0 projects

SSF-Svalbard Science Forum

Fungal diversity in soil affected by cadaver decomposition in the Arctic tundra of Svalbard

Cadavers of large mammals can function as biodiversity hotspots and facilitate many interactions between many species. Little is known, however, about carrion ecology in the Arctic, and how such cadavers impact the fungal community in the Arctic is not known. Using both an experimental and observ...

Awarded: NOK 40,545

Project Period: 2022-2023

Location: Nordland - Nordlánnda

SSF-Svalbard Science Forum

Obtaining important permafrost information from central Longyeardalen valley for developing a full-scale sedimentological model-RiS ID 11876

This project aims to drill and sample a borehole in Longyearbyen, Svalbard, in order to create a sedimentological model for the sedimentary infilling of the Longyeardalen valley. Five boreholes were drilled in Longyeardalen in the fall of 2021 as part of the project “Developing a permafrost and m...

Awarded: NOK 79,000

Project Period: 2022-2022

Location: Svalbard

SSF-Svalbard Science Forum

Cenozoic magmatic-hydrothermal activity in northern Spitsbergen, with implications for offshore hydrothermal mineral systems (RiS-11825)

The geologic evolution of the High Arctic during the Cenozoic is critical for our understanding of continental breakup mechanisms and opening of marine ‘gateways’. These processes control exchange of deep-water between the world’s oceans and therefore influence climate patterns. Opening of the Fr...

Awarded: NOK 0.10 mill.

Project Period: 2022-2022

Location: Troms - Romsa - Tromssa

SSF-Svalbard Science Forum

Tectonics, uplift and long term landscape evolution and inheritance onshore the western Svalbard margin

The Eocene to Oligocene Forlandsundet basin likely records the transition from transpression and orogeny to transtension and rifting along the western Svalbard margin. Basin sediments are exposed onshore parts of the eastern coast of Prins Karls Forland, making it an ideal site to study the kinem...

Awarded: NOK 0.10 mill.

Project Period: 2022-2022

Location: Trøndelag - Trööndelage

SSF-Svalbard Science Forum

Do snowshoes influence movement and route choice of Svalbard rock ptarmigan over snowy ground? (RiS ID 11821)

We are aiming to determine how changes in snow properties influence the function of a key adaptation for Arctic animals - the evolution of a snowshoe foot. Whilst increases in foot area are well known to provide extra support during movement over snow there is currently no data examining the rela...

Awarded: NOK 85,000

Project Period: 2022-2022

Location: Troms - Romsa - Tromssa

SSF-Svalbard Science Forum

Depositional and Paleoenvironmental Evolution of the Forlandsundet Graben, Prins Karls Forland, Svalbard RIS ID: 11671

The Fram Strait, situated between Svalbard and northeast Greenland, is the only deep oceanic gateway connecting the Arctic Ocean with the Atlantic Ocean. Our modern climate system in Europe, Greenland, and the Arctic is strongly influenced by the thermohaline circulation through the Fram Strait....

Awarded: NOK 91,000

Project Period: 2022-2022

Location: Troms - Romsa - Tromssa

SSF-Svalbard Science Forum

Resource partitioning by Arctic scavengers in Svalbard

Dead organic matter from animals represents a central ecological resource in many food webs globally and promotes biodiversity, landscape heterogeneity, and ecosystem stability. Little knowledge currently exists about the ecological significance of carcasses in terrestrial ecosystems, particularl...

Awarded: NOK 49,877

Project Period: 2022-2022

Location: Nordland - Nordlánnda

SSF-Svalbard Science Forum

Rehabilitation of cableway posts, cultural herritage in Longyearbyen as a part of PCCH-Artic, Ris ID 11866

Rehabilitation of cableway posts in Longyearbyen. Find a better and more economical solution for the rehabilitation that may be used on more than one structure. Do temperature measurement and soil investigations for design of the foundation. For further information see the project description (...

Awarded: NOK 20,995

Project Period: 2022-2022

Location: Svalbard

SSF-Svalbard Science Forum

STUDY OF METALS IN ARCTIC MARINE SEDIMENTS (MArS) RiS ID: 11837

The glacial fjord Kongsfjorden (Spitsbergen, Svalbard Islands) is particularly suitable for studying the effects of the global anthropogenic activity on the Arctic ecosystem. In particular, the town of Ny-Ålesund is one of the world’s northernmost human settlements.The aim of the project is to st...

Awarded: NOK 28,694

Project Period: 2022-2022

Location: Trøndelag - Trööndelage

SSF-Svalbard Science Forum

Understanding the physiological costs of behavioural plasticity in response to climate change in Arctic Seabirds, RIS ID 11820

The extent to which individuals demonstrate flexibility in behaviour (i.e phenotypic plasticity) is likely to be a key determinant of a species ability to adapt to climate change. However, altering behaviours to match new environments comes at a cost to individuals when they divert resources away...

