Twelve researchers at Stockholm University and the University of Gothenburg will participate in an expedition to the East Siberian Arctic Shelf where they will study greenhouse gas emissions from thawing permafrost, which can accelerate global warming. The expedition is part of the International Siberian Shelf Study (ISSS), a Swedish-Russian collaboration that goes back fifteen years.
The Swedish Polar Research Secretariat supports five research projects within the year-long Arctic Expedition MOSAiC, where a total of nine researchers from Swedish universities participate. Salar Karam, PhD student in Oceanography at the University of Gothenburg, is now preparing to participate in the final phase of the research expedition.
Patric Simões Pereira, Postdoctor at the University of Gothenburg, is now heading back from the international research expedition MOSAiC where he spent six months studying halogenated organic compounds.
For almost 19 weeks, research engineer Adela Dumitrascu participated in the world’s largest polar expedition MOSAiC in the Arctic Ocean. During the expedition, she took samples on snow, ice and water to understand the processes associated with the greenhouse gas halocarbon. Now she is back in Gothenburg to continue with the analysis of the data.
The MOSAiC expedition has faced logistical challenges due to the coronavirus but is soon ready to enter its next phase. John Paul Balmonte, researcher in water ecosystems at Uppsala University and Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, is currently in quarantine in Germany and soon ready to start his transit to the German research vessel Polarstern.
The melting of the sea ice in the Arctic and the faster melting of Greenland’s ice cover are two prominent environmental changes that could accelerate sea level rise in the future. Researchers are therefore working on a broad front to better understand the mechanisms behind the melting ice and what consequences it will have.
Fredrik Dalerum, Docent in Ecology at the Department of Zoology, Stockholm University, leads a research group that participated in this summer’s expedition with the icebreaker Oden to the Ryder Glacier in northwestern Greenland. In addition to Fredrik, the group also consists of Karin Norén, Associate professor, and Johannes Måsviken, PhD student, all at the same department. In this research project, they study how Arctic species and ecosystems are affected by climate change.
Glaciers that terminate where there is water, such as fjords or open coastal waters, lose mass through so-called frontal ablation, which is the common name for the processes of iceberg calving and melt below the water surface. During the recent expedition with the icebreaker Oden to the Ryder Glacier in northern Greenland, researchers investigated frontal ablation with the help of time-lapse photography and LoTUS buoys.
The rising temperature in recent years in the Arctic is causing sea ice and glaciers to melt at an ever-faster rate. The melting of the ice sheet in Greenland increases the inflow of meltwater into Greenland’s fjords and coastal water, with physical and geochemical effects on the fjord systems. This can lead to increased acidification of the Arctic Ocean, which can have a negative impact on the ecosystem and the ocean’s ability to absorb carbon dioxide.
Christian Stranne is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Geological Sciences, Stockholm University. He was one of the scientists on the Ryder 2019 Expedition to northern Greenland with the icebreaker Oden between August 5 and September 12. The purpose was to study the local environment where the Ryder Glacier meets the ocean and to learn more about outlet glaciers and how they can influence sea levels in a changing climate.
