Stories from Rijpfjorden 2: A time witness from a bygone era
18 September 2018
Rijpfjorden not only holds a very special place in the story of how the weather station Haudegen housed the last armed German soldiers towards the end of World War II. It is also home to a much older and equally important story – a story that stretches several thousand years back in time and has not yet been really told. This is a story told by the “cod lake” (Torskevatnet).
Stories from Rijpfjorden 1: A unique place of great importance to our understanding of the Arctic
13 September 2018
Rijpfjorden is a unique place. On 4 September 1945, the last armed German soldiers in Europe surrendered there. 6000 years ago, blue mussels grew on the shore, and in the 1990s cod was caught in a lake that has since been called the “cod lake”. And since 2006 we have used Rijpfjorden as a large and natural climate laboratory.
Increased focus on leadership within education and research
11 September 2018
UNIS increases the focus on leadership within education and research. Professor Hanne Hvidtfeldt Christiansen is appointed Vice Dean of Education and Professor Børge Damsgård is appointed Vice Dean of Research. These two new positions will enable UNIS to be more assertive in our two core functions in the future.
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.