Polar Times

Our changing oceans : from Ancient Waters to Modern Crisis - Episode 3/3

Welcome back to our Polar Times mini-series: “Our changing oceans : from Ancient Waters to Modern Crisis” episode 3/3.

Join hosts Emilie Pillon and Nadia Frontier for the third episode of the Polar Times min-series, our changing oceans, where we are joined by Dr. Melanie Bergmann from the Alfred Wegner Institute.

Discover how human activity has impacted even the most remote ecosystems, and how science continues to uncover the deep-reaching consequences of environmental contamination.

This episode sets the stage for an urgent and thoughtful conversation on our oceans’ uncertain future.

 

Bibliography : 

Hausgarten observatorium 

https://www.awi.de/en/about-us/service/press/single-view/25-jahre-tiefseeobservatorium-awi-hausgarten.html 

Stephanie Henson

National Oceanography Centre (Southampton)

 

Technical details: 

Podcast host: Nadia Frontier and Emilie Pillon 

Guests: Melanie Bergmann

Editing: Emilie Pillon and Nadia Frontier

Mastering: Nadia Frontier

Recorded on Friday 3rd October 2025 with Riverside FM

Covert art: modified by Nastasia Freyria from original idea by Matthew Nelson, Nicholas Parlato, and Damien Ringeisen 

Music: "Scuba" by Metre, Nul Tiel Records, UK (unaltered) CC BY-NC-SA

 

This podcast is produced by APECS, the Association for Polar Early Career Scientists.

Our changing oceans : from Ancient Waters to Modern Crisis - Episode 2/3

Welcome back to our Polar Times mini-series: “Our changing oceans : from Ancient Waters to Modern Crisis” episode 2/3.

 

In this episode, we are very happy to welcome post-docs Dr. Nan Wu and Dr. Emily Rowlands and PhD student Alena Sakovich from British Antarctic Survey (BAS), an UK-based organization!

 

We discuss especially about the CUPIDO project that stands for CalcUlating the strength of the Plastic pump in counteracting the Deep export of Oceanic carbon.

 

In our next episode, we will be joined by Dr. Melanie Bergmann, a professor at Alfred-Wegener Institut, Germany. Stay tuned!

 

Technical details: 

Podcast host: Nadia Frontier, Nathalie Nickells, Nastasia Freyria and Emilie Pillon 

Guests: Nan Wu, Emily Rowlands and Alena Sakovich

Editing: Emilie Pillon and Nadia Frontier

Mastering: Nadia Frontier

Recorded on Thursday 8th May 2025 with Riverside FM

 

Covert art: modified by Nastasia Freyria from original idea by Matthew Nelson, Nicholas Parlato, and Damien Ringeisen 

Music: "Scuba" by Metre, Nul Tiel Records, UK (unaltered) CC BY-NC-SA

 

This podcast is produced by APECS, the Association for Polar Early Career Scientists.

Polar Plunge in the Science Beyond the Polar Bears - Episode 2/3

Welcome back to our Polar Times mini-series: “Polar Plunge in the Science Beyond the Polar Bears” episode 2/3.

 

In this episode, we welcome Adrian Heath, a past graduate student from Oregon State University, who has done research on coast erosion in the Arctic continental shelf.

 

In our next episode, we will be joined by Dr Kim Bernard, a professor at Oregon State University's College of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences and a National Geographic Explorer in the Southern Ocean. Stay tuned!

 

Technical details : 

Podcast host : Nastasia Freyria, Maria Cristina Alvarez, Mayra Meléndez, Varvara Kharlamova and Sneha Sivaram

Guest: Adrian Heath

Editing : Nastasia Freyria

Mastering : Nastasia Freyria

Recorded on Friday 27th June 2025 with Riverside FM

 

Covert art : modified by Nastasia Freyria from original idea by Matthew Nelson, Nicholas Parlato, and Damien Ringeisen 

Music : "Scuba" by Metre, Nul Tiel Records, UK (unaltered) CC BY-NC-SA

Our changing oceans : from Ancient Waters to Modern Crisis - Episode 1

Our changing oceans : from Ancient Waters to Modern Crisis
APECS Podcast -  Episode 1/3 

 

Welcome to the first episode from the Polar Times mini-series: “Our changing oceans: from ancient waters to modern crisis”.

