Polar Research (E-Journal)
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World Environment Day 2007
No full textCommemorated every year on 5 June, World Environment Day (WED) was established by the United Nations in 1972 to help stimulate worldwide awareness of the environment and to enhance political engagement in environmental issues. Although the day is marked around the world, the United Nations Environment Programme selects one city to host the main WED celebrations, which are focussed on a central theme encapsulated in a slogan. Past WED host cities have included Algiers (”Don’t desert dry lands“), San Francisco (“Green cities—plan for the planet”), Barcelona (“Wanted! Seas and oceans—dead or alive?”) and Beirut (“Water—two billion people are dying for it”)
Norway and past International Polar Years—a historical account
No full textSurveying Norway’s role in past International Polar Years (IPYs), this essay by historian Stian Bones contributes to a broader understanding of Norway as a “polar nation”. He describes the strengths of Norway’s scientific traditions in the polar regions, and examines the varying motivations driving Norwegian involvement in the first three IPYs: 1882–83, 1932–33 and 1957–58 (also known as the International Geophysical Year)
Review of Jenter på langs—på ski over Svalbard, by Kristin Folsland Olsen, Vera Simonsson & Ingebjorg Tollefsen
No full textAt first sight I thought this book was going to turn out to be just another account of a personal skiing trip in the Arctic, of which there have been many in recent years. However, because I live in Svalbard and have participated in several ski expeditions (the last one traversed Greenland and was led by a disabled woman who accomplished the journey by sit-ski) I am always interested in reading other people’s experiences of polar expeditions, as they may provide inspiration for a future trip or kindle new dreams. I’m also keen to learn from other people’s mistakes and successes, as well as from their choice of equipment and experiences in its use
Measuring coastal cliff retreat in the Kongsfjorden area, Svalbard, using terrestrial photogrammetry
No full textAs part of the international project Arctic Coastal Dynamics, results from two sites for measuring coastal cliff retreat in the Kongsfjorden area in Svalbard (79 ° N, 13 ° E) are presented. The two sites were established in August 2002 and revisited in August 2004. Photographs with stereo coverage were taken at distances of 7 and 15 m from the cliff walls with a 60-mm Hasselblad camera mounted on a theodolite. Fixed points were established by drilling bolts into the cliff wall and were then surveyed. These fixed points were used as control points for orientation of the photogrammetric models. Digital photogrammetry applied to scanned photographs of the sites resulted in a detailed digital terrain model (DTM) for each site and year. The coastal cliff retreat rates were found by differencing the DTMs of 2002 and 2004. As a result of the short distance between camera and cliff, the DTM differencing was accurate down to 10 mm at least. The results show a yearly retreat of 2.7 and 3.1 mm. These rates are taken to be significant as most of the retreat takes place within small areas with rates well above the accuracy limits of the technique. The results are analysed and discussed in light of earlier rock-wall retreat studies in the same area
Carbon and nitrogen limitation of soil microbial respiration in a High Arctic successional glacier foreland near Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard
No full textThe hypotheses that carbon and nitrogen availability limit microbial activity, and that the key factors limiting microbes vary along the successional gradient were tested in a High Arctic glacier foreland. We examined the responses of the respiration rate and the phospholipid fatty acid content to the addition of carbon and/or nitrogen. Soil samples were collected from the early stage and late stage of primary succession in the foreland of a glacier near Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard. The addition of both carbon (glucose) and nitrogen (ammonium nitrate) engendered an increase in the microbial respiration rate in the early stage of succession. In contrast, the addition of either carbon or nitrogen did not increase the microbial respiration rate. In the late stage of succession the addition of carbon alone, as well as the addition of both carbon and nitrogen, increased the microbial respiration rate. However, neither the addition of carbon nor the addition of nitrogen affected the total phospholipid fatty acid content (an index of microbial biomass) for any soil within 15 days of incubation at 10 ° C. An increase in the respiration rate was therefore attributed to changes in the physiological activities of the microbial community, such as enzymatic activity. Our study suggests that microbial respiration was limited by the low availability of both carbon and nitrogen in the early stage of succession. Thereafter, nitrogen limitation is mitigated
The sipunculan fauna of Svalbard
No full textThis study presents the species of Sipuncula collected in the Svalbard area (74–81 ° N and 10–35 ° E) in the summer seasons from 1996 until 2005 at depths ranging from 40 to 2553 m. The faunistic analysis of the material (1056 specimens from 251 stations) resulted in a total of six species and one subspecies, belonging to two families (Golfingiidae and Phascolionidae). One species, Golfingia vulgaris , has not been reported previously from Svalbard waters, and increases the total number of Sipuncula taxa known from Svalbard to nine. Three species dominated the collected material: G. vulgaris (53.5% of all specimens found), G. margaritacea (19.3%) and Nephasoma diaphanes diaphanes (15.5%). The study shows that compared with other northern regions, Svalbard hosts a relatively rich sipunculan fauna, which is most similar in species composition to the sipunculan fauna found in Asian Arctic waters. An easy-touse identification key to Svalbard Sipuncula species is given to aid field researchers in the identification of this often overlooked taxon
Why “Melting ice” as a topic for the World Environment Day?
