Micro Arctic Climates Conference 2025

The inaugural MACS conference provided an opportunity for colleagues to meet at the Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge and join online. Before the conference, a visit to the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) provided an opportunity to discuss with Professor Peter Convey the connections that could be made between Arctic and Antarctic micro climate studies. The conference presentations ranged from the Tirpitz Site Project and the mapping of urban heat areas in the Arctic to drone operations in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta to the importance of related polar education. UiT's Arctic Simulation Center (TASIC) was integral to the success of the conference. Presentations included:

  • Dr Sean Gleason, Nalaquq: Community-based remote sensing
  • Dr Bryan Lintott, The Tirpitz Site Project: Simulation design and development
  • Ms Sophie Weeks, Approaches to engage audiences in the Tirpitz Site Project: A Synopsis
  • Professor Igor Ezau, Urban climate; atmospheric physics; high-resolution urban climate modelling and observations
  • Miss Millicent Harding, Daniel Donoghue, and Robert Baxter, Climate change impacts on the Arctic tundra-forest ecotone change – present and future
  • Dr Wenkai Guo, Synthetic Aperture Radar, Arctic sea ice, image classification
  • Mr Nikolai Figenschau & Professor Vegard Nergård, From Drone Profiles to a Digital Twin of the Arctic Atmosphere
  • Dr Liliia Hebryn Baidy, Sophie Weeks, Professor Gareth Rees, Erhan Baydi, Hotter Arctic cities: mitigating Urban Heat Islands with spatial data, community insights, and sustainable solutions
  • Associate Professor Clara Good, Northern Homes - involving communities in technology development  and data collection
  • Professor Vegard Nergård, The Arctic Simulation Centre (TASIC) and Green Aviation

The conference culminated in a dialogue between Lynn Church, the Yup'ik leader of Nalaquq LLC, 'an Alaskan Native-owned business, empowering communities for ancestral land preservation in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta and beyond' - and Professor Vegard Nergård, a Saami from UiT The Arctic University of Norway with expertiese and experience in Norwegian Arctic drone operations.

The next stage in MACS is the formal development of a UArctic MACS Thematic Network proposal.

For further information, please contact:
Associate Professor Bryan Lintott PhD
MACS Project Leader
UiT The Arctic University of Norway
Bli035@uit.no

 

The British Antarctic Survey (BAS) visit included seeing biological samples in the Antarctic Herbarium. Foto: UiT
Dr Sean Gleason, of Nalaquq, provided an informative and inspiring presentation on the use of community based robotic technologies in the Arctic. Foto: UiT
Liliia Hebryn Baidy and Sophie Weeks spoke about Tromsø in the context of Hotter Arctic cities: mitigating Urban Heat Islands with spatial data, community insights, and sustainable solutions. Dr Igor Ezau also spoke on this topic across the Arctic.  Foto: UiT

MACS is a joint research endeavour between UiT The Arctic University of Norway and the University of Cambridge’s Scott Polar Research Institute.