Unlocking a safe operating space for Antarctica and the Southern Ocean
Supports multidisciplinary research to understand and protect Antarctica and the Southern Ocean under climate change, focusing on dynamics, monitoring, ecosystem impacts, and policy-relevant scientific assessments.
Funder: European Commission
Due Dates: September 23, 2027 (Full application, single-stage RIA, 17:00 Brussels time)
Funding Amounts: €22,000,000 total; typical grant around €11,000,000; 2 projects expected to be funded; up to 100% of eligible costs reimbursed.
Summary: Funds multidisciplinary research to improve understanding, monitoring, and protection of Antarctica and the Southern Ocean in the context of climate change and human impacts.
Key Information: Single-stage application; strong emphasis on open data, international collaboration, and policy-relevant outcomes.
Description
This Horizon Europe call supports ambitious, multidisciplinary research projects to advance scientific understanding of the Southern Ocean and Antarctic cryosphere, focusing on their dynamics, interactions, and vulnerabilities under climate change. Projects should address uncertainties and improve projections of future changes, including abrupt and potentially irreversible phenomena, and assess their impacts on the global climate system, sea level, ocean circulation, and carbon cycling. The scope includes:
- Studying ocean, atmosphere, sea ice, and land ice dynamics, especially in rapidly changing regions.
- Investigating Southern Ocean ecosystem vulnerability to climate change and human activities.
- Developing advanced monitoring systems and indicators to distinguish anthropogenic from natural changes.
- Proposing strategies for environmental protection and sustainable management of the region.
- Improving and integrating monitoring indicators, contributing to international scientific assessments, and supporting evidence-based policy recommendations.
- Ensuring integration with EU digital initiatives (e.g., Digital Twin of the Ocean), open and FAIR data, and fostering international and cross-institutional cooperation, including with ESA and polar science networks.
Projects are expected to contribute to global scientific assessments (such as IPCC, IPBES, WOA), support the UN Decades of Ocean and Cryospheric Sciences, and align with the European Polar Science Coordination Office's objectives.
