The next generation of polar researchers: PCAPS Communication Fellows share their ideas for what is ahead
Amanda Skogjordet and Linn Bolin Haakenstad are the two PCAPS Communication Fellows, who are based at the Norwegian Meteorological Institute (MET Norway) in Oslo. They share some of their experiences from studying and working on topics related to environmental forecasting and how they see PCAPS supporting other students and early career researchers in the years to come.
With the growing need for improved forecasting in the polar regions, there is also a growing need for more research, as well as new perspectives. Today's students and early career researchers have an important job ahead of them. The climate is changing with an accelerating speed, especially in the Arctic. The current younger, but upcoming, generation of researchers will have to increasingly focus on how to address and prevent impacts from climate change. This is one of the many reasons why PCAPS aims to support and engage early career researchers.
Amanda had her first encounter with polar forecasting work this summer, through her summer job at MET Norway. She looked at spatial variability in Adventdalen, Svalbard, and compared how a high resolution model differed from the operational 2.5 km gridded AROME-Arctic model. Differences were significant and showed her, as a first-year master’s student, how important tasks such as this are for developing more accurate forecasting in the polar regions. Amanda received her bachelor’s degree in geophysics and climate from the University of Oslo (UiO) in Spring 2024. During her undergraduate studies, she went to Svalbard for a semester to study polar meteorology and oceanography. There, she learned how vulnerable the polar climate is to climate change impacts, especially within the Arctic. This inspired her to have a continued focus on Arctic climate within her master’s program in meteorology, which she has recently started at the UiO.
Amanda during fieldwork on R/V Helmer Hanssen in Isfjorden, Svalbard in October 2023, as part of her oceanography course at UNIS. Photo credit: Amanda Skogjordet.
Linn recently completed her master’s degree from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in physics, with a specialization in astroparticle physics. She has worked at MET Norway in Oslo as a summer intern during the summer of 2022 and the summer of 2024. Her work at MET Norway has mostly focused on the validation of precipitation, wind and temperature data using models such as AROME-Arctic, NORA3 and HM500. She is now working on climate analysis and storm tracks at MET Norway, in addition to her work as a PCAPS Communications Fellow. Linn first learned about PCAPS this summer. Thereafter, she wanted to become part of the PCAPS community, due to the interesting research PCAPS is doing in polar regions. Polar research has always been fascinating to Linn. Her bachelor’s project used data from IceCube, a neutrino observatory located in the South Pole. By working in PCAPS, she will continue to explore polar research areas.
Linn with one of her plots she created during her master’s. Photo credit: Linn Bolin Haakenstad.
PCAPS gives us the opportunity to have a role in the future state of our climate. As PCAPS Communication Fellows, we help spread information about polar research. We learn how polar research is done internationally, but we also provide a “youth” point of view, to help PCAPS also reach younger audiences.
An important part of improving environmental forecasting in the polar regions is to ensure that the younger generation is included in both the research and discussions. PCAPS supports this by spreading information to different audiences, including to the younger generation, as part of our work. As we both are very early in our careers, we help contribute fresh eyes and mindsets. Plus, it makes it easier to think about the part of engaging early career researchers and students since we are very much in that stage ourselves!
Engaging the generations of researchers to come is such an important task for the future state of our climate, and we are happy to be able to be a part of that. As part of the PCAPS Communications Fellowship program, we hope to get more experience in science communication, and to also be a part of future polar research.