Last week was the Fall APECS International Polar Week, designed to promote and celebrate the great collaborative science that goes on around the world to further our understanding of the polar regions. Part of this celebration was a figure competition, to find the most “eye-catching, informative and inspiring” figures that illustrate aspects of polar science.
What better, we thought, than to feature the winning figure as our Image of The Week? They say a image tells a thousand words and here at the EGU Cryosphere blog we wholeheartedly agree!
APECS International Polar Week
For the past 4 years APECS (The Association of Polar Early Career Scientists) have organised an International Polar Week each March and September. The International Polar Weeks are timed to coincide with the two equinoxes – the only times of year where the Northern and Southern hemisphere are equally illuminated by the sun – a rather nice way to tie our polar regions together!
International Polar Week highlights the importance of the polar regions and, in particular, provides an opportunity to develop new outreach activities in collaboration with teachers and educators. APECS have a fantastic catalogue of polar outreach resources for anyone wanting to spread the word about these diverse and important regions of Earth. They also organise events such as polar film festivals, talks and a figure competition. Today’s Image of The Week is the winning figure from the Polar Week figure competition, created by Noémie Ross as part of the “A Frozen-Ground Cartoon“ outreach project.
“A Frozen-Ground Cartoon” – Where science meets art!
Thawing permafrost in Siberia [Credit: Guido Grosse via imaggeo ]
“A Frozen-Ground Cartoon“ outreach project was designed to help spread the word about permafrost and its crucial importance in our changing climate through thematic comic strips. Through these cartoons and comics the project aims to make permafrost science accessible to children, young people and the parents and teachers.
The project is funded by the International Permafrost Association and chaired by Frédéric Bouchard with a core group of young researchers from Canada, Germany, Sweden and Portugal providing the scientific information. The cartoons, one of which we feature today, are all designed by young artists.
Today’s image of the week highlights some of the ways that thawing permafrost will affect the lives of indigenous peoples in the Urals who live by reindeer-herding. This cartoon was based on the study of Istomin and Habeck (2016), and effectively provides an accessible way to communicate the key findings of this study to a general audience.
Edited by Sophie Berger
“A Frozen-Ground Cartoon” Team:
Project Leader: Frédéric Bouchard
Collaborators: Bethany Deshpande, Michael Fritz, Julie Malenfant-Lepage, Alexandre Nieuwendam, Michel Paquette, Ashley Rudy, Matthias B. Siewert, Ylva Sjöberg, Audrey Veillette, Stefanie Weege, Jon Harbor