Awarded: NOK 81,000

Project Period: 2022-2022

Location: Troms - Romsa - Tromssa

SSF-Svalbard Science Forum

Glacial and Permafrost Interactions: The Origins of Ice in Svalbard (RiS ID:11836

GAPOI seeks to close the knowledge gap between glacial & permafrost interaction within Svalbard’s glacial moraine landscapes, with particular attention to the uncertainty & potential of permafrost aggradation due to anthropogenically forced warming climate in the Arctic. Glacier forefields are ho...

Awarded: NOK 53,000

Project Period: 2022-2023

Location: Svalbard

SSF-Svalbard Science Forum

Coastal Erosion modelling in Hiorthhamn, Longyearbyen (Svalbard)

The field work activities will be located in the shoreline of Hiorthhamn, to the northeast shore of Adventfjord, 3 km far from Longyearbyen. This area retains the archaeological remains of coal-mining activities dating from 1902. One of the objects of cultural heritage in Hiorthhamn is Taubanesta...

Awarded: NOK 33,313

Project Period: 2022-2022

Location: Svalbard

SSF-Svalbard Science Forum

Mercury Levels in Svalbard Reindeer's Tissue and Faeces in Relation to Diet and Season

Mercury (Hg) is toxic and a concern for the terrestrial Artic environment due to potential release of Hg from the thawing permafrost. For this master thesis the levels of Hg in summer and winter faeces sample form Svalbard reindeers (Rangifer tarandus platyrhynchus) will be compared to investigat...

Awarded: NOK 15,335

Project Period: 2022-2022

Location: Trøndelag - Trööndelage

SSF-Svalbard Science Forum

Predicting plant trait plasticity in response to warming across a changing tundra biome in the high Arctic, RiS ID: 11498

Predicting how plant communities will respond to environmental change has been described as the ‘holy grail’ of ecology. Understanding which factors determine whether a species responds positively or negatively to a particular environmental change allows us to anticipate future shifts in communit...

Awarded: NOK 72,000

Project Period: 2022-2022

Location: Svalbard

SSF-Svalbard Science Forum

Subglacial mercury cycling and associated export from Jan Mayen to the North Atlantic, RiS ID 11817

The MerJM project looks to establish baseline concentration and temporal behavior of the toxic element mercury (Hg) in natural streams emerging from glaciers overlying an active volcano on Jan Mayen. The importance of natural sources of Hg in regional mercury cycling in the North Atlantic will be...

Awarded: NOK 72,000

Project Period: 2022-2022

Location: Vestland

SSF-Svalbard Science Forum

HAPPINESS IN TIMES OF CHANGE: "FRILUFTSLIV" AND CLIMATE CHANGE IN SVALBARD

The project «Happiness in times of change: 'Friluftsliv' and climate change in Svalbard» is a collaboration between social anthropologists Tomas Salem (University of Bergen) and Alexandra Meyer (University of Vienna). Through ethnographic research we will examine how climate change in Svalbard is...

Awarded: NOK 26,000

Project Period: 2022-2024

Location: Vestland

SSF-Svalbard Science Forum

Climate change drives fluctuations of glacier lakes in Svalbard - Crammebreane case study, RiS ID 11620

Since the 1990's, the number and size of glacial lakes have been observed to increase as a consequence of climate warming. Most research on glacial lakes has focused on high mountain areas such as the Himalayas or along the margin of the Greenland Ice Sheet. To date little is known about the deve...

Awarded: NOK 77,000

Project Period: 2022-2022

Location: Vestland

SSF-Svalbard Science Forum

Svalbard coastal zone pollution with microplastics from local and distant sources

This project is devoted to sampling microplastic in the coastal waters of Svalbard using the same technology that is used in the ongoing projects “Model-based mapping of marine litter and microplastic in the Barents Sea (MAMBA)“ funded by Klima- og miljødepartementet KLD and NFR/SSF project "Harm...

Awarded: NOK 93,000

Project Period: 2022-2022

Location: Oslo

SSF-Svalbard Science Forum

SOURCES AND LEVELS OF MERCURY IN TERRESTRIAL AND FRESH WATER RESOURCES RELATED TO FEEDING AREAS FOR REINDEER AT SVALBARD

Reindeer feeds on vegetation and drinks from water sources that could be contaminated with Hg. Although previous studies have determined low levels of mercury exposure on the Svalbard reindeer, the mercury released from thawing permafrost could change the current situation. This project aims to ...

Awarded: NOK 17,215

Project Period: 2022-2022

Location: Trøndelag - Trööndelage

SSF-Svalbard Science Forum

Who is there? - Unravelling the biodiversity of sympagic meiofauna in Svalbard

It is undeniable that sea ice conditions and extent are changing. Formation of fjordic sea ice has become unreliable, the season has changed with later onset of freezing and earlier melt, and much uncertainty evolves around how this will affect the community that inhabits the microscopic brine ch...

