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Centre for Polar Ecology @cpecz.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

📩 For further information about the position, please contact: Jiří Bárta (bartaj03(a)prf.jcu.cz) or Jan Kavan (jkavan(a)prf.jcu.cz).

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Centre for Polar Ecology @cpecz.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

🔗 For more details, please follow the link: www.prf.jcu.cz/images/PRF/f...

prf.jcu.cz

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Centre for Polar Ecology @cpecz.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

- PhD in Earth Sciences or another relevant field. - Strong publication record appropriate to the candidate’s career stage - Ability to contribute to research grant proposal writing. - Experience with fieldwork in polar environments is highly appreciated but not strictly required.

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Centre for Polar Ecology @cpecz.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

🎯 We are looking for a highly motivated researcher who is able to pursue and develop his/her own research topics and also collaborate within the team. We expect:

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Centre for Polar Ecology @cpecz.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

- Standard social and health insurance, access to the university kindergarten, meal allowance, and a flexible working scheme.

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Centre for Polar Ecology @cpecz.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

💼 What we offer: - Full-time position (1 year fixed-term, with extension potential). - Standard salary for this position, with the possibility of an increase depending on involvement in future grant projects. - Five weeks of vacation + 4 days of sick leave

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Centre for Polar Ecology @cpecz.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

📍We take advantage of the Czech Arctic Research Station in Svalbard, operated by our university, and therefore conduct most of our fieldwork in Svalbard.

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Centre for Polar Ecology @cpecz.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

❄️The Centre for Polar Ecology seeks a postdoctoral researcher focusing on cryosphere dynamics in the Arctic. 🏔️ 🎓The postdoc will strengthen our geoscience laboratory, which currently works on recent glacier dynamics, paraglacial geomorphology, and paleoreconstructions. Interested? More info in 🧵👇

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Centre for Polar Ecology @cpecz.bsky.social · 27/04/2026

New research from our Geo group! 👇

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Reposted by Centre for Polar Ecology

Melaine Le Roy @subfossilguy.bsky.social · 23/01/2026

Ferdinand Glacier (Svalbard) 1908 | 2018 Svalbard is the most rapidly warming place on Earth! 🔥 We are going back there to early Holocene glacier levels BUT without the same forcings! ☀️ 🌍 We wouldn't be witnessing this colapse today without human emissions. 🏭 journals.muni.cz/CPR/article/...

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Reposted by Centre for Polar Ecology

Martin Lulak @polarandycz.bsky.social · 07/01/2026

Take a look at these whale remains. They belong to a creature that once got stranded on a beach and couldn’t make it back to the sea. Except this beach is now several hundred meters inland and dozens of meters above sea level. How is that possible? And why does it matter? New paper alert! 🙂 👇 🧵

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Centre for Polar Ecology @cpecz.bsky.social · 08/07/2025

Hello Svalbard! Working hard near the Czech station Nostoc in Petuniabukta. Here are some amazing pictures from our teammember Jan Kavan. He is doing some UAV surveying. Left picture: Hørbyebreen outwash plain Right picture: Ragnarbreen and its proglacial lake dammed by the LIA moraine

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Centre for Polar Ecology @cpecz.bsky.social · 17/06/2025

P.S. The next Polar Ecology course is coming up in summer 2026. 😉 🧵👆

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Centre for Polar Ecology @cpecz.bsky.social · 17/06/2025

Let’s hope for exciting discoveries—and we wish Lucas the best of luck on this extraordinary mission to Mars! 🚀🔬

Rover Rosalind Franklin in clean room, credit: ESA

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Centre for Polar Ecology @cpecz.bsky.social · 17/06/2025

The Rosalind Franklin rover will carry a 2-meter-long drill, allowing it to search beneath the Martian surface, where the odds of finding signs of life are much higher than on the surface, due to the harsh conditions above.

