The academic journal “Polar Science” features the seventh International Symposium on Arctic Research (ISAR-7)

The National Institute of Polar Research (NIPR) publishes Polar Science, a peer-reviewed quarterly journal dealing with polar science, in collaboration with Elsevier B. V. The special issue titled "The seventh International Symposium on Arctic Research (ISAR-7)" was published as part of the latest issue (Vol. 41, posted in September 2024). This special issue consists of 23 high-quality papers, which span many disciplines to identify changes in the Arctic environment and society, and to discuss possible future sustainable development. The full text of issue 41 will be freely accessible worldwide until 20 March 2025.

Rapid changes, such as warmer atmosphere, shrinking sea ice cover, deteriorating ice sheet, and thawing permafrost, occurring in the Arctic have created significant challenges for residents of the Arctic and the rest of the globe. These Arctic changes have been giving influences on the region as well as outside of the region, while many nations have of economic and political with the Arctic. Thus, the Arctic research must be of interdisciplinary as well as transdisciplinary nature. The Seventh International Symposium on Arctic Research (ISAR-7), held online and face-to-face in Tokyo during 6-10 March 2023, addressed these challenges.

The symposium consisted of 336 presentations including 95 poster presentations. Among them, the presentations that crossed disciplinary boundaries to discuss the impact on Arctic research and future research frameworks concerning the situation in the Arctic after Russia's invasion of Ukraine attracted special attention. Compared to previous ISARs, the number of presentations in the humanities and social sciences has increased, and the number of presentations in plenary sessions has also increased, providing an opportunity for researchers to listen to presentations of other fields of their own expertise and broaden their knowledge and having hints for collaborations with other disciplines.

This special issue of ISAR-7 covers diverse area of Arctic environment and society science, which show findings and insight on atmospheric sciences, terrestrial science, engineering sea Ice and marine science, humanities and social sciences, and the impact of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. This special issue approached the scientific themes on those themes holistically. "By continuing academic discussions and expanding area of science of ISAR, the Japan Consortium for Arctic Environmental Research (JCAR) hopes to deepen understanding of nature and connect various subjects to contribute sustainable development by leading international interdisciplinary research", said Dr. Yuji Kodama, Executive Guest Editor of this special issue.

 

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About Special Issue of Polar Science Volume 41
Title: The Seventh International Symposium on Arctic Research (ISAR-7)
Executive Guest Editor:  Yuji Kodama (Hokkaido University)
Co-Guest Editors: Teruo Aoki, Aileen Espiritu, Hiroyasu Hasumi, Takafumi Hirata, Motoyoshi Ikeda, Go Iwahana, Hideki Kobayashi, Daiju Narita, Juha Saunavaara, Hiroki Takakura, Masayuki Takigawa, Shotaro Uto

About Polar Science
Polar Science is a peer-reviewed comprehensive academic journal relating to the polar regions of the Earth and other planets, which the NIPR began to publish in collaboration with Elsevier B.V. in 2007. The primary purpose of this journal is to inform people about polar science. Currently, more than 100 articles are submitted per year. As a result, this journal is recognized globally as one of the few comprehensive academic journals in the field of polar science. In addition to normal issues, Polar Science publishes a special issue annually on a given topic from various fields.

The main characteristics of Polar Science are summarized as follows.

1. Polar Science is an international academic journal with an impact factor of 1.5 as of 2023
2. Polar Science covers 15 disciplines related to the Antarctic and the Arctic, such as:

- Space and upper atmosphere physics
- Atmospheric science/Climatology
- Glaciology
- Oceanography/Sea ice studies
- Geology/Petrology
- Solid earth geophysics/Seismology
- Marine earth science
- Geomorphology/Cenozoic-Quaternary geology
- Meteoritics
- Terrestrial biology
- Marine biology
- Animal ecology
- Environment
- Polar engineering
- Humanities and social sciences

• Polar Science has an Open Archive whereby published articles are made freely available from ScienceDirect after an embargo period of 24 months from the date of publication.
• Printed products are also published.
• After Polar Science became an open archive in 2016, article downloads have increased rapidly since then. Currently, more than 180,000 papers are used (PDF download and HTML Views) annually.

About National Institute of Polar Research (NIPR), Japan
The NIPR engages in comprehensive research via observation stations in the Arctic and Antarctica. As a member of the Research Organization of Information and Systems (ROIS), the NIPR provides researchers throughout Japan with infrastructure support for the Arctic and Antarctic observations, plans and implements Japan's Antarctic observation projects, and conducts Arctic research of various scientific fields such as the atmosphere, ice sheets, the ecosystem, the upper atmosphere, the aurora, and the Earth's magnetic field. In addition to the research projects, the NIPR organizes the Japanese Antarctic Research Expedition and manages samples and data obtained during such expeditions and projects. As a core institution in research of the polar regions, the NIPR also offers graduate students a global perspective on originality through its doctoral program at the Graduate University for Advanced Studies, SOKENDAI. For more information about the NIPR, please visit: https://www.nipr.ac.jp/english/

About the Research Organization of Information and Systems (ROIS)
ROIS is a parent organization of four national institutes (National Institute of Polar Research, National Institute of Informatics, the Institute of Statistical Mathematics, and National Institute of Genetics) and the Joint Support-Center for Data Science Research. It is ROIS's mission to promote integrated, cutting-edge research that goes beyond the barriers of these institutions, in addition to facilitating their research activities as members of inter-university research institutes.

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