Pile test campaign to monitor thawing permafrost
26 June 2020
Frozen marine deposits which are widely distributed in the fjord-valleys in Svalbard are particularly vulnerable to thawing under present and future climate conditions. This spring several piles were set up on the plain east of UNIS. These will contribute to more knowledge about permafrost thawing in Svalbard.
Fieldwork in the time of corona
16 June 2020
Since the gradual reopening of UNIS, we have managed to carry out fieldwork for important research projects and projects that have time series measurements that are essential to maintain.
World Oceans Day: The Nansen Legacy
8 June 2020
June 8 is World Oceans Day and in commemoration of this we focus on the Nansen Legacy project and UNIS activities within the project in 2019.
World Environment Day
5 June 2020
Happy World Environment Day! UNIS/UiO/NCCS PhD candidate Peter Betlem is exploring Svalbard for carbon capture, utilization, and storage potential.
Avalanche accident report published
4 June 2020
In February this year there was a tragic avalanche accident on Fridtjovbreen, where two people perished. Now the accident report has been published, penned by the Arctic Safety Centre at UNIS.
UNIS Annual Report 2019
27 May 2020
In 2019, 743 students spent shorter or longer periods at UNIS, including both course students and guest master’s students. 50% of the students came from programmes of study at Norwegian universities, the rest from international universities.
Biodiversity Day in Svalbard
22 May 2020
Today is the International Day for Biological Diversity or World Biodiversity Day. We mark this important day by having a couple of our scientists present the work they do within marine biodiversity in Svalbard, whether in the sea ice on the east coast or in Isfjorden outside Longyearbyen.
Changing low pressure tracks in the high Arctic in winter
14 May 2020
Siiri Wickström has studied the regional changes in the atmospheric flow pattern in the high latitude North Atlantic and their impacts locally over Svalbard. The ongoing climate change is amplified at the high latitudes and Svalbard is a hotspot of warming, especially in the winters, Wickström concludes in her PhD thesis, which she will defend digitally on 19 May 2020.
How to conduct field teaching with students scattered around the world?
12 May 2020
The pandemic stopped the field plans for the geology course AG-222 – but it did not stop the authentic exercise. The course teachers organised a virtual field excursion instead, which was conducted online over two days in Mid-April 2020.