Summary of integrative and Comprehensive Understanding on Polar Environments (iCUPE) project results

The Horizon-2020 iCUPE (Integrative and Comprehensive Understanding on Polar Environments; https://www.atm.helsinki.fi/icupe) was a science driven the ERA-PLANET (European network for observing our changing planet; http://www.era-planet.eu) Programme Thematic Strand-4 project. The iCUPE overall aim was to evaluate and present a holistic understanding of impacts of various increasing human activities on the polar areas, and especially in the Arctic regions. The iCUPE main scientific impact is related to improved understanding and new knowledge about local and remote sources of Arctic air pollutants, including short-lived climate forcers and their precursors as well as their sinks, and improved quantification of the life cycle of mercury, heavy metals, black carbon and persistent organic pollutants. In addition, iCUPE examined changes in the Arctic snow and ice surfaces, vegetation, biomass characteristics, mapped out the development of natural resources extraction and delivered the new first impact assessments of the future exposure scenarios of pollutants in the Arctic regions. During iCUPE project lifetime the consortium worked on combining integrated in-situ and satellite Earth Observation with multi-scale modelling platform by: (1) synthesizing data from comprehensive long-term measurements, intensive campaigns and satellites, collected during the project or provided by on-going international initiatives; (2) relating the observed parameters to impacts; and (3) delivering novel data products, metrics and indicators to the stakeholders concerning the environmental status, availability and extraction of natural resources in the polar areas. Overall, iCUPE collected a significant body of knowledge, including 24 novel datasets, methods, algorithms and published more than 100 research papers. A summary of the iCUPE project obtained results will presented and discussed.