During this year's Antarctic expedition DML 2023/24, which the Swedish Polar Research Secretariat organises, a project is participating where the researchers seek to answer how Antarctica will develop in a future with a warmer climate. Part of the answer lies in the bedrock and erratics deposited by the ice sheet.
An expedition that was characterized by excellent cooperation, curious polar bears, tough ice conditions and extensive collection of valuable data. Chief Scientist Michael Tjernström sums up the Oden expedition ARTofMELT, carried out in the Arctic Ocean during May and June this year.
During the summer of 2023, Andreas Johnsson, a geomorphologist at the University of Gothenburg, visited Svalbard. The goal was to study similarities with Mars's landscape and how the island group is affected by global warming. Andreas Johnsson has conducted field studies in the area 13 times, and it is time for new measurements next year.
Sonja Gindorf, PhD student at the Department of Environmental Sciences (ACES) at Stockholm University, just finished the Arctic Ocean Research Cruise 2023 with RV Kronpins Haakon. She was one of two Swedish researchers selected through an open call by the Swedish Polar Research Secretariat.
When the icebreaker Oden arrived in Longyearbyen on Svalbard on June 14, it also marked the end of this year's Arctic expedition ARTofMELT 2023. In connection with this, H.R.H. the Crown Princess and the Minister for Climate and the Environment, Romina Pourmokhtari, visited Svalbard to meet researchers who participated in the expedition.
Station visits, new staff, pollen monitoring and the start of this year's field season. A lot is happening at the Abisko Scientific Research Station!
We welcome Alisa Heuchel, who started as the new laboratory manager at Abisko Scientific Research Station on May 15th! In September, Alisa Heichel will defend her doctoral thesis in forest genetics, and even though her work at the station will involve different things, she brings experiences from her research studies.
Martin Jansson is a new IT technician at the Swedish Polar Research Secretariat's department for ship-based research support on the icebreaker Oden.
In March, it is still low season at Abisko Scientific Research Station. About ten researchers have been on-site during the winter, but the number gradually increases during the spring.
During this year's Arctic expedition with the icebreaker Oden, the researchers want to document the transition between winter and summer. This goal requires flexible planning and, based on weather forecasts, being able to move Oden to places where warm air enters the Arctic.
The artist Ida Rödén will participate in this year's research expedition with the icebreaker Oden. Along for the ride is Jonas Falck, a fictional scientist who considered himself one of Carl von Linné's apostles ‒ but was never accepted by Linné. Ida Rödén has explored the world with Jonas Falck since 2014. She has sometimes thought that the work with the scientist is over. But every time she has set a point and shifted focus, something new has begun to loom. The exploration continues, and this time, the two companions will visit the Arctic Ocean.
Every summer, part of the Arctic sea ice melts away, and the melting season is becoming longer. Since the end of the last century, the area covered by ice at the end of summer has gradually decreased, and today, the area is less than half of what it was at the end of the 1970s. To study the arrival of spring in the Arctic – when it comes and how it happens – this year's research expedition with the icebreaker Oden is being carried out earlier than usual.
The amount of fish in the central Arctic Ocean is very limited. Therefore, the fish stock needs to be protected when the Arctic Ocean becomes increasingly accessible due to melting sea ice. Pauline Leijonmalm, Chief Scientist during the Oden Expedition Synoptic Arctic Survey 2021, can look back on a successful expedition where the researchers could collect valuable data about the ecosystem in the Arctic.
