2024 Edition of the Artic Circle Assembly - Reykjavik
© Artic Circle 2024
The 2024 Arctic Circle Assembly in Reykjavik brought together over 2,000 participants from 60 countries to address critical challenges facing Earth's polar and high-mountain regions. Scientists, diplomats, government officials, entrepreneurs, and NGOs convened to discuss the future of the Arctic, Antarctic, and mountain cryosphere in the context of climate change.
Professor Jérôme Chappellaz from EPFL's SENSE group played an active role in the discussions, participating in three sessions on the Ice Memory Foundation—an initiative dedicated to preserving ice cores from endangered glaciers for future scientific research. He also contributed to the "Polar Dialogue" political panels, a framework established by former Icelandic President Ólafur Grímsson to sustain momentum from the November 2023 One Planet Summit on glaciers and polar regions in Paris.
A major outcome of the Assembly was the launch of an international coalition of sailing vessels supporting polar science. This initiative, spearheaded by the Swiss Polar Institute and the Alfred Wegener Institute, with significant contributions from Tara Ocean Foundation and Swiss association Forel Heritage, will help prepare the upcoming Antarctica Insync international campaign.
The gathering underscored the essential role of international cooperation in protecting the world's cryosphere and understanding its response to global climate change.
