On December 17, Thomas Stocker, a Swiss climatologist, paleoclimatologist, and lead expert in polar sciences, received the Belgica prize.
Dr Stocker was awarded this prestigious prize for his commitment to scientific research in Antarctica. Among his many projects, he has used Antarctic ice cores to trace the evolution of climate change, demonstrating the relevance of Antarctic science to offer explanations on very contemporary and important issues.
Created in 1901 to recognize excellence in scientific research in Antarctica, the Belgica prize takes its name from the Belgica, the first polar research vessel to overwinter in Antarctica in 1898-99. The expedition, led by Belgian explorer Adrien de Gerlache, was the first of many Belgian expeditions to Antarctica.
The award was handed out during the “Séance publique de la Classe des Science”, which took place at Belgium’s Royal Academy in Brussels. Adrien’s great-grandson, Bernard De Gerlache, along with Nicolas van Hoeke (Managing Director, International Polar Foundation) and André Berger (Founder and Board Member, International Polar Foundation), was present at the award ceremony.
Monday 19/12/2022 - Today, exactly 5 years ago, I started working as a freelance systems technician at the Princess Elisabeth station on Antarctica. For two months the station was my new home.
My main tasks consisted out of building electrical switchboards for the new South Annex, but also carrying out preventive and corrective maintenance on various electrical and communications systems. Outside working hours and on Sundays, there was time for recreational activities or in my case, for some of my own personal experiments.
Under the motto "waste does not exist", I recovered some pieces of wood, some used copper wire and electrical PVC tube from the demolition of the old South Annex building. It took a Sunday afternoon and a little craftsmanship to give these materials a new life in the form of a Quadrifilar Helix antenna. It had a right hand circular polarization and it was tuned for the VHF band. This particular type of antenna was ideal to receive signals from all directions, even from above which was exactly the goal of the experiment: Receiving overpassing weather-satellites and converting the received data into raw infrared images.
The satellite of interest was NOAA-19, one of three "older" satellites from the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, which have now surpassed their life expectancy by many years already. This satellite sends its images continuously through a VHF downlink to earth.
The antenna was placed on the roof of the station and was connected through a simple USB SDR-receiver (Software Defined Radio) to a computer. The first few overpasses did not work out successfully because it took a few attempts to find the correct settings. For example, because of the Doppler effect the frequency increases continuously when the satellite approaches, so the receiver must compensate accordingly for this Doppler shift. It took many failed attempts until finally an unprocessed raw infrared image appeared on the computer screen!
This raw image was then post-processed with freeware software to convert it to more comprehensible images:
- Land temperatures: Each color represents a surface temperature, indicated on the scale in the upper left corner of the image
- Precipitation: The image shows precipitation density with color gradients between red (dense) and green
- Raw IR: This image is the original image from which the other images are derived
This experiment proves once more that with limited materials and a lot of passion, patience and determination, many beautiful things can be achieved.
Sources:
Software:
On Friday, December 16th, a new group arrived at PEA, including the first scientists of the season from the BAMM, HYPERNETS, and PEACE projects.
Following the mandatory two-day field safety training that all newcomers must go through, they’ll get to work on their respective research programs.
The BAMM project - an international team of Belgian, American, Swiss, and Japanese scientists led by Vinciane Debaille from the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB) - will be hunting for micrometeorites in the moraines of the southern Sør Rondane Mountains (SRM), just a few hours from the station.
As the meteorite hunters will be camping on-site for a week while they scour the landscape for extraterrestrial rocks, this past week, the IPF team has already gone ahead to prepare their equipment and a campsite with a kitchen and tents so they can simply arrive and get to work looking for micrometeorites. This will allow the scientists to maximize the short time they have available to perform their research in the field. Veteran field guide Manu Poudelet will accompany them during their week of camping.
After the BAMM team returns to the station, they’ll focus on shorter day trips via Skidoo to look for micrometeorites in the vicinity of PEA.
Meanwhile, Quentin Vanhellemont from the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences (RBINS) has returned to work on the Horizon 2020-funded HYPERNETS project. His project is looking at albedo at different points on the planet, including at the Princess Elisabeth Antarctica, using an instrument called HYPSTAR. The instrument is used to calibrate satellite measurements of light reflectance on diverse types of surfaces such as water, vegetation, sand, and in this case ice.
Simon Steffen, the son of deceased IPF Honorary Member Koni Steffen, is back to work on the Princess Elisabeth Antarctica Climate Experiment (PEACE) project, which consists of a transect of automatic weather stations (AWS) from the coast to the Antarctic Plateau. Simon is in charge of maintaining and collecting data from all of the AWS. This season, with the help of IPF engineers Johnny Gaelens and Nicolas Herinckx, Simon will link up all four of the weather stations so they can communicate with one another and the station so that the data they collect can be shared online.
