Plant seeds spread frequently to Svalbard
15 June 2007
Research done by associate professor Inger Greve Alsos (now at UNIS) and co-workers at the National Centre for Biosystematics shows that plants have spread frequently in the Arctic and that an increase in temperatures may result in that many new plants species pop up in Svalbard.
The Frozen Five are back!
14 June 2007
After 77 days, 1000 km on ski and one sunburn, the Frozen Five are back. Alive and kicking!
Explaining the intrusion of warm water in West Spitsbergen fjords
1 June 2007
During the winter 2005/06, periods of sustained northerly winds generated cross-shelf exchange causing extensive flooding of the coastal waters with warm Atlantic Water from the West Spitsbergen Current (the last leg of the Gulf Current system). The seawater winter temperature of the West Spitsbergen Shelf and fjords reverted to that typically of fall, interrupting the normal cycle of ice formation in the region.
Warmer Gulf Stream waters melt fjord ice on Svalbard
11 May 2007
For the first time the warm West-Spitsbergen current is appearing near the surface at 79° N. This means that the fjord ice on Svalbard is disappearing at great speed. The observations were made at a recent UNIS geophysics cruise.
Around Spitsbergen in 80 days
29 March 2007
The five former UNIS students started their ski trip from Longyearbyen to South Cape after lunch today. The five, accompanied by four sledges and a dog, will then go from the South Cape all the way to the North Cape of Spitsbergen before returning to Longyearbyen.
Migrating geese and their food plants
2 March 2007
Svalbard has many important stopover sites for migrating geese during the spring. But only a few of these stopover sites are known today. There is a pressing need to identify more of these sites in order to implement effective management actions, concludes Christiane E. Hübner in her PhD thesis, which she will defend at UNIS 8 March 2007.
The IPY is here!
1 March 2007
UNIS celebrated the opening of the International Polar Year (IPY) 2007-08 from early morning until late evening, with seminars, speeches and artwork.
Dissertation on ice loads
11 January 2007
PhD candidate Per Olav Moslet will defend his PhD thesis ”In-situ Measurements of Sea-Ice Parameters that Affect the Loads on Coastal and Offshore Structures” at UNIS on 15 January 2007.