On 23 January 2025, the BERA Logistics and Science Centre on Svalbard was officially opened. ‘This is the first infrastructure outside Poland to be owned by the University of Silesia in Katowice, as well as the first Polish infrastructure to be opened in the Arctic in several decades, says Dariusz Ignatiuk, PhD from the Faculty of Natural Sciences of the University of Silesia in a podcast with the University of Silesia on the occasion of the newly established research initiative.
At the end of 2023, after 3 years of efforts, the Centre for Polar Studies (CSP) in cooperation with the Polish Polar Consortium finalised the initiative to create and maintain a logistics and research centre on Svalbard, which began its operation in Longyearbyen in March 2024.
The agreement to establish a Centre for Polar Studies Team for the BERA Logistics and Research Centre on Svalbard was signed by seven research institutions: the University of Silesia in Katowice (leader), Institute of Geophysics of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw, Institute of Oceanology of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Sopot, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin, Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, and the University of Wrocław. The partners undertook to finance BERA Centre activities and assist in maintaining the centre for the following 10 years.
The BERA Centre already plays an important role in coordinating the conduct of research and logistics in the Svalbard area. Most of the teams conducting research on Svalbard reach the Arctic via Longyearbyen and start their preparations for fieldwork here and conduct research in the Longyearbyen area with support from the BERA Centre. In the future, the BERA Centre is expected to grow together with the increase in the number of scientists and ongoing projects. International cooperation with Norway, Lithuania, and Italy has already been established, thanks to which the internationalisation of activities and planning of joint research projects is taking place.
‘Our greatest scientific output, as far as the University of Silesia is concerned, is glaciological research’ Ignatiuk reveals. ‘We focus very strongly on the cryosphere, studying glaciers, especially calving glaciers, i.e. those that drain into the sea and produce icebergs.
Planned and implemented activities as part of the BERA Centre can be divided into three fundamental tasks:
- conducting research and monitoring:
- carrying out research using the measuring equipment at the BERA Centre (geophysical equipment, high-precision differential GPS, ice and ground drills, automatic meteorological stations, snowmobiles, boats, marine probes, etc.);
- a cryosphere monitoring system (based on the continuation of the CRIOS project until 2029) distributed along the west coast of Spitsbergen from Hornsund to Ny-Alesund (in Polish-Norwegian cooperation);
- monitoring of terrestrial ecosystems, permafrost and coastal degradation;
- marine monitoring in the fjords and waters around Svalbard;
- research on snow cover and glaciers using the equipment of the BERA Centre.
As part of the infrastructure of the BERA Centre, a laboratory will be set up in 2025 to allow pre-processing of collected samples (water, sediments, rocks, etc.) in order to reduce their volume and size, perform preliminary analyses and prepare them for transport to Poland (including freezing and storing ice and snow samples).
The research will be carried out on the basis of acquired external project funds (National Science Centre, Research Council of Norway, European Space Agency, SIOS, Horizons Europe) such as the Liquidice project (2025-2028, budget of EUR 7.5 million, Horizon Europe).
- logistical and organisational support for research:
- logistical and organisational support for Polish university research units, i.e.: Adam Mickiewicz University Polar Station in Poznań, the Nicolaus Copernicus University Polar Station on Spitsbergen, the Research Infrastructure of the Maria Curie Skłodowska University, the Stanisław Baranowski Polar Station of the University of Wrocław;
- support of the activities of the Polish Polar Station HORNSUND of the Institute of Geophysics PAS;
- organisation of field measurements (assistance, sampling, equipment servicing, taking measurements) in the central Spitsbergen region (using the infrastructure of the BERA Centre, among others. e.g. snowmobiles, boats, and measurement equipment).
The logistics and organisation of the project are funded by the Centre for Polar Studies and external projects.
- education and networking between Polish and foreign partners:
- organisation of industry meetings of the Polish Polar Consortium partners with foreign partners;
- international cooperation with, among others, working groups of the Svalbard Integrated Arctic Earth Observing System (SIOS) consortium;
- organisation of meetings/workshops as part of the SIOS Polar Night Week 2025 conference;
- organisation of trainings and workshops for students and doctoral students (continuation of activities from 2024 within the BioGeoEko workshop conducted in the Arctic by the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, among others).
- support for education and networking is funded by the Centre for Polar Studies, the Polish Polar Consortium and external projects.
The opening ceremony of the BERA Centre was conducted by BERA Centre Manager Dariusz Ignatiuk and Centre Manager Katarzyna Stachniak as part of the international Polar Night Week 2025 conference, which is an annual meeting of more than 140 scientists who are members of the international SIOS consortium. The following special guests attended the ceremony and delivered speeches: Marcin Liana, PhD, NCN Deputy Director; Prof. Heikki Lihavainen, Head of the SIOS Knowledge Centre in Longyearbyen, Prof. Jøran Moen, Head of the University Centre in Svalbard (UNIS), Prof. Michał Banaszak, Vice-Rector for Digitalisation and Cooperation with the Economy of the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Adam Kola, PhD, DSc, Assoc. Prof., Vice-Rector for Science of the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, Prof. Jacek Jania, former President of the Centre for Polar Studies and the Polar Research Committee of the Polish Academy of Sciences.
To stay up-to-date on the BERA Centre news, follow the newly created website www.bera.us.edu.pl.