The scientists will spend Christmas and New Year’s at PEA. They’ll stay until January 9th, when the next departing flight is scheduled to leave.
Upgrading the Venturi Antarctica
Following the first successful test of the world’s first electric polar exploration vehicle, the Venturi Antarctica, two engineers from Venturi have arrived to do maintenance and software upgrades on the vehicle and make some improvements, mainly on the treads. an additional objective will be to increase the vehicle’s range to 100 km from the station by improving its battery capacity.
The vehicle has already been put to use transporting scientists and their equipment to remote locations in the field. Alternatively, the vehicle can transport up to eight people at a time and be used for scientific purposes with equipment attached to its frame, operating as the vehicle drives. The Venturi Antarctica can also be used as a rescue vehicle in case of emergency.
Offering a 360° view on the Arctic region, its society, its interests, and its challenges, the Arctic Futures Symposium provided more than 180 participants the opportunity to discuss matters of importance to all Arctic stakeholders with the participation of a number of high-level speakers from Arctic Countries and the EU Institutions.
Topics ranging from Arctic governance, Arctic stakeholders, research cooperation, innovation, and the Arctic as a great place to live and work were discussed at the annual event, which took place at the Residence Palace in Brussels’ EU Quarter.
In addition to two days of thought-provoking discussions, the symposium also featured some comfort food staples from the Arctic, including kleinur (Icelandic doughnuts) baked by the partner of Iceland’s Ambassador to Belgium, as well as reindeer meat from Arctic Norway.
The event was simultaneously streamed online, allowing hundreds to watch the event live. Recordings of the symposium panel discussions are available on the IPF YouTube Channel.
Wide press coverage:
Reporters from EU Today, EU Reporter, and EU Political Report took note of key points speakers brought up during the event, publishing several articles focusing on both environmental and political aspects discussed during the Symposium. The topics covered include the implications of Russia’s unlawful invasion of Ukraine (on both academic research and political cooperation), the evolving role of the Arctic Council, the interests of non-Arctic stakeholders, the threats posed by climate change, and potential opportunities arising from the 2021 EU Arctic Strategy.
IPF appreciates in particular the coverage of the first Laurence Trân Arctic Futures Award, which went to Containing Greens AB from northern Sweden. Thanks to the generosity of the Trân family, whose foundation funded the prize, the Laurence Trân Arctic Futures Award helps young entrepreneurs in the Arctic to further develop their startups.
A sample of these articles include:
EU Political Report, “The Arctic Has Been a Black Hole for Belgium, but That Is Set to Change”
EU Reporter, “Arctic 'all the more important' in wake of Russia's invasion in Ukraine, conference told”
EU Reporter, “Climate change is 'real, rapid and relentless'”
EU Today, “Arctic cooperation hit by war in Ukraine - conference told”
EU Today, “Russian invasion makes Arctic preservation ‘all the more important’”
Arctic Business Journal, “Containing Greens AB from Northern Sweden Winner of First Laurence Trân Arctic Futures Award”
Banks, Martin, Brussels Morning, “Innovative start-up scoops top Arctic award”
Banks, Martin, European Business Review, “Innovative start-up scoops top Arctic award”
Wenger, Michael, Polar Journal, “Innovative Cultivation Project from Northern Sweden Receives Award”
After the lead team’s successful preparations to start up all of the station’s systems, the Princess Elisabeth Antarctica is now in full swing and ready to welcome more scientists in the coming week.
Projects:
Engineers who recently arrived at Princess Elisabeth Antarctica have already begun checking up on equipment left there during last season by scientists. Thanks to its satellite link, instruments running autonomously at the station collected data and sent it to scientists in Europe during the eight months the station was uninhabited but still operational.
Every season, instruments of the CLIMB project need to be reinstalled outside, on the station’s roof, or in a dedicated scientific shelter located nearby the station for a new summer of data collection. Although there are no scientists from the project at the station, IPF staff work in collaboration with engineers on site to install all necessary equipment to monitor clouds, precipitation, aerosol particles, and the thickness of the ozone layer.
Meanwhile, scientists from the Royal Meteorological institute (IRM/KMI) in Brussels rely on IPF staff to conduct radiosounding balloon launches in the framework of the ACME project. Each meteorological balloon launch allows the measurement of atmospheric parameters such as temperature, wind speed, wind direction, relative humidity, pressure, etc. Data collected will be used for weather forecasting and the interpretation of larger-scale meteorological phenomena in Antarctica.
