APRI focuses on three research areas: Polar Ecology, Cryosphere & Climate, and Social & Cultural Systems
The Austrian Polar Research Institute aims at providing fundamental understanding of the (a) the evolutionary, genetic, and ecological adaptations of organisms and communities in polar (marine, terrestrial, and ice/snow) environments and (b) of the role polar ecosystems play in global biogeochemical cycles and potential feedbacks to climate changes.
The reaction of the polar cryosphere to climate change is a key focus in climate research. Major research topics of APRI on polar ice and climate are the response of grounded ice to the disintegration of northern Larsen Ice Shelf at the Antarctic Peninsula, paleo-temperature interpretation from ice cores in Antarctica with respect to meteorological influences on the relationship between stable water isotopes and air temperature.
Indigenous peoples have inhabited the arctic and subarctic regions for millennia. In recent centuries, the colonial reach of southern states and empires has changed the political and demographic situation of these regions significantly. Even more recently, economic migrants from the Global South have started to move north, contributing to the colorful ethnic and cultural mosaic that characterizes the “New North”.
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