Asiaq receives a grant of DKK 9.5 million from the Advanced Research + Invention Agency (ARIA). The money will be used for Asiaq's new research project TUNU, which includes the establishment of five new weather stations along the east coast of Greenland.
ARIA has a research program, Forecasting Tipping Points, which aims to develop an early warning system that can help us predict and respond to major climate changes – also known as tipping points. Asiaq’s research project TUNU, which is part of this program, will collect climate data that is important for developing and verifying the climate warning models.
- Today, the east coast has very few weather stations, although weather data from this area is important for making good climate models and climate predictions. We are therefore very pleased that ARIA has chosen to support the TUNU project with DKK 9.5 million, so that we can establish five modern weather stations on the stretch from Nanortalik in the south to Ittoqqortoormiit in the northeast, says CEO of Asiaq Mette Skarregaard Pedersen
ARIA’s program aims to develop a system that can warn us when major climate changes or tipping points are approaching. A climate tipping point refers to a critical point in climate change where small changes in the climate can lead to large, irreversible consequences. A significant factor in the global climate is the subpolar gyre, the large ocean current off the south and east coasts of Greenland. An important focus of ARIA’s research program is to investigate the impacts of this ocean current and of the ice sheet and use this knowledge to predict tipping points for this ocean current.
The weather data collected will not only be crucial for climate research and the warning models, but will also be made available to citizens, businesses and society in general.
- The new weather stations on the east coast will have value both in a research context and for those who move around in the area, so it is a win-win situation. We will also use the support from ARIA to test new technology so that we constantly optimize our weather stations.
The TUNU project will start in the summer of 2025, and the new weather stations will be installed during the summer of 2027. This funding is subject to final contract negotiation.
The Advanced Research + Invention Agency (ARIA) is a UK research authority that funds research that has the potential to lead to scientific breakthroughs that can benefit society as a whole.
