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SFF-Sentre for fremragende forskn

iC3 - Centre for ice, Cryosphere, Carbon and Climate

Alternative title: iC3 - Senter for is, Kryosfære, Karbon og Klima

Awarded: NOK 155.5 mill.

The Global Carbon Cycle acts as the control knob for Earth´s climate via its influence on the amount of greenhouse gases, like methane and carbon dioxide, in the atmosphere. Polar ice sheets and their surrounding land, fjords, and oceans, which cover 16% of the Earth´s surface, currently figure as “white holes” in our understanding of Earth´s carbon cycle. This makes it impossible to predict how the carbon cycle and climate will react to changes in the Polar regions. We know that vast stores of carbon lie beneath ice sheets, in tundra and in polar oceans, but the impact of warming of polar regions on the release of carbon from these diverse settings is poorly understood. Tantalizing evidence suggests that ice sheets and their surrounding land and oceans exchange carbon with the atmosphere; ice sheets and tundra emit the potent greenhouse gas methane, and oceans are an important carbon dioxide sink, but the size of these exchanges is highly uncertain. A key question that sets the grand challenge for this Centre of Excellence is: are polar regions the sleeping giant of future greenhouse gas emissions, and Earth´s climate? iC3 aims to tackle its central grand challenge by uniting experts who study ice sheets, their land margins and oceans at UiT the Arctic University of Norway, the Norwegian Polar Institute and NORCE. It will do this by exploiting excellent Norwegian infrastructure at both poles (Kongsfjorden, Svalbard; Troll Station, Antarctica; and Research Vessels Kronprins Haakon and Helmer Hanssen) and by investing in cutting-edge measurement and modelling technologies and training future leaders in Polar Science. The outcome of iC3 will be to transform current understanding of cryosphere-carbon-climate feedbacks, and to fill the vast white hole which currently represents our understanding of how polar regions affect present and future global carbon budgets.

iC3 aims to fill a major research gap in polar science by quantifying the future impact of ice sheet change on Earth’s carbon cycle over policy-relevant timescales. It achieves this by uniting complementary world-leading expertise at UiT The Arctic University of Norway, the Norwegian Polar Institute and a network of collaborators in an unprecedented research endeavour spanning both the Arctic and Antarctic. Its integrated, interdisciplinary hub of experts studying the cryosphere, oceans, atmosphere and geosphere will close order of magnitude uncertainty in polar carbon budgets, addressing the hypothesis that changing ice sheets (and aligned cryosphere) profoundly impact Earth’s carbon cycle, directly affecting human societies via feedbacks to our future climate and invaluable polar ecosystems. iC3 will tackle this grand challenge by leveraging excellent Norwegian infrastructure (Kongsfjorden, Svalbard; Troll Station, Antarctica; and Research Vessels Kronprins Haakon and Helmer Hanssen) and innovative technologies to gather and integrate novel datasets at both poles, with state-of-the-art numerical models to assess future impacts at regional to global scales. iC3 will deliver high impact via workstreams dedicated to Innovation and Training Future Leaders, alongside strategic, internationally-visible initiatives to drive engagement with academics, the public and policy makers (e.g. prestigious fellows programme, international seminar series, policy briefings and VR films). iC3 will lead with outstanding gender balance, early career representation and bespoke training and mentoring to empower the next generation of leaders in interdisciplinary polar science. Via its integrated research and impact missions, the centre will drive a paradigm shift in how ice sheets are considered in global carbon budgets. The Centre will uniquely position itself to take the lead in this global research field, growing to sufficient size and strength to be self-sustaining after 10 years.

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SFF-Sentre for fremragende forskn