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Centre for Polar Ecology @cpecz.bsky.social · Jul 8

Hello Svalbard! Working hard near the Czech station Nostoc in Petuniabukta.

Here are some amazing pictures from our teammember Jan Kavan. He is doing some UAV surveying.

Left picture: Hørbyebreen outwash plain
Right picture: Ragnarbreen and its proglacial lake dammed by the LIA moraine

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Centre for Polar Ecology @cpecz.bsky.social · Jun 17

P.S. The next Polar Ecology course is coming up in summer 2026. 😉

🧵👆

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Centre for Polar Ecology @cpecz.bsky.social · Jun 17

Let’s hope for exciting discoveries—and we wish Lucas the best of luck on this extraordinary mission to Mars! 🚀🔬

Rover Rosalind Franklin in clean room, credit: ESA

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Centre for Polar Ecology @cpecz.bsky.social · Jun 17

The Rosalind Franklin rover will carry a 2-meter-long drill, allowing it to search beneath the Martian surface, where the odds of finding signs of life are much higher than on the surface, due to the harsh conditions above.

Drilling mechanisn aboard the Rosalind Franklin rover, credit: ESA

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Centre for Polar Ecology @cpecz.bsky.social · Jun 17

Lucas told us that the Polar Ecology course in Svalbard played a key role in preparing him for this amazing opportunity at ESA. And it was also the key factor on his CV. We're thrilled to hear that!

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Centre for Polar Ecology @cpecz.bsky.social · Jun 17

Using data from current orbiters like NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and ESA’s Mars Express, the team is identifying target areas that could hold clues to past—or even present—life on Mars.

NASA Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, credit: NASA

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Centre for Polar Ecology @cpecz.bsky.social · Jun 17

Back then, much of Mars’s northern hemisphere may have been covered by a vast ocean.

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Centre for Polar Ecology @cpecz.bsky.social · Jun 17

Lucas is involved in mapping the rover’s landing site: Oxia Planum, an area that is astrobiologically promising because it's believed to have been part of a Martian coastline billions of years ago.

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Centre for Polar Ecology @cpecz.bsky.social · Jun 17

He’s now part of the team planning the upcoming ExoMars rover mission, named after the pioneering scientist Rosalind Franklin. The launch is scheduled for 2028. @exploration.esa.int

Rover Rosalind Franklin on the surface of Mars. Credit: ESA

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Centre for Polar Ecology @cpecz.bsky.social · Jun 17

Lucas says that without studying at our university—and especially without taking the Polar Ecology course—he would never have landed his current role at the European Space Agency. @esa.int

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Centre for Polar Ecology @cpecz.bsky.social · Jun 17

The search for life on Mars.

That’s the main mission of Lucas Fernandez, a graduate of the Faculty of Science at the University of South Bohemia.

🧵👇

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Centre for Polar Ecology @cpecz.bsky.social · Apr 4

We wish you successful and safe landing and thank you for these pictures!

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Centre for Polar Ecology @cpecz.bsky.social · Apr 4

And it is so nice to see the archipelago including Longyearbyen as well as (still frozen!) Petuniabukta on their beautiful videos. Their mission is not just a trip. For example, they are also studying aurora borealis together with the SolarMAX program.

Credit: Crew of Fram2 mission

Isfjord, including Billefjord and (frozen) Petuniabukta

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Centre for Polar Ecology @cpecz.bsky.social · Apr 4

The mission of four private astronauts is called Fram2 - a reference to the Roald Amundsen's legendary expedition ship Fram. They all have met previously on Svalbard.

Credit: SpaceX/Fram2

Crew of Fram2 mission, from left: Chun Wang, Jannicke Mikklesen, Rabea Rogge, Eric Phillips

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Centre for Polar Ecology @cpecz.bsky.social · Apr 4

Oh, hello Svalbard! A completely new perspective on "our" archipelago thanks to so-called framonauts from the board of the spaceship Crew Dragon.

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Centre for Polar Ecology @cpecz.bsky.social · Mar 28

Our paper 🥰👇 but kinda sad topic for near future…

Nature Portfolio @natureportfolio.nature.com · Mar 28

As marine-terminating glaciers retreat, they reveal new coastlines in many regions. A study in Nature Climate Change shows these changes for the Northern Hemisphere, finding that between 2000 and 2020, a total of 2,466 km of new coastline has been uncovered. https://go.nature.com/423sOMX 🧪

This is figure 6, which shows geodiversity of new coastlines developed after retreat of Arctic marine-terminating glaciers.