No full textMinister, dear friends and colleagues, I already had a chance to address you this morning in the context of the panel. So this afternoon I will be quite brief. I would like to take the opening line that Jan- Gunnar Winther, Director of the Norwegian Polar Institute, just put out: namely that this afternoon we are really focusing more on the science
The distribution of snow accumulation across the Austfonna ice cap, Svalbard: direct measurements and modelling
No full textWe present an analysis of the spatial variability in the snow accumulation on the Austfonna ice cap in Svalbard, Norway, based on the results of field investigations conducted in the spring of 1999, 2004 and 2005. During the campaigns ground penetrating radar measurements at 500 and 800 MHz were collected along profiles, along with additional manual snow sounding and pit stratigraphy work. The analysis of the data reveals a consistent pattern in the spatial distribution of the snow accumulation over the ice-cap, and therefore enables the compilation of a multiple regression model of the snow distribution across the ice cap. Once validated, the results of the model complement the information derived from direct measurements, with an accumulation index for every point on the ice cap, thus enhancing the accuracy of future mass balance studies and dynamic modelling of Austfonna. As very few direct meteorological measurements are performed in the eastern part of Svalbard, the accumulation measurements on the Austfonna ice cap provide valuable integrated information about winter precipitation in this region
The salinity:δ18O water relationship in Kongsfjorden, western Spitsbergen
No full textWe present the first oxygen isotope measurements from Kongsfjorden in north-west Spitsbergen, and use the isotopic composition and hydrographic data to provide a detailed assessment of the mixing between freshwater and oceanic waters. Temperature, salinity(s) and oxygen isotope profiles are used to describe the seasonal evolution of hydrography in the inner part of the fjord, and to infer the dominant mixing and exchange processes. Data from atmospheric, glacial and marine sources throughout Kongsfjorden are used to construct a salinity: δ18O mixing line in a region that receives inputs of freshwater and marine Atlantic water. The dominant source of freshwater is glacial melt from a tidewater glacier complex at the head of the fjord, resulting in a seawater salinity: δ18O relationship where δ18O = 0.43S - 14.65. The Kongsfjorden data provides a northern latitudinal limit for mixing lines in the northwestern European coastal system
Estimation of the annual primary production of the lichen Cetrariella delisei in a glacier foreland in the High Arctic, Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard
No full textThe fruticose lichen Cetrariella delisei is among the dominant lichen species in the deglaciated High Arctic areas of Svalbard. As part of a study of carbon cycling in the High Arctic, we aimed to estimate the primary production of lichen in a deglaciated area in Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard (79° N), by examining the effects of abiotic factors on the net photosynthesis (Pn) and dark respiration (R) rates of C. delisei. Experiments were conducted in the snow-free season of 2000 using an open-fl ow gas exchange system with an infrared gas analyser. Positive photosynthetic activities were observed on rainy days or soon after rainfall when the thallus water content was high, whereas photosynthetic activities dropped below the detectable limit on clear days because of the low thallus water content. Under a suffi ciently high thallus water content and close to light saturation, Pn was nearly constant over a wide temperature range of 4 - 20 °C, while R increased with increasing temperature. We constructed a model for estimating the net primary production (NPP) of lichen based on the relationships between abiotic factors and the CO2 exchange rate. The mean, minimum and maximum NPP values in the snow-free season, estimated using meteorological data obtained from 1995–2003, were 5.1, 1.0 and 8.4 g dry wt. m–2 snow-free season–1, respectively. These results suggest that NPP is highly variable and the contribution of lichen to carbon input is small compared with that of vascular plants and mosses in the study site