Despite the outstanding scientific progress in the DFG Priority Programme period 2008-2012, only a few projects have taken up the important interdisciplinary research topics "Interactions in the Earth System" and "Climate Change: Past – Present – Future" in their research. Moreover, only a few scientists have made use of the opportunity to bundle their projects in order to broaden the scope of their research focus.

For the current phase from 2013 to 2018, we therefore see the need to further promote coordinated, interdisciplinary research in the DFG Priority Programme 1158. This is to be achieved in particular by reducing the number of research and reorienting the most important research topics, which are no longer primarily disciplinary oriented, but instead by making important contributions to the four overarching interdisciplinary topics "Development of the Continent", "Gateways to Lower Latitudes", "Dynamics of Climate System Components" and "Response to Environmental Change".

These research topics are of paramount importance for a better understanding of the role of the Antarctic in the Earth system. They are so broad that they certainly cannot be fully explored or answered at this stage of the DFG Priority Programme. Provided that projects addressing these issues are approved and funded, we expect them to deliver substantial input and, in some cases, complete answers to specific scientific questions on these topics.

Here is the abridged version of the new proposal for DFG Priority Programme 1158 "Antarctic Research with Comparative Studies in Arctic Ice Regions" for the funding period 2013-2018. This continuation of the DFG Priority Programme "Antarctic Research" was approved at the DFG Senate Meeting on July 3, 2012. A PDF version is also available for download.

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