This three-episode podcast series explores the complex relationship between humans and our polar environments. In the next episode, four guests from the British Antarctic Survey will discuss microplastics.

 

Technical details : 

Podcast host : Nastasia Freyria, Nadia Frontier, Nathalie Nickells, Emilie Pillon and  André Reis 

Editing : André Reis and Nadia Frontier

Mastering : Nadia Frontier and Emilie Pillon

Recorded on Monday 31st March 2025 with Riverside FM (thanks to BAS) 

 

Covert art : modified by Nastasia Freyria from original idea by Matthew Nelson, Nicholas Parlato, and Damien Ringeisen 

Music : "Scuba" by Metre, Nul Tiel Records, UK (unaltered) CC BY-NC-SA

 

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Nadia: Hello and welcome to another episode of Polar Times, bringing you science and stories from literally the coolest places on the planet! I am one of your co-hosts, Nadia Frontier, a masters student at the University of Glasgow and I used to work at the British Antarctic Survey where I was studying the fate of coastal seaweeds and invertebrate biology. In this episode I will be joined by four lovely people,

Emilie: Hi I’m Emilie Pillon PhD student in Anthropology from Paris Nanterre University. I’m exploring  the relationship between scientists and Antarctica.  

Natalie: Hi I’m Natalie Nickells, PhD student from the British Antarctic survey. I specialise in humpback and fin whale foraging ecology:basically, what kind of krill swarms do they like to eat? 

Nastasia: Hi I’m Nastasia Freyria postdoctoral researcher from McGill university in Montreal. My research focuses on the natural attenuation of Arctic microbial communities and the development of optimal bioremediation strategies for the remediation of potential oil spills on Arctic beaches.

André: Hello I’m André Torres Reis, I’m a marine arctic biologist and I am currently working as a cetacean wildlife guide and science communicator.

 

Natalie: We will start with an opening quote to introduce the theme of our episode about polar microplastics from Rachel Carson's Silent Spring Book written in 1962.

Natalie: “The most alarming of all man's assaults upon the environment is the contamination of air, earth, rivers, and sea with dangerous and even lethal materials. This pollution is for the most part irrecoverable; the chain of evil it initiates not only in the world that must support life but in living tissues is for the most part irreversible. In this now universal contamination of the environment, chemicals are the “sinister” and little-recognized partners of radiation in changing the very nature of the world--the very nature of its life.” (Carson, 1962: 6) Let’s reflect a little on that quote…

André:  Well, when hearing this passage from over 60 years ago now, it’s just only seems too unreal, to me, that we continue to remain plagued with the very nature of what Rachel “brought to light” so eloquently in her book- although, now, this has slightly shifted from major concerns around unknown ‘chemicals’ and radiation, to an increased concern around plastic pollution….What does that make you think Nadia.

Nadia:  When we think about plastic, we might conjure up the emotive images of plastic straws impacting turtles survivability which flooded social media after they were featured in Blue Planet 2’s final episode in 2017. This seemed to kick off public awareness of ocean plastic pollution, and individuals began to move towards reducing single use plastic in their daily lives in order to protect marine life. As scientists, we all are aware that what's visible is only the tip of the iceberg, see what we did there!, and that the causes and effects of environmental pollution are complex, multifactorial and deeply damaging to humans and the very ecosystem which supports us .           

 Emilie: In the first episode of Our Changing Oceans, we will discuss issues surrounding sources of pollution impacting polar oceans. 

Nastasia: Today, we're diving deep into how human activities have transformed our oceans, from ancient times to our modern crisis. We will be your guides through this journey of discovery and science facing our uncertain futures. In this first episode, we will briefly retrace how scientists and the general public first became aware of pollution facing our oceans and the extending reach into the most inhospitable places on earth… the polar regions. 

 

André: It was in 1962, when Rachel Carson first published Silent Spring. A book, a journey where she unveils the impacts and damages of chemical products on bird populations with wide reaching and complex cascading effects  across entire ecosystems. Rachel focuses especially on DDT, an acronym shortened for dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane which was originally believed to be a ‘miracle pesticide’ that could effectively eliminate insect infestations on crops. The book is, today, not only a huge success, raising awareness about the use of chemicals and their long lasting effects in our environment, but is considered to be the pivotal moment, the true core of the environmental movement itself. 