Awarded: NOK 48,073

Project Period: 2022-2022

Location: Svalbard

SSF-Svalbard Science Forum

Holocene climate influence on methane cycling by microbes in high-Arctic lakes

Arctic lakes release large -but not well constrained- amounts of methane (CH4), a potent greenhouse gas. This project delineates the main field campaign within my postdoctoral project aimed at capturing methane cycling archives from lakes in the rapidly warming Arctic. I will participate in the j...

Awarded: NOK 56,585

Project Period: 2022-2023

Location: Troms - Romsa - Tromssa

SSF-Svalbard Science Forum

Gravity profiling across the Billefjorden Fault Zone, RiS-ID 11832

This project is a part of a 30 ECTS master thesis conducted at the Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden. The fieldwork consists of gravity measurements along several profile lines around the area of Billefjorden on 20-24 of April 2022. The gravity data will be complemented with magnetic measurem...

Awarded: NOK 55,814

Project Period: 2022-2022

Location: Svalbard

SSF-Svalbard Science Forum

Drone-mapping Surging Glaciers in Svalbard, RIS-ID 11861

Surging glaciers are of great interest as their behavior gives insights into glacier dynamic processes. Svalbard is one of the few clusters in the world where surging glaciers exist. Recently, two glacier systems that are easily accessible from Longyearbyen started surging. This project will use ...

Awarded: NOK 50,000

Project Period: 2022-2023

Location: Svalbard

SSF-Svalbard Science Forum

Automated analysis of wildlife camera monitoring, RiS ID: 11829

During the first part of my thesis, I will be creating a methodology for automated analysis of camera monitoring data of the nests of geese and terns using artificial intelligence. In order to test if this program works, I will need to obtain enough new camera data of nests on Svalbard and put th...

Awarded: NOK 51,904

Project Period: 2022-2022

Location: Trøndelag - Trööndelage

SSF-Svalbard Science Forum

Svalbard stories: A qualitative fieldstudy on emplacement under new environmental regulations in the High North

Svalbard is undergoing rapid environmental changes alongside with a developing tourist industry and strict environmental regulations underway, by which residents in Longyearbyen must adjust into. Through anthropological fieldwork and in-depth interviews, this master project will investigate the n...

Awarded: NOK 15,000

Project Period: 2022-2022

Location: Troms - Romsa - Tromssa

SSF-Svalbard Science Forum

Impact of added nutrients on the onset of plant senescence, RiS-ID 11865.

The aim of my master’s project is to study how increased nutrients (primarily nitrogen and phosphorous) affect the phenological development of deciduous plants in autumn (specifically: senescence, ie leaf colour change) in High Arctic tundra. Furthermore, it aims to improve methodology for use of...

Awarded: NOK 63,016

Project Period: 2022-2022

Location: Troms - Romsa - Tromssa

SSF-Svalbard Science Forum

Valley sea breeze in Adventdalen, RIS ID 11839

Renewable energy research is a developing field in the Arctic and especially at UNIS. The environmental and meteorological conditions are different from lower latitudes. In my PhD, I investigate meteorological phenomena which are relevant to renewable energy. One aspect of this are local wind cir...

Awarded: NOK 58,000

Project Period: 2022-2022

Location: Svalbard

SSF-Svalbard Science Forum

The Svalbard-political field: power and interests in Norwegian Svalbard politics. Field study 2022.

The research question of this thesis is: Which interests prevail in Norwegian Svalbard politics, and in what ways do they prevail? The thesis aims to 1) describe how Svalbard politics is made and map its key actors, thus contributing to increased knowledge production and better understanding of S...

Awarded: NOK 26,000

Project Period: 2022-2022

Location: Nordland - Nordlánnda

SSF-Svalbard Science Forum

Ice-Free Arctic Ocean: Dead end or new opportunities for Calanus finmarchicus (DENOC), RiS ID 11850

The Arctic Ocean is changing to a warmer and ice-free state, which may lead to substantial changes in biodiversity and ecosystem structures. An Atlantification of the zooplankton community is ongoing, but at which rate is poorly known at present stage. The aim of this project is to 1) determine t...

Awarded: NOK 74,041

Project Period: 2022-2022

Location: Svalbard

SSF-Svalbard Science Forum

Thaw consolidation of permafrost soils in high-Arctic environments; RiS ID: 11815

The stability of permafrost soils is highly affected by the prevailing thermal regime. With warming ground temperatures and deepening of the active layer, thaw consolidation and associated ground subsidence are likely to occur. This is also expected for the surroundings of Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard. ...

Awarded: NOK 76,222

Project Period: 2022-2022

Location: Oslo