L'oeil de la Genève Internationale
May 2017

A new international campaign to improve predictions of weather, climate and ice conditions has been launched.

The Year of Polar Prediction is spearheaded by the World Meteorological Organization and a wide array of partners around the globe. The WMO explains that even though the poles influence weather and climate conditions in lower latitudes where hundreds of millions of people live, the Arctic and Antarctic are the world’s most poorly observed regions.

It is therefore expected that advances in polar prediction will lead to improved weather forecasts and climate predictions for both Polar regions and densely populated countries. During the campaign, the number of routine observations will be enhanced, coordinated aircraft campaigns and satellite missions will be carried out and new automatic weather stations will be installed at different polar locations.

Since 2008, the internationally recognized photographer Jean Gaumy has accompanied scientists studying climate change and global warming in the Arctic on various research missions and most recently with the Bebest project. This Arctic ice landscape was taken in 2012. Gaumy says "Documenting this is perhaps even more important than documenting war." Magnum member, he signs the book "D'après Nature", a personal voyage from Arctic to Chernobyl, Xavier Barral Publishing.