Far up north in the arctic ice 100 scientists and students are involved in a joint field investigation into how the interactions between snow, ice, sea and atmosphere in the Arctic impact the climate of the Earth.
Mastering of details is necessary to describe an entire arctic ecosystem, including the amount of carbon flowing with the rivers to the nearby fjord and the number of greenhouse gases exchanged between soil and atmosphere.
During my time at the Daneborg research station, I conducted a geophysical characterization of the snow and sea ice as a tool for validating both optical and microwave satellite sensors.
Biologists investigate which insects pollinate one of the most widespread plants in the Arctic and gain new insight into the interactions between the organisms of the arctic foodweb.
Melt water ponds are formed when the sea ice start melting in the early summer and they disappear alongside the ice. A Ph.d. project is presently studying what impact these short-lasting ponds have on the global carbon budget.
I have been in Daneborg participating in leg three of this year’s field campaign in the Arctic Science Partnership collaboration to study the microbial communities associated with spring sea ice and melt ponds using next generation DNA sequencing technologies.
More than 100 researcher from the Arctic Science Partnerhip is currently investigating carbon fluxes across sea ice, snow and sea water in the Arctic.