Emilie: The polar regions were a pristine word that seemed untouchable until 2005 when Marla Cone introduced  the concept of “Arctic Paradox”.  In her book ‘Silent snow: The slow poisoning of the Arctic’ she described the impact of the pollutants on Arctic communities. The Arctic paradox is the fact that the ecosystem and the society that are the most impacted by pollutants are the one that are furthest away from the contaminant source. Indeed  As early as 1966, Sladen and co-authors found evidence of DDT in Adelie Penguin and crabeater seals. Natalie, did they find how the penguins were contaminated ?

Natalie: Sources of contamination increasingly began to come to light and extended to the other pole- to Antarctica. In the early 60s, the scientific occupation of Antarctica was in its infancy. Faecal matter from bases and other scientific operations had been, and in many cases continues to be, discarded into the ocean. This was one possible source of pollutants. Another source could be air contamination, or, as per Sladen and co-authors: “It is also possible that DDT might have been carried into Antarctic waters by ocean currents. The penguins and seals feed in the Antarctic surface current, which, moving northwards, sinks below through warmer sub-Antarctic water at the Antarctic Convergence.” (Sladen and al, 1966 : 672) 

Nastasia: The scandal of DDT was well known but high-profile pollution events continued to unfold amongst increasing evidence of ocean pollution. The presence of plastic litter in the oceans was documented back in the 70’s by researchers such as Carpenter and co-authors (Carpenter et al, 1972; Rochman, 2020 : 60) . In 1996, the discovery of the Great Pacific Garbage patch was termed a floating beast or a new continent drifting in the Pacific ocean. At the time, we didn’t fully understand how the oceans functioned from the complexity of food chains to incredible marine mammal migration patterns. Our society didn’t understand the impact of pollutants in the vast ocean- they were out of sight and out of mind. 

 

Emilie:  What kind of pollutant are we finding in our ocean - and in the polar region ? Why is monitoring and studying the effect of en-vi-ron-mental pollution in the polar region important today ? In 2019,  460 Tonnes of plastic were produced, a 13 fold increase compared to nineteen seventy. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OCDE) estimated that zero point five percent of Plastic ends up in the ocean.  That could represent an equivalent of  one point seven million tons of plastic…can you imagine that ?

André:  Plastic pollution can be commonly classified as either macroplastic, so plastic we can clearly see with the naked eye, or microplastic, plastics smaller than 5 mm in size and that can also be seen as small strands and really small pieces need to be viewed under the microscope.  

Nastasia: In Antarctica, microplastic pollution has led to the creation of a working group, a network of scientists from all around the world working on the subject. The Scientific Committee for Antarctic Research Plastic states that “Recent estimates suggest there will be more plastic than fish in the sea by 2050. Because of the persistence and longevity of plastics, it is likely that the problem will only get worse. While there has been a great deal of research in the more populated regions of the world, little is known about plastic pollution in Polar Regions. The Plastic-Expert Groups aims to assess the current state of the problem, share knowledge and expertise and propose solutions to the problems of plastic pollution in Polar ecosystems” As such, they are involved in science to policy events.

 

Nadia: In November 2024, the ‘Inter governmental Negotiating Committee’ on the Plastic Treaty met to develop an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, including in the oceans. However, no agreement was achieved, stressing the need for further research to understand the interconnection between the different anthropogenic pollutants and their effect on a variety of ecosystem processes which we will explore more in future episodes.

Natalie: The melting of sea ice, especially in the Arctic, demonstrates the link between climate change and ocean pollution. Obbard and co-authors (2014), have shown that there is microplastic within the arctic sea ice, which is released into the ocean when the sea ice melts. With the current melting trend, it could represent 1 trillion pieces of plastic released into the ocean in the next decade, and this is only in the Arctic. 

In Antarctica, microplastic studies are a burgeoning field and we will hear from our guests from the British Antarctic Survey in the next episode about the research they’re doing into understanding the impacts of microplastic on the ecology of Antarctic species.

 

Emilie: We will conclude with a quote from Silent Snow, Marla Cone. : ‘’A few decades ago, the solution to pollution was dilution—scientists thought that compounds dumped into the vast waters of the oceans would be out of the way and rended harmless. What they didn’t understand was the underlying biology of the sea—that chemicals have a far greater potential to accumulate in ocean life than in land-dwelling creatures.’’ (Cone, 2005: 18)

 

Natalie: Thank you for tuning into Polar Times, a podcast series of three episodes exploring the complex relationship between humans and our polar environments.  The next episode will be with four guests from the British Antarctic Survey talking about microplastics ..