Other projects require human presence and activities on site such as the ANTSIE project from Durham University (UK). This project will benefit from the presence of a biologist in the IPF team to recover the GLS (global localization sensor) loggers that the ANTSIE team installed last year on the legs of some of the local snow petrels breeding on the nearby Utsteinen Nunatak. Other tracking devices such as GPS loggers were installed on their tails to learn more about their diet and foraging behaviour.
Buildings on the move:
The ice on which the annexes of Princess Elisabeth Antarctica are built moves at about 9 cm each year. While this is not an issue for the main station, which is built on a granite ridge, it is a challenge for the station’s annexes, which need to cope with this unstable reality.
A few seasons ago, during the construction of the new annexes, the IPF team installed a system of hinges that anchors one side of the building to the supporting granite while the other side of the building can follow the movement of the supporting ice. A series of powerful pistons are strategically installed under each wooden beam of the building to raise the annexes and compensate for the movement of the ice.
This past week, the lead team worked to lift up the building, countering the glacier's movement, and levelling all of the station’s annexes. This process took a few days to complete, as each beam needs to be raised centimetre by centimetre at the time to reach the right height, which is determined using a laser pointer. The team usually performs this task twice per season; once upon arrival at the station and once again at the end of the season before departing to compensate for the glacier’s movement during the winter months.
Running at full power:
Thanks to amazing meteorological conditions - strong wind and sun - the station is now producing enough energy to run at full power. This is just what the team needs to run all the vital systems for communication, electricity production, water production, water treatment, and scientific equipment, with some extra power to spare!
Following a smooth departure from Cape Town, the lead team for the 2022-23 austral summer research season arrived without incident at the Princess Elisabeth Antarctica on the evening of Thursday, November 24th.
The mission of the lead team is starting up all of the station’s systems, including its renewable energy production and water production systems, clearing snow that accumulated around the station during the austral winter, restarting the station's water treatment unit and setting up scientific equipment for scientists who are working remotely in their office in Belgium - with constant access to data being gathered at the station.
Science support from the start
Only three days after the start of the expedition, the station is already welcoming researchers from the Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI), who are measuring ice thickness and physics, in particular the number of ice platelets that are accumulating under the ice near polar ice shelves at the coast. The survey is taking place along the Queen Maud Land Coast on board the AWI Polar 5 aircraft. Alain and a small group of three scientists were set to provide logistical support to Dome Fuji (approximately 800 km away from PEA on the Antarctic Plateau) Japanese researchers looking to drill ice cores of some of the oldest ice in Antarctica, possibly going back as far as one million years. Unfortunately, due to logistical challenges, this support will be postponed to next year's expedition.
Later in the season, the station will also welcome meteorite hunters from the Vrij Universiteit Brussel (VUB) BAMM project, financed by BELSPO. And of course, Quinten Vanhellemont from the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences will return to do more albedo measurements for the Horizon 2020-funded HYPERNETS project using the equipment he set up last year with the help of IPF’s team on-site. In addition to projects that require the presence of scientists on-site, IPF engineers will continue monitoring and maintaining scientific equipment collecting data year-round, including automatic weather stations for the PEACE project and follow-up work for the ANTSIE project, which is studying snow petrel feeding behaviour and location as well as their nesting habits.
Outreach
Besides this, several online educational lessons are planned with schools and universities during the season. The first one will already be held in the second week of December. And of course, we’ll be sharing lots of photos and videos of the activities of the team and the scientists as they settle into life at the station and go on their adventures in the field.
Stay tuned!
The 13th edition of the Arctic Futures Symposium is rapidly approaching!
Following two years of online and hybrid events, this year's Symposium will return in person at the Residence Palace in Brussels, Belgium.
Between November 29th and 30th, the Symposium will bring together experts from different disciplines and parts of the Arctic, offering a platform for lively discussions on key topics chosen by Arctic stakeholders.
The topics for this year's Symposium will focus on:
For more details about the symposium programme, speakers, and registration, please consult the Arctic Futures Symposium website.
Come join us!
This year registrations have been very successful, demonstrating people’s increasing interest in the Arctic region.
If you didn’t register to attend the symposium in person, you can still take part in these lively discussions by watching the event live on our youtube channel.
Please don't hesitate to contact us at events@polarfoundation.org if you have any questions about the event.
The fourth edition of the Arctic Shorts Film Evening, which took place the evening of November 8th at the BOZAR Centre for Fine Arts in Brussels, was again a big success.
