| News Archive 2008 |
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| Circumpolar synthesis of marine research at lower trophic levels |
19.12.08 |
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Researchers working on the IPY-project CLEOPATRA in Svalbard visited last week their colleagues from the CFL-project (Circumpolar Flaw Lead Study) in Canada.
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| The world's biggest conference on Arctic climate change |
15.12.08 |
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UNIS and ARCTOS scientists were well represented at the world's largest conference on climate change in the Arctic, which took place last week in Quebec City, Canada.
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| SIAEOS is on the Roadmap |
09.12.08 |
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The Svalbard Integrated Arctic Earth Observing System (SIAEOS) project has been accepted as part of the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructure (ESFRI) updated Roadmap. SIAEOS has an investment budget of 400 million NOK and an annual operational budget of 70 million NOK.
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| The rocket is launched! |
05.12.08 |
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At 11:35 AM today the ICI-2 rocket was launched from Ny-Ålesund. The launch was a success, and the rocket reached a height of approximately 330 kilometers, before it landed in the ocean at 11:45 AM.
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| Rocket Man |
27.11.08 |
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Adjunct Professor Jøran Moen is about to send up 10 million NOK into the atmosphere. The rocket’s name is ICI-2 and its mission is to uncover more of the secrets of the Aurora Borealis.
Why? Because the aurora can cause electronic communication systems to be wiped out.
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| The KOLIBRI project takes off! |
19.11.08 |
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The history of using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) on Svalbard is rather short. Nevertheless in August 2008, after a three month long construction and testing period, the Kolibri project launched its UAV in Adventdalen.
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| Spitsbergen Airship Museum opens |
11.11.08 |
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On Saturday November 15 the Spitsbergen Airship Museum opens in Longyearbyen. As part of the opening festivities the museum and UNIS invite the public to free lectures on November 14 and 15 about the most famous aviation expeditions of the past.
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| Life in the dark |
31.10.08 |
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Until now scientists have believed that the marine life in the Polar Ocean is hibernating through the long, Arctic night. Recent research shows evidence to the contrary. – This knowledge may even impact our understanding of the exchange of climate gasses between the ocean and the atmosphere, says UNIS Professor Jørgen Berge.
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| Master opportunity in marine ecology |
24.10.08 |
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UNIS is announcing an available master’s project in the winter ecology of marine microbial eukaryotes. The project will start in January 2009, with field work in Billefjorden, Svalbard on a regular basis until May 2009. Application deadline is November 15, 2008.
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| Former UNIS professor receives Nansen award |
23.10.08 |
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Former UNIS professor in geology, Jon Y. Landvik, has received the prestigious Nansen award for 2008 from The Fram Committee. One of the reasons is Landvik’s substantial contribution to establishing Arctic Geology as a discipline at UNIS.
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| Art and science upside-down |
15.10.08 |
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The artist Marius Martinussen has just finished painting the Kjell Henriksen Observatory. The artist was inspired by the upside-down perspective the aurora scientists have on the atmosphere. On Saturday the public can visit the observatory and take a look on the artist’s and the scientists’ perspective.
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| UNIS takes over SPEAR |
03.10.08 |
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Last week UNIS officially took over the SPEAR radar system on Breinosa from the University of Leicester. - A perfect fit for our long-term strategy for atmospheric research, says UNIS director Gunnar Sand.
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| Effects of climate change on the Arctic marine fauna |
30.09.08 |
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UNIS scientists have examined the marine ecosystems of the Svalbard fjords and found several exiting results which can be directly linked to the climate changes in the Arctic.
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| Gathering precious seeds |
18.09.08 |
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This fall UNIS botanist Inger Greve Alsos has, together with colleagues, students, and locals, gathered seeds from the Svalbard flora, including seeds from red listed plant species. These seeds will be the first non-nutrition seeds to be stored in the Svalbard Global Seed Vault.
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| NSINK funded Ph.D. position available |
11.09.08 |
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The Ph.D. project “Solute Relocation in Firn and Glacier Ice” allows the student to work at the Svalbard ice core sites and in labs, developing robust transfer functions that allow inversion of the ice core record and document recent environmental change. The student will be enrolled at Uppsala University in collaboration with UNIS.
