First record of the hydrozoan Sympagohydra tuuli in Svalbard sea ice
9 July 2018
We don’t know much about the tiny algae and animals living inside sea ice. Microscopic sea ice animals are rarely identified to species level because many of these tiny critters are larvae of pelagic and benthic species and look completely different from the adults. We simply don’t recognise them.
2017 in snapshots
5 January 2018
With these visual highlights from 2017 we would like to wish you all a great 2018. We look forward to celebrating our 25th anniversary in October – stay tuned!
Cruising Isfjorden – RV Lance’s last research cruise
20 October 2017
13 students from the course AGF-214 Polar Ocean Climate recently spent a week on board RV Lance together with lecturers, researchers and technicians from UNIS. The research cruise was Lance’s last cruise before she was taken out of the Norwegian Polar Institute’s service.
Two peculiar acquaintances from the Svalbard fjords
28 September 2017
Around the coast of Svalbard we find many exciting animals in the sea. Few are as strange as the two fish you will meet here. Perhaps they are facing an uncertain future?
Effects of sea ice on Arctic shrub growth: The importance of biotic interactions
22 September 2017
Across the Arctic tundra increased plant productivity has been associated with the accelerating retreat of the Arctic sea ice, due to warmer climate. However, emerging studies document opposite effects, showing a more complex relationship between the shrinking sea ice and terrestrial plant growth.
Glacier dynamics in Svalbard fjords
12 September 2017
Anne Elina Flink has studied marine terminating Svalbard glaciers and the traces they have left in the geological record. Flink will defend her PhD thesis on Tuesday 19 September at UNIS.
The snow crab has arrived!
25 August 2017
Snow crab has been found in Raudfjorden in northern Spitsbergen for the first time. The speed of which it spreads indicates that it soon will be found along the western coast of Svalbard. Does this mean that a new source of income is literally crabbing in to Longyearbyen?
Linking plant nutrient dynamics and ecosystem processes in a warmer Arctic
21 July 2017
What effect will a warming climate have on plants in Svalbard? What about the increase of pink-footed goose population due to recent climate changes? Will a heated and more grazed Arctic mean more carbon emission or the opposite? UNIS PhD candidate Matteo Petit Bon aims at finding out.
Funding secured for SIOS infrastructure development
29 June 2017
The Research Council of Norway has singled the out the Svalbard Integrated Arctic Earth Observing System – Infrastructure development of the Norwegian node (SIOS-InfraNor) project for funding.