The Polar Retrospective looks at recent stories from around the world’s polar regions. This week we take a look at the annual meeting of the French National Committee for Arctic and Antarctic Research, Russia’s push to build a fleet of 130 Arctic vessels to expand trade with China along the Northern Sea Route, and a new cloud observatory in Antarctica that could close critical gaps in climate models.
The Polar Retrospective is a collaborative effort by the editorial team of polarjournal.net. Each writer chooses a topic they found interesting and important in the past week. The initials at the end of each section indicate the author. We hope you enjoy it.
Three days of pure polar science in the Alpine city of Grenoble
Three days and around sixty presentations painted a highly scholarly picture of the latest scientific advances in the Arctic, subarctic, subantarctic and Antarctic regions. Last week, French polar researchers from the French National Committee for Arctic and Antarctic Research met to talk science in Grenoble.
One hundred and ninety people attended the conferences in this town at the foot of the Alps, known as the town of glaciologists. The latter opened the ball on Monday with, among other things, the return of the Beyond EPICA ice core to Europe.
“We scheduled them first because we were sure they wouldn’t have any transport problems,” explains Anne Choquet, a legal researcher, in a humorous reference to the railway workers’ strike on Sunday.
Former president of the association, she had to step down during the event. The board was re-formed at the general meeting. “Fifteen candidates for the presidency, it’s the first time there have been so many people”, she explains. “It shows that there’s an interest.” When asked which, she replies: “the network, the dynamic.” In 2011, the association had 110 members compared with 260 this year.
The association has revised its articles of association and its missions. Formerly more focused on representing France on the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research, they now cover both poles equally. “We have also added a mission to communicate polar issues to politicians”, explains the former president.
Jimmy Pahun, Member of Parliament, was also present at the meeting. He is monitoring the progress of the French Polar Strategy, which is seeking to obtain ministerial funding following President Macron’s commitments to the French Polar Institute and research programmes, against the backdrop of the stalled national debate in the French National Assembly. C.L.
Russian domestic shipbuilding plans include 130 new Arctic vessels to cover increased Arctic trade with China
In a move signaling its strategic focus on the Arctic, Russia has unveiled an ambitious plan to revitalize its domestic shipbuilding industry, investing $6 billion for the construction of new vessels. A substantial portion of this initiative is dedicated to the Arctic, with plans for 130 high ice-class ships designed to navigate the challenging Northern Sea Route. This considerable investment underscores Moscow’s determination to assert its presence and capitalize on the evolving geopolitical and economic landscape of the High North.
The heightened emphasis on Arctic shipbuilding is very likely linked to Russia’s deepening cooperation with China. Both nations are actively looking to expand their partnership in Arctic shipping and energy projects, with a particular focus on developing new Arctic shipping hubs. This collaboration has gained further momentum following the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which has seen Russia-China trade dominate traffic on the Northern Sea Route. In 2024, trade turnover between the two countries reached a record $245 billion, significantly bolstered by crude oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) transported via Arctic sea lanes. Discussions during recent high-level meetings in Moscow have centered on increasing Chinese involvement in Russia’s extensive LNG projects in the Arctic, further cementing the strategic alignment in the region. The development of a robust, domestically-produced Arctic fleet is therefore crucial for Russia to facilitate this burgeoning trade and resource exploitation, especially as it seeks to redirect its energy exports eastward.
However, Russia’s ambitious shipbuilding plans are not without significant challenges. The nation faces considerable hurdles in executing them, primarily due to Western sanctions restricting access to essential foreign shipbuilding technologies and expertise, a shortage of domestic facilities capable of constructing large and specialized vessels like ice-class LNG carriers, and the overall struggle to modernize its existing shipyards. M.W.
New Antarctic Observatory Aims to Improve Climate Models through Cloud Research
A new cloud observatory has been established at the Norwegian Troll research station in Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica, to gain a better understanding of the role polar clouds play in the climate system. The project, led by Stephen Hudson of the Norwegian Polar Institute, aims to investigate how climate change is affecting clouds in Antarctica.
Globally, clouds have a cooling effect on the climate by reflecting sunlight. Without them, the Earth would be on average about five degrees Celsius warmer. In Antarctica, so-called mixed-phase clouds dominate — made up of both ice crystals and liquid water droplets. As temperatures rise, the balance shifts in favor of more liquid water, which alters the clouds’ reflective properties and may contribute to additional warming.
Current climate models are still unable to reliably account for the effects of global warming on polar clouds — due in large part to a lack of fundamental measurement data, especially from Antarctica. The new observatory is intended to close this gap.
The facility consists of three containers equipped with instruments to measure clouds, aerosols, and radiation, along with a system for launching daily weather balloons. These provide data on temperature, pressure, humidity, and wind conditions. The resulting information is expected to improve how clouds are represented in climate and weather models — still one of the biggest uncertainties in future projections.
The project is part of the Troll Observing Network (TONe), which collects long-term data series for Earth system research. The new measurements are expected to give researchers a better understanding of the region’s energy and mass balances and of the feedback effects clouds have in the context of climate change.
The remote location and extreme conditions in Antarctica have so far made comprehensive studies difficult. With the new observatory, an important gap in climate research is now being filled. J.H.