 

This podcast is produced by APECS, the Association for Polar Early Career Scientists.

 

Bibliography : 

• BBC Earth, 2017, « Our Blue Planet », Blue Planet II [broadcast on 10/12/2017.]
• Carpenter Edward J., Anderson Susan J., Harvey George R., Miklas Helen P., Peck Bradford B., 1972, « Polystyrene Spherules in Coastal Waters », Science, 178, 4062. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.178.4062.749 
• Carson Rachel, 1962, Silent spring, Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.
• Cone Marla, 2005, Silent snow: the slow poisoning of the Arctic, New York: Grove Press.[ebook]
• Obbard Rachel W., Sadri Saeed, Wong Ying Qi, Khitun Alexandra A., Baker Ian, Thompson Richard C., (2014), « Global warming releases microplastic legacy frozen in Arctic Sea ice », Earth’s Future, 2, 6. https://doi.org/10.1002/2014EF000240
• Ritchie Hannah, Samborska Veronika, Roser Max, (2023), « Plastic Pollution », Our World in Data.https://ourworldindata.org/plastic-pollution 
• Rochman Chelsea M., 2020, « The Story of Plastic Pollution: From the Distant Ocean Gyres to the Global Policy Stage », Oceanography, 33, 3.doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2020.308 
• SCAR Plastic in Polar Environments, (2025), « Plastic in Polar Environments », https://scar.org/science/life/plastic [on line, consulted on the 31/03/2025]
• Sladen William J. L., Menzie C. M., Reichel W. L., 1966, « DDT Resi dues in Adelie Penguins and A Crabeater Seal from Antarctica », Nature, 210, 5037. https://doi.org/10.1038/210670a0

Polar Plunge in the Science Beyond the Polar Bears - Episode 1

Welcome to the first episode from the Polar Times mini-series: “Polar Plunge in the Science Beyond the Polar Bears”.

 

This three-episode podcast series explores the complex relationship between humans and our polar environments. In the next episode, one guest from Oregon State University, Adrien Heath, a past graduate student who has done research on coast erosion in the Arctic continental shelf.

 

Technical details : 

Podcast host : Nastasia Freyria, Mayra Meléndez, Varvara Kharlamova and Sneha Sivaram

Editing : Nastasia Freyria

Mastering : Nastasia Freyria

Recorded on Wednesday 9th April 2025 with Riverside FM

 

Covert art : modified by Nastasia Freyria from original idea by Matthew Nelson, Nicholas Parlato, and Damien Ringeisen 

Music : "Scuba" by Metre, Nul Tiel Records, UK (unaltered) CC BY-NC-SA

Sense of the Arctic: Episode 6

Welcome back for the sixth and final episode of Sense of the Arctic, a podcast miniseries from the APECS Science and Diplomacy Project Group in collaboration with the Polar Times.  

 

We round out our series by hopping over to Greenland and chatting with Dr. Gitte Reimer, the rector at the University of Greenland, and Dr. Elizabeth (Beth) Rink, a professor at Montana State University whose research examines sexual and reproductive health in Greenland through community-based participatory research.

 

The conversation touches on past and current uses of community-based participatory research in Greenland and how the methodology has evolved over the past three decades. We also discuss Gitte's efforts to implement Greenland's recently-released national research policy, which emphasizes the local and nationwide importance of community-based participatory research.

 

We hope you enjoy this important final episode of Sense of the Arctic! 

 

Technical details:

• Podcast Hosts: Inge Deschepper and Nicholas Parlato
• Edition: Inge Deschepper
  
• Mastering: Damien Ringeisen
• Cover art by Matthew Nelson, Nicholas Parlato, and Damien Ringeisen
• Music: "Scuba" by Metre, Nul Tiel Records, UK (unaltered) CC BY-NC-SA

Antarctica on stage

Hello and welcome back to Polar Times! On today’s episode, we are excited to welcome Hanne Nielsen, a Senior Lecturer of Antarctic Law and Governance at the University of Tasmania in Australia.

