European Polar Board joins new EU project SYNCHRONY to strengthen Southern Ocean observations and international cooperation

The European Polar Board (EPB) is pleased to announce its participation in SYNCHRONY, a new Horizon Europe project launching on 1 August 2026. Coordinated by the Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI), SYNCHRONY brings together 27 international partner organisations to establish a more coordinated and synchronised observing system for the Southern Ocean and the coastal regions of Antarctica.

Funded by the European Union with approximately €8.5 million over four years, SYNCHRONY will improve understanding of the rapid changes taking place in the coupled ocean–ice–atmosphere–biosphere system surrounding Antarctica. By expanding observing networks, harmonising data streams and creating new data products, the project will help scientists better understand and predict changes affecting the global climate and biodiversity.

The Southern Ocean is experiencing unprecedented environmental change, including dramatic declines in sea ice, ice sheet loss in West Antarctica and changes in deep-water formation. These changes have significant implications for the global climate, yet major knowledge gaps remain due to limited observational data and the incomplete representation of key processes in Earth system models.

As Prof. Dr Alexander Haumann, who heads the AWI-LMU Joint Research Group for Southern Ocean–Climate Interactions (SO-CLIM) at the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) and holds a professorship at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich (LMU), explains:

"The full implications of these abrupt changes for the local and global climate and the ecosystems remain unclear. We are currently unable to predict these changes. This knowledge gap is largely due to insufficient observational data and the inaccurate or missing representation of processes in Earth system models. Urgent action and enhanced international cooperation are therefore required not only to better observe and understand the complex changes in the coupled ocean-ice-atmosphere-biosphere system, but also to provide the basis for political decision-making that will protect this region in the long term."

SYNCHRONY also aims to support the establishment of Antarctica InSync, a flagship initiative of the UN Ocean Decade that aims to establish one of the largest coordinated observing networks ever deployed in polar regions between 2027 and 2029. The project will optimise existing observing systems, improve data accessibility and support multidisciplinary observations essential for understanding ongoing environmental change.

As Prof. Dr Stefanie Arndt, head of the AWI–University of Hamburg Joint Research Group on snow research on Antarctic sea ice (SNOWflAke) and co-principal investigator for the project, says:

"SYNCHRONY will expand and improve Antarctic observing networks, consolidate existing datasets, collect new ones and make them more accessible to the international research community. It will mark a milestone towards a comprehensive polar observing system. The resulting knowledge will help us to better understand the rapid changes in the region and make them more predictable."

She adds:

"This action-oriented knowledge will also form an important basis for policy decisions on the protection of the climate and biodiversity in the Southern Ocean and will support international intergovernmental bodies, the European Green Deal and the European Ocean Pact."

EPB's role in SYNCHRONY

Within SYNCHRONY, the European Polar Board and the Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI) are co-leading the Work Package 7 “Bridging Antarctic science with society, policy and decision-making”. Through this role, EPB will help communicate the project's outcomes, promote the uptake of scientific knowledge in policy and decision-making, and engage with a wide range of stakeholders.

EPB will also contribute to strengthening international cooperation across the global polar research community and foster links with major international initiatives, including Antarctica InSync.

In addition, SYNCHRONY supports the implementation of the European Polar Coordination Office (EPCO) Work Plan. EPCO is a legacy outcome of the EU-funded EU-PolarNet 2 project. Since 2025, EPCO has been implemented by the European Polar Board to strengthen long-term coordination of European polar research and enhance the science-policy dialogue.

The European Polar Board looks forward to working with project partners over the next four years to strengthen European and international polar cooperation and help translate scientific knowledge into evidence that supports informed policy and decision-making.

SYNCHRONY consortium:

• Alfred Wegener Institute – Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI), Head of Partner, Germany
• United Kingdom Research and Innovation (UKRI-BAS), United Kingdom
• Catholic University of Louvain (UCLouvain), Belgium
• Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR), United Kingdom
• Norwegian Polar Institute (NPI), Norway
• ETT Spa (ETT), Italy
• Mercator Ocean (MOI), France
• Consorzio Nazionale Interuniversitario per le Scienze del Mare Associazione (CONISMA), Italy
• European Polar Board (EPB), Sweden
• Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences (RBINS), Belgium
• Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), France
• National Oceanography Centre (NOC), United Kingdom
• European Science Communication Institute GmbH (ESCI), Germany
• University of Gothenburg (UGOT), Sweden
• Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (LMU), Germany
• The University of Edinburgh (UEDIN), United Kingdom
• Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), South Africa
• University of Southampton (UoS), United Kingdom
• Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR), Italy
• Korea Polar Research Institute (KOPRI), South Korea
• University of Otago (UO), New Zealand
• University of Canterbury (UC), New Zealand
• Euro-Argo ERIC (EURO-ARGO), France
• Institut Français de Recherche pour l’Exploitation de la Mer (IFREMER), affiliated partner, France
• Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency (BSH), affiliated partner, Germany
• University of Brest (UBO), affiliated partner, France
• University of Tromsø – The Arctic University of Norway (UiT), Norway

International cooperation partners:

• Southern Ocean Observing System (SOOS)
• Association of Polar Early Career Scientists (APECS)

SYNCHRONY is Funded by the European Union, Grant agreement ID: 101295248 under the call "Improving and integrating polar observation systems in response to user requirements at local, regional, and international level", HORIZON-CL6-2025-03-GOVERNANCE-10.

Read the press realise from the Coordinator, Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI) here.

SYNCHRONY website: https://www.synchrony-project.eu/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/synchrony-project

Instagram: @synchrony_project