About 350 fans of Arctic cinema turned out at BOZAR to enjoy eight short films made by filmmakers from across the Arctic.
Gizem Eras, Counsellor for the Mission of Canada, and Clara Ganslandt, EU Special Envoy for Arctic Matters, opened the evening with short welcome speeches before the audience was transported to different parts of the Arctic through the magic of cinema.
Curated by BOZAR with films proposed by the Arctic Futures Symposium partners, the programme for the evening allowed audiences to experience moments of joy, sadness, anger, hope, triumph and pure fun through the eyes of gifted Arctic filmmakers.
As a side event of the annual Arctic Futures Symposium, which focuses on discussing topics of great importance to Arctic stakeholders, Arctic Shorts is an exercise in cultural diplomacy, allowing the general public in Belgium to experience the Arctic through the medium of film.
The large interest in Arctic Shorts shows just how important place the Arctic is in the minds of the general public. This interest is also evident in the number of people who have signed up to take part in the Arctic Futures Symposium, taking place at the Residence Palace in the EU Quarter on November 29th and 30th. We look forward to seeing everyone there!
Following the great success of previous editions, the International Polar Foundation is happy to announce that the fourth edition of Arctic Shorts Film Evening is returning to the Bozar Centre for Fine Arts!
Where and When?
The event will take place on Tuesday, November 8 at the BOZAR Centre of Fine Arts, Salle M. Doors will open at 18.30 and the event will start at 19:30.
What?
The annual Arctic Shorts is an official side event of the Arctic Futures Symposium, returning for a fourth edition thanks to the organisational support of the Mission of Canada to the EU and our numerous Arctic Futures partners.
The Arctic Shorts Film Evening will feature eight short films directed by various Arctic filmmakers, with the intention of raising awareness about the Arctic to the general public.
BOZAR's bar ‘Le Fumoir’ will be open for those who wish to buy a drink before the event starts.
To discover more about the list of the films, please consult the Arctic Futures Symposium website.
Registrations
In order to attend the event, you can sign up via the registration link by November 6. As the number of seats is limited, we cannot accept any last-minute arrivals.
Thanks to the generosity of the Mission of Canada to the EU, there is no fee to attend.
If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact us at events@polarfoundation.org.
We look forward to welcoming lovers of Arctic cinema back for a fourth unique evening of cinema!
On Wednesday, October 19th, more than 500 students and space professionals gathered in Brussels for the third edition of Switch To Space, Belgium’s largest biannual space technology gathering.
Together with nearly 100 online attendees, everyone was immersed in an array of new technologies and developments from the space sector, through panel discussions and presentations of all stakeholders in the sector.
The International Polar Foundation was invited to participate in a plenary panel session, moderated by ESA’s Education Administrator Natacha Callens, discussing how Moon and Mars explorations can benefit society on Earth. The panel consisted of astronaut Frank De Winne (Head of the European Astronaut Center) Koen Vriesacker (Techtransfer Broker for the Belgian Space Solutions Center), Jan Van Baelen, (Founder and CEO at The Lunar Grid), and Mieke Sterken (Education & Outreach Coordinator at the International Polar Foundation).
The panel discussed the current challenges for interplanetary manned space explorations such as the scarcity of vital resources like oxygen, water, energy, and fresh food. They also emphasized the challenges of long-term confinement, altered circadian rhythms, exposure to radiation, limited means for communication, and the implications these have on mental health and sociological organisation.
Meeting the challenge
In the search to overcome these challenges, researchers and engineers take a step-by-step approach, doing scientific research, developing new technologies, and testing them on Earth. As a terrestrial analogue for Moon and Mars missions, Antarctica is considered to be the best testing area, given its below-zero average temperatures, remoteness, thinner atmosphere, unusual day-night cycles, and extremely harsh environment.
With its self-sufficient zero-emission design and its highly effective water treatment system, the Princess Elisabeth Antarctica (and life therein) has many similarities with space habitats. Technological developments in Antarctica and in space can be seen as parallels, continuously evolving through adaptations or unique combinations of existing technologies, which are often fairly straightforward but preferred because of their robustness - when it comes to vital life support systems. This contrasts with the sometimes very sophisticated or high-tech scientific experiments or instruments being tested in space, as Frank De Winne mentioned.
The panel also discussed closed- or semi-closed loop systems, like the Princess Elisabeth Antarctica water treatment system and the EDEN ISS astrobiology lab at Neumayer Station. They also emphasized the importance of sociological, medical, and psychological studies performed, for example, at the French-Italian Concordia Station and Belgium’s own Princess Elisabeth Antarctica.
