activities

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.

In Kongsfjorden (Spitsbergen), we quantified the zonation of visually dominant macroalgal taxa and of detached macroalgae from underwater videos taken in summer 2009 at six transects between 2 and 138 m water depth. For the first time, we provide information on the occurrence of deep water red algae below the kelp forest and of detached macroalgae at water depth > 30 m.

Global warming, combined with an increasing influence of Atlantic Waters in the European Arctic, are causing a so-called Atlantification of the Arctic. This phenomenon is affecting the plankton biomass and communities with potential consequences for the upper trophic levels. Using long-term data (2005-2020) from a high Arctic zooplanktivorous seabird, the little auk (Alle alle), we tested the hypothesis that the Atlantification affects its diet, body condition and demography.

Kelp forests are productive coastal ecosystems that provide a range of ecosystem services. Mapping the distribution and area occupied by kelp forests is a critical step to identify their ecosystem functions and services, including their role in the carbon cycle, and to detect changes in their distribution.

The Los Alamos Sea Ice Model (CICE) is used by several Earth system models where sea ice boundary conditions are not necessary, given their global scope. However, regional and local implementations of sea ice models require boundary conditions describing the time changes of the sea ice and snow being exchanged across the boundaries of the model domain.

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is a new discursive regime that encompasses global environmental change challenges and sustainability sciences, including adaptation to climate change. Co-production of knowledge has become a key, intrinsic component in both sustainability sciences and adaptation research.

Ocean temperatures have increased during 2011–2020, causing significant changes in the marine environment. One area that has been affected by the temperature increase is the Arctic, leading to a decrease in glacial mass and an increase in meltwater. Some organisms e.g., Fucus (brown seaweed) benefit from these environmental changes while others may be strongly affected.

Arctic summer sea ice extent is decreasing and thinning, forming melt ponds that cover more than 50% of the sea ice area during the peak of the melting season. Despite of this, ice algal communities in melt ponds are understudied and so are their contribution to the Arctic Ocean primary production and carbon turnover.

Arctic benthic ecosystems are facing high-speed environmental changes, such as decreased sea ice coverage, increased temperature and precipitations, as well as the invasion by non-indigenous species. Few sub-arctic fjords have the particularity to have an inner-most part forming a basin in which water remains very cold.

Accelerating warming and associated loss of sea ice are expected to promote the expansion of coastal marine forests (macrophytes) along the massive Arctic coastlines. Yet, this region has received much less attention compared to other global oceans. The available future projections of Arctic macrophytes are still limited to few species and regions, and mostly focused at lower latitude ranges, thus precluding well-informed IPCC impact assessments, conservation and management.

This study presents comprehensive mapping of the current distribution of pinnipeds and polar bears (Ursus maritimus) around Svalbard based on a regional marine mammal sightings programme and explores time-trends (2005–2018).

Different sea ice models apply unique approaches in the computation of nutrient diffusion between the ocean and the ice bottom, which are generally decoupled from the calculation of turbulent heat flux.

This study uses cetacean sighting data, acquired via a citizen science programme, to update distributions and spatial trends of whales and dolphins in waters around the Svalbard Archipelago during the period 2005–2019.

Arctic fjord systems experience large amplitudes of change in temperature and radiation regime due to climate warming and the related decrease in sea ice. The resultant increase in irradiance entering the water column influences photosynthetic activity of benthic and pelagic primary producers.

Kelps are important foundation species in coastal ecosystems currently experiencing pronounced shifts in their distribution patterns caused by ocean warming. While some populations found at species’ warm distribution edges have been recently observed to decline, expansions of some species have been recorded at their cold distribution edges.

Since 2002 the pan-arctic integration symposia has attempted to figure out how the Arctic Ocean can be understood as an independent, mediterranean type ocean and node of the Northern Hemisphere.

Snow cover on sea ice is the most important factor controlling light availability for sea ice algae, but it is predicted by climate models to become more variable and stochastic. Here, we document effects of a sudden, complete loss of the entire snow cover on first-year sea ice at Kangerlussuaq Fjord, West Greenland, due to a natural Föhn wind event that caused a ca. 17 °C air temperature increase over 36 h.

Snow cover on sea ice is the most important factor controlling light availability for sea ice algae, but it is predicted by climate models to become more variable and stochastic. Here, we document effects of a sudden, complete loss of the entire snow cover on first-year sea ice at Kangerlussuaq Fjord, West Greenland, due to a natural Föhn wind event that caused a ca. 17 °C air temperature increase over 36 h.

There is strong evidence of an increase in primary production (PP) in the Arctic Ocean (AO) over the last two decades. Further increases will depend on the interplay between decreasing light limitation for primary producers, as the sea ice extent and thickness decrease

An international symposium addressing pan-Arctic perspectives of the marine ecosystems of the Arctic Ocean took place in October 2017 and this editorial introduces the publications that derived from the conference.

The Arctic climate is changing rapidly. The warming and resultant longer open water periods suggest potential for expansion of marine vegetation along the vast Arctic coastline. We compiled and reviewed the scattered time series on Arctic marine vegetation and explored trends for macroalgae and eelgrass (Zostera marina).

The Ny-Ålesund research station has a long tradition in international and interdisciplinary research cooperation, which has been fostered by the ever-increasing interaction within and between the four flagship programs operated by NySMaC. One…

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…

Webinar: 21 September 2022

Public Colloquium: 25 November 2020