Are you wondering what it is like to be a polar researcher? Do you have many questions about life and work at the polar station? Would you like to ask someone about those but you never have time? Now there will be an opportunity to ask the polar researchers about everything that is bothering you.

This lesson, or to be precise a live conference with polar researchers from the Polish Polar Station Hornsund, is a great opportunity to ask about everything you would like to know, but you are afraid to ask. The lesson will be devoted only to your questions!

Presenter: Anna Nadolna

The Arctic climate and environment is under pressure, primarily caused by climate changes, but also by other human activity. In this webinar, I will present the main such challenges that we face today. Also, I will tell you how researchers try to unravel the causes and to find sustainable solutions, with focus on research in Norway.

Presenter: Jo Jorem Aarseth

The past 2,6 million years the earth has experienced many ice ages. How can we observe the evidence in the nature how the climate shifts from an ice age to a warmer period called interglacial? We see some fresh examples from the coast of Borðoyarvík, Faroe Islands.

Presenter: Lis Mortensen

"DNA identification" has become a term almost everybody understands, at least to some extent. This is due to increased mentioning of research in newspapers and other media, but maybe even more because of popular crime investigation series on TV and in movies. Lesser known is the fact that DNA analysis is increasingly useful when it comes to protecting even wildlife from crime! In this webinar, I will present a short introduction to the field and present some real life examples, where DNA analysis has helped to protect wildlife in court.

Presenter: Julia Schregel

Migrations are more than just a magnificent spectacle to the eye. We mostly associate this term with birds, but in fact it is found in all major animal groups, including birds, mammals, fish, reptiles, amphibians, insects, and crustaceans. What makes animals undertake this dangerous journey? How do they manage to find the way - and survive? Meet the wildlife in motion and learn all about this remarkable strategy of life.

Presenter: Anna Wielgopolan

When I grow up I will be ... a polar researcher! Great! But how to do it? What should one do to get to the polar station? Is it difficult? What is the recruitment process like? Do you have to be a scientist? Or maybe it is enough to be... a mechanic? Do you have to spend your whole life studying Arctic ice or geophysical phenomena?

During the lesson, we will find out how the recruitment process for the polar expedition to Spitsbergen looks like, who works there and what is his job.

All this during a lesson broadcast live from the Polish Polar Station Hornsund on Spitsbergen!

Presenter: Anna Nadolna

Earth is called a blue planet because water covers over half of its surface. It is said, that “water is life”. How much water can we find in the land of snow and ice? How people in polar regions cope with water availability? Is it a problem or maybe a challenge? What’s the main source of water in Polish Polar Station and what does the “polar code” mean?

During a live lesson broadcasted from Hornsund - Polish Polaris Station on Spitsbergen students will learn some basic knowledge about hydrosphere, earth’s water resources, water cycle and interesting facts about water availability in polar regions.

Presenter: Anna Nadolna

Meet one of the most fascinating and oldest cultures in the world, Sami - indigenous, Finno-Ugric people. The Sami (Lapp) people have inhabited the northern portions of Scandinavia, Finland and eastward over the Russian Kola Peninsula since ancient times.

Language, traditional clothing, handicraft, and music, are distinctively different from other ethnic groups in Scandinavia.

Learn all about their history, beliefs, language, clothing, cultural patrimony. Find out how important is reindeer herding and what they do in their spare time.

Presenter: Anna Wielgopolan

Is Pleistocene only glaciation? What conditions were there on Earth at that time? What is megafauna and what are its characteristics? Is it worth to be a giant? Did the "big extinction" really take place? Did the megafauna leave any traces behind? We invite you to a unique journey in the land of mammoths ... and not only! A little bit of paleontology, a little bit of stratigraphy, a little bit of theory.

Presenter: Anna Wielgopolan

Now the lesson of Jerzy Giżejewski, the specialist at EDU-ARCTIC project, is available in English! Join us to follow the story of Ernest Shackleton and his brave Endurance vessel.

During the lesson we will focus on main facts concerning Imperial Transantarctic Expedition that took place during the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration. Despite the fact that the expedition didn't achieve its goal - the transition from the Weddel Sea to the Ross Sea through the South Pole - it became a symbol of human courage, and an excellent example of leadership.

Presenter: Dagmara Bożek-Andryszczak

Who is flying the longest distance: is it the arctic tern, the common cuckoo, or maybe the crane? Why do the birds fly from south to north in spring and back again in autumn? It is such a long journey!

This webinar is part four in a series of webinars about PHENOLOGY, which is the study of how plants and animals time their life events to the rhythms of the seasons. In the first part, I introduced you to phenology. In the second part, I told you about plants, and in the third part, I told you about insects. In this webinar, I will tell you about the phenology of birds, with emphasize on the species you and your pupils have observed in the EDU-ARCTIC Monitoring System. Later, I will follow up with webinars looking in detail at some of the Monitoring data. Please gather your pupils for these lectures, and let us explore your data for phenology patterns!

Presenter: Paul Eric Aspholm

When do the ants open their anthill in the spring, and start their busy-busy summer jobs? At what temperatures can bumblebees and butterflies actually fly? And why do the mosquitos like to sip our blood?

This webinar is part three in a series of webinars about PHENOLOGY, which is the study of how plants and animals time their life events to the rhythms of the seasons. In the first part, I introduced you to phenology, and in the second part, I told you about plants. In this webinar, I will tell you about the phenology of insects, with emphasize on species you and your pupils have observed in the EDU-ARCTIC Monitoring System. In later webinars, we will also look at birds. Please gather your pupils for these lectures, and let us explore your data for phenology patterns!

Presenter: Paul Eric Aspholm