Scientists from the BaySys Project (University of Manitoba/Manitoba Hydro) will be conducting work in Hudson Bay from September 26-October 4. Specifically, they will be deploying moorings in the Churchill and Nelson River Estuary, and James Bay region.
Remote sensing systems have been used to assist in locating and tracking oil spilled in the open ocean for remediation purposes. However, methods for detecting oil in ice and snow are in the early stages of development and require further research as the presence of ice impedes detection. Due to the inhomogeneous nature of sea ice, often air, sediment, salt, and brine are incorporated into the material greatly complicating the interactions between the oil and sea ice as well as the interactions of the remote sensing signal.
The workshop will focus on presentation and discussion of results from the research campaigns at Villum Research Station during 2015. We are all busy looking into the results from the past season, but we are not looking at how our data can be used across disciplines and this is the topic of this workshop.
Mercury is found at toxic levels in the blood of people living in the Arctic. Not only does this pose a serious health hazard, the intellectual development of children may also be compromised and this might lead to increased costs to society. These dangerously high levels arise as the result of the combined effects of mercury biomagnification through the marine food webs and the resident’s traditional diet of fish and marine mammals. Furthermore, mercury pollution is a general threat to the sensitive Arctic ecosystems.
We will conduct a multidisciplinary study of Greenland ice sheet-ocean interactions in Greenland fjords. Based on oceanographic surveys along ∼5 transects from the shelf towards main outlet glaciers in NW Greenland we will:
• Identify near shore water mass characteristics and bathymetry to assess potential marine heat sources and circulation processes important for glacial melt
The main objective of the project is to improve our understanding of the key physical and biochemical processes controlling the magnitude and distribution of the greenhouse gases (GHG) carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) uptake/release by the Arctic marine waters including fjords. This will be done through study of the GHG gas exchange over snow and ice covered and ice-free marine waters.
Studying the mass balance of contaminants in the large East Greenland hunter village Scoresby Sound (low Hg, high POPs) and compare with a larger West Greenland town (less traditional food) as well as a North West Greenland hunter village (high in Hg, low in POPs).
Field Site: Scoresby Sound
PI: Rune Dietz and Christian Sonne
Link to Isaaffik website
The project aims to empirically test the hypothesis that temperature tolerance ranges and temperature optima of key species of the Arctic coastal zone depend on the experienced temperature range.
On this basis the project aims to increase the accuracy and resolution of predictions of sensitivity of Arctic marine biota to climate change. The results will be related to thermal responses found elsewhere along the species geographical distribution range.
Field site: Nuuk Fjord system
New studies have shown that Maarmorilik fjord is inhabited by two species of the blue mussel, Mytilus edulis and M. trossulus. The fjord is impacted by contamination from the former lead/zinc mine and input of glacier freshwater. Previously it was assumed that the Greenland populations only consisted of M. edulis and thus all our previous monitoring and research have not taken into consideration that results reflected samples with mixed species.
Recent development of analytical techniques such as Laser Ablation Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) has allowed biologically formed solids including otoliths, shells and wood to be analyzed for heavy metals with high spatial resolution and low detection limits. All these solids grow during the lifetime of the organism, have an ability to incorporate heavy metals in their structure and therefore potentially contain a complete chemical record of the organism’s exposure history.
