0 projects

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 71,999

Project Period: 2022-2022

Location: Ukjent Fylke

SSF-Svalbard Science Forum

Arctic marine mammals and climate change ("ARK" ) RIS-ID: 11501 (SPACE USE BY MARINE MAMMALS AND POTENTIAL DIETARY CHANGES DUE TO CC)

The project is part of a case study of the ecosystem in Kongsfjorden and aim to fill knowledge gaps on fish abundance, community composition, distribution and role in the food web. It will also include dietary studies of key fish species and their roles in the diet of resident marine mammals. The...

Awarded: NOK 50,999

Project Period: 2022-2022

Location: Ukjent Fylke

SSF-Svalbard Science Forum

Diet change in black-legged Kittiwakes due to the current Atlantification of the Arctic in course of climate change. RIS ID:11844

My master´s thesis will be about the change in the diet of kittiwakes over time. With incoming Atlantic waters, Atlantic species comes further north. I will investigate how the energy content of available food/prey changes with changing species ranges. I will be taking part in the field work in K...

Awarded: NOK 46,999

Project Period: 2022-2022

Location: Ukjent Fylke

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: Ukjent Fylke

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: Ukjent Fylke

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 99,999

Project Period: 2022-2022

Location: Ukjent Fylke

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 99,999

Project Period: 2022-2022

Location: Ukjent Fylke

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 84,999

Project Period: 2022-2022

Location: Ukjent Fylke

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 90,999

Project Period: 2022-2022

Location: Ukjent Fylke

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 49,876

Project Period: 2022-2022

Location: Ukjent Fylke

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 20,994

Project Period: 2022-2022

Location: Ukjent Fylke

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: Ukjent Fylke

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 80,999

Project Period: 2022-2022

Location: Ukjent Fylke

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 52,999

Project Period: 2022-2023

Location: Ukjent Fylke

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 25,999

Project Period: 2022-2024

Location: Ukjent Fylke

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 76,999

Project Period: 2022-2022

Location: Ukjent Fylke

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 92,999

Project Period: 2022-2022

Location: Ukjent Fylke

SSF-Svalbard Science Forum

Climatic shifts derived from lacustrine sediment cores, Richardvatnet, nw Spitsbergen. RIS ID 11652

The overarching aim is to contextualise glacier activity across a transect of the Svalbard Archipelago to reconstruct and infer the past climatic and atmosphere-ocean interaction during the Late Quaternary, thus enabling the determination of temperature and precipitation gradients across the arch...

Awarded: NOK 79,999

Project Period: 2022-2023

Location: Ukjent Fylke

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 76,221

Project Period: 2022-2022

Location: Ukjent Fylke

SSF-Svalbard Science Forum

Spatial and temporal shifts in Arctic fjord biodiversity caused by climate changes. RiS ID 11834

This PhD thesis aims to research how the shifts in the cryosphere caused by climate change are affecting fish abundance and distribution. This project will complement the work that took place in 2021, in which we had an extensive field campaign in Billefjorden, where we used innovative and sustai...

Awarded: NOK 94,999

Project Period: 2022-2022

Location: Ukjent Fylke

SSF-Svalbard Science Forum

Sedimentary facies analysis and architecture of alluvial fan systems within a rift basin, Billefjorden Trough, Svalbard, RiS ID 11611

The two main targets of the fieldwork are outcrops exposing alluvial fan deposits at the slopes of the Svenbrehøgda and the Mumien mountains. The focus will be given to a detailed structural and stratigraphical description and acquisition of 3D photogrammetry. The dataset collected in the field w...

Awarded: NOK 35,524

Project Period: 2022-2022

Location: Ukjent Fylke

SSF-Svalbard Science Forum

Shining light on the nutritional status of sea-ice algae in response to changing light in landfast ice, using IR-microspectroscopy.RiS 11869

Through investigating changes in sea ice algae nutrient content and shifts in community composition, this project studies the impacts of sea ice decline on energy transfer within the Arctic marine ecosystem. It is critical that our understanding of the potential consequences of these changes are ...

Awarded: NOK 70,999

Project Period: 2022-2022

Location: Ukjent Fylke

SSF-Svalbard Science Forum

Gravity profiling across the Central Spitsbergen Basin

The aim of this project is to produce geological profiles across the Central Spitsbergen Basin in Svalbard, by collecting gravity data and integrating it with existing seismic, borehole and geological data. From the integrated data the location of basins, structural heights and the geometry of th...

Awarded: NOK 50,502

Project Period: 2022-2022

Location: Ukjent Fylke

SSF-Svalbard Science Forum

Effect of glacial recession on N2O fluxes in high arctic lakes and catchments, RiS ID 11818

Ongoing global warming particularly effects Arctic ecosystems with increased glacial retreat and associated changes in run-off. However, how aquatic nitrous oxide (N2O) fluxes will change in High Arctic lakes and catchments remains uncertain. As the third most important greenhouse gas and major o...

Awarded: NOK 67,999

Project Period: 2022-2022

Location: Ukjent Fylke

SSF-Svalbard Science Forum

Seasonal mercury concentrations and the microbiome (de)methylation gene expression profile in the Svalbard reindeer

This project aims to study the contributions of the Svalbard reindeer to mercury concentrations in the terrestrial trophic chain. We hypothesize that the reindeer are exposed to mercury loads via their diet and that both seasonal variations in mercury intake and microbial processes in its digesti...

Awarded: NOK 13,179

Project Period: 2022-2022

Location: Ukjent Fylke

SSF-Svalbard Science Forum

Nutrient availability through decomposing plant litter (litterbag). Ris ID 11863

Arctic breeding barnacle geese affect the biogeochemical cycling of nutrients by providing an accelerated pathway of decomposition through digestion and the return of plant matter in the form of faecal pellets and so affecting the transfer of nutrients to their forage species. As such, geese chan...

Awarded: NOK 53,652

Project Period: 2022-2023

Location: Ukjent Fylke

SSF-Svalbard Science Forum

Tectonostratigraphic evolution of the Billefjorden Group Sediments on Bjørnøya and Hornsund, RiS ID 11764

This project is the backbone of my PhD topic for which I investigate the tectonic and climatic forcing on Upper Paleozoic rift basin sequences on Bjørnøya and Hornsund. The main goal for the fieldwork is to visit exposed outcrops, acquire sedimentary descriptions, logs, collect samples and to acq...

Awarded: NOK 87,668

Project Period: 2022-2022

Location: Ukjent Fylke

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 40,544

Project Period: 2022-2023

Location: Ukjent Fylke

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 78,999

Project Period: 2022-2022

Location: Ukjent Fylke

SSF-Svalbard Science Forum

AZKABAN experiment for light reaction, RiS ID 11578

Hydroacoustic surveys may be underestimating or overestimating biomass due to species avoidance of vessel light. Therefore we propose a controlled environment experiment to quantify the effect of light on fish behaviour. A small change in the orientation of fish can cause large changes in biomass...

Awarded: NOK 59,999

Project Period: 2022-2022

Location: Ukjent Fylke