Polaris Climate Change Observatory

Polaris Centre: Project by Atelier Brückner (Stuttgart)

With the Princess Elisabeth Station successfully completed, the International Polar Foundation’s next big endeavor is the Polaris Climate Change Observatory (PCCO).

This new breed of a science center focuses on making climate change understandable for the general public.

The PCCO will be focusing on the importance of polar science in understanding the causes and consequences of climate change. It is meant to be a reference center where all stakeholders are expected to exchange knowledge and share initiatives related to mitigation and adaptation to global warming.

The first PCCO will open in Brussels. The IPF plans to export the concept on other continents to take into account the global nature of the topic.

The 3000 m2 PCCO building looks like a giant tabular iceberg floating on a large pool of water. It will make use of two powerful symbols to represent climate change:

• An Earth globe acting as the focal point around which visitors will revolve during their visit. The globe will be used as a 3D screen to visualize key concepts.

• A giant ice core through the heart of which will run a transparent spiral staircase. Ice cores are the repositories of Earth’s climatic history, going back up to 800.000 years. While descending the staircase, visitors will be presented with a summary of the various climatic periods.

Polaris Climate Change Observatory: Thematic Areas

The permament exhibition of the PCCO will be divided in eight forums throughout which visitors will get to know Earth’s climate system, and their personal relation to climate:

Prologue

The permanent exhibition revolving around the central Earth Globe will begin with an

emotional and aesthetic experience. Visitors will be walking on shifting ice and snow, while viewing panoramic images of the polar regions and questions about climate change.

Climate History: Ante Hominem & Advent of mankind

Visitors discover the climatic history of our planet before the advent of mankind. The influence of the Earth’s climate on early human evolution and migrations is also detailed. Mankind evolution is shaped by climatic cycles on which it has no impact.

Dance of the Planets: Natural Climate Mechanisms

This part of the exhibition sets out to explain how the climate system works around our planet. How can scientists reconstruct past climates? What are the archives they use and how do they use them?

Polar Knowledge

Polar regions are a key component of Earth Climate System. How do they fit in and why are they so important? Today, the Arctic and Antarctic are changing at a rapid pace and these changes will have global impacts for the rest of the world.

Man-made climate: the carbon age

Since the industrial revolution, mankind has developed a civilization based on fossil fuels to provide the energy we use. Massive amounts of CO2 have been rejected in the atmosphere, modifying climate equilibrium at a pace and with a magnitude never witnessed before. Scientific evidence is available and will be presented to visitors of the PCCO.

Man-made climate: (im)possible futures

The climate balance has already shifted for future generations, but we can still act. Depending of the measures we choose to take and on how quickly and widely they are implemented, various scenarios are possible. Visitors will be presented with the various possible scenarios and their consequences for mankind and its environment.

Globe: Earth Observatory

The inside of the globe aims at showing visitors that the climate system of our planet is a dynamic one, where the various components are interrelated and have an impact on each other. Various parts of that system will be presented in a dynamic and engaging way: wind and water circulation, sea-level rise, the ozone layer, etc. Research instruments used by scientists to study parts of that system will also be displayed (satellites, buoys, beacons, weather stations, balloons, underwater robots, etc).

Solutions : Domus in Terra / Princess Elisabeth Station

Our and future generations will have to tackle climate change and its impacts. Our societies must evolve towards a more sustainable relationship with nature. These changes will have to occur at various levels: personal, political, economic, communities, etc.

Complementing this permanent exhibition, the Polaris Climate Change Observatory (PCCO) will also feature a full educational programme for schools with dedicated workshops and temporary exhibitions spaces for various science, technology or sociology related solutions towards a low carbon society.