Polynya is a loanword from Russian, meaning an area of open water surrounded by sea ice, particularly in the Arctic. As such, it is a base from which to explore the hidden depths of icebergs, and a metaphor for the insights arising from risk modelling.
We shortened it for the website after receiving very sound advice from a friend – ‘don’t choose a name that’s hard to spell’ – and this gives it an appealingly mathematical air. (Take cross-language mathematical puns where you can, they don’t come along all that often!)