A summer school on “Polar Climates: Theoretical, Observational and Modelling Advances” was held in person and virtually in Trieste, Italy in July 2024. The school was followed by a 3-day workshop on the “Role of Sea Ice and its Variability in the Climate System”. The school and workshop were hosted by the International Center for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) and co-organized between SORP and the CLIVAR/CliC Northern Oceans Regional Panel (NORP). The school and workshop were supported by ICTP, CLIVAR, CliC, SCAR and IASC.
In total, the school and workshop attracted 123 participants (with 90 being on site) including more than 80 students and postdocs from five continents and more than 20 countries. One of the main objectives was to review the recent scientific advances on understanding the polar climate and its variability, in particular the observed regime shift in Antarctic sea ice. Important research avenues, outstanding challenges and upcoming opportunities for novel observation were discussed to refine this understanding. This event also succeeded in bridging the gap between the two polar research communities as well as participants from the northern and southern hemisphere and to foster scientific collaborations around models and observations.
The school proposed five topical lectures each covered by a pair of speakers with complementary expertise on the two polar regions:
- Polar hydrography and circulation
- Atmosphere-ice-ocean interactions
- Sea ice
- Ocean-ice sheet interactions
- Biogeochemical processes
A sixth theme about observations and numerical modelling was proposed to students. About half of the summer school time was dedicated to research projects in small groups that students presented during the workshop.
The workshop featured four main themes each introduced by a pair of keynotes covering the two polar regions:
- From MOSAiC to Antarctica InSync:perspective and prospective
- Drivers of the recent sea ice decline
- Marginal Ice Zone and coastal processes
- Sea ice prediction and projectionsGroup discussions, lightning talks and poster sessions allowed for in-depth discussions between the participants. A call for international action and commitment for Antarctica InSync was released on August 9th to alert policy makers about the ongoing abrupt changes in Antarctic sea ice and the need to support Antarctica InSync, an unprecedented international collaboration that aims to address some of the most pressing questions about Antarctica and its impact on the future of the Earth.
