University of Silesia in Katowice / Centre for Polar Studies

country: Poland

University of Silesia in Katowice, one of the largest and most dynamically evolving Polish higher education institutions, offers innovative solutions in the field of education and a friendly space for conducting research. The primary goal of the Centre for Polar Studies is to develop further interdisciplinary research on the natural environment in the Arctic and Antarctic regions. Furthermore, it provides more effective education to its young scientific staff through expanding national and international cooperation with leading scientific centres in the field of interdisciplinary and specialised polar studies.

USil’s task is to implement FAIR data principles that support data sharing and follow Open Science guidelines. Particular emphasis will be put on cooperation with the group working on Earth System Models to standardize and harmonize observational data. Planned research activities include collecting information on flows in rivers of glaciated catchments, determining spatial variability of snow cover on glaciers, and determining the mass balance of glaciers and the rate of permafrost thaw. These activities will be used to quantify the inflow of fresh water to the oceans.