The polar regions play a crucial role in Earth's climate system, influencing global weather patterns, regulating sea levels, and providing valuable insights into both past and present climate conditions. Understanding and monitoring these regions are essential for addressing climate change and preserving biodiversity.

Arctic and European communities rely on high-resolution climate projections to assess vulnerabilities in infrastructure, ecosystems, and health. These projections support adaptation to challenges such as permafrost thaw and sea ice loss, informing resource management, infrastructure design, and emergency preparedness. However, current models struggle to accurately represent ocean-ice-atmosphere processes in polar regions due to computational limits, risking inaccurate predictions. Improving these models is essential for better global climate forecasts and for informing international climate assessments, including those conducted by the IPCC. Given the polar regions' sensitivity to climate change, accurate projections are crucial for addressing both local and global impacts.

To highlight the significance of ocean-ice-atmosphere interactions in shaping polar and global climate dynamics, CRiceS organized a session at the 2024 European Polar Science Week, titled Enhanced Understanding of Polar Ocean-Ice-Atmosphere Interactions Within the Climate System, chaired by Risto Makkonen, on 4 September. The session featured:

• Tore Hatterman on "Air-Ice-Sea Interactions in Present and Future Climate: Recent Advances and Modeling Challenges in the Arctic and Antarctic,"

• Paul Zieger on "Processes Controlling Polar Aerosols and Clouds in the Sea Ice Environment,"

• Letizia Tedesco on "Insights into the Biogeochemical Dynamics of Ice-Covered Oceans,"

• Marianne Tronstad Lund on "The Polar Climate in the Coupled Earth System."