Mark Alpert 

POLAR NIGHT is the working title of a novel about marine science in the Arctic, based on my explorations of the coastal ecosystems in Svalbard as well as my recent fellowship at the Marine Biological Lab in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. The novel will focus on a high-stakes struggle between two scientists with conflicting goals: a climate geoengineer trying to slow down sea-level rise in the Arctic and a marine microbiologist who discovers a new form of deep-sea life that would be extinguished by the geoengineer’s project.

As global temperatures climb ever upward, climate scientists are proposing geoengineering projects that could moderate the devastation of global warming. One such proposal would slow the melting of ocean-fronting glaciers by building undersea curtains to block warmer water from flowing to them. POLAR NIGHT will focus on a multinational consortium that has installed a prototype curtain across the mouth of a glacial fjord in Svalbard.

The type of conflict described in POLAR NIGHT is sure to become more common as climate change forces hard choices on all of us. In a fast-warming world, it will be impossible to save everything. This theme will be reflected in the novel's harsh setting, the unforgiving Arctic landscape of Svalbard. The great advantage of working on this novel at the Hanse-Wissenschaftskolleg would be the opportunity to confer with the institute’s scientists, particularly those involved in marine and climate research.