Kelps act as ecosystem engineers on many polar rocky shore coastlines. The underwater light climate and temperature are the main drivers for their vertical and latitudinal distribution. With temperatures rising globally, an Arctic expansion of temperate kelp species and an accelerating glacial melt is predicted.

FACE-IT, ECOTIP and CHARTER, the three Horizon 2020 projects working on Arctic biodiversity and ice loss are conducting a policy briefing on 15 March 2023, 2 pm, in Brussels.

In 2021, the Government of Greenland made an active, discursive shift in the political discourse regarding Greenlandic development. Since the last general election, the political agenda has changed from prioritizing industrialization and the development of extractive industries (with little focus on ratifying international treaties and commitments to lower CO2 emissions to limit global warming) to suddenly wanting to “live up to our name, Greenland” by kickstarting a green transition with the ambition to be an exporter of hydropower and mining rare earth elements (REE) to support the technology for the green transition.

Global warming accelerates melting of glaciers and increases the supply of meltwater and associated inorganic particles, nutrients, and organic matter to adjacent coastal seas, but the ecosystem impact is poorly resolved and quantified.

The Arctic region faces a warming rate that is more than twice the global average. Sea-ice loss, increase in precipitation and freshwater discharge, changes in underwater light, and amplification of ocean acidification modify benthic habitats and the communities they host.

On 26 August 2022, FACE-IT will be hosting a scenario workshop in Nuuk, Greenland, inviting stakeholders of the Nuup Kangerlua fjord to explore how climate change and other factors might affect the  fjord and its future value for fishing and hunting, tourism, recreation and other activities.

Public Colloquium: 30 November 2022

The seaweed Desmarestia aculeata (Phaeophyceae) is distributed in the temperate zone of the North Atlantic up to the Arctic, where it is exposed to a high Arctic light regime and fluctuating salinity conditions resulting from glacial and terrestrial run-off. Information on how this species is able to thrive under current and future Arctic conditions is scarce.

The polar night has recently received increased attention as a surprisingly active biological season. Yet, polar night microbial ecology is a vastly understudied field. To identify the physical and biogeochemical parameters driving microbial activity over the dark season, we studied a sub-Arctic fjord system in northern Norway from autumn to early spring with detailed monthly sampling.