Planet Earth is facing unprecedented environmental changes that will affect all members of society. Arctic climate warming is three times the global rate and unpredictable extreme events are causing major impacts on people and ecosystems. As the Arctic is connected to the rest of the world through atmospheric and ocean circulations, changes in the Arctic cause extreme events and societal damage in other latitudes. The Arctic and global scale of the multiple changes need cooperative international research and monitoring to understand, predict, adapt and mitigate. Mitigation and adaptation require societal action but this will only be successful if public perceptions of change and attitudes are modified throughout the world by outreach and empowerment of the next generation that needs to be equipped to live in a different world.
INTERACT III innovates a pan-arctic network of 99 research stations in 16 northern countries (currently collaboration with 21 Russian research stations on pause) to provide a fully integrated, advanced infrastructure now able to meaningfully address major societal challenges and provide services and connections for 155 global and regional networks and 25 000 visiting scientists each year. Furthermore, the global reputation of INTERACT has attracted world-leading partners and enterprises to participate in reducing the impacts of hazardous change while maximizing the opportunities arising from new technologies. Station managers' actions, transnational access and joint research activities cooperate to address major societal challenges in a fully integrated infrastructure while the resulting data and understanding are made globally available through exceptional outreach, education and policy briefings to decision makers.
Specifically, INTERACT III provides proactive, responsive and comprehensive coordination 99 research stations (currently collaboration with 21 Russian research stations on pause). The station managers design best practices to facilitate safe, efficient and excellent research and monitoring throughout the Arctic. INTERACT III builds on an extremely successful transnational access program that has already populated the Arctic with more than 1000 researchers to further provide often ground breaking science while reducing the environmental footprints of researchers through designing and promoting remote and virtual access opportunities. The access transnationality ensures new collaborations, new science innovations and enhanced educational resources freely available throughout the world. These successes have attracted attention at government levels and represent science diplomacy in action at a time of heightened geopolitical tensions.