 

We always say that we bring you stories from the coldest places on the planet. And today's episode, we really bringing you stories! We are going to talk about how Antarctica is represented in the media and popular culture, how that representation has changed over time, and why. Hanne Nielsen comes to us from the Humanities and will help us tackle these questions, and even include a story about cows in Antarctica. Since this interview was recorded, Hanne Nielsen wrote a book, to be published later this year titled Brand Antarctica: How Global Consumer Culture Shapes Our Perceptions of the Ice Continent.

 

Good listening!

 

If you would like to get in contact with us or recommend a guest, contact us on the APECS twitter: @Polar_Research or on Instagram apecs.polar. We would love to hear from you.

 

Technical details:

• Podcast Host: Jack Buckingham
  
• Edition and Mastering: Damien Ringeisen
• Cover art by Matthew Nelson
• Music: "Scuba" by Metre, Nul Tiel Records, UK (unaltered) CC BY-NC-SA

Sense of the Arctic: Episode 5

Welcome back for the fifth episode of Sense of the Arctic, a podcast miniseries from the APECS Science and Diplomacy Project Group in collaboration with the Polar Times.

 

In this episode, we have the pleasure of chatting with Dr. Vera Kuklina, a Buryat scholar from Ust-Ordynskiy Buryat Autonomous Okrug (now part of the Irkutsk region in Russia) who is currently a research professor in the Department of Geography at George Washington University. Dr. Kuklina has conducted and published research across a wide range of topics, including Arctic infrastructure, transport, and urbanization, as well as Indigenous resource management and resilience.

 

We speak about the current conflict between Russia and Ukraine, how it is impacting research in Siberia, and how we can ensure the safety of research collaborators and communities whilst doing research in Siberia. We also spoke about the history of including northern communities in research from a Russian perspective.

 

Links to add to bio:

https://artslink.space/

https://arcticinfrascapes.com/

https://frozencommons.unh.edu/maps/

 

Technical details:

• Podcast Hosts: Inge Deschepper and Nicholas Parlato
• Edition: Inge Deschepper
  
• Mastering: Damien Ringeisen
• Cover art by Matthew Nelson, Nicholas Parlato, and Damien Ringeisen
• Music: "Scuba" by Metre, Nul Tiel Records, UK (unaltered) CC BY-NC-SA

 

[Bonus] Self-reflective Poetry - Polar Week 2023

Hello and welcome back to Polar Times! Today’s episode features self-reflective poems submitted to APECS for the International Polar Week of March 2023.

The poems here are presented by (in order):

• Marilena Dracea-Chelsoi
• Parnika Gupta
• Sarah Johnson
• Damien Ringeisen

The text of these poems and the other submitted self-reflective poetry are available here, as well as on Twitter (@Polar_Research), Facebook (APECS4u), and Instagram (@apecs.polar).

 

Technical details:

• Edition and Mastering: Damien Ringeisen
• Cover art by Matthew Nelson
• Music: "Scuba" by Metre, Nul Tiel Records, UK (unaltered) CC BY-NC-SA

Sense of the Arctic: Episode 4

Welcome back for the fourth episode of Sense of the Arctic, a podcast miniseries from the APECS Science and Diplomacy Project Group in collaboration with the Polar Times.  

 

In this episode, we had the pleasure of chatting with Dr. Tero Mustonen, a Finnish researcher at the University of Eastern Finland and the president of SnowChange cooperative. He was also a lead author of the 6th IPCC assessment released in 2021, which had the first attempt at including traditional and indigenous knowledge in the report's findings. 

 

We spoke about winter seining, SnowChange, the past and present impacts of colonisation and the importance and differences of community-driven research in the Northern European context. He also gave some sound advice on how and when to do research in the polar systems. 

 

Here are some of the links spoken about during the podcast:

• SnowChange: http://www.snowchange.org/

 

As usual, if you would like to get in contact with Polar Times to recommend a guest, volunteer to be a guest, give us some feedback or just ask a question, then you can email us (thesearepolartimes@gmail.com) or tweet APECS @Polar_Research any time- we would love to hear from you.

You can download the episode transcript here: Transcript

The captions and transcript were partially generated using whisper.cpp

 

Technical details:

• Podcast Hosts: Inge Deschepper and Nicholas Parlato
• Edition: Inge Deschepper
  
• Mastering: Damien Ringeisen
• Cover art by Matthew Nelson, Nicholas Parlato, and Damien Ringeisen
• Music: "Scuba" by Metre, Nul Tiel Records, UK (unaltered) CC BY-NC-SA