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Centre for Polar Ecology @cpecz.bsky.social · Mar 24

Full paper in @natclimchange.bsky.social is available here:

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

New coasts emerging from the retreat of Northern Hemisphere marine-terminating glaciers in the twenty-first century - Nature Climate Change

As marine-terminating glaciers retreat, they reveal new coastlines in many regions. Here the authors use satellite data to quantify these changes for the Northern Hemisphere, finding that between 2000...

www.nature.com

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Centre for Polar Ecology @cpecz.bsky.social · Mar 24

Our new research in @newscientist.com! 👇

New Scientist @newscientist.com · Mar 24

Greenland's coastline has grown by more than 1600 kilometres as glaciers retreat, potentially opening up new access to natural resources - but these new coastlines are vulnerable to landslides that could trigger tsunamis.

Greenland has gained over 1600km of new coastline as glaciers retreat

Melting ice is revealing new coastal zones in the Arctic, but while this new landscape might fuel speculation about natural resources, it is vulnerable to rockfalls and landslides that can cause dangerous tsunamis

www.newscientist.com

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Reposted by Centre for Polar Ecology

Roger Creel @rogercreel.bsky.social · Mar 23

Did you know that from 2000 to 2020, retreat of marine-terminating glaciers exposed >2,400 km of new Arctic coastline?

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Congratulations, @mettebendixen.bsky.social, @cpecz.bsky.social, Jan Kavan, Matt Strelecki, and co., on your excellent paper!

New coasts emerging from the retreat of Northern Hemisphere marine-terminating glaciers in the twenty-first century - Nature Climate Change

As marine-terminating glaciers retreat, they reveal new coastlines in many regions. Here the authors use satellite data to quantify these changes for the Northern Hemisphere, finding that between 2000...

www.nature.com

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Centre for Polar Ecology @cpecz.bsky.social · Mar 21

You can check out the full article, published in @natclimchange.bsky.social, at this link.

🧵👆

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

New coasts emerging from the retreat of Northern Hemisphere marine-terminating glaciers in the twenty-first century - Nature Climate Change

As marine-terminating glaciers retreat, they reveal new coastlines in many regions. Here the authors use satellite data to quantify these changes for the Northern Hemisphere, finding that between 2000...

www.nature.com

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Centre for Polar Ecology @cpecz.bsky.social · Mar 21

The loss of marine-terminating glaciers also affects life in the Arctic. These regions, where the atmosphere, cryosphere, and hydrosphere connect, are biodiversity hotspots. Losing them means losing one of the richest bio-hotspots in the Arctic.

Marine terminating glacier (c) Jan Kavan

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Centre for Polar Ecology @cpecz.bsky.social · Mar 21

But that's not all. As glaciers retreat, they don’t just expose new coastlines—they also uncover new islands. Jan et al. identified 35 new islands larger than 0.5 km², most of them in Greenland.

Map and examples of new islands detected from the period 2000–2020 in the Arctic. (c) Jan Kavan et al. 2025, Nature Climate Change

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Centre for Polar Ecology @cpecz.bsky.social · Mar 21

Valleys that were historically held and stabilized by glaciers may now be much more prone to landslides. And these landslides are already happening in Greenland—some are so massive that they can trigger mega-tsunamis.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBmk...

Tsunami i Nuugaatsiaq

YouTube video by Anguteq Larsen

www.youtube.com

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Centre for Polar Ecology @cpecz.bsky.social · Mar 21

For example, these newly formed paraglacial coastlines are highly dynamic, exhibiting high sediment fluxes and rapidly evolving landforms. What does this mean?

Geodiversity of new coastlines developed after retreat of Arctic marine-terminating glaciers. (c) Jan Kavan et al. 2025, Nature Climate Change

a, Young delta system accumulated in the lagoon exposed by Recherchebreen, Svalbard. b, Rocky cliffs and morainic cliffs released from retreating Samarinbreen, Svalbard. c, Juvenile beach system in Brepollen supplied by glacial sediment dropping from remnants of ice cliffs. d, Erosion of a lateral moraine by calving waves from Eqip Sermia, Western Greenland, leading to extension of the spit system along the southern coast.

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Centre for Polar Ecology @cpecz.bsky.social · Mar 21

Thanks to detailed analyses of satellite images, Jan et al. discovered that most of these new coastlines are in Greenland. This could have significant impacts on local ecosystems and communities.

Length of new and lost coastlines marked by individual glaciers. (c) Jan Kavan et al. 2025 Nature Climate Change

Spatial distribution and examples of new and lost coastlines in the Arctic from 2000 to 2020. (c) Jan Kavan et al 2025, Nature Climate Change

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