Drilling mechanisn aboard the Rosalind Franklin rover, credit: ESA

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Centre for Polar Ecology @cpecz.bsky.social · 17/06/2025

Lucas told us that the Polar Ecology course in Svalbard played a key role in preparing him for this amazing opportunity at ESA. And it was also the key factor on his CV. We're thrilled to hear that!

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Centre for Polar Ecology @cpecz.bsky.social · 17/06/2025

Using data from current orbiters like NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and ESA’s Mars Express, the team is identifying target areas that could hold clues to past—or even present—life on Mars.

NASA Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, credit: NASA

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Centre for Polar Ecology @cpecz.bsky.social · 17/06/2025

Back then, much of Mars’s northern hemisphere may have been covered by a vast ocean.

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Centre for Polar Ecology @cpecz.bsky.social · 17/06/2025

Lucas is involved in mapping the rover’s landing site: Oxia Planum, an area that is astrobiologically promising because it's believed to have been part of a Martian coastline billions of years ago.

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Centre for Polar Ecology @cpecz.bsky.social · 17/06/2025

He’s now part of the team planning the upcoming ExoMars rover mission, named after the pioneering scientist Rosalind Franklin. The launch is scheduled for 2028. @exploration.esa.int

Rover Rosalind Franklin on the surface of Mars. Credit: ESA

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Centre for Polar Ecology @cpecz.bsky.social · 17/06/2025

Lucas says that without studying at our university—and especially without taking the Polar Ecology course—he would never have landed his current role at the European Space Agency. @esa.int

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Centre for Polar Ecology @cpecz.bsky.social · 17/06/2025

The search for life on Mars. That’s the main mission of Lucas Fernandez, a graduate of the Faculty of Science at the University of South Bohemia. 🧵👇

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Centre for Polar Ecology @cpecz.bsky.social · 04/04/2025

We wish you successful and safe landing and thank you for these pictures!

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Centre for Polar Ecology @cpecz.bsky.social · 04/04/2025

And it is so nice to see the archipelago including Longyearbyen as well as (still frozen!) Petuniabukta on their beautiful videos. Their mission is not just a trip. For example, they are also studying aurora borealis together with the SolarMAX program.

Credit: Crew of Fram2 mission

Isfjord, including Billefjord and (frozen) Petuniabukta

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Centre for Polar Ecology @cpecz.bsky.social · 04/04/2025

The mission of four private astronauts is called Fram2 - a reference to the Roald Amundsen's legendary expedition ship Fram. They all have met previously on Svalbard.

Credit: SpaceX/Fram2

Crew of Fram2 mission, from left: Chun Wang, Jannicke Mikklesen, Rabea Rogge, Eric Phillips

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Centre for Polar Ecology @cpecz.bsky.social · 04/04/2025

Oh, hello Svalbard! A completely new perspective on "our" archipelago thanks to so-called framonauts from the board of the spaceship Crew Dragon.

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Centre for Polar Ecology @cpecz.bsky.social · 28/03/2025

Our paper 🥰👇 but kinda sad topic for near future…

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Centre for Polar Ecology @cpecz.bsky.social · 21/03/2025

The loss of marine-terminating glaciers also affects life in the Arctic. These regions, where the atmosphere, cryosphere, and hydrosphere connect, are biodiversity hotspots. Losing them means losing one of the richest bio-hotspots in the Arctic.

Marine terminating glacier (c) Jan Kavan

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Centre for Polar Ecology @cpecz.bsky.social · 21/03/2025

But that's not all. As glaciers retreat, they don’t just expose new coastlines—they also uncover new islands. Jan et al. identified 35 new islands larger than 0.5 km², most of them in Greenland.

Map and examples of new islands detected from the period 2000–2020 in the Arctic. (c) Jan Kavan et al. 2025, Nature Climate Change

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Centre for Polar Ecology @cpecz.bsky.social · 21/03/2025

Valleys that were historically held and stabilized by glaciers may now be much more prone to landslides. And these landslides are already happening in Greenland—some are so massive that they can trigger mega-tsunamis. www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBmk...

youtube.com

Tsunami i Nuugaatsiaq

YouTube video by Anguteq Larsen

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Centre for Polar Ecology @cpecz.bsky.social · 21/03/2025

For example, these newly formed paraglacial coastlines are highly dynamic, exhibiting high sediment fluxes and rapidly evolving landforms. What does this mean?

