White Paper on European Polar INFRASTRUCTURE ACCESS AND INTEROPERABILITY Including an infrastructure implementation plan for the European Polar Research Programme The French-Italian Station of Concordia in Antarctica. Photo: Thibaut Vergoz, IPEV. 2 3 1. European polar infrastructures: A landscape needing improved coordination Neumayer III Signy Tor Wasa Troll Princess Elisabeth Aboa Kohnen Halley VI Rothera Dirck Gerritsz Fossil Bluff Sky Blu Concordia Arctowski Dallmann Mid Point GARS Enigma Lake Mario Zucchelli Juan Carlos Gondwana Browning Pass SKO JG Mendel Dumont d’Urville Byers Gabriel de Castilla Cap Prud’homme 0 500 1000 km Figure 1. European research stations in the Antarctic. European nations operate world-class research infrastructures European infrastructures are based over a large geographical in the Arctic and Antarctic, which result from a long history of breadth, providing a critical network and a valuable asset for the polar research and significant investments made by national European Research Area. polar programmes. The European Polar Infrastructure Catalogue (D3.2, see Appendix I), which EU-PolarNet has compiled, iden- The European Polar Research Programme (EPRP), created by tified 32 European stations in the Antarctic (Fig. 1) and on the EU-PolarNet, delineates the future strategy lines for European Sub-Antarctic Islands and 32 stations in the Arctic (Fig. 2), with polar research. It has been developed by an encompassing con- 2 icebreakers, 14 ice-strengthened research vessels and an air- sultation process involving scientists and polar stakeholders. craft fleet operating at both poles. These infrastructures are of The EPRP clearly identifies the urgent need to improve coordina- extreme scientific value. They are either strategically located or tion among national polar programmes, align operations, imple- their mobile capabilities provide them with unique capacities. ment, or further develop access schemes and foster interopera- 4 Villum Dirigibile Italia EGRIP AWIPEV UK AS Sverdrup Netherlands AS Summit Josef Svoboda Arctic Station Hornsund Zackenberg GINR NIBIO Kevo Kilpisjärvi Pallas Värriö Sermilik Abisko Sodankylä Tarfala Oulanka Kolari Rif Kainuu Litla-Skard Svartberget Sodurnes Hyytiälä FINI Finse 0 500 1000 km Figure 2. European research stations in the Arctic. bility of infrastructure and data. This complex endeavour needs teractions. Improved coordination and integration will facilitate to account for the key characteristics of the individual infrastruc- connectivity with global networks and systems in and beyond tures and priorities of national research programmes to secure Europe, strengthening sustainable infrastructure development stronger research collaboration and foster scientific impacts. and innovation. As a result, it will optimise the operational costs and environ- mental footprint by reducing any possible overlap or duplication This white paper builds upon EU-PolarNet’s experience in bridg- of efforts. This more efficient use of resources will also lead to ing scientific and societal needs. It is the infrastructure and harmonised actions developing more balanced cross-discipli- logistics response to the research needs addressed in the Eu- nary observations and science. Improved coordination will also ropean Polar Research Programme and shall pave the way for enable better interaction with industry and the private sector, stronger and interconnected European actions at the poles and as well as their engagement, boosting research and society in- for a common European voice in Polar organisations and fora. 5 ICONS 42 ICONS 42 ICONS 42 ICONS ICONS42ICONSICONS42 42 42 ICONSICONSICONSICONSICONSICONSICONS 17 ICONS: COLOUR VERSION17 ICONS: INVERSED COLOURLOGO VERSION17 ICONS:10 INVERSED COLOUR VERSION INVERSED SDG LOGO FOR NON-UN ENTITIES 17 ICONS:17 COLOURICONS:17 ICONS: 17COLOUR VERSION ICONS: COLOUR VERSION COLOUR INVERSED VERSION INVERSEDVERSION INVERSED INVERSED 2. Access and interoperability: 6 OFFICIAL LANGUAGES Two priorities to be addressed by Europe USAGE LOGO: VERTICAL SDG LOGO ARABIC CHINESE ENGLISH Each icon can ONLY be usedEach inversely icon can over ONLY a white be used background. Eachinversely icon overcan ONLYa white be background. used inversely over a white background. Each icon Eachcan ONLY iconEach canbe icon Eachused ONLY can iconinversely ONLYbe canused be ONLY over inversely used a be whiteinversely used over background. inversely a overwhite a background.white over abackground. white background. Figure 3. UN Sustainable Development Goals related to the improvement of the access and interoperability of the European polar infrastructures. The icon may not be used inverselyThe icon mayover nota black be used nor ainversely colouredThe icon over may a blacknot be