The Svalbard Integrated Arctic Earth Observing System (SIOS) has published a report on the current state of knowledge on key parameters of the Arctic environment. This is the fifth edition of the annual series of State of Environmental Science in Svalbard (SESS) reports, which provide an important platform of knowledge needed for sustainable development and protection of the Arctic environment. The presentation of the latest publication took place on 23 January 2023 during the virtual meeting of Polar Night Week in Longyearbyen – the capital of Svalbard.
The report was prepared by international and multidisciplinary teams led by researchers from SIOS member institutions. List of participants includes, among others, Dariusz Ignatiuk, PhD, Mariusz Grabiec, PhD, DSc, Assoc. Prof., and Michał Laska, PhD – scientists from the Faculty of Natural Sciences of the University of Silesia in Katowice, associated with the Centre for Polar Studies.
Dariusz Ignatiuk, PhD (main author) wrote an article ‘Ground penetrating radar measurement of snow in Svalbard – past, present, future’, which focuses on reviewing more than 30 years of snow cover measurements in Svalbard using georadar. The article was created in collaboration with Mariusz Grabiec, PhD, DSc, Assoc. Prof., Michał Laska, PhD and teams from Norway and Sweden. This is the first synthetic study that has collected the achievements of the international community of scientists involved in this research in Svalbard. One of the goals of the article was to develop protocols and standards for conducting measurements, as well as storing and sharing data in accordance with FAIR data standards.
Article ‘Practical Guidelines for Scientific Application of Uncrewed Aerial Vehicles in Svalbard’, co-authored by Michał Laska, PhD focuses on the practical aspects of using unmanned vehicles in Svalbard. This is another article that takes up the subject of this dynamically developing branch of observations of natural processes in the Arctic.
The SESS report can be found on the SIOS website.
Polar bear on Spitsbergen | Photo by Dariusz Ignatiuk, PhD