Geodiversity of new coastlines developed after retreat of Arctic marine-terminating glaciers. (c) Jan Kavan et al. 2025, Nature Climate Change

a, Young delta system accumulated in the lagoon exposed by Recherchebreen, Svalbard. b, Rocky cliffs and morainic cliffs released from retreating Samarinbreen, Svalbard. c, Juvenile beach system in Brepollen supplied by glacial sediment dropping from remnants of ice cliffs. d, Erosion of a lateral moraine by calving waves from Eqip Sermia, Western Greenland, leading to extension of the spit system along the southern coast.

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Centre for Polar Ecology @cpecz.bsky.social · 21/03/2025

Thanks to detailed analyses of satellite images, Jan et al. discovered that most of these new coastlines are in Greenland. This could have significant impacts on local ecosystems and communities.

Length of new and lost coastlines marked by individual glaciers. (c) Jan Kavan et al. 2025 Nature Climate Change

Spatial distribution and examples of new and lost coastlines in the Arctic from 2000 to 2020. (c) Jan Kavan et al 2025, Nature Climate Change

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Centre for Polar Ecology @cpecz.bsky.social · 21/03/2025

We are stoked to present a brand-new @natclimchange.bsky.social paper by our Jan Kavan! ❤️ Did you know that between 2000 and 2020, retreat of marine-terminating glaciers has exposed more than 2,400 km of new coastline in the Arctic? 🧵👇

Recherchebreen marine terminating glacier on Svalbard

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Centre for Polar Ecology @cpecz.bsky.social · 07/03/2025

In the partly and fully vegetated tundra willows provided microbes with limited N via exudation of low molecular mass organic acids with specific composition which allowed them to utilize available P from older soil organic matter and significantly accelerate their microbial growth.

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Centre for Polar Ecology @cpecz.bsky.social · 07/03/2025

The measured rate of C exudation by roots was comparable at all habitats, but the N and P exudation was found to be affected by plant root stoichiometry.

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Centre for Polar Ecology @cpecz.bsky.social · 07/03/2025

Our research further reveals the detailed effect of plant root stoichiometry on nutrient content in exudates, and their ability to regulate microbial activity to cope with harsh conditions after deglaciation.

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Centre for Polar Ecology @cpecz.bsky.social · 07/03/2025

The results confirm the importance of dwarf willow colonization in enhancing nutrient availability and microbial activity during soil development after deglaciation, especially in early-stage soils.

Glacier forefield in front of the Nordenskioldbreen glacier, central Svalbard. This place was covered in glacier ice just few tens of years ago!

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Centre for Polar Ecology @cpecz.bsky.social · 07/03/2025

Our new paper studies the rhizosphere effect of one of the pioneer plants in Svalbard, Salix polaris, on biochemical parameters of habitats at different stages of vegetation development.

The glacier forefield in front of Nordenskiolbreen glacier, central Svalbard.

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Centre for Polar Ecology @cpecz.bsky.social · 07/03/2025

New paper just arrived! Did you know there are trees in the High Arctic? They indeed are, just a little bit small. Just couple of centimetres. But they are a very important part of the ecosystem! 🧵👇

Sampling arctic willow, the biggest tree on Svalbard

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Centre for Polar Ecology @cpecz.bsky.social · 18/02/2025

👆 This is one of the lakes in Mathiesondalen near the university research station in central Svalbard. Also one of our research interests! This lake is a so-called karst lake. Which means its origin is connected to the limestones which formes the bedrock of this valley.

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Centre for Polar Ecology @cpecz.bsky.social · 18/02/2025

Hello BlueSky world! If you are interested about polar ecology or polar science in general, you are more than welcome here on this profile!

One of the karst lakes in Mathiesondalen.

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