nor used a coloured inversely over a black nor a coloured background.The icon mayThe noticonThe be may iconusedThe notbackground. may inversely iconbe not used may be over inversely usednot a be blackinversely used over nor inversely a overablackbackground. coloured a norblack over a acolourednor black a coloured nor a coloured background.background.background.background. Do not alter the colours of Dothe not SDG alter icons. the colours of theDo SDG not icons.alter the colours of the SDG icons. Do not alterDo the not coloursDo alterPolar not the alter Doresearchof colours thenot the SDGalter colours involves of icons.the the colours ofSDG multinational, the icons. SDG of the icons. SDG complex icons. and energy in- Promoting Trans-National Access (TNA) for all European re- FRENCH RUSSIAN tensive infrastructure,SPANISH logistically and safety challenging op- searchers to world-class polar infrastructures is instrumental to erations, and sustained observations in nearly inaccessible addressing bigger and more complex science problems and to areas. Minimising the environmental impacts of such activities close important knowledge gaps in the Polar Regions. Especially, by facilitating access, improving interoperability, maximising ef- early-career scientists and scientists from countries where such ficiency and standardisation across programmes will contribute facilities are lacking will benefit from the possibility of easy ac- to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs, Fig. 3) and to cess to polar infrastructures. TNA and sharing of infrastructures the EU Green Deal1. In this regard, the reduction of the environ- are cornerstones for the success of the EPRP. Improving TNA mental footprint and future-proof logistics implementation will fosters international cooperation and allows for resource op- be the major added-values for EU public funding. Existing Eu- timisation, maximising the degree of utilising infrastructure ropean coordination organisations such as the European Polar capacities, limiting duplication of efforts, achieving an interna- Board (EPB), which brings together Arctic and Antarctic oper- tional leveraging of funding, while also freeing resources for ators, research institutes and funding agencies, can be key to science and reducing the environmental footprint. develop and implement a European model for interoperability, while striving to align European and national policies. This gives the chance for Europe to lead internationally with a flagship in- teroperable infrastructure network. 1 EC COM/2019/640: “The European Green Deal” 6 Any improvement in interoperability aims to standardise pro- to data, interconnection and interoperability (D3.8) and on how cesses, products, and systems for optimising their use. In the to better coordinate access to space assets and facilities to sup- polar research landscape, interoperability optimisation extends port polar infrastructure and operations (D3.6). As pointed out to data, instruments, and observation protocols, as well as re- by this work, while some of these issues are being tackled by search stations, vessels and aircraft, cross-cutting projects and international organisations, this is often within distinct research research activities. Better interoperability makes infrastructure fields, and polar research still lacks true interoperability in most more useful for science, improves the research processes and contexts. This needs to be addressed urgently. This is particu- facilitates logistic deployment for persons and goods. Europe- larly true if we consider observations and observation protocols. an polar research is framed within different types of research Excelling in interoperability of European polar research infra- programmes and historically has shown limited interoperability structure must acknowledge and address the complex scientific in observations, data, and infrastructures. The EU-PolarNet work issues of an interlinked Earth System, addressing Arctic and Ant- package 3 on infrastructure, facilities and data was implement- arctic issues, and linking marine, terrestrial, cryospheric, atmos- ed to improve this situation. It provided an overview of data and pheric and social issues. Key issues for advancing research are data infrastructures (D3.1 see Appendix I), space assets (D3.3), improving the capacity for observations, better instrumentation, and commercial infrastructures relevant to support logistic re- and operational protocols, improving data reusability, standard- search activities (D3.4). EU-PolarNet performed a gap analysis isation, quality control and data encoding, while moving from for data (D3.5) and satellite applications (D3.6) and published individual observations to networks addressing both large scale recommendations