For iC3, innovation is both a process and an outcome

iC3 researchers, students, and affiliates spent the afternoon discussing, brainstorming and dreaming about innovation in cryosphere science at the iC3 Marine Ecosystem Workshop held at the Norwegian Polar Institute in Tromsø this March. Although buzzwords on this topic are often thrown around, think ground-breaking, novel, pioneering, what does any of this really mean for a researcher?

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As a process, iC3 seeks innovation in its very organization, seeking transdisciplinary, international collaboration over both poles and multiple time zones. At the Marine Ecosystem workshop this looked like presentations and discussions across all research units (RU) in iC3.

RU4 and its focus on past changes in ice found stimulating discussion with RU3, which focuses on ice sheets and marine life, via links between the contemporary Kongsfjorden phytoplankton species time series and the fossilized “time series” of foraminifera in sediment cores being used by PhD students in RU4. Those same sediment cores and foraminifera also proved valuable for RU5, which focuses on modeling of ice-ocean interactions. For RU5, those data could be useful to develop a climate model based on plankton traits, wherein the distribution of certain assemblages provides information on climatic conditions. 

As an outcome, iC3 researchers are keen to develop new technologies based on artificial intelligence and machine learning. For Sebastien Moreau, co-organizer of the Marine Ecosystem Workshop, this looked like imagining “a device the size of a Cryoegg but with the capabilities of BGC Argo floats or autonomous water samplers that can fly beneath an ice sheet”. Philipp Assmy, RU3 lead and workshop co-organizer, dreams of “automated image recognition of plankton, such that a device could zoom through the water column while both counting and identifying protists.”

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But for me personally as a PhD student in iC3, innovation is a question. Listening to these discussions at the Marine Ecosystem Workshop and trying my best to keep up, I simply had more questions. How could those sediment core samples be correlated to the sediment trap samples I have worked with? What even is a Cryoegg? Do phytoplankton have faces??

I would argue that questions are at the heart of innovation, and creating space for such collective daydreaming is key to progress. The iC3 Marine Ecology Workshop enabled freeform curiosity and collaboration, providing fertile ground for innovation in all its forms. Looking ahead to the next decade of work within iC3, I am quite excited to see what ground-breaking, novel, pioneering outcome will be realized. I mean could you even imagine a biogeochemical Cryoegg ROV that can fly underneath ice sheets, through glacial moulins, and down to methane vents while also recognizing phytoplankton by name, measuring iron concentrations down to the picomole, taking eDNA samples, and running CMIP6 models? The only thing better would be if it could also brew a cup of coffee!

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This blog was written by Megan Lenss, iC3 affiliated PhD student at the UiT Arctic University of Norway and the Norwegian Polar Institute, Tromsø.

iC3’s team is developing cutting-edge modelling and measurement technologies that will take polar research to the next level. If you are interested in developing new technologies related to iC3’s research, read this.