur observers.

The many flavours of STEAM education for an inclusive environment

<p>STEAM is often seen as the integration of an art form into the teaching of sciences. Although that is not necessarily wrong, it is a very limited view of the powerful tool that STEAM learning can be. Just like a pizza, STEAM education can have “many flavours” and each of these “flavours” can be focused on with different intensities.</p> <p>POLAR STAR is an Erasmus project that focuses on innovative educational methods. One of its pillars is an innovative STEAM methodology that focuses on delivering an engaging education for a diverse classroom. To make the methodology more understandable, the team has come up with an amusing exercise called “the pizza challenge”. It invites teachers to create a pizza. The aim is to reflect on the fact that even for a specific diet (for e.g., vegan), different people with choose different ingredients and flavours according to their likes and dislikes. Similarly, in a classroom, each student will have their likes and dislikes, their interests, their way of thinking and of working, turning them into unique “consumers”. With this parallel, teachers realize that it is important to offer different “flavours” to different students in a classroom.</p> <p>The POLAR STAR methodology offers teachers a variety of lesson planners, focusing on the different flavours of STEAM. It guides teachers into reflecting on their students and choosing one or more activity templates for a given lesson. These templates can focus on <strong>S</strong>TEAM (with special emphasis on a science-based activity), on ST<strong>E</strong>AM (with special emphasis on an engineering-based activity) and on STE<strong>A</strong>M (with special emphasis on an arts-based activity). By diversifying the way they deliver their lessons teachers will be reaching a wider diversity of students and providing them with more engaging, motivational and interactive activities.</p> <p>POLAR STAR integrates these methodologies in a diverse kit of activities provided for teachers and students, following the different activity templates, in the fields of Astronomy and Polar Science, as well as holistic interdisciplinary learning approach, based on the Big Ideas of Science.</p> <p>All teachers are welcome in the project and can find more information on the projects’ website: http://polar-star.ea.gr/. During this talk the STEAM methodology to deliver Astronomy and Polar Science interactive lessons will be presented.</p>

Mars and the ESA Science Programme - the case for Mars polar science

Current plans within the European Space Agency (ESA) for the future investigation of Mars (after the ExoMars programme) are centred around participation in the Mars Sample Return (MSR) programme led by NASA. This programme is housed within the Human and Robotic Exploration (HRE) Directorate of ESA. This White Paper, in response to the Voyage 2050 call, focuses on the important scientific objectives for the investigation of Mars outside the present HRE planning. The achievement of these objectives by Science Directorate missions is entirely consistent with ESA’s Science Programme. We illustrate this with a theme centred around the study of the Martian polar caps and the investigation of recent (Amazonian) climate change produced by known oscillations in Mars’ orbital parameters. Deciphering the record of climate contained within the polar caps would allow us to learn about the climatic evolution of another planet over the past few to hundreds of millions of years, and also addresses the more general goal of investigating volatile-related dynamic processes in the Solar System.

Die Wissenschaft als Wegbegleiterin zur Umsetzung der Leitlinien Deutscher Arktispolitik

On 21 August 2019 the German Federal Cabinet stipulated its New Arctic Policy Guidelines. Science is an integral part of this political document according to which scientific findings shall be the starting point of the German activities in the Arctic. The present article argues that an independent “German” Arctic policy can only be successfully shaped by taking scientific knowledge into consideration. In order to investigate the role of science in German Arctic policy different governmental documents have been analyzed, notably the New German Arctic Policy Guidelines. First of all, the article discusses why Germany as a Non-Arctic riparian state is pursuing its own Arctic policy. For this purpose, it considers the main reasons which have caused Germany to exert an influence on the Arctic. These include strategic, economic, ecologic and especially research-oriented interests. Concerning the implementation of the goals of the New Arctic Policy Guidelines the knowledge transfer between science and politics is of special significance. The article describes how science contributes to political decisions by generating explanation models, different approaches to solutions or by issuing recommendations. In order to tackle the multi-layered and complex structured goals of the German Arctic Guidelines politics need to take into account research and science to remain capable of acting. Thus, science is indispensable for the realisation of the German Arctic Policy goals. Finally, the article points out that the traditional polar research system is shifting from a traditional natural scientific-based orientation to a more inclusive and broad-ranging orientation. It shows how diverse academic disciplines scientifically deal with questions regarding the Arctic. Here, the article argues that the traditional natural scientific-based orientation of polar science is outdated whereas a demand for interdisciplinary Arctic polar science has emerged. By looking at the project “Marine Conservation in the Arctic” the article illustrates how these different academic fields can successfully be merged.