Description: A comprehensive understanding of the deep-sea environment and mining’s likely impacts is necessary to assess whether and under what conditions deep-seabed mining operations comply with the International Seabed Authority’s obligations to prevent ‘serious harm’ and ensure the ‘effective protection of the marine environment from harmful effects’ in accordance with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. A synthesis of the peer-reviewed literature and consultations with deep-seabed mining stakeholders revealed that, despite an increase in deep-sea research, there are few categories of publicly available scientific knowledge comprehensive enough to enable evidence-based decision-making regarding environmental management, including whether to proceed with mining in regions where exploration contracts have been granted by the International Seabed Authority. Further information on deep-sea environmental baselines and mining impacts is critical for this emerging industry. Closing the scientific gaps related to deep-seabed mining is a monumental task that is essential to fulfilling the overarching obligation to prevent serious harm and ensure effective protection, and will require clear direction, substantial resources, and robust coordination and collaboration. Based on the information gathered, we propose a potential high-level road map of activities that could stimulate a much-needed discussion on the steps that should be taken to close key scientific gaps before any exploitation is considered. These steps include the definition of environmental goals and objectives, the establishment of an international research agenda to generate new deep-sea environmental, biological, and ecological information, and the synthesis of data that already exist.

Description: Executive Summary The State of Environmental Science in Svalbard (SESS) report 2021 together with its predecessors contributes to the documentation of the state of the Arctic environment in and around Svalbard, and highlights research conducted within the Svalbard Integrated Arctic Earth Observing System (SIOS). Climate change is a global problem, but many of its impacts are being felt most strongly in the Arctic. Given its remote but accessible location, Svalbard constitutes an ideal place to study the Arctic environment in general, including, more specifically, the causes and consequences of climate change. The Arctic Climate Change Update (2021) emphasised the severity of global climate change for ecosystems across the Arctic. They are undergoing radical changes regarding their structure and functioning, affecting flora, fauna and livelihoods of Arctic communities. Oceanic ecosystems and food webs are directly and indirectly altered by the warming and freshening of the Arctic Ocean. A prolonged open water period and the expansion of open water areas caused by declining sea ice affect under-ice productivity and diversity. These changes have cascading effects through ecosystems and impact the distribution, abundance and seasonality of a variety of marine species. Svalbard is located at one of the key oceanic gateways to the Arctic. This land–ice–ocean transition zone is a system particularly vulnerable to environmental changes. Svalbard’s environment is influenced by maritime processes; thus extensive observation of the ocean system is nowadays necessary. The chapter on the iMOP project reports seawater temperature and salinity variability over the last decades and indicates changes of Svalbard fjord seawater properties. The chapter highlights the role of a collaborative and supportive network of observatory operators and encourages joint planning and maintenance of future marine observatories. Arctic vegetation plays a key role in land–atmosphere interactions. Alterations can lead to ecosystem–climate feedbacks and exacerbate climate change. Extreme precipitation events are already becoming more frequent. Together with an increasing rain-to-snow ratio they impact the structure and functioning of terrestrial ecosystems. Dynamics in Arctic tundra ecosystems are expected to undergo fundamental changes with increasing temperatures as predicted by climate models. To detect, document, understand and predict those changes, COAT Svalbard provides a long-term and real-time operational observation system through ecosystem-based terrestrial monitoring. The observation system consists of six modules comprising food web pathways as well as one climate-monitoring module and focuses on two contrasting regions in Svalbard to allow for intercomparison. To date, the project has done an initial assessment of tundra ecosystems in Norway and will now begin with the long-term ecosystembased monitoring. For remote regions such as the Svalbard archipelago, terrestrial photography is a crucial addition to satellite imagery, because land-based cameras offer high temporal resolution and insensitivity towards varying weather conditions. PASSES provides an overview of cameras operating in Svalbard managed by research institutions and private companies. The survey revealed difficulties and knowledge gaps preventing the full potential of the terrestrial photography network in Svalbard from being used. Therefore, PASSES recommends the creation of a Svalbard camera system network. The effects of climate change contributed to a specific anomaly of the springtime Arctic atmosphere, namely a pronounced depletion of stratospheric ozone during March and April 2020, which can be called an Arctic ozone hole. In Svalbard, the amount of ozone loss was recorded by ground-based dedicated spectroscopic instruments measuring the total ozone column as well as the UV irradiance (EXAODEP-2020, an update of UV Ozone). The latter is important for effects on the biota. Corresponding erythemal daily doses for spring 2020 show a doubling compared to previous years with less or no ozone depletion. While the correspondence between ozone loss and increase in UV doses follows a well-known relationship, the possible later consequences of the observed springtime increase of UV doses on Svalbard’s environment need to be further studied. A particular method to observe the Svalbard environment, which has seen a very strong increase in usage during recent years, is the application of unmanned airborne or marine vehicles. The update on recent publications using these devices (UAV Svalbard) reveals that especially conventional remotely operated aerial vehicles (drones) with camera equipment are now widely used. It is recommended to SIOS to foster interdisciplinary communication among the multitude of drone users to establish exchange of information and data. New EU regulations for drone operations are being put in place from 2022 onwards also in Svalbard. Climate services are receiving more and more attention from Arctic countries, because they translate data into relevant and timely information, thereby supporting governments, societies and industries in planning and decision-making processes. SIOS contributes to climate services by providing research infrastructure with an overarching goal to develop and maintain a regional observational system for long-term measurements in and around Svalbard. The SIOS Core Data (SCD) consists of a list of essential Earth System Science variables relevant to determine environmental change in the Arctic. SCD is developed to improve the relevance and availability of scientific information addressing ESS topics for decision-making. SIOS Core Data providers have committed to maintain the observations for at least five years, to make the data publicly available, and to follow advanced principles of scientific data management and stewardship. Arctic climate change is posing risks to the safety, health and well-being of Arctic communities and ecosystems. Still, there remain gaps in our understanding of physical processes and societal implications. The authors of the SESS chapters have highlighted some unanswered questions and suggested concrete actions that should be taken to address them. The editors would like to thank the authors for their valuable contributions to the SESS Report 2021. These chapters illustrate how SIOS projects contribute to ensure the future vitality and resilience of Arctic peoples, communities and ecosystems.

