Arctic Science

The course is given as a distance course with a meeting in Kiruna. The course begins with introductory lectures about the Arctic. After that the students work with tasks to prepare them for the course meeting. Research activities in the Kiruna area are introduced by  lectures and study visits in Kiruna. Topics covered include magnetospheric physics, auroral physics and observations, polar stratospheric clouds, optical phonomena in the polar regions, snow and ice-related phenomena including ice in the solar system, the impact of the climate on the Arctic environment and how the human body is affected by the cold.  During the meeting, the students carry out the laboratory part of the course. The laboratory part consists of a snow exercise and observations of the aurora. The project part, which is carried out remotely, consists of an assignment where students process data on the Arctic environment and write a synopis of a scientific publication related to the course content. The course comprises a theory module of 1.5 credits, a laboratory module of 1.5 credits and a project module of 1.5 credits.