Value for life on Earth
The panel discussed the added value of Moon and Mars explorations for humanity. As pointed out by Koen Vriesacker, many of the benefits of space explorations are indirect or difficult to quantify beforehand but well worth taking the leap of faith. Future manned missions can serve as a driver and motivator for the development of unmanned missions in our solar system, leading to new knowledge and the search for autonomous and less invasive ways of exploring and extracting resources from remote areas, both in our solar system and on Earth. Some concrete examples were given: Mieke Sterken mentioned the use of aerogel, a silica-based highly insulating material developed by NASA, in the shell of the Venturi Antarctica, the first tracked vehicle on the Antarctic continent that resides at the Princess Elisabeth Station. Jan Van Baelen also explained the latest developments in wireless energy transfer via laser beams, ultimately allowing Lunar rovers to explore dark areas on the Moon.
In their final words, the panelists emphasized the importance of a mind shift towards scarcity-based thinking and solution-focused reasoning, two skills highly needed for humanity to more sustainably deal with the Earth’s finite resources.
IPF’s new intern Francesca Fiore and Chief Technical Officer Johnny Gaelens were also present at the event, providing information to the many students and young professionals that came to see them.
This year, the Switch to Space event was framed in the Belgian Space Week, a week full of space-related events organised all over Belgium, to celebrate the 30th, respectively 20th anniversary of the first space flights of the Belgian astronaut Viscount Dirk Frimout and Frank De Winne. Both astronauts were reunited with astronauts Charles Bolden (US), Reinhold Ewald (D), Anna Lee Fisher (US), Earth Astronaut Vladimir Pletser (BE), Nicole Stott (US), Robert Thirsk (CAN), Franz Viehböck (Austria), Michael Foale (UK), Byron Lichtenberg (US).
The latest edition of the annual Arctic Futures Symposium organised by the International Polar Foundation and its many Arctic stakeholder partners will take place in early December. Register to secure your spot!
IPF is sad to learn of the passing of glaciologist Professor Roland Souchez, who made important contributions to the fields of glaciology and climate science during his decades-long career.
To celebrate the opening of the exhibit “To the Antarctic: Belgica’s Polar Pioneers”, Antwerp resident and LEGO enthusiast Daniel Vermeir built an amazing scale model of the Princess Elisabeth Antarctica, the world’s first and to date only zero-emission polar research station.
To celebrate the opening of the exhibit “To the Antarctic: Belgica’s Polar Pioneers”, Antwerp resident and LEGO enthusiast Daniel Vermeir built an amazing scale model of the Princess Elisabeth Antarctica, the world’s first and to date only zero-emission polar research station.
The International Polar Foundation has been part of creating a fascinating new exhibition on Belgium's contributions to Antarctic exploration and research, opening at the MAS Museum in Antwerp starting from Friday, June 21st.
After much anticipation, on Thursday, June 20th, the exhibition “To the Antarctic: Belgica’s Polar Pioneers” at Antwerp’s MAS Museum officially opened its doors.
On Tuesday, June 11th, IPF Founder and President Alain Hubert was invited to participate in the “Debate with Ambassadors” panel at European Sustainable Energy Week 2024 (EUSEW24).
At a ceremony held the afternoon of Monday, June 10th at The Royal Academy of Sciences of Belgium, Alain Hubert, Founder and President of the International Polar Foundation, received the prestigious Belgica Prize alongside French glaciologist Professor Jérôme Chappellaz.
At a ceremony held the afternoon of Monday, June 10th at The Royal Academy of Sciences of Belgium, Alain Hubert, Founder and President of the International Polar Foundation, received the prestigious Belgica Prize alongside French glaciologist Professor Jérôme Chappellaz.
Alain Hubert, Founder and President of the International Polar Foundation, is set to receive the Belgica Prize at a ceremony to be held at the Royal Academy for Sciences and the Arts of Belgium the afternoon of Monday, June 10th, alongside French glaciologist Dr Jérôme Chappellaz.
Alain Hubert, Founder and President of the International Polar Foundation, is set to receive the Belgica Prize at a ceremony to be held at the Royal Academy for Sciences and the Arts of Belgium the afternoon of Monday, June 10th, alongside French glaciologist Dr Jérôme Chappellaz.
For the 3rd year in a row, entrepreneurs 35 or under based in the Arctic are invited to submit an application for the annual Laurence Trân Arctic Futures Award.
The International Polar Foundation and its many Arctic stakeholder partners are happy to announce that the 15th annual Arctic Futures Symposium will take place on December 2nd-3rd at the Residence Palace in Brussels.