Description: While environmental science, and ecology in particular, is working to provide better understanding to base sustainable decisions on, the way scientific understanding is developed can at times be detrimental to this cause. Locked-in debates are often unnecessarily polarised and can compromise any common goals of the opposing camps. The present paper is inspired by a resolved debate from an unrelated field of psychology where Nobel laureate David Kahneman and Garry Klein turned what seemed to be a locked-in debate into a constructive process for their fields. The present paper is also motivated by previous discourses regarding the role of thresholds in natural systems for management and governance, but its scope of analysis targets the scientific process within complex social-ecological systems in general. We identified four features of environmental science that appear to predispose for locked-in debates: (1) The strongly context-dependent behaviour of ecological systems. (2) The dominant role of single hypothesis testing. (3) The high prominence given to theory demonstration compared investigation. (4) The effect of urgent demands to inform and steer policy. This fertile ground is further cultivated by human psychological aspects as well as the structure of funding and publication systems.

Description: This open access book presents the results of three years collaboration between earth scientists and data scientists, in developing and applying data science methods for scientific discovery. The book will be highly beneficial for other researchers at senior and graduate level, interested in applying visual data exploration, computational approaches and scientifc workflows.

Description: This open access book presents the results of three years collaboration between earth scientists and data scientist, in developing and applying data science methods for scientific discovery. The book will be highly beneficial for other researchers at senior and graduate level, interested in applying visual data exploration, computational approaches and scientifc workflows.

Description: These short, informal newsletters, issued every month on approximately the first day of the month, are intended to keep IUGG Member National Committees informed about the activities of the IUGG Associations and actions of the IUGG Secretariat. Special issues are sometimes distributed mid-month as deemed appropriate. The content usually includes a synopsis of scientific meetings during the following three months in order to illustrate the disciplinary and geographical diversity of IUGG interests. E-Journals may be forwarded to those who will benefit from the information.

Description: The Joint Task Force, Science Monitoring And Reliable Telecommunications (JTF SMART) Subsea Cables, is working to integrate environmental sensors for ocean bottom temperature, pressure, and seismic acceleration into submarine telecommunications cables. The purpose of SMART Cables is to support climate and ocean observation, sea level monitoring, observations of Earth structure, and tsunami and earthquake early warning and disaster risk reduction, including hazard quantification. Recent advances include regional SMART pilot systems that are the first steps to trans-ocean and global implementation. Examples of pilots include: InSEA wet demonstration project off Sicily at the European Multidisciplinary Seafloor and water column Observatory Western Ionian Facility; New Caledonia and Vanuatu; French Polynesia Natitua South system connecting Tahiti to Tubaui to the south; Indonesia starting with short pilot systems working toward systems for the Sumatra-Java megathrust zone; and the CAM-2 ring system connecting Lisbon, Azores, and Madeira. This paper describes observing system simulations for these and other regions. Funding reflects a blend of government, development bank, philanthropic foundation, and commercial contributions. In addition to notable scientific and societal benefits, the telecommunications enterprise’s mission of global connectivity will benefit directly, as environmental awareness improves both the integrity of individual cable systems as well as the resilience of the overall global communications network. SMART cables support the outcomes of a predicted, safe, and transparent ocean as envisioned by the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development and the Blue Economy. As a continuation of the OceanObs’19 conference and community white paper (Howe et al., 2019, doi: 10.3389/fmars.2019.00424), an overview of the SMART programme and a description of the status of ongoing projects are given.

Description: Contains various examples and applications of visual data exploration and computational approaches. Includes a framework and its application for the evaluation of the success of research projects Provides in depth examples of SMART monitoring and data FAIRness

Description: Zum Austausch von Best Practices aus den Zentren und zur Förderung der FDM-Community in Helmholtz veranstaltete das Helmholtz Open Science Office am 3. Februar 2022 das erste „Helmholtz Open Science Praxisforum Forschungsdatenmanagement“. In dem Helmholtz-internen Forum wurden exemplarisch verschiedene Herangehensweisen aus Zentren zur Organisation des FDM vorgestellt. Darüber hinaus standen konkrete Service-Angebote zu FDM im Mittelpunkt. Außerdem wurde die Vernetzung mit externen Akteuren, z. B. im Rahmen der NFDI, EOSC oder der RDA, beleuchtet. Die regen Diskussionen verdeutlichten den hohen Bedarf nach übergreifendem Community-Building im Bereich des FDM innerhalb von Helmholtz und darüber hinaus.