The climate watchdogs of tomorrow
25 March 2010
New underwater robot technology was tested in Svalbard this winter with amazing results. With these state-of-the-art underwater robots, the scientists from UNIS, NTNU and California Polytechnic University have discovered that the Arctic Ocean is teeming with activity during the Polar night. This discovery will have major consequences for the future management policies in the High North.
The end of the drilling
1 December 2009
Longyearbyen CO2 lab finalized the drilling operations of drill hole 4 last Friday, reaching a depth of 969, 8 meters. A reservoir of porous sandstones has been identified and injectivity proven. Director of UNIS, Gunnar Sand, says that the path now is open to demonstrate the carbon capture and storage value chain in Longyearbyen.
“Fingerprinting” all Svalbard plants
29 October 2009
This summer UNIS botanist Inger Greve Alsos and colleagues have collected samples from all the Svalbard plant species. Now these samples will be DNA analysed, or “barcoded” and recorded in an international DNA database. – It’s very important that all Svalbard plant species are included so they can be incorporated in future studies of biodiversity and taxonomy, Alsos says.
Beware what’s hiding under your boots
12 October 2009
Chris Ware was interested in determining the risk of plant introduction into Svalbard, as a consequence of an increase in the visitation rate to the archipelago. The results show that foreign species indeed can be introduced by something as innocent as our footwear.
Satellites monitor the permafrost landforms in Svalbard
23 September 2009
For the first time satellite technology has been incorporated in monitoring of changes in different permafrost landforms. The PERMASAR project can give additional valuable information about the rate of permafrost landform activity in Svalbard.
Unique data collection throughout the Arctic year
23 July 2009
For the first time a team of UNIS scientists and students have been able to collect ice-, water and plankton samples through a full year to study the wintertime marine ecology in Svalbard. The data will be important in predicting future climate changes in marine productivity and behavior as a response to the thinning and withdrawal of Arctic sea ice.
Check the state of the permafrost online
15 May 2009
The first Norwegian permafrost database is now online, where you can check the state of the permafrost in Svalbard and parts of Northern Norway at any time. This is an important part of the IPY project “Thermal State of Permafrost in Norway and Svalbard” (TSP Norway).
A new timeline for maximum glaciation?
22 January 2009
PhD candidate Endre Før Gjermundsen studies the extension and age of the ice sheet during the last glaciation in Northwest Spitsbergen and Atomfjellet area. His research indicates that the maximum glaciation of Svalbard might have happened earlier than currently believed.
SIAEOS is on the Roadmap
9 December 2008
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.