The Polar Retrospective – A heckled polar ambition, insights from a megaberg, and biosecurity in Antarctica
The Polar Retrospective looks at recent stories from around the world’s polar regions. This week we look at the steering of France’s polar strategy, gliders collecting data from a megaberg and a research that shows evidence that biosecurity measures work.
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.
French Polar Strategy: winning over the interministerial level and obtaining a budget
Admiral, scientists, MPs… On April 2 in Paris, the parliamentary study group on the French Polar Strategy, led by MPs Jimmy Pahun and Clémence Guetté, met at the National Assembly for its annual information and discussion session with polar stakeholders.
A prospective study carried out by 50 researchers outlined the objectives for funding the sciences: one hundred million euros by 2030. To which must be added the budgetary challenges facing the French Polar Institute, ranging from annual operations to projects to renovate scientific stations. “We need to consolidate the French Polar Institute in order to assert our ambitions,” said Anne Choquet, President of the French National Committee for Arctic and Antarctic Research.
However, the French polar dream, although internationally recognised, is finding it hard to get past “the ministerial research barrier,” remarked Laurent Mayet, from the think tank Le Cercle Polaire, following the speech by Olivier Poivre d’Arvor, the ambassador for the poles, who did not mince his words. “We need an interministerial committee for the poles,” he declared, regretting the difficulty of meeting the Prime Minister and pointing out that the poles are not only about the challenges of fighting and adapting to climate change, but also about the issues linked to Arctic resources and maritime routes i.e.
Structuring the steering of the French Polar Strategy, but also funding. Éric Coquerel, chairman of the Assembly’s Finance Committee, believes that for the science, the institute and the reconstruction budget, “you can certainly find it if you think it’s essential”, stressing that discussion of a polar programming law in the Assembly is essential if we are to believe in the billion announced by President Macron in 2023. C.L
Underwater gliders gather first-ever data directly from a melting megaberg
Melting giant icebergs — so-called megabergs — can drastically alter ocean temperature, salinity, and nutrient levels in their vicinity. A new study published Friday in Nature Geoscience provides the first direct measurements from the immediate surroundings of such a colossal iceberg, offering unprecedented insight into these processes.
An international research team led by the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) seized a rare opportunity in February 2021, when A-68a — then the world’s largest iceberg — drifted near the sub-Antarctic island of South Georgia. From aboard the RRS James Cook, operated by the UK’s National Oceanography Centre (NOC), they deployed two autonomous underwater gliders to gather data close to the iceberg itself.
Despite the challenging conditions — one glider was lost and the other temporarily trapped under the ice — the mission yielded valuable data on temperature, salinity, chlorophyll (a proxy for biological productivity), and suspended particles. The observations revealed that meltwater from the iceberg’s underside erodes the so-called “winter water” — a distinct layer formed when warmer summer waters cap colder winter layers.
This erosion allows nutrient-rich deep water to rise toward the surface, along with mineral-laden meltwater containing iron and silica from the iceberg itself. The resulting influx of nutrients stimulates phytoplankton growth, the base of the Southern Ocean food web.
“By mixing up these ocean layers — which are normally very stable in the Antarctic summer — the ocean’s temperature, its salinity and the amount of nutrients are all changed. This ultimately impacts how much heat and carbon is exchanged between our ocean and atmosphere,” explains Natasha Lucas, physical oceanographer at BAS and lead author of the study.
With climate change increasing the number of megabergs, understanding their impact is becoming more urgent. Researchers have also recently collected samples from A-23a, another massive iceberg that grounded near South Georgia earlier this year. J.H.
Biosafety pays off in Antarctica
A research recently published in AGU Advancing Earth And Space Sciences shows that biosecurity policies are working in Antarctica. A team of scientists has examined over a century of data on the introduction of non-native species to Antarctica and the sub-Antarctic islands.
And the results are encouraging: while many Antarctic regions have seen non-native species become established, the rate of new introductions has slowed or remained stable in recent years in most Antarctic and sub-Antarctic regions.
This is particularly true of the sub-Antarctic islands, where non-native species are arriving slowly. However, the Antarctic Peninsula is experiencing an increased introduction of species, probably due to global warming, growing numbers of visitors and unevenly applied biosecurity measures, according to the researchers.
While the cost of these invasive species runs into billions of dollars each year, prevention remains more effective and cheaper than eradication, demonstrating the importance of biosecurity policies and strict implementation of these measures. M.B.
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