Arctic Biology

5 October 2020

The Arctic Ocean has been frozen for a long time. It is difficult to say exactly how long. But the wildlife we find on the underside of the ice bears a clear testimony that the ice cover has lasted long enough for different species to have developed very special adaptations to be able to live in, on or just under the ice. Most spectacular are perhaps the amphipods we find inside the melting channels in the ice. These are facing an uncertain future as the ice in the Arctic melts. One might think that last year’s summer, autumn and winter with a lot of ice around Svalbard gave these animals a little respite. Unfortunately, this is not the case.

27 July 2020

Most of us have in recent months experienced that life has changed, with perhaps isolation and quarantine, which can feel traumatic. At UNIS, all undergraduate students were encouraged to go home, teaching switched from on-campus to digital teaching and courses were cancelled. For a long time, all entry to Svalbard was closed. But some creatures keep on travelling, whether they want to or not. Others, once again, experience a more severe isolation than being stuck on an island for months.