sciencemag.org SCIENCEPHOTO: ALFRED WEGENER INSTITUTE/STEFAN HENDRICKSthe ice’s structure and the water and land
beneath it, using everything from seismo-
meters to instrument-carrying seals. Both
missions will benefit from revitalized satel-
lite coverage, as two satellites launched last
year, the Ice, Cloud, and Land Elevation
Satellite-2 and the Gravity Recovery and
Climate Experiment Follow-on, which
measure ice height and mass, respectively,
begin to beam science data back home.A science whisperer for Trump
SCIENCE POLICY |For 2 years, President
Donald Trump has been making decisions
involving science and innovation without
input from a White House science adviser.
Meteorologist Kelvin Droegemeier, whom
Trump nominated in late July 2018 to
fill that void, was awaiting final Senate
approval at press time. The question is
what his arrival will mean for the adminis-
tration’s handling of an array of technical
challenges, from regulation of human
embryo engineering and self-driving cars
to combatting cyberterrorism and foster-
ing a more tech-savvy workforce. Some
science-soaked issues may already have
been settled, such as leaving the Paris cli-
mate accord and forsaking the Iran nuclear
deal. But many others remain unresolved,S
cientists in Europe and the United States face an uncertain
political landscape in the new year, which could affect fund-
ing and collaborations. The threat is most acute in the United
Kingdom, which plans to exit the European Union in March
but has not settled on the terms of its departure. Some big re-
search findings could share the headlines, however, including
the first clear images of the supermassive black hole at the heart of
our galaxy, from astronomers in an international collaboration called
the Event Horizon Telescope. Science’s news staff forecasts other
areas of research and policy likely to make news this year.What’s coming up in 2019
AREAS TO WATCHNEWS
All eyes on polar ice
CLIMATE SCIENCE |If you want to
understand Earth’s warming future, look
to the poles. This year, scientists in two
international projects will heed that call.
In September, researchers will position a
German icebreaker, the RV Polarstern, to
freeze in Arctic sea ice for a year’s stay.
The ship will serve as the central hub
for the €120 million Multidisciplinary
drifting Observatory for the Studyof Arctic Climate, hosting researchers
from 17 countries. They’ll study how polar
clouds, ocean dynamics, and first-year ice
formation contribute to the Arctic’s shift
to ice-free summers. Then, near year’s
end, researchers from the United States
and United Kingdom will fan out across
the remote Thwaites Glacier, the part of
the Antarctic ice sheet most at risk of col-
lapsing into the ocean and driving up
sea levels, in the first full season of a
$50 million, 5-year effort. They’ll probeIN BRIEF
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