On March 3, the mission of the KHIONE project aboard the polar expedition ship Le Commandant Charcot ended. The project aimed to test (1) citizen science as a tool to collect and share relevant scientific data from marine and terrestrial ecosystems and the cryosphere; (2) the application of citizen science as a value-added tool to promote the environmental awareness and sensitivity of cruise passengers. The project was partially funded by the POLAR2E college, and counts with a multidisciplinary team form the college including researcher from CEG-IGOT, MARE-FCUL and DEQ/IST.

The expedition, which began on February 6, was attended by Paula Matos (project coordinator) and Margarida Queirós, CEG/IGOT-ULisboa researchers, and departed from Lyttelton, New Zealand, towards Ushuaia, Argentina, along the east coast of Antarctica.

During the 12800 km traveled, the researchers conducted a multidisciplinary research, combining scientific sampling of marine microalgae and physicochemical characteristics of seawater, terrestrial vegetation and soil, and characteristics of the marine and terrestrial cryosphere and citizen science done by the ship’s passengers. 

Despite the multiple sea storms that difficulted the work, and the adverse weather conditions at land, such as the -30ºC felt, the more than 500 samples collected prove the success of the mission.

The mission included sampling at iconic sites in Antarctic history, such as Cape Royds and Evans, where the huts that served as the base camp of the British Antarctic Expedition in the early 20th century to explorers Shackleton and Scott, respectively, are located. The samples are already being processed at ULisboa.

Michaela Kňažková, who is visiting us for a week, gave a lecture this Monday at the Seminar on Physical Geography about Permafrost on James Ross Island.
In her lecture, she discussed the interannual variability of soil thermal conductivity and moisture, as well as the linkage between active layer thickness and the seasonal amount and availability of liquid water, and its impact on the abundance and health of vegetation on James Ross Island, Antarctica.

PhD student Joana Baptista (CEG/IGOT-ULisboa) participated in the EGU General Assembly held in Vienna from April 14th to 19th. Thanks to funding support from the POLAR2E grant for young researchers to attend international conferences, she was able to engage in Cryosphere sessions and other initiatives organized by the Union throughout the week. During the session CR4.2 on Permafrost dynamics, interactions, feedbacks, disturbances, and GHGs across scales: perspectives from observation to modelling, she delivered an oral presentation titled “Cryogrid potential for modeling permafrost temperature in Maritime Antarctica (Barton Peninsula, King George Island)“.

The Fall/Winter POLAR2E Newsletter is now available. Along with news about POLAR2E researchers’ activities and events, we continue to support the participation in international conferences for masters and doctoral students, as well as for Early Career Researchers.

The Newsletter is available here: https://shorturl.at/ekPY8

From the funded Exploratory Projects of POLAR2E: “Mercury Dynamics in Permafrost Thaw Systems:
“After my students were here on fieldwork last year, we returned to Fairbanks, Alaska, for another sampling campaign. Sampling permafrost and ice tens of thousands years old in the Vault Permafrost Tunnel and getting samples from permafrost thaw lakes with the aim of understanding the dynamics of organic matter and mercury in this systems, were our goals. This project is coordinated by João Canário from Instituto Superior Técnico e Carla Mora from Instituto de Geografia e Ordenamento do Território. In the field, besides João Canário, Henrique Zilhão and Diogo Gonçalves PhD students from IST are part of the team. Nothing would have been possible without funding from POLAR2E and the scientific support of Dr. Katey Anthony and Dr. Sarah Ellen from the University of Alaska in Fairbanks.”
(PI: João Canário)

On January 11th, the #THAWIMPACT team departed for King George Island, boarded the Bulgarian Ship St. St. Cyril and Methodius, and sailed to Livingston and Deception Islands. Henrique Zilhão and Rodrigo Dias arrived at Hurd Peninsula (Livingston Island) and will collect soil samples to study contaminants and microorganisms at the St. Kliment Ohridski Station.