Read more (PdF) |
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| Coal formation on Svalbard 60 million years ago |
04.09.08 |
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In a new Ph.D. thesis Charlotta J. Lüthje investigates how the coal layers in Svalbard were formed some 60 million years ago. Her results shed new light on the formation process. Lüthje will defend her thesis on Monday September 8th at UNIS.
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| Field work on a surging glacier |
29.08.08 |
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Monitoring a surging glacier from start to finish has never been done before at Svalbard – until now. We tagged along Ph.D. student Monica Sund on her third field trip to Kroppbreen, which she suspects will start to move fast in the near future.
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| Awarded King’s gold medal for Ph.D. thesis |
20.08.08 |
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UNIS associate professor Pernille Bronken Eidesen has been awarded His Majesty the King’s Gold Medal for her Ph.D. thesis on Arctic-Alpine plants, which she defended at the University of Oslo (UiO) last December. Eidesen will receive the honors on September 2, 2008.
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| Solar eclipse action in Longyearbyen |
01.08.08 |
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Today, 1 August 2008 between 10:39 and 12:43, Longyearbyen was a perfect place to observe the sun disappear behind the moon. The sun was covered to 93% at the maximum at 11:41.
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| Historic Solar Eclipse |
25.07.08 |
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On Friday August 1st people in Longyearbyen can witness an historic event. For the first time in over 50 years we will see the largest solar eclipse in Norway. UNIS will have a special pre-eclipse lecture and special sunglasses for the public.
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| Boot ’em up! |
22.07.08 |
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Passengers arriving at Svalbard airport are frequently met by an industrious Australian that asks them to show him the sole of their boots. The passengers could be carriers of foreign seeds that might threaten the delicate balance of the Svalbard flora.
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| Hands-on experience in climate research |
15.07.08 |
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Steve, Leo and Kristen are studying climate change of the past and present in a special UNIS geology course created for the IPY. Tomorrow they head out to Kapp Linné to spend 4 weeks doing intense field investigations into environmental changes in Svalbard.
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| Pioneer work on Kelvin waves |
07.07.08 |
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UNIS master student Ragnhild Lundmark Daae has investigated the internal Kelvin waves in Kongsfjorden. The data shows that the topography of the fjord modifies the internal Kelvin waves, something which has not been studied in connection with Kelvin waves in Kongsfjorden before.
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| Royal IPY visit |
27.06.08 |
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HRH Crown Prince Haakon of Norway led the way when he, his wife Crown Princess Mette-Marit and HRH Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden visited the Svalbard Science Center and UNIS today.
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| Royal visit to UNIS |
26.06.08 |
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The Royal Highnesses Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit of Norway, together with Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden will visit the Svalbard Science Center on Friday June 27th.
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| A new glacier surge under way |
23.06.08 |
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In April UNIS glaciologist Monica Sund discovered crevasses in the Comfortlessbreen. This can be the beginning of a surge, and Sund will now monitor the changes in the glacier to obtain more knowledge of the surge dynamics that we still know very little about.
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| The Polar Academy inaugurated |
19.06.08 |
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On June 18 the Norwegian Scientific Academy for Polar Research was officially inaugurated at its headquarters just outside Longyearbyen.
The academy has already over 50 members from both Norway and abroad.
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| Large sea ice production affects the climate? |
04.06.08 |
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Last winter there was a substantial amount of sea ice in Storfjorden on Svalbard, resulting in a cold and saline current that flowed out of the fjord. This can have impact on the global sea currents and the Arctic climate.
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| Longyearbyen Science and Education Forum established |
21.05.08 |
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The Longyearbyen Science and Education Forum (LySEF) was established last week. The main goal is to promote Longyearbyen as a base for research and education through coordination and collaborative efforts.
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| Icebound: providing more accurate info for climate models |
02.05.08 |
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The Icebound project aims to reconstruct the ice sheet geometry and its age of the last glaciation. The datasets will provide for better atmospheric general circulation models that are used to predict future climate change.
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| Master projects in biology available |
29.04.08 |
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UNIS is seeking master students in Arctic biology for a project on the migration ecology of zooplankton. Candidates will obtain their degree at their home university at the mainland or abroad, but have supervision and work facilities at UNIS in Longyearbyen.
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| Northern lights glimmer with unexpected trait |
25.04.08 |
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UNIS aurora scientists Dag A. Lorentzen and Fred Sigernes have, together with an international team of scientists, detected that some of the glow of Earth’s aurora is polarized, an unexpected state for such emissions.
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| The Norwegian Academy for Polar Research |
11.04.08 |
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was formally established in Oslo on March 27th 2008. The founders were 11 Norwegian professors who all have made important contributions to polar research and education. The academy will be open for international members.
Read more (Norwegian only) |
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| Special IPY summer 2008 student possibilities in permafrost and physical geography/geology at UNIS |
01.04.08 |
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The Geology Department at UNIS is celebrating the IPY by offering two special courses: One at the undergraduate level in physical geography/geology, and one at the graduate level in permafrost science
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| Russian-Norwegian education cooperation |
25.03.08 |
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As part of a nation-wide education cooperation programme with Russia, UNIS is co-ordinating two academic exchange programmes for Russian and Norwegian students and scientists. The programme is supported by the Research Council of Norway.
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| Exclusive Chinese visit at UNIS |
05.03.08 |
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UNIS is hosting an exclusive group from the Far East this week.
10 Chinese undergraduate students who are winners of a national competition in China, are enjoying their prize: an once-in-a-lifetime visit to Svalbard!
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| First permafrost winter borehole in Svalbard |
03.03.08 |
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The Norwegian Thermal State of Permafrost (TSP) project drilled its first monitoring borehole in Longyearbyen on Feb.28th. TSP is a UNIS-led International Polar Year project, which aims at understanding the conditions and effects of global warming on the state of the permafrost.
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| Stipends available for UNIS students and staff |
26.02.08 |
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The Jan Christensen endowment for Norwegian students and staff at UNIS has a number of stipends available. Application deadline is March 7, 2008.
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| A cool opening |
20.02.08 |
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The opening of UNIS’ brand new aurora observatory was celebrated over 2 days in Longyearbyen. Monday afternoon the Minister of Research and Higher education officially opened the observatory, in minus 35 degrees Celsius up on the Breinosa (Coal Mine 7 Mountain).
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| The Kjell Henriksen Observatory opens |
14.02.08 |
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The Kjell Henriksen Observatory is officially opened on Monday February 18th by Tora Aasland, the minister of Research and Higher Education. She and UNIS will celebrate the opening of our new Aurora observatory together with 70 guests from all over the world.
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| NERC funded Ph.D. position available |
11.02.08 |
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The Ph.D. project will investigate winter transmission of the parasite Marshallagia marshalli, and its impact on the reproduction and survival of reindeer living on Spitsbergen. The student will be enrolled at Lancaster University, and have fieldwork at UNIS. The position is funded by NERC and application deadline is Feb. 24th 2008.
Read more (Pdf) |
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| Ph.D. defence on zooplankton
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05.02.08 |
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Research done by Ph.D. candidate Malin Daase indicate that a warmer Arctic ocean will result in changes in the zooplankton populations, which will affect fish, bird and mammals that prey on these populations. Daase will defend her Ph.D. thesis on February 6th at UNIS.
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| UNIS launches new web site |
01.02.08 |
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UNIS launched its new web site today, after almost a year of preparations. – UNIS wants to present our information services in an organized, accessible and nice looking way, and we believe the new web site fulfills this aim, says UNIS director Gunnar Sand.
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| Space suitcase for Longyearbyen school |
30.01.08 |
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Five pupils at Longyearbyen high school got their own space science suitcase at UNIS yesterday with instruments to observe the sun, to photograph the Aurora, and monitor cosmic radiation.
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| The TARA expedition at UNIS |
25.01.08 |
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“Tara” has arrived in Longyearbyen after drifting with the wind and ocean currents for more than 500 days in the Arctic. UNIS and the “Tara” crew arrange an open seminar about the expedition on Monday Jan. 28th.
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| IPY workshop for students |
23.01.08 |
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March 1st 2008 marks that the 4th International Polar Year (IPY) is halfway through. IPY Norway and UNIS are marking this by arranging a workshop on Jan. 25th for students and others about the opportunities available in IPY research-projects.
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| New knowledge about the fate of oil spills in the Arctic |
14.01.08 |
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In a Ph.D. thesis by Liv-Guri Faksness new information about what happens with oil spills in an Arctic environment is revealed. Faksness will defend her thesis on Saturday January 